Current Affairs

Bad things . . . .

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Run and hide! Yglesias and Scalzi are coming to destroy my Anglo-Protestant values! Oh, the humanity! (They’re commenting on “The Hispanic Challenge,” a recent article by Samuel Huntington in Foreign Policy Magazine.) On a slightly more serious note, immigration tends to get my libertarian grove-thing on: I like the idea of people wanting to work … Read more

Taking the “Free” Out of “Freedom”

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I am so-o-o-o not a Constitutional scholar, but I had always interepreted the First Amendment to mean that it was unconstitutional to make laws that prohibited or abridged the right of the people peaceably to assemble. Moreover, I had interpreted that to include all American people…not just rich ones. Public saftey must be weighed in … Read more

Waitangi Day!

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I’m – OK, I actually did type “giving a big shout-out to my Marxist peeps over at Socialism in an Age of Waiting“, but let’s face it, I don’t even think I said that correctly, let alone in a way that wasn’t sad, lame or both – at any rate, they’ve got up a nicely-long … Read more

Where Have You Been Banned? Open Thread

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Feels like a slow day on the blogosphere…all the big news items sort of up in the air…I did manage to get myself banned from my first blog today though… well, not really banned as much as politely asked to never return… It was sort of anti-climatic, actually….not that I was trying to get banned, … Read more

Geopolitical Pop Quiz

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Hat tip to Constant Reader Phil for alerting me to this item.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK, so guess what these countries have in common (note the glaring absence of the United States):

Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Oh, yeah…add Brazil as of December 2003.

Give up?

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Epiphany.

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Yeah, one of those. I was reading Respectful of Otters (and let me tell you, after this story I’m quite ready to respect them*), and I was doing my best to keep up with the material being referenced in this post when it hit me: this is probably how most people think of our shared hobby (political wonkery). It obviously has relevance, the people involved take it quite seriously… and you really feel the lack of a scorecard beyond a certain level of complexity. Worse, you feel like that you should be keeping up with all of this, so the inadequacy fires up…

Still, fascinating stuff, though I suspect that a good deal of subtext is going right over my head. Ach, well, that happens when you’re a Right Wing Death Beast.

Moe

UPDATE: FEAR THE OTTER’S RIGHTEOUS PAWS AND FANGS OF FURY, YE PUNY, COWERING MORTALS!!!!!

(pause)

Actually, I just felt like typing that out. I’m not really sure why.

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File under “Guardedly good news (Non-Iraq)”…

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… because, bluntly, there’s at least half a dozen websites out there covering Iraq better than I would, and I’m working under the assumption that my readers here are regularly checking out at least three of them regularly (not the same three in each case, obviously). Moving on, there is an interesting, yet vague, indication … Read more

Bunny Abuse

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Having been raised as a Fundamentalist Christian, the more secular aspects of Easter were always a bit distateful to me,* but it’s time to stop this madness and stand up for the Rights of Bunnies ! First it was the inexplicable beating of a bunny in a church performance in Pennsylvania: A church trying to … Read more

There’s a reason for the nonsubstantive posts tonight…

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… I’m blipping tired and want my bed. Thursday nights are always my most active evening, and I would dream of sleep, if only it wasn’t quite so redundant. So, talk amongst yourselves. (Snapping fingers) Although I dimly remember von saying nice things about my Uzbekistan coverage. Sorry, dude, but The Argus kicks my butt; … Read more

I told you that you were next…

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Via Sullivan Seems that John Ashcroft’s Justice Department has run out of terrorists to round up and has both the pro-choice and gay rights movements right where they want them (or are moving toward it), so now it’s time to broaden their reach and start waging the war John’s really interested in: the one against … Read more

Checklist.

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1). I am, in point of fact, awake. I retain a full sensorium (I don’t usually dream smells or tastes) and I can read printed text (something that I almost never do in dreams, if ever). There are none of the freighted psychological images associated with dreams or nightmares currently present, and the rules of … Read more

I would normally consider this just a stunt.

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But mc master chef is all right*, so I figure that there must be something to it. The Bike and Build site is here; at first glance there doesn’t seem to be anything pernicious about it – indeed, quite the opposite. And that was my ‘crusty VRWC Death Beast grudgingly supporting a progressive notion’ impression. … Read more

Your tax dollars at work.

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McQ over at QandO has a link to a soon-to-be-legendary US government study that could serve as a textbook example of the Law of Unintended Consequences, or possibly the Law of Well, It Seemed a Good Idea at the Time. I won’t spoil the surprise; Conrad of the Gweilo Diaries found it fair and square, … Read more

You have to feel for the guy.

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I mean, write a article critical of Richard Clarke a year ago, have it picked up by Drudge, and suddenly you’re being called a neocon psychopath by a bunch of anonymous Lefty trolls. As you can imagine, George Smith, registered Democrat and self-described lefty puke, is a mite perturbed: The anger was instantly gripping. A … Read more

Queer Eye for the Straight Marriage

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Traditional marriage apparently needs the federal government’s help in the U.S. [A Bush proposal] includes expanded initiatives to “promote marriage and healthy family development.” The added funding includes $1.5 billion over five years — $1 billion in federal funds and $500 million in state matching funds – that would go to programs promoting marriage, responsible … Read more

Brandishing a den Beste link…

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…yes, yes, I know, the inhumanity of it all, but hey! I liked his commentary on that IHT article starring Senator Joe Biden and his Amazing Technicolor European Reality Check. Mind you, I’d be somewhat less damning with faint praise than den Beste is about the Democrats and their likely foreign policy positions under an … Read more

Endorsements and advisories.

