With Profound Gratitude We Remember.

If at all possible, please take the time to attend a Memorial Day parade and ceremony this weekend. If you meet a vet on the street, shake his hand and say thanks. Include in your daily and Sunday prayers the men and women now in harm's way. Find a service-related charity and give some time or money to help the families of those who serve. These efforts are trivial compared to the sacrifice of life, limb, family, or prosperity that our soldiers have made to serve our country and protect our liberty, and to give the same to other peoples around the globe.

• Veterans of Foreign Wars
• Disabled American Veterans
• Korean War Veterans Association
• Vietnam Veterans of America
• Cold War Veterans Association
• The American Legion
• AMVETS

The Origins of Gridlock.

Courtesy of The Federalist Patriot:

If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send 150 lawyers,whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, & talk by the hour? That 150 lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected.

--- Thomas Jefferson

Weaknews Clarifies: It's the Government's Fault.

Weaknews has quasi-retracted their inflammatory story about the desecration of the Quran at Gitmo. However, Howard Fineman apparently clarified the real line of accountability for this deadly fiasco: it was the responsibility of Pentagon representatives that were shown a pre-press copy of the Periscope article to have provided comment on the report, which they did not. Therefore, Fineman argued on this morning's Imus program, silence by these government officials constituted some form of corroboration of the story for Weaknews. In other words, the Pentagon had its chance to deny the story, and they didn't, and therefore the story must be true? I didn't know that Weaknews had now outsourced their fact-checking.

Well, the Main Stream Meatpackers have reasserted their primacy over the Blogosphere - they certainly have the power of life and death.

The Legend of Taxalot.

Wizbang follows a great story about America's Royal Family - the Kennedys - and their artistry with the tax codes.

How would he know?

Ohio Senator George Voinovich (R!) blasted UN Representative-nominee John Bolton, stating that if Bolton worked in the private sector he would have been fired.

George apparently has quite an extensive and distinguished career in the private sector:

• probably in private law practice from 1961-1962
• Ohio Assistant Attorney General 1963-1964
• probably in private law practice from 1965-1966
• Ohio state/county/city office holder 1967-1988
• probably practiced law in 1989, while eating lotsa rubber-chicken suppers
• Governor of Ohio 1990-1998
• United States Senator 1999-present

I assume you were speaking theoretically about Bolton, eh George?

And your actions in committee was a true act of courage, George.

A Lucid Moment in Alabama.

Alabama School Drops Klan Founders Name (AP-Yahoo)

The idolatry that Alabamians have for Nathan Bedford Forrest, AKA "The Butcher of Fort Pillow", has always baffled me. Imagine Heinrich Himmler Hochschule in Bremen...

And now, a cheap shot.

During yesterday's emergency in DC, members of the House and Senate Democratic Leadership were taken to a daycare center at an undisclosed location...

OK, enough of that.

Tales from the Ivory Tower.

First, this outrageous story from Columbia University:

The Tale of Two Columbias (WSJ Opinion Journal)

And then a review of the problems on campus and some cautious hope for change:

Retaking the Universities, by Roger Kimball (WSJ Extra)

The story of the "courageous" vote at Columbia butresses Trilling's claim of the "adversary culture of the intellectuals" - and scholarship's form of "diplomatic immunity" from consequences of actions. Kimball also reminds the reader of another component of the problem:

Academic life, like the rest of social life, unfolds within a frame of rules and permissions. At one end, there are things that one must (or must not) do; at the other end, there is rule of whim. The middle range, in which behavior is neither explicitly governed by rules but is not entirely free, is that realm governed by what the British jurist John Fletcher Moulton, writing in the early 1920s, called "Obedience to the Unenforceable." It is a realm in which not law, not caprice, but virtues such as duty, fairness, judgment and taste hold sway. In a word, it is the "domain of Manners," which "covers all cases of right doing where there is no one to make you do it but yourself."

In other words, a chaired professorship is no excuse for intellectual slovenliness.

Over what-you-call-your Dey.

The Ghoul, beloved Rust Belt TV Schlockmeister, opines on FM radio. Well, perhaps they listen to Clear Channel Dreck in...Parma!

Opening Day, 2005.

The Last Saturday in April was cold and blustery on Michigan's Manistee River. But the fishing was excellent, with gorgeous brown trout rising to a Hendrickson hatch all afternoon. My buddies and I got to know one in particular quite well: an 18" fish working just upstream of a sweeper and taking flies for more than an hour - but turning his nose up at our humble offerings. Round one is yours, friend...

Hope for Radio.

Deaddrifts has excited a considerable number of screen phosphors lamenting the pathetic state of broadcast radio. Yet hope may come in the form of a mortal blow from space, allowing a more diverse, independent entity to rise from its grave.

Satellite radio may hurl the fateful spear to fall Levianthan. George Will noted today on radio listenership:

The fragmentation of the media market by technology is especially dramatic in radio. Just a blink ago the widespread lament was that a few providers, such as Clear Channel with 1,200 U.S. stations, were producing homogenized programming for a single mass market. Suddenly there is satellite radio. XM's more than 150 channels include Fungus ("punk/hardcore/ska"), Squizz ("hard alternative") and NASCAR2 ("in-race driver audio"). Sirius's more than 120 channels include one that is all Elvis, 24-7.

Not that satellite radio itself will ultimately be the champion of radio diversity (such a limited resource is bound to be centralized and homogenized) but it will render broadcast radio stations as a smoking pile of devalued debt. Smaller, regional concerns, our theory contends, will be able to buy the devalued stations and frequencies. And local access radio may be restored. While we wait, let's tune into the soothing sounds of Fungus Radio!

Hammering Credit Cards into Swords.

Tom "The Hammer" DeLay, inexplicably, hands the MSM and the Dems yet another sword in the form of a lobbyist's credit card. Lazy, sloppy, and inattentive to the need to be more chaste than Caesar's wife after last year's ethics reprimand, we now find out that DeLay's congressional office permitted a lobbyist to arrange and front his St. Andrews golf and public policy junket.

It doesn't matter that ultimately the NCPPR may have appropriately reimbursed the lobbyists' the front money (not determined as of this morning's press) - it's incredibly, mindblowingly stupid to conduct your business as a Chief Congresscritter in a manner for allow such an impression to be formed. Stupid, stupid, stupid! (Plan 9 from Outer Space) You idiot. Security will escort you to the door; you have 15 minutes to clear out your desk as House Majority Leader.

NPR's Crocodile Tears on LPFM.

Here's a Golden Oldie you'll all enjoy: In 2001 the NPR Ombudsman consoled us all regarding the NPR's victory in killing Low Power FM Radio. The LPFM initiative would have allowed the establishment of 2000 FM radio stations with radiated power of less than 100 watts. This was proposed by the FCC in response to the surge in unlicensed broadcasts of local public-access oriented LPFM since the early 1990s. The licensed LPFM stations would have legitimately served a clear need - real community access radio. NPR joined with the NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters, in lobbying Congress to kill LPFM, claiming that these stations would interfere with their broadcasts. This claim was never proved.

