What can you even say?

The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects -- U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike -- may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say.

The elements of this new system are already familiar from President Bush's orders and his aides' policy statements and legal briefs: indefinite military detention for those designated "enemy combatants," liberal use of "material witness" warrants, counterintelligence-style wiretaps and searches led by law enforcement officials and, for noncitizens, trial by military commissions or deportation after strictly closed hearings.

Only now, however, is it becoming clear how these elements could ultimately interact.

For example, under authority it already has or is asserting in court cases, the administration, with approval of the special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, couldorder a clandestine search of a U.S. citizen's home and, based on the information gathered, secretly declare the citizen an enemy combatant, to be held indefinitely at a U.S. military base. Courts would have very limited authority to second-guess the detention, to the extent that they were aware of

Well, I for one will pen yet another Tech Central Station column on the inconvenient infringements of post- 9/11 airline security. This civil libertarian isn't going to take this lying down.

In a recent legal brief, Olson argued that the detention of people such as Hamdi or Padilla as enemy combatants is "critical to gathering intelligence in connection with the overall war effort."

Nor is there any requirement that the executive branch spell out its criteria for determining who qualifies as an enemy combatant, Olson argues.

"There won't be 10 rules that trigger this or 10 rules that end this," Olson said in the interview. "There will be judgments and instincts and evaluations and implementations that have to be made by the executive that are probably going to be different from day to day, depending on the circumstances."

The federal courts have yet to deliver a definitive judgment on the question. A federal district judge in Virginia, Robert G. Doumar, was sharply critical of the administration, insisting that Hamdi be permitted to consult an attorney. But he was partially overruled by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, based in Richmond.

Hillary tried to warn ya..

Haha. S&M Iraq inspector. Some things don't even need a snarky comment...

Katha Pollitt kicks Hitchens in the knee caps and then proceeds to beat the crap out of him with his empty bottle of Old Crow.

Make sure to read Digby's comments here on the ongoing homocidal feminist controversy.

I'm back. Wonder what hellish nonsense I missed...


I have a new email address: Atrios@comcast.net .

Conservative commentator Snotglass gives us his Thanksgiving message:

Our elected President, George W. Bush is making great strides in fulfilling his solemn campaign promise to be the Education President. Despite the stubborn resistance of obstructionist Democrats and the powerful liberal teachers lobby, President Bush has enjoyed considerable success.

The failed liberal education policies of the Clinton regime have produced a generation of American children unable to function in the modern workplace. Social promotion of illiterate students and the feel-good, self-esteem curriculum forced on public schools by unqualified unionized teachers are a prescription for failure.

But exhaustive research conducted by the eminent Professor Richard Arkwright of the Family Freedom Foundation's Center for Public Education at Liberty University offers a solution to the mass-production education failure of the liberal welfare state. Addressing the problem of children who are often graduated with little real-life economic skills, public schools should be designed to not only give students a basic knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic, but also produce marketable skills that qualify individual students in the labor force.

Beginning in kindergarten, students should be trained under the close supervision of experts in Industrial Technology, giving them a proven hands-on education in valuable labor skills. This approach, enlightened educators agree, would not only utilize a tested learning device, but would also produce a viable product which could be sold to offset the cost of their education. Participating school districts and their supporting business partners can provide incentives to promising students through corporate sponsored scholastic achievement awards in the form of product placement in the school.

“It’s these kinds of common sense education reforms that have been subverted by a failed generation of liberal dominance in education,” said prominent educator and noted author Jonah Goldberg. “Students have been given copious helpings of useless Wood Shop and Metal Shop training while being denied the character-building discipline of Sweat Shop.”

You people are anti-family and unpatriotic.

Poor Hitchy-poo. His head IS exploding..

Get Your War On!

Damn, Judge Sullivan rejects Cheney appeal. Surprised.

HA HA HA HA

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

One less Nazi asshole.

Yep, Kissinger is the best man for the job.


CNN: So you are not willing to say U.S. intelligence has failed America?

KISSINGER: No. I think U.S. intelligence has been -- if you look at one investigation
after another, they have done as good a job as they could under the circumstances.

Why don't they just let me write the report. It'll go something like this:

Report of the Kissinger Commission

Muslims attacked us because they are bad and they hate our freedom. Our noble intelligence agencies did the best they could. Our recommendation is that we should curtail our freedoms, so that they won't hate us so much anymore.


Love,


Henry

Blogging may be slow for the rest of the day, then I'll be off for a couple for Thanksgiving. Please feel free to do your Black Friday shopping from the comfort of your chair, scotch in hand, by clicking through the amazon links to the left..

Kissinger to head 9/11 probe? This is the man who after the election oddly commented on national TV that the American people would rally behind Bush after a big crisis, such as a major terrorist attack. Well, maybe it'll make Hitchy-poo's brain explode when he tries to cope with the cognitive dissonance he experiences while he simultaneously tries shoving his tongue up W's ass and a hot poker up Henry's.

The Bush administration is trying to seal information from court cases over the potential vaccine/autism link. PLA has the details.

where is the outrage...

read the Salon review here...


Heartwarming tales of unconventional families from Mr. and Mrs. Gore? Sounds like the snooze of the year -- but against all odds their new book is endearing and even inspiring.

Ampersand discovers that maybe, just maybe, feminists aren't calling for the eradication of men, despite claims to the contrary.

Calpundit corrects the Wall Street Journal.

(warning, one can waste a life doing this)

Ah, the joys of socializing insurance.

Drudge says:



Al Gore attacks FOX NEWS, Rush Limbaugh and the WASHINGTON TIMES in an interview set for release on Wednesday, DRUDGE has learned... MORE...
He calls them a 'fifth column' in the ranks of the media, and says that the RNC uses them to inject 'daily Republican talking points' into
mainstream media coverage as a whole. Reporter Josh Benson of the NEW YORK OBSERVER is preparing the exclusive, according to sources...

Well, duhh.

Mark Kleiman wonders why though various Righties are outraged by a snarky opinion piece about the Federalist Society party,

none of them mentioned the one assertion in the op-ed that I thought actually reflected serious discredit on the organization: to wit, that a satirical song sung at a black-tie banquet lambasted "Brennan, Marx, and Lenin."


Well, I don't wonder.

UPDATE: outrage was my word, and perhaps more than a bit of an exaggeration. What I get for doing the quick skim...my bad

You know, Andy, I'm usually up for defending the Tubesteak Messiah against its detractors, but even to this partisan Clintonite after Osama Bin Laden arranged to fly a few planes into a few buildings it is for some reason way down the list of things I need to get outraged about.

Via Roger Ailes, who wonders how Andy can work for a man who said this:


'America is the kingdom of extreme individualism, the kingdom of free sex. The country that represents Satan’s harvest is America. America doesn’t have anywhere to go now. [Homosexuals and] those who go after free sex [are] less than animals.'

Body and Soul tells us about DynCorp.

I didn't used to think that Little Green Footballs was a bigoted hate site. Sure, the people writing in the comments helped make it fit that description. And, sure, Charles had developed a potentially unhealthy obsession with unearthing any little negative tidbit from the pan-arab/muslim/etc... world. But, hey, it was also informative and we all have our interests. I won't make the argument, as some might in other circumstances, that Charles's failure to highlight the terrible things in the non-Muslim world made him a bigot simply by emphasis. However, over time Charles's tone changed to match that of his commentors, and rather being simply informative it became derisive. Each bit of nasty information is now seized upon with a kind of "see! I told you they were bad" kind of glee. And, increasingly any subtlety in distinguishing between Muslim/Arab/Pakistan/Persian/Muslim American/Arab American/etc... became lost as they would all be lumped together.

But, now apparently, we on the left have become insular because some of us don't want to link to a home for bigots and don't want to encourage others to do so either. This has been taken by some to be evidence of lefty "cocooning"


You know, I don't have a permanent link to Indymedia and I don't (as far as I know) link to sites that do. Is that cocooning too?



UPDATE: Via Hesiod I see that Steven deBeste has a novel view of free speech:


It is fortunate that RR's gesture is empty and meaningless because if it were actually effective it would be a serious threat to freedom of expression.

Indeed.