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…I actually had to do real work today, so my usual Must Blog About This Post-it note stash is seriously depleted. Gotta delete that spambot and that’s about it, at least as far as my scribbles go. We’ll combine the two other items: First, North Georgia Dogma has confirmed our worst fears: Cynthia McKinney is … Read more

A minisurvey of what people want re the UN.

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Richard Cohen wants to be able to make a citizen’s UN Resolution so that there can be an official condemnation of Palestinian terrorism, especially the practive of using children as suicide bombers; he also wants everybody not willing to sign such a resolution to shut the hell up. James Joyner wants more Gomer Pyle at … Read more

I don’t know why this struck me…

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… or even how it’s striking me, precisely: President Bush Welcomes Seven Nations to the NATO Alliance. The nations in question are Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Only two of those countries even existed when I was born, and all of them were ruled by dictatorships. Now…. well, according to Freedom House … Read more

This Margolis thing.

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Look, on the one hand I’m appalled by it on general principles, on the other hand I can’t believe that any of my Lefty readers here would have a reaction substantially different than Philosoraptor’s and on the gripping hand I am not entirely certain why Philosoraptor feels the need to apologize quite so comprehensively: he … Read more

Sing it, Brother.

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Better late than never: Phil Dennison’s discussion of Dizzy City’s Metro system is spot-on. I’ve had to deal with it for over two years now, and let me tell you: I miss the NYC subway system. Better hours of service, more cars, not notably more likely to break down, more likely to find a train … Read more

Not very surprising.

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Although it might seem so, or at least odd, to my generation: US May Halve Forces in Germany.

The Pentagon has drafted plans to withdraw as many as half of the 71,000 troops based in Germany as part of an extensive realignment of American military forces that moves away from large concentrations in Europe and Asia, according to U.S. officials.

Under the plan, which is nearing approval, smaller, relatively spartan bases would be established in Romania and possibly Bulgaria, and designed for the rapid projection of U.S. military power against terrorists, hostile states and other potential adversaries.

Farther east, in Central Asia, bases in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that were established in 2001 to support the war in Afghanistan would be preserved as training sites and as staging areas that U.S. forces could use in emergencies.

I am of course pleased to see this added confirmation that the nightmare scenario of my childhood – the one that started with a massive Soviet armored invasion of West Germany and ended with mushroom clouds sprouting over Berlin, Warsaw, Paris, Prague, London, Moscow, Washington – is well and truly dead, at least in its current form. It’s been going on sixty years now: I think that we can safely reduce our military presence in Western Europe to something a bit more reasonable. For that matter, there’s some indication that our new deployments will reflect current geopolitical realities, which is equally welcome. The Cold War is over, too, and I mourn its passing not.

It still feels odd, though. Possibly because so much time and effort was spent preparing for a conflict that never quite materialized, thank God; it’s like climbing a stairway and thinking that there’s one more step than is actually the case. You don’t get hurt when your foot jerks through the air to smack against the floor, but it does put you off your stride.

(Via Outside the Beltway)

Moe

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Enough.

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Ten days ago, I criticized a decision by Mr. Johnson (of Little Green Footballs) to insult and deride Spanish mourners of the terror attacks in Madrid. Mr. Johnson’s decision not only showed an astonishing lack of judgment, but (as Kevin Drum also notes) likely was counterproductive to our fight against terrorism.

This is not the first or last time that Mr. Johnson showed a lack of judgment in his posts. On Friday, for instance, Meteor Blades (of The Daily Kos) and Tacitus (of, erm, Tacitus) confronted a misleading entry by Mr. Johnson on the civil war in Sudan. In the process, they also corrected several factual misstatements by Mr. Johnson’s regular commentators.

Rather than attempt to defend his ground or correct his original post, Mr. Johnson responded with ad homs. He then blocked access from Tacitus. It is worth noting that this is not the first time Mr. Johnson has responded to criticism by blocking access to his website.

Supposedly, a key purpose of Mr. Johnson’s Little Green Footballs is to show the horrific nature of Islamic radicalism, and to point out the cowardice of non-radical Muslims who fail to speak up against such horrors. This is a noble and worthy purpose, and it could make for an interesting and relevant weblog.

Little Green Footballs, however, fails in its claimed purpose. It consistently gets the facts wrong; it frequently substitutes prejudice for reason[**]; and it breeds misdirected hate in its comment boards. LGF’s errors and distortions make it all the more difficult for thoughtful bloggers to criticize the actions of radical Muslims, for, if they do, they run the risk of being lumped in with the “wingnut LGF crowd” and ignored.