Jeffery Dvorkin, the ombudsman, reassured us that traditional public radio can serve these needs. Yeah, when can we schedule the local high school basketball game on the NPR station? Public access radio - whether unprofessional or uneven in production quality - is as legitimate a mission as broadcasting All Things Considered to every square mile of Kansas. Who made NPR the arbiter of what people need or want? If some fleabag ten-watter chooses to broadcast a lecture of a local author at the public library, why is this of any concern to you?

Congratulations, NPR: you have met the enemy and he is ...you. We hereby bestow upon your corporation the right dishonorable title of Monopoly. Take your seat next to J.D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, Pierpont Morgan, and Clear Channel Communications.

Cut NPR Loose.

In celebration of National Public Radio Begging Month, I offer the following idea: it's time to terminate federal support for National Public Radio. Not because it's biased and tends to present a lopsided leftist...sorry..."progressive" side to news and news analysis, true as that may be. The reason NPR needs to be pulled from the federal teat is because it isn't really public anymore.

Decades ago, arts and education radio broadcasting was almost exclusively a local affair, with independent radio stations operating through universities, colleges, high schools, and public libraries. Its content was, almost by definition, of local origin. Mostly classical, jazz, and American (i.e. folk) music was programmed, along with taped or live lectures by nearby academics, and a generous dollop of local and state news. It wasn't polished, but it really was public - i.e., local - radio.

Enter NPR, which dreamed of a nationwide network of radio stations to bring light and revelation to the masses. As determined by their impeccable tastes and predilections, of course. NPR needed stations and frequency space to build their empire, and in the late 1970s they lobbied the FCC to have the hundreds of low-power (less than 10mi reception radius) radio stations run by community colleges, high schools, and libraries eliminated from the low end of the FM band.

NPR then increased their geographic coverage and changed the program content of its "anchor" stations, primarily the higher-power noncommercial stations of colleges and universities. The nation-wide coverage was provided by the setting up of scores of small repeater stations, effectively monopolizing the FM band below 92MHz. So your contributions went for "keeping your public radio on the air", and also spreading its gospel to your "neighbors" on the other side of your state. It was also ironic that the small broadcast-footprint stations were merely replaced by a little larger robot repeater stations, bringing a homogeneous product to a region where there was once tremendous diversity.

Changing programming content proved challenging, because if done ham-handedly, it would alienate the stations' contributor base before it could either be swapped out with a more pro-NPR support base, or before the current contributor base could be "reeducated" to be more NPR-friendly. But it was done, successfully, at some of the biggest anchors in the country, including the University of Michigan's WUOM. In a now infamous incident, shortly after the 1996 spring fundraiser in which WUOM asked the public to help 'keep the programming that you love on the air' (my paraphrasing), the station management terminated much of the local on-air hosting and changed its format from a locally produced, fine-arts and education station to NPR current-affairs programming. Donovan Reynolds, WUOM station manager and leader of the station's pro-NPR junta, recently observed (Detroit News, March 14 2005):

"No other FM in Michigan was broadcasting public radio news and information as a format...it was a unique niche that we could fill. We put the new format on in '96 not really knowing how well it might do. But it was the right thing to do because we've been very successful at it. Revenue increased (emphasis added)."

Well, at least one now knew what was important to station management, not surprisingly, the same thing that was important to commercial radio stations - increasing listenership and making more money.

So, what now comprises the P in NPR? Looking at the WUOM schedule, we have the following line-up. I've italicized those programs that are locally produced or have significant local (local defined as statewide and the communities within 50 miles of Ann Arbor) content. I've also designated those programs that are provided by a satellite feed from NPR, or from another national public radio content producer:

• BBC World Service (NPR)
• Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, & All Things Considered (NPR)
• The Connection (NPR)
• Talk of the Nation (NPR)
• Diane Rehm (NPR)
• News and Notes (NPR)
• Marketplace (PRI)
• Day to Day (NPR)
• The Next Big Thing (PRI)
• Stateside (locally produced, statewide content)
• Studio 360 (PRI)
• Car Talk (NPR)
• Fresh Air (NPR)
• all other small-slot programs not mentioned above (NPR or PRI)
• all entertainment programs (PHC, American Routes, etc - NPR or PRI)
• Great Lakes Radio Consortium (regional coverage, only 5 mins Mon-Fri)

There you have it: out of 168 weekly programming hours, the flagship public radio station of the State of Michigan, funded in part by the University of Michigan, has less than one hour of regular programming that can be regarded as devoted to Michigan and local (rarely) communities. In a UM meeting in 1998, concern was raised that more university intellectual and education life should be on WUOM, and station management responded that this could be satisified with less than two dozen programs of university musical events, and a steady supply of UM faculty as commentators for NPR news programs.

This isn't public radio, this is corporate radio, marketing to the "Birkenstock Niche". Just like a classic rock, hip-hop, country, or talk-radio format commercial station, only with the commercials crammed into two weeks of the year, and daily on-air "acknowledgements" of corporate and special-interest underwriters.

I have no problem with such a media corporation existing. Best of luck to them in the free market. But let's not kid ourselves: NPR has clearly added to the homogenizing of the airwaves, just like the "commericial" media entities. And it doesn't need a penny of my taxes. The slice of federal funding is relatively small, but that slice should now be removed entirely. The claim of public participation - not just financial support - in "public radio" has become a canard.

Juggling Swords.

The Senate Republican Leadership is considering the so-called "nuclear option", namely changing the operating rules by which judicial nominees are confirmed (requiring a simple majority confirmation rather than a supermajority).

It's bad idea, for a lot of reasons based on good conservative principles. George Will recently detailed its dangers, and suggested alternate strategies. I've got another strategy the GOP should employ. One thing a Senator covets more than a principle is ...patronage. I wonder how many Democrat Senators would stand their ground on stopping these supposed "retrograde" judges if they had to sacrifice their state's new water projects, post offices, and the like. Take away Robert Byrd's bottomless pit of govenment-supplied asphalt for West Virginia roads...he'll be hands up in favor of these nominees by the end of the day. Let's Play Real Hardball.

Tax Day, 2005.

This Pulitzer Prize cartoon by the late, great, Jeff MacNelly pretty much sums it up. My own irritation for this day was the State of Michigan's 1040 booklet proudly announcing the option for e-filing, only to find their website a listing of other sites at which to e-file...for a fee. So let me understand this...I have the privledge of paying to make the state's tax collection easier? Who knows how much this financially-troubled state could save in paperwork costs if they hired a couple of hotshot programmers to whip together the state's own e-filing service. They withdrew "Tele-Tax" after only a single year, yet it made doing state taxes (admittedly fairly simple) as easy a writing a postcard.

The time has arrived for a profoundly simpler state and federal tax code and tax-filing system. Let's free the enormous amount of money now being consumed in the process of tax payment and collection to instead create new business and grow our state's economy.

