Dems to Filibuster 2 Bush Judicial Picks

"we want to be selective, we want to be careful," Daschle said. "I don't want to abuse the practice of filibustering."

Too late, Tom.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 12:14 PM 0 comments

 
Dixie Chicks Nude: Not sure this is a good way to get your market share back. Nude may help get them some more press, but my guess is they'd be better off just letting sleeping dogs lie.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 12:10 PM 0 comments

 
Keep this in mind when your read stories about how SARS has killed 373 people.

On average . . . flu kills about 36,000 Americans a year, usually the old and infirm.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:28 AM 0 comments

 
Comical Ali has left me, but I've found a replacement: the (North) Korean NewsAgency, which is urging the U.S. to stop anti-DPRK smear campaign

The U.S. bellicose forces are now blustering that there is increasing nuclear and missile threats from the DPRK, describing it as a factor of threatening world stability. They went so far as to say that the DPRK's economy is on the verge of bankruptcy.
These remarks reflect the uneasiness and fret of the U.S. reactionary rulers over the ever-growing might of the DPRK and the rapid decline of the U.S. and betrays their foolish attempt to put the brake on the drive in the DPRK to build a great prosperous socialist power.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:00 AM 0 comments

 
The new Onion is out, reporting from Pine Bluff Arkansas:

Pine Bluff Middle School band teacher Walter Moreland was "so clearly, obviously" gay in retrospect, former student Gary Dolan, 32, realized Monday.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:44 AM 0 comments

 
This is really too good to be true. Comical Ali did not see the hordes of American troops surrounding Baghdad before it fell, now, they can't see him.

Iraq's former information minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, who denied to the end the presence of US forces in Baghdad, was turned down by US troops after trying to turn himself in, said the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, citing a Kurdish official.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 5:46 PM 0 comments

 
VICTORY!

After spending my lunch hour searching the web and reading a lot about what "br", "td", and "tr" do, I have mastered enough HTML to be dangerous to the technical soundness of the blog. In fact, I have been able to avoid catastrophe and create a blogroll for us. Co-bloggers, please email me any blogs you'd like to link. (Yes, Travis, I'll get Instapundit and Scrappleface up immediately).
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 1:11 PM 0 comments

 
Hip, hip, hooray!

How Appealing

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Jeffrey S. Sutton to serve on the Sixth Circuit by a vote of 52-41:

Not sure its proper blog etiquette to quote a blog for actual news, but Howard Bashman has certainly earned that much credibility.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 1:06 PM 0 comments

 
Guns --- stones --- who cares. I have read some pretty hazy news reports regarding the confrontation between U.S. troops and an Iraqi mob in a town outside of Baghdad. According to American troops, some Iraqis opened fire with AK-47s and American troops returned fire. According to members of the mob, they were only throwing stone at U.S. troops. It strikes me that could pretty much end any required investigation right there -- other than perhaps determining whether or not the response of U.S. troops was excessive. Isn't a stone a lethal attack. Just ask Goliath. And then there is the fact that in some parts of the Arab world they stone people to death. Thus, the throwing of stones at our troops should well trigger self defensive action. Moreover, other reports suggest that some members of the mob simply claim to have not shot first. OK. So you go to an military compound armed with AK-47s with obvious confrontation in mind. I see little reason for sympathy for anyone who would do that, or for any idiot who would decide to be part of such a mob.


- posted by Anonymous @ 12:04 PM 0 comments

 
I've become increasingly uncomfortable with accusations that a "neoconservative conspiracy" is running our foreign policy. As with most conspiracy theories, it tells you more about the people who are "revealing" it than it does about reality, but I've not reached any conclusions worth sharing yet. However, while I cogitate on it, everyone else might find this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education interesting. For what its worth, I think Mr. Leiber is pretty close to dead on balls accurate (it's an industry term).
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:43 AM 0 comments

 
The Washington Post reports here that Bush has nominated two new judges for the 4th Circuit: Claude Allen from Virginia, and Allyson Duncan from North Carolina. The good news? Both were educated in North Carolina, and Allen earned his undergrad degree at UNC. The bad news? Both went to Duke for law school.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:13 AM 0 comments

