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A Message to Charles Curie

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Apologies in advance, folks, I’m spewing venom and not feeling even remotely charitable… So, even as panic spreads about an HIV "supervirus" found in a gay man in New York, and evidence mounts that substance abuse—in particular, that of crystal meth—is a leading contributor to the spread of the virus among gay Americans, the US … Read more

The Instant Re-Politicization of Sex

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So I leave the country for a week and when I come back it seems the entire place has gone into total panic mode, and draconian measures are being proposed everywhere to regulate sex. What the hell happened while I was gone? Did aliens come down and broadcast an anti-libertarian mind-control hyperwave? Everyone: take a deep breath…and release…deep breath…and release.

The New York Times is at the head of this stampede, and clearly someone over there needs a Valium. Read these headlines:

I count at least 10 stories in the past four days on this item in the Times. Yes, the public needs to know, but as Andrew Sullivan points out:

Previous scare stories were at least always based on actual peer-reviewed studies of groups of people – not one or two cases presented at press conferences. Some epidemiological context: in San Francisco, the epicenter of the epidemic, AIDS deaths last year were 182, compared to a peak of 1,633 in 1992; AIDS cases were 245, compared to a peak of 2,327 in 1992. Both numbers were far lower than in 2003. Of course, this reflects what has happened in the epidemic, not what will or may happen. But HIV infection rates have also remained stable. We should not be complacent. But we shouldn’t panic either.

But panicking it seems we are.

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Caveat Blogger

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Via just about everybody at this point comes this addressed to Tulsa-based blogger Michael at Bates Line from a local newspaper:

I am writing on behalf of World Publishing Company, publisher of the Tulsa World. We have recently learned that your website, www.Batesline.com, has reproduced (in whole or in part) articles and/or editorials from the Tulsa World newspaper or has inappropriately linked your website to Tulsa World content.

The Tulsa World copyrights its entire newspaper and specifically each of the articles and/or editorials at issue. The reproduction of any articles and/or editorials (in whole or in part) on your website or linking your website to Tulsa World content is without the permission of the Tulsa World and constitutes an intentional infringement of the Tulsa World’s copyright and other rights to the exclusive use and distribution of the copyrighted materials.

Therefore, we hereby demand that you immediately remove any Tulsa World material from your website, to include unauthorized links to our website, and cease and desist from any further use or dissemination of our copyrighted content. If you desire to use (in whole or in part) any of the content of our newspaper, you must first obtain written permission before that use. If you fail to comply with his demand, the Tulsa World will take whatever legal action is necessary to assure compliance, Additionally, we will pursue all other legal remedies, including seeking damages that may have resulted as a result of this infringement.

We look forward to your immediate response and cooperation in this matter. Please acknowledge your compliance by signing below and returning to me.

Sincerely,

(signed)
John R. Bair
Vice-President [sic]
Tulsa World

Apparently, for bloggers, this is going to come up again and again, so it’s probably time to work toward an agreement. But what is the law? Here’s how Fair Use is currently interpreted by the US Copyright Office’s website:

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Opportunism or Secret Intelligence

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The Bush administration has pounced on the assassination of Lebanon’s ex-Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut yesterday to publicly highlight its annoyance with Syria. The timing, however, raises the question of whether this move is opportunistic or suggests secret intelligence about who’s behind the murder.

The United States has recalled its ambassador to Syria amid rising tensions over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon.   

Before departing, U.S. Ambassador Margaret Scobey delivered a stern note, called a demarche in diplomatic parlance, to the Syrian government, said an official who discussed the situation only on grounds of anonymity.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, announcing the move, said it reflected the Bush administration’s "profound outrage" over Hariri’s assassination.

This gesture of "profound outrage" seems a bit mysterious chronologically speaking. Before it’s publicly known who committed the crime (and Syria has denied it of course), the US is essentially telling the world we suspect Syria is responsible by withdrawing our ambassador while at the same time telling the world that’s not what we’re telling them:

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What Does Compassion without Funding Get You?

