non-fat latte liberal

RE:FW: x--.

2010-10-29T11:25:00.001-04:00

I have a good information to share with you.
A while ago,a trading company attractive to me,
the price is very competitive advantage, so I bought some products.
It is very exciting,very pleased when I got and saw my goods.
I think you can go to see: nowfid.com
you'll save more money in there. 1--.

Reminder: Frank Conry invited you to join Facebook...

2010-03-22T09:51:00.001-04:00

facebook

Hi Conryf.nfll,

The following person invited you to be their friend on Facebook:

Frank Conry
Invite sent:
Feb 19, 2010

Facebook is a great place to keep in touch with friends, post photos, videos and create events. But first you need to join! Sign up today to create a profile and connect with the people you know.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Already have an account? Add this email address to your account here.

Facebook is free and anyone can join.

To sign up for Facebook, follow the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/r.php?re=0d5113358a9811fa39d34e3aec6ad39c&mid=21172f6G5af33e436c95G7bdeeG46

This message was intended for conryf.nfll@blogger.com. If you do not wish to receive this type of email from Facebook in the future, please click here to unsubscribe.
Facebook's offices are located at 1601 S. California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304.

Reminder: Frank Conry invited you to join Facebook...

2010-03-07T09:26:00.001-05:00

facebook

Hi Conryf.nfll,

The following person invited you to be their friend on Facebook:

Frank Conry
Invite sent:
Feb 19, 2010

Facebook is a great place to keep in touch with friends, post photos, videos and create events. But first you need to join! Sign up today to create a profile and connect with the people you know.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Already have an account? Add this email address to your account here.

Facebook is free and anyone can join.

To sign up for Facebook, follow the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/r.php?re=27b33a195f52aa9cd2b1ba2cc06fb378&mid=1fdb4b8G5af33e436c95G48b4aG46

Check out my photos on Facebook

2010-02-19T06:31:00.001-05:00

facebook

Frank Conry has:
139 friends
40 photos
0 notes
108 wall posts
7 groups

Check out my photos on Facebook

Hi Conryf.nfll,

I set up a Facebook profile where I can post my pictures, videos and events and I want to add you as a friend so you can see it. First, you need to join Facebook! Once you join, you can also create your own profile.

Thanks,
Frank

To sign up for Facebook, follow the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=752196146&k=3ZG4PXV6ST6G6BD1VDW4T3YUZ6BAY2ZC4UGR&r

Already have an account? Add this email address to your account here.

conryf.nfll@blogger.com was invited to join Facebook by Frank Conry. If you do not wish to receive this type of email from Facebook in the future, please click here to unsubscribe.
Facebook's offices are located at 1601 S. California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304.

New Domain Name

2005-06-24T11:17:00.000-04:00

Well, after two servers, two refunds and a week of trying to fudge it without reading the directions, I finally got my blog up at www.lattelib.net. I'll be haggling with the archives and style sheets for today and the weekend, but I do have a post in mind over there. Hope this change is welcome!

Keep Perspective

2005-06-23T17:16:00.000-04:00

From Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath:

This you may say of man -- when theories change and crash, when schools, philosophies, when narrow dark alleys of thought, national, religious, economic, grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never a full step back. This you may say and know it and know it. This you may know when the bombs plummet out of black planes on the marketplace, when prisoners are stuck like pigs, when the crushed bodies drain filthily in the dust. You may know it in this way. If the step were not being taken, if the stumbling forward ache were not alive, the bombs would not fall, the throats would not be cut. Fear the time when bombs stop falling while the bombers live--for every bomb is proof that the spirit has not died. And fear the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live -- for every little beaten strike is proof the step is being taken. And this you can know -- fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.

It's not Guantanamera

2005-06-23T13:48:00.000-04:00

The editors at NR have come out against an independent commission for Gitmo. I have picked apart their article below and the argument is nothing short of cowardly.

A common thread runs through Durbin’s comparisons and this call for a commission: an urge for national self-flagellation.

How is an independent commission self-flagellation? Merely by virtue of the fact that the Dems want it?

The underlying premise is that we have been bad, very bad, in daring to hold enemy combatants, never mind that doing so is intrinsic to the act of warfare.

If that were true would we be asking for an independent commission or their release?

It is argued that a commission will help clear the country’s good name. Put aside that the portion of the foreign audience that hates us won’t be swayed by a commission’s findings one way or another. A commission will, in political terms, never clear the Bush administration of anything.

Woah! Okay, so we can't convince people and it won't end up clearing Bush so we shouldn't do it? This is outrageously partisan. NR doesn't appear to want a discussion about torture taking place or the treatment of prisoners; they're just interested in partisan gain. And more...

The Robb-Silberman Commission cleared Bush officials of the charge that they pressured intelligence officials to hype intelligence about Iraq’s WMD. Democrats and swaths of the media dismissed the report for exactly that reason.

So, the upshot is, "We didn't get anything out of the last commission so why should we go along with this one!" Partisan doesn't quite describe this, childish is more accurate.

Democrats should simply say what they would do with the detainees, and offer a congressional resolution to that effect and vote on it.

This does nothing to solve the problem. Part of why I think an investigation would be good is so that we, as country (as opposed to one out of power party) can discuss what is acceptable and what isn't. That would be healthy, democratic, and best of all transparent. The reason there's so much confusion about how bad it is down there and so many bogus claims are given weight in this argument is lack of transparency.

If they are such fans of “accountability,” Democrats shouldn’t blanch at putting such positions in black and white and voting on them. …Of course, they will do no such thing.

That's right because it would be a waste of time for everyone involved. This is classic. There's a debate about potential torture and NR's solution is to have the Dems sit in the corner!

The response to calls for such a commission should be simple: “Hell, no.”

To summarize:

It would not absolve the Bush administration.
Therefore it would in no way help America.
Therefore an investigation would be useless.

Notice that the only possible benefit of an investigation for NR is Gain for the Bush administration. And they call the Dems partisan.

The Case for Democracy

2005-06-23T12:50:00.000-04:00

Rep. John Tanner has introduced a bill in the house to end congressional redistricting. I think think of a single issue that would enliven our democracy more than this bill. The good news is it's early and a Republican, Rep. Zach Wamp, is on board. This is a very very important and positive development. Let's hope this gets passed. Thanks to Charging RINO for highlighting this issue.

Ask Them

2005-06-22T15:40:00.000-04:00

The House passed what seems to me like doomed amendment to the constitution to ban flagburning. Pundits claim it's got a good shot at passing the Senate as well. I was only mildly interested until I saw this quote from Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-Calif):

Ask the men and women who stood on top of the (World) Trade Center... Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment.

Wow, talk about using 9/11 for political ends. This bothers me more than Durbin, not that makes any sense, just that the argument ad hitlerum is common to the point of near meaninglessness and this type of co-opting 9/11 is still in it's infancy and is therefore harder to watch.

On a lighter note

2005-06-22T13:31:00.000-04:00

Check out The Onion 2056. My top Three headlines:

Menstruation cured.
Michael Moore targets his ungrateful grandchildren in 29th movie.
47th Amendment grants ipods suffrage.

I love you, The Onion.

KKKonvicted

2005-06-22T11:53:00.000-04:00

Somebody had to say it.

A Slow Death

2005-06-22T11:42:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a Sullivan post I stumbled upon this article at The American Enterprise. I mostly agree. It does sound a little overly optimistic but that huge progress has been made cannot be denied. Remember how little Sunni participation existed a year ago? There's more than a toehold there now. Remember the 'Green Zone' being the only safe place to go? Heard anything about it lately? Remember Sadr City and al-Sadr's militia? Co-opted into the political process. These are huge not barking dogs. Unfortunately, none of this is news, it's too gradual a development. News is essentially reporting the battles, the state of the war is open to conjecture. Still, it's not going to be all roses a month from now, there are new problems, sectarian violence that have to be addressed. I wouldn't say it's won, but we're definitely winning.

Unfair Unions

2005-06-21T14:29:00.000-04:00

The Weekly Standard rightly highlights the California "Paycheck Protection" Initiative, unfortunately they manage to take the low road even when they have the right destination. The initiative basically required that the union get consent from their members before spending the union dues on political campaigns. One note: it requires written consent from EVERY member of the union to spend the money. That would effectively bar unions from politics. Although I would put the ideal solution somewhere in between the two, the measure is clearly better than the status quo. It's simply unfair to spend other people's money without even a cursory consultation. The Weekly Standard may or may not dislike spending other people's money without their consultation. Their line of attack on this issue is banal and partisan, which is completely unnecessary. There is a clear logical and ethical argument for this initiative, which I have outlined but as opposed to that, the Standard simply points out that it would benefit conservatives. This is not an argument for the bill, particularly in California. Is partisan Hackery so deeply ingrained at the WS that they can no longer construct a good, non-partisan argument?

Detainee Dissonance

2005-06-21T12:56:00.000-04:00

I'm cautiously optimistic about Gitmo. That is, I'm sure there should be an investigation but I don't think it will turn much up. But paging through my blogroll this morning I can't really reconcile these two accounts; From Charging RINO:

On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food, or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold... On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

From LGF:

the dinner menu includes Baked Tandouri Chicken Breast, Mustard-Dill Baked Fish, Lyonnaise Rice, and Fish Amandine.

Now I suppose they could be force feeding them Fish Amandine, but that seems odd. I'm sure there is cherry picking on both sides here but, still! This just screams investigate all over it. How on earth will we ever know what is going on down there with out one?

Bolton from the Blue

2005-06-21T11:46:00.000-04:00

Bolton has once again been denied cloture by a larger margin than previously and, while I actually support Bolton's nomination, I can't help but giggle with glee at the Democrats' success. Bolton is, and I think everyone on both sides of the debate can agree on this, an asshole. That said, he might be good at his potential job. I'm all for shaking things up at the UN. So why don't I mind this filibuster bluster? You could chalk it up to partisan hackery, but that's not quite it. It's more to do with the swaggering arrogant attitude of the Bush administration. It seems to me that, from a legislative warfare point of view, the fact that the Dems are making actually enumerable demands is a weakness, since the demands aren't outrageous. They're simply asking to look at some documents in order to perform their deliberative function better. If Bush really had confidence in his nominee, he shouldn't have any qualms about releasing the docs. So why doesn't he? Two reasons come to mind. This administration is anti transparency and arrogant. That's it. These two come together and won't allow Bush to simply call Biden's bluff. Unless it isn't a bluff...

Partisan Hackery Calls

2005-06-20T14:25:00.000-04:00

Oh Little Green Footballs! How far you have fallen. It began with a slow leak, the kind that you could only see when you put a football underwater, it didn't seem to matter much, the football still worked, none of the little green spectators seemed to mind. But now, LGF, that slow leak has blown open and inside, to the guck (and yes that is a technical term) of partisan hackery. For shame. Post after post last week marked a shift in the perspective of LGF, from spot free, untainted, gleaming ivory watchdog to filthy, gutter mucking partisan. Two posts today are anti-democrat, one titled "Dems Sign Up With Anti-Semites". Apparently a bunch of congressmen had a mock Bush impeachment. (Better things to do?) Well, guess not, maybe we should take away their private elevators in the House office building. Then, predictably, some wacko, Ray McGovern, comes and 'testifies'

..that the United States went to war in Iraq for oil, Israel and military bases craved by administration "neocons" so "the United States and Israel could dominate that part of the world."

and goes on to say that Israel should not be our ally. He was then thanked for his 'candid' testimony. Candid? Sounds like a way to say something nice without saying something nice. Kind of like saying 'well, thanks for not lying.' This is the evidence that the entire Democratic Party is Anti-Semitic? Huh? LGF used to be above such brazen and shallow partisan attacks, not anymore apparently.

WOW, yet again.

2005-06-20T13:31:00.000-04:00

Barrack Obama's Commence meant speech at Knox College gives futher evidence that he's presidential material. It's simply incredible. Of particular importance to me is the dog that didn't bark: appealing to the baser instincts. No railing against free trade, no attacks, no Dean, just simple liberal perspective and, oh joy, vision. Vision like I've never seen on my side of the aisle. I'm tempted to quote the whole thing here but let me illustrate with one example. Referring to the out of work Maytag man his solution is this:

[What] if we walked up to those Maytag workers and we said "Your old job is not coming back, but a new job will be there because we're going to seriously retrain you and there's life-long education that's waiting for you."

That's right. This is where liberalism fits in the future. Putting up protectionist barriers is wrong and ineffective, easing economic transitions is a noble goal that would strengthen our economy. He takes a liberal weakness, turns it on it's head and makes a strength. And he does it without mincing words. The solution is not your old job, that job is not coming back, the solution is the new job that outsourcing creates over here, the better job.

Cruise Control

2005-06-20T09:56:00.000-04:00

Some prankster sprayed Tom Cruise in the face with water. Intriguing. The video is pretty fun to watch in that Cruise really manages to 'win'. I fully expected him to freak out and start yelling like the spoiled Hollywood star I would expect he is, but no. He's fairly mature about it. Asks the guy why he would do such a thing and doesn't take any real punitive action, although they were arrested, according to Drudge. Honestly, I do think this funny. I mean this guy, the prankster, has balls of steal. I have no idea how he pulled this off. Anyway, it's worth a watch.