 
With regard to the upcoming "Roadmap to Peace," I would be interested in hearing anybody's thoughts on the following. It is my understanding that many say that the United States' success in Iraq has provided us with renewed leverage not just in the Arab world but with Israel. I think this is plausible. I also think that Bush might be ready to do some pretty serious arm twisting on both sides. With the Israelis this means halting expansion (at least) of settlements and possibly (and I think ultimately) dismantling of many of the settlements. I have no doubt that Sharon has little taste to do this, but he has been making noise that he might be willing to do so if the result is a true peace. Often people have asked whether Arafat can deliver the Palestinians in any peace agreement. I think there are to answers. "No -- even if he wanted to." and "He never had any intention of delivering them anyway." I wonder, however, when it comes to dismantling settlements, can Sharon deliver the Israelis? I believe that most Israelis would give up the settlements for peace. If Israel had not be forced into the 1967 war in the first place they never would have had the land to make the settlements. Thus, I think the majority of Israelis would be happy enough with pre 1967 borders with adequate changes made for security (though the security concerns may be less of an issue due to Israel's nuclear deterrent).

But, I am under the impression that the settlers are not so amenable to relocation. There are a lot of them and I understand them to be quite militant (ie, god given right to the land, etc). Could we be facing a situation that in the face of diminishing Palestinian violence (I know that is rather optimistic) we will see a new destabilizing problem of Israeli militant violence. If I am not mistaken we have seen whiffs of it before in the settlements. Anybody have some ideas on why this won't be a problem?


- posted by Anonymous @ 6:13 PM 0 comments

 
Arafat Says He Won't Be Sidelined

Asked what Sharon wanted, Arafat repeated his oft-stated view of a personal vendetta.
"I think that this whole thing started in 1982 when I caused him to lose his medals, as well as his position as defense minister."

Is he serious? Not excusing the truly despicable behavior of the Israelis at Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon, but exactly how did Arafat cause Sharon to be disciplined? While fleeing Beruit to live the life of an international playboy in Cyprus, did Arafat crafitly plan to leave behind hundreds of his followers to be massacred in plain view of the Israeli army? Nice work, Yassir. That'll teach 'em to mess with you.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 4:47 PM 0 comments

 
3 E-Mail Providers Join Spam Fight
Its a start at least.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 4:31 PM 0 comments

 
The Grey Lady takes more direct aim at Judge.... excuse me... nomineee Jeffrey Sutton today. Logan pointed out the NYT's ealier sideswipe at Sutton in an editorial that actually advocated the Borking of Priscilla Owen. This time they go after Sutton directly. The interesting thing is that the NYT seems to be resigned to the confirmation of Sutton. They just want to complain and point out that the confirmation of an ideologue of this kind should never happen again. Read it for fun. Something tells me that the NYT editorial page will have to get used to penning similarly impotent diatribes in the coming months.


- posted by Anonymous @ 3:16 PM 0 comments

 
Possible collapse of the French government??? If recent reports out of Britain's Telegraph turn out to be true it does not appear to me that the French government could possibly survive. Maybe the information gleaned from the Iraqi documents will remain opaque enough that the blame could be left with the French embassy in Baghdad that had "gone native" as it were. But otherwise, surely even the French could not tolerate such behavior from their government. At the very least, are they not pragmatic enough to understand that it would so severely damage the French government's ability to act credibly in the world scene (stop snickering Travis) that it just makes no sense to stick with this horse.

Unfortunately, it is my understanding that Chirac is the "PRO-AMERICAN" wing in French politics!!!!! Somebody please tell me I am wrong about that.

