Current Affairs

I admit to being a bit conflicted.

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…you see, The Department of Louise has a post up about a possible further delay in the 9/11 report until after the election. While I’m pretty sure that Opus herself isn’t grinding an axe on this one – she just wants the facts on what the Hell happened – it’s one of those situations where … Read more

For a Given Value of “Better”.

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In somewhat better news, it would seem that the crisis referenced here over the disallowing of reformist Iranian parliament members may not be over, after all: 117 Iranian lawmakers resign. Of interest is this: Next week, [Parliament speaker Mehdi] Karroubi said each of the lawmakers will address parliament, explaining why he has resigned. Then, the … Read more

Spreading the Linky Goodness

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Sebastian Holsclaw was apparently feeling masochistic today, because he was inciting people to comment on this statement: My conjecture is: The United States cannot expect to successfully emulate the policies of the more socialistic European countries even if it found the political will to attempt it. This is because the socialistic European countries are free … Read more

All the Federales say, they could’ve had him any day; we only let him slip away out of kindness, I suppose . . . .

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The Supreme Court has reaffirmed Miranda (via Glenn Reynolds) with a nine-to-zero vote.

There’s no word about concurrences,* but I’m frankly surprised that at least one conservative justice didn’t peel away from the pack. Although the Miranda warnings have infiltrated US popular culture, they’re really not part of the Constitution. Indeed, the Miranda Court itself suggested that communities might be able to opt-out of the Miranda warnings, so long as they replaced those warnings with other, equivalent measures. (What form those measures could take, it didn’t say.)

UPDATE: A federal District Judge has declared unconstitutional a portion of the USA Patriot Act that bars giving expert advice or assistance to groups designated international terrorist organizations.

The Humanitarian Law Project, which brought the lawsuit, said the plaintiffs were threatened with 15 years in prison if they advised groups on seeking a peaceful resolution of the Kurds’ campaign for self-determination in Turkey.

The judge’s ruling said the law, as written, does not differentiate between impermissible advice on violence and encouraging the use of peaceful, nonviolent means to achieve goals.

The decision on the Patriot Act seems about right to me. (As for the Supreme Court’s decision, well, I’ve never been particularly fond of Miranda . . . .)

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The Kay Interview. I’m not in a clever title mood.

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The Independent and Reuters both wrote articles about a recent David Kay interview. Guest poster Trickster over at Tacitus mostly contents himself with quoting the relevant sections of the Independent article (the discussion thread isn’t too bad, all things considered): the Marxists over at Socialism in a Time of Waiting are considerably more willing to … Read more

Protesters Protest… Waaaaaay Over There…

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In a bit of a shock to those of us who normally visualize Davos to just be that thing full of genial Lefties and Bill Clinton that Jay Nordlinger goes to every year, it’s been revealed that the event’s apparently somewhat of an abomination to the anti-globalization crowd. Go figure: CHUR, Switzerland – Around 2,000 … Read more

Today was a fairly dull day.

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Thank God. I’ve had my fill of exciting ones, and I suspect so have most of the rest of y’all. Here’s to many more dull, boring days. Moe PS: Call this an open thread, not that you guys ever needed an excuse to tangent. Neither do I, now that I think about it.

The Inevitable MLK Day Post.

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If you haven’t reread the speech today, I invite you to go ahead: it’s a good one with a powerful message. I was born in 1970, which means that the most important battles of the civil rights movement were things I grew up reading in the newer civics and history books. It also means that … Read more

Pickering

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On Friday, January 16, President Bush appointed Charles Pickering to the Fifth Circuit during a Congressional recess.

Let’s forget the process arguments about recess appointments for now. Most of us, myself included, don’t know what we’re talking about; we’re talking about either “obstructionism” and “advice and consent” not out of our devotion to the judicial confirmation process, but because it serves our side’s substantive interests.

Let’s talk instead (as Henry Farrell and Jack Balkin suggest) about what kind of judge Pickering will be on the Fifth Circuit, which has a higher minority population than any other Circuit and hears many civil rights cases:

–Pickering supported segregation in the 1960s, and has dodged questions and made false statements about this history before Congress. See this Salon article for details. (If you’re not a subscriber you can access the full article by viewing an ad.)

–Then there’s Pickering’s handling of a cross burning case in 1994, which you can read about in this excellent Washington Post story. Excerpts below.

