War in Israel brings out the useful idiots

For instance, Cynthia McKinney:

“Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and one on the side,” McKinney told CNN Tuesday morning. “Our mission was a peaceful mission. Our mission was thwarted by the aggressiveness of the Israeli military.”

Actually, mission accomplished. What we tend to forget is that war is many-faceted. There is the military component. And then there is the information component. McKinney, a longtime anti-Israel advocate and former congresswoman from Georgia, understands the power of information.

The mission was NOT a peaceful mission. Entering a war zone, even with relief supplies, to not only give aid and comfort to one side, but also to weaken another, is an act of aggression itself. The existence of an organization like the International Red Cross was an attempt at a non-aligned relief organization in times of war. In this case, Israel is forced to deal with the unarmed occupants (as far as they know) is a nonlethal manner.

That said, anyone entering a war zone expecting to be greeted with rose petals is truly an idiot. Which McKinney is not. Her goal was to give Israel a black eye. Israel Matzav, however, has some interesting details:

The moonbats on the boat have accused Israel of 'piracy on the high seas.' But their understanding of international law is incorrect.

The movement's spokeswoman Greta Berlin told Israel National News that the incident occurred approximately 50-60 miles off the Gaza coast, in international waters. Any vessel can be legally required to identify itself in order to prevent it from entering prohibited territory although its passengers cannot be arrested in international waters, explained Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.

They're also claiming that the Navy gunboat rammed the yacht, but Palmor shows that contention is ridiculous as well:

The Free Gaza boat, dubbed the Dignity, collided with a Navy boat, but Berlin said the activists on board have pictures to prove it was rammed, an allegation that Palmor said is ridiculous. "If we wanted to hit it intentionally, everyone would have drowned," he told Israel National News.Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy was quoted by a CNN correspondent on board the 60-foot vessel as saying that the collision occurred when a Navy boat tried to turn around. Free Gaza claimed that at least half a dozen Navy boats surrounded the Dignity.The activists reported they did not have enough fuel to return to Cyprus and that the Navy did not allow the boat to proceed to Egypt but is allowing the vessel to sail to Lebanon after originally ordering it to turn back to Cyprus.

While Israel allowed earlier 'mercy missions' to land, the government has apparently now had enough of this nonsense.

Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said "the time has come to put a stop to these anarchists" who he said are not bringing any significant amount of
humanitarian supplies. He pointed out that Israel has opened Gaza crossings for
hundreds of tons of aid despite the ongoing rocket and mortar attacks on Israel.

More than 120 trucks entered Gaza Sunday and Monday, and 100 more are expected to reach the area Tuesday.

Free Gaza is a coalition of several groups, including the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR). All of those groups are financed by European governments.

We must recognize "humanitarian efforts" for what they are: a war on Israel. I have nothing against, and in fact desire, ending the suffering in Gaza. But not at the expense of the Israeli people.

Truth in advertising

Mamma Mia!

I just saw this movie, which my wife enjoyed very much and got on DVD. All fine, very entertaining at a surface level. But having read this dispatch from Robert D Kaplan of The Atlantic, I saw something disturbing:

Youth unemployment is high throughout the European Union, but it is particularly high in Greece, hovering between 25 and 30 percent. With few job prospects, rampant poverty in the face of nouveau riche prosperity, a public university system in shambles, a bloated government sector in desperate need of an overhaul, and a weak, defensive conservative government with only a one-seat majority in parliament, it is a ripe period for protests, which have had as their aim the fall of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. [Emphasis added]

Some more perspective:



Mamma Mia! the movie takes place in a Greek isle. The all the protagonists - the hotel owner, her daughter, the fiancee, the fathers, the guests - are all non-Greek. The local Greeks are all extras - servants, lifters, carriers, cleaners, etc. I can't imagine that this movie would leave a nice taste with the locals these days.

Speaking of extra faux pas, I also caught a guest on Ina Garten's cooking show on the Food Channel mock a soup kitchen just before singing a song about how nice it was to be in the Hamptons. Maybe it's the economy that brings out the best in us.

Science advisor to the POTUS

John Holdren, professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, was named Science Advisor to the Obama administration.

This appointment has "conservatives" in a tizzy because of his past associations with Paul Erlich, author of The Population Bomb:

[H]e has been an activist on the ecological left and no friend of free markets. Perhaps more striking is his activism well beyond his own academic specialty, arguing, for instance, that scientists have a responsibility to advance the cause of the elimination of all nuclear weapons and seeking controls on population growth. And he didn’t say all this in the 1970s either—have a good look at the speech he delivered when he assumed the leadership of the AAAS in 2006. It describes a fundamentally activist liberal mentality about the very purpose of science and its place in our kind of society. [Emphasis added]

No doubt Prof. Holdren is a liberal. So what? Since when is science supposed to be a "friend of free markets"? Science is science, facts are facts, even when "free markets" get perturbed. I think we have seen enough "science" from the Republicans, thank you very much.

Bail for Jews with means

Debbie Schlussel has herself in knots over this story about the U.S. Attorney's office in Cedar Rapids seeking to deny bail to Sholom Rubashkin, who stands accused of multiple counts of violating federal statute on hiring illegal aliens in the now-defunct Agriprocessors plant.

I am NOT--nor is this Rubashkin dude--a citizen of Israel. I don't hold dual citizenship, nor do most Jews in America--5.2 million of us.