This must end. We are fighting a terrible enemy in Islamic terrorism. Whether we describe that fight as a war, or a law enforcement action, or (as I do) something else entirely is less important than whether we choose to confront our enemy with clear heads, deft hands, and, where necessary, ruthless action.

Mr. Johnson deserves no more free passes from the Blogosphere. It’s time to start calling him on his mistakes.

von

UPDATE 2: ** So we’re clear, the FrontPage Magazine Article that LGF excerpts (misleadingly, IMHO) is not the target of this criticism; LGF is. I do disagree with significant portions of the FrontPage article, however. See my discussion with the article’s author, Mr. Spencer, in comments for more.

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Well, there’s a relief.

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I don’t know whether this was originally an incredibly stupid act of bigotry or just an incredibly stupid publicity stunt* – I tend towards the former, but a reading of the article gives some weight to the latter – but I’m sure that all of you will be happy to know that Rhea County has … Read more

Some thoughts . . . .

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. . . for your considered opinion. Otherwise, it’s gonna be a light blogging day/week for me. First, Kerry’s an idiot for commenting that he has the support of “foreign leaders” (or more leaders, or whatever). He sounds like a Fifth columnist. And he deserves the crap he’s getting from Team Bush. On the other … Read more

Iran, again.

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Seeing as my cobloggers have flooded the zone on the subject of recent events in Spain*, and flooded it quite well, I’m going to exercise my own perennial worry: Iran. Something’s going on over there (via Pejman):

According to sketchy reports, an uprising has occurred in the northern Iranian city of Fereydunkenar.

Demonstrations are reported to have begun on March 13, in the small town in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran.

Activist chat is claiming that the demonstrations are spreading; so is SMCCDI. As usual, the regular news organizations apparently don’t have a blessed clue about what’s going on: I drew a blank with AP, Reuters, Fox, CNN… shoot, right now I’d be happy to get some sort of information from AFP, even.

So, I guess we wait and see.

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Triumph of Hope?

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Or the triumph of hope over experience? Tacitus’ Guest Blogger* Bird Dog has a post up about this WaPo article:China Amends Constitution to Guarantee Human Rights. Good news, right? BEIJING, March 14 — China amended its constitution Sunday to include formal guarantees of human rights and private property, laying down a new marker in the … Read more

One small favor…

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…is that, no matter how vicious our political debate can get, it typically remains a nonviolent one. As Lt. Smash points out, the recent impeachment of South Korea’s President Roh Moo Hyun can be a pretty good reminder that things can get worse: After a drama in the National Assembly as pro- and anti-Roh legislators … Read more

Spanish election sites.

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The parliamentary elections for Spain should be closing up right around the time that I post this; there’s some controversy over whether the increasing likelihood that Thursday’s cowardly and vile attack was done by al-Qaeda will be reflected in the final results today. Tell truthful, I’m not willing to bet either way; I don’t know … Read more

Contact information for the Spanish Embassy

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2375 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Washington, DC 20037. Phone Number (202) 452-0100. Contact information via Glenn Reynolds, who also forwarded these two messages: The Embassy of Spain convenes a silent demonstration tomorrow, Friday, March 12th, to express its outrage for today’s terrorist attack perpetrated in Madrid, in which approximately 200 people have died and 900 have … Read more

Von’s “Idiotarian” Award.

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I generally dislike the word “idiotarian.” Among other things, it’s horrible English. (What, the word “idiot” is too short and to the point for you?) A recent post on the bombing in Madrid by Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, however, has caused me to reconsider. Accordingly, I will now honor Mr. Johnson with “Von’s First ‘Idiotarian’ Award” for the following unrepetent act of idiotarianism*:

At a Spanish demonstration protesting today’s terrorist attacks we find a perfect example of the sick hypocrisy that is poisoning Europe, as a useful idiot in knit cap and kaffiyeh proudly aligns himself with the symbol of Palestinian terrorism:

Mr. Johnson then includes a picture of a crowd of Spainaids grieving today’s killing of 170-plus people in the Madrid bombings. Members of the crowd have raised both hands in the European sign to “stop”. A young man in front — one of literally hundreds of other people — is wearing a knit cap and a kaffiyeh that suggests support for the Palestinians. Mr. Johnson continues:

I’ve always believed the signal to “stop” was a single hand held up. Holding both hands up in the air is a symbol of something else altogether.

A few, umm, minor comments: One hundred seventy-plus people have just been killed in an act of terrorism. Mr. Johnson’s response is to (1) point out that one member of a grieving crowd may, in fact, be an idiot (and, really, how likely is it that a crowd of hundreds won’t contain at least one idiot) and (2) make fun of the grieving crowd as a whole.

What cogent, emphathic analyses. What wonderful insight into the human condition. What glorious work in focusing on a single, droopy tree in the midst of a vast forest of grief. What good taste in decrying how that grief is expressed.

For shame.

Update: The death toll from the blast now stands at 190, with 1,200 injured. It’s also worth noting that the photo that Mr. Johnson displays and criticizes on his web site does not appear to have run in any major news outlet. Rather, it appears to have been part of an online AP slideshow, which featured dozens of other photographs concerning the blasts and demonstrations relating thereto. Mr. Johnson chose to focus on this particular photo.

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