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January 31, 2006
Give that woman a guest spot at Huffington Post
Judging by her blog, Rosie O'Donnell remains intent on revealing her inner dolt. Her latest tripe:
kel gets up b 4 the kidz
has coffee
lets the dogs out
this morning
opened the door
2 let them in
and saw 3 animals
in the pre daw light
her nose did the rest
a snunk
the size of zoe
trotting behind r mutts
about to enter r new domain
calm
my wife
slammed the front door
on pepe la pue
there is not enough incense in the world
wendy wasserstien interviewed me
when parker was 2
and chels had not yet arrived
there
in helen hayes house
unimaginably
i sat with the woman
who wrote the heidi chronicles
she watched parker and i play drums
my bird feeder collection
i was not yet
gone
a few years later
she asked 2 come
with cy coleman
and play me
a musical
they had written
and for 45 minutes
a private audience
with 2 super novas
i am grateful
daily
how did i
get this life
fifty five
with a beautiful girl
she could not bare to leave
i am sure
a family
(H/T: RFDTH.)
Posted by bill at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)
A thousand words...
but Captain Ed has the best: "Yes, Senator, you're done."
Posted by bill at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
Teddy K goes loony
This from a man who cheated at Harvard, left a woman to drown in a pond...well, nevermind. Alito wins!
Posted by bill at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 30, 2006
Blogger SOTU gathering - NYC
...just a reminder for NYC urban elephant bloggers (et al.) - tomorrow night I'll be hosting a party at The Black Sheep at 38th Street & Third Avenue (582 Third Ave.) Party starts at 7:00; here's my witty invite:
What better place for a NYC blogger to watch the State of the Union Address than a bar called "The Black Sheep"? Open bar from 7-10 and buffet munchies for $25 cover, plus you'll have a chance to meet your fellow bloggers and fellow urban reds. Enjoy the State of the Union address on plasma screens. Bring friends - this event is hosted and will be shamelessly promoted by the imitable Citizen Journal.
Hope to see you and there and feel free to bring friends (liberals acceptable, I guess).
Posted by bill at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)
Aimless wondering
For a little while I've been thinking that any Senate Democrat who voted for cloture today but then against Alito would find himself the focus of the Angry Left's rage. Does this mean Alito will pass by a more comfy margin? After all, what Senator wants to draw attention of a maniac wing that's quickly coming unglued? Maybe tomorrow's vote will end with a wider margin than some are projecting - and the "message" to the White House: next up: Judge Michael McConnell, come on down!
Meantime, many thanks to Senator John F. Kerry and Ted Kennedy:
via Slate.
Posted by bill at 09:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 29, 2006
Media alert: The Smoking Gun on Pundit Review Radio
Tonight at 9:00 Pundit Review Radio will interview Andrew Goldberg, Managing Editor at The Smoking Gun discussing TSG's role in outing James Frey's "million little lies."
Posted by bill at 06:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Some perspective, please
When Peter Jennings passed away last summer, I wrote this:
Call me callous, but I've never met Peter Jennings, and so when I heard that he'd passed away I reacted much as I do to news that other people I've never met have passed away – sort of vaguely wishing people didn't have to die, particularly young. I don't intend any disrespect towards Mr. Jennings, but I don't believe his passing is such a remarkable "story." His contribution to this world seems best judged by his family and friends, not by his media colleagues, or by people who watched him on television. I know his face, but I didn't know him any better than I know Abraham Lincoln or Elvis Presley, nor would I "mourn" his loss (how could I?) Along these lines there's something distasteful about the reporting today. His death was "breaking news" announced with the solemn sort of pomp that seems appropriate for great moral leaders, and it seems misplaced here, a mistake made capable by the media's self-important belief that Peter Jennings' innate worth was enhanced by his media status. But Jennings' contributions were those of a mortal man, just the same as the millions who toil every day namelessly, working to improve themselves, their place and their kids' future. By this measure -- the only one, really -- Peter Jennings wasn't any different than the rest of us, whether the elites want to believe that or not. The world lost a mortal soul today, not an elite one. May he rest in peace, and may his former colleagues learn to understand God doesn't differentiate.
I get the feeling the reporting on Bob Woodruff is heading in the same direction. Michelle Malkin offers some much-needed perspective, listing the names of four US military killed or injured by IEDs this week.
Posted by bill at 06:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
"And yet and yet..."
Mark Steyn on what Canada's act of political hygiene last week meant, and doesn't mean.
Posted by bill at 06:30 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2006
"We killed the Patriot Act"
Watch the new RNC commercial here.
Posted by bill at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)
Yawn, part II
To the cheers of the Kos Kidz, John Kerry explains why he supports a fillibuster of Samuel Alito and why he thinks that "advice and consent" means in part that in considering Alito, John F. Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts, must "think about what America really needs."
Um, okay Senator.
Anyway, and not that it matters, but seeing Kerry genuflecting to Kos seems to confirm that Kerry sees himself as in contention for 2008 (perspective: so does George Pataki) - and Kerry's acknowledged that he needs the financial support Kos and the Angry Left delivered last time for Crazie Howie Dean. But bags of money come with strings attached, hence Kerry's (and Dems') Catch 22: Raise money for a campaign you can't win because of how you raised money to run your campaign.
Posted by bill at 10:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 26, 2006
Lest we forget
...Saddam's crimes against humanity and human life.
Posted by bill at 08:31 PM | Comments (0)
Yawn
We can officially add the NY Times editorial page to the list of liberals who will be infuriated when Democrats don't fillibuster Samuel Alito.
Then again, who cares a whit?
UPDATE: Speaking of "yawn."
UPDATE II: The Political Teen gives us Buchanan versus Shrum.