Anyway, this is the dumbest arugment to come down the pike in the 'ole blogosphere for at least a week or so. What Jim is doing is equivalent to boycotting the advertisers of a TV or radio show you don't like. For example, I don't buy balding products or magical vitamin cures, contact debt consolidation services, or purchase Bose speakers, which is my little way of putting pressure on the conservative media.

I seem to remember crazy Norah Vincent once had a column which argued that such boycotts were a serious threat to free speech and as such should be illegal, or something, but I couldn't track it down...

UPDATE 2: TBogg weighs in as only he can....as does Pandagon. The good news is that I've made Steven's list of "extremists!" which apparently includes:


Warblogger Watch, This Modern World, Ted Barlow, Tapped, Sullywatch, Shadow of the Hegemon, Smirking Chimp, Media Whores, Eschaton, and Counterspin Central.

Now if I can only get David Horowitz to call me a Marxist, my life will be complete...

(note to Avedon -- you're obviously doing something wrong!!!!)


UPDATE 3: AH, here's Norah's column:

Consequently, Schlessinger is a fascist because she thinks homosexuality is Mother Nature's boo-boo. What's more, she's lost her television program for exercising her 1st Amendment right to say so.


...

But thanks to the hard-driving agitprop of her enemies, she has been given far more credence than she deserves, and we've come one step closer to consigning the Constitution, along with the dictionary, to ye olde dustbin of history

UPDATE 4: Max weighs in as well...


Repetitively linking to a bunch of people who basically agree with me on a specific issue. Who do I remind me of...

Online polls from the liberal media:




The new U.S.
Department of
Homeland
Security has
wide powers to
collect
information on
potential
terrorists and
people deemed a
threat to
security. Are you
concerned this
power could be
abused?

No. The terrorism threat is
so real that the department will
focus on the job at hand.
Yes. I'm concerned that a
future politician will use the
power to spy on and harass his
opponents.

Reader b.b. draws this to my attention:

"If George W. Bush is renominated as the Republican Party's nominee for president in 2004, do you think you will probably vote for George W. Bush, or vote for the Democratic candidate, or don't you know yet?"

Bush Democrat Don't Know Yet Don't Know
% % % %
ALL 32 18 47 3

32% re-elect? wow.

Damn. I think the Eagles just brought in the Waterboy to play QB.

U.S. Wants to Eliminate Tariffs


Oops! Wait! Not so fast!... on manufactured goods...


The key elements of the US proposal, according to industry and congressional officials briefed on the plan, are: A rapid reduction in high tariffs on non-agricultural products, so that by 2010 there would be no tariffs above 8 per cent. All tariffs would then be reduced progressively to zero by 2015. The elimination, no later than 2010, of all duties that are currently below 5 per cent. A parallel initiative calling for faster elimination of tariffs in many industrial sectors such as chemicals, paper, wood and construction equipment.

I'm all for "free trade." I'm open to "fair trade" arguments, but I don't think we need to even bother with them until we we commit to reducing tariffs on agricultural goods and textiles. Until then, we're just rigging the game in a way which benefits narrow interests in our country at the expense of broad interests in theirs.

I have to say that Elvis Costello's most recent CD is the best I've heard in awhile. And I've never been an Elvis Costello fan.

Come back, horse, come back...

PLA says repeal the birth tax.

Letter to the Editor

Right-wing extremists on talk radio offer daily doses of vitriol and conspiracy-theory innuendo toward Democrats and hardly anyone bats an eye. But Garrison Keillor voices his non-sugar-coated opinion in a marginally obscure online forum and it's a national event. The right-wing media machinery is unleashed to spew its outrage and venom, Republican Party officials beat their chests in anguish, and Norm Coleman sits on his hands, playing his newly adopted role of the good cop.

Well, the strategy worked brilliantly with the Wellstone memorial, why not try it again?

Another fraud - deliberate or inadvertent -- James Stewart and Nightline!

For instance, when Stewart was promoting "Blood Sport," he suggested on ABC's "Nightline" and in Time magazine that Mrs. Clinton might be indicted for filing a fraudulent loan renewal form for Whitewater. As it turned out, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author had simply failed to notice that the loan document had two sides -- a back and a front –- and that Mrs. Clinton had completed the document without error, let alone fraudulent intent. Stewart's revelation was merely another of many, many ominous but ultimately phony insinuations that stoked public suspicion.

Another practitioner of deliberate fraud... Jeff Greenfield!

Even more damning was a "Nightline" report broadcast that same evening. The segment came very close to branding Hillary Clinton a perjurer. In his introduction, host Ted Koppel spoke pointedly about "the reluctance of the Clinton White House to be as forthcoming with documents as it promised to be." He then turned to correspondent Jeff Greenfield, who posed a rhetorical question: "Hillary Clinton did some legal work for Madison Guaranty at the Rose Law Firm, at a time when her husband was governor of Arkansas. How much work? Not much at all, she has said."

Up came a video clip from Hillary's April 22, 1994, Whitewater press conference. "The young attorney, the young bank officer, did all the work," she said. "It was not an area that I practiced in. It was not an area that I know anything, to speak of, about." Next the screen filled with handwritten notes taken by White House aide Susan Thomases during the 1992 campaign. "She [Hillary] did all the billing," the notes said. Greenfield quipped that it was no wonder "the White House was so worried about what was in Vince Foster's office when he killed himself."

What the audience didn't know was that the ABC videotape had been edited so as to create an inaccurate impression. At that press conference, Mrs. Clinton had been asked not how much work she had done for Madison Guaranty, but how her signature came to be on a letter dealing with Madison Guaranty's 1985 proposal to issue preferred stock. ABC News had seamlessly omitted thirty-nine words from her actual answer, as well as the cut, by interposing a cutaway shot of reporters taking notes. The press conference transcript shows that she actually answered as follows: "The young attorney [and] the young bank officer did all the work and the letter was sent. But because I was what we called the billing attorney -- in other words, I had to send the bill to get the payment sent -- my name was put on the bottom of the letter. It was not an area that I practiced in. It was not an area that I know anything, to speak of, about."

Check out Mike Signorile's two recent columns - one in the NYPress on the contemporary relevance of Far From Heaven and one about the controversy at Psychology Today over "gay conversion therapy." They're companion pieces, really.

Does anyone remember all these skeptical media voices about the Homeland Security Bill before it passed? Suddenly practically ever jaw flapper is against it.

Lisa Myers to run new NBC investigative unit.


Jeebus help us all. This alone should have her thrown out on her ass.

MYERS: At another point, Mrs. Hubbell talks about over-billing clients.

MRS. HUBBELL (on tape): That’s an area where Hillary would be vulnerable.

HUBBELL (on tape): No, you are talking and not listening. We are on a recorded phone.

And that is precisely the way the transcript was presented on the screen to NBC viewers as the tape rolls--with no ellipsis whatever to let viewers know that material has been left out. Not that this would have been an appropriate deletion even if an ellipsis had been used. Myers’ cut in the tape completely changes the meaning of the presentation by Mrs. Hubbell--changing it from a question about whether Mrs. Clinton would be vulnerable, to an assertion that she would be. The charade was even worse by that evening; in a tape played on MSNBC’s May 1 InterNight program (apparently taken from that evening’s NBC News), Myers doctors the conversation in a more egregious fashion:

MYERS: The Hubbells seem worried that Mrs. Clinton could be vulnerable on an issue that sent Hubbell to prison in the first place--overbilling clients.

MRS. HUBBELL: You didn’t actually do that, did you? Mark up time for the client? Did you?

HUBBELL: Yes, I did. So does every lawyer in the country.

MRS. HUBBELL: That’s an area that Hillary would be vulnerable.

HUBBELL: Suzy, you’re talking and you’re not listening. We are on a recorded phone, OK?

How do these people keep their jobs in the liberal media after such gross deliberate journalistic misconduct?

One of my genius commentors said this:


Alterman's facts may be correct, but their intent is clearly to obscure what really was happening.

Lordy.

Moonie Monday

The Reverend Moon is released from Prison.

Reverend Moon was released on August 20, 1985, having served thirteen months of his eighteen month sentence for tax evasion. He spent approximately twelve months at Danbury Federal Prison in the state of Connecticut and, immediately prior to his release, forty-five days at Phoenix House, a Brooklyn "half-way house" for those soon to be released.