The Unliveable Border.

Life for Americans on the southern border is melting down fast. Deadly cars crashes with speeding trucks packed with illegal aliens, gunplay between ranch owners and drug runners, the killing of NPS rangers, backpacks of drugs cached on homeowners' property, and strange "vistors" in the dead of night. The daily crap-shoot of life, courtesy of the United States Government, is being journaled at Desert Views.

Thanks, Jack, for the Memories.

The Bear Bids Farewell to Augusta National

Six green jackets - Jove among Golf Gods. When I was a kid caddying at Pine Lake CC, Mr. Nicklaus was The Man, with crushing drives (using the puny persimmon!), surgical iron play, and ESP: Extra-Sensory Putting. I began as a soldier in Arnie's Army, and crossed lines to join the Clan of the Golden Bear.

This event sends a chilling telegraph to me of the grind of time.

Hagen, Jones, Hogan, Snead, Palmer....Nicklaus!

NPR Priorities.

I woke up early this morning, and while getting ready for work I watched the solemn majesty of the funeral of His Holiness John Paul II. Clearly this was an event for the ages - a huge gathering of the faithful and the world's religious and political leaders. I found funeral coverage across the AM radio dial as well. Clearly this was news. I then thought: NPR must be providing some excellent coverage too; I mean, they're the serious radio network, right? Alas, a quick roll of the tuner over to the local NPR affliate gave me the typical ersatz news of Morning Edition: a seemingly endless piece on a new education program to teach kids to read using comic books...

The Last Saturday in April is approaching...
Posted by RollCast

Vox populi, vox Dei?

Deaddrifts recently noted the remarkable silence of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America on the Terri Schiavo Schindler tragedy; a review by Blogizdat shows how profoundly widespread this silence is among nearly all of the mainstream American Protestant churches.

John Paul "The Great".

Today the world lost its most important moral voice, and a most beloved man of God. Now in His loving embrace, Requiescat in Pace.

Requiescat in Pace.

Into your hands, Lord, we commend her spirit.

Some remarks that may help align our moral compass.

This Day.

...Jesus again cried aloud and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split, and graves opened; many of God's saints were raised from sleep...

...And when the centurion and his men who were keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and all that was happening, they were filled with awe and said "This must have been a son of God"...

Matthew, Ch27 V50-52,54

Speaking the bitter truth.

A blogger's rant about the Terri Schiavo tragedy, not for those with delicate dispostions. No doubt PETA will complain.

Terrible news from Minnesota.

Yesterday, a teenager entered a Minnesota high school and killed eight people, after killing his police officer grandfather and stealing his guns. The first victim was a security guard, who, according to NPR, was unarmed. How on earth was the guard suppose to protect the school from such a threat? What were they thinking?

The Husband.

A piece from NR a few years ago with some background on the Terri Schiavo tragedy begs the question - who really represents Terri's interests? Some astounding accusations, that, if true, would shame anyone siding with Terri's "husband". Meanwhile, Mickey Kaus weighs in and also recalls NPR's "evenhanded" treatment of this story.

Perhaps the most repugnant comment I've heard on this came from the none other than Ms. Maureen Dowd, who snickered on Imus this morning that Tom Delay and Bill Frist were acting out a sequel to "Weekend at Bernie's" - with Terry Schiavo as "Bernie". I glad that Ms. Dowd discovered the humor in this tragedy, high atop the Upper West Manhattan skyline, where the people below are just so many ants to burn with her magnifying glass.

More on Clear Channel and Thayrone X.

Another woman has opined on Clear Channel's public relations stunt, the firing of Thayrone X:

...Recently, over 200 indecency complaints filed against Clear Channel were terminated in an agreement wherein $1.75 million was paid to the FCC, and in return all cases were dropped and were not admissible in re-licensing hearings. Clear Channel was also fined when a disc jockey on WKQI in Detroit taped and broadcast a prank phone call made to a faith center, asking for a prayer as a joke, without informing the volunteer. The hip-hop songs played on both WJLB and WKQI are full of misogynist lyrics far worse than anything Thayrone plays...

Today's Prayer.

Courtesy of the ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod website:

Thank you Lord for giving us another day. Thank you for those we love, and protect and keep those we can not see. Amen.

Please also pray for Terri Schaivo. Apparently, the ELCA has not seen it fit to comment on this tragedy, but they have bushel baskets of thoughts on human sexuality.

Correction: after some digging in the ELCA website, I found the Social Statement on End of Life Decisions. This document does not directly address the issue of when a patient's wishes are unknown, and when there is irreconciable disagreement between concerned parties regarding a patient's fate. More importantly, it does not discuss the specific issue of this case - accelerating an end of life that is not near its natural end, because a concerned party, let us say "percieves a unacceptably poor quality of life". It does state the following:

...Our faith as Christians informs and guides us in approaching personal and public decisions about death and dying today. Among the convictions that orient us are:

- life is a gift from God, to be received with thanksgiving;

- the integrity of the life processes which God has created should be respected; both birth and death are part of these life processes;

- both living and dying should occur within a caring a community;

- a Christian perspective mandates respect for each person; such respect includes giving due recognition to each person's carefully considered preferences regarding treatment decisions;
truthfulness and faithfulness in our relations with others are essential to the texture of human life;

and,

- hope and meaning in life are possible even in times of suffering and adversity; a truth powerfully proclaimed resurrection faith of the church.

"Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's" (Rom 14:8). For those who live with this confidence, neither life nor death are absolute. We treasure God's gift of life; we also prepare ourselves for a time when we may let go of our lives, entrusting our future to the crucified and risen Christ who is "Lord of both the dead and the living" (Rom 14:9). While these convictions do not give clear-cut answers to all end-of-life decisions, they do offer a basic approach to them.

Allowing Death and Taking LifeWithholding or Withdrawing Artificially-administeredNutrition and Hydration

Patients who once would have died because of their inability to take food and water by mouth can today be kept alive through artificially-administered nutrition and hydration. These measures are often temporary and allow many to recover health. At other times, however, they alone maintain life, and they do so indefinitely. In those cases, is it ever permissible to withhold or withdraw such measures?

Food and water are part of our basic human care. Artificially-administered nutrition and hydration move beyond basic care to become medical treatment. Health care professionals are not required to use all available medical treatment in all circumstances. Medical treatment may be limited in some instances, and death allowed to occur. Patients have a right to refuse unduly burdensome treatments which are disproportionate to the expected benefits.

When medical judgment determines that artificially-administered nutrition and hydration will not contribute to an improvement in the patient's underlying condition or prevent death from that condition, patients or their legal spokespersons may consider them unduly burdensome treatment. In these circumstances it may be morally responsible to withhold or withdraw them and allow death to occur. This decision does not mean that family and friends are abandoning their loved one.

When artificially-administered nutrition and hydration are withheld or withdrawn, family, friends, health care professionals, and pastor should continue to care for the person. They are to provide relief from suffering, physical comfort, and assurance of God's enduring love...