Posted by bill at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)
Lunchtime reading
Via Free Republic:
NBC has decided to nix West Wing, and Linda Chavez won't miss it. She concludes:
Hollywood used to try to entertain Americans, now it tries to indoctrinate them. And it has had some success. Shows like "Will & Grace" have made homosexuality appear non-threatening, indeed endearing, for example, advancing as well as reflecting greater tolerance toward gays. But the last four federal elections suggest Hollywood has yet to convince a majority of voters that Republicans are all simple-minded, greedy autocrats. They keep trying anyway, failing to advance their politics at the polls and losing viewers all the while. Maybe one day, they'll get back to trying to win audiences, not elections.
Posted by bill at 01:55 PM | Comments (0)
Oh, THOSE weapons of mass destruction
At some point the Bush administration abandoned (at least publicly) the possibility Saddam Hussein had WMD that were smuggled out of the country before the US invaded. Last month the President said:
After the swift fall of Baghdad, we found mass graves filled by a dictator; we found some capacity to restart programs to produce weapons of mass destruction, but we did not find those weapons.
It is true that Saddam Hussein had a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction. It is true that he systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of U.N. weapons inspectors. It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.
I've never understood why the WMD dialogue blithely assumes that if WMD weren't found, Saddam didn't have them, and I've been disappointed the WH seems unwilling to acknowledge that an unintended consequence of disarming Saddam may have been arming Syria et al. That position seems more credible than a wholesale "we were wrong." But it raises questions about the conduct of the war, and to me its abandonment reeks of crass political calculations. Anyway, with this in mind I was pleased to see the NY Sun is pursuing the smuggled WMD story, previewing "Saddam's Secrets," a book by the No. 2 man in Saddam's Air Force, Georges Sada. The Sun reports:
Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed...two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats...Then Special Republican Guard brigades loaded materials onto the planes, he said, including "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel." The pilots said there was also a ground convoy of trucks.
Posted by bill at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2006
Boy it's warm! Must be global warming! Part II
Gotta love this stuff. Warm January = Global Warming. Wonder what the people in Moscow think. Laurie David must be very proud.
Posted by bill at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)
A window into the left's wayward soul
LA Times columnist Joel Stein admitted today that he doesn't support the troops. Wonder how many more lefties will have the nerve to follow him down that toilet? "Philipe" at an LAT message board, already did so anonymously: "FINALLY!!! Some one is willing to stand up and call it like it is. Too bad the rest of the country is not ready for the truth!" (looking through the rest of the comments on that board I can't help but wonder whether Stein actually isn't an outlier at all - maybe he's within the loony left mainstream).
God love the blogosphere - I don't imagine the NY Times will be acknowledging this story anytime soon, much less doing so objectively. In response, Michelle Malkin offers "25 Ways to Ignore Joel Stein and Support our Troops." And the JAWA Report details Hugh Hewitt's decimation of Stein in an interview today. And the American Thinker gives us LTC Steve Russell, who sees the issue in the simplest terms of right and wrong:
...what separates him from me is certainly not education. Nor is it conviction of purpose. It is indeed morality. But of a nobler kind. No greater love has a man, than he lay down his life for his friends-even when they act and write unfriendly.
As an American, I no longer draw a distinction of who qualifies to be one or is best suited to appreciate democracy. After serving nine years overseas and on multiple continents, I do not see white or black or Hispanic or Indian or oriental or educated or simple-minded Americans. I only see Americans. Even the unfriendly kind. And when I am old, I will be able to look in the mirror and know that I acted on my convictions to preserve what others will not. Cannot. Do not. And what I will see is a man with a clear conscience and a moral sense of purpose.
I am thankful I do not have to look into Mr. Stein's mirror.
For his part, though, Stein stands by his wingnuttery. He also joins Reuters sing-song that the outrage is just a product of "conservative sites across the Internet." Reuters added, "The columnist said he suspected the reaction was largely fueled by the Web sites, adding: "My guess is that it will die down pretty quickly."
Oh, Joel.
Posted by bill at 07:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wingnut Alert: BDS mutates
Bush Derangement Syndrome has mutated into Alito Derangement Syndrome. At Kos the regrettable Atrios Armando picks up Senator Byrd's suggestion today that it's people like Samuel Alito whose insensitivity causes mining tragedies. If he had his way, there would be more mining tragedies! This is even more shameless than John Edwards' stem-cell pep rally last fall: "If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again."
Posted by bill at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2006
Sadr Power
Conflicting reports make it clear at least that Iraq's Mahdi Army leader Moqtada al-Sadr sees advantage to be gained from flirting with Iranian solidarity. The cleavages run counter to a firm alliance -- that is, the sort that would cause Sadr to order his milita into action in Iraq if Iran were struck by the West. First: Iran is not an Arab nation. Second: although the Shi'a are a powerful bloc in Iraq, it appears that those among them willing to destroy the government they have just helped create -- in order to step onto the wrong side of the line with Iran -- are in the minority.
Finally: I suspect Sadr is more interest in power than in principle. His future is far brighter as the anti-Chalabi in Iraq than it is as the cannon fodder of Iran ("we'll fight so you don't have to.") In order to maintain his position in a moment of fluidity, Sadr must become fluid -- tolerating vagueness and disjunct in his attributed statements, raising the possibility -- but by no means the certainty -- that he would order the Mahdi to join forces with Iran. Sadr has been playing a dangerous, double-dealing game for long enough to know that now is the time that practice may make perfect.
Posted by James G. Poulos at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2006
See you on Wednesday
I'll be on vacation until Wednesday enjoying a much needed break and for once, I won't be bringing my laptop.