And, aside from that, America has an extradition treaty with Israel and for the most part has returned defendants to justice here. On the other hand, we have no such treaty with Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Somalia, and all of the other Muslim countries with a few million living here. Many Muslim criminals have fled to those countries to escape justice here.

No, we are not. But I know that, if I so desired, I could become a citizen of Israel yesterday if I had the means. And Schlussel must be aware that this sort of thing has happened before. Whether or not Israel complies with an extradition, it is a pain in the ass. And I am sure that if Rubashkin made it to Israel, it would be more than difficult to get him out.

I hate that our immigration laws were enforced on the back of the kosher industry. But the Rubashkins have themselves to blame for this crisis. And we consumers of kosher food are the ones who suffer. Meanwhile, Schlussel saves venom for...Muslims. This is the sort of bigotry that antisemites use against Jews, and if you can read her blog without barfing, it is there in spades.

But apparently, right before we start celebrating the mighty Channukah story, the Justice Department bigots don't get this. With a ton of Muslims fleeing to Arab countries every time they commit a crime, who is the Justice Department seeking to deny bail for? The Jews, that's who.

Yes, that's right: treat me special because I'm a Jew. We're so downtrodden in this country that we reserve the right to take on another citizenship when we are accused of crimes that we obviously committed.

Look, the WSJ and Schlussel may think that this applies to all Jews. No. Just Jews with means and clear intent. I don't think that the State of Israel would be interested in granting sudden citizenship to Americans accused of crimes. Sheinbein's case was complicated by the fact that he was already Israeli. Rubaskin's case is ocmplicated by the fact that he is no ordinary shmoe, and has means and connections. Don't worry, Debby, you and I are just ordinary shmoe Jews. We'll get bail if we're arrested.

Pastor Rick

Obama attempts civility in our political discourse by inviting Pastor Rick Warren at speak at the inauguration. Here's Pastor Rick on Prop 8:



Fine. Look, I get opposition to gay marriage within Christianity, Islam, Judiasm as a biblical mandate against anything homosexual. Religions have a right to keep such things as verboten within the confines of their practice.

But Prop 8 goes beyond those boundaries. Note the faux pas Warren makes when he almost said "Christian marriage". But that would be the truth, and would also invalidate his reason for interfering in the definition of "civil marriage".

Meanwhile, note the "for life", for 5000 years. Astounding. Nothing said about divorce, mainly because the majority of them happen in the Bible Belt, to conservative Christians. Baptists, born-agains, Warren's flock. This hasn't changed marriage?

Anyway, Obama is under the impression that he will score points by giving Warren more attention at his inauguration. Not if Tony Perkins has anything to say about it:

Let's hope that Rick Warren will use his channel of communication to the new President to press him for more pro-family policies-rather than simply being used by Mr. Obama to make political inroads with evangelicals.

The level of mistrust is astounding. The way people like Perkins spoke of Obama before the election, you have to wonder what the point is anyway. How about this: learn to be the opposition, or split away and form your own damn theocracy. Hey, I'll even throw in morally correct Jews like (twice-divorced) Dennis Prager, Daniel Lapin, and Mark Levin, they're all yours.

United Kingdom of America?

Andrew Sullivan, on Caroline Kennedy filling Hillary Clinton's Senate seat:

I just hurled. Kennedy is not as dumb, crass or as uneducated as Sarah Palin. But she is less qualified to be a Senator than Palin. I am so sick of this nepotism. What are we, some kind of neo-monarchy? Clinton got her seat because of nepotism and now Kennedy gets it be the same methods.

The news shows are so full of celeb-worship that this is what dominates the idiocy. Maybe the news is so universally bad that such thoughts as this serve as an elixir for our troubles. Yecchh. Still, the more I see of this, the more I want to hurl much like Andrew. Spare a thought for someone like him, who left England to escape monarchical idiocy.

Justice for the NY Critical Mass cyclist

I posted a story on FB some time ago about a police officer that chlotheslined a cyclist taking part in a Critical Mass demonstration.

The NYPD officer, one Patrick Pogan, is going to pay the consequences:

The officer, Patrick Pogan, has been instructed to report to State Supreme Court in Manhattan for the unsealing of the indictment, his lawyer, Stuart London, said.
...
It is believed that prosecutors were seeking felony charges of filing false records in connection with the police report that Officer Pogan filed after arresting Mr. Long. Officer Pogan, who was stripped of his gun and badge in July after the video emerged, also could be charged with a misdemeanor count of assault.

“My client denies any wrongdoing in this matter,” Mr. London said in an interview Monday afternoon. “I would have people withhold judgment until all the evidence comes out about the bicyclist’s actions prior to my client taking action.”

OK, here is the video again. Please tell me, someone, what other evidence is needed?



Oh, and the Ofc. Pogan falsified an arrest report to boot. Better get a lawyer son, better get a real good one:

Gas Tax + Payroll Tax -

Michael Kinsley has proposed a revenue neutral gas tax: increase the gas tax while lowering FICA:

[T]his is the perfect moment for the other part of many proposals for an energy tax, which is to give the money back to people by lowering the payroll tax. The payroll tax, or FICA, collects about 15% of your wages or salary — half from you and half from your employer. It is expected to bring in close to a trillion dollars in 2009. Using our windfall from plummeting crude-oil prices alone, we could cut the FICA tax by more than half. Including other forms of energy would bring in even more.