Reverend Moon can be considered as representative of the suffering of the twentieth century. Mr. Eun-woo Kim, who authored a Christian White Paper, asked the question "Who could save the world today?" and wrote: "Look at the suffering Unification Church and Reverend Moon from a new angle. I testify, on my reputation, conscience, and academic knowledge, to my conviction that only he can save this world." Moreover, Senator Orrin Hatch said, on Reverend Moon's completing his one year prison sentence, that he had been the victim of a political conspiracy

...

Participating were seventeen hundred dignitaries including clergymen, scholars and media representatives from across the United States, transcending denomination and race. They included Reverend Donald Sills, president of the Coalition for Religious Freedom, Reverend Jerry Falwell, Reverend Joseph Lowery, Dr. Cleon Skousen, director of the National Center for Constitutional Studies in Washington DC and former chancellor of the University of Utah, Professor Richard Rubenstein, professor of religion at Florida State University, and Dr. Robert Grant, chairman of Christian Voice Inc. After welcoming remarks by several dignitaries, Reverend Moon was presented with a trophy and victory plaque. In his speech, The Will of God, Reverend Moon pointed out that the greatest problems facing America are racism, deterioration of social, ethical and moral values, the decline of religious life and the rise of materialism and communism. He further emphasized that all Christians should unite transcending denominational boundaries to "lead a supra-denominational, cultural revolution on a worldwide scale."

And check out this fun Frontline transcript.

Eric Alterman takes on the Stalinist George Will.

Freedom Corps has been budgeted 3.5 billion bucks? Oh Jeebus.



And this is just freakin' creepy.

And this is freakin' creepier:


The city has already identified 15 "hazard" areas that need to be hammered out to deal with emergencies. Such hazards include severe weather, transportation
breakdowns, urban floods and fires, explosions, radiological and hazardous materials incidents, demonstrations , terrorism, tornadoes and water supply failures."

Must read Howler. Grab a drink first, though, to prevent the inevitable rise in blood pressure. God I hate that Beinart guy.

BEINART: One of the reasons the [New Republic] supported Gore over the years was the sense that he was more of a sincere New Democrat than a lot of other people in the field. The noise that he’s been making most recently wouldn’t support that. It’s still very early—although it’s worth noting that he actually is, as far as I can tell, is one of the few Democrats who hasn’t now, still hasn’t called for the repeal of the Bush tax cut. So there’s a certain amount of ambiguity in the position he’s taking.



...

Apparently, he hadn’t read Dan Balz in Thursday’s Post. “Gore said he favors scrapping future installments of the Bush tax cuts aimed at top income earners,” Balz wrote, reporting his Wednesday interview with Gore. Nor had Beinart read Ron Brownstein in the same day’s Los Angeles Times. “Gore said he would cancel the further reductions in tax rates for affluent families scheduled for 2004 and 2006,” Brownstein reported. Nor had Beinart scanned the Washington Times. On Friday, Jeffrey Kuhner reported Gore’s Wednesday interview with Reuters: “Gore attacked President Bush’s economic stewardship, calling for the repeal of the administration’s tax cuts for the country’s top earners.” And Gore had told the AP the same thing. On Wednesday, the AP’s Will Lester reported his interview: “Gore has said the whole Bush economic plan and economic team should be thrown out, and the administration should start over with tax cuts aimed specifically at the middle class.” But even the AP got the news late. In last week’s Time, released last Sunday, Tumulty reported Gore’s view on the tax cut: “Gore now tells TIME that he would ‘scrap the whole thing and start over,’ with less dramatic cuts aimed at the middle class.” In Newsweek—released the same day—Eleanor Clift said that Gore “opposes President George W. Bush on Iraq; favors a single-payer, Canadian-style health system, and thinks the Bush tax cut should be repealed.” And others noticed what Gore had said; all the way back on Monday, November 18, Mara Liasson noted Gore’s stance on Special Report. “He said he actually would roll back some of the tax cuts and tilt them more to the middle class,” she said. Indeed, the news even had reached Canada. In Thursday’s National Post, Jan Cienski said “Mr. Gore now says he would be in favour of scrapping the cut and starting over.”

Rittenhouse Review justifies its position in the "E-zine" rather than "Blog" category over on the left, with a tremendous piece about the Alpha Girls.

Failing upwards...

Or, how to reward the ones you love.


TALLAHASSEE -- Confirming Palm Beach County's
rise from goat to hero, three local officials are playing
a prominent role in Gov. Jeb Bush's latest round of
election reforms.

Bush named Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore,
County Commission Chairman Warren Newell and
state Senate Democratic Leader Ron Klein of Delray
Beach to the 15-member, 2002 Select Task Force on
Election Procedures.

Formed by executive order Nov. 18, the group will
conduct its first meeting on Dec. 9 and 10 in Orlando,
where panel members will discuss everything from the
permanent elimination of runoff elections to giving
elections officials more time to count absentee and
provisional ballots.

Interesting report on CNN about how mortgage forecloseures are way up, but unsurprisingly there are regional variations in this. In places where the housing markets are still 'hot' people can simply sell before the bank comes for the keys. This, to some degree, masks the number of people who are being forced into inferior housing arrangements due to their economic circumstances.

Sound Bitten has some fun with Michelle Malkin.

The Beagles Song!

Agenda Bender puzzles about the fact that Rod Dreher believes the media is suppressing a story about murder by a gay man. Oddly, Dreher finds the story in the gay press.

Note to Dreher: There are about 15,000 murders per year. That's an average of about 40 per day. The reasons why some get national attention and some don't is very complicated, but the fact every time a horrible crime is committed by a gay man the headlines don't scream "EVIL GAY MAN COMMITS EVIL GAY HATE CRIME" isn't evidence of the Overwheming Power of the Lavender Conspiracy.

Oh Lordy..

The Tubesteak Messiah made him do it!

A judge who sentenced a former Orlando sex-crimes detective to house arrest for having sexual encounters with a 14-year-old girl compared the officer's conduct to that of President Clinton and his own chief judge.

To the girl, who was upset with the lenient sentence, Orange Circuit Judge John H. Adams said: "You've been dealt a bad hand. But not the worst hand. You're not growing up in Afghanistan. You can rise above this."

Edwin "Ed" Mann, a former leader in Cops for Christ, could have been sentenced to 26 years in prison for having sex with the girl in his police car, hotels and her bedroom while her parents were away.

Florida rocks!

Whacking Pickles.

Roger Ailes (not that one) says:

Rosenbaum saw a sign at a war protest saying "Bush Is A Devil." Rosenbaum extrapolates from that sighting that "the left" -- every last one of them -- believes Bush is Ol' Scratch or one of his imps. No one has actually said that, maybe, but every last lefty is thinking it. Ron just knows it. And that, my friends, crosses the line. Comparing one's ideological opponent to Satan, it's just not done.


Except, of course, when Crazy Davey says does it. Or Flush. Because, of course, they don't have the political clout and respectability of a guy with a piece of tagboard and a couple of fat markers. It's not like they hang out with the Vice President or the Assistant Secretary of Defense or anything.

See? Anonymous email or some 'guy with a sign' calling Bush Satan proof that the Left has been overpowered by its crazy fringe.

Rush "NBC Election Night Coverage" Limbaugh refers to Tom Daschle as Satan, and Daschle is trying to demonize him!

Oh the double standards!


And, yes, words to have consequences.

Them Federalist Society lawyers sure do know how to party...

Before one event, a graybeard in the audience tutored a wet-behind-the-ears Federalist on the horrors of Travelgate, in which the Clinton White House did — well, nothing much, really. At the black-tie banquet, a satirical song took aim at "Brennan, Marx and Lenin." William Brennan, the Supreme Court justice who was being gleefully branded a communist, died in 1997.

The search for fictive liberal enemies reached a loopy low on the convention's last day, when an archconservative federal appeals court judge, Laurence Silberman, accused William Rehnquist's archconservative Supreme Court of having a secret plan to declare the death penalty unconstitutional. In an opinion just last month, the court reiterated its view that capital punishment is constitutional even for 16-year-olds.