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Former Special Assistant to the president and Deputy Director of Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative David Kuo today blasted Congress and his former boss for not living up to the President’s compassionate conservative promises to make a real difference in the lives of poor and desperate Americans by funding faith-based charities. Kuo has some strong, bitter words for all concerned:

[Democrats:] The moment the president announced the faith-based effort, Democratic opposition was frenzied. Hackneyed church-state scare rhetoric made the rounds; this was "radical" and "dangerous" and merely an "attempt to fund Bob Jones University." One Democratic African-American congressman came to the White House to back the president but was threatened by influential liberal groups that they would withhold funding if he didn’t denounce the President. The next day he was forced to retract his statement. All of this came despite the fact that former Vice President Al Gore had endorsed virtually identical faith-based measures during the 2000 campaign. […]

[Republicans:] Congressional Republicans matched Democratic hostility with snoring indifference. Sen. Rick Santorum spent endless hours alone lobbying Senate Leadership to give some floor time, any floor time to get a bill to help charities and the poor – even after 9/11 when charities were going out of business because of a decline in giving. He was stiff-armed by his own party.

At the end of the day, both parties played to stereotype — Republicans were indifferent to the poor and the Democrats were allergic to faith.

[And the White House:] Capitol Hill gridlock could have been smashed by minimal West Wing effort. No administration since LBJ’s has had a more successful legislative track record than this one. From tax cuts to Medicare, the White House gets what the White House really wants. It never really wanted the "poor people stuff."

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Knocking About in Madrid: Open Thread

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Note: I did not see either the bombing or the big fire that occurred while I was in Spain’s capital. A few lovely folks emailed to see if I was OK. Thanks for your emails. I was miles and miles from both events when they occurred. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Strolling through a hilly part of Madrid with … Read more

Yearning to Breathe Free

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I’m heading off to Spain in a few hours, but I’m heading out with a raging thorn in my side. See y’all next week.

Who are we? Americans, I mean. Who in the hell are we exactly? Where do we come from? What binds us together? What do we stand for? What, essentially, defines our collective souls?

I, for one, submit that since 9/11 we’ve become a self-centered nation of ever-growing intolerance, willful ignorance, and cowardice. But it wasn’t always like that. Once we were a brave nation, a nation of immigrants with so much pride in having built our shining city on the hill we placed a statue in our harbor welcoming the poor and oppressed peoples of the world to join us*, to find new hope and a better life. Now, instead we offer those seeking asylum here humiliation, abuse, and isolation. Are we truly so afraid we’ve been reduced to this?

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is releasing a carefully constructed bipartisan report today. It sharply criticizes the shameful way we’re now treating asylum seekers in the US. The administration, of course, doesn’t want to hear it.

Manny Van Pelt, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency within Homeland Security that oversees the detention of asylum seekers, defended the system.

"We have a robust inspections program that conducts audits of our detention facilities nationwide, and our detention facilities are accredited and subjected to regular inspection by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees," he said in an interview. "They are clean and they are safe environments. Even better, the detention system protects the public."

Mr. Van Pelt, with what little respect I can muster, may I suggest you are wholly incompetent and unfit to represent this nation. Here’s a sample of what Van Pelt feels is worthy of such praise:

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Let There Be Life

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There was a stand-up comedian with a bit that went more or less like this:

About every 5 years or so I do a bit of reflection on my life, looking back at how I talked, dressed and acted, and invariably I come to the same conclusion: I was a total idiot back then. Really, what was I thinking? After doing this enough times, though, it’s occurred to me that most likely I’m being a total idiot right now. This is why older people tend to be so quiet. They’ve figured this out.

This is how I feel about most scientific theories. From the discoveries of Galileo to the assertions of Heisenberg and beyond, we keep realizing that what we were so certain about a century or even a decade ago was in fact idiotic. Therefore it behooves us to be a bit quiet, or at least modest, in declaring we know this or that to be true.

In the debate on evolution vs. creationism, this advice cuts both ways.

As a theory, creationism has so many holes in it that I can’t accept it as science. Even with a bucket of faith, it strikes me that it has to be mostly metaphor. But evolution also leaves more questions unanswered than answered for me. More than anything, it seems that life forms would have needed gazillions of years to "evolve" into the assembly of perfectly in-tune organs and systems represented by humans. Truly, some of the most recent discoveries of cellular activity so boggle the mind they virtually scream for an intelligent designer to explain them. I don’t have any answers there, but I don’t think creationism does either. So I’ve been intrigued by the notion of the supposedly straddling theory of "Intelligent Design," but the more I read its advocates try to dress it up, the more I think it’s got a long way to go as a theory, if it has any merit at all.