The Post has a Point

2005-06-17T08:49:00.000-04:00

Perusing the Washington Post's web page this morning, I say a link to a column titled "Where's The Apology?" under a quote about Terri Schiavo. I groaned. Why does everyone think that pre-lifers would back paddle because of the autopsy result? It' the equivalent of expecting a pro-lifer to say an abortion wasn't murder because the baby would have had some horrible disease. This ideological divide isn't going to be bridged by any set of circumstances. "Well", I thought "I'll read the article and make this point on my blog, besides this isn't the first time I've blogged about five day old news stories. I have concede, though, the article is very respectful to the pro-life movement. The author is clearly pro-choice but is respectful of pro lifers while pointing out that some overly opportunistic politicians nonetheless really ought to apologize. Money quote:

Right-to-life politicians have done terrible damage to a serious cause. They claimed to know what they did not, and could not, know. They were willing to imply, without proof, terrible things about a husband who was getting in their way. Instead of making the hard and morally challenging case for keeping Terri Schiavo on life support, they spun an emotional narrative that they thought would play well on cable TV and talk radio.

Downing Street Memory Lapse

2005-06-16T15:28:00.000-04:00

Some people are all aflutter about he Downing Street memo. It was peripheral for me, mainly because I support the Iraq War, until I found a handy regurgitation of it on slate, relieving me of any obligation to research anything about it. As I thought I would think I think this fall flat. Here's the so called money quote: [Richard Dearlove] reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. Okay, this is supposed to be the most damning bit. Point by point 'Military action was seen as inevitable': This is rational. Saddam Hussein had proved time and again that he was unwilling to cooperate with the action demanded of him by the UN. So demanding action of him and threatening military action to make him comply, one might see military action as inevitable. 'Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD.': That Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action is not something that makes my blood boil. Everyone wanted him removed, anyone willing to do it would have to reconcile himself to doing it militarily, apparently Bush did so. The anti-war hecklers, I assume, also wanted to remove him but had no ideas as to how anyone could do it. The fact that he's sketching out a justification makes perfect political sense. It's unfortunate that we'll never know Bush's real motive but the idea of him sketching out a justification is not interesting, it's called making your case to the public. 'But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.': This is probably the weirdest bit. Word choice here is just bad. Justification is precisely the word the anti-war left wants to see when rationale would have been more appropriate. Also, why does this start with 'But'? 'fixing' facts and intelligence is again very poor word choice. Preparing is more precise maybe 'researching' and probably what was meant, as opposed to cooking or forging. Maybe they meant cooking up the intelligence but, if so, why would this be conveyed to Downing Street? And, if the White House and Downing Street were in cahoots wouldn't Blair know and not need to be told by his intelligence man? Damn good conspiracy, if it is one. I mean they even got Anti-War Germany's Intelligence agency (by the way called the Bundesnachrichtendeinst or Federal New Service) to concede their existence. There may be poor judgement here, but there is no conspiracy.

Never Surrender

2005-06-16T14:14:00.000-04:00

Senator Dick Durbin is a man I can relate to. Senator Dick Durbin is a man of principle. He's no weak kneed liberal, this guy, he's a stand up and fight kind of guy, he's got resolve, determination. A flip-flopper he is not. You always know what he's thinking. Well, not quite always. Still, I have to admit, just for a measure of spine in Washington, I'm happy someone, sometime didn't apologize. What Dick Durbin said was outrageous but you have respect that he didn't apologize. I like Dick Durbin, I know exactly where he stands, and he stands in Bat Shit Crazy land. Still, I'm glad we all know that now and we can move on. Thanks, Dick!

Holy Crap!

2005-06-16T11:42:00.000-04:00

From another post over at LGF that overreacts to what it thinks is MSM bias, I found this quote:

Iraqi troops found and freed an Australian held hostage in Baghdad on Wednesday, the latest of several recent successes in recovering foreign captives.

All I can say is WOW. That's great. We're actually able to free some of the kidnap victims? That doesn't happen over here. To me this is a very, very strong sign of progress. The insurgency, as long as prominent Sunnis distance themselves from it, is in it's death throes. It's not going to die soon, but without local help, we'll get the intelligence that we need to cripple them. Given the recent unvarnished attacks on civilians, I think this is very possible. Oh and LGF is completely off base again today with it's claims of liberal media bias. Oh well.

More Ridiculousness

2005-06-15T16:07:00.000-04:00

LGF has apparently joined the right's cult of vicitmology. Not only do they cite the aforementioned innocuous photo, they again criticize Google’s news filtering algorithm. Here’s the quote:

Again, we find that stories like this are selected by Google News and featured in their list of headlines. As Honest Reporting points out, this may be the result of an automated algorithm. But in a world where evil people deliberately circulate such noxious propaganda, Google’s naïve system of automatically filtering news stories—without human intervention ... is hopelessly flawed.

Okay, let's get this straight; you want a human to do the job as a way to eliminate bias? Huh? Google's habit of picking "left, far left, and loony left sources" has a lot more to do with the rest of the world being left of us than any inherent bias. LGF's solution appears to be, from the above quote, to ignore certain news outlets. Okay, just to recap. A search engine's news page is hopelessly biased because it isn't done by a human and doesn't exclude any sources. A search engine. The story that LGF laments getting a headline on Google News is almost certainly biased, but Google isn't writing these stories, they're allowing you to search them and showing you the latest. If that's your goal then the two best ways to avoid media bias are to eliminate human judgment from the process as much as possible and to include all sources. Taking fallible human judgment out of Google's role. Does LGF just want someone to blame? Maybe they realize how ridiculous it looks to attack an algorithm.

The Dark Continent needs some light.

2005-06-15T14:45:00.000-04:00

There is again today a whine coming from the right about MSM bias. This time it's Drudge Report complaining about this photo. Forgive me if I'm not hopping mad. When I visited my brother about a month ago, I offered to get him a subscription to the economist as a graduation gift. He said it would be great and told how what a fabulous publication it was, how it covered the whole world. He disagreed. Africa garners one article an issue, at best two, and those are about South Africa or Nigeria most of the time. Well, I retorted, they are the regional powers and economically they matter most. But even as I said it, I knew I was wrong. Africa is ignored. It takes a pandemic to get anyone to pay attention and it's not because the news is all bad, cause it's not. It's not that we're tired of caring, it’s that we never did. The West commonly engages in self flagellation after an African tragedy complete with the phrase "never again" but that phrase has become meaningless, it's been so abused. I believe both the US and the EU are forces for good in the world but when it comes to Africa they just throw our hands up in despair. We throw aid at it, makes pledges and look elsewhere. The continent is clearly headed in the right direction, despite most of the news we get, the number of wars in Africa has been decreasing for quite a while. Where's this in the news? A common retort to my argument for invading Iraq was "Why Iraq? There are a thousand worse dictators in Africa why not one of them." This retort illustrates my point, all people know about Africa is there’s a lot of bad stuff going on there, and a lot of bad people, the success stories the moves towards democracy, the economic liberalization all of this is under the radar. The genocides and atrocities would be too, if we could ignore them. South America and Aisa don’t receive this treatment, taking the economist as an example, both have their own sections while Africa shares a section with the Middle East. If America is really interested in spreading Democracy, Africa's a great place to go. In my thoroughly biased opinion West Africa is ripe for it. Three countries in this region have strong ratings for democracy and civil liberties from freedom house (Ghana, Benin and Mali). The rest, well, they're pretty closed tyrannical states. But compare that to the Middle East or Asia, before the Iraq war the Middle East had a single well functioning Democracy and that one was ostracized from the regional community. Pressure from the West on Middle Eastern countries is common but they're reluctant to concede anything, they get so much attention. West Africa in contrast is ignored and nonetheless inching towards reform. A little more concerted US effort here would go a long way. Look at Togo, they held election at the West's behest, no problem, but they knew damn well no one would care if they rigged them, and newspapers duly ignored dubious election. In fact no international observers, as far as I can tell, were present. All the west would have to have one was follow through and help them out and Togo would be on the path to democracy right now. But this half hearted effort does more harm than good. We gave the Togolese a glipse of democracy and then lost interest. Of course they were angry. We should have been too but if we even knew about it, it was peripheral, not like the Rose and Cedar revolutions, which were front page news and both received international support. The people who have suffered under the longest ruling dictator in the world bar Castro get a glimpse of democracy and have it snatched away and we don't even stand with them? If we want to spread freedom, that's the way to do it. Getting our government to stand up for democracy in Africa is going to require the abolition of a media bias that consist of more than Godwinian references.

Well Done, Psycho Guy

2005-06-15T10:31:00.000-04:00

I just went to CVS and while I was there, I witnessed an incident. Psycho guy: "Cirgarettes." Clerk : "I'm gonna have to refer you to the manager" PS: (walking over to the manager, in loud voice) "I'm just trying to get cigarettes!" Manager: "nobody here will serve you." PS Storms out. On his way out he knocked over a rack of tourist trinkets, postcards, keychains and mugs. He did so awkwardly, so awkwardly that the tower fell on him and almost knocked him over. He stumbled off the blow out of the store. The tower fell, debris everywhere, pretty bland, but the broken coffee cups were the most successful victims of this vandal. As I watched him do this I thought, "Dumbass." That's not quite true, though. This is the perfect retaliation for this guy. First, there is the obvious property damage, not really negligible. Next it was by the door so the guy escaped pretty well. This also had the advantage of blocking the doorway before someone cleans it up and during, since there was no small amount of crap on the floor. Third, he did this during the height of rush hour, which enhances the bottleneck principle and the discomfort he causes the clerks who have much, much better things to do. All in all given that it took him about 3 seconds to do this, it was a very intelligent act of vandalism, although I'm not sure he thought it all the way through.

Spot the post Mosern Joke

2005-06-14T17:31:00.000-04:00

What! You haven't read this post?

Right Wing Paranoia Watch

2005-06-13T16:13:00.000-04:00

Little Green Footballs, a fabulous blog, slips up today with a post entitled Google News at it again. They show this picture from Google news' Website:

and howl with rage at the last link, "USVP Cheney Says Torture Facility Will Stay Open." The actual article, according to LGF, calls Gitmo an "Alleged Torture Facility". LGF goes on to point out that even the title of the webpage has the word alleged in it. They call this liberal media bias. Typical of the right's Cult of victimology. Do they think someone planned this? Do you think that human hands wrote this headline? Truly silly. What's going on is that Google has an algorithm to shorten headlines when it needs to, it probably drops a list of words regardless of the headline (for example replace 'and with a comma) until the headline is short enough to fit. The word "alleged" is often one dropped in headlines. I'm disappointed that such a great blog has succumbed to the favorite crutch of the right.

Has Gitmo got to go?

2005-06-13T15:55:00.000-04:00

Andrew Sullivan has a post today that got me thinking, in particular the lines:

We need an independent inquiry into all detainee abuse, clear new rules for interrogation that abide by U.S. law, and the closure of Gitmo itself. It is becoming the enemy's propaganda jewel.

I definitely lean towards the frothing right as far as what I think is going on down there but I shift uncomfortably in my seat when I hear of new allegations, however specious, coming out everyday. Why not have an independent inquiry? I think they'll come up with a few minor infractions and that will be that, but isn't that all the more reason why we should do it? The "Close Gitmo" sentiment at least makes sense in this light. But we’ll always need a place for interrogations and regardless of where it exists it will be a magnet of controversy. I think an independent inquiry would help redeem the Gitmo we have, or, if problems are what Sullivan thinks they are, clean it up. Closing it down is obfuscation no matter what side of the issue you're on.

Lattelib.net

2005-06-13T14:40:00.000-04:00

I'm in the process of moving this blog to http://www.lattelib.net right now there the beginnings of my web page but soon it should all be over there. It's pretty much the same deal as my old web page, but I have updated it a bit. Posting will be slower while I down twelve packs of the beast ice and fiddle with the HTML (Yes I am that old school).

Technical Difficulties

2005-06-10T14:49:00.000-04:00

I'll be fiddling with this blog again this weekend so it won't be the happening place to be for a couple days. However, when I'm done it should look cooler and be based at my (hopeful) new web address: http://www.lattelib.net

Comment Madness

2005-06-10T11:29:00.000-04:00

I had to post this comment because it's so damn funny:

Osama is a centrist if you read his papers and look into his background. The problem is that there aren't enough Osama's in either party.

Bin Laden? What? A centrist? I never knew! The actual article is about Obama, something tells me the spell checker played a dirty trick on this commenter over at Charging RINO.

Dean's List

2005-06-09T17:01:00.000-04:00

Update: Dean is still an idiot and needs to be fired. Apparently the Rude Pundit didn't get that memo.