Unfortunately, there is no statement here about a prevailing moral rule when the issue of "unduly burdensome" treatment is debated, or even when it is not clear who is speaking as the legal representative of the patient. Clearly, this document was meant to address the issues relevant to terminally ill patients and events near their death. Perhaps the first conviction mentioned above - that life is a gift from God - provides this guidance. Later, in the document, the issue of physician-assisted suicide is discussed, and it is stated:

...However, the deliberate action of a physician to take the life of a patient, even when this is the patient's wish, is a different matter. As a church we affirm that deliberately destroying life created in the image of God is contrary to our Christian conscience. While this affirmation is clear, we also recognize that responsible health care professionals struggle to choose the lesser evil in ambiguous borderline situations -- for example, when pain becomes so unmanageable that life is indistinguishable from torture...

This is about as close as this document gets to the tragedy of Terri Schiavo. One of the problems of a church leadership that repeatedly attempts to be all things to all people.

Liberalism at the Crossroads, Part IV.

VDH with a critique of the Hard Left's noxious rhetoric flooding the Democratic Party (thanks to LGF):

...something has gone terribly wrong with a mainstream Left that tolerates a climate where the next logical slur easily devolves into Hitlerian invective. The problem is not just the usual excesses of pundits and celebrities (e.g., Jonathan Chait’s embarrassing rant in the New Republic on why “I hate George W. Bush” or Garrison Keillor’s infantile slurs about Bush’s Republicans: “brown shirts in pinstripes”), but also supposedly responsible officials of the opposition such as former Sen. John Glenn, who said of the Bush agenda: “It’s the old Hitler business.”

Thus, if former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore breezily castigates Bush’s Internet supporters as “digital brownshirts”; if current Democratic-party chairman Howard Dean says publicly, “I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for” — or, “This is a struggle of good and evil. And we’re the good”; or if NAACP chairman Julian Bond screams of the Bush administration that “Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side,” the bar of public dissent has so fallen that it is easy to descend a tad closer to the bottom to compare a horrific killer to an American president...

Liberalism at the Crossroads, Part III.

John Leo weighs in, noting the Left's corrosive hostility to religion:

"...Worse, the cultural liberalism that emerged from the convulsions of the 1960s drove the liberal faith out of the mainstream. Its fundamental value is that society should have no fundamental values, except for a pervasive relativism that sees all values as equal. Part of the package was a militant secularism, pitched against religion, the chief source of fundamental values..."

Amen.


Battle of the Titans.

Wow! What a finish to the Ford Championship at Doral! Tiger Wood's eagle on the 12th hole, followed by back to back birdies by Phil Mickelson to even it up, only to let Tiger slip away on the 16th by matching his bogie! Exciting to the end with Phil's desperation chip on 18 that curled around the lip of the hole! Hats off to Tiger - he earned the victory.

Aye, laddie, that 'twas a Hell of a ro'ond 'a Golfe!


Facelift for Radio Oblique.

My flea circus of an internet radio station - now with "Formula X4" for deeper cleansing action, has a new playlist of R&B, Oldies, Rockabilly, and a kinder and gentler website. Fightin' the Media Conglomerate Man: heard Enima's latest hip-hop offering on four over-air stations simultaneously - aaahhhhghhh! When will they cue up some Don Woody, eh?

Freedom Marchers.

More evidence of the extraordinary bravery of the Iraqi people:

Thousands Protest at Iraqi Bombing Site

By QASIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer; Tue Mar
1, 6:48 PM ET

HILLAH, Iraq - Thousands of mostly black-clad Iraqis protested Tuesday outside a medical clinic where a suicide car bomber killed 125 people a day earlier, braving the threat of another attack as they waved clenched fists, condemned foreign fighters and chanted "No to terrorism!"

...But anxieties over another attack did not prevent more than 2,000 people from gathering outside the clinic Tuesday, shouting "No to terrorism!" and "No to Baathism and Wahhabism!"...

The Power of Perception.

Tom Friedman clearly states the remarkable transformation in the last month:

Thanks to eight million Iraqis defying "you vote, you die" terrorist
threats, Iraq has been reframed from a story about Iraqi "insurgents" trying to liberate their country from American occupiers and their Iraqi "stooges" to a story of the overwhelming Iraqi majority trying to build a democracy, with U.S. help, against the wishes of Iraqi Baathist-fascists and jihadists.

Yes, the transformation of the MSM.

A Trip to the Moondog Kingdom.

No, not moonbat, but Alan Freed's "Moondogger Show", circa April 1954. For those of you that despise the unimaginative offerings modern FM radio (I can set my watch to when the local "classic rock" station will loop back to Stairway to Heaven), here's a great offering from the Reel Radio Repository. It's from the Bruce Portzer Collection of radio airchecks, a half an hour of the King of the Moondoggers (RealPlayer required) in his prime with some truly great R&B. And while you listen, why don't you enjoy a cold Erin Brew?

The Pope's Brave Witness to Faith.

William F. Buckley has recently admitted he now abstains from praying for the recovery of the Pope. He also comments:

The temptation is, always, to pray for the continuation of the life of anyone who wants to keep on living. The pope is one of these. In the past, he recorded that he did not plan ever to abdicate, that he would die on the papal throne...

...To leave it before death can be construed as forsaking a mission charged by God almighty. That isn't the consensus of theologians.

John Paul's ministry has had different phases - covert opposition to Nazi occupiers, not-so-covert subversion of Soviet totalitarianism, remarkable journeys across the world to celebrate Mass with Catholics everywhere, and holding firm to the sanctity of life in an era of rapidly advancing technology and rapidly declining morality. Perhaps this stage of his life may be another phase of ministry - showing us how bear suffering with grace, dignity, and a complete commitment to Christ and to life until God calls him home.

Smoke gets in your eyes, the State gets in your wallet.

The Age of Reason has a great post on Jenny G (Jennifer Granholm, Governor of the Fair State of Michigan) pinging residents for online smoke purchases.
He also has a great collection of postings on smoking rights and abuses against by the Nanny State.

Meet the Blogs.

Brain Terminal's Evan Coyle Maloney recently interviewed Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, resulting in a very interesting Q&A. Milbank then asked if there was some manner in which the Post and the Blogosphere could collaborate. To which I replied:

I'd be very wary about cooperation or collaboration between the Blogosphere and the WP. There is just too much risk of the blogs either being co-opted or influenced to serve the Post's interests. The great value that I find in blogs is independent fact-checking, story follow-up, and critical analysis of journalism. This is activity that is not necessarily in the newspaper's interests. For example, if they were interested in criticizing coverage of a news story, say by the NYT, wouldn't they be doing it? Has the Post dug deep into the fiasco at CBS to confirm or dispute the findings of the Thornberg Report? And has anyone been impressed with CNN/Howard Kurtz's "Reliable Sources"?

By the way, this is should be the policy with the Washington Times as it is with the Post. And I think that current "market forces" appear to "rank" blogs pretty well already.