In today’s New York Times, Michael J. Behe, a professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University and a senior fellow with the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture (called in some quarters a "conservative Christian thinktank"), offered an explanation and defense of "Intelligent Design." Professor Behe has credentials as solid as most scientists arguing about the topic, from what I can find. And I totally agree with him that those insisting evolution be taught as if Gospel have it wrong.

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I♥NY

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I♥NY. Really, I do! In Friday’s ruling, Justice Ling-Cohan said, "Simply put, marriage is viewed by society as the utmost expression of a couple’s commitment and love. Plaintiffs may now seek this ultimate expression through a civil marriage." The ruling (which is stayed for 30 days in case the city chooses to appeal) says the … Read more

Eat Your Words: Lunchtime Open Thread on Books

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Aye, thar’s mutiny afoot…Anarch has taken command of another thread and declared it open for book discussions… No need for such drastic measures: Currently reading (in between every freakin’ book ever written on Alexander the Great) It’s My Party Too, by Christine Todd Whitman…just started it, but clearly she ain’t gonna be invited to Christmas … Read more

Arresting Rumsfeld

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As much as I don’t like the man, and as much as I can see the arguments of those charging him with war crimes, I must admit, the idea that our Secretary of Defense could be arrested if he traveled to Germany doesn’t sit well with me: In a suit filed with German federal prosecutors, … Read more

US General: It’s Fun to Spread Freedom

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First we had Boykin, then the Abu Ghraib guards, mixed in with few other "bad apples" in Cuba and Afghanistan, but overall, the argument goes, there’s no better ambassadors for the Cause of Freedom than our men and women in the US Armed Forces. Overall, perhaps, that’s true, but we’d do well to start weeding … Read more

Parsing the President

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via Wonkette~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m not sure what it tells you exactly, but Wonkette points to this wonderful online tool for parsing the President’s SOTUs and 2001 special address to Congress. Just enter two words (like "marriage" and "compassion" for example) and the tool does the rest. It shouldn’t be surprising I guess that in all of … Read more

Problems with Permanence

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The President looked confident and energetic in his State of the Union address last night. Clearly he’s enjoying the job now and ready to make his mark on history. Bully for him.

The highlight of the speech for me, as I’m sure for many people, was the hug that Iraqi Safia Taleb al-Suhail gave to Janet Norwood. It eclipsed everything else that had come before it, making all the pomp and circumstance and partisan theatrics look silly. Regardless of how one feels about the war in Iraq, this gesture put a human face on the conflict and, for me at least, confirmed what I’ve always known about our having more in common with the people of the Middle East than reasons to hate each other. I hope the entire world was watching.

There were plenty of moments when I was cursing during the President’s speech, though, none the least of which being when he once again went way out of his way to disrespect the most important relationship in my life (and just to be clear, I sincerely despise him for that). But two things he said led me to believe he’s so drunk with his own power at this point that the man is actually beginning to think the laws of time and space needn’t apply to his vision. At the very least he has serious problems with the notion of "permanence." Let me explain.

Twice in discussing reforms to Social Security, the President suggested it’s time to fix it "permanently":

Fixing Social Security permanently will require an open, candid review of the options. […] We must make Social Security permanently sound, not leave that task for another day.

This could be excused as optimistic hyperbole if he hadn’t built his case for reform in the first place on the notion that "Our society has changed in ways the founders of Social Security could not have foreseen." So the founders of Social Security couldn’t foresee the future, but George W. Bush can?

Then there was the issue of bringing our troops home from Iraq.

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Timetable Teddy Gets Some Support

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We’ve heard it again and again in the Iraq invasion: steadfastness wins the day. Setting and then moving heaven and earth to meet a deadline (whether it be creating the CPA, the symbolic June 30th handover, or the January 30th elections) has been heralded as our best tool in ensuring the transparent achievement of our goals and intentions. Stating clearly to the world what we intend to do and then doing just that. Watching the milestones go by. It’s what you’ll see the President pat himself on the back for in his SOTU address tonight.

But now, when there are more Americans who declare they want to start bringing the troops home than those willing to watch the occupation drag on, we’re told a timetable is a bad thing. In fact, its so bad that even a distinguished Senator can be labeled a traitor for suggesting it’s time to start discussing it. For the record, if that’s the case, according to the poll above, 47% of Americans are traitors.