The 2005 NFLL Music Awards

2005-06-09T15:44:00.000-04:00

In an effort to expand the breadth of this blog, I've decided to give awards to the various songs I am subjected to over and over and over again at both my jobs. We'll start with the most frustratingly nonsensible song: Ice Cube - You can do it. Synopsis: Ice Cube is having sex. Lyrics: Woman: "You can do it put your back into it." Man: "I can do it put your ass into it." Comments: Does this make any damn sense to anyone? Sex is just not this hard! Put your back into it? What is he moping the floor with her! You can do it? Do what? Cum? Penetrate? It's obviously about sex but what exactly is going on; aside Ice Cube going soft in the ninth inning, I have no damn idea. Next award goes to the Stalker of the year. There was this year, as every year, very stiff competition (not from Ice Cube though, who not stiff in any way) and, while we have to give a shout out to the unreformable boyfriend of "The Reason" the award goes to... Mariah Carey - Always be my baby. Synopsis: Mariah is getting dumped. Lyrics: "Our love will never die." "You'll always be a part of me." and the uber-creepy "Boy, don't you know you can't escape me?" Comments: Yikes. Remind me never to date her. Wait, scratch that, remind me to change my identity after we break up. Next is the lamest lyric ever: Clipse - Grindin' Synopsis: Don't fuck with Clipse. Lyric: "Patty cake patty cake I'm the baker’s man, I bake them as fast I can." Comments: Nursery Rhymes are NEVER cool. It wasn't cool when Korn did it and it's not cool now, I don't care if you’re freebasing cocaine, stop with the damn nursery rhymes. T he What!? Award goes to Trick Daddy - I'm a thug. Synopsis: Trick Daddy is a thug. Comments:A kid's chorus singing "I'm a thug?" Trick, please. By the way, could you come up with a more generic name? It's almost as bad as if you named yourself MC Rapper or something. Finally the award for best music video goes to.... Strong Bad - Everybody to the limit. Comments: This has to be seen to be believed.

No One's Ever Died from Medical Marijuana...

2005-06-08T16:07:00.000-04:00

but I may die if I see this in print one more time...

This provides patients in states with medical marijuana laws a high degree of protection: Federal agents make only 1% of our nation's 750,000 marijuana arrests every year; 99 out of 100 marijuana arrests are made by state and local police enforcing state and local laws. Therefore, in practical terms, state medical marijuana laws reduce patients' risk of arrest by 99 percent. That isn't perfect, but it is real and substantial.

Okay, these statistics do not imply what the wording wants them to. Drug busts of medical marijuana users still happens, otherwise this case would have never occurred. That local police make 99% of marijuana arrests does not imply that patients' risk of arrest is reduced by 99%. Let's conduct a little thought experiment: You work for the DEA. You want to use your resources effectively, arrest as many marijuana users as possible. What's the most sensible group to allocate your resources to; A large disparate group that is currently being tacked 99 times more effectively than you could by an agency with an unrelated budget or a small, open group of users who not only use openly, but have their names on a list at city hall? It makes far more sense for the DEA to concentrate its resources on the medical marijuana users than on run-of-the-mill users and it would take little resources to do so. Further all of these users have their names on a list somewhere so, if you can swing it, get the damn list, and arrest everyone on there. Imagine that. If the DEA makes 7500 arrests each year and they arrest 100 of the 200 registered medical marijuana users in Montana, that's a damn good day. This claim assumes that the Feds are going to allocate their resources in a static uniform fashion, which is as absurd as assuming that border guards are station uniformly around the US. Bah!

Speak softly or I'll hit you with a big stick

2005-06-08T14:37:00.000-04:00

Howard Dean is at it again. His incompetance amazes. From The Buzz today:

On Republican criticism, he said, “They want to divert attention, they want to make me the issue.”

Excuse me, or should I say YYYAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGH Mr. Dean, you're making you the issue! Stop it!

Let's get this over with...

2005-06-07T17:50:00.000-04:00

Just so I never act as foolish you know who I'd like to get past all this bad grades nonsense. Here are the lowlights of my academic career:

I failed, that is I got an 'F', in 6th grade Math. Sorry Mom and Dad.
I got a C- in Linear Algebra my second semester at The University of Colorado at Denver. But I did retake it and got an 'A'. Oh, who am I kidding, The press will be all over this one.
I got a B- in Real Analysis in grad school. Again, Sorry Mom and Dad.

Whew. That feels so much better, I've been carrying that around forever. How cathartic.

Dreary Deluge

2005-06-07T17:03:00.000-04:00

Last night I walked out on the porch, the rain poured out of the sky with a soft fury, angry yet muted. My other roommate, Shape-up, was standing out there, watching the rain and light show. The neighborhood was empty, not uncommon for midnight, but somehow, because of the noise, seemed quieter. In the distance something caught my eye, a flashing light. Police. The car was older, with the rounded corners you'd see in a 50's era car, or so it seemed through the rain. It drove slowly, the noise of it's siren unnecessary and futile. Shape-up: "Heard shots, 7 or 8" "Really? I didn't hear them this time, my window was closed." "yeah." "I wonder if it was retaliation. Last time some of those guys were sayin ..." (Shrug) The rain continued. The police car turned the direction Shape-up had indicated. Crawling. We stared out into the rain calmed street. Thinking. Another one?

Dogs not barking

2005-06-07T16:35:00.000-04:00

Amid the hubub about the medical marijuana ruling there seems to be precious little attention given to the case not tried by the Supreme Court. Namely Lexmark's petition to bring it's case against Static Control Components. Lexmark tried to rig their printers to only take Lexmark toner, unfairly monopolizing the toner market for their printers. This, at least, we can all get behind.

Medical Marijuana and States Rights

2005-06-07T00:05:00.000-04:00

Well, although I'm more sure than ever that the recent decision on medical marijuana was a reasonable and, perhaps correct, one, I'd still like to to see this be a state's rights issue cause I think that's where it belongs. In that spirit, I'm linking to this good idea and, although I'm not pledging three posts a week I'll try not to swarm as much as I usually do around the outrage du jour.

Atrios' argumentative atrophy

2005-06-06T14:19:00.000-04:00

Atrios has a post today that I find unsettling: What's that sound? Oh, it's the sound of right wing bloggers not talking about how freedom is on the march in Lebanon all because of George Bush. Little Green Footballs is also worried about this, but their tack doesn't try and spin this defeat for moderation into a defeat for W. This debate came up a few months ago when I was debating the Washington Canard. Should we fret when bad people are democratically elected? Yes, but not very much, as long as it's not the last election. Hezbollah is more likely to be moderated by electoral success than pull the whole country further towards extremism. Also, part of having freedom is having the freedom to make bad choices. Of course I'd rather see a pro-American reformer in there, but I'd rather see an anti-American extremist who’s elected than a pro-American moderate who’s installed as a dictator. It boils down to the fact that, if you believe in the principles of Democracy, then let others discover them for themselves. We've flirted with some very, very bad ideas over here and eventually sorted them out. We Americans forget that this project, this great experiment is a result of two centuries trial and error and no small amount of luck. Extremism is bad, but if you believe in Democracy then you believe that this is merely one of many blips to come but the trajectory is upward. Freedom is on the march, and this is what it looks like; People like us making their own decisions, like us, and making mistakes sometimes, like us.

Judge not lest ye be a Judge

2005-06-06T13:04:00.000-04:00

The Supreme Court has ruled against Medical Marijuana today. Everyone from Andrew Sullivan to RedState is upset about this, although the righties tend to take a more Judicial Activism tack, which I'm dubious of. I did't like this decision, I thought it infringed on State's rights. But it's not a milestone. If 10 states have laws allowing medical marijuana, from California to Wyoming, I'm not so sure this is such a huge setback. I found it very, very odd that this falls into the interstate commerce clause. So I looked into the opinion. It doesn't seem poorly reasoned. I'll try to summarize: In Wickard v. Filburn the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had authority to restrict the amount of wheat a farmer grew for personal consumption because this excess wheat even though "local and... not... commerce, it may still, whatever it's nature, be reached by Congress if it exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce." This, to me, seems like a reasonable conclusion. From here the court draws a parallel saying:

The similarities between this case and Wickard are striking. Like the farmer in Wickard, respondents are cultivating, for home consumption, a fungible commodity for which there is an established, albeit illegal, interstate market.

And the opinion continues:

While the diversion of homegrown wheat tended to frustrate the federal interest in stabilizing prices by regulating volume of commercial transactions in the interstate market, the diversion of homegrown marijuana tends to frustrate the federal interest in eliminating commercial transactions in the interstate market in their entirety.

Basically, given that the federal government can regulate marijuana as interstate commerce, in order to do this effectively, it has to regulate factors of economic relevance as well. At least that's my take on it and it seems reasonable to me. Claiming that people growing Marijuana for personal use is economically irrelevant is naive. Not knowing law as well I ought, I can't call this definitive for one side or the other, but it's clear there's more to this than meets the eye.

More on Gitmo

2005-06-03T14:14:00.000-04:00

Well it seems that the reasonable bits of the left, what Dean might call the republican wing of the democratic party are in line with me on Gitmo. From this fabulous TNR article:

[Irene Kahn's] outrage is valuable and essential. If only she could express it without employing obscene moral parallels.

Unfortunately, the democratic wing of the democratic party is still clinging to this. From the Nation:

...gulag is a fair analogy--how else to describe an international network of cells and interrogation centers holding prisoners without charge, for indeterminate terms, beyond reach of any court?

Can somebody hit the Nation with the reality stick?

Abramoff and.... Bush?

2005-06-03T13:39:00.000-04:00

Swing State has an interesting post today about a possible link between Abramoff and Bush. Now, that would be one heck of a story. I can hear those tighty righties now -- The MSM would have never reported it if Clinton took money illegally! -- screaming at the top of their lungs. it would be interesting indeed.

Gitmo fo sho

2005-06-03T12:50:00.000-04:00

There's a lot of buzz about Guantanamo Bay today. Charles Krauthammer has a reasonable article, as does, surprisingly, Michelle Malkin. Both make convincing cases that things are actually just fine down there. From Krauthammer:

In March the Navy inspector general reported that, out of about 24,000 interrogations at Guantanamo, there were seven confirmed cases of abuse, "all of which were relatively minor."

And the money shot from Malkin:

Each detainee's cell has a sink installed low to the ground, "to make it easier for the detainees to wash their feet" before Muslim prayer, Mr. Saar reports. Detainees get "two hot halal, or religiously correct, meals" a day in addition to an MRE (meal ready to eat). Loudspeakers broadcast the Muslims' call to prayer five times daily.

But she goes on to make some more suspect claims such as "Gitmo's library -- yes, library -- is stocked with Jihadi books." Not that I know different but that I need more corroboration for that one. Then of course, not knowing when their point is made, the both go overboard. Krauthammer still within lifesaver throwing distance says:

Civil libertarians, who have been dogged in making sure that FBI-collected Guantanamo allegations are released to the world, seem exquisitely sensitive to mistreatment of the Koran. A rather selective scrupulousness. When an American puts a crucifix in a jar of urine and places it in a museum, civil libertarians rise immediately to defend it as free speech. And when someone makes a painting of the Virgin Mary, smears it with elephant dung and adorns it with porn, not only is that free speech, it is art ...

The alleged flushing of the Koran wasn't a performance art piece; it was interrogation and thus is in no way comparable. We're not talking about the interrogators free speech here and it's ridiculous to pretend that we are. These two examples are as comparable as a girl singing a religious song in school and a teacher doing the same thing. Treading water just within site is Michelle Malkin with this:

...our own MPs have endured little-publicized abuse at the hands of manipulative, hatemongering enemy combatants. Detainees have spit on and hurledwater, urine and feces on the MPs. Causing disturbances is a source of entertainment for detainees ...

Okay. Who's in prison and who's not? Forgive me if I don't burst out in tears over this. I don't find this at all surprising, I'm sure these things have happened at US prisons which Malkin, earlier in her article, uses as the standard of acceptability. If that stuff happens, throw them in solitary confinement. Being a prison guard isn't an easy job, but it's a job. Being a prisoner, last time I checked, is not voluntary. Not to be outdone, Power Line checks in today with the most outrageous comment of the day:

..(in a reversal of Abu Ghraib) some prisoners have masturbated in front of the women guards.

A reversal of Abu Ghraib! Excuse me while I cough up my left nut. As I said above, Guards and detainees are not comparable. If a guy does that, throw him in solitary. What's the problem? Once again, when the right has a point they can't help themselves and they undermine their credibility by grinding irrelevant axes. At least we can agree on this, Krauthammer's closing line:

[W]e should get over it, stop whimpering and start defending ourselves.

Indeed.

Talking Politics in Germany..

2005-06-02T16:54:00.000-04:00

..is exactly like this. Or at least it was, maybe Itchseed can tell us if it still is.

Anxiety International

2005-06-02T11:53:00.000-04:00

Amnesty International has issued a retort to the Bush Administration's claim that calling Guantanamo Bay the "Gulag of our time" is "absurd." According to Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Zubaida Khan"

"The administration's response has been that our report is absurd, that our allegations have no basis, and our answer is very simple: if that is so, open up these detention centers, allow us and others to visit them"

and later...

"Transparency is the best antidote to misinformation and incorrect facts..."

So, if I'm not mistaken, AI is calling Guantanamo Bay the Gulag of our time because of a lack of transparency? I'm not sure if she missed that history lesson, but the Gulag's lack of transparency wasn't the biggest problem going on there. And is Guantanamo really as non transparent by global standards? If this bizarre call for more transparency isn't a case of anti-Bush bias I don't know what is.

Instapunk'd Back

2005-06-02T09:10:00.000-04:00

Last night, after work I came home and checked my mail to find this in my inbox:

Take a look, cartoon dude: http://www.instapunk.com/index.php3#Continue You know nothing and you ARE nothing. Don't ever fight us with words again. You're no good at it. Don't come at us with anything else, either. We're better at every other kind of fighting too. NOT kidding. Signed, InstaPunk

I'll reply here in a shameless attempt to boost my hits. InstaPunk, I see you've noticed that I write like a Neanderthal. Good, that way you'll feel even more ashamed when I, with such crude tools at my disposal, expose your argument for what it is. Unfortunately your post was almost as unclear as mine was ungrammatical. After fishing around in the comments I found this:

FYI, there are things worth losing your career for, things worth dying for, and honor is not a foil for expediency. The president of the United States is a target, if aimed at, that requires a man to stand in the open when he takes aim and fires.