FICA is, in effect, a tax on job creation. It applies to the very first dollar earned by a minimum-wage worker, but most of it tops out at an annual income of about $100,000 and doesn't apply at all to income from investments. For most Americans holding jobs, FICA now takes a bigger chunk of their income than the income tax itself. And yet it rarely enjoys the tender concern of tax-cutting Republicans, who prefer to concentrate on tax breaks for capital gains. Cutting the FICA tax in half, for workers and for employers, would make it more affordable for employers to hire — or avoid layoffs — while giving everyone who makes less than $100,000 a 7.5% raise to spend and stimulate the economy even further. People making more than $100,000 would get a tax cut too — as big as anyone else's, though a smaller percentage of their incomes.

I say why the hell not, while we're playing G-d with the economy. Given the priorities we have before us, it makes perfect sense. Unless of course you think GW is a hoax, in which case the reverse makes sense.

Steven Chu

Forget the fact for a minute that this is a Nobel Laureate in Physics ("for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light"). Or that he's a fellow University of Rochester alum. This dude is the real deal for running the Dept of Energy. Why? Because he is passionate about energy.

Here he is at the National Energy Summit:



The message is here:

Refrigerators consume a lot of energy; all alone, they account for almost fifteen per cent of the average home’s electricity use. In the mid nineteen-seventies, California—the state Chu now lives in—set about establishing the country’s first refrigerator-efficiency standards. Refrigerator manufacturers, of course, fought them. The standards couldn’t be met, they said, at anything like a price consumers could afford. California imposed the standards anyway, and then what happened, as Chu observed, is that “the manufacturers had to assign the job to the engineers, instead of to the lobbyists.” The following decade, standards were imposed for refrigerators nationwide. Since then, the size of the average American refrigerator has increased by more than ten per cent, while the price, in inflation-adjusted dollars, has been cut in half. Meanwhile, energy use has dropped by two-thirds. [Emphasis mine]

Can you imagine such a thought amongst the Bushies? They're still fighting about whether evolution is a fascist notion, and can barely acknowledge that global warning has a manmade cause.

Thank G-d it is the adults running the show.

Southern Accents

Marc Ambinder poses the question: where are they? My answer: good riddance. They were overrepresented as a result of the "Southern Strategy" originating from the Nixon era. About time we let some people who believe in, say, evolution run things for a change.

More Blag

The Human Lego. (H/T Patrick Appel) Does Rod's hair come off that easily? I suspect...

The triple-dog dare

Oh my. IL Gov Rod Blagojevich yesterday:



Uhhmmm, did he think nobody would take him up on the offer? Did he actually think? Jesus Christ, what an idiot.

BTW no evidence whatsoever that Obama or his team were involved in the hijinks. Doesn't mean they can ignore all this, but at least, in the beginning, they can avoid distractions in the short term.

Side note: As you can see, Jason Zengerle at The Plank was all over this. One reason why I not only subscribe to TNR, but after I cull most of my subscriptions (6 of them!!), TNR will be one of the two I keep. (The Atlantic will be the other.)

Farewell Bill.

I have been a faithful listener of the Radio Factor for some time. I can honestly say in retrospect, the best thing that ever happened to Bill was his radio show. Although O'Reilly get astronomical ratings on Fox News nowadays and is bringing in the big bucks, there was something charming about hearing Bill on the good old AM radio. His voice sounds different on the radio, almost a strange pied piper flute making me listen to more.

Well the time has come for Bill to go totally Hollywood. Bill, I hope you don't lose your roots and lose your attraction to the public, good or bad. Amazingly enough, everyone knows the guy, and everyone loves him, or hates him. But everyone watches or listens to him. Farewell to the Radio Factor.

Shinseki

Ret. General Eric Shinseki has been appointed as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This has been widely seen as Obama's first real rebuke of the Bush Administration, and after seeing this post by James Fallows, I can see why.

...Paul Wolfowitz appeared before the House Budget Committee. He began working through his prepared statement about the Pentagon's budget request and then asked permission to "digress for a moment" and respond to recent commentary, "some of it quite outlandish, about what our postwar requirements might be in Iraq." Everyone knew he meant Shinseki's remarks.

"I am reluctant to try to predict anything about what the cost of a possible conflict in Iraq would be," Wolfowitz said, "or what the possible cost of reconstructing and stabilizing that country afterwards might be." This was more than reluctance--it was the Administration's consistent policy before the war. "But some of the higher-end predictions that we have been hearing recently, such as the notion that it will take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq, are wildly off the mark."

This was as direct a rebuke of a military leader by his civilian superior as the United States had seen in fifty years. Wolfowitz offered a variety of incidental reasons why his views were so different from those he alluded to: "I would expect that even countries like France will have a strong interest in assisting Iraq's reconstruction," and "We can't be sure that the Iraqi people will welcome us as liberators ... [but] I am reasonably certain that they will greet us as liberators, and that will help us to keep requirements down." His fundamental point was this: "It's hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam's security forces and his army. Hard to imagine."

Wow. I always defended Wolfowitz as the more mild of the Bushies. But, o man, I can now see why everyone thinks he was an asshole. How do you get to be so wrong about so much and still have a reputation? How does anyone take you seriously anymore?

Oh yeah, I forgot.

Big numbers

Zimbabwe was already beyond the basket-case stage when the world economy. Making matters worse - if that were possible - a cholera epidemic has broken out.