Now I’ve gone on record here repeatedly arguing that Iraq’s security remains Job 1. Bringing the troops home must take second place to ensuring the Iraqis can defend themselves against enemies from without and within. But we’ve reached the point in all this where a timetable could serve to stop one of the insurgents’ main recruiting methods: occupation resentment. As Michael O’Hanlon and James Steinberg explain in today’s Washington Post it "is now inescapable that [US troops] are helping fuel the insurgency.":

Henry A. Kissinger and George P. Shultz argue against setting any American exit strategy to a calendar. That is an argument the Bush administration has, at least for now, itself endorsed. Kissinger and Shultz’s logic would be right for the Balkans, or Germany and Japan after World War II, or any nation-building effort not challenged by a strong insurgency. But such logic does not apply in Iraq, where the resistance appears to be gaining most of its growing strength from indigenous hostility to the foreign military presence.

No exit strategy for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq should be abrupt or radical. We must not cut and run. We should not plan to withdraw our forces entirely by any set date. And we should announce a schedule for partial withdrawal only in conjunction with the new Iraqi government being formed. But the case for a fairly prompt major reduction in foreign forces, announced publicly and set to a schedule, increasingly appears to be the best way to help produce a stable Iraq under a government accepted as legitimate by most of its people.

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The Insurgency Re-Excused

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In an exercise that borders on selective, if not purely revisionist, history, wretchard at the Belmont Club plays off a Newsweek article to argue that what made the Iraqi insurgency possible was "the gift of time." In other words, because Blair insisted Bush go through the UN charade and because France, Germany, and Russia were … Read more

Who You Calling a Dog?

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hat tip to constant reader wilfred for this very entertaining diversion~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the grand tradition of asking folks "If you were a tree, what kind would you be?" comes What Dog Are You (see link near bottom of right-hand column). Apparently I’m a Newfoundland (a thin one, thank you): A large and beautiful beast, the … Read more

Hillary: A Sheep in Wolves’ Clothing?

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First and foremost, apologies if any Republicans feel offended by the wolf/sheep dichotomy in the title. I’m sure plenty of GOPers are perfectly docile and woolly. 😉
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Hillary’s been seen sporting a more conservative power suit lately, and it ain’t sitting too well with some of us counting on her to use her star power to promote a more liberal agenda. Not that we should be surprised. Both she and her husband  have always been more moderate than liberal in my eyes, and (like most politicians, both sides of the aisle) she’s nothing if not willing to spin her message to suit her audience, but if I wanted an Arlen Specter-esque Democrat Senator, I’d move to Connecticut.

Clinton’s strategists insist that she’s merely continuing in her efforts to paint a fuller picture of herself since leaving the White House, but the fuller picture of herself seems mostly limited to insisting she’s religious:

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More Things that Make You Go “Hmmmm”

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Hat tip UPDATE: Constant Reader Opus also pointed to this item. 😉 Constant reader GT points to this Kevin Drum post that made my one eyebrow rise. From September 3, 1967: U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times WASHINGTON, Sept. 3– … Read more

Wal-Mart Gets It…Kind of

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On one hand this is a good thing, IMO: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expanding the definition of "immediate family" in its employee-ethics policy to account for laws in states that recognize domestic partnerships and civil unions. The change drew quick praise from a major gay-rights lobbying organization. The revised policy, which was disclosed Wednesday in … Read more

Why Blogs Are Essential

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OK, so I have not subjected this to thorough testing, yet, to see whether it’s been photoshopped, but it’s funny all the same. Via Wonkette: BigBrainBoy posts this image a friend of his took (click on image to see larger) BigBrainBoy‘s Caption: Not much to be said here. This does rule out the terrifying possibility … Read more

Viva L’Espana

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I’m heading over to Madrid in about a week, on art business, and have been wondering how different it will be since my last visit. I’ve been concerned that there would be inescapable heartbreaking remnants of the bombings (my hotel and the gallery of good friends I’ll be visiting are both near Atocha) and that … Read more

Auschwitz Open Thread

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hat tip Murat~~~~~~~~~~~~ World leaders gathered in Poland to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz today. Here’s what a few of them said: "These commemorations are intended to promote knowledge of Auschwitz as widely as possible and bring the truth about the camps to the younger generation." —Polish … Read more

The Beginning of the End

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Note: Not for the conspiracy-theory-allergic. Yup, this is one of the signs my conspiracy theorist friend Dr. V. told me to watch out for. China losing faith in the dollar. Collect your commemorative empire souvenirs while you can folks, the US’s days at #1 are numbered: China has lost faith in the stability of the … Read more

Unholy Alliance: Greens and NeoCons

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An artist I know has been predicting doom for civilization because we depend too heavily on electrical energy and it cannot last forever at the levels we consume it here in the US. He religiously turns off lights and other machines in other people’s spaces and rants about how offensive he finds, for example, video art, because after we have no more electricity, it will be totally useless. I used to think he was a bit obsessive. Then I watched Power Trip, the PBS special on the energy situation in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, and I got a glimpse of the future my artist friend has seen coming for years.