As far as I can tell you think that whenever someone accuses the President of wrongdoing, it must be done openly. I'm not sure why you think this. Is it because the President is a public figure, maybe? Or because he's powerful? Since I know nothing and I AM nothing, perhaps you knew you’d have to explain yourself to me. Do you think that reporters should never use anonymous sources? That’s how it sounds to me, since the POTUS would be, because of his powerful position, the one target that a man shouldn't have to come out in the open to take aim and fire at. If I'm interpreting you correctly then doesn't that imply that anonymous bloggers shouldn't accuse the President of wrongdoing? That’d be a draconian position. Are you mad? Maybe you just need a bit of sympathy. I agree that your President has been treated unfairly. I'm sorry. Would you like a tissue? I agree that allowing anonymous sources opens the door to potential abuse. I know it's a hard, cold world out there. Do you want a blanket? Chicken noodle soup? Get over it. Anonymous sources should be regarded with skepticism, but they are a necessary evil. Further, as Foster from your comments says,

Coming out as No. 2 FBI wouldn't have had as much effect as showing Woodward & Bernstein the way to the goods-and besides, there are limits to how much one man will do altruistically when it hurts his career. According to Woodward, Felt thought he might, one day, be FBI head and it appears to me like the man wanted to serve his consciense while protecting himself. There's no shame in that.

When I said say what you mean, I meant stop hurling insults at Felt when you're actually trying to argue against anonymous sources in general. You still haven't come out and admitted that. Maybe the reason you haven’t is that you couldn't call all anonymous sources "reptiles" and "cowards" without revealing the bankruptcy of your claim. I'm looking forward to your response. Also NOT kidding, NFLL

Instapunked

2005-06-01T14:01:00.000-04:00

In the glow of finally finding out who Deep Throat was, I thought the right might have to acknowledge that, yes, Media, with all it's sensationalist failings, plays an important and irreplaceable role in American Democracy (as in any). Sounds like it was a bit too much to hope for. From Instapunk:

He chose a route so sleazy that even the men whose careers he helped make gave him a nickname borrowed from a dirty movie...He's a creature of the dark, a dishonorable self-aggrandizing weasel, a well-connected coward, a snitch.

The only word I can find for this critique is despicable. Instapunk then goes on to canonize Linda Trip while hurling venom at Deep Throat. Instapunk's logic is laughable, profound flawed and oversimplistic. He asserts that to be an acceptable informer one has to mimic "On The Waterfront." In particular, one must be low level or lack the credibility to come forward immediately and one must at the soonest point in time allowable, come forward. The argument goes like this: He should have come forward during the Nixon Administration. He did not. Therefore he is bad. He should have come forward immediately after the Nixon administration's fall. He did not. Therefore he is a "reptile." What a convenient dichotomy, putting informers of late that the right likes in one box and one the right dislikes in another. The obvious conclusion I draw from this, call me crazy, is that informers that do not come forward are bad. What do we call informers who do not come forward? That's right boys and girls, we call them anonymous sources nowadays. And guess who has been railing against anonymous sources these last few weeks? The right. It's a shame that the right is too self important to acknowledge that what Newsweek did was sloppy but not on it's face wrong. The man, whatever his motives, is a hero. If I push an old lady out of the way of a moving bus because she's in my way it's not as wonderful a thing as saving the lady altruistically, but as Prime minister "Peace in our time" Chamberlin can tell you politics is about consequences and not intentions. Deep Throat exposed a president who rigged an election by excluding the most competitive candidates. Is he pure as the driven snow? Of course not. Is criticizing how he exposed Nixon's perfidy appropriate, maybe, maybe not. But claiming that his act is cowardly because he chose to keep his job as opposed to hoping for the story book like ending (as Instapunk seems to think he should have) in order to help "salve the national wounds that have continued to fester ever since." Crying about Deep Throat not coming forward isn't something I've seen a whole lot in the post Watergate years. Worse, Instapunk goes on to compare Felt to JFK's assassin, a comparison that warrants the word I used earlier, despicable. What those tighty righties are so upset about is Newsweek. They're worried that admitting the great positive change that Deep Throat initiated in this country, however painful, would mean that they would have to admit that the MSM is a positive force and, worse, that anonymous sources are necessary. If Instapunk thinks Felt was such "coward" then what of the countless administration officials who said nothing? Apparently they're better because snitching and not coming forward makes you a "reptile". Say what you mean Instapunk; Felt, by throwing his lot in with the media, is your avowed enemy, regardless of his actions.

Under the Influence

2005-06-01T13:02:00.000-04:00

Some of you may have noticed that I recently (yesterday) added a new blog under the friends heading. My roommate, Brownie of the previous post started a blog recently and despite the fact that I would endorse this blog even it it were trying to sell discount coffin accessories, I ask you to trust me. This looks like it will be a really fun blog. Besides, I'll be a frequent character in it, although you'll have to guess which pseudonym is mine. Enjoy.

Babbling Brookland

2005-06-01T09:22:00.000-04:00

Two jobs and two weeks out of town has left me with very few Brookland stories to tell. But this weekend I had a full day and an afternoon on the porch. In a good mood Saturday evening, I broke out a cigar I was saving, splurged on a Guinness and sat on my stoop. As the people straggled through the neighborhood, the same people, up and and down the streets, one girl stuck out. First, she was gorgeous, but a beautiful women in DC aren't exactly rare. What was special about this girl was her mood. My baser instincts want to attribute such conduct to PMS. Still, if God is a woman, this woman had God PMS. She tried to fight four guys in the span of a one and a half block walk, eventually meandering up to a group of guys, seeming willing to take them all on, and looking like she could handle it. As with all intergender relations it boiled down to sex and the argument was at loggerheads with her grabbing her crotch and repeating "This pussy's good." and one of the guys repeating "Your pussy stinks" over and over. I thought of intervening, pointing out that she could have a good, stinky pussy but decided against it. After the tussle was thus abandoned the girl whose pussy was at issue found a new object of affection, skinnier but quite willing to feed the fires of her rage. Eventually he was run out of the neighborhood. Walking away from all this, one of the more commanding members of the neiborhood noticed that part of his audience was 'special' (read white) and, as I guess the Welcome Wagon had a broken wheel, decided to welcome me by shouting: Hey! Welcome to the Ghetto, Welcome to my hood! to me. It ain't easy being white in a black man's world. But I am making my way, slowly moving on up. For example I bought a box spring last weekend, something I had hitherto coveted and dreamed about but whose status I never thought I could achieve. It was a trial, though. I found a local place that I thought might be cheap. Apparently the prices were correlated to skin color, a practice I'm familiar with from Africa. Still, I went in on Memorial Day and he was willing to deliver same day which seemed to make $50 worth it. He assured me that the used ones were just as good as the new ones and I went off to see Star Wars. When I came back, the box spring had already been delivered, but it was far from the squeaky clean thrift store box spring I had imagined. This one, with a manila plastic cover had an unfortunate side effect. There was dead grandma ghost all over it. Now, I know what you're thinking: "What's wrong with dead grandma ghost? Everyone loves dead grandma ghost cookies!" But this was no ordinary dead grandma ghost, this one, although not at all vicious or bitter, had a smell. It wasn't even that bad so much as it was strong and clearly grandma. After haggling with my roommate, whose new pseudonym shall be 'Brownie', we decided that, for maximum ghost comfort, we should set the haunted mattress out at night to avoid subjecting her to the harsh day. Also if we kept her indoors any longer than that we would be the ones outside that night. I informed the box spring merchant of the problem and he promised to remedy it the following day, which he did. This time, however, I did not chance it with a used box spring. I went for the gold and got a new one. Despite all this, I feel I'm falling in love with Brookland, perhaps it's merely the honeymoon as I've only been there for 6 months. Still, it's rich with life. Visitors are scared but residents are comfortable, even the white one is, and despite what Michael Moore would tell you, neighbors say hi and there is remarkably little fear. But it's not all rose bushes and cheap DVD's. It's not as bad a neighborhood as most think it is, but, sometimes you see why people think it's such a bad neighborhood. Last night, as I was reading Balloon Juice. I heard a cadre of black cat firecrackers go off. Kept reading. Wait. Those weren't black cats. People don't light black cats at this time of year. Oh, no. Raced up the steps. Saw Brownie. "Gunshots." Like a goon, out on the porch looking on as the police are waved on to the scene. Searching everyone there. Trying to find the shooter. He was on foot. The burst of fire meant it was a semi-automatic. The ambulance arrived, loaded the victim slowly. He was moving when they loaded him into the back. Jesus, I hope he's ok. Just some fucking kid. Out comes the crime scene tape. One half block around, people search for bullets. I finish my scotch. Chat with the neighbor. Lights flash. People search. Helicopter overhead, no spotlight, though. Either they found him or they don't care. Nothing to do, just go back in and try to sleep. Jesus, I hope he's ok.

Forgot to hook the party line to his tow truck...

2005-05-31T17:06:00.000-04:00

NR's Michael Leeden has a great, right of center attack on the Bush administration, today. One where he mocks his euphoric article of early March. He makes a reasonable case that Bush has become what the right caricatured Kerry as in his foreign policy, weak and European. Although he most definitely does not phrase it that way. NR might not be on cue as far as partisanship goes, but as far as contradicting the right people, bullseye. From Leeden's Article:

[The War on Terrorism is a] long battle perhaps, but a clear one, with clearly identified enemies and with a wide variety of tactics to bring them down.

and earlier in the same article...

Indeed, if you talk to military officers engaged in the [Global War on Terrorism], more often than not you will hear a lament, because that war has yet to be defined. Despite all of the president’s tough talk, despite the often extraordinary performance of our soldiers and some notable accomplishments by intelligence officers, the "enemy" remains vague...

To be fair, I think the actual point isn't contradicted here just tripping over his rhetoric.

Echo

2005-05-31T11:31:00.000-04:00

Just thought Instapundit deserved an echo on this.

Thanks, Newsweek.

2005-05-31T11:08:00.000-04:00

Perhaps it's ranting of the right about Newsweek, perhaps it's Balloon Juice's evenhanded dissection of the issue, or the right wing response to this, but the Newsweek debacle has given me some clarity about what the appropriate reaction is to America's Quran Desecration or similar acts that offend people around the world. Sullivan posted this criticizing the administration and linking to this, measured by Arab standards vitriolic by American standards, protest. From what I can tell the protests were small, for a cherry picked example, a 50 person protest in the worlds largest Muslim country, which begs the question why was this news? Still, though, I find most of what I read unacceptable. Holding Muslim's to a different standard than we do is counter-productive, Shouting "Death to America", Burning flags, beating people in effigy, these things may happen in American protests but we would condemn them then, why do we accept them from anyone else? They amount to a threat of violence, which is something we can never dignify with a response. I would like to see apologies for our disrespect towards Islam, but not in response to these kind of protests. Yes, these people are misinformed by their governments and not even allowed to protest in most cases, but that's no excuse for a threat of violence. We musn't apologize and for this Bush and Rumsfeld shouldn't be blamed. This behavior is childish and does not warrant a response.

Saddam Censorship

2005-05-31T10:41:00.000-04:00

This is why I read David's Medienkritik. An article in the German daily Die Welt has been translated over there and is not only heartening because it's so reasonable (a scarce commodity in the German Media these days) but is outright hilarious. Apparently Al Jazeera has ethical concerns about airing pictures of Saddam in his underwear. Let me repeat that Al Jazeera has ethical concerns about airing pictures of Saddam in his underwear. The article is short but delightful. Money shot:

Last week, Reuters reported that a Russian village, from the Nizhegorodskaya on the Volga river, woke up to find that its lake had disappeared overnight. Experts are working to try to find explanations for what sucked the water away, but some villagers have already figured it out. A woman sitting on the ground outside her house said, "I am thinking, well, America has finally got to us."

Gulag of our time.

2005-05-30T23:40:00.000-04:00

Red State has a brilliant post referencing a Washington Post piece. Money shot:

Turning a report on prisoner detention into another excuse for Bush-bashing or America-bashing undermines Amnesty's legitimate criticisms of U.S. policies and weakens the force of its investigations of prison systems in closed societies.

In short, problems? Definitely. Gulag? No way in hell. Not even from a mathematical perspective in terms of inmates do the two even remotely compare. This at a time when credible detractors are more valuable than usual because of what IS going wrong. What a pity AA gave into it's baser impulses.

A Charm Offensive?

2005-05-28T18:45:00.000-04:00

Conservative seem to be coming around. I think they might be trying to convert me. First Jonah Goldberg goes the right way, now Balloon Juice is weathering a storm a criticism for an even handed post of his. His defense of that post is here, money shot:

Do I think there is bias in the media? Yes, at times there are subtle biases and at times there are overt and blatant biases. Most of the time, I think the bias comes from stupidity, ignorance, and laziness. Most of the time the biases that appear to be anti-conservative or anti-Republican come from the fact that many in the media are, in fact, liberal, and through no actual intent their pieces come out biased. ...a lack of diversity leads to accidental biases that, were there people in the news room who thought differently, would not happen.