- posted by Anonymous @ 2:57 PM 0 comments

 
The Onion | America's Finest News Source™

Tortured Ugandan Political Prisoner
Wishes Uganda Had Oil

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 2:46 PM 0 comments

 
I am at my office right now. It's proximity to the White House causes every protest in DC to proceed below my window. The Protest of the day appears to be Shiite Muslims. They are carrying black banners, but it is hard to understand their message because all of the writing is in Arabic (makes one wonder who their audience is). The stangest thing of, however, is the symbolic beating of the breast by the men in the group (it was a highly segregated group incidentally with the woman, all clad in black, walking as a group behind the men). This beating of the breast is a form of self flagelation meant to demonstrate a solidarity with Hussein who was murdered at Karbala sometime in the 8th century causing the schism between Shia and Sunni muslims. You all may have seen more extreme versions of this ritual in the news recently with men in Iraq cutting themselves with swords about the head and face. Well, here it is on 17th Street in downtown Washington a half block from the White House.


- posted by Anonymous @ 2:49 PM 0 comments

 
National Review online was hacked by somebody going by "Dark Hunter". Check it out. The idiot of course cannot spell. He is demanding freedom for "Palestian" whatever the hell that is.
- posted by Anonymous @ 11:26 AM 0 comments

 
Regarding Travis's analysis of the Democratic primary numbers I have this rather uninformed contribution. Under Travis's theory Gephardt should be doing poorly in NH compared to his national numbers. He was pro-war and his support is largely big labor. Right? However, is it the case that Gephardt is the only Democrat running right now that has previously run in NH (was it 1988 as one of the seven dwarfs). If so, how did he do then? Is it possible that he is still benefitting from some residual name recognition/loyalty?
- posted by Anonymous @ 9:40 AM 0 comments

 
MP Galloway. You've all seen the accusations. Don't you just love the fact that Great Britain can charge and convict this guy (if the allegations are true) under a law passed in 1351 (according to Andrew Sullivan). Now that's legal history Logan.


- posted by Anonymous @ 9:17 AM 0 comments

 
The Health Benefits of Chocolate

'nuff said.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 4:12 PM 0 comments

 
A future co-blogger, who will start blogging once we get past some technological hurdles, raised an interesting question recently: How much press would the West Nile Virus have gotten if it was the West Hackensack Virus?

I tend to think some, but probably not as much.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 3:59 PM 0 comments

 
Christopher Hitchens criticizes those criticizing the involvement of U.S. companies in rebuilding Iraq Oleaginous - People who prefer Saddam Hussein to Halliburton.

But unless the anti-war forces believe Saddam's fires should be allowed to burn out of control indefinitely, they must presumably have an idea of which outfit should have got the contract instead of [Halliburton subsidary] Boots and Coots. I think we can be sure that the contract would not have gone to some windmill-power concern run by Naomi Klein or the anti-Starbucks Seattle coalition, in the hope of just blowing out the flames or of extinguishing them with Buddhist mantras.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 4:20 PM 0 comments

 
Still steaming from the NYT editorial about Priscilla Owens, I recalled Samuel Johnson's insightful comment about journalists:

To write news in its perfection . . .require[s] neither genius nor knowledge, neither industry nor sprightliness; but contempt of shame and indifference to truth are absolutely necessary."

It made me feel a bit better that journalists have been this bad since at least 1758.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 1:13 PM 0 comments

 
Lifting of Sanctions Linked to U.N. Role

Russia, France and other key Security Council members set the stage today for a new battle over Iraq, signaling that the United States must give the United Nations a broader role in reconstruction efforts before sanctions can be lifted.

One word for this: blackmail.

Any doubts I harbored that these countries were putting their own diplomatic concerns ahead of what was the best for the people of Iraq have just been eliminated. Is there any other way to justify keeping the sanctions in place? Didn't France and Russia want to remove the sanctions a few years ago because of the humanitarian crisis? Didn't they argue that inspectors could prevent the development of weapons of mass destruction? If so, won't the 100,000 members of the coalition armed forces take care of that? Since we are in control of Iraq, do they want the sanction to prevent US from developing WMD there? Please, please explain to me how I'm seeing this incorrectly. I don't like believing our past and future allies are completely amoral.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:04 AM 0 comments

 
Filibustering Priscilla Owen

Jon's right, no one person should have to counter all the propaganda in this editorial. I mean, did the NYT accidentally replace its editorial with a press release from the Democratic Party? Have they hired Comical Ali as the new Editorial Page Editor? Seriously.