This is a group blog, so there may be some posts before Wednesday. If not, in the meantime, why not visit these sites (all CJ alums and contributors):
- Postmodern Conservative
- RightFaith
- Eternal Vigilance Society
- Pundit Review
- Lancelot Finn
- Suitably Flip
And for those New Yorkers in the audience, CJ will be hosting a shindig on Tuesday 1/31 to watch the State of the Union Address at The Black Sheep on East 38th Street. A mere $25 will get you an open bar, a buffet and plasma screen television viewing of the SOTU with the NYC blogging community.
See you Wednesday.
Posted by bill at 09:18 PM | Comments (0)
Friday tidbits
...and giving them all the attention I can muster on this, my vacation eve:
- Eye on the UN is tracking anti-American bias at the U.N. (H/T: Powerline.)
- Kieran Lalor, founder of the Eternal Vigilance Society, has organized a fundraiser for the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund.
- Want to know how ill the American left is? No, you don't. (H/T: Alarming News.) And BTW, John F. Kerry posted at Kos this afternoon.
- New Yorkers might need to prepare for another transit strike.
- There's nothing like a fatuous sportswriter fathead to toe the left's line. Turns out, the outrage this was premature. Cuba's invited and the United States won't "look like a petty tyrant with a hypocritical foreign policy." Thank God our foreign policy meets the approval of the Connecticut Sportswriters Guild.
- I thought of this a long time ago but someone beat me to it. I also invented iced coffee (Long Island, 1992) but Dunkin Donuts stole it.
- Atrios attempts to explain the left's "what a maroon Bush is" word shortage (and here I thought it was a symptom of subpar intellect and/or low vocabulary, etc.).
Posted by bill at 04:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Stiff competition
I won't ruin the suspense but the award for the Dumbest Thing Said By a Senator at the Alito Hearings goes to...
(H/T: RFDTH.)
Posted by bill at 12:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
"Still morning in America"
Human Events Online has a great compilation of posts on the Silver Anniversary of Ronald Reagan's Inauguration, including the WSJ's editorial today:
Twenty-five years ago today, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States promising less intrusive government, lower tax rates and victory over communism. On that same day, the American hostages in Iran were freed after 444 days of captivity. If the story of history is one long and arduous march toward freedom, this was a momentous day well worth commemorating.
UPDATE: More here.
Posted by bill at 12:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 19, 2006
Is it just me?
Haven't had time to scour the Internet, so it may be unfair to single out CNN but it's odd to me that the editors over there reported an audio tape with a video still:
I'm no journalist or anything, and I'm not accusing CNN (this time) of fabricating something to fit their view of the world, but does this say a thing or two about CNN's reporting?
UPDATE: Okay, maybe it is just me. RFDTH points out there's probably nothing wrong with using this shot, given that OBL isn't exactly a media hound these days - there aren't too many pictures available. Maybe....I....was....too....hard....on....CNN.....There, I said it.
Posted by bill at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)
bin Laden to Democrats: Keep at it!
Assuming it is authentic, Osama bin Laden's message today to the US people is a stunning message to the US that the notion the left's attempts to undermine President Bush "emboldens our enemies" is far from cliche. Says bin Laden:
It was not my intention to talk to you about this, because those wars are definitely going our way.
But what triggered my desire to talk to you is the continuous deliberate misinformation given by your President [George] Bush, when it comes to polls made in your home country which reveal that the majority of your people are willing to withdraw US forces from Iraq.
"We know that the majority of your people want this war to end and opinion polls show the Americans don't want to fight the Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight them on their (US) land.
"In response to the substance of the polls in the US, which indicate that Americans do not want to fight Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight them on their land, we do not mind offering a long-term truce based on just conditions that we will stick to."
(Emphasis mine.) And is it coincidence that it comes just after we hit some more AQ leaders?
Posted by bill at 12:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Worth a thousand words
Ken at Oblogatory Anecdotes:
Posted by bill at 09:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 18, 2006
A primer on Iran and the UN
Let's review: The mission of the UN Security Council is to do a lot of things - maintain peace and security around the globe, investigate stuff, recommend stuff, make determinations, recommend some more stuff, etc. etc. (It doesn't have to do these things, because it's not as if the UN's circa 1945 power structure is about to change, but the Security Council promises to try really hard. Picture a multicultural version of a soccer mom book club - sure, it's a book club and Carson Kressley is a helluva writer but let's get down to business: pass the Merlot!)
Russia's trying to dodge a confrontation with Iran, mainly because of oil. China is, too, for reasons stated here.
Reviewing: The UN, and the Security Council, are frauds. Which means what will transpire over the next months regarding Iran will be twofold: first, the "international community" -- hogtied by China and Russia -- will wring their hands over Iran, "give the sanctions time to work," downplay the risk, and pooh-pooh the idea of any preemptive war-mongering. Second, Iran will watch all of this and laugh as they take one step after another toward a nuclear strike. Eventually, it will be because of the US that the world is saved, if it is, from Iran's nuclear weapons. The rest is all noise, and the negotiations and compromises farces of the highest order.
Posted by bill at 08:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Hill's foot in mouth disease
DeWayne Wickham once tried to explain blacks' fondness for Bill Clinton in part by saying, "Black folk have a built-in radar for B.S." That's hard to believe, given that no one's called for an apology yet from Hillary for having invoked and diluted the horrors of slavery for the sake of winning over a black audience (the great black DNC hope Barack Obama defended it), but it remains to be seen whether Hill will suffer much from her ugliness (the rhetorical ugliness, I mean). What's clear is that Hill isn't Bill with the black crowd, and even if Bill was America's "first black president," Hill most certainly won't be the second. Her attempt Monday reminded me of Chevy Chase in the movie Vacation, asking for directions in downtown St. Louis:
Clark: Excuse me, could you please tell me how to get back on the express way?