Cole goes on:

I understand this, and I understand the frustration from conservatives about such biases. I reject, however, that the media is anti-military or anti-American or unpatriotic.

I have my own little anecdote in this respect; on David's Medienkritik, I said, in response to a Newsweek post that had only tangential links to a critic of German media:

Me: This post has almost no connection to any sort of German Medienkritik, this post belongs on Powerline, not David's Medienkritik. Why are you grinding this irrelevant axe here? Is this blog supposed to be parroting conservative talking points?

Ray of David's Medienkritik: [Omitting substantive reply for brevity] Maybe you are simply in denial about this media debacle and wish it never happened or that it would just go away. I feel sorry for you. People like you, whose default position it is to blame the US and assume the US is always wrong, are the major reason blogs like ours are so successful. So thanks but no-thanks for the advice frank. Why this accusation to my critic? Maybe it's some of Cole's cult of victimology.

A Taste of DC

2005-05-28T15:59:00.000-04:00

I just about pissed myself when I saw, at the liquor store, and ad for Pimp Juice. Leaving aside the obivious bodily fluid references, this drink claims to be the "#1 Hip Hop Energy Drink". Oh, well I guess they had to top Rap Snacks sometime.

Krauthammer on my side (sort of)

2005-05-27T14:11:00.000-04:00

Charles Krauthammer and I apparently agree on this :

"[The Judicial] filibuster has now been codified in writing as legitimate so long as circumstances ("extraordinary," in the eyes of the beholder) warrant."

Indeed.

Someone had to say it.

2005-05-27T12:20:00.000-04:00

As I posted earlier, there was a recent debate between Balloon Juice and Right Wing Nut House. A Must read. Cole of Balloon Juice says something I've been trying to say before:

can we conservatives please stop this laughable cult of victimology? We have the Presidency (for the second time in a row and the fifth time in the last seven elections). We control the Senate by a ten seat margin. We control the House by a larger margin. We have dismissed or dismantled virtually every institutional check in order to limit opposition debate and increase institutional control, regardless how short-sighted that might be. We are ramming through just about every judge we wanted, and are about to reload the Supreme Court with Antonin Scalia at the helm.
We control dozens of governors offices and an equal number of state legislatures. We have hundreds of think tanks, hundreds of talk show hosts, hundreds of conservative columnists, millions of bloggers. We have dozens of partisan magazines and pundits, legions of 527's and grass-roots organizations, and dozens of think-tanks. We have, ostensibly, our own damned cable news channel and so many right leaning editorial boards of newspapers I can't even begin to count them. Memes that start in obscure blogs find their way onto the front page of allegedly liberal newspapers in the matter of two days.

Trying Times

2005-05-27T10:16:00.000-04:00

The WaPo has an article today, These are times that try a Nats Fan's Soul. Now I have tactfully bit my lip amid all this Nat Melee, but please, trying one's soul? At the beginning of the regular season? Their first season? I'm sorry. In the annals of sports stress this will not be remembered. Let me provide a little visual exercise. Imagine, making it to the Superbowl (sorry, I have to switch to a more noble sport) three times in four years and losing all three, but wait that's not all. By widening margins, first by 19, then 32 and last by a humiliating 45! No Nats fans, you are going through trying times, those are teething pains.

More bloodletting...

2005-05-26T16:52:00.000-04:00

There's an interesting debate between Balloon Juice and Right Wing Nut House right now. So, since nothing interesting is here at the moment, check that out.

(Blank)

2005-05-25T16:46:00.000-04:00

What would you expect an $80 keyboard to look like? How about a normal keyboard (i.e. this) but with the keys specially weighted, depending on the strength of each finger? Oh and also blank. Since I don't have a pay pal tip jar, oh reader, can you buy this, the ubergeek keyboard?

Sullying the New Testament

2005-05-25T16:22:00.000-04:00

It will make some people very happy to hear that I'm siding against Andrew Sullivan on his rant about this tank, with the "New Testament" sign around the barrel. Andrew says "It's an outrage." He's over reacting. Insensitive, yes. Something the president himself act on? No way. Balloon Juice nails this on on the head. Something unaddressed in all this is, why not the old testament? That's much more fire and brimstone than the new. Peculiar choice, indeed. Makes me wonder if perhaps there's a context lurking underneath that we don't know about. Also, why wrap it around the barrel? It's obviously spontaneous. My guess is some soldiers got drunk, some joke got taken a little too far and this is the result. Personally if that's the case, great, those guys deserve some boozin'.

Post Mortem

2005-05-24T17:02:00.000-04:00

Although the deal has now officially achieved dead horse status, I thought it deserved at least one sober post. Although some people, both left and right, have me nervous, I still view this as a validation for judicial filibusters. Frist may not have explicitly endorsed the deal, but to revive the Nuclear Option would look disingenuous after he got the goods. But more generally I think the arrangement benefits the Democrats. Let me explain. When I was 5 years old (or thereabouts) my Dad took me to his class to give a lecture about contracts, or so I'm told. My speech was simple (befitting a 5 year old):

It takes offer, acceptance and consideration to make a contract. Thank you.

But I think it's apt here. The consideration is the three judges' cloture, the use of judicial filibuster in extraordinary circumstances and the renunciation of the nuclear option. The seven Republicans accepted the contract as well as the consideration so I can't help but think that this makes them look bad if they ever support the nuclear option (even outside the 109th congress), their side of the bargain is concrete and the Dem's side is vague and subjective vagary on you side is always good. The contract is something akin to: I'll give you five candies and be nice to you from now on for three bouncy balls. Once the bouncy balls and candy are exchanged there will inevitably be recriminations about what 'being nice' means but the mutual consideration means that, if you try to take back the bouncy balls (revive the nuclear option) after you've eaten the candy (voted on the three judicial appointments), you look like a bully, even if you have a case that I haven't been nice. Since there's no partial solution (i.e. you can't take back just one bouncy ball) either you're obviously acting in bad faith since you've already eaten the candy or you're left with no recourse. Whew. Sorry for the tortured metaphor. The tough bit is, this is politics, if the Republicans can get public opinion howling (united, not partisan public opinion) then they'll have a case for..... What exactly? It would still be bad faith to go back on their end since the Dems have at least partially fulfilled theirs, so the case they have is for pushing each individual judge through, not for the Nuclear Option. I could be classically wrong, it wouldn't be the first time and politics is so murky and emphemeral that tomorrow this could all be out the window, but my argument still applies to the agreement at hand, it's good for the Dems and, as I was much more hesitant to say last night, bad for the Reeps. If it holds that is.

The end of Frist

2005-05-24T00:58:00.000-04:00

Well, as I'm sure you guessed if you're reading this you've guessed I made another Gin & Tonic. The dog fight and analysis are too much. Some highlights:

Some lowlights. I'm tempted to say lowlifes, but only because it sounds like lowlights,

Let's Make a Deal!

2005-05-23T23:17:00.000-04:00

Got home from work to find the headline on drudge

DEAL

The downlow is that "up or down votes" will be allowed on three of the ten filibustered nominees:

Priscilla Owen
Janice Rogers Brown
William Pryor

Two thought I have before I finish my G&T and go to sleep: First, I think this shows the forethought of the founding fathers, once again. Frist wasn't a party to the deal, it was brokered by seven senators from each side. The fact that it only took this small minority to bow two belligerent parties' will I think is a great triumph. Second, by going through with the deal, Judicial filibusters can no longer be a new precedent. The are tacitly acknowledged and their precedent has now been set, people on both sides of the aisle should agree that they are part of the senate now. The agreement does specify that judicial filibusters will be only "under extraordinary circumstances" but each senator gets to decide what that is. We may have let someone in who said:

"God has chosen, through his son Jesus Christ, this time, this place for all ChristiansProtestants, Catholics and Orthodoxto save our country and save our courts"

But I chalk this up as a Dem victory (though not necessarily a Republican loss).

Finally a bloodletting, but on the wrong side of the isle

2005-05-23T16:38:00.000-04:00

There's an interesting debate emanating from this Balloon Juice Post and this response, on Hugh Hewitt calling Newsweek Anti-Military. I find that claim preposterous and typical of the right's tendency to use MSM bias as a crutch. From the sounds of it Jon Cole of Balloon Juice agrees with me that

Liberal media Bias exists.
This bias should be fought in any media outlet claiming to be objective.
The fact that such a bias exists is often used to distract from the content of the MSM's claims and to assail them with ad hominem attacks.

Cole goes on to point out that it hurts the military to claim that wild coverage of torture is anti military because it assumes the premise of the bias it tries to dispute, that the military is an institution that accepts or even embraces torture.

I'd like to see this sort of debate on my side of the isle.

Letter to the DNC Chair

2005-05-23T14:55:00.000-04:00

Dear Dr. Dean, I have a mission for you, should you chose to accept it. It's time to play partisan politics, hardball. What we need is a covert operative on the other side of the isle. I know covert isn't exactly your bag but, aside from that, you'd be perfect for the job. Someone to go on the other side, be associated with the party establishment and say belligerent nonsense and convince the public that it's the Republicans that are out of touch. Your Objectives:

Defect to the republicans in high profile denunciation of the democrats. Be sure to claim your "Born again" and wear god on your sleeve.
Take any job with the Republican Institution so you will be associated with it.
Make mistakes like this, to the point where even the other side feels sorry for you, as you've done before.
Turn liberal pundits into instant martyrs by saying things like this.
Create liberal unity by applying stricter standards to murders than liberal politicians.
Turn any charges of Democratic corruption into a sideshow compared to your fucking incompetence.
Alienate true conservatives within the party by simply being there, as unique ability only you seem to posses.

This mission will not be easy, but will feel you would be suited for the job. You have shown fluency in all of these tasks during both your presidential campaign and your DNC chairmanship. Unfortunately you would have resign the DNC chairmanship to accept this mission.

This message will self destruct,

NFLL

P.S. If you do not accept his mission I will be forced to kill you, a task I would not relish only because I never again want to hear your 'yarrrrgh'.

KO in NO

2005-05-23T13:11:00.000-04:00

My brother graduated law school this weekend and, the following day, I graduated into a world of pain. My brother, call him D (should I really trouble myself with the pseudonyms?) has a beautiful wife, too beautiful, in fact. A wife that makes us all happy for him but also makes us want to punch him in the stomach for setting the bar a bit high. How will our wives look a next to her? Oh well, another reason never to get married. Anyway, beautiful African wife organized the after graduation party and most of my brother's and his wife's friends are African and so it was a very African party. What does that mean?

There will be African food (yum! they even got goat!).
There will be a DJ and dancing
You will feel bad that your French is terrible.
You will be badgered about being single.
Everyone present will try to set you up.
Everyone they try to set you up with will be gorgeous.
You will be engaged by the end of the evening.*

* = Unless of course, you don’t feel like dancing. Not dancing at a party when your friends are dancing is a little like being a pro-American Capitalist in Cuba. People will try every tactic possible to get you change your position, including force. They will zealously insist that your not dancing is an indication of you not having a good time and that you are ruining everyone else’s time by not dancing. In these situations I'm always tempted to say, "I don't dance." The problem is, I do dance, and usually I danced recently enough that I feel like that's a lie. But dancing as a social activity is pure fascism, you can't resist it, and force is used (in a social sense, of course) to get you to dance. People will not hesitate to castigate you publicly for this. Just think about the number of times you've seen someone physically pulling another to do this. Is there any other social act that warrants this kind of duress? You don't see people pulling other people forcefully to go drink, or to go to football game or a concert. Normally society pretty well lets you do as you like, but if you don't feel ike dancing steel youself for a long arduous battle. Whew. So if you hadn't guessed I staunchly refused to dance. First, beautiful sister in law pulled me out of my chair, then other guy friends nudged me, then my sister in law threatened to bring the full weight of the female cartel against me, then, apparently of her own volition, gorgeous African #846 threw a napkin at me, trying to get me to dance with her (worry not, NFLL groupies, she's taken) but I weathered this violent storm. And am I commended for an act of will so strenuous? I am admired for my social fortitude? No. I am the universal object of scorn, of eye rolls at my pitiful back pedaling, "I'll dance next time." The female sex is a powerful, powerful force; do not dance with it at your own peril. After being crucified by the female sex for not being made to dance, I felt it fitting that, after a stroll down Bourbon street, I made some females dance. That is, I paid a visit to a Gentleman's club. Ahh, the universal refuge of the unsuccessful! Oh dear strip club! Listening to love songs all day I often notice that love songs are almost entirely about women themselves and never directed towards strip clubs. This is misguided. In my humble 26 years of life I have had women be there for me in times of trouble but almost never a woman I'm romantically involved with. The strip club, on the other hand, has always been there for me and unlike a steady girlfriend or wife; she has but one obvious and repeatedly specifically stated need. Girlfriends have a laundry list of needs, respect, expensive gifts, treating her like a lady without being chauvinistic, acting like a man but not macho, winning without being competitive, the list goes on and on. A strip club has one need, dollar bills. That's all. I know you're thinking it's a bait and switch, but it's not, that's all a strip club needs, lots and lots of one dollar bills preferably in that form. After a long cathartic evening with my true companion, I had to hop on the plane back home. One may wonder if I brought back any souvenirs, I did. I brought back a .Phinneas Gage hangover. It's apparently a common memento, since everyone else in the plane also brought one back, some brought too big of one and one guy had such a big one he required medical attention on the plane, it was a scene reminiscent of that Las Vegas commercial In the end, your humble narrator made it back to his Brookland B (B as in the first half of B&B). Home. But like last week I needed events to force that point into my skull like a three foot seven inch rod. Events, realizing this, obliged and when I went to get the only foodlike substance I could digest, Coke, I had this delightful welcome in front of the convenience store: Guy to me, hungover, walking into the store: Hey, man hey! (Guy picks up small piece of red trash and comes over to me) Me: huh? (Guy pulls out three soda bottle tops, puts small red trash underneath one and proceed to play ball and cup game, on the side walk with soda bottle tops) Me: No. No no no. (Guy is trying to play ball and cup game ON THE GROUND, with SODA BOTTLE TOPS) Oh Brookland, I am definitely back.