But, if you think that's bad, oh no. In this posting on the epidemic, hilzoy comes across this mind-boggling result of the crashing of the global economy:

As of Nov. 14th, Zimbabwe's inflation rate was estimated at
89,700,000,000,000,000,000,000%. (And no, my finger didn't just get stuck on the zero key: that is 89.7 sextillion percent.)

I find an interesting topic in recreational math to be the question of what are the largest useful numbers. For example, Skewes' number

\[10^{10^{10^{34}}}\]

is an upper bound in analytical number theory. One wonders at what point Zimbabwe's inflation makes it to the list.

Does Reid Work For The People?

Washington (CNSNews.com) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed relief that he would no longer be able to smell visitors to the United States Capitol, thanks to the new $621 million Capitol Visitors Center (CVC).

The center, which opened Tuesday, will now be the main public entrance for the Capitol.

“You could literally smell the tourists coming in to the Capitol,” Reid (D-Nev.) said in his remarks at the opening ceremonies.

Hey umm asshole? Yeah you Harry. That money you spend by the millions and billions came from the hard work--and sweat---of the people you just insulted. Once again Harry proves that he thinks his shit don't stink and he is too good to hang with the common folk.

Ebony and Ivory?

According to Fox News, the race to replace Barack Obama as Illinois' junior senator heated up Tuesday as Rep. Bobby Rush, (D-Ill)., called on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to name a black man or woman to the seat.

By invoking race, Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), who is black, drove a potential wedge between the prospective white and black contenders for the seat. Rush said it would be a "national disgrace" if Obama's seat were not filled by an African American. A disgrace? To this I say "Poppycock". May the best man or woman get the job regardless of race. this is a perfect example of and entitlement call out. It is preposterous and should be condemned by the President-Elect. Didn't we just elect a black President? To help end the racism perceived in this country the Black Leaders need to step up to the plate and recognize that their old, tired stories are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

It was the Zionists...

...who launched the deadly Bombay attacks they are now calling "26/11". This would be funny if it weren't so infuriating. Note also the given by the accusers that 9/11 was an inside job. Yes, of course, radical Pakistani Muslims never do anything bad.

Check the homework!

Words simply fail.

(H/T Megan McArdle)

Salaam Bombay, Cont'd

For those who still think that modern terrorism as we have witnessed under AQ is the work of global poverty and inequality, think again:

Among the callow recruits of the group known as the Indian Mujahideen, which made its regrettable debut this year, you'll find men like these: Mohammad Peerbhoy, a 31 year old principal software engineer for a Yahoo! subsidiary, who made Rs 1.9 million (around $40,000) a year; Mohammad Shakeel, a 24 year old enrolled in the final year of his Master's degree in economics; Abdus Subhan Qureshi, a 36 year old who worked for an IT company in Mumbai; and Usman Agarbattiwala, a 25 year old who holds, in the blackest of ironies, a post-graduate diploma in human rights.

Or, alternatively, just friggin' think. And, if not to protest the poverty of their middle-class deprivations, what was their point?

The terrorists’ global objective was clearly demonstrated in their targeting of a little-known Jewish outreach center in Mumbai. Before the terrorists burst into the Chabad Center located in an office and residential complex to take the rabbi, his wife, and assembled Jewish visitors hostage, most in Mumbai had no idea about their existence. Only six years earlier, a young Brooklyn rabbi and his wife set up the Chabad Center to quietly offer Jewish visitors kosher meals, Torah classes, and a place to stay. That anonymity was no protection from a group that wants to hurt the Jews as part of a global struggle. The attack on the Jewish community is particularly poignant, as over a thousand years ago, India offered the earliest shelter to persecuted Jews; the wall of an old synagogue in Kerala shows a mosaic image of their early arrival by boat.

About the Chabad center. Although I have never been to India, I did call on the Chabad center in Kobe, Japan in 2006, when I was on an oveseas business trip during Yom Kippur. It was a fantastic experience. The Rabbi and his family were incredibly trusting and gracious with the phalanx of stragers that came to enjoy the pre-fast meal, and was incredibly generous to put up whoever could not afford a hotel for the night. I also had numerous interactions with the Chabad center in Sydney when I lived there, all positive. (I still recall the cases of scotch they brought into the synagogue for Simchat Torah, and were stumped as to why there were bottles unopened. It was a Tuesday.)

My prayers go out to the Rabbi and his wife, as current reports still have them missing and possibly kidnapped and in the hands of the terrorist enemies.

Update: 5 hostages have died in the Jewish Center at the hands of the enemy. The reports are as of now unconfirmed. I will monitor the situation.

Update II: Confirmation that the Rabbi and Rebbitzen have been killed. Their 2-year-old son was apparently saved by a kitchen worker who escaped to safety.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thanksgiving was first celebrated in 1621 by the settlers at Plymouth, Massachusetts. George Washington was the first to issue a proclamation honoring Thanksgiving during his presidency. The only other president to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation was James Madison. It was Abraham Lincoln who issued a proclamation that made Thanksgiving Day a national annual event. Ironically, the first national observance of Thanksgiving under this proclamation came a week after the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg.

Be thankful for your life.
Be thankful for your family.
Be thankful for our blog.
Be thankful for everything.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Salaam Bombay

Frank Foer digs this spine-tingling explanation behind the Mumbai attacks yesterday:

The targets are not obviously Hindu at all--they are the main tourist locations in the city, and they were after Americans, British and Israelis. They went after a building called Nariman House, where several Israeli and Jewish families live. It was international, not domestic considerations which seems to be have been driving them. Also they seem very well-resourced. Apparently they came into the city on boats, used hand grenades and automatic weapons. It suggest some sort of Al Qaeda connection. But the Indians have been pretty good at tracking them. So, it is puzzling.