Pimp: F%$k yo mama!
Clark: Thank you very much.
Also clear this isn't 1992, and the blogosphere is holding Clinton and her MLK Day cohorts to account. (In 1996, the plantation comment would've been unconfirmed, at best unless Rush Limbaugh got his hands on it. I don't imagine 60 Minutes would've fretted about any "double standard.") Ace of Spades offers the Top 10 ways Congress actually is like a plantation. More here on the Dems' "Day of Demagoguery."
All things considered, Republicans should savor the PR aspects of Hillary's misstep. It confirmed not only that Hillary isn't half the politician Bill was, and confirmed that she's prone to missteps, but it underscores why the nonsense on which she relies will no longer see a free pass.
Posted by bill at 04:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 17, 2006
Doing what Democrats must do
If you haven't heard already, Hillary Clinton got down with her bad self yesterday. After complaining the Democrats have been "powerless" since she and Bill left the White House, Cliton said the House "has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about." "It has been run in a way so that nobody with a contrary view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument, to be heard."
The racist Reverand Al Sharpton was there, too.
Michelle Malkin has links.
Posted by bill at 10:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 16, 2006
More on the hippest university in the country
In September we learned Penn State has the hippest marching band in the country. Now, January's college issue of W featured a spread on people and faces at Penn State. Way cool, not that I'm paying attention to goings on in the fashion world. And doesn't PSU's President look an awful lot like PSU's logo?
PSU Nittany Lion Logo:
PSU President Graham Spanier:
(Via CNNSI.)
Posted by bill at 10:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Standing as firm as jello
The US has agreed with France and Britain to hold their respective horses on Iran, and the direct route to the UN Security Council appears to be blocked. But don't worry. God knows the mullahs and President Nutcase will twiddle their nuclear thumbs while Russia and China decide whether they're "prepared to consider the possibility of possibly considering the preparation of a possible motion on sanctions for the UN Security Council to consider the possibility of considering."
Posted by bill at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)
New Yorkistan
Forget the Roe effect. How about the Secularism effect, or the Blue State effect: self-extinction. In New York City, "40 out of 100 pregnancies in the city ended in a planned abortion." (H/T: Best of the Web.) As Mark Steyn wrote recently, "demographic trends suggest that the blue states ought to apply for honorary membership of the EU: In the 2004 election, John Kerry won the 16 with the lowest birthrates; George W. Bush took 25 of the 26 states with the highest. By 2050, there will be 100 million fewer Europeans, 100 million more Americans--and mostly red-state Americans." Nice to see the Big Apple remains on the cutting edge of liberal philosophy, even if that means steady extinction of western society and eventually, the establishment of Islamabad West.
Posted by bill at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)
Prostituting MLK's memory
In December 2003, Al Gore visited Harlem to announce his support for Howard Dean's White House campaign. Gore's introductory remarks were absurd: "I'm really proud and happy to be here with you. It's great to be back in Harlem. We shot basketball together one of the last times I was here."
The condescension continues. Last week Michelle Malkin previewed the left's plans to use MLK day to advance their anti-war agenda, their purported "national movement calling on Bush to step down and take his whole program of immoral war, bigotry, intolerance, and suppression of science" and the minimum wage, and to provide a soap box for Harry Belafonte, who thinks President Bush is the "greatest terrorist in the world." Today the hoop dreamy Gore piled on, too, delivering a tirade that had little to do with MLK's struggle and everything to do with Gore's palpable disgust for Bush. In doing so Gore came closer than anyone else has to think point of accusing the President of impeachable transgression. "What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping," he said, "virtually compels the conclusion that the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently."
If Gore wants to offer up whatever's left of his self-respect as an impeachment trial baloon, that's a-okay with me. But it's something else entirely to sleaze up an occasion intended to honor legitimate struggle with illegitimate revenge. Gore and the rest of the loons will get away with this, of course, though American blacks' tolerating it is just as absurd as Gore's "black-audience-means- basketball-talk" logic. it. In any case, judge for yourself - the speech is here.
Posted by bill at 05:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
MLK Perspective
I know someone who for years has been pointing out that Martin Luther King, Jr. is the only person other than Jesus Christ to have his very own federal holiday in the U.S. Today Neal Boortz says the same thing, delicately: "I find it problematic that throughout the entire history of our nation we have only designated one American as worthy of a national holiday, and how we did it..." Read the whole thing. Also remarkable, I think, is that Jimmy Carter et al. enjoy the same honor as Abraham Lincoln and George Washington every February, now that their birthdays are no longer holidays but President's Day is. Call me a cynic, but if we wanted to honor Jimmy Carter we'd have "National Malaise Day" or "Stagflation Day."
Posted by bill at 03:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 15, 2006
Alito and the way hip GOP
If you're still relying on fish wrappers and the nightly news for your fill of political news, you might not have heard about (or from) Blogger Row at the Alito hearings. CJ alum Flip Pidot was there, and so was Matt Margolis. With the Washington Post throwing in the towel on Alito, and some Dems threatening a delay, Pundit Review Radio will recap with Matt the hearings, and the GOP's hip strategy of using the blogosphere to counter the MSM's anti-Alito drivel. The show starts at 9:00.
Posted by bill at 06:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Brinkmanship, reborn
Niall Ferguson asks, "Are we living through the origins of the next world war? Certainly, it is easy to imagine how a future historian might deal with the next phase of events in the Middle East." Warning: this is not a happy read. Michelle Malkin has a roundup of Iran commentary, noting that "We are on the brink."