Here's my contribution to countering this editorial. Among the outlandish accusations is this one:

The White House has culled the legal profession to find nominees with aggressive conservative agendas [including] Jeffrey Sutton, a lawyer who has severely set back the rights of the disabled

It is outrageous to accuse Jeff Sutton of pursuing an agenda to set back the rights of the disabled. It is even more outrageous to contend that such an agenda is a conservative agenda. The case for Sutton's antipathy to the disabled is almost entirely based on his argument in University of Alabama v. Garrett. To base the discovery of an "agenda" on a single case argued by a lawyer is foolhardy. To base it on that case is even worse.

First, this case had a limited effect on the rights of the disabled. As Justice Kennedy explained,

what is in question is not whether the Congress, acting pursuant to a power granted to it by the Constitution, can compel the States to act. What is involved is only the question whether the States can be subjected to liability in suits brought . . . by private persons seeking to collect moneys from the state treasury without the consent of the State.

The case, in other words, was only about lawsuits against the states, only about lawsuits by private persons against the states, only about lawsuits against the states by private people who wanted money. It allows a disabled person to get a court to stop discrimination by a state or anyone else. It allows a disabled person to sue a private company for money damages if the company discriminated against her. It even allows Congress to override this decision -- to allow private persons to get money from the states if the states discriminated against them because they are disabled -- if Congress shows some evidence that the states were discriminating against the disabled.

But beyond the limited reach of the opinion on the rights of the disabled, there is a more important reason this case does not demonstrate an antipathy to the rights of the disabled: it was an important case for other reasons. This case did not have large implications for the rights of the disabled, but it was part of the fight over how the Supreme Court is defining the relationship of the states and the national government. Federalism is what this case was about. Even Senator Leahy, who voted against Sutton, recognized that this case, and Sutton's "agenda," are about federalism and limited national government, not about antipathy for the disabled.

One can certainly, as Senator Leahy does, believe that Sutton's view of federalism is wrong. Many smart, educated, thoughful people do. And that, it seems to me is a good reason to vote against his confirmation. It can even be called part of a "conservative agenda." Mabye even an "aggressive conservative agenda." But accusing Sutton and consevatives in general of having an aggressive agenda of setting back the rights of the disabled is irresponsible and wrong. Especially for the "Paper of Record."
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:46 AM 0 comments

 
Good Cop/Bad Cop

Does anybody else sense a certain amount of orchestration between the reportedly in conflict State Department and Defense Department. In a way a nation's armed forces have always been the blunt instrument standing behind a diplomat in negotiations with those who do not see the world quite as we would like them to. But, current reports suggest that the United States has taken this to an entirely new level. Colin Powell, the consumate good cop, is all smiles while in negotiations and publicly tells the world that the United States has not plan RIGHT NOW to invade Syria. Meanwhile, bad cop (we will call him Rumsfeld, but there are actually many casted in this role) is warning of the serious consequences and authorizing leaks out of the Pentagon that war plans against Syria are on the table. Oh, and just for good measure lets take a couple of carrier battle groups out of the Persian Gulf, take them up through the Suez Canal and park them in the eastern Mediteranean of of Syria's coast. Then their is the supporting cast of bad cops (lets call this one Wolfowitz) declaring on national television that if he were Kim Jong Ill he would be very nervous right now.

One can just imagine our good cop in Damascus or Pyong Yang looking back over his shoulder saying, "Look, I'm your friend in this thing and I am trying to work something out, but you have to give me some coorperation. Look what just happened to Iraq. Those guys behind me a crazy and just looking for an excuse. If you don't work with me, you going to have to deal with them." Shortly after good cop get all the concessions he requires maybe he and all the bad cops will sit down for a beer and talk about how well the plan worked. And maybe they will authorize a couple of leaks to the press about how much they hate each other.
- posted by Anonymous @ 7:31 AM 0 comments

 
Filibustering Priscilla Owen

There are so many things so wrong with the NYT editorial about Priscilla Owen and the confirmation process that I haven't the energy to go through them tonight. I post it for your amusement.