The Nariman House is the home of the local Chabad. As of now, 101 people have been killed. 20 Israeli nationals are missing, as are the host family of the Chabad. They, and all those affected in this tragedy, are in our prayers.

The Times of India has the bigger picture:

In one of the most violent terror attacks on Indian soil, Mumbai came under an unprecedented night attack as terrorists used heavy machine guns, including AK-47s, and grenades to strike at the city's most high-profile targets -- the hyper-busy CST (formerly VT) rail terminus; the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point; the domestic airport at Santa Cruz; the Cama and GT hospitals near CST; the Metro Adlabs multiplex and Mazgaon Dockyard -- killing at least 101 and sending hundreds of injured to hospital, according to latest reports.

It turns out that many of the dead are police. The terrorists were clearly interested in going after Western interests, and if the first quote is right, they had special interests in Jews. Al-Qaeda has attacked Jewish targets before (e.g., Djerba, Istanbul synagogues and Mombasa tourists) and Jews worldwide have been forced to step up security.

This sort of thing has me worried at many different levels. One is for civil liberties. This, if all reports are accurate, seem like "domestic" terrorists, with the help of AQ. The best way to beat folks like this is through surveillance techniques, and argumets have been made for warrantless wiretaps. Maybe such a thing is justified in a country with known domestic terrorists - this is not the first time Bombay has been attacked.

Then again, free market behavior in such a situation can also be scary. Some life insurance packages have a rider insisting that the coveree not go to Israel. Would businesses feel similarly justified in denying groups of Jewish tourists from gathering because of security concerns? So far, no, and let's hope never.

Jeffrey Goldberg on the Territories

From a 2004 New Yorker article:

A de-facto apartheid already exists in the West Bank. Inside the borders of Israel proper, Arabs and Jews are judged by the same set of laws in the same courtrooms; across the Green Line, Jews live under Israeli civil law as well, but their Arab neighbors—people who live, in some cases, just yards away—fall under a different, and substantially undemocratic, set of laws, administered by the Israeli Army. The system is neither as elaborate nor as pervasive as South African apartheid, and it is, officially, temporary. It is nevertheless a form of apartheid, because two different ethnic groups living in the same territory are judged by two separate sets of laws.

I guess that puts Jimmy Carter's book in perspective. Maybe he got the title from Goldberg, who knows.

My point is, the settlements need to be reigned in. This is doing the world Jewish community harm. Simply speaking, the settlers do not care a whiff for Israel or the world's Jews, just their own tight little group. Goldberg, and I, was especially incensed by this story:

During a confrontation that erupted at the place tonight, IDF and police forces were called to the scene to subdue the rioters, and settlers poured turpentine on one of the soldiers. The soldier sustained light injuries and was treated on site. Military vehicles and a police car were also damaged. [My emphasis]

Who is the next Israeli politician ready to be shot for doing the right thing?

Turkey

OK, so the post about Sarah Palin and her turkey slaughter got me wondering: how is a modern Thanksgiving made possible? Well, the joys of industrial turkey farming are explained by Nina Rastogi in Slate thusly:

How do turkeys breed? With a little help from their human friends. The vast majority of turkeys sold in the United States are of the white broad-breasted variety. These birds have been bred to produce as much white breast meat as possible, resulting in males so large and unwieldy that they can't properly mount the females. Toms therefore have to be manually stimulated and "milked" for their semen, which is then inserted into a hen using a syringe. Some have decried the assembly-line-like process as inhumane—at the very least, as chronicled in this not-entirely-safe-for-work clip from Discovery's Dirty Jobs, it is extremely messy. Farmers also use artificial lights to trick birds into thinking that it's spring—their natural breeding season—all year-round, thereby increasing their production.

Wow, cool. Something tells me that I missed something not working at least a summer in a slaughterhouse. Seriously.

In my family, of course, we'll have a kosher turkey from Empire. At $1.99/lb, very expensive, but also a relative bargain. Here's the explanation:

While special machinery is used throughout the process, much of the work here is still done by hand. That's one of the reasons it takes three times as long to process an Empire Kosher bird and why it costs more. The hand processing includes extra steps, extra inspections. By the time a bird is packed, it has been looked over by hundreds of experienced eyes.

Which means half of hundreds of experienced people, unless the mashgiachs are cyborgs.

Of course, for some detailed instructions as to how to hand slaughter a turkey, this site looks second to none. Not for the squeamish:

If the bird has been properly starved, there won't be any feces in the intestine. Sometimes, there is just a bit on the inside of the vent, and you can see it in this photo. Either work quickly or wipe clean with a paper towel. Keep the bird over the edge of the table to avoid any fecal matter from dropping on the table.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Quote of the day

Look, it all comes down to this. I believed Obama was the candidate least likely to fly over an American city in the midst of destruction, and appear days later only to tell his point-man he'd done a great job.

- Ta-Nehisi Coates

Video of the day

Bruce Lee playing ping-pong with nunchucks. Must be seen to be believed, and even then, I am not so sure. (If you whack me with a ping-pong paddle, ouch. If Bruce Lee whacks me with nunchucks, kiss my ass goodbye. How is he not just destroying the ball?!?)