Frankly, blogs serve an important regulatory function, and as the Dept of Agriculture doesn't (or at least shouldn't) collaborate with meat-packers, nor should blogworld collaborate with the MSM.

Professor Churchill, meet Senator Byrd.

A few years ago Senator Robert Byrd found himself in a wee bit of trouble when he referred to "White ...", well, you know the word he used. Our intrepid scholar Ward Churchill was in spiritual communion with the Senator when he recently referred to whiteness as not a genetic condition but a noxious state of mind. Listen and receive enlightenment here (mp3 file).

The Liberal Crackup, 2005.

Dead Drifts, as part of the election post-mortem, opined that the Democratic Party was at a crossroads, that it presently faces a choice between being a political or ideological party. Martin Peretz, editor of the The New Republic, has developed this theme, suggesting that Liberalism, and by implication, the Democrats, "need(s) to be liberated from many of its own illusions and delusions", such as its flirtation with anti-Americanism from the EU and Islamofascists. Note that TNR charges for this analysis. Dead Drifts provides it gratis, while omitting the unnecessary sniping at Mr. Buckley and Mr. Kirk.


Satire as Thoughtcrime.

One of the golden arrows in the quiver of American arts and letters, satire has been loosed by some of our greatest artists against civilization's most noxious and pernicious foes. Sadly, in our time, certain attitudes regarding certain subjects are sacrosanct, and satire is not tolerated as it dares to use humor to comment on these issues.

Dead Drifts has mentioned an incident involving a beloved local bluesman and disc-jockey, Thayrone X, who was canned by WQKL, a cog in the Clear Channel Communications Media Machine. The putative cause for his dismissal was for playing a song by a satirical songwriter-performer, "Unknown Hinson". The song, entitled, "Trunk of My Cadillac Car", is Hinson's satire of the misogyny found in some country music culture. Thayrone's firing has been applauded by a local women's group, whose representative recently commented:

"There are many ways that our community can help end violence against women, ranging from challenging people who make sexist jokes to volunteering at a domestic violence/sexual assault program.

Furthermore, having all members of a community work toward achieving this goal is absolutely necessary.

Clear Channel Radio in Ann Arbor has decided to work toward this end by refusing to broadcast radio programs and songs that glorify violence against women or any other group of individuals... "

According to this statement merely playing such a song is a thoughtcrime against women. It's useful to recall exactly what satire is: wit, irony, derision, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice, folly and evil. Hinson's act and music follow this definition. Yet self-appointed commissars insist that they - and only they - can define misogyny (alas, blonde jokes are now taboo), can percieve what abets misogynistic violence, and prescribe what is a "proper" attitude in dealing with it. Their cause is not so noble as to justify the subversion of the basic liberty to think as one chooses, and to oppose wrong in a manner that one sees fit.

Mel Brooks once remarked that the most effective way that he could confront the monstrous evil of Hitler and Nazism was to make them look silly and ridiculous. Our culture is richer for his satire, as it is also with Unknown Hinson's.


P.S. If Tim Robbins loves Unknown, why can't we all love him?

If you don't like the message, smear the messenger.

Paul Krugman listened to Alan Greenspan's comments about Social Security, and then went on a powerrant.

Farewell to Diplomad.

The Diplomad, a well-crafted journal of foreign affairs, takes a bow and makes its exit. Job well done!

Move over, Ford, Dow Chemical, Enron...

Perhaps the message of Rathergate and Easongate is pretty simple: the MSM is an entity which is not immume to the normal laws of behavior of corporations or large human organizations. Despite the claims of priestly conduct, journalists are subject to error and bias and require oversight - just like lawyers, doctors, stock brokers, and meat packers. The MSM has demonstrated this necessity for other human organizations and institutions, now the shoe is on the other foot and they are, of course howling in pain. This is completely understandable behavior.

This oversight should not be the domain of government - certainly not! - but can be provided by ... competition. And we're now entering an era where competition to provide information and to check facts on a rapid global scale is possible. To call all the bloggers involved in the Jordan fiasco morons and vigilantes would be like, well, saying all columnists are like Maureen Dowd. And that's not fair.

Longing for Old-Timey Journalism.

The MSM is now launching the counteroffensive against the blogosphere for bringing Eason Jordan down. Bill Press, former columnist and Dem operative, and who now sports a "Kiss Me, I'm a Journalist!" button, believes that the ultra-right bloggers were out to get CNN (I guess after exxing-out Dan Rather). Press, appearing on "Realiable Sources with Howard Kurtz, David Gergen, and Jeff (BuzzMachine) Jarvis, ranted on how bloggers aren't real journalists.

Well , Mr. Press, I offer my examples of what is and what is not journalism. These description may disagree with yours.

An Example of Real Journalism:

Des Moines, Iowa - The cat owned by Mr. and Mrs.
Stanislaw Dupa of 101 Maple Street was found dead today, apparently struck by an automobile sometime last night. The Dupas normally let "Pooky" outside for a few minutes each night, "to powder her nose", said Mrs. Dupa. However, last night Pooky did not return to the door, and a frantic search into the early hours of the morning failed to find the cat. Pooky was found on the side of nearby State Route 56 after daylight. The Dupas say they are not sure whether they will get another cat to replace their beloved Pooky.

Example of MSM Journalism:

Des Moines, Iowa - Irene Dupa sips coffee at her kitchen table on a Monday afternoon, the strong plainswoman seeming to restrain a torrent of grief, doubt, and fear that entered her life this morning.

Irene's companion, Pooky, a mixed Siamese-Angora, was found dead after mysteriously vanishing Sunday evening. Authorities' questioning now centers on Irene's husband Stanislaw Dupa, the last family member to see Pooky alive, and who claims to have no knowledge of her demise.

Yet a troubling chain of events, perhaps coincidental, yet perhaps more sinister, may link Mr. Dupa's supressed rage, his failing business, Bush Administration policies, and Des Moines' historical insensitvity to animal rights.

Carla Zlagg, spokesperson for the Central Iowa Animal-Womynist Alliance commented, when informed of the tragedy, "it's clear that people who seek a dignified life for all creatures should become informed on the basic facts of this case. Mr. Dupa is an independent meat producer, and faces increasing competition from the factory farms sponsored by George Bush's cronies. Men such as Dupa were never taught about dealing with feelings and stress, and in this part of the country, much violence is focused on animals. But there is no excuse for violence of this kind. Our group can provide support in a nuturing, safe environment if Irene feels she is at risk."

Calls to the White House on a possible link to Pooky's death were not returned.

Totalitarism 101.

The Belmont Club, possessing some of the best historical-political analysis to be found on the Web, provides an excellent discussion on how the totalitarian mind views human beings as mere columns of a ledger.

Let us keep in mind -

"Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals could believe them" - George Orwell

Zimbabwe's Nightmare.