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The Latest from Iran

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Short version: the hardliners in Iran decided to ban quite a lot of reformist candidates from running from office, which was naturally enough objected to: it looks like said objections had gotten enough support to resolve this particular crisis. But just this one: the problems haven’t gone away. I think I got that all right. … Read more

Let’s not be hasty

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Outside the Beltway pointed out this Matt Yglesias post on what we should really do with this $1.5 Billion that we’re apparently spending because it’s an election year to ‘strengthen marriage’: I think the president really ought to consider establishing a Cabinet-level Federal Dating Service or something. It could be like Friendster and a goofy … Read more

Just to add to my bitterness*…

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…Argus is obviously much more on top of Uzbekistani affairs than I am right now. Go check him out. Moe *This is synthetic bitterness for comic effect. No actual bitter was used in the making of this post.

Equal Time For Slapdowns.

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I’ve been waiting for Katherine to blog this (she’s the one of our triumvirate who found it first, after all), but I guess that she isn’t and I’m already starting to see grumblings that the Right isn’t jumping on this one en masse, so we might as well get going: Godwinization is Godwinization, folks. Ralph … Read more

Terror. Fear. Horror.

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Ed Schultz, proud knight of [insert nonjudgemental noun meaning “less conservative than Moe” here]ism, has gone national today in his quest to defeat the awful dragon of Right Wing Talk Radio: Longtime listeners, first-time players: Dems find radio voice (Registration requires an email but is otherwise free: go here for the guy’s website). No doubt … Read more

Because the Blogroll wasn’t long enough…

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I’m adding two more (which, to be honest, is mostly so I’ll remember to check them more often). Outside the Beltway is a somewhat recent appreciation (this NYT Magazine article that James linked to about the Democrats and the war was most interesting, and should get further exposure) and I always meant to add Steve … Read more

What Did I miss?

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I was fairly sick yesterday, to the point where I didn’t even go online for very long (I’m not exactly better, either: I’m blogging this early in the morning because I got slept out, but I still feel like death warmed over). Anything interesting happen?

If you don’t want to know the answer…

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… don’t ask the question. Generally speaking, I don’t overly concern myself with British gun policy, as American gun policy is sufficiently complicated enough that I don’t have much time to spare. But it’s hard not to snicker at least a little at the surprise and irritation engendered by some of the people involved, including … Read more

Do the right thing.

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Ashcroft has opted out of the Plame game, recusing himself in favor of Peter Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Although there were a few ruffled feathers when Fitzgerald was appointed — he’s not a native son of Chicago, but rather a carpetbagger from New York (so to speak) — all accounts are that he’s nonpartisan, sharp, and relentless.*

This is an excellent decision by Ashcroft. But why now?

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A step beyond a step too far.

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Lawyers. I know: the word alone almost causes you to swoon with joy and thanksgving. Lovers, fighters, poets — there’s no evil that these paragons of truth and virtue cannot conquer, no danger that they will not face, no friend-in-need whose call they will not answer.

Yes, I am one of them. Save your applause, please, until the end — for there are heavy matters that we first must discuss.

Heavy matter numero uno: The speed with which politico-shtick and lawyer shtick are converging. The rush to apply the bare minimal standards of honesty that govern us law-folks to political rhetoric — the “if I say it this way it will just barely be truthful” test. You know what I mean: “no controlling legal authority”; “I never said Iraq had WMDs, I said it had WMD programs“; “I suppose it depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is.”

This one foot over the line, one foot behind is usually just fine. Sure, a partisan or two gets stirred up, but most people can distinguish between spin and lie. But, sometimes, in our eagerness to score rhetorical points, we take that step beyond a step too far . . . .

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Mildly-interesting Economics Open Thread

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The U.S. dollar hit an all-time low against the Euro today. This is mildly interesting, because the dollar should be strengthening as the Federal deficit increases: Higher deficits generally lead to increased foreign borrowing/investment,* which in turn leads to an increase in demand for dollars and hence a higher price for the same. Why that … Read more

Excuse me, Glenn?

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Just so you don’t think that I worship the fellow, I’m going to have to say that the second paragraph of this particular post is out of line. The post (which started to be about improving Israeli/Indian relations, then segued into an odd – and to my mind, unsupported – allegation* that the Intifada is a ‘proxy war’ between the EU and the USA) ends with this:

I’ve thought for quite a while that “proxy war” was the appropriate characterization, and indeed I’ve used that term here before. Europeans should worry, though, about what will happen if Israel — or America — decides to return the favor. Providing financial aid to terrorists who target European civilians would be uncivilized — but, then, the Europeans are supposed to be the civilized ones, no?