(H/T John Derbyshire)

Missing Bush!

And people say I have no sense of Humor!

Hillary for Sec State

Marty Peretz hates the idea. Jeffrey Goldberg loves it. Me - my head is about to explode. The only thing I have to say is...very Machiavellian. I think.

Baby Mama?

California Congresswoman Linda Sanchez is pregnant. Ordinarily, this would not make headlines, except to the Sanchez family and maybe in a newsletter to the 39th Congressional District in southeast L.A. County, which just elected her to her fourth term. It's no big deal nowadays when members of Congress give birth. What makes Sanchez's pregnancy news is that she is not married to the baby's father.

I dug this from the LA Times. Amazingly enough not a word about Bristol Palin. Shocker isn't it. Well we wouldn't want to hold a Democrat to the same standard would we LA Times? When it's a Democrat, it's a sign of progress, if it's a Republican its a scarlet letter.

Newsbusters: Get a life

I know, a blogger like me, telling others to get a life. But seriously:

Yahoo News featured an interesting short report issued by Agence France-Presse on November 20. In it we discover that a consortium of French, German and Hungarian mathematicians are claiming to have proven that Einstein's famous equation, e=mc2, is correct. The report is all good except for one very small aspect. They call the effort of these mathematicians "heroic" in contradiction to the root meaning of the word. Mathematics isn't "heroic" and it is a degradation of true heroics to say it is.
Unfortunately, while a small thing too casually used in the AFP report, it proves a sort of degradation of our language. Not only that, but it further devalues real heroism, making the word mean less with each garbled usage.

Whatever. Of course, here's a definition of "heroic" according to the OED:

Having recourse to bold, daring, or extreme measures; boldly experimental; attempting great things.

Seems to fit in the usage of the quoted description just fine. And this wasn't a usage invented for the pure pleasure of liberal mathematicians at the expense of freedom-loving conservative, "real" Americans. This is a description that has been used for at least as long as I have been doing science, and likely as long as the word "heroic" has been in use. Again, the OED provides context:

1664 POWER Exp. Philos. 191 'Tis a Noble resolution to begin there where all the world has ended; and an Heroick attempt to solve those difficulties.

Yes, that's right. 1664. So, seriously, along with their dependence on the oogedy-boogedies, they need to stop with the psuedo-intellectualism if they want any more cred.

What God Wants

God wants peace
God wants war
God wants famine
God wants chain stores - Roger Waters

Lots of discussion in the blogs about what happened to the GOP that they should be where they are now. Leading the charge is Kathleen Parker, conservative for whom suggesting that Sarah Palin was not up to the job led her to observe about her inbox:

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself.

Anyhow, she wrote a rather searing column about the "oogedy boogedy" wing of Conservatism today, mainly the "Armband Religion" as she calls it.

Here's the deal, 'pubbies: Howard Dean was right.

It isn't that culture doesn't matter. It does. But preaching to the choir produces no converts. And shifting demographics suggest that the Republican Party -- and conservatism with it -- eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one's heart where it belongs.

Religion is just one facet of the problem, IMHO. It's a culture that has refused to cede any part of any argument. Very religious folks tend to do that. Import that culture into a whole group, and you have a party that has been Left Behind.

And still so. So long as they court Palin and talk her up for '12, so long as they refuse to look in the mirror and learn from their debacle this year, then we will see an increasingly Democratic Congress. While I predict that one-party rule is unsustainable, I think that unless the GOP gets its head on straight, you will see two kinds of lawmakers: blue Dems and red Dems.

On our way to Amnesty with Janet Napolitano

Amazing. Simply Amazing. Just Another Non-Law Enforcement appointment to the most critical Law Enforcement Agency in the United States. This is almost reticent of Clinton's appointment of Janet Reno, except at least Janet Reno was the State Attorney of Miami-Dade County for more years than I care to remember. Another local interest here is former Sheriff Ken Jenne, another political attorney appointee indicted in disgrace. When are the powers to be going to wake up and not appoint attorney's to head police agencies? But that's not enough. She has vetoed laws in Arizona that would make it tougher for illegal aliens, while making it harder for businesses that help them.

Great Choice Obama. NOT!

Kentucky Fried Palin

You know, this whole time I've just been avoiding her media barrage, just because I can no longer stand her voice. But this...this...video, just totally made my day:



Seriously, the caption alone is worth it. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mr. Z and Mr. Z, or Talk Radio as a symptom

With the Democrats dominating the elections, many Republicans are diagnosing the problems that led to the electoral disaster (which may not yet be over). The story of one such Republican has become interesting web fodder and seems to me to be a symptom of why the Repubs are no longer in power.

The story begins, for me, with a story by Nate Silver on the now controversial pollster John Zogby engaging in some push-polling for a right-wing talk show host named John Ziegler, who is hosting a website called howobamagotelected.com and is putting out a book of a similar name. At the time, what Nate - and I - found interesting were the questions posed to Obama voters being polled:

• "Which of the four [candidates] said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket?"
• "Which of the four [candidates] started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground?"
• "Which of the four [candidates] quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism?"
• "Which of the four [candidates] won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot?"

One can see right through such loaded questions, right? For someone like Nate Silver, who spends his days analyzing the garbage in such polls, this is the sort of thing that drives him up a wall and causes him to drop a pollster's weighting to zero.