The Post reports on the "Madness of President Robert":

By Craig TimbergWashington Post Foreign ServiceSaturday,
February 12, 2005

JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 11 -- The Zimbabwean
government, backing off forecasts of a bumper harvest, announced Friday that 1.5 million people were in immediate need of food aid, especially in the country's drought-stricken southern provinces.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper in Harare, the capital, reported that the government planned to spend about $8
million to buy and distribute more than 15,000 tons of corn meal, the staple food in southern Africa, in the weeks leading up to nationwide parliamentary elections March 31.

The announcement drew immediate criticism from opposition
leaders, human rights activists and other government critics who warned that in the previous two national elections -- in 2000 and 2002 -- President Robert Mugabe's ruling party used food handouts to garner votes. Mugabe has been in power since 1980.

...

"They want to control the food and politicize it," said
Pius Ncube, the Catholic archbishop of Zimbabwe's second-largest city and one of Mugabe's most vocal critics. "They'd rather kill people for the sake of power." Ncube said the announcement was part of a strategy that began last May, when Mugabe called on international food donors to leave Zimbabwe. "We are not hungry . . . Why foist this food upon us? We don't want to be choked. We have enough," Mugabe told Britain's Sky News...

...

The government also has limited the purchase and transport of corn meal by individuals. Roadblocks have been set up on main roads, and Zimbabweans caught carrying more than two or three of the bags can face fines or imprisonment...

[Zimbabwen] agricultural output has plummeted since 2000, when Mugabe sanctioned violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms. Many once-productive fields have turned brown and are overgrown with weeds. As recently as 2002, the World Food Program fed more than half the population.

...

In Rhodesia man exploited man; in Zimbabwe it's the other way around...

Exit Jordan.

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reports on the resignation of CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan, and makes a very interesting observation:

"...Even as he [Jordan] said he had misspoken at an international
conference in suggesting that coalition troops had "targeted" a dozen journalists and insisted he never believed that, Jordan was being pounded hourly by bloggers, liberals as well as conservatives, who provided the rocket fuel for a story that otherwise might have fizzled..."

A remarkable admission that the MSM's investigative journalism ceases at a brother's frontdoor.

Re: The Nutty Professor

There isn't much more I can add to the Churchill fiasco not stated earlier and more eloquently by David Horowitz or Mark Goldblatt...other than to remind us that we protect the freedom of a third-rate intellect to make an ass of himself in order to guarantee the right for first-rate intellects to speak freely.

Oh, the Savings we will Save!

W has released his budget. OK... I'm thinking of freshly run-over kittens in order to restrain laughter while I read: there is going to be a big fight over cutting about twenty some-odd billion in domestic spending (flax subsidies, paving West Virginia once again, a compilation of the oral history of mimes in America, etc) out of a budget of 2.7 Teradollars.....Bwahaahaahaaahaaa! Sorry, I wasn't strong enough. Ahem....we are in deep, deep kimchee if we can't cut more than 1% of the budget and not have to commit political suicide.


Everybody's want, er need, is vital. Sir, please lead on real cuts, and we might just follow.

We want a purple finger, too!

Even a BS detector with dead batteries would peg its meter when
waved over the following statements from the Sunni Party-Poopers.
I've added some translations of some of the more laughable face-savers:

Conciliatory Line Carries Conditions

By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 5, 2005; Page A01

BAGHDAD, Feb. 4 -- Influential Sunni Arab leaders of a boycott of last Sunday's elections expressed a new willingness Friday to engage the coming Iraqi government and play a role in writing the constitution, in what may represent a strategic shift in thinking among mainstream anti-occupation groups.

The signs remain tentative... But in statements and interviews, some Sunni leaders said the sectarian tension that surged ahead of the vote had forced them to rethink their stance.

Translation: "This boycott thing blew up in out faces, and we're getting posteriors handed to us. Please help us save face, and just forget about all those car bombs and dead fellow countrymen. It was just one of those things"

..."We are taking a conciliatory line because we are frightened that things may develop into a civil war," said Wamidh Nadhmi, the leader of the Arab Nationalist Trend and a spokesman for a coalition of Sunni and Shiite groups that boycotted the election. "The two sides have come to a conclusion that they have to respect the other side if they want a unified Iraq."

Translation: "We can't steal the county back through killing the rest of you, and you're winning, so we offer you a draw."

He cautioned, however, that "perhaps it will not succeed."

The Association of Muslim Scholars, one of the most influential groups, sent mixed signals this week -- saying it would respect the election results, while arguing that the new government will lack the legitimacy to draft a constitution. But the sermon Friday at the association's headquarters, the Um al-Qura mosque, was decidedly conciliatory...

A decision by Sunni Muslim and other anti-occupation groups to engage the new government and help draft the constitution would mark one of the most important shifts in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's fall in April 2003 (bold inserted)...

..The shift in thinking appears to have arisen from a calculation that the election may have created a new dynamic in Iraq, as the country slowly moves past an emphasis on the U.S. occupation and more toward the blueprint of a future state. The groups do not speak for the insurgency, but the Association of Muslim Scholars, in particular, holds great sway in the Sunni Arab community in central and western Iraq, where there are signs of grass-roots discontent over the boycott.

This is the meat of the article: everyday folks in this part of Iraq have had their fill of mindless violence and poser warlords. They were sold a bill of goods about the election boycott and now realize they have been cut out of a say in their future. And they've formed a posse, with pitchforks and torches...

...The insurgents "made fools of us," said Mahmoud Ghasoub, a businessman in Baiji, a restive northern town. "They voted to disrupt the elections but failed. Now we have lost both tracks. We did not vote, nor did they disrupt the elections."...

The tide is turning.

Roundup for 12 January 2005:

Is Al Qaeda's permit in the mail?

The National Park Service, in a spasm of true stupidity, has granted the Leninist-Anarchist group ANSWER a permit to disrupt the inauguration at some prime real estate along the parade route:

A Wide Variety of Protest Planned for Inauguration (washingtonpost.com)

Perhaps the Secret Service is applying the "Roach Motel" strategy, trying to concentrate all of the vermin in one location where they can be carefully monitored. I doubt it will play out like that, not with droogs like these:

...Anarchist Resistance said it will stage a "festive and rowdy march" from Franklin Square. A message posted on its Web site says: "There's nothing left to salvage in this empire that is the U.S. government. It's time to bring it down." ...

Doesn't this kind of statement fall under sedition laws - go directly to Gitmo, do not pass the welfare office, do not collect food stamps?

So how is it that...

Pathogens like ANSWER can spew their anarchist dreck, and their masked goon squads can bully those bystanders who happen to object to their offal, but a good guy like Thayrone X, host of the rockingest R&B radio show on Earth, gets canned by Clear Channel Communications for playing a song by the musical psychobilly satirist Unknown Hinson?

A simple and perhaps naive question about the American economy:

During the Christmas shopping hubbub, I conducted a simple experiment - I went into department and specialty stores in our local mall, and examined a cross section of consumer goods that people were certain to buy. Things like household stuff, consumer electronics, clothes, and "cool stuff" gadgets at places
like the Brookstone store. I then looked at the manufacturing label on them. The result of my highly unstructured and uncontrolled experiment: the United States apparently doesn't manufacture any consumer goods any more. The are very few exceptions, such a some brands of washers, refrigerators, etc. But they are the very obvious exceptions to the rule.