But the event that most captured the spirit of the week was Kenneth Starr's speech and his introduction by Barbara Comstock, the head of the Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs. Between them, Ms. Comstock and Mr. Starr managed to rail against Bill Clinton, James Carville, Lanny Davis, James Jeffords, Alan Dershowitz, the Warren court, trial lawyers and Barbra Streisand.

Mr. Starr was particularly exercised about liberals' being result-oriented, abandoning their principles to reach the outcomes they favor. But he would have made a more compelling case if he had not proceeded to abandon his — and the Federalist Society's — own oft-repeated commitment to judicial restraint to praise the Supreme Court for striking down the Gun-Free School Zones Act and the Violence Against Women Act in a burst of conservative activism.

Uggabugga on Kurtz, Media Fluffer.

Digby on why he isn't funny anymore:

I don't know, Susan. Ever since I "Saw the Light" and became a Republican after the election, I try and I try, but the only thing that makes me laugh anymore is watching those animal snuff films. All I want to do is lurk around left leaning gathering places and and call complete strangers gay and stupid. I pop Viagra like tic-tacs. I spit when I talk. I pray for a capital gains tax cut so the messiah will return.

I'm completely obsessed with Neil Cavuto's hairline. The minute I set foot in church I start speaking in tongues, but then I realize I'm actually reciting George W. Bush's only full press conference from memory. It's so wierd.

I'm constantly kicking myself for not flossing because my painful periodontal disease now keeps me from joining my brothers and sisters in taking out that rat bastard Saddam. Boy, if it weren't for my bleeding gums, I'd... well, lets just say they'll stay away from my trailer if they know what's good for 'em.

And, every waking minute I'm consumed with technicolor visions of Clinton's cock, which I have nicknamed The Old Serpent, for reasons I don't quite understand.

What's happened to me???

help...

Fact Checking George Will!

When the election ended with George Bush 537 votes ahead, Gore initiated litigation that placed the U.S. Supreme Court in this dilemma:

Hey, you adulterous little shit - it wasn't called Bush v. Gore for nothing.


It could either allow Florida's Supreme Court, composed entirely of Democratic appointees

bzzt! Wrong again, stolen debate-tape boy,

Keep going for more of Will's revisionism. It's time for a bloody mary.

They really do lie without shame.

UPDATE: Sorry, not a stolen debate tape, but a stolen briefing book. [sully] so sue me [/sully]


Thanks to Issues Guy for fact checking my pre-coffee ass.

Bye, Bye, Miranda. We hardly knew ya. Read Talk Left for some more atrocities du jour. But, Jeralyn points out that for the moment, at least, TIPS is dead.

Special forces in Afghanistan have been replaced by DynCorp mercs.

Karzai survived an assassination attempt in the southern city of Kandahar in September when a gunman opened fire on his car.

That attack, one of a number on his life, was foiled by his United States military bodyguards.

But now the special forces men who saved Karzai's life have been quietly replaced by security guards from one of America's most controversial private military corporations, DynCorp.

On Friday the State Department confirmed the use of a private security detail managed by officers of its Diplomatic Security Service.

DynCorp Flashback!

Haha, Kaus admits the truth.

He says that among bloggers there is a "Darwinian self-interest in being nice to each other and maintaining a civil discourse." He may disagree with Andrew Sullivan but he doesn't really want to piss him off; it's about links; it's about traffic; it's about -- gasp -- community.

...

Kaus confirmed this when he was asked why he cares about getting Drudge links and traffic (and thus dreads ever pissing him off); it's all about being read, it's about being popular.

It isn't about telling the truth, it's about being one of the Kool Kids!

(sent in by Jeff Hauser).

Neal Pollack got into a bit of trouble recently. Here is the poem that caused the offense.

Lou Dobbs has a fun online poll up about the media. I think it should reflect the opinions of my readers...

CalPundit explains why we're all Keynesians now. So, read it so you can stop looking so foolish when you equate "Keynesianism" and "liberalism" or "big government."

And, we're on economics the other thing which has been bugging me lately is the rather misguided arguments about why giving, say, corporate tax breaks would spur new investment. The arugments inevitably go something like this:


Righty: Spurring investment will be good for the economy!

Lefty: Why would firms who are operating below capacity and can't sell enough now want to invest in new capacity?

Righty: Because the money that they spend hiring workers will increase demand for their goods because the workers will have more money to spend!


Here is where Righty confuses microeconomic incentives and more macroeconomic outcomes. It is true that if all the firms in the economy responded to a tax incentive on new investment by actually engaging in new investment this could indeed have a stimulative effect. However, firms aren't going to build that second factory due to their expectations that doing so will have a stimulative impact on the economy as a whole and that therefore business will pick up later

Note to Ron Rosenbaum:

Clinton hate and conspiracy theories were and are a multimillion dollar industry, financed by deep pockets, and splashed across the pages of the conservative and "liberal media," legitimized by congressional investigations, and promoted on TV news and encouraged by the numerous hate radio jocks that can be heard 24/7 in every radio market.

This is not the same thing as a bunch of angry people sending you nutty emails.

What can you even say about the Bush administration's attempts to cover up the Saudi connection?

It's funny that even now, Al Fucking Gore gets more coverage of his every utterance by our media than this stuff does.

I should be used to this by now, but why is that every time Paul Krugman writes a column people misrepresent his point and then proceed to criticize him based on that? Even TAPPED gets into the act.

Look - Krugman isn't attacking Republican nepotism because it is *necessarily* any worse than Democratic nepotism, he's attacking it because it's rather, um, "ironic", that the party of the meritocracy seems so interested in pursuing policies and appointments that amount to affirmative action for their families.

stupid freepers.

god they're dumb

Decent Washington Monthly article on Krugman.

"There's been a kind of missionary quality to his writing since then," muses Princeton's Blinder. "He's trying to stop something now, using the power of the pen." But that's not all. The change is deeper: Krugman now takes politics seriously. As Kuttner puts it, "The interesting thing about Krugman is that he was a mainstream neoclassical economist who was moderately liberal as a citizen, but tended to look at politics as an illegitimate distortion of the perfection of the market economy. He viewed the left and the right as symmetrical evils. Krugman has now discovered power."

Krugman seems to agree. "I think we were all living in a fool's paradise in the late 1990s. There probably wasn't as much energy in my criticism of the right. I was wrong, obviously," he says. "If I'd understood where politics would be now, it would have been quite different. I thought that Reich and Magaziner were proposing bad ideas, but that's not the same as being frightened of where they might be taking us. We can have arguments about trade policy later. Now I'm frightened."

Me too.

And check out this comment by the Mickster:


"The Bush tax cut is based on lies. But it's not enough to criticize a policy to say that it's based on lies. You have to say whether it's good or bad for the country."

Neal Pollack has announced the name for his new movement! It is such a perfect name that one feels it couldn't possible be anything else. It is...

Beagles

CalPundit says:

The art police ought to stay in their caves, where they belong, and leave the rest of us alone to enjoy our lives.

Agreed. I doubt there is a single person who doesn't have a guilty affection for some unarguable bit of lowbrow crap, and very few who truly have the refined sensibilities they think they do. Peoples' tastes may say something about them, but the tastes themselves aren't an issue.

Lisa English is great. Or, at least I think she is. I rarely get to find out because I can never access the site for some reason. But, in any case, you can all go read.

Big Jump in DUI deaths

Wonder why? Well, our leaders do set an example for the rest to follow.

Nope, there's no more racism. (via counterspin)

Feeling the need for a bit of bile, I went over to Little Green Footballs. I wasn't disappointed. Charles gets a twofer - manages to lump all Muslims together AND smears Colin Powell at the same time.

Oh well, let's talk about liberal homophobia some more.

UPDATE: In the comments Charles said what he meant was that Powell wants more educators like Sharabi. This is supposed to make it okay because it isn't that all Muslims are bad, just all Muslim educators?

All cleared up now.

Sharabi's comments were despicable. They should be publicized. I have no problem with that. But to say that Colin Powell wants more educators like this is both labelling him an anti-Semite and saying that all Muslims are anti-Semites. That's quite despicable. In fact, it's as despicable as Sharabi's comments. Particularly as it isn't even clear that Sharabi is a Muslim. Not all Arabs are Muslims. Not all Muslims are Arabs.

