The Fallujah Effect

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The Pew Research Center’s latest poll on the President’s approval rating (post the Fallujah attack) show a downward trend. More Americans now disapprove of the way he is doing his job than approve, though by only a slight margin (47% disapprove vs. 43% approve). Just four-in-ten approve of the way Bush is handling the situation … Read more

Pleasing Both Extremes at Once

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I’m rarely inspired by network television, I must say, but the episode of The West Wing where they cooked up a plan to put two Supreme Court Justices up at the same time (one strong talented voice from the far left and one strong talented voice from the far right), to avoid the otherwise unavoidably mediocre choice a split government normally ensures, truly lifted my spirits. I’ve been a big advocate of balance via extremes in government (although I see my role as belonging on the left), as I suspect it can be done well and helps move the country forward carefully and respectfully, with as little division as possible when it comes to the more emotional issues. (Hell, I endorsed John Edwards who I disagreed with on several points because I thought he stood the best chance of uniting the country were he to win the presidency.)

I mention this because, although it’s apparently been all over the blogosphere, I only learned of the proposed “Democracy Caucus” within the UN yesterday via gentle constant OBWi reader and Tacitus co-blogger deputy blogger Bird Dog.

(There’s only so many reading hours in a day, you know.)

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Sated?

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It’s odd that I missed this TCS article by Michael Totten (Are the Jacksonians Sated?) when it came out. He says that the answer is Yes, by the way: Now that Saddam Hussein and the Taliban have been routed, the Jacksonians have mellowed. There isn’t much of a push to open another front in a … Read more

Why are there no Great Centrist Demonstrations?

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Because our slogans are kind of lame, that’s why. “WHAT DO WE WANT?” “MORE OF THE SAME!” “WHEN DO WE WANT IT?” “WHENEVER’S CONVENIENT!” Forgive the joke; it’s a segue (not a seque) into this blog I found while noodling around the Net: Centerfield, which is the official blog of the Centrist Coalition. Like ObWi, … Read more

Chag Pesach Sameach!

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Apologies if the above does not mean Happy Passover: I don’t speak Hebrew. Anyway, no doubt a good number of you already know, tonight is the first night of the Jewish holiday of Passover. While not Jewish myself, I think that it is not inappropriate for me to wish those of the Jewish** faith a … 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

Thanks for covering it, btw*.

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Von and Edward seem to be be on top of the Iraqi situation for the moment, so I’ll let them get on with it. For the record, I am not as pessimistic as either about what’s happening, although I recognize that they have both raised legitimate concerns and I’ll be regularly checking up on developments. … Read more

Time and other essential things (Part III)

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A week was indeed generous of me. There’s a showdown coming, and time favors our adversaries: On Monday, as American authorities issued an arrest warrant for Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric who set off the most serious insurrection so far in Iraq, his supporters were fortifying the mosque here with heavy weaponry, bracing for … Read more

Time and other essential things (Part II)

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Events are moving past us. This morning I predicted that we had at most a week to arrest al-Sadr. Now, if reports from the scene are to be believed (usual caveats apply), we may have even less time: A coup d’etat is taking place in Iraq a the moment. Al-Shu’la, Al-Hurria, Thawra (Sadr city), and … Read more

Potentially Losing the Peace Times 2: Now Afghanistan

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Pentagon report on Afghanistan criticizes war strategy: report

A retired army colonel commissioned by the Pentagon to examine the war in Afghanistan concluded the conflict created conditions that have given “warlordism, banditry and opium production a new lease on life.”

Retired Army Colonel Hy Rothstein, who served in the Army Special Forces for more than 20 years, wrote in a military analysis he gave to the Pentagon in January that the US failed to adapt to new conditions created by the Taliban’s collapse, The New Yorker magazine reported.

“The failure to adjust US operations in line with the post-Taliban change in theater conditions cost the United States some of the fruits of victory and imposed additional, avoidable humanitarian and stability costs on Afghanistan,” Rothstein wrote in the report.

“Indeed, the war’s inadvertent effects may be more significant than we think.”

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Dogs and cats, living together

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BOSTON — Trying to reverse partisan stereotypes, Democrat John Kerry (search) is launching a campaign to portray himself as a fiscal conservative, comparing his economic strategy with the $6 trillion in unpaid spending that he says President Bush has proposed over the next 10 years. . . . . “We intend to run to President … Read more

Time — and other essential things.

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Once again: The U.S.-led coalition plans to execute a months-old arrest warrant for Moqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shiite cleric who in recent weeks has incited violence against the United States and called the September 11, 2001, attacks a gift from God[.] We have no choice but to arrest al-Sadr. That’s the easy part. Here’s the … Read more

The Timmy Topic: UN Scandal

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Timmy (formerly the Wonder Dog)—long-time Tacitus and ObWi commenter and all around good guy—has been bringing up the UN Oil for Food Scandal repeatedly recently, and although I generally support the UN, I do think this issue is being under scrutinized in the blogosphere. Timmy certainly seems to wish to hash it out.

William Safire, in his infinite originality, has opted to call it (or at least perpetuate the title) “Kofigate.” He agrees with Newsday that this is perhaps “the most underreported story of the year.”

A good view from the Far Right on this is found in this Washington Times piece by Newt Gingrich.