So exactly what is it that we supply to the domestic and world markets that generates the enormous wealth to maintain our standard of living and benefits?
The automobile industry is in a shambles, where domestic vehicle manufacturers have steadily lost market share to worldwide makers, and American parts suppliers are in really deep Kim Chee. We don't make steel or other basic unfinished products. IT development and services are now moving overseas, and in any case most middle-class folks cannot be employed in these types of industries. So exactly how do we generate our wealth in a way that allows participation by the majority of the working population of the country?

21 Dec 2004: Damn bad news from Mosul.

I can't add anything to the news reports and the riveting account from Chaplain Lewis.

Please pray for our guys, that God will extend a loving hand to protect them. And that the media harpies just shut up for an hour or two as we mourn our dead in reverent silence. God, give us strength to sustain us in our ordeal. Give people around the world the courage to stand up for what is right, a chance for an oppressed people to seek their own destiny. In the time where we celebrate your glorious Son's birth, bring peace and hope to a part of the world where evil, fear, and death have ruled for far too long.

Oh Come Emanuel (and save me from this nightmare)!

God is wising me up. I have this year developed a profound distaste for the dreck that is America's current expression of Christmas. The incessant droning of "holiday music" on radio and in stores numbs one of any emotion that it was supposed to encourage, and will of course, stop precisely at 12 midnight the day after Christmas. The computer-driven tape loop will then be switched to the generic drivel, and not another tune proclaiming the glorious birth of Christ will be slid into the loop for another 365 days. Because, you see, Christmas - as defined as the time to buy things, travel, party, buy things, take time from work, and buy things - is over on December 26. Then it's time to think about New Year's, and the things to buy for that and whose going to be crowned first in the BCS. And then...white sales! Hum.....bug...!

Well, not me. I going to raise my voice in song in the bloody streets of Saline on December 26, and everyday afterward:

For unto us a child is born...and his name shall be called wonderful,
counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Roundup for December 13, 2004

Kyoto! Kyoto!

There's some serious partying goin' down in Lookout, Buenos Aires (as reported in the Grey Old Lady):

...delegates from more than 190 countries have gathered here both to celebrate the enactment of the Kyoto Protocol...

however,

..Many delegates and experts concede that the pact, negotiated in 1997, is deeply flawed and that years of delays in finishing its rulebook mean that many adherents may have trouble meeting their targets for emissions cuts...

Oh really? So just the ridiculous bureaucracy spawned by the treaty has made it impossible to enforce? We also learn that:

...Its impact will also be limited because it exempts developing countries, including fast-industrializing giants like China and India, from emissions restrictions, and lacks the support of the United States, the world's dominant source of the heat-trapping gases...

Well, we've all heard about the fact that the US didn't sign Kyoto. That doesn't mean that we won't restrict our greenhouse gas (GG) production; in fact US GG production has stayed relatively flat for the last few years. But I wonder how many are aware that India and China can go and burn hydrocarbons as if it were ...going out of style. We know that the West could go and work wonders in GG production, and it won't amount to a whit if China and India grow their emissions to nightmare quantities.

Roundup for December 11, 2004

Hummer-Armor, Part II:

Michelle Malkin (insert tiger growl here!) doesn't get hung up on where the question regarding Hummer armor originated - it's still a valid question. She provides a good summary of things so far. The WSJ has an excellent editorial that hits the nail on the head.

Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh is an administration apologist/shill about this.

The issue is not the origin of the question, it is that this a problem that's been killing guys in the field for over a year, and this is just too damn long to wait for a solution through the military acquisition & procural process. FIX IT, NOW.

Start your day off with inspiration from the Founders...

The Federalist Patriot provides a daily quote from the Founding Fathers, such as

"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin


Realistic Prognostication about the NID:

The WSJ carefully sets all the emotions aside and tells us what is likely to happen with the National Intelligence Directorate.


Terror's Secret Weapon: Illegal "Nannigrants"

Jeesh. With the stealth and efficiency that would make a sniper green with envy, another illegal alien takes out a promising public servant. Jeers to the White House for not fighting for a good man. When will we focus on a nominee's qualities to get the job done?

A Real Plan to Save Social Security...

As a former civil servant, I participated in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), where the Federal Government, inmy name... are you ready... INVESTED IN THE STOCK, MORTGAGE, AND BOND MARKETS! (cue "Psycho" theme here).

I'm happy they did. I did quite well during the Roaring Nineties, and yes, I took a hit when the Clinton Bubble burst. Yet my TSP account still does much, much better than if the money, say, was snatched up and replaced by worthless IOUs to pay for increased wealth-sapping federal spending.

David Brooks makes the arguement that we can pay for Social Security by putting the contributions to work to generate wealth in our capitalist economy.

Roundup for 8 Dec 2004:

Let's hear it for democracy!

Spc. Thomas Wilson exercised a basic right of democracy - holding elected leaders accountable, in this case Don Rumsfeld as proxy to the President:

..Spc. Thomas Wilson had asked the defense secretary, "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?" Shouts of approval and applause arose from the estimated 2,300 soldiers who had assembled to see Rumsfeld...

Rumsfeld's reply was...weak. And he doesn't get much sympathy from me. IEDs have been blowing our guys up for well over a year now, and there's no
real excuse for failing to get highly armored Humvees into the field.

Where were these concerns a few weeks ago?

Now that the 911 Intelligence Bill is a "slam dunk", now we hear questions about whether it will help at all (NBC news and WaPost):

...The compromise legislation approved by the House yesterday in response to the Sept. 11 commission's findings represents a historic reordering of the $40 billion intelligence community.

But some experts say it is not at all evident how, or even if, the changes would help America's spies obtain secrets and aid analysts in determining the intentions of terrorists bent on striking again or worrisome nations developing weapons of mass destruction...

..This new player is confounding to intelligence experts trying to see how all the new pieces would fit together with the existing system and whether the changes would make anyone safer...

Perhaps we should ask those experts in intelligence, the Jersey Girls?



Home Run Kings...

Hank Arron 755
Barry Bonds 703*
Babe Ruth 714

* undetermined number hit while using performance-enhancing drugs.

Starting a Dialogue with Christians...

Bernard Moon has written a nice essay on Christianity and Christians for easy comprehension by those that are unfamiliar with the faith.

A Holiday card from Jimmy Carter...

My mail was graced with a very handsome envelope with a faux-presidential seal, with return address of Atlanta, GA. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter sent me a card for the season, complete with genuine simulated signature inside. And a letter asking for a $35 (recommended mininum) contribution to the Carter Center, so he can help bring peace to the Korean Peninsula...I kid you not. In fairness to the Carter Center, they have (according to the letter) assisted in nearly eradicating Guniea worm disease from the globe, and good for them. Just please, Jimmy, leave the dealing with dangerous rogue nations to the duly elected leaders of your country.