- posted by Anonymous @ 10:57 PM 0 comments

 
I don't have the proper software at work so I cannot link you to the article, but check out George Will's column in today's Washington Post criticizing the Supreme Court's recent decision striking down a punitive damages award. It is the principaled stand that Scalia takes that is, as usual, correct (and in the minority). A small amusing part of the column is that it notes the Ginsburg wrote the opinion criticizing the application of "substantive due process" by the court. Scalia and Thomas joined her with substantially less irony.


- posted by Anonymous @ 10:40 AM 0 comments

 


The Washington Times lead editorial this morning has an interesting article on Iraq's foreign debt and its implications for reconstruction. The Times comes to the reasonable conclusion that there should be a great effort made to help Iraq restructure its debts (no outright forgiveness) to enable it to meet the costs of recontruction while still servicing its debt.

While I am one of the last people who would want to interfere with contractual relations our do anything else that would destabilize world financial market, I am currently of two minds regarding Iraqi debt and would invite comment from the other blog participants. On the one hand, debts must be repaid as a matter of practicality to ensure the future ability of countries to receive loans. The Williamson Doctrine at the State Department during the first Bush administration(incidentally named after a guy who works down the hall from me) mainatined that the Eastern European governments and Russia should be held to account for the debts of the toppled communist regimes that preceded them. That doctrine is largely credited with helping maintain access to world capital markets by these countries and sending a signal that a change of regimes would not do away with debt obligations.

All well and good. But, as we all know there are risk premiums in investments. Is it really all that bad to tell lenders that one of the things they should consider when making loans to governments is the viability of that government over the long term? Particularly when that government is engaged in the systematic plunder of the country and people over which it rules. Does it serve the stability of the world political system to remove a risk factor that the government (in the case of vile dictatorships) could be toppled and the new regime would disavow the former regime's obligations? Think about the incentives. Many financial institution were willing to lend to Iraq and many companies willing to enter into contracts with the old regime. If they knew that their investments were seriously at risk due to the collapse of the government perhaps they would not have been willing to prop up such a regime for so long.

For investments/loans made prior to 1991 I am more sympathetic to the financial institutions. After 1991, however, Iraq was an outlaw regime. For that reason it seems to me there is even better argument for telling those institutions who dealt with the regime after 1991 they are simply out of luck -- one of the risks they should have considered has come to be -- better luck next time. I suppose this is somewhat like an application of the unconcsionability doctrine, which we all know tends to make the kind of contracts to which it applies impossible to enter. My question is, would it be such a bad thing if brutal dictators found it difficult to enter contracts for money from European banks or for delivery of weapon systems from France and Russia while under sanctions from the rest of the world.



- posted by Anonymous @ 8:11 AM 0 comments

 
It may be true that Kerry Leads Democratic Hopefuls in Funds Raised, but watch out for John Edwards, who finished second and who I think has the best chance of beating Bush.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 2:05 PM 0 comments

 
Monica Lewinsky to Host Dating Reality Show

Yes. Really.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:07 AM 0 comments

 
David Broder's editorial in today's Washington Post, demonstrates the difference between the elite bar's definition of well-qualified appellate judges, and the definition of most of the rest of the world. Comparing Edward Prado, whose nomination to the 5th Circuit sailed through the judiciary committee, to Miguel Estrada, who is still being held up in the Senate without a vote, Broder says that

Given [the] background [of the Estrada fight], I was expecting to see Prado, 55, put to the test at his Judiciary Committee hearing. His credentials are impressive: a graduate of the University of Texas and its law school, four years each as a prosecutor and a public defender, a short stint as a state judge, U.S. attorney for three years and, since 1984, a federal district judge.