One thing is certain: the still-dominant MSM limits the feasibility of any Bush-led proaction. Constitutional protections for Al Quaeda and a surrender in Iraq are all Bush could do to quiet the "imperial presidency" nonsense - how's the White House to give Iran any reason to change course? The UN will wag its finger at Iran and pass resolutions backed only with US "resolve," and Iran will laugh at the fecklessness of it all. And someday the world will look to the US, and pray for its strength. Until then the question is how to limit the scope of the mess the Americans will be asked to clean up. Judging by the left's current thinking on Iran, things ain't looking bright.
Posted by bill at 01:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 13, 2006
Merkelology
As Angela Merkel awaits her warm welcome stateside, the prevailing wisdom has it that the Administration places such a high value on the chance at better, closer German relations that it will tolerate Merkel's own criticism. WaPo:
Some of Merkel's thorniest challenges have come in dealing with the United States. Last week, she told the magazine Der Spiegel that the prison camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay "cannot and must not exist in the long term."
I'm afraid that a statement to the effect that the current arrangement at Gitmo should not be permanent is hardly a challenge (the word "must" makes it so), and certainly not a thorny one. For a German chancellor to publicly voice her desire to see America's (successful, thorough, necessary, appropriate) prison camp done away with -- eventually -- is really not extraordinary: does it go beyond, or fall short of, what every decent American expects and believes? No; what is extraordinary is that this "criticism" of Gitmo (by the set standard, "support" would have to amount to a recommendation of perpetuity) counts as one of Merkel's "thorniest challenges." If this is all she has got, the U.S.-German relationship is in good stead...
Posted by James G. Poulos at 09:34 AM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2006
Ted, you're always wrong
The Democrats' attempt to Bork Alito looks destined to have failed. Barring a surprise ending, which at this point would have to include a fillibuster, the question that will soon be on the dais is the political fallout for the Democrats. Thomas Lifson says it's a "disaster" and I agree. They focused on executive powers - an issue on which most Americans see no scandal. Ted K reminds me of Ned from the Fed Ex commercials: always wrong:
Okay, let's review:
Steely Dan is not one person.
We get fringe benefits - not French benefits.
James Dean is an actor, Jimmy Dean makes sausage.
And you know what Ned, it's not the leaning tower of pizza.
Posted by bill at 10:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Blogging Diversion - Real Estate 101
I've decided to start blogging my attempted home purchase, as I am unable to focus on much else. Don Imus talks about his ranch, he does all right, and this will be far more colorful - ours (mine and my wife's) adventure has been a modern tragicomedy worthy of The OC. Among the cast are vultures, the soul-less, the hapless, the inept, and the helpless (us). It is the story of corruption, ethical degeneracy and human inhumanity.
More background: A reasonable person I am fond of, who'll remain nameless, once confessed to me he'd once become so infuriated by an awful situation that he fantasized about setting free hundreds, maybe thousands, of rats at and around his perpetrators' suburban residence. As far as I know he didn't succumb (and he'd never mentioned Albert Camus by name), and I won't either, but I hadn't known that level of disgust and frustration - until, that is, I began dealing with Dave G., the attorney for old Mrs. D, our seller. After 4 months, and after having been blackmailed and seen my wife's and my life savings held hostage at Dave G's ("as escrowee") whim, I am beginning to comprehend the rat fantasy.
Revenge, they say, is best served cold. Thanks to this blog, in this case it may be served via the Internet, when at the end of this escapade I may reveal names and addresses, "FWIW." I may also cool off and consider other options - I'm no residential real estate closing attorney, I don't play one on TV, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But I do have handy a copy of the NY State attorney ethics rules for Escrowee Dave's reference. (They also say indifference is worse than hatred, it looks as though I'll have to settle for second best.)
Posted by bill at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)
This is compassion?
Samuel Alito's wife left the hearing room crying yesterday, and today the wingnuts at Kos make fun.
Posted by bill at 03:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Internationalism
Europe to Iran: Stop or we'll say 'stop' again:
the [EU3 foreign ministers] decided to call for an emergency session of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to vote on referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council.
The decision by the EU3 marks the end of more than two years of diplomatic efforts to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear program.
Posted by bill at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
Roe: important, not super-duper precedent, and possibly settled
Judge Alito's setting himself apart from John Roberts on Roe v. Wade, but abstractions don't lend themselves to headlines and sound-bytes. Crying women do, though, and the despicable showing yesterday by Democrats hands Round Two to Judge Alito.
Posted by bill at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2006
Disconnected thoughts on Alito
In 1993, shortly after President Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court, reporters asked Ginsburg's mother about her daughter's views on abortion. Reported the AP: Ginsburg's mother shed some light. "Of course, she's pro-abortion," 90-year-old Celia Bader said of Ginsburg, a Jew."
Oh, wait. That never happened.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Toobin and Alan Dershowitz were complaining last night during their one-sided roundtable with Anderson Cooper that "the process" is "messed up" and "boring" because it deprives the American public of a sense of what Alito "would be like" as a Supreme Court justice. Dershowitz, for example, wanted a Senator to ask Alito whether his mother Rose really meant it when she said he is "against abortion" (even though it this no constitutional significance) or inquire where he was when Bush v. Gore was decided ("I driving to Asbury Park with Tony Scirica...") and what he said to his friends when he heard he big news. Their complaints are of course absurd, but it's also a positive sign for Alito. If liberals are claiming the "process is breaking down," it's usually because liberals sense they're losing.
Posted by bill at 09:04 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2006
I'm sure you would have done something differently, too, Ted!