The best Messiah...

is that recorded by the Gabrieli Consort and Players, with Paul McCreesh. Ev'ry valley shall be exhalted!


Oil for Bribes Update:

Joy Gordon of the Nation, in a classic co-dependent moment, argues that UN/French/German/Russian corruption is our fault.

Reagan Remembered...

on a wonderful CD produced by Bill Bennett's radio program. Great stocking stuffer for that neo-Kirkian!

Glib: showing little forethought

Investor's Business Daily recently reported Brian Williams' recent quip regarding bloggers:

...When a fellow panelist mentioned that bloggers had had a big impact on the reporting on Election Day, Williams waved that point away by quipping that the self-styled journalists are "on an equal footing with someone in a bathroom with a modem."

Like their video and written counterparts, bloggers are found in all degrees of qualities: wise, witty, prescient, juvenile, bombastic, superficial, and dull. A man who lives in a glass house is wise not to throw stones: how much did that hair cut set you back, Bri?

Carter Dodges Tough Ukranian Election?

I guess Jimmy Carter decided to skip monitoring the contentious Ukranian election. Does Jimmy think that Ukranian democracy wasn't worth the plane fare, or that there wasn't a slam-dunk side he could take to look good? Don't take a pass on the tough ones, Jimmy.

Why We Fight:

We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, January 6, 1941

Perhaps the quest for human dignity and freedom is a not a neo-con pipedream.

Moore-ish tactics turned against the Campus Leftocracy:

Evan Maloney is a clever fellow: his "Brainwashing 101" uses the guerilla tactics of Michael MooreOn.org and stomps the toes of the ruling class of academe.

What's new on the Oil for Bribes Scandal:

The Boston Globe reports:

WASHINGTON -- Saddam Hussein's regime made more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting the UN oil-for-food program and other sanctions -- more than double previous estimates, according to congressional investigators...

The findings also reflect a growing understanding by investigators of the intricate schemes Hussein used to buy support abroad for a move to lift UN sanctions...

"That humanitarian program was corrupted and exploited . . . for the most horrible and aggressive purpose" of raising money for Hussein's military, said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut.

But the committee's ranking Democrat, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, said "for the most part the UN sanctions achieved their intended objective of preventing Saddam from rearming and developing weapons of mass destruction."

Sure, Carl, like the dam before it burst, it was working perfectly!

The Queen of Hearts pronounces judgement:

Clue-starved Chris Matthews in a "if I had some ham, I'd have ham & eggs, if I had some eggs" moment in his questioning to Ken Allard:

MATTHEWS: Well, let me ask you about this. If this were the other side and we were watching an enemy soldier, a rival -- I mean they're not bad guys, especially, just people that disagree with us. They are, in fact, the insurgents fighting us in their country. If we saw one of them do what we saw our guy do to that guy, would we consider that worthy of a war crimes charge?

Let's review the conversation before the shooting. I've attempted to identify one of the voices (not the Marine who shot, I believe), and I've added an emphasis at an important comment:

Marine 1: Any Marines in there?

Marine 2: Yeah, they're on the floor, far right, far right.

Marine 1: Coming around the back, hey, who's in here?

Marine 1: Coming around.

VOICE: What are you doing in here? (BLEEP).

Marine 1: That guy shot at my tank!(BLEEP).

VOICE: Yeah.

VOICE: Yeah.

Marine 1: Shot up my tank.

VOICE: Come in here.

VOICE: Yeah.

Marine 1: Did you shoot them?

Marine 1: Did they have any weapons on them?

VOICE: All right. These are the ones from yesterday.

VOICE: These are the ones they never picked up. Bleep.

OK - so this unit had just come under fire from the mosque. So perhaps it's a little more complicated than your cartoon, Chris.

Now, take a deep breath Chris, and we'll all just wait for the results of the inquiry. In the meantime, you may want to contemplate your assinine comment that the Sunni "insurgents" - by this we mean the group who enjoyed having their boot on the neck of eighty percent of the population of Hussein's Iraq, and really don't want to give that up for democracy - just "disagree" with us.

Cognitive Dissonance and Terror

Our man Jimmy Carter, The Smartest Man to be President, summons all of his rhetorical powers in his Jellospeak on Arafat:

"Yasser Arafat's death marks the end of an era and will no doubt be painfully felt by Palestinians throughout the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.He was the father of the modern Palestinian nationalist movement. A powerful human symbol and forceful advocate, Palestinians united behind him in their pursuit of a homeland. While he provided indispensable leadership to a revolutionary movement and was instrumental in forging a peace agreement with Israel in 1993, he was excluded from the negotiating role in more recent years..."

The Jerusalem Post reports a different point of view, stated with the utmost clarity:

"He (Arafat) had more Jewish blood on his hands than anybody since Hitler. He was a strategist of the murder of women, children and the aged. No normal nation would have dedicated this amount of endless broadcasts to a person responsible for the deaths of so many of their kin," aides close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in what appeared to be a rebuke to the media for its exhaustive coverage of the burial of the Palestinian leader on Friday...

Drop a line to Jimmy at the Carter Center and remind him of some of the facts his statement ignored.

PS - I actually worked for this guy's campaign in '76...I can only shake my head and wonder what on Earth I was thinking...

More comment on the "Values Vote"

David Brooks has an interesting take on this:

NYT Column, 06 Nov 2004: "The Values-Vote Myth"

Every election year, we in the commentariat come up with a story line to explain the result, and the story line has to have two features. First, it has to be completely wrong. Second, it has to reassure liberals that they are morally superior to the people who just defeated them...

...In the first place, there is an immense diversity of opinion within regions, towns and families. Second, the values divide is a complex layering of conflicting views about faith, leadership, individualism, American exceptionalism, suburbia, Wal-Mart, decorum, economic opportunity, natural law, manliness, bourgeois virtues and a zillion other issues.

But the same insularity that caused many liberals to lose touch with the rest of the country now causes them to simplify, misunderstand and condescend to the people who voted for Bush. If you want to understand why Democrats keep losing elections, just listen to some coastal and university town liberals talk about how conformist and intolerant people in Red America are. It makes you wonder: why is it that people who are completely closed-minded talk endlessly about how open-minded they are?...

Brooks' entire column is here.

The Dems respond to the "Values Voters"

The "reasonable" Democrats (the "Bush May Not Be a Fascist" caucus) have formulated a response to November 2nd's Right Hook, namely, that morality and values also include health care for those in need, growing quality jobs, and better public education. Ahem - they really don't get it, do they? Everyone understands that these issues need to be resolved, but it's demagogic to define the Democratic solution to these problems as the moral position. That is, in part, what Redland is revolting against. Reasonable, equally moral people can differ as to the solutions here. Equating universal "free" prescription drug coverage and radical redefinition of a marriage as a taproot societal value is - shall we say - foolish.