To a lawyer from the "elite" bar, however, Prado's resume would seem significantly inferior to Estrada's Supreme Court quality resume. On the elite bar's prestig-o-meter, Estrada is off the charts: he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, clerked for Justice Kennedy, practiced with Wachtell, Lipton and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and served in the Solicitor General's office. Other than his service as a District Court Judge, Prado's resume barely makes the prestig-o-meter's needle twitch.

Whether the prestig-o-meter is a good selector of judges is a different, and complex question. I tend to think that intellectual excellence and hard work, which the prestig-o-meter is a rough proxy for, are critical for judges. On the other hand, at least one judge I know thinks the prestig-o-meter is responsible for the law's descent from common sense into over-intellectualized incoherence.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:33 AM 0 comments

 
Tom Freidman's latest editorial seems to define the challenges of the peace well. I especially appreciated his description of "Saddamism":

America was not just at war with Saddam, but with Saddamism: an entrenched Arab mind-set, born of years of colonialism and humiliation, that insists that upholding Arab dignity and nationalism by defying the West is more important than freedom, democracy and modernization.

By connecting this mindset with Saddam, he denigrates it, which is exactly how it should be treated (despite what Robert Fisk and Nicholas de Genova seem to believe).
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 1:42 PM 1 comments

 
An article from Foreign Policy sheds some interesting light on the potential for democracy in the Middle East.

“The peoples of the Islamic nations want and deserve the same freedoms and opportunities as people in every nation,” President Bush declared in a commencement speech at West Point last summer. He’s right. Any claim of a “clash of civilizations” based on fundamentally different political goals held by Western and Muslim societies represents an oversimplification of the evidence. Support for the goal of democracy is surprisingly widespread among Muslim publics, even among those living in authoritarian societies. Yet . . . [a]lthough nearly the entire world pays lip service to democracy, there is still no global consensus on the self-expression values—such as social tolerance, gender equality, freedom of speech, and interpersonal trust—that are crucial to democracy. Today, these divergent values constitute the real clash between Muslim societies and the West.

There are parts of this article that I don't agree with completely. In particular, "self-expression values" clearly support democracy, but those same values may, in turn, be nutured by the processes of democratic government. I'm certainly no political scientist, but it makes sense to me that allowing people to vote, for example, could generate more demand for accurate information, and thus more demand for free expression and a free press. The authors don't really address that point. Nevertheless, the author's major thesis, outlined in the quote above, seems well supported and gave me much better insight into the problems we face as we turn from winning the war to winning the peace.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 1:23 PM 0 comments

 
A little off topic for most of our posts but, pretty big news for UNC fans. ESPN.com: UNC Williams leaves Kansas for North Carolina
You may now return to your normally scheduled blogging.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:35 AM 0 comments

 
Telegraph | News | France's 'peace' coalition cracks

Senior Russian officials told the Izvestia daily newspaper that the Kremlin has "no illusions about any long-term perspectives for the axis". One official said: "Sooner or later Iraq will fall and Russia and the United States will resume normal relations."

The Axis?? They are describing THEMSELVES as the Axis???
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:51 AM 0 comments

 
Another review of Bruce Murphy's well received and iconoclastic biography of William Douglas, Wild Bill. This review by Edward Lazarus adds little to Richard Posner's review in the New Republic, but the personal failings of Justice Douglas are so breathtaking that they deserve repeating. Just one highlight from Lazarus's review:

Douglas' failure as a human being had few limits. He was a horrible father, abused his law clerks, alienated his colleagues, drank to excess, wallowed in self-pity and ranted like a spoiled child. So it was that Douglas died in 1975 bitter, frustrated and mostly alone.

On all these points, Murphy's portrait is largely convincing.

Ouch.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:16 AM 0 comments

 
And this astounding revelation from Franklin Foer on OpinionJournal this morning. CNN was not only staying silent but asserting the accuracy of its coverage. I think Eason Jordan could be looking at a rather short continuation of his tenure at CNN. OpinionJournal - WATCHING THE NEWS

For a long time, CNN denied that its coverage skimped on truth. While I researched a story on CNN's Iraq coverage for the New Republic last October, Mr. Jordan told me flatly that his network gave "a full picture of the regime." In our conversation, he challenged me to find instances of CNN neglecting stories about Saddam's horrors. If only I'd had his Times op-ed!