The story gets more interesting, as Silver wasn't done. Ziegler solicited Silver to interview him, and things got interesting right away. What Silver wanted to know was the business arrangement that Ziegler has with Zogby, and how that influenced the questions. Ziegler wasn't interested in that - and made it vulgarly clear - but it seems that Ziegler was interested in proving that Silver was just a hack.

Admittedly, Silver is a far better statistician than interviewer (his quizzing Ziegler about Senators at the end seemed pointless, and I would have had Ziegler's reaction to those questions). But, Silver did uncover something interesting:

JZ: [Laughs]. In your world, the question that I would ask you is what question [in the survey] is there any ambiguity as to what the answer is?
NS: Well, that Obama 'launched his career' at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground --
JZ: That happens to be one of the questions that Obama supporters did the best on! They did better on that question than on any other Obama-related answers! And here you’re telling me that it’s not true?
NS: What do you mean by "launched his career"?
JZ: The first campaign as told by the person whose position he took in the State Senate, as told by her admission, his first campaign event was in the home of Bill Ayers and his wife. [Laughs] Unless you live in the Obama kool-aid world! That is astonishing to me that you would not accept that! And by the way, when you're given four responses to that question, what else was the response going to be? Sarah Palin? [Empasis NS]

Silver goes on to observe:

There are a certain segment of conservatives who literally cannot believe that anybody would see the world differently than the way they do. They have not just forgotten how to persuade; they have forgotten about the necessity of persuasion. John Ziegler is a shining example of such a conservative. During my interview with him, Ziegler made absolutely no effort to persuade me about the veracity of any of his viewpoints. He simply asserted them -- and then became frustrated, paranoid, or vulgar when I rebutted them.

Andrew Sullivan has labeled the world in which such Republicans live as a "cocoon". Actually, no less than David Foster Wallace brought this home 3 years ago in The Atlantic, when he did a cover piece on Ziegler to illustrate the business of conservative talk radio:

How often a particular spot can run over and over before listeners just can't stand it anymore is something else no one will talk about, but the evidence suggests that KFI sees its audience as either very patient and tolerant or almost catatonically inattentive. Canned ads for local sponsors like Robbins Bros. Jewelers, Sit 'n Sleep Mattress, and the Power Auto Group play every couple hours, 24/7, until one knows every hitch and nuance. National saturation campaigns for products like Cortislim vary things somewhat by using both endorsements and canned spots. Pitches for caveat emptor—type nostrums like Avacor (for hair loss), Enzyte ("For natural male enhancement!"), and Altovis ("Helps fight daily fatigue!") often repeat once an hour through the night. As of spring '04, though, the most frequent and concussive ads on KFI are for mortgage and home-refi companies—Green Light Financial, HMS Capital, Home Field Financial, Benchmark Lending. Over and over. Pacific Home Financial, U.S. Mortgage Capital, Crestline Funding, Advantix Lending. Reverse mortgages, negative amortization, adjustable rates, APR, FICO … where did all these firms come from? What were these guys doing five years ago? Why is KFI's audience seen as so especially ripe and ready for refi? Betterloans.com, lendingtree.com, Union Bank of California, on and on and on. [Emphasis mine]

Remember, this piece was written 3 years ago. And Republicans are trying to hang the entire mortgage-based economic disaster on banks being forced to give loans to poor minorities. As DFW asks, where did all these firms come from? And, why are they so keen to advertise on conservative talk radio?

In any case, Ziegler was not too keen on DFW once the story came out - he believes it was part of why he was let go from KFI in LA. But, Ziegler goes on to show how classy he is in commenting on DFW's suicide earlier this year:

While I have absolutely no evidence to back up this assertion, I also think it is quite possible that he knew that killing himself in his “prime” and before he had been totally exposed as being a mere mortal in the literary realm would cement his status as a “genius” forever. After all, don’t tortured artists often kill themselves? Heck, based on the glowing and reverential reporting on his suicide, in some circles ending his on life may actually be seen as a badge of honor.

Nice, especially for someone who has been on anti-depressants himself. He goes on to mock DFW for succumbing to the depression. That, to me, is like mocking someone for succumbing to cancer. And I think this is what, ultimately, and with perfect irony, has been doing Republicans in: a failure to empathize. Ziegler is mad that DFW never granted him an interview, and seeks some sort of personal revenge. For conservatives, it is all personal. Which is why folks are amazed that Obama simply let Joe Lieberman walk: for Obama, it seems that keeping Lieberman had value, and he put his personal feelings aside. Professional Repubs need to learn how to do this, and also to learn to keep the emotions in check, if they're going to win seats back in 2010.

Pardon Me?

Do you remember the case of the Border Patrol Agents who shot a drug dealer in the butt carrying a million dollar marijuana load? Well, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the agents convictions for tampering with Evidence but left the Discharging of a Weapon in the Commission of a Crime intact. These carry 10 year minimum mandatory sentences. So the agents are petitioning President Bush for a commutation or Pardon in the waning last days of his administration. This case has been a black eye to the White House and Bush since the indictment against the two former agents in 2006. Incredibly enough, the drug dealer they shot, was given immunity and committed a new drug trafficking offense. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton who defends his actions should have been removed from office after this unfortunate incident.

According to CNN:

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee criticized the 12- and 11-year prison sentences given to ex-agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos, respectively. And they strongly questioned federal prosecutors' decision to charge the pair with using a weapon during the commission of a crime -- a 10-year penalty that most often is used against drug dealers and other criminals, not law enforcement officers obliged to carry guns as part of their jobs.