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New Banning Rules (or, Watching Sausage Being Made)

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The ObWi authors have had a conference of sorts to discuss our current approach to banning commenters from the site and try to develop a better, more fair, more productive process. Unlike many other blogs, the success of Obsidian Wings depends upon a balance of authors and a balance of commenters. When the site begins to falter, it’s almost always due to an unbalance one way or the other. The following process is designed to address that need for balance, as well as to be fair to everyone concerned.

The following policy was approved by us all and goes into effect immediately:

  • Any ObWi author can recommend that a commenter be banned and should do so via email to the all other authors.
  • One writer (but only one) from the other side of the fence must agree to the ban for it to move forward (Von can vote as either side of the fence as he wishes). For the record, currently Charles Bird, Andrew, and Sebastian Holsclaw are on the right; Von is in the center; and Hilzoy is on the left.;-) Yes, that’s unbalanced…we’re working on it.*
  • To avoid the delay our busy lives can cause in moving quickly when a commenter is disrupting an ongoing thread, any writer can implement an immediate temporary ban (and declare it as such) until a banning request is resolved behind the scenes. Should the ban not be agreed to by someone on the other side of the fence, the temporary ban will be lifted. (The temporary ban will hopefully be a useful way to let folks calm down when a thread gets too heated. At the very least it will allow a derailed thread to get back on track.)
  • If one author from the other side of the fence agrees to a recommendation, the banning goes into effect immediately and is permanent unless overturned on appeal initiated by the commenter.
  • Any appeal by a commenter to a banning should be done via email. Commenters should not move to another computer to make their case on the blog. All appeals will be considered after tempers have cooled. Appeals will be decided via a vote of all writers, majority deciding. Commenters banned under the old policy can also appeal their banning now. We will not make public any appeal or its results unless the authors vote to reverse a standing ban.

Although pointing out when a commenter is violating the posting rules in an ongoing thread is every participant’s best tool to help bring civility back to a discussion, if commenters wish to recommend a banning, per se, we ask that they do so via email. That helps take it offline and makes the roles of the authors in the banning process clearer to everyone.

We now we return to our regularly scheduled squabbling.

UPDATE: An appeal to a banning should cover 1) why the banning was uncalled for and 2) what the commenter will do to help prevent a similar situation from arising moving forward.

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Britian’s Muslims Miss the Point

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Note: I like to think I would have posted this, even without yesterday’s food fight, but I’d like to suggest there’s been enough chow flung through the air, and there’s plenty to discuss about this without continuing the more personal aspects of yesterday’s thread. Besides, that argument is doing fine over on that thread.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In … Read more

Anti-Muslim Americans: Please Note!

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Really, make an effort to pay attention this time (from Sully): The chief Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, gives an annual sermon decrying extremism and terror. Money quote: "Islam is the religion of moderation. There is no room for extremism in Islam," he said. He called on Muslims to "protect … Read more

A Real Prince Passes (Johnny Carson RIP)

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I heard a short entertainment brief just the other day about how David Letterman was being sent the occassional joke by late-night legend Johnny Carson. It was one of those odd non-news vignettes that reminds you how long the subject has been out of the public eye, and it struck me that his folks most likely sent out this press release to soften the coming blow. And so it is. Johnny Carson has died at the age of 79.

Anyone too young to remember the elegantly simple charm of Jay Leno’s predecessor missed a true master of the art.

The boyish-looking Nebraska native with the disarming grin, who survived every attempt to topple him from his late-night talk show throne, was a star who managed never to distance himself from his audience.

His wealth, the adoration of his guests — particularly the many young comics whose careers he launched — the wry tales of multiple divorces: Carson’s air of modesty made it all serve to enhance his bedtime intimacy with viewers.