- posted by Anonymous @ 6:45 AM 0 comments

 
CNN knew -- The Washington Times

So deeply had Mr. Jordan morally compromised himself and CNN that Uday the psychopath felt comfortable confiding his highest-visibility murder plans to Mr. Jordan. His secrets were safe with CNN.

The Washington Times' lead editorial this morning gets it just right on the CNN coverup of the Hussein regime's atrocities. How bout we turn the tables on the press and call this one CNNGate?


- posted by Anonymous @ 6:39 AM 0 comments

 
News accounts of the "protests" this weekend here in Washignton, DC are rather amusing. I can't imagine many things more irrelevant than these protests except for maybe the St. Petersburgh summit of the three mousketeers. Apparently the protesters have modified their signs. They have crossed "war" and put in "occupation" as in "Stop the Occupation." One clever chap crossed out the "q" in "No war in Iraq" and inserted an "n" for guess who. My only question is this: when this is all over how are they going to modify the signs to "FREE TIBET!"


- posted by Anonymous @ 6:16 PM 0 comments

 
Remove All Doubt

I appreciate Logan sending on Tom's comments on the New York Times column from the CNN news exec. I think the importance of that admission is hard to overstate. It shows an incredible amount of irrespsonbility on the part of CNN. I understand the very humnan concerns expressed by the author, but CNN should report nothing rather than mininformation. I am not familiar with the ethics of journalism but it would seem to me that if you cannot present the truth than you should present nothing at all and let the world know that the regime has intimidated the network to an extent that it can no longer do report from the country. The fact that CNN reports anything at all implies (up until now) that they are giving us all the fact we need to know. OK -- so maybe nobody really believes that of CNN but it should be what a news organization strives for. Finally, why haven't we seen huge amounts of commentary on this startling admission by CNN?
- posted by Anonymous @ 6:08 PM 0 comments

 
Another thought popped into my head while making the last post: how many human shields have we come across in Iraq, and how are they being treated by the now liberated Iraqi civilians? For what its worth, this site indicates that the celebration of the Iraqi people hasn't really affected their position on the justness of the war.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 3:24 PM 0 comments

 
Michael Kinsley destroys a magnificently constructed straw man by declaring that Victory in the war is not victory in the argument about the war. He's right that might doesn't make right, but I haven't heard many pro-war folks arguing that that it does - that our victory proves the war was justified. Instead, I've seen a lot of pro-war folks pointing out that being welcomed as liberators is strong evidence that the Iraqis at least (who, after all are the people most affected by the war and the people many anti-war folks were trying to protect) think that this war was worth the costs. Engaging that argument, though, is, well, hard. Better to take on the scarecrow, I suppose.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 3:18 PM 0 comments

 
This editorial from the NYT sparked some comments from Tom, another co-blogger who has not yet been able to find the time to figure out the blogging technology:

I am concerned about the dilemma faced by CNN (and maybe others networks) over the last decade of (1) reporting accurately from Iraq and risking reprisal on its Iraqi employees in the form of torture, etc. or (2) blowing sunshine up the collective world ass. Apparently, they chose option (2). Of course, its a terrible dilemma. While fear of reprisal isn't supposed to thwart "real" journalists from reporting the straight dope, reprisal has never - to my knowledge - been this significant. On the other hand, compromising journalistic reporting duties is a little bit like dealing with terrorists. It sets a bad precedent. Also, given CNN's international presence, imagine the multilateral support we might have been able to garner had CNN reported accurately.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 2:53 PM 0 comments

 
Chirac, Schroeder Go on the Defensive (washingtonpost.com)

"I would have preferred another way of eliminating Saddam. The Iraqi people have put up with a lot," Sylviane Forestier, 52, a homemaker, said in Paris. Forestier said she "did not appreciate" the Bush administration, and that she hoped the United States would "let the people settle their own problems and govern their own country."