I see Ted Kennedy was on the attack today, sneering at Judge Alito and implying this and that about Alito's ethics. It's bad enough that Alito has to figure out how to dumb his Constitutional theory down to a junior high level. But to listen Ted Kennedy cross-examining Alito on bogus ethics issues is just galling. Lest we forget:
Posted by bill at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)
Batter up
Ted Kennedy's speech yesterday was pathetic, of course, and for many of the usual reasons but I think I'm more amazed that (at least judging by yesterday and Pat Leahy's questions this morning) Democrats are leaning so hard on the wiretap issue. Are they letting their hatred for Bush get the best of their strategy? Their first foot forward is a cue from the NY Times editorial page - whining about a non-scandal they hope becomes one. Given the media's obsession with the wiretap issue, are Dems assured the nightly spin will focus on abortion? Regardless, can it possibly be enough to engage the American public?
As for Judge Alito's presentation, and again judging only by his opening statement yesterday and disposition this morning opposite Senator Leahy, this view might be a little harsh but Alito ain't the sunny, folksy guy John Roberts was. Ultimately I think the Democratic Senators will again expose themselves as buffoons, and confirmation is Alito's to lose, but I get the sense we're in for a more acrimony than we saw with Roberts. Alito simply isn't the diplomat Roberts was - just a few minutes ago when Leahy lectured Alito why he was wrong in the case of the strip search of an 8 year-old girl, Alito was just simmmering.
People who are paying more attention than I am: Captain Ed; Michelle Malkin; CJ blog-kid Suitably Flip; The Political Teen.
More: Steven Warshawsky previews the Constitutional issues Senators pretend to be talking about.
Posted by bill at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 09, 2006
Holy crapola
When I think about the fact that Howard Dean came within a few miscues and a bad Bush/Cheney campaign from winning the White House, I want to lose my lunch.
Posted by bill at 11:48 AM | Comments (0)
Stuck on stupid
Armando at Daily Kos wins today's "Look Mom, no brains!" award with the following gem: "What a maroon Bush is."
Posted by bill at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2006
"Murtha the Turncoat"
Kieran Michael Lalor hands it to Jack Murtha:
What a nice New Year's treat for the beheaders and suicide bombers to know that a decorated Marine and lawmaker thinks the U.S. military is not only "broken" but not worth joining. Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi will no doubt use Murtha's words to inspire his band of thugs to hold out longer and kill a few more Americans assuring them that ultimately we will wilt like Murtha.
Well done. Kieran's website is here. Take a gander.
Posted by bill at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)
The week ahead
Judge Alito's confirmation hearings begin tomorrow. If you want to know what's happening, where are you going to turn? CNN? Bwah! You jest! Nevermind those blowhards. If you want the scoop, the blogosphere has it. Tonight Pundit Review will interview UCLA Law Professor Stephen Bainbridge. Flip Pidot will be live blogging Monday through Wednesday. And don't miss Volokh.
Update - Dems shooting more blanks. Stephen Dujack, as of Friday the Dems' silver bullet against Alito said to be readying "devastating" testimony against Alito, turns out to be a dud. All it took, it seems, was a Google search, which revealed Dujack is a pure PETA lunatic.
Posted by bill at 07:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 07, 2006
DeLay, Interrupted
The Washington Post (where one can see, in a photo of Ted Kennedy's head skewed wildly to the left, an example of perhaps truly unconscious media bias) has announced, along with every other news outlet, that today DeLay Abandons Bid to Remain House Leader.
The popular line is that DeLay, in a branch of government where the individual has not been the significant unit of analysis since Clay, was a cruicial personality and talent, whose vote-counting and cat-herding powers will be sorely missed by the GOP. And though DeLay's worth to his party should not be lost in the political obituaries, his central shortcoming remains: the track record of the Republican congress, as measured by spending, has strayed terribly far from what any '94 freshman would recognize as the conservative program for government. To stick to the idea that individuals are less important than the patterns to which they contribute in Congress, DeLay's downstep now makes him the third top-tier Republican to fall from the firmament (following Newt and Trent).
But this phenomenon, in turn, can be eclipsed by the rise of a new figure...
Posted by James G. Poulos at 05:33 PM | Comments (1)
January 06, 2006
Carelessness
The West Virginia miner tragedy is sad beyond words. Martin Toler Jr. wrote to his family, "Tell all I see them on the other side JR I love you It wasn't bad just went to sleep." But CNN doesn't bother to get Toler's words right, instead running the incorrect headline, Miner's final note: 'Tell all I'll see them on the other side'. One would think CNN would think Toler's words were important enough to be reported accurately.
Posted by bill at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
Update on John Bolton
At the UN, John Bolton is doing exactly what conservatives had hoped he'd do, a lot of what the liberals feared he'd do, and little of what liberals claimed to fear he'd do.
Posted by bill at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2006
A hundred bucks says...
Posted by bill at 02:36 PM | Comments (0)
"...ready with my candies and my rockets and praying to Allah that Sharon dies"
More from the "religion of peace". Wonder what Steven Spielberg is thinking.
Posted by bill at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2006
The left has not yet begun to fight Samuel Alito (no! seriously!)
More from Captain Ed, who notes that the obstructionist left's anti-Alito message hasn't resonated, and with hearing set to start next week, it's essentially petering out. "I doubt that anything said while Alito testifies will change any minds at all," CE writes. "His opponents needed to make their case before the start of the hearings, and it isn't as if they didn't have ample time to drum up whatever they could." Even to Markos, who says "the battle hasn't been engaged yet," has to be discouraged, too, by news today that Alito received the ABA's highest rating. This isn't unusual; only Clarence Thomas (unqualified) and Robert Bork (4 "unqualified" votes) have encountered the ABA's real venom, but the ABA, just in time to short-circuit whatever the left has locked & loaded, has now put the lie to the left's meme on Alito - that he's beyond extreme, "dangerous," etc.