Bestiality in the morning

2005-05-20T18:39:00.000-04:00

I love Rick Santorum. I love him for so many reasons, I might even love him in that special way, but alas, I'm not sure he's down with bestiality. But, not unlike Jonah Goldberg, he seems to be courting me. First he's giving up his seat for me, aww shucks, Ricky boy you shouldn'a. Now he comes out with the most delightfully absurd statement since, well since the last time Howard Dean opened his mouth.

Not too bad, it almost makes me wish he'd stick around for another term. Maybe with another six years he could alienate all of Pennsylvania so that the DNC Chair could concentrate on expanding the base instead of consolidating a base that lost the last election.

Instapundit Excitability Watch

2005-05-19T16:46:00.000-04:00

Instapundit yesterday:

Newsweek's Koran-flushing debacle may turn out to be the press' Abu Ghraib.

Instapundit today on Brooks' Statement that The rioters are the real enemy, not Newsweek:

True enough.

It appears that this argument is beginning to take hold and wipe out the unsavory finger pointing that marred the blogosphere yesterday. Well done, bloggers or should I say bloogers.

WalMart Caves

2005-05-19T16:41:00.000-04:00

A little tidbit that seems to have slipped under the radar--WalMart is backing out of the online DVD rental business, customers of WalMart have been effectively sold to NetFlix. Although I hate WalMart, I can't quite feel comfortable about Netflix having such overwhelming dominance. Well, if they turn evil there's always Blockbuster.

Mudslinging, the Blogosphere and Newsweek

2005-05-18T11:50:00.000-04:00

Newsweek's Koran flushing story is everywhere and while I'm rather tired of debating it, it's clear that:

Newsweek messed up
The riots are a tragedy
Newsweek should be chastised for the mess up and not the tragedy

Encouragingly, lots of bloggers, left and right have come out and said just that. Unfortunately there are some tighty righties masquerading as moderates who think that Newsweek's shoddy journalism is the cause of the riots, overlooking the fact that when people are murdered our rage should be directed at the murderers. I have to admit that the unsavory reaction that some on the right have vurped up is entirely understandable. We are all justifiably angry that people's lives have been lost and endangered and there's no one we can throttle right away other than Newsweek, so getting angry at Newsweek is convenient. But our rage should be directed at those with such a disregard for human life and our disappointment at those with a disregard for journalistic integrity not the other way around. We're all very tired of getting angry at the radical Islamists and it never seems to go anywhere but turning first to Newsweek is a big, big mistake. This feels, to me, like a very slippery slope at the end of which is complacency in the face of such acts over there and uber-accountability over here.

Instapundit is wrong to call this the press' Abu Ghraib. Unfortunately, though, Sullivan's rebuke leaves much to be desired, from the emailer he quotes:

To evaluate these two interpretations, I went back to the week in May '04 when the torture story broke, and took a random sample (as a social scientist, such are my habits) of Instapundit's posts/updates to compare his reaction to that of the Newsweek scandal. The Newsweek story was the subject of 22 of the 40 posts/updates, all of which expressed admonishment. In contrast, the sample of 40 posts from the Abu Ghraib weeks contained only 2 expressing admonishment of the abuse (and even there, it is qualified), while the 12 other posts/updates on the abuse scandal either: A) Attempted to minimize its moral and practical significance, or B) Tried to discredit the evidence as fake or exaggerated by anti-troop, liberal media bias.

Okay, first, a jab I have to take as a former mathematician. Bragging about being a social scientist makes me laugh. During my undergrad a professor once told about a PhD thesis he proofread for a social scientist, the math errors were mind boggling, at one point in the paper the mathematical equivalent of the equation:

+=5

That's right kids, this social scientist thought that the operation of addition was the same as the number five, how this works out I'm not sure but it does mean that, 1 5 1 = 2 makes sense, err I guess. And this wasn't a typo, there are no unintended juxtaposition, they actually claimed this made sense. Alas this was the rule and not the exception, people don't usually enter social science because they're whizzes at math and it shows. Second this is so hopelessly biased a "random sample" it's laugh-my-ass-off-able. His categories of 1) admonishment 2) playing down and 3) discrediting as anti-troop are cherry picked, ill defined and apply only to Abu Ghraib. Further, number of posts is simply not a measure. This will be my second Newsweek post and, had I been blogging at the time I would have posted once, deeply ashamed, about Abu Ghraib. Gauging the number of posts per subject is ridiculous , besides not taking into account length it can never account for tone or feeling. Network news word counts, the most common measure liberal/conservative bias, work because the network has control over exactly how long everyone talks and, by choosing their guests, even what is said. Blogs are such a radically different beast that word counts, while better than post counts, would be a similarly rough measure because link provide so much content and have varying relevance. The emailer is talking way out of his depth and I'm disappointed Sullivan thought what he said had any weight. Sullivan does redeem himself quoting a disturbing sentiment I have seen on the right:

Newsweek should not have reported it, even if true.

The right, at least the bits of it I read, has been split between wrong headed railing against the MSM and the 'consequences of liberal media bias' and measured well placed reasonable criticisms.

Last, I may be turning Red a bit here (both literally and politically) but Jonah Goldberg appears to be trying to get on my good side first by taking precisely the right tone on Newsweek and second, for introducing me to an awesome online zombie game. NFLL chastising Sullivan and praising Goldberg, these are tumultuous times.

Medienkritik Melee

2005-05-17T16:18:00.000-04:00

Unable to post anything really significant today, because of a protracted debate over at David's Medienkritik. Although, if your aren't sick of the Newsweek thing, this is pretty funny.

Berkeley Broadside

2005-05-16T16:06:00.000-04:00

Dear Readers! How I've missed you, internetless in the hippie capitol of the world, Berkeley, CA. I would have blogged but, aside from being run ragged by family obligations and having my days pre-planned like an anal tourist, I had no internet access. Did anyone want a "People republic of Berkeley" shirt, complete with hammer and sickle? Or perhaps a Chairman Mickey MAOse shirt? Yes Communism is still kitsch on campus, and I have to admit, particularly now that it's ceased to mean anything the Hammer and sickle does look cool. It reminds me a Soviet Themed sandwich shop I used to pass by in Augsburg, with the sign outside saying (as a joke, of course) that their sandwiches were fresh from mpranincksanitk, or some intentionally unpronounceable (nonsense) Russian word (and a Russian word unpronounceable to a German is a bombardment of consonants only Bill Clinton could combat). According to my Brother in law the appeal of communism on campus is fading, and indeed, it did not seem quite as pronounced as I remember, although I was distracted by bustling and pretty girls in summer garb. Communism, or more particularly Soviet Communism, may be waning but Porn in its entire manifold and beautiful splendor, is definitely waxing. Unfortunately for me however, it has yet to reach a level of prestige consistent with Sister acceptance, as my Sister read my blog and apparently picked what I believe is my only reference to that ubiquitous carnal art and reported it to my thereafter gasping mother. I thought that, being the youngest, it was my role to so tattle, but maybe this was payback. My mother's gasp however, a thing that both my brothers and I continually delight in eliciting from my Dear Mother whenever possible, was well worth the blush that I couldn't stifle. My sister did like my blog otherwise and my brother in law also asked after it, which means I will have to tone down all those graphic descriptions of Sexcapades that have in the past pepper this blog, (see one mention of Porn below). I am, though, home safe and sound and with a bit more healthy appreciation for DC. Unlike my Sister in Sprache, I noticed upon my return that DC is, actually green above that urban strife and alive in a way more naturally than Berkeley. I decided to celebrate this with a Papa John's Pizza and after finding my Papa John's in South East after three phone calls, I had a couple of phone calls that reminded me that I was definitely not on the West Coast anymore "Whodis?" "Hello, do you guys deliver to NE?" "We don't deliver till 8:00." "Do you deliver to like --- and --- St in NE?" "Oh yeah, if you want delivery call after 8:00" "But I want to know, do you deliver to my house." "Okay" "So yes, then?" [Dial Tone] So, I wait until 8:00 and the same young lady answers. After asking me for my name and telephone number she asks for my address again... "--- and --- St. Do you ..." [Cut Off] "Hold on" [Indiscernible shouting in the background] "We don't go there." "But I just called and you said you did." "We don't" "But..." [Dial Tone] Back in DC, Baby! And it's good to be back, in a weird way.

Berkeley, CA

2005-05-12T16:56:00.000-04:00

I'm leaving for Berkeley tomarrow for my sister's graduation. Blooging will be light, unless of course I'm compelled to vent about something absurd that happens in Berkeley....

Current Affairs

2005-05-12T15:56:00.000-04:00

One Handed Economist, someone who knows a bunch more than I do about economics, weighs in today about the current account deficit. As luck would have it he and his sources, among others, agree with my assessment. The prediction I hear the most is that, at some point, foreign governments will tire of buying dollars and get jittery about the value of their massive dollar stores and sell. This will flood the market with dollars and result in a massive erosion in the dollar's value. The thing is, with foreign governments being such huge investors in the dollar, it's against their interest to panic and sell off their dollars. In the past, they've done exactly the opposite (i.e. bought dollars) to cushion the dollar's fall. Further the US economy is such a huge part of the world economy that even countries without lots of dollars would have an interest in keeping the US economy from melting down. So given that the problem is not entirely of our own doing and that it's in everybody's interest to see it resolved without any sort of economic meltdown, I think we're fine. If North Korea held lots of dollars, then maybe I'd be worried, but then again, North Korea wouldn't be North Korea without starving it's own people to further it's weapon programs, right?

Tipping Scales

2005-05-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

The world is a beautiful and diverse place, with many colors, nations, religions and, most importantly, tippers. To help my globetrotting readers, I've compiled a compendium of the countries whose citizens I have served and inferred therefrom the tipping custom of each country. Unfortunately, this will not include every country on earth, God help me if I'm a waiter for that long.

Israel - Apparently Israelis are cute, smart, love Chipotle Ravioli and tip 25%. Also flirting with the waiter is mandatory.
Iran - First, if you are an Iranian restaurant and you see nuclear weapons, please let the Europeans know, they have 'vays uf dealing vif dis'. After your meal, lollygag for more than an hour, refusing to pay or commit to paying the bill or order anything else. If you are in Iran and plan on going to dinner, be sure you have at least three hours and you get a waiter that would be off work in an hour, otherwise the waiter might go home and sleep and sleeping which is apparently forbidden in Iran.
Germany - In Germany, tipping should be 1%-1.25%, to the penny. In addition, make sure you order your food and drinks in such a way that your waiter has to walk as much as possible. For example if your companion would like a coke and you a water with lemon, order two waters without lemon to start, followed by a side of lemon for your water, when the waiter brings that order the coke. This way the waiter will make 3 trips instead of 1, this is how Germans stay so fit. Tip inversely proportional to your ability to wear the waiters ass out, as you are saving him the cost of a Gym membership.
All of Asia - Eat Slow. Asian culture is millennia old, pay tribute to this fact by taking FOREVER to finish you meal. Tip reasonably.
France - Tip more than the Germans, so you can look down on them, wear the waiter out more than the Germans so you can look down on him and tip less than every other, non-German customer in the place so you can look down on them. Hey, it ain't easy bein French.
England - It is customary in England for the waiter to swoon and dote over you and, oddly, in England the waiters are very clumsy because they're all in love with the girls with those accents. Also, custom dictates that waiters shamelessly and clumsily try to flirt with the patrons. I don't know how they get anything done over there.
Mexico/South America - Don't go. There's nobody there anymore, they all work in restaurants over here.
Canada - Canadians are tricky. If you are in Canada, befriend the waiter, ask him where he's from and tell him his country sucks. You are then to act surprised when he doesn't defend this country to a paying customer. For the remainder of your meal, act as if you have been insulted and tip 10% even though you know you should tip 15%
Australia - A lot like England, as far as the shameless flirting goes, but with one small difference, chat the waiter up back, this will compensate for your $2 tip regardless of the size of the bill.
Spain - Spanish people have families of 15 and think they clever. They also have a 18% gratuity added to parties of 8 or more. It is, however, customary to try to scheme your way out of this by seating you teenage daughters at a separate table. Spanish waiters are Spaniards too, though. Which means they have 14 siblings and their parents tried to do the same thing to avoid the tip. Since Spaniards are clever, the waiters in Spain still charge an 18% gratuity. The parent will get mad but, of course, still pay. Don't ask me why, it's some sort of fiery Latin thing.
America - This is probably the hardest to nail down. Apparently waiters are crap in America. For some reason they can never remember the soups. Unfortunately, they also could not possibly care less about their job, which means they will never learn the soups, so don't order soup in America, it will never come. Patrons in America respond in too many ways to count. Americans often carry with them a small pocket sized random number generator to determine tips. Oh, and your waiter will shamelessly flirt with you -- shut his ass down. Also if you are from Mexico or South America, you can eat for free, just tell them you work there.