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The Bet

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I’m a really terrible gambler. I have no luck at all when it comes to winning virtually any contest. And so, when I placed a bet with a few readers over at Tacitus (one many readers here may remember) that the Administration would need to move the goalposts of their plans to ensure all Iraqis … 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

Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

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John Cole takes a moment from this weekend’s regularly scheduled righteous chastisement* to target Senator Jim Bunning, Kentucky Republican and schmuck. Seems that Sen. Bunning declared that his likely Democratic opponent (Dr. Daniel Mongiardo) looked like one of the Hussein sons; I don’t know about you, but that’d piss me off, so I’m not going … Read more

Living la Vida Dorka…

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…which is in itself a geek reference (John Kovalic, Dork Tower, primo stuff*). At any rate, took the last two days off to read the latest Harry Turtledove and catch the Hellboy movie. Said movie was quite tasty, all in all; the main characters were well matched with their actors, who did generally did good … Read more

Really, When Will Someone Get Fired?

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Powell no longer sure that Iraqi trailers were weapons labs : Top U.S. diplomat concedes presentation to U.N. may have been wrong It’s not like they just goofed…oopsie daisies…and we can all just giggle about it later… In an airborne news conference on the way home from NATO talks in Brussels, Belgium, Powell said he … Read more

Sibel Edmunds

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A story that’s getting little-to-no attention in the US press (as far as I’ve seen) is making the rounds on leftist blogs and now has been picked up by the British newspaper, The Independent. [Sibel Edmunds, a] former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided information to the panel investigating … Read more

Yo! Is that Ripley clone ready yet?

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…Where’s Sigorney when you need her? Metallic Sound Is Heard by Space Crew “It’s very strange,” Russian Mission Control said. “I doubt that it would be a coincidence that you’re hearing the same thing coming from the same place.”

For the record . . . .

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I am a GRAMMAR GOD! If your mission in life is not already topreserve the English tongue, it should be.Congratulations and thank you! How grammatically sound are you? brought to you by Quizilla

Something a bit lighter . . . .

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While persuing the Conspiracy of Volokhs, I was directed to this ranking of law firm prestige. (Favorite entry: #4 Skadden: “uppers’ — “Great training opportunities and informal mentoring . . . .”; “downers” — “screamers.” Pretty accurate description, from what I know.) This is all mostly meaningless stuff, of course. Still, entry #25, Clifford Chance, … Read more

Foot-shooting watch.

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Buried at the end of the New York Times story discussed below (This is not an exit.): The Bush Administration (again) hurts itself with (another) selective disclosure of a confidential document in an attempt to rebut Clarke. The Administration has released the “National Security Presidential Directive,” which was on the President’s desk for signing on … Read more

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Discuss: “Report Is Better Than Expected; 308,000 Positions Created.” What’s Kerry going to talk about now?

This is not an exit.

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This is un-freakining-believable:

The White House confirmed on Thursday that it had withheld a variety of classified documents from Mr. Clinton’s files . . . from the [9-11] commission . . . . .

The commission and the White House were reacting to public complaints from former aides to Mr. Clinton, who said they had been surprised to learn in recent months that three-quarters of the nearly 11,000 pages of files the former president was ready to offer the commission had been withheld by the Bush administration. The former aides said the files contained highly classified documents about the Clinton administration’s efforts against Al Qaeda.

The purported explanation (at least today) is that the documents are “duplicative or unrelated,” or contain “highly sensitive” information that “could be relayed to the commission in other ways.”

With all due respect, bullshit.* The 9-11 Commission is entitled to see the original documents, and draw their own conclusions — not be fed the information in another way. If some of the documents are “sensitive,” then procedures can be put in place to protect them. If some of the documents happen to duplicate other documents, so be it. (Though it appears that the number of possible “duplicates” is low.) Better to provide full disclosure to the 9-11 Commission, than risk withholding an important document that appears to be a duplicate at first glance, but isn’t. (And, from personal experience, I can tell you that a small difference between seemingly identical draft and final documents can speak legions.)

I find it impossible to defend the Bush Administration’s policies with respect to the 9-11 Commission. They’ve foot-dragged, they’ve denied, they’ve delayed, and they’ve selectively withheld information from the Commission and the public. They’ve acted in every way other than in the country’s best interests. They are endangering your and my safety with their game-playing.

von

UPDATED 11:11 a.m. EST: For clarity.

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If Al Qaeda Vanished Tomorrow

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Michael Totten has an interesting post where he tries to define our enemies in the probably poorly named ‘War on Terror’. I’ve tackled this topic before (see also here ) and will gladly admit that it is a fuzzy concept–much like the exact parameters of the Cold War. So lets put that aside for a … Read more

Last post for tonight…

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…from me, at least. At any rate, I decided to not go to bed before saying that this Patrick Lasswell post about 9/11, Bush and comic book superheroes was extremely good, although I sincerely doubt that the people who would most stand to benefit from its insight would agree. Not that it follows that all … Read more

What, no comments about ID4?

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While Jesse Walker’s Reason article about movies starring politicians doesn’t precisely break new ground – you get the feeling that you’re being told things that you could have easily worked out on your own – it’s pretty well written and mentions some films that I’ve never heard of. That’s always nice to see, especially the … Read more

Surveying some of the April Foolin’

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Jim Henley apparently got just about everybody good this time around; Cox and Forkum not so much, but a bit. And this post of Treacher’s had better be an April Fool’s… dammit, it probably isn’t. Consider this an open thread of other good examples of April Fool’s blogging. Moe UPDATE: Jim Treacher, you should be … Read more

Gulp.

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More seriously, Macallan over at the soon-to-go-away version of Tacitus has brought news that Meteor Blades, blogger over at dKos, nearly died last week. I’ve had the odd disagreement with the man, but I’m extremely distressed by what happened and profoundly relieved that he’s being taken care of. Get well soon, MB. Moe

Got a Lot of Post-it notes today

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It’s probably indicative of something that I skipped past oodles of good War Liberal posts to note this one about the Little Old Lady with the 100 Vultures camped out in her yard, but I shall indulge myself none the less. It’s been that sort of day.