Ok, ok, I know this is just a private person, not a journalist, and that these are just a few comments perhaps taken out of context. Nevertheless, it seems to me the last few days have clearly shown that the only reason the Iraqis have the opportunity to "settle their own problems and govern their own country" is because of, not in spite of, the Bush administration.

No appreciation, indeed. She might feel differently if she were Iraqi.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 12:56 PM 0 comments

 

I swear, the way most of the press describes Scalia, its no wonder so many people think he's a terrible Justice. If this description

Interpreting the Constitution is a cut-and-dry matter for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.

from The Daily Mississippian were accurate, I'd think he's terrible too; no matter what your interpretive strategy, there are a lot of hard Constitutional questions out there. The problem is that the article's claim is completely false. Scalia certaintly doesn't think interpreting the Constitution is a "cut-and-dry matter," and, in fact, this very article fails to provide any support for that claim. It discusses how Scalia is an originalist, meaning that he uses a certain (controversial) strategy to approach the hard questions, not that he denies the existence of hard questions. No need to let the evidence get in the way of your reporting, I guess.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 11:37 AM 0 comments

 
A little more from Baghdad Bob:
We Love the Iraqi Information Minister

"It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here now to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait."

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 6:12 PM 0 comments

 
"Our initial assessment is that they will all die"

Insightful words from Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraqi Minister of Information (currently on administrative leave) from a website dedicated to his penetrating insights into the War.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 6:09 PM 0 comments

 
From the Truth is Stranger than Fiction file: The Las Vegas strippers union is run by a transvestite. The Nation

[T]he headlines Hackett's been making have nothing to do with her sex change. Here in Glitter Gulch that raises no more eyebrows than, say, a PTA president's divorce in Peoria. No. Hackett's been the talk of the town because the lanky, blond-streaked 49-year-old with a spectacular set of enameled fingernails has been frenetically trying to organize Vegas's thousands of strippers and nude dancers

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 5:13 PM 0 comments

 
More VON HOFFMAN AWARD NOMINATIONS from Andrew Sullivan
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:28 AM 0 comments

 
Andrew Sullivan is outing the anti-war editorialists. What is disturbing to me is not that they thought the war would go poorly. There was at least some reason to think that. Rather, it's disturbing how absolutely sure they were that they knew better than the Coalition military leaders. One has to assume their claims were driven by something beyond what was actually occurring on the battlefield.

VON HOFFMAN AWARD NOMINEES
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:00 AM 0 comments

 
Remarkably, incredibly poor timing.
The Smoking Gun: Archive

[A]s the SARS epidemic rages in the Pacific Rim, magazine advertisements placed by the Hong Kong Tourism Board promote the city as a vacation destination that "will take your breath away."

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:41 AM 0 comments

 
Hmmm . . . I was too hopeful about Al Jazeera. Instead of silence, they've called the celebrating Iraqis "rampaging looters." How fair and balanced of them.

Al Jazeera

Jubilant Iraqis welcomed advancing US forces in Baghdad while rampaging looters attacked symbols of Saddam Hussein’s power.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 12:08 PM 0 comments

 
It'll be interesting to see how this is presented by Al Jazeera. It's pretty clearly a bunch of Iraqi civilians celebrating the fall of Saddam. Maybe Al Jazeera will modify one of my grandmother's sayings, and, since they can only say something nice, they'll not say anything at all.

Washington Post Video
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 12:04 PM 0 comments

 
This could singlehandedly change my lifelong aversion to E.

BBC - Celebdaq - Home page
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 11:15 AM 0 comments

 
Hmmmm . . . . perhaps we'll end up blogging a lot less about the war and a lot more about the peace. From no less than the New York Times:

Residents Blare Horns, Dance and Empty Government Offices

Residents swarmed out onto the streets today, suddenly sensing that the regime of Saddam Hussein was crumbling, and celebrating the arrival of United States forces.
Throngs of men milled about, looting, blaring horns, dancing and tearing up pictures of Saddam Hussein. Baath party offices were trashed.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:55 AM 0 comments