Posted by bill at 11:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Penn State football
This will be my last PSU football propaganda for a while but thought this was worth sharing - snapped following last night's Orange Bowl:
Posted by bill at 09:42 PM | Comments (0)
The Abramoff Plague
Captain Ed predicts that "if the Abramoff corruption goes as deep as prosecutors say, look for an unprecedented series of power shifts in the next two cycles -- not partisan, but demographic, as American voters start looking for fresh choices." Specifically, he says:
- "Only if Abramoff never implicates a single Democrat -- unlikely, given the circumstances --will the House roll to the Dems in '06. If so, the GOP will deserve it for not cleaning their own house first."
- the possibly over 300 politicians involved "will busy themselves with scouring their reputations through positive public works, not negative partisan attacks," which CE notes is good news for Samuel Alito and other nominees.
- "almost-certain disqualification for serious Presidential runs by anyone currently on the Hill, including Hill(ary) herself. Abramoff's stench will touch everyone currently noted for front-runner status..."
Posted by bill at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)
What's next for Israel?
It appears Ariel Sharon's days as Israel's Prime Minister may be over. I pretend to be a lot of things, but a commentator on internal Israeli politics isn't one of them. For starters I'll defer here to Business Week, who says Sharon's absence would create a "dangerous vacuum." BW also refers to Sharon as a "beefy figure," which I'll assume isn't a pun.
Posted by bill at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)
Required reading for the day
...is Mark Steyn's magnus opus - and it would be a fitting epilogue to Tony Blankley's The West's Last Chance. Read the whole thing.
Posted by bill at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2006
Live blogging the [excruciating] Orange Bowl
What the hell. (Note: You must refresh page to see updated witty banter.)
8:10 - I see there's another "White Out" - my sources tell me it's all Penn State in Miami, and tickets are somewhat easy to come by. If anyone needs 2, my last two are for sale.
8:13 - Bold prediction: No way Derrick Williams sees the field.
8:15 - FSU, "walking out as one"...group of freed inmates. PSU band sounds lovely, aye? Paterno is very tan.
8:19 - What does the NCAA think of this tomahawk chop?
8:20 - FSU looks coherent on O - but PSU tends to wear opponents down. The first drive may be FSU's best.
8:24 - FSU's first dirty play. Reminding me of Miami, 1987.
8:30 - phone is ringing in my apartment. Whoever it is, please stop calling. Nevermind. It's Mike from Harrisburg.
8:24 - Paul Posluszny (spelling from memory). Maybe he'll stay for his senior year.
8:35 - Did anyone mention the Orange Bowl is brought to us by Fed Ex? Is there really a truck driving up those stairs?
8:40 - Re: Michael Robinson - what they aren't saying is that at media day in Chicago, no one paid attention to PSU, and many laughed at MRob when he said his goal was to get to the Rose Bowl.
8:45 - Tony who? :) (Kidding, of course.) My wife likes the PSU tuba player.
8:42 - Austin Scott is seeing more action than he has most of the season. Where's Tony Hunt? (Whoa! 28-yard gain!) When I was at Penn State, we used to say that Penn State could beat anyone if Paterno has 6 weeks to prepare. Mike Tirico believes it.
8:53 - FSU Holding Tamba Hali, who is a monster but a helluva guy. Bound to see a lot of this. I hope Hunt can come back. Hunt is a joy to watch, and he deserves this game.
8:57 - Michael Robinson does these things; good offensive interference call on FSU. I just get the feeling they (FSU) aren't confident enough to play without risking these penalties.
8:59 - This FSU O is sorta pitiful.
9:04 - My wife can read lips. But she doesn't understand why I'd want to know what Joe Paterno is saying.
9:06 - PSU President Graham "Cracker" Spanier didn't exactly deny that he and AD Tim Curley asked JoePa to retire after last year.
9:11 - MRob will just drive you crazy. And there's so much speed to cover on the field for FSU to cover.
9:14 - Penn State fans! Raise your hand if you'd heard of Deon Butler before this season.
9:17 - Austin Scott - you may run like Hunt, but you block like Barbie.
9:22 - "How did Penn State not recover the football?" I dunno.'
9:27 - From the Seminoles' message board: "And you are a big @#%$ for calling a dirty play on us and calling us inmates. Blog away, bitch." No, you're a bitch. Bwaahh!
9:32 - Paterno's clamped down the O, and he's going to look to the D to win the game, kinda like vs. OSU. This is going to be a 17-7 type game. As for the White Out, I dunno.
9:35 - Interception reveals a lot about FSU QB, me thinks. And not good things.
9:37 - John Stamos?
Bold prediction #2: that show will stink.
9:41 - Holy hell, it's 7-7.
9:46 - A score would be nice here. We look like doggy doo on O. The Seminoles D is very fast.
9:48 - To borrow a phrase from my former , PSU looks "disorientated."
9:50 - You'd think we'd make FSU throw the ball downfield before letting them score on a screen.
9:55 - 2006 Orange Bowl, meet September 2005 Michael Robinson.
9:58 - At least the review gives time for well-deserved props for Scott Paxson.
10:02 - Let's get 3 here. Two makeable completions....
10:04 - Touchdown! My wife gets the quote of the half: "He [Robinson] makes me so nervous when he pulls that crap." I am not sure about these reviews - this is the first I've ever heard a ref say there's indisputable evidence the call on the field is correct; you need "indisputable evidence" to overturn. To uphold, you need an absence of "indisputable evidence" the call is wrong. Law school anyone?
10:09 - Halftime, back afterwards...
10:23 - Halftime show entitled, "The Dry-humping of a Janet Jackson wannabe." Hey Fed Ex, who do you think is watching this game? Only people in Miami? Where are the marching bands?