Don't miss TBogg on Sullivan's Eagles Movement followed by these words by Ben Franklin:

He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead tree near the river, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.


"With all this injustice, he is never in good case but like those among men who live by sharping & robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our country .

Rittenhouse Review returns from a mercifully brief hiatus.

More of this, please.

Roger has written a tell-all book!

Now word arrives that my previously missing beleagured manservant Roger has surfaced in New York City, where, with the help of MY agent, he's circulating the manuscript of a roman a clef titled, "Confessions Of A Beleagured Manservant." I've obtained a copy of this manuscript, and it's full of lies. While I realize that in this space I've often approved of lying, or, as I put it, "a little B.S. now and then," to achieve certain state-policy, military, or domestic-spying objectives, this is different. I believe that "modest fibbing" is sometimes necessary to protect national security, or to promote free-market economics and democracy conducted in the English language. But personal calumny is unacceptable.

Howie Loves Rush.

I can't even comment, except to quote Rush on Nancy Pelosi (courtesy of Digby):

They never called her the hammer. She had the same job DeLay did. She’s the hummer. Whatever she is. Now she’s the top dog. No, I can’t say that.

Hey, Halliburton is getting $900 million in public financing. And we all laughed when that stupid profit maximizing company gave Dick Cheney $20+ million in severance that they weren't legally required to pay him. What were they thinking, just giving away money? That's no way to run a company.

There are a lot of reasons I rarely read Slate. But, one of them is because that goddamn Microsoft website always crashes my Microsoft browser.

Roger Ailes asks "is it true or is it Sue?"

According to Slate, it's Sue.

Damn

Christians ought to be more offended at the idiotic things their co-religionists do in Christ's name

Free Pie is back.

Tom Spencer notes that Reynolds is still hiding behind conservative victimhood because liberal national fraternities don't want their members to dress up in blackface even if it is Halloween. Or something.

Neal Pollack, seamlessly integrating pop culture and politics with skill and wit that Maureen Dowd will never have says this:

I bet Nancy Pelosi thinks Osama would make a perfect Bachelor. Don't you?

Indeed.

Sally Quinn Speaks the Truth

The Republicans have always been seen as the ones who made the trains run on time.

So true Sally. So true.

What can you make of such a reference? Add it to the list of evidence that Republicans are truly irony-unaware.

Freepers get their eyes opened.

Ampersand takes on the factually challenged anti-feminists. And wins. Wonder whatever happened to that twit Katie Roiphe...

Hey - Kaus was wrong. It's right wing violence that's on the rise, not left wing. Or, at least, threats of violence.


"What happens when (radio talk show host) Rush Limbaugh attacks those of us in public life is that people aren't satisfied just to listen," the South Dakota Democrat explained. "They want to act because they get emotionally invested. And so, you know, the threats to those of us in public life go up dramatically, on our families and on us, in a way that's very disconcerting."

Daschle, whose office was a target in last year's anthrax mail attacks, declined to go into detail about the nature of the threats. But he said that when he was accused by Republicans of being an obstructionists the number of threats against him and his family rose.

"If entertainment becomes so much a part of politics and if that entertainment drives an emotional movement in this country among some people who don't know the difference between entertainment and politics, and who are then so energized to go out and hurt somebody, that troubles me about where politics in America is going," Daschle said.

Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott when asked about Daschle's remarks said he did not agree that political discussion had taken on a shrill edge for entertainment purposes and was not aware of any increase in the number of threats. .

It's rather interesting how much press Donahue's low ratings are getting. He's edging out Tweety these days:



CABLE NEWS RACE: FOX TOPS; 'HARDBALL'
HITS RATINGS BASEMENT...
[Tuesday Nite 11/19]

O'REILLY 2.3
HANNITY/COLMES 1.8
LARRY KING 1.7
SHEP SMITH 1.2
BRIT HUME 1.0
GRETA .9
AARON BROWN .8
CHUNG .8
CROSSFIRE .6
DONAHUE .6
HARDBALL .5

Joe Conason has a great piece up on conservative double standards on treason.


War" is a political weapon that Republicans have been using against Democrats since Karl Rove openly declared this strategy last winter. Ideological enforcers like Horowitz are instruments of Rove's strategy, which succeeded brilliantly in the midterm election. Rove's aim is to destroy Democrats, not libertarians, whose support he will be seeking on domestic issues next year.

That's why Novak, Bandow and Cato -- usually allies rather than adversaries of the White House – get a free pass no matter what they say about foreign policy. And that's also why the "patriotic" bullies of the right will angrily assault any liberal or leftist who dares to say exactly the same things.

Maybe this will wake up the goddamn libertarians..

Check out today's Pentagon briefing (video - please send me transcript if you find one).

They trotted out Undersecretary of Defense Aldridge to answer questions about John Pointdexter's Big Brother computer system. At 36:50 he's asked what kind of things the system would be looking for, with the reporter suggesting something like McVeigh renting a truck would trigger it.

Aldridge says the kinds of triggers would be:


"buying a lot of chemicals ... buying a gun ..."

Quick! Call the NRA.


UPDATE. here's the transcript:



Q: Can you make it clear, though, and this seems directed more toward foreign nationals coming into the United States and the visa passports that U.S. citizens --

Aldridge: No. No, it's actions, it's transactions that lead to potential terrorist acts; that's what we're trying to get to.

Q: So it could be like a McVeigh renting a truck --

Aldridge: Could be buying a lot of chemicals; if there's somebody buying a lot of chemicals, it looks unusual; buying a gun; all kinds of potential activities that fall --

Q: Buying a gun? Could you flush that out --

(Cross talk.)

Aldridge: I'm just using examples of things that would go along with -- that would be patterns of an individual potentially conducting a terrorist act.


I'm still scratching the noggin here

Q: So what kind of real data are you using that you just mentioned?

Aldridge: I will have to find -- I don't know the answer to that question, exactly what kind of data. I'm not into the details of the thing. But I don't think there is a
problem with it at all.

This is, of course, real gay bashing

The problem with this is the preponderance of evidence that the old Mom-and-Dad model is the only one that, speaking generally, really works -- in terms of taking care of children, building a constructive society and broadly advancing the happiness of the species.


Not having read Gore's book, though I doubt Kelly has either, I can't be certain. But, it sounds as if the Gores are discussing how the concept of family has changed, not advancing any particular agenda about what the family should be. Unlike Kelly, who thinks homos shouldn't have kids. Because, you know, we wouldn't want the species to be unhappy.

Also, check out some of Judge Moore's poetry. As TBogg says, holy crap.

Ah, the Fifties. Via O Dub, I see there is much rejoicing in conservativeland at their imminent return. There is of course much about the fifties that both sides of the political spectrum can embrace.


Top marginal tax rate - a whopping 91 or 92%! Advantage: Liberals!

Teen birth rates - reached their peak in 1957! Advantage: Mixed! Clearly, pre-marital sex was the thing, but so was the shotgun wedding! On the other hand, the latter likely led to subsequent high divorce rates. Call it a wash.

Poverty rates - percent of families double that of now! Advantage: Conservatives! Miss those good old days...

Film production code - in effect! Advantage: Michael Medved Conservatives. Disadvantage: South Park Republicans. What a big tent it is!

Interstate highway system - just begun! Advantage: liberals! Biggest pork project ever!


Abortion mostly illegal! Advantage: Conservatives!


Segregation! Advantage: Well, you know.


At least us liberals will have our beloved taxes and spending!

Anyone believe this Moonie times article?


According to a senior Senate leadership source, the election results were barely in before Mr. Jeffords' office put out feelers to his former party's leaders. The message? That the Vermonter would be happy to caucus with the GOP — so long as he retained his committee chairmanship. Republican leader rightly rolled their eyes.


me neither.

George Bush as Harry Potter?

I want some of what Instapundit is smokin'.

Oh man, check out this old Hardball transcript from the Howler.

What was the climate on cable TV? Here’s an example of the kind of discourse Chris was cranking out at the time. Also guesting this evening were Carl Cannon of National Journal; Meredith Berkman of the New York Post; and Mary Boyle, a former Dem senate candidate from Ohio:

MATTHEWS: Is Al Gore just incapable of putting, like, one foot in front of the other in this campaign? He’s a professional politician who acts like an amateur.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. He’s awful.