"Heeeeere’s Johnny!" was the booming announcement from sidekick Ed McMahon that ushered Carson out to the stage. Then the formula: the topical monologue, the guests, the broadly played skits such as "Carnac the Magnificent."

But America never tired of him; Carson went out on top when he retired in May 1992.

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Blizzard Poetry Open Thread

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The Sunday morning pundit programs are all being pre-empted by really boring blizzard coverage (how many different frozen reporters standing before an empty street  with snow blowing around in the background do we need to see to understand it’s cold outside?). So consider this a versifying open thread. Share your favorite, share your own, or send photos of the view outside your window.

Here’s a piece I read a while ago and couldn’t get out of my head:

A Poem That I Wrote in a High Fever

You who are lengthening your lives
with the best doctors and the best medicines
remember those who are shortening their lives
with the wars
that you in your long lives are not
preventing.

You who are again screwing
the younger generations
and winking at each other
the winking of you eyelids
is like the chill of the swinging shutters
in an empty house.

–Yehuda Amichai
(Translated, from the Hebrew, by Leon Wieseltier.)

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You Have the Right to Remain Repugnant

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Well, it looks like Iraq’s gonna try again to arrest joint US-Iran favorite, Ahmad Chalabi (well, perhaps former US favorite, although, he’s got the snapshots [via Kos] to prove he was once very, very, very, welcome by some of the GOP’s biggest names).

Last time around, a U.S.-appointed Iraqi judge issued a warrant for Chalabi’s arrest on charges of counterfeiting money, but the charges were dropped in September 2004.

This time, the charge seems less serious, but there’s a lot of money involved, so if Chalabi doesn’t have a few more aces up his sleeve he may be going down:

[Iraq’s interim defense minister Hazim al-Shaalan] told London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published on Friday he would [after the holy holiday Eid al-Adha] order the arrest after Chalabi accused the defense minister in an interview of stealing $500 million from the ministry and posted documents on a Web site accusing Shaalan of links to Saddam Hussein’s government.

The charge is "maligning" the Defense Minister. What’s that get ya? A slap on the wrist and a severe tickling?

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Krieg Macht Frei

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I’m concerned about the hawkish subtext of President Bush’s inaugural address yesterday. On one hand, as a staunch advocate of human rights, I recognize that capitalist democracies do indeed foster the sort of societies most guaranteed to ensure each person’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. On the other hand, I believe the path to such government must be the choice of those involved. The "democracy via the barrel of a gun" method offends my inner individualist, as it results in the indiscriminate deaths of those it’s presumably trying to liberate, and that sacrifice should be their choice, not some outside power’s.

William Safire raved about the speech in his column today:

Yesterday’s strongly thematic address was indeed "the freedom speech." Not only did the words "freedom, free, liberty" appear 49 times, but the president used the world-watched occasion to expound his basic reason for the war and his vision of America’s mission in the world.

I rate it among the top 5 of the 20 second-inaugurals in our history.

A bit of hyperbole, perhaps, but it’s his column. Then, however, I can’t help but imagine Bill’s Cialis kicked in, because he gets a bit more than rationally excited about the implications of the speech:

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US Homophobes Helping Our Enemies

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You read that right. Homophobes in the United States are traitors. No, make that Traitors, with a capital "T." They are giving comfort to our enemies, jeopardizing our efforts to protect the homeland, and putting us all at greater risk. I expect them to be rounded up and their trials to begin immediately. {You drinking … Read more

What Becomes a Monster Most?

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Apparently unsatisfied with how startled the world was with this Czar-like power grab, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has approved the erection of a new statue of Josef Stalin.

Moscow plans to erect a new statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, returning his once-ubiquitous image to its streets after an absence of four decades, a top city official said Wednesday.

Since President Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000, a number of Soviet symbols — including the national anthem and an army flag — have been restored to use, reflecting widespread nostalgia for Russia’s communist years.

But rehabilitation of Stalin, who was denounced after his death in 1953 by the Soviet leadership for encouraging a cult of personality and killing millions of real and imagined opponents, has previously been out of bounds. Statues of Stalin were removed from Moscow’s public spaces in the 1960s.

"A monument will be erected to those who took part in (leading the war against Adolf Hitler), including Stalin," Oleg Tolkachev, Moscow’s senator in the upper house of parliament, told Ekho Moskvy radio.

Eugene Volokh asks whether this means we’ll soon see statues of Hitler in Berlin.

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