10:27 - I like Penn State's OB commercial, but I also like Slate's article yesterday ridiculing that genre ("If you like our football team, you'll love our chem labs full of Asian students").
10:35 - Second half! "Adjustments" - for PSU: punt coverage, punt returns.
10:36 - I'm amazed at FSU D's speed. I have to think their O is positively awful if FSU is 8-4. Another 3 & out for Penn State.
10:39 - I think I work with Ned from the FedEx commercial. ("We don't get French benefits!?")
10:47 - Some baseball manager once said of Candlestick Park that it looked like a toilet bowl with the lid open. Maybe he was talking about the OB?
10:49 - Matt Hahn, who went to high school in Smithtown, New York.
10:50 - Alternate lyrics to PSU fight song ("Fight on State")
Up the gut! (Stuff!)
Up the gut! (Stuff!)
Up the gut! Stuff! Punt!
This is the D's game.
10:52 - More good D by PSU. I really think all we need is another score. Now, about that offense...
10:58 - I haven't seen Joe this fired up for a long time. This is huge game for PSU's program. Punt coverage anyone?
11:01 - FSU's punt returns are giving this game to FSU. Ugh. JoePa seems content sitting on a one point lead, but I dunno. I think we need a little Justin King, although now we're going to be in our end zone. Double ugh. I don't like seeing Galen Hall rubbing his head like that. Think, Galen, think!
11:09 - Field position! Crikey.
11:13 - I'd like to think we've been wearing the FSU defense down, but it's not shaking out that way, aye? That was a weak pass interference call but it makes up for the non-hold on Poz a few plays earlier.
11:20 - Field position, finally. Bowden's 4th & 2 try was revealing. He's down by 1 and has had field position all night. Why risk field position? Because he knows it might've been his O's best last chance to get deep in PSU territory and score. Bodes well for PSU, now that FSU is trapped at its 10.
11:29 - So Bowden's gamble backfires. FSU loses field position and composure, and there goes the Mo. This isn't figure skating - no style points.
11:33 - FSU's D continues to impress but the writing's on the wall, IMO. Finally, some downfield throws.
11:38 - I have to say, this has been a nasty game. Mostly clean but good Lord. FSU's penalties are incredible, though.
11:45 - I leave the room for three seconds and I miss the fumble. Let's see what the PSU D has to offer.
11:46 - I'm now in raving lunatic Bill mode. Vague grunts, screams, yelps, etc. My unnamed angel fish is glaring at me. My wife has left the room. How on earth did he hit that pass?
11:54 - Let's hope Poz is all right.
12:00 - Squeaks it in. I thought he hooked it. Damn, damn, damn. I don't like the idea of OT. Must. Score. Now.
12:03 - It is about freaking time they call FSU's roughing Robinson.
12:11 - This last drive is freaky if you saw the Penn State-Northwestern game - the turning point of PSU's season...
12:16 - Where have you gone, Craig Fayak?
12:22 - I can't possibly add anything. The game's on ABC. Adios.
Posted by bill at 08:09 PM | Comments (1)
Penn State 31, Florida State 10
Tonight's Orange Bowl (8 pm EST): Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Florida State Criminoles. The matchup here.
More:
- Why to root for Penn State.
- I was one of the few optimists heading into the 2005 season.
- Joe Pa versus Bobby Bowden? Get real.
- 2005 ndividual game recaps here.
Posted by bill at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)
Cindy Sheehan lite
Now that Cindy Sheehan's 15 minutes are up, the Bush haters may be intent on finding her successor. It was the headline of this piece that piqued my interest: "A Life, Wasted." Paul Schroeder is the dad of a fallen Marine, and his column begins with a point few would debate: "...when heard repeatedly, the phrases "he died a hero" or "he died a patriot" or "he died for his country" rub raw." He continues: "The words 'hero' and 'patriot' focus on the death, not the life. They are a flag-draped mask covering the truth that few want to acknowledge openly: Death in battle is tragic no matter what the reasons for the war." This is all fair, even poignant, although my perspective is that death - in war or otherwise - doesn't often inspire eloquence by those touched by it, and words tend to fail rather than console. And Schroeder here reminds me of a famous passage from Farewell to Arms, in which this theme is clear:
I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it. There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Certain numbers were the same way and certain dates and these with the names of the places were all you could say and have them mean anything. Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.
After this, though, Schroeder's column spirals downward as he gets to his real point, which is to issue a rallying call to the anti-war left, even if it means slandering his own son's sacrifice:
Though it hurts, I believe that his death -- and that of the other Americans who have died in Iraq -- was a waste. They were wasted in a belief that democracy would grow simply by removing a dictator -- a careless misunderstanding of what democracy requires. They were wasted by not sending enough troops to do the job needed in the resulting occupation -- a careless disregard for professional military counsel.
But their deaths will not be in vain if Americans stop hiding behind flag-draped hero masks and stop whispering their opposition to this war. Until then, the lives of other sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers may be wasted as well.
The latter half of this piece reads like a MoveOn talking points memo. I cannot fathom being the dad of a fallen US Marine, but neither can I understand why Mr. Schroeder offers his son's memory to the left, to be sullied and abused for the sake of the anti-Americans' decades-old political agenda.
Posted by bill at 01:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 01, 2006
On "Budgetary Alaska"
Posted by bill at 10:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
France rings in 2006 with surrender
France's "troubled neighborhoods" ("rowdy revelers" and "youths") rang in 2006 by torching 400 more cars. Chirac clings to "diversity" for its own sake, and no "clashes" between rioters and police. What's that about cheese-eating surrender monkeys?
Posted by bill at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)