This list will be periodically updated.

Jonah Goldberg actually makes a point.

2005-05-11T14:43:00.000-04:00

Mark this day down in your Calendars kids! It the day that Jonah Goldberg actually made a point wrapped in venous, partisan attacks as opposed to his usual ultimately partisan attacks. Just for that I'm going to listen to "Once upon a time in the projects" today. Goldberg's article on Yalta, aside from completely skirting the issue at hand, whether turning our backs on eastern Europe could have been avoided he points out that:

After a war to end one evil empire, we signed a piece of paper accepting the expansion of another evil empire. And it happened at Yalta.

A point that is both true and missing from the current debate. Yalta was bad, but how necessary it was is what the debate should be about. Another observation of Goldberg's that is important is that some parts of Yalta should have been avoided at all costs, in particular repatriation, as Goldberg puts it,

The Allies understood that they were sentencing hundreds of thousands of men (and quite a few women and children) to death and misery. Many of these refugees went to extraordinary lengths to end the war in British and American custody only to be forcibly --i.e., at gunpoint returned --to the Soviets for liquidation. Many killed themselves and their families rather than go back. Shame on us all.

Thanks Jonah. When you're not being a partisan venom spewing hack, you're pretty cool!

Observations on the Nuclear Option.

2005-05-11T13:42:00.000-04:00

My ex-girlfriend and I used to play Risk fanatically. In Risk, if you have a chance to go for the jugular, then you do it. Unfortunately this started many an argument between my ex and I, because both of took lots of pleasure in the other's demise. The one who had been crushed would always complain that the other had been playing merely to kill him/her and the other would simply say, I had to, cause I could. It seems to me that in the short term the sort of hardball partisan politics we're seeing now is very much like Risk. In the short term, it's pretty obvious the Republicans should go for the jugular, they'll stack the courts with their judges, whichever judges they feel like, confirmation will be almost instant for future judicial nominations and since the Republican senate majority isn't likely to recede for at least 4 years, they'll probably get a supreme court justice out of it. Could you imagine a better risk play? I'd be like securing Asia for three turns! The Risk analogy, however fails to take into account the long term picture, one fraught with anxiety about public opinion and being on the other side, having the other team pack the court with their judges. So in the end, the playing Risk with you girlfriend analogy works much better. Going for the Jugular is definitely called for, but you have to do so subtly, while squeezing her leg and apologizing. Even then, it's a tightrope. You have to convince her the wiping her off the board is absolutely reasonable, in fact necessary, to your own survival because, even though you're relishing every damn minute of it, thinking of the time last Tuesday when she ruined the movie by saying "We have to talk", she has to think that you have even her interests at heart --"Isn't better that one of US wins?" and volunteer to grab her a drink. No, it doesn't end there, you've also got to coddle her afterwards, not nod off when she dissects the game for an hour and comes to the conclusion that she just had really really terrible luck. And you have to do all this while you stifle you huge wolf-like grin, and your own contrary dissection that this, for once, was the one time that luck played no part, that the dice could almost been dispensed with, the game so accurately measured the respective players' skill levels. And if you don't, and this is a message to you Republicans, beware the wrath of a woman scorned at Risk.

Filibuster Keaton

2005-05-10T14:52:00.000-04:00

While some people I like seem to have been convinced by Bill Kristol's article about the filibusters and while I think there's a case to be made, I'm not sure Kristol's article makes it. In any case, there seems to be a contingent of righties claiming that the nominees "deserve an up or down vote" as the talking points apparently go. To snipey and partisan, I'd like to point out that Clinton's nominees were deprived an up or down vote as well, albeit by entirely different means (they were stalled in committee). Speaking of snipey partisanship, I have to admit I'll be very sad to see this issue go just because of the entertainment value of watching the tighty righties come up with ways to put a polling question on such a nuanced issue inevitably exposes their utter inability to recognize their own bias. Here's a list of my favorite conservative polling questions:

Do you believe Senate Democrats are right to deny votes on the President's judicial nominees?
Do you support a minority of Democrats preventing Bush's judicial nominees from being voted on, when a majority of senators have indicated their support for those nominees?

The odd thing is that, wrong or right, the nuanced position here is clearly on the right, and that's a definite disadvantage. Asking people if the nominees deserve an "up or down vote" skirts the point or whether a minority has the right to deny the vote of the majority are both very biased, and skirt the Republican can point altogether, shouldn't that tip of those wacky reddies that their questions are biased. If Frist goes nuclear, I can just see the headlines now, "Republicans end Judicial Filibuster" I can just hear the outrage on the conservative blogosphere at the horrible liberal bias this represents. I'm sure they'll have better headlines than that, along the lines of

Republicans no longer denied votes on president Bush's Judicial Nominees.
Minority of Democrats no longer able to prevent Bush's judicial nominees from being voted on, when a majority of senators have indicated their support for those nominees.

But since headlines have to be brief, the conservative blogosphere will probably come up with headlines more like

Up or Down Votes Allowed!
Tyranny of Minority Ended!

It will be sad to see the Dems lose, but the next day blogs will be priceless.

The German-American Friendship Bus

2005-05-09T12:47:00.000-04:00

Walking around DuPont Circle this weekend, I noticed a bus decked out in child-like happy scrawlings of Germans and Americans dancing and playing all over it. Apparently this is the so called "German American Friendship Bus" a slightly curious development coming from a country whose leaders exploit Anti-Americanism to get elected quite openly. This German charm Offensive is well documented by David's Medienkritik here. What could the purpose of this be? One thing is clear, any genuine effort to mend ties between Germany and America should begin with Germany and America actually learning about each other. In America this means less History Channel WWII documentaries and more about modern German culture, in Germany this means less Michael Moore 'documentaries' and learning about how America really is, not to mention confronting the ugliness of Anti-Americanism in the media and on campus. It's going to take a lot more than this kind of PR facade, but a PR facade is something.

Defending PETA

2005-05-06T14:05:00.000-04:00

Well, haven't done this in a while, but after reading this NRO Article. I can't help it. I had an argument with a friend a long time ago and we ended at loggerheads, but it's a logical fact that if killing an animal is morally equivalent to killing a human being then we have something in all ways comparable to the holocaust happening all over the western world. This is a logical fact. Maybe this illustrates how large of an assumption the hypothesis is, but if the hypothesis is true then the conclusion is true. One of the things that I remember vividly from Auschwitz is a set of rooms for standing; a room in which one could stand but not sit. The victims were made to stand until they died. Their legs eventually gave out but the size of the room kept them standing. Striking for me is that standing, one of the most commonplace, mundane actions humans effect, was transformed into something brutal and cruel. The Nazi's thought that this was acceptable because the Jews were less than human. That the holocaust was an incredibly awful thing is indisputable, but that doesn't mean logic shouldn't apply. Calves are forced through a very similar ordeal for the production of veal. Their movement is severely restricted but unlike the Jews their diet is nutritionally insufficient yet sustaining enough to keep them alive while forcing them to drink their own urine for lack of iron. That PETA claimed they're morally equivalent doesn't surprise me, that they made a half hearted attempt at apologizing does. I don't think they should have. From the PETA Mission statement:

PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment.

Though this doesn't explicitly state that human and animals are morally equivalent, it's a strong hint. To put this in another context, let's take a further example. Cockroaches. Roaches are killed in every conceivable manner, poisoned, starved, squashed, legs torn off and left for dead. Now the statement - "If killing cockroaches is morally equivalent to killing humans than we live in a world of daily holocaust" is true. You don't have to agree with the hypothesis to admit that the hypothesis implies the conclusion. PETA has every right to believe that animal and human life are morally equivalent, and their conclusions, given their assumptions, are altogether reasonable. I find Wesley Smith's article more offensive, frankly. The upshot of the article is that PETA's crime is not crossing a social line (which is the only mistake they made), but actually believing that human life and animal life are equivalent. As damning last sentence of the article puts it PETA remains firm in its belief that killing an animal is morally equivalent to killing a human being. Well, duh! That's the point of PETA. I think it's absurd to equate human and animal life but the fact the PETA can make this comparison within their ideological framework makes us uncomfortable. Why? Because no one thinks that what happened during the holocaust should have happened, even if the victim weren't human. That's why Smith attacks PETA's charter. Their logic is impeccable. It's troubling that as opposed to admitting an extremist group has a point, NRO resorts to attacking pluralism. DISCLAIMER: I, personally, do not take the position that killing an animal is morally equivalent to killing a human. This is, of course irrelevant to the above observations

Odds and Ends

2005-05-06T12:30:00.000-04:00

The formatting is, barring a reader uprising, finished. Hope you like it. In other news I am officially the worst waiter ever, as of last night. Oh and screw Germans not tipping cause they don't believe in it, that's just rude. Even further afield is this video. I'm not sure I believe it. But, unless someone can point me to a debunkation, I assume it's real. Also I got a Hat tip over at David's medienkritik about the German Candy Neggerkuss, erroneously called ice cream by Slate. I sent Slate a correction but they haven't changed it. Something more substantative soon, as I'll be spending the weekend in Brookland.

Still fiddling with Format

2005-05-05T15:05:00.000-04:00

Hey Gang, Still fiddling with the format, but for those thirsty for some bold and busty political commentary, I can recommend, the Hitchens article and a Balloon Juice Post. Enjoy and see you all tomorrow.

New Format

2005-05-04T17:34:00.000-04:00

As I am constantly striving to be less bored at work, I'm fiddling with the format. If you like it, let me know. If you hate it, definitely let me know. Thanks NFLL

Brookland Bytes Back

2005-05-04T11:19:00.000-04:00

Fear not, dear readers! The non-fat latte liberal now has the ability to blog at home. I finally got internet in my cave like Brookland abode. My internet/cable company which has miraculously managed to convey their utter disregard for their customers in such short order, sent someone out last night. I purposefully set the appointment to maximize 'unsafe conditions' so the Installation guy would know what they were. Whether unfortunately or fortunately I may never know, but they sent another guy. The first was tall, good looking, and muscular (Or so said my roommate). He was also black, which surprised me. (How odd that I thought a scared guy in my neighborhood would be white, after all we're apparently runnin thangs.) The second was taller, more muscular, and all around bigger. Think bouncer. I guess that's what it takes to create safe conditions. The upshot is, the quality of this blog is going to go to hell. Just warning you all now, pull out the box of tissues, box of bon-bons and you favorite quilt. The decline has already begun, for goodness sake.

White Noise

2005-05-03T10:04:00.000-04:00

Lots of miscellaneous nonsense this morning. First, Pat Robertson makes me feel better about the Michael Moore wing of my party. RedState condemns, Powerline ignores, did I need another reason to dump Powerline? Oh, and a NYT search for Robertson this morning reveals the article "Weymouth Was Later Reincarnated as a Sherpa." Gosh, if Moore had said what Robertson said the Right would be howling about how this isn't a news story because of liberal media bias, now the shoe is on the other foot and this still isn't a news story, chalk another one up to conservative media bias. The First Lady's risque and very funny comedy routine at the 'prom' last Saturday draws the ire of the theocons. NR has an awesome article about students trying to hold a Penis Day in retaliation for Vagina Day (who knew?) are censured. Last, and probably most importantly, it's nice to hear that I'm not the only one who's pro nuclear power in a big way, now if we could just win over Berkeley California, we'd be in!

UPDATE: I was duped. The Laura Bush backlash story is hoax. My day late bad. Still owrth a read, though.

NOTE: This post has been modfied

Brookland Bytes

2005-05-02T11:19:00.000-04:00

Picking up the torch Alfina the Vague dropped, I now have a crappy second job. This job is, like Vague's old job, in customer service and, like Alfina's, makes hangover somehow double the strength. Witness last Saturday. I came into work with a mild Frankenstein type hangover. Magically, however, when I left work I had a hangover reminiscent of the Metallica video 'One'. I schlept home, barely managing the haul from the Metro to my house, dreaming cuddling up and snoozing to some delightful internet porn. The Starpower installation man came by sometime between 11am and 3pm to grace us with access to all the cheap porn we could get our grubby little hands on at the Brookland Manor. When I get home, my lovely roommate, a female whose name means boy in Swahili, said, "Internet guy got scared and left." "Ha Ha very funny." I managed to croak beneath the weight of my hangover. Boy: "No. Really, he was afraid they were going to steal his Van." Me: "What!?" Boy: "Yeah, he's coming back next Saturday to finish. You should look at the bill; it says he left because of 'unsafe conditions.'" Me: "grog" (collapses on floor in hungover, pornless despair) For the small contingent of my readers that haven't seen me in person and been compelled by the pity that my utter lack of physique inspires to read this blog, I am the skinny, weak and probably whiter than anyone anywhere. After, beginning to undress for bed, I came upstairs shirtless, still in disbelief, to look at the bill. Boy, as my roommate shall henceforth be called, coming down from the top floor, was startled. This is no exaggeration, she jumped at my whiteness. I, of course, looked frantically around for a ghost or errant crackhead until I found out that my whiteness had indeed frightened someone and that the installation person had indeed written, 'unsafe conditions' on the bill. (Should I scan and post the bill?) This all begs the question, what the hell is wrong with installation guy? It's fair to assume that he's smarter, less white, less weak and thus less skinny than me. He's probably media savvy enough that he steals DVD's from the internet and therefore isn't as easily forced into buying DVD's from crackheads. And to top it all off, he was there at noon! On the weekend! That's the safest time of the week, all the normal, kid having families are sitting on their porches listening to 70's soul! Brooklanders, a friendly breed to begin with, are more friendly than normal at this time. At about the same time the next day I went to get some rolling papers at the non liquor store liquor store (read no hard liquor, so open Sundays) next to the liquor store liquor store (read hard liquor so closed Sundays) next to my house and, asking for, first, papers then zig-zags, I was turned away before a friendly black gentleman jumped in on my behalf, "How you gonna have all this blunt shit and you ain't got no papers?" (shopkeeper shrugs) "What about that, let's see that." (shopkeeper shows top brand tobacco) "I know you got them double wides" (shopkeeper shrugs) "Come on easy wider, you got that." (Shopkeeper brightens up, slides papers through small hole in bullet proof glass) Then the gentleman, before I can get my money out, BUYS the papers for me. I thank him, we joke about how hard it is to get what you want here, he gets into his brand new SUV, honks and waves. I'm sure his SUV was much more valuable than Installation Man's van, of course the crackheads hover, that's what they do, don't be afraid, Installation man.