MATTHEWS: I don’t get it [WATCHING TAPE OF GORE]. Did you ever see the movie “Altered States?” I mean, his face is, like, getting contorted in some of these—

SCARBOROUGH: And there—

MATTHEWS: There’s bubbles coming out of his forehead!

Boyle—seeming to think she was on a news show—tried to discuss Gore’s appearance in Cleveland. She should have stayed home and baked cookies:

BOYLE: Listen, the vice president was in Cleveland today. I want to tell you just very briefly about it, because you probably would like covering the news.
MATTHEWS: What mode was he in? Was he in, was he in the quiet mode, or that sort of Clutch Cargo craziness he gets into, or was he——

SCARBOROUGH: Did he scream?

BOYLE: No—no, but he was—

MATTHEWS: Or was he in the “Altered States” where the head starts to bubble? What state was he in today?

Ladies and gentlemen, the American media.

Do conservative pundits have nothing better to do than defend each other's stupidity...with even more stupidity? God, just admit defeat and go home already.

"The Sperm Stops Here!" was allegedly intended as satire. The tip-off is Burk's lead-in: "A modest proposal ..." This refers to Jonathan Swift's famous 1729 satire "A Modest Proposal" in which he exaggerates British policies in Ireland in order to discredit them. He carries British callousness to its logical conclusion by suggesting that the English farm and eat Irish babies. Swift intends to elicit horror in his readers.

But is "The Sperm Stops Here!" really a hoax?

Kathryn Lopez in National Review and Rush Limbaugh on his radio program took the article at face value -- much to both of their embarrassment. But there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

For example, in contrast to Swift's classic piece, Burk was defending a policy -- abortion -- by ascribing absurd positions to its opponents, which they have never held. She opens by stating that both sides believe "if all babies were planned ... women wouldn't seek abortions." If abortion is outlawed, therefore, men at puberty must be chemically sterilized. Then state tribunals (and women) could plan all babies. Burk is eliciting contempt for those who question abortion.

FoxNews, dumb and dumber. (via tapped)

Read the whole thing to discover that up really is down, white is black, cats are sleeping with dogs...

One step at a time...

Perhaps there's hope.




Appearing on C-SPAN Friday, Jack White, a former Time magazine columnist and now writer in residence at Howard University, pronounced liberal bias dead.

Said White: “Sooner or later I think we’re all going to have to acknowledge that the myth of liberal bias in the press is just that, it’s a myth. May have been true at one time, but it’s been beaten out of them, and I don’t think that they conform to that anymore.” Then singling out a popular target for liberals, he added, “Fox News is about as [blatantly] biased as you possibly could get.”

Time reporter Josh Tyrangiel took it a step further, suggesting in the Nov. 18 issue that conservatives now primarily control the media and influence elections. He wrote: “Even if Democrats pull together on some big issues, they’ll still have to overcome GOP bully pulpits in the White House and Congress — and a new reality: conservative bias in the media.”

Missing voting machines found!

No word if there were any votes in them..

That liberal media...

Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich was given extensive use of a privately owned helicopter during his gubernatorial campaign but has not yet reported it in campaign finance reports, an aide acknowledged Wednesday.

Ehrlich spokesman Paul Schurick said the helicopter use will be disclosed in a campaign report to be filed next week.

The helicopter was provided by Whirlwind Aviation Inc., run by J. Duncan Smith, the vice president of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which owns 62 television stations, including WBFF and WNUV in Baltimore, The (Baltimore) Sun reported Wednesday.

He's got 'em on the list--he's got 'em on the list;
And they'll none of 'em be missed--they'll none of
'em be missed.

Um, Matt, now do you see the problem with this type of thing?

I suppose the answer is obvious - let these people spend years in court trying to get themselves taken off.

Senate Approves Homeland Security Department

I hope it's just unwarranted cynicism that makes me worry that when historians look back on this period they'll see this is a pivotal moment.


A domestic spy agency exempt from FOIA and whistleblower protection, with hires and fires subject entirely to the whim of the president, and relatively immune from any outside scrutiny whatsoever can only be a monumentally bad thing. Anyone think otherwise? If so, just imagine this were Clinton/Reno doing this.

Part of any objections to government power has to do with the fear of the abuse of powers, rather than the powers themselves. This fear derives from distrust of those in power. Recognize these powers are not limited to this administration. So, for those on the other side -- would you be anything less than apoplectic if this were a Clinton initiative?

Glenn Reynold's modest proposal to correct this agency's potential abuse of power seems to involve citizens' rights of redress through civil suits against the agency. How one can sue an agency exempt from FOIA and which can refuse to answer subpoenas based on any national security justification admittedly escapes me. If congress isn't even granting itself oversight powers it's hard to see how it's going to grant them to us commoners.

In any case, there are times when I'm happy to be wrong. This is one of them.

Neal Pollack's manservant, Roger, has abandoned him.

CalPundit takes a peek at "runaway" government spending.

Thanks.

Akaka (D-HI)
Byrd (D-WV)
Feingold (D-WI)
Hollings (D-SC)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Levin (D-MI)
Sarbanes (D-MD)

Though I *still* blame you Russ Feingold for that whole Ashcroft mess...

BUSH KNEW!

Well, FERC did. Same thing. Bastards.


Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for the governor, said the deal will now be re- evaluated in light of the new revelations. He called the contents of the FERC documents "very serious."

Equally serious is why federal regulators sat on this information for so long. Williams said it made the contents of its tapes available to investigators more than a year ago.

The PUC's Wood, for one, is at a loss to understand why the tapes were kept secret month after month, even as California officials repeatedly charged that power companies were colluding to make off with billions in ratepayer cash.

"It's pretty outrageous that the FERC had this information for such a long time and hasn't released it," Wood said. "It really makes you wonder about the good faith of FERC in pursuing these matters."

The commission came under heavy fire in a Senate report last week that all but accused federal regulators of fiddling while California burned. In response, FERC Chairman Patrick Wood said his people got the message.

"Participants in the energy market know that we are serious now," he told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

Better late than never.

Molly

Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post dismissed bin Laden as "a blast from the past." Well, that was a helluva blast, Howard, and I for one haven't forgotten it. I want that son of a bitch dead or alive, and I want getting him to be this country's top priority in terms of enemies.

Amendment defeated?


Damn it's going to be a long two years.

Agenda Bender on Dreher, Novak, and Hanssen

He catches this tidbit from Dreher:

BOB HANSSEN & AL GORE [Rod Dreher]
The Media Research Center complains about the following lines spoken by William Hurt, playing Soviet spy Robert Hanssen in the recent CBS movie: “Anybody who ever voted for Gore ought to be shot. The very thought of Gore daring to be President, toitering up to that psychopath and sociopath Bill Clinton for eight years. Makes my blood boil.” I see why the MRC is upset, but I have to tell you, I had a phone conversation with Hanssen that wasn't far in tone and content from that. This was several years ago, before he was exposed. He was a source of mine for a story I was working on about the politicization of the FBI under Bill Clinton. He spoke in this manner about Clinton and Janet Reno, and was particularly outraged over what he called Reno's forcing the FBI to hire lesbians. He told me gruffly that if Gore were elected, he was going to retire, because the lesbian left was going to complete its takeover the Bureau. His vehemence and intensity made it a real Strangelovian moment.

Guest conservative commentator Snotglass returns:

Increasingly desperate liberals, aided by their fellow leftists of the media elite, have recently attempted to perpetuate their disgusting smear campaign against our remarkable elected President, George W. Bush. These unpatriotic so-called "Americans" are questioning the honor and dignity of President Bush by attempting to resurrect the utterly discredited canard that President Bush failed to complete his military service.

However, an exhaustive search of the comprehensive Fawn Hall Archives and Records Repository at The Heritage Foundation has conclusively determined that no documents exist that would substantiate such a scurrilious slander against our elected President and his historic mandate.

Famed military historian and noted author Jonah Goldberg also disputes these unfounded allegations. Goldberg observed that he has read the entire manuscript of the President's celebrated autobiography, "A Charge to Keep" and has found no indication that the President was anything less than a brave, well-trained fighter pilot who was honored for his service to America by receiving promotion from airman basic to Second Lieutenant after less than one day of active duty. "Clearly," said Goldberg, "there is no greater tribute to President Bush's recognized potential as a gifted leader than the accelerated promotion and deferential treatment he received from the Texas Air National Guard."

You liberals should be ashamed of yourselves for slandering a genuine American hero. No conservative would ever sink to such depths.

Perles of Wisdom

Ben Wattenberg: Well, why is it important to an American citizen that we promote democracy in other lands? I mean, the easy argument is, it's not our government, you know, let them do what they want.

Richard Perle: The lesson of history is that democracies don't initiate wars of aggression, and if we want to live in a peaceful world, then there's very little we can do to bring that about more effective than promoting a democracy. People who live in democratic societies don't like to pay for massive military machines. Democratic societies don't empower their executives to make unilateral decisions to plunge countries into war. Wars have been started by tyrants who have complete control and who can squander the resources of their people to build up military machines.

Fascinating.

(Thanks to E.M. for the catch).

I really am thinking that almost no one wants this stupid Homeland Security Bill. I think the Republicans slipped in that egregious stuff to force the Democrats to torpedo it in the Senate. Of course, that could backfire.

Neal Pollack has a bunch of entries in his Name the Movement contest. I think my favorite so far is:


The Army of Onan

David Frum hates that Colin Powell is writing Booby Woodward's book, and Conason likes it. They are in agreement on who is writing it however.

I find it a bit odd that Democrats are trying to derail the Shedd nomination in the full Senate after the strange voice vote Leahy pulled in committee the other day. Am I wrong to suspect that this is just a way to let the clock run out on Homeland Security without actually making it look like that's what they're doing?

Washington Post Circulation Declining

There is an obvious solution -- give Michael Kelly a column every day!

Will Rummy get to use his Nukes?

...he said the Defense Department was looking at a range of means -- including perhaps small nuclear bombs called "earth penetrators" -- to destroy or incinerate arms and facilities that have been deeply buried by terrorist networks and countries developing weapons of mass destruction.

"They have tunneled and tunneled and tunneled," he said. "How do you deal with it?"

"The Defense Department is charged with how do we defend our country. So these people ... do exactly what they are supposed to do. They screw their head into these problems and say, 'gee, there are three or four ways we can do that'. And one of them may be something that would be a deeply penetrating capability," Rumsfeld added.

And, if he does, will we find out about it sooner or later?

Regardless of how "small" or "targeted" these things are, and regardless of any justification about how they might "compare favorably" with some more conventional weapons, there is some scary symbolism surrounding letting the nuclear genie out of the bottle again. I don't think these people understand that.

Roger Ailes notes that Restoration weekend (nee Dark Ages weekend) was not well attended.

Funny how the Cato Institute was blaming terrorism on U.S. intervention a few years back. Why do they hate America so much?

Yet most attention has been focused on combating terrorism by deterring and disrupting it beforehand and retaliating against it after the fact. Less attention has been paid to what motivates terrorists to launch attacks. According to the Pentagon's Defense Science Board, a strong correlation exists between U.S. involvement in international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States. President Clinton has also acknowledged that link. The board, however, has provided no empirical data to support its conclusion. This paper fills that gap by citing many examples of terrorist attacks on the United States in retaliation for U.S. intervention overseas. The numerous incidents cataloged suggest that the United States could reduce the chances of such devastating--and potentially catastrophic--terrorist attacks by adopting a policy of military restraint overseas.

Ah, double standards.

Moonie Monday

“I want to salute Reverend Moon who is the founder of the Washington Times and of the new paper here,'' said Bush, who was reported by the Washington Post to have been paid $100,000 for his Buenos Aires appearance.

“A lot of my friends in South America don't know about the Washington Times but it is an independent voice,'' said Bush. ''The editors of the Washington Times tell me that never once has the man with the vision interfered with the running of the paper, a paper that in my view brings sanity to Washington DC.'' (Reuters November 26, 1996...Note: in fact the first editor/publisher on The Washington Times, Mr. James Whelan, quit the paper calling it a "Moonie paper" and saying he had "blood on his hands" for helping it gain respectability)




[...]


All these people should know better. My daughter would tell me over and over how in their recruiting films they would show Moon with Bush to impress young people. They use the films of Moon and Bush and other celebrities to reassure parents that it is okay that their children are on the streets selling flowers 18 hours a day." (Washington Post, July 30, 1996)


[..]


"Since God has been carrying on His dispensation through the Christian church, He and we are responsible to convey this message to the Christians first. Until our mission with the Christian church is over, we must quote the Bible and use it to explain the Divine Principle. After we receive the inheritance of the Christian church, we will be free to teach without the Bible." (Syung Myung Moon, The Master Speaks Chapter 7 1965)



From the invaluable Moonie Primer.

Jesse has a few comments about Dictator Little Boots' latest statements.

Can someone please explain to President Little Boots, and while they're at it our media and Congress, that he is not the commander in chief of the American people, and not the commander in chief of his staff, and not the commander in chief of congress, but simply the commander in chief of the military?

His failure to understand that distinction might be cute and funny, except for the fact that it implies he believes our country is a military dictatorship.


Woodward says the president told him that when he chairs a meeting he often tries to be provocative. When Woodward asked him if he tells his staff that he is purposely being provocative, Mr. Bush answered: "Of course not. I am the commander, see?"

No Dan Rather, he isn't your commander-in-chief. Or mine.

Gay Today has up a very long list of links to information about the potential for voter fraud.

Hey, it's almost time for Moonie Monday. Wonder what fun fact I should share with you this week..

More liberal media.

think he would be a very interesting candidate. The question is, whenever you have candidates like that, though, such as like Bob
Kerry in the past and so forth, can they make it through a Democrat primary, and I'm skeptical.

BLITZER: He's a very smart guy.

LIZZA: He's a very smart guy. He's a Rhodes scholar, obviously he's a Vietnam vet. The interesting thing is what I've seen him say
on Iraq is not the hawkish position, he's not taking the hard-line position, he's actually worried that what we're doing in Iraq might
harm the war on terrorism.

BLITZER: He's been dovish. He's been much along the lines of Colin Powell on this whole issue.

LIZZA: But could be a great vice presidential candidate for a Democratic nominee who doesn't have national security bona fides.

BLITZER: He spent a little time in the last few weeks in New Hampshire. I know that because I've had him on my shows and we've
interviewed him from New Hampshire.

MALVEAUX: We've got a president who has not served, and you can't contest a president who has not served with someone
who...

BLITZER: Bush was in the guard.

MALVEAUX: That doesn't count.

BLITZER: What do you mean?

MALVEAUX: Well, he went AWOL.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Let's move on, let's move on

Crosstalk was Wolf desperately trying to shut her up.

"I do not need to explain why I say things. — That's the interesting thing about being the President. — Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."

Here.

Stiff yer illegal hires

It's the Republican way! I'd call it stupid, 'cept they'll get away with it. Which means it's called Smart Strategorizing!

Dozens of Prince George's County college, high school and even junior high school students say they got an unwelcome civics lesson when they were promised -- but never received -- payments of up to $125 to work the polls for Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

Under state election laws, it is illegal for candidates to pay so-called "walking-around money" to Election Day workers distributing materials on their behalf.

The students, numbering between 40 and 50, are the second group to surface with allegations of apparently illegal activities on behalf of
Ehrlich's successful campaign.

Nearly 200 homeless people recruited from a Washington, D.C., shelter said they also were recruited and worked the polls in Prince George's County for Ehrlich.

Don't you EVER dare leave some stupid-ass comment about "democrats and homeless people."

Now we can add collusion...

There didn't actually need to be explicit collusion between energy firms for them to have been able to manipulate the energy market in CA. But, unsurprisingly there was some.

A report made public Friday by federal regulators reveals in stunning detail how two energy companies appear to have conspired to drive up power prices during California's energy crisis.

The disclosure comes just days after the companies -- Williams Cos. of Tulsa, Okla., and AES Corp. of Arlington, Va. -- received subpoenas from federal prosecutors who are investigating whether they and other firms manipulated energy prices in 2000 and 2001.

According to the report, Williams and AES employees discussed prolonging an outage at one Southern California power plant in spring 2000 to take advantage of higher prices that the California Independent System Operator was paying to replace the missing power.

Dick Cheney should resign over this, frankly.


"What's happened in California, I would argue, is they've taken the route of saying, 'well we can conserve our way out of the problem. All we have to do is conserve. we don't have to produce any more power.' So they haven't built any more electric plants in the last ten years in California and today they've got rolling blackouts, because they don't have enough electricity. They've got rising prices. They've got a whole complex of problems that are caused by relying only on conservation and not doing anything about the supply side of the equation."

Wonder if these people ever tire of being wrong. Probably not, as the liberal media never calls them on it.

David E. alerted me to this lovely letter to the editor:

As an English instructor at Cal State Bakersfield, I
regularly read your Commentary page to show my students
how to create a logical, well-crafted, succinct argument. I
also get to read Vincent, whom I would like to personally
thank. One of the hardest concepts for my students to
grasp is the notion of a fallacious claim.

Fortunately, I can regularly turn to Vincent for examples
of ad hominem, poisoning the well and the genetic fallacy.
Rather than presenting her claims or logically critiquing
those of her opponent, Vincent -- choosing to ignore the
argument itself -- consistently attacks a claim's
environment, whether that be the person making the claim,
the present circumstances surrounding the claim or the
history in which the claim was fashioned. Her
commentaries never fail to provide my students with
examples of illogic at work.

Matthew Woodman

Bakersfield

There are a couple more there, too.

Question:

Why is the New York Times the only major newspaper with a decent website?

Haven't we been here before...

Agencies Monitor Iraqis in the U.S. for Terror Threat

By DAVID JOHNSTON and DON VAN NATTA Jr.



WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 — The Bush administration has begun to monitor Iraqis in the United States in an effort to identify potential domestic terrorist threats posed by sympathizers of the Baghdad regime, senior government officials said.

The previously undisclosed intelligence program involves tracking thousands of Iraqi citizens and Iraqi-Americans with dual citizenship who are attending American universities or working at private corporations, and who might pose a risk in the event of a United States-led war against Iraq, officials said.

Some of the targets of the operation are being electronically monitored under the authority of national security warrants. Others are being selected for recruitment as informers, the officials said.

In the event of an American invasion of Iraq, officials would intensify the program's mission through arrests and detentions of Iraqis or Iraq sympathizers if they are believed to be planning domestic terrorist operations.

More war on drugs fun...

The son of former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts has been charged in Cleveland County District Court with a felony count of unlawful possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Jerrell Christopher Watts, 23, is accused of having marijuana in his possession when city police were called to the scene of a possible domestic disturbance between Watts and his girlfriend in September.

District Attorney Tim Kuykendall said police found “a relatively small amount — less than two ounces” of what they believed to be marijuana in the younger Watts’ possession.

Um, he isn't a "former" Congressman yet..

Al Gore is a Left Wing Bigot!!

Makes ethnic slur against people from Arkansas!!


All flights to the United States were grounded, so Gore asked his hosts, which included the Austrian government, to get him to North America. Eventually he got on a flight to Canada, where the Mounties drove him over the closed border into the United States. In Buffalo, he and an aide rented a car, intending to drive to Washington for the service at National Cathedral.

<...>

While he and the aide were driving, Bill Clinton called. He'd been flown to the United States on military transport, and was now at home in New York. Bush was sending a plane to take him to National Cathedral. Why didn't Gore drive to Chappaqua and fly down with him? Clinton gave him directions to get to the house, so that's where Gore went, arriving in the middle of the night. Clinton had waited up. He was doing some renovating, with the result that there was a refrigerator on the front porch. "Al arrives at about 3:30 in the morning, sees the refrigerator on the porch, and the first thing he says is, 'I see you've managed to bring a little bit of Arkansas to New York,' " Clinton recalled in a statement for this article. "And I knew that after all he'd been through, he hadn't lost his sense of humor."

When will this double standard end!!!

While both parties are culpable for the ridiculous 'war on drugs,' Talk Left notes that Ashcroft's DOJ is going a long way to make things worse.

Haha, the Right Wing suddenly discovers that there's something fishy about Booby Woodward's claims to be privy to people's internal thoughts.

Took ya long enough, idiots.


In his new controversial book BUSH AT WAR, Bob Woodward reveals interior monologues of key newsmakers, including a description of National
security adviser Condoleezza Rice's thoughts -- as she watched television alone...


WOODWARD CAPTURES CONDI'S THOUGHTS WHILE SHE IS ALONE WATCHING TV!

Haha, maybe this will finally stop Booby from writing his ridiculous books.

Digby says:


If Hootie Johnson wrote a Swiftian satire like Burk's, proposing that women should be equipped with Norplant to be removed only with their partners consent, he would be a feminist, fergawdssake. He'd be satirizing the same anti-choice position that Burk is satirizing and everybody on the planet except for certain literal minded right wingers and a claque of mendacious propagandists would know that.

Now, if Reynolds had presented a case in which Hootie wrote a Swiftian satire proposing that women be given the choice to kill their children up to the age of 18, he would have found the proper corollary. But, again, everyone sane would know that it was satire and I can't think of any left leaning writer who would attempt to pass it off as a literal proposal or say that is betrayed some kind of inappropriate stridency in it's language. They would find his position absurd, but they wouldn't punish him for the form of his writing, but rather the intention of the piece.

Satire is more than a spoof or a parody, although it can take that form. It's a way of exposing the folly of certain arguments and attitudes. It turns an exagerated mirror on people and forces them to examine their views from the perspective of the other side. It often makes people angry. That is the point. But, you have to get the point in the first place.

Poor Reynolds is all caught up in the actual words of her satire rather than the intent, which is just embarrassing. Her anti-abortion "spoof" was what, inappropriate? Did all that talk of sterilization hurt his feelings and make him uncomfortable? I'm getting the feeling that Reynolds may be a bit too sensitive for political debate. Certainly he should stay away from satire. It's often ill-mannered and inappropriate. (Just like those nasty Democrats in Minnesota. Rude, rude, rude.)

What is "abundantly clear" is that this is one confused lil' Professor who just can't admit he was duped by a mendacious right wing columnist and that he doesn't really understand what satire is. How humiliating for him.


And CalPundit has a way too nice response up to this nonsense.

And my two cents are...


Instapundit's example of unfair treatment at the hands of liberals involves some kids who thought dressing in blackface for Halloweenwould be really cool. While it's pretty clear that their (and Glenn's) university has no legal right to punish them for this, and if they try the kids will have a nice lawsuit, their national fraternity has every right. If Glenn disagrees with the decisions of a private organization, he can perhaps begin a campaign against them similar to that of Martha Burk's. If this is the best concrete example of PC-overkill and double standards that Glenn can come up with, then I really wonder what's gotten him so upset.

These kids most likely did a dumb, and not malicious, thing. However, if it was simply a dumb thing and the kids don't realize that invoking clear symbols of historical racism might make some people mad then obviously the unavoidable unrelenting power of the PC crowd never managed to break through into their little worlds. Clearly its strangehold on the consciousness of youth is not as powerful as some would have us believe.

I'm not sure why I have to explan why dressing in blackface is the kind of behavior that a national fraternal organziation doesn't want its members engaging in. Such things don't reflect well, for good reasons, and such organizations are very much concerned for their reputations. I'm sure they would respond similarly if the students had decided to throw a "Schindler's List" party and have everyone dress as concentration camp victims, whether the members involved were white, black, brown, yellow, Jewish, purple, or green. It isn't simply about the race/religion/ethnicity of the people involved.




In a world where Don Imus, on radio and TV, is regularly sucked up to by leading politicians and media figures, left and right, where Ann Coulter has a regular media presence (print and television), where Rush Limbaugh does election night analysis for NBC, and where Gordon Liddy and Michael Savage and a host of others remain on the air, I'm really at a loss to understand where this feeling of oppression comes from. Actually, that's not entirely true - I expect I might understand it, but it is frightfully sad.



(yes I know I promised to stay away. Got home early).