Glenn Reynolds, I’m sure that you’ve used the phrase ‘proxy war’ before, although I can’t remember offhand the last time you’ve used it. However, those last two sentences are offensive. Europeans should not have to worry about us ‘returning the favor’, both because it’s not going to fragging happen and because the entire idea is not what this country is all about**. And I don’t buy this tit-for-tat bit, either – and I find that I don’t really like the tone of that last line, either. Too close to deniably advocating in the classic Henry II fashion.

Retract, please.

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Iranian Earthquake Post.

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It’s a hell of a way to start up after Christmas, but by now you’ve probably read about this. As of today, there are fears that the death toll could reach 40,000.

OK, three points to address here, one after the other. First, due to existing diplomatic complications, groups like Direct Relief may end up being the primary instruments of American aid. You can donate to them here. Any other groups that you guys hear of, feel free to add in comments and I’ll update where I can. It hardly needs to be said that I was saddened by the destruction and loss of life, and that I offer my hopes and prayers that the initial estimate of the loss of life turns out to be exaggerated.

It gets partisan from here, so you can ignore the rest if you like.

UPDATE: BuzzMachine’s got more links (via Instapundit).

ANOTHER UPDATE: Matt Stinson’s got an interesting suggestion involving UNESCO and the First Lady. Check it out. Pejman links to a site with several other relief groups. Check him out.

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Stuff about the ‘Stans…

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Winds of Change has done one of their excellent regional briefings on the Central Asia ‘stans. As some of you may remember, I blogged about Uzbekistan and Georgia last month, so this is of interest to me. The links to what is apparently being called Georgia’s Rose Revolution are well worth perusing, especially the interesting … Read more

Bearly Remembered to Blog This…

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Sorry about the pun. Actually, no, I’m not. Girlfriend has sent me back to blog – she is updating expensive new Palm Pilot – so there you go. Anyhow, I’ve been meaning to blog about this for days: NZ Bear pointed out this Slate article about alternative ways to reduce the New Jersey black bear … Read more

I only repeat what I’m told

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From the Commissar*, comes trenchant musings on perhaps the greatest danger to Israel: A one state solution. [W]atch out for a certain reporter/worldbeater, friend of Saudi royals, … da, the anti-zhid himself, Thomas Friedman. . . . Commissar watched his Discovery Channel television show last night. Is on again on Monday, 8 PM. . . … Read more

Three Comments/Links

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1). I personally feel that even by the low standards of crank calling, this is lame and geeky, and not in a good way. Via Balloon Juice. 2). Amazing how quickly Marxists can sound sensible when they’re saying the same things you were, huh? – only with a lot more spleen and righteous indignation. Surprised … Read more

My favorite Times columnist

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No, not Krugman. Kristof. He meanders for a few hundred words about the possible hereditary and environmental factors in homosexuality (including an aside about “lesbian seagulls”), and then he hits you with this: The bottom line is that same-sex love is a mystery far more subtle than just a matter of Biblical injunction — just … Read more

The Coolhunter

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Let us now praise cool things. This, for example, is cool. Nahh, I didn’t find it. I’m the coolhunter, not the coolfinder or coolgatherer. (This is your cool things open thread.) von

Now, THIS Is What A Proper Protest Looks Like

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Via Balloon Juice we see that a showdown was brewing in Georgia – the one in Eurasia – over a recent election that has everybody going, “Yeah, well”. Well, oh my droogies, the showdown has come, and with a vengeance. I hereby invite every person who has ever voluntarily engaged in the more … colorful … Read more

actual good news!!!!!

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Thabo Mbeki seems to have finally, and dramatically, reversed his heretofore disastrous AIDS policy. South Africa is going to begin providing free anti-retrovirals. Bill Clinton apparently helped negotiate it. Funny that he’ll have done more for Africa as an ex-President than as President, but either way, I’ll take it. I wrote my college thesis on … Read more

9/11 Memorial Proposals

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They unveiled the eight finalists today. Lots of gardens, reflecting pools, named inscribed on walls, light effects. Here’s an AP story with a brief description of each. The NY Times has a slide show on its main page, which I can’t figure out how to link directly. And the Lower Manhattan Development Corp has more … Read more