Wacky Tax Happy Europeans

2005-04-29T13:33:00.000-04:00

I knew I read Slashdot for a reason. Holy Schnikies! I won't be buying an ipod over there, they just introduced a tax on MP3 Players. Not tragic right? The tax after all, only $4.30. That's not much. We pay more than that in sales tax anyway. Excuse me? Oh, $4.30 per gigabyte! How incredibly short sided since the Dutch don't have to drive more than an hour in any direction to get to anther country without the almost $100 tax.

If only Move On would move on

2005-04-29T11:24:00.000-04:00

Eric Pfeiffer of Beltway Buzz spend more time poking around MoveOn.org than I can comprehend. Oh, wait I can comprehend it, looking there makes him cackle with delight at their idiocy, whereas I have to cringe. For once I can laugh with him. From his post today:

ÂIt was the culmination of 10 days of intense action to save our courts Â and it was a huge success. Two weeks ago, it seemed virtually certain that we would wake up today to find Bill Frist and the radical Republicans pulling the trigger on their ÂnuclearÂ scheme to stack the courts. Instead, today Frist is scrambling for more time and grasping for more votes, while national polls show two thirds of the country solidly against him.Â

Wow. Thanks Move On! Uhhh, Great Job, or something. Good thing the nuclear option is off the table.

Jumping the Gun

2005-04-28T12:04:00.000-04:00

David Broder has an article today. He's wrong. He's jumping the gun. I tried to warn the Dems about jumping the gun. I'll say it again, Don't count your chicken before they're hatched! Stop it!

Brookland Miscellany

2005-04-27T11:52:00.000-04:00

Aside from the usual Brookland has been pretty quiet these days. What, you might ask, is usual? Well, is becoming quite common for some bright orange clad individuals to drill holes in the road, at midnight on a weekday. The first time they did this, they busted a water main and we were without water for two days, this time they missed the pipe, they might have to come back and fix that. But despite being an area with "a large amount of narcotics trafficking" as the local cop told me, despite finding out that most of your favorite spots are former crime scenes, despite the Brookland bomber walking up and down the street shouting threat and offering to wash cars and the Lady walking up and down the two block stretch with bags full of clothes all days, despite all this the neighborhood is nothing short of festive. Even the slightest hint of sun will bring the entire families out on their porches with boom boxes playing 70's soul that I sometimes thought only Ollie and I liked. Huge family dinner are crammed onto these standard size city porches. This week a party broke out on the street. Literally in the middle of the street, someone brought a boom box and the music played until the cops broke it up, at 1 am. The party may have been crackhead dominated, but it was not depraved, it was fun, and waking up at 1:30 and peering out the medieval arrow slit that is my window I couldn't bring myself to resent them. Last night, after drinking my increasingly obligatory Gin and Tonic, I heard singing. Just one female voice. I didn't know the song but the singing was beautiful. I was very tired and probably can't judge singing anyway, but that didn't matter. It was just quintessentially Brookland. Thanks Brookland, maybe the morning rat skirmish outside my window, the beggars coming to the door and frighteningly well armored stores aren't so bad.

Filibuster Poll

2005-04-26T11:04:00.000-04:00

Conservatives using the media's liberal bias as a crutch seems to have become a theme of blog lately, but it keeps coming up. Case in point, today, as the results from a Washington Post Poll showing a strong majority of voters against the nuclear option conservatives RedState and Beltway Buzz, came out swinging even before they had a credible argument. Both immediately jumped on the wording of the question, without thinking. Beltway's Buzz's Eric Pfieffer makes the claim without any support, while RedState goes into a little more detail. The question, according to RedState: "Would you support or oppose changing Senate rules to make it easier for the Republicans to confirm Bush's judicial nominees?" Oh, the sheer bias of it all! It's almost unbearable. Republicans wouldn't be changing the rules, that's not fair. They'd be affirming them, right? And they wouldn't be doing it to make it easier for the Republicans to confirm Bush's Judicial nominees! They's be doing it for justice! The question obviously should have read: "Would you support affirming the Senate rules for justice?" There. That's better. RedState does offer up the laughably partisan: "Do you believe Senate Democrats are right to deny votes on the President's judicial nominees?" Nothing about whether they support changing the rules, or even what action do you believe should be taken IF you do think the Democrats are being heavy handed. Hey, RedState, how about this" "Do you believe Senate Democrats are right to deny votes on the President's judicial nominees or are you a wife beating islamo-fascist? Huh? Pussy!" and if only the question could shove the respondent there at the end. But alas! Such an objective question we won't see anytime soon. Damn you liberal media bias!

UPDATE: Thanks to a reader we have yet another absurd question, from the Kerry Spot try this one:

"Do you support a minority of Democrats preventing Bush's judicial nominees from being voted on, when a majority of senators have indicated their support for those nominees?"

Good catch reader! Why don't any of the proposed questions even address the changing of the rules? Maybe they realize the public isn't with them.

A dinosaur has fallen, and we don't want another dinosaur.

2005-04-25T08:54:00.000-04:00

Togo voted yesterday amid what can only be called moderate violence. Sounds like a rigged vote, but we'll see. In neighboring Benin a dictator of 20 years held fair elections, lost, and stepped down in 1991, so a fair election isn't an outlandish thing to hope for. Realism presents a less hopeful picture, however. The dictator whose death prompted these elections, Gnassingbe Eyadema, was the longest reigning dictator in the world save Fidel Castro, so while this could be a major step for democracy in West Africa, it's likely the an overzealous army that's already shown it's willingness to disregard the constitution has rigged this poll. A democratic Togo could be the first step in a truly democratic West Africa, but a civil war embroiled Togo be an unparalleled step backward for Democracy in West Africa. Togo is a tiny strip of land less than 100 miles wide but borders West Africa's two most resilient democracies on either side. Freedom House rates Ghana and Benin as "free" and gives them the highest ratings in the region. These two democracies are incredibly important to the region's democratization as well as embryotic. Despite that, these democracies are not weak, both have survived skirmishes with neighbors without being seriously destabilized, and Ghana in particular has withstood a frighteningly unstable Ivory Coast while remaining democratic. In a sadly bleak region with few democratic outposts this should be at the top of the news. International pressure and pressure from nascent local democracies like Ghana, Benin and Mali are the only reason there were even multiparty elections. When comes to those elections being fair, the international media and community seem disinterested. This is every bit as important development for democracy in the world as the elections in Iraq. If successful this could bring about a series of events not unlike the colored revolutions. The US should be involved, and less excusably so should France. Democracy in West Africa has been long in the coming, let's hope it's finally arrived.

Pope says Nope

2005-04-22T11:55:00.000-04:00

Pope posts are everywhere these days. All the cool kids are doing it, but being a catholic (or having been raised catholic, if you prefer) I have kind of thought a few times, as a good friend of mine said, "Can we go back to not caring about Catholicism now, please?" That said it seems like a rather uninteresting blog day and all I can do is pontificate about The Pontiff. First, Powerline. Now as my readers know, I'm having to walk on eggshells with respect to Powerline these days so I'll phrase this as diplomaticallly as possible in order to avoid a scene. Powerline, your post today was noteworthy, not partisan tripe, which is an improvement, but rather silly. Noting that googling Nazi pope gives you over 700 entries is weird. First because it doesn't. Second because googling "Frank Nazi" gives about as much, I guess I should be worried that people think I'm a Nazi. Crap, that's what I get for learning German! Third because, although it's a pot shot, it's an easy one given that he actually was a Hitler Youth. Calling Bush a Nazi is stupid, but calling the pope a Nazi, although I'm sure he's renounced those beliefs is more substantive. Last and point-of-this-post-edly, the new Pope apparently is standing his ground as a stalwart for social conservatism with the statement today regarding Spain's new law (in all but name) as BBC puts it

Pope Benedict XVI has responded firmly to the first challenge of his papacy by condemning a Spanish government bill allowing marriage between homosexuals. The bill, passed by parliament's Socialist-dominated lower house, also allows gay couples to adopt. A senior Vatican official described the bill - which is likely to become law within a few months - as iniquitous. He said Roman Catholic officials should be prepared to lose their jobs rather than co-operate with the law.

I haven't been into this Pope stuff much (see avoiding like plague, above) but part of this is obvious (that the pope would be none too pleased) and part of this is disturbing (the call to arms of being "prepared to lose their jobs rather than co-operate with the law.") This type of 'culture war would do Europe some good, I guess, but can we please not further inflame the dying embers of the culture war. Please.

Powerline Further Discredited

2005-04-21T09:58:00.000-04:00

Dear Powerline, Let's be honest with each other. Our relationship is seriously on the rocks. I'm thinking of taking you off my Blogroll. Now, wait, don't cry. Geez. I'm just thinking about it, I'm not going to do it... yet. Sorry but you have to firm to the blogs you love. A few things need to change if this relationship is going to work out. No, no, that's not at all what I mean. Disagreement is fine, but partisan tripe is another affair. No, no, stop crying, please, I'm not having an affair, I wouldn't do that to you. Powerline, you used to be special, one of the conservative blogs I looked forward to every morning, but lately the magic has been fading. First, there was the Melody Townsel attack, no Powerline, I'm not going to argue with you over this, it was. I'm sorry Powerline, but it's true and we're not here to discuss that, if you want to discuss that leave a comment on my previous post. Okay, fine, we all have our bad hair days, but not only do you keep harping on it after it's been corroborated, and that corroboration has been acknowledged by the conservative institution. Not only that, Powerline, but your conspiracy theory-esque hinting is disturbing. The Bolton "last-minute smear follows the Democrats' evergreen Anita Hill playbook to a 'T'" ? Are you just looking for an excuse to smear Dems, Powerline? Are you purposely descending into partisan hackery? Powerline, if you become a partisan hack, I'm leaving, walking right out that door. Oh, please, Powerline, here's a tissue. Blow. We'll talk again after a couple days, please, though, at least try. I don't want to end this anymore than you do. Love, Non-Fat Latte Liberal

Solidaritaet

2005-04-20T14:02:00.000-04:00

Andrew Sullivan has come in for some harsh criticism today and I'm not sure it's warranted. Since I find myself defending him at every turn these days, I've decided to introduce the memorial, "You guys are assholes - Andrew's tha Bomb" Green ribbon for a couple of reasons. First to identify fellow supporters of Sullivan so we can assist each other in stopping the proliferation of pictures of Andrew in police hats and Andrew color coded alert systems. Second because apparently no one has yet claimed the green ribbon, everyone from the pro-lifers to the organ donors to family farms thinks they have it. So, yeah, that proves my point.

RedState Right.

2005-04-20T12:04:00.000-04:00

RedState has a good post about some hysteria over the new Pope. Unfortunately it descends from high minded criticism to outright partisan bloodletting:

...The sort of hysteria and rampant (incorrect) politicization to which the Left inevitably descends

and

Look on the modern Left, and laugh.

unfortunately this is the straw mannerisms and (incorrect) overgeneralizations to which the right descends on the rare occasion when they have a reasonable centrist opinion to present. Look at the modern Right, and cringe. UPDATE: Also, I am the modern left.

Podhoretz on nuclear fallout

2005-04-19T11:05:00.000-04:00

John Podhoretz has an article today, The Dems' Suicide Plot, on how the nuclear fallout will doom Dems in '06. He compares it to the fall out after the government shutdown under Clinton:

The GOP hoped the public would blame Clinton, since he had vetoed the bills. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, "We want the country to understand that the only way the government will close tomorrow is that President Clinton is determined to close it." That's not the way it went down. Because the GOP had provoked the showdown, it got blamed for the shutdown.

Again, because the GOP provoked the shutdown, it got blamed for the shutdown. Why doesn't this apply to the Reeps provoking a shutdown by changing the Senate rules? Podhoretz doesn't say. The fact is this situation is not at all analogous, and the public will side for or against the Dems based on whether they think they have legitimate beef, in particular if the case is made that the GOP is doing something out of order they'll be cleared. UPDATE: An operative typo made the last sentence more of controversial than it was meant, it has now been changed. Thanks for your patience.