The senators bored in on some of the case's most nagging questions: Why the drug smuggler, who had been driving a van with a million-dollar payload of marijuana, was given immunity to testify against Ramos and Compean; why the trafficker was given unfettered permission to cross into the United States after the agents were charged; and whether he used that border-crossing privilege to bring in another million-dollar marijuana haul just months after the February 2005 incident near El Paso.

"The public sees two Border Patrol agents serving long prison sentences while an admitted drug smuggler goes free," Cornyn said, adding that he has "serious concerns about the judgment calls made during the prosecution of this case."

So, the question remains, should Bush Pardon them, Commute their sentences or leave them in Jail? Well faithful readers, I believe they should get a full pardon and have those felonies expunged from their lives. If Bush does not do this before he leaves office, I would be very surprised. If he does not I would pray that President Obama will Pardon them quickly.

Please help fund my private jet

So, let's say you are an executive of a large company that needs, say, $25B from the gummint. You need to go to DC to plead your case. How should you NOT travel to get there?

If you said "private jet", you are correct!

If you said "private jet and then a company hybrid from the airport to show that I really am fuel conscious", you are even more correct.

Did Bill Kristol give these guys advice for their public image?

Olmert on Israel's future

The New York Review of Books provides a translation of an interview in Yediot Ahranot with Ehud Olmert, the outgoing PM.

I didn't find these remarks in any other publication, but I may be behind the 8-ball here. I found the interview remarkable for the candor. Given the scandal and some of the stuff I read about it, I kind of view Olmert similarly to the way I view Bush: someone who has mislead me. I was excited for his tenure, but his lack of competence at the national level seemed to be jarring. (This is in contrast to his tenure as Mayor of Jerusalem, where he did a great job.)

Here's a snippet of the interview:

Were a regional war to break out in the next year or two and were we to enter into a military confrontation with Syria, I have no doubt that we'd defeat them soundly. We are stronger than they. Israel is the strongest country in the Middle East. We could contend with any of our enemies or against all of our enemies combined and win. The question that I ask myself is, what happens when we win? First of all, we'd have to pay a painful price.
And after we paid the price, what would we say to them? "Let's talk." And what would the Syrians say to us? "Let's talk about the Golan Heights."
So, I ask: Why enter a war with the Syrians, full of losses and destruction, in order to achieve what might be achieved without paying such a heavy price?

This is clearly a man who has been taught no end of a lesson by his experience in running a war. He is suggesting that his predecessor be prepared to give up Shebaa Farms and the Golan in order to neutralize Hizb'allah:

Who seriously thinks that if we sit on another hilltop, on another hundred
meters, this will make a difference for Israel's basic security?

Interesting. Read the whole thing.

Whither Capitalism

More ranting about GM from me, so my apologies. But I can't help it. Jon Cohn at The New Republic, a proud Michiganer and a liberal's liberal, defends the proposed bailout of GM et al. :

[W]hat's missing in the tsk-tsk editorials is any recognition that the culture of Detroit has been changing, however belatedly, starting with its labor relations. Ford led the way years ago by reaching site-specific "competitive operating agreements" with locals at different plants, rather than sticking to one national agreement, thereby enabling it loosen work rules and engage in the sort of collaborative quality management on which industry leader Toyota made its reputation. Then, last year, the UAW reached a breakthrough agreement in which it granted the companies similar flexibility, agreed to a two-tier wage structure for new hires, and set up a separate trust fund to finance future retiree health benefits. The companies would provide the initial money for this trust, but, henceforth, the unions would manage it--thereby taking off the companies' books a tremendous burden that had, on its own, accounted for about half the gap in compensation between unionized workers for the Big Three and non-unionized workers for foreign-owned automakers. "I think they've shown unprecedented ability to change and transform the union," says Kristin Dziczek, who directs CAR's Automotive Labor and Education program. "They understand what is at stake."

He goes on to argue that this change is already producing positive results, including the Chevy Volt to be introduced in 2010.

With apologies to Jon, who is an excellent thinker, I disagree in the strongest way. Of course, Jon is not being inconsistent in his thinking: he is a storng advocate for using gummint resources to bail out all sorts of folk. But he is viewing his beloved industry with rose-colored goggles. For instance, here is a recent article about the chances of success for the Volt:

Producing a high-end statement car for trendsetters, as Tesla is doing, would have been pretty safe, but positioning the Volt as affordable family transportation—Chevy’s bread and butter—is an order of magnitude harder. It implies selling not thousands but hundreds of thousands of cars, and at Chevrolet rather than Cadillac prices. The battery alone is likely to cost something in the high four figures. At Chevy prices, GM can expect to lose money on every Volt it sells, at least in the early going, and possibly for years.
Outflanking Toyota makes good sense strategically, but GM’s market capitalization is less than a tenth of Toyota’s. Unless battery costs fall as quickly as GM hopes, the car could break the bank by succeeding.

And this was before the floor fell out from below the economy. As usual, Jim Manzi is able to introduce ice-cold sense in to the whole bleeding thing:

This story – look, we now see how foolish we’ve been, and finally have our act together; with just a little more time we’ll be world-beaters again – has been sold by Detroit to journalists many times over the past 20 years. Here’s the New York Times in 1992, making almost the exact same argument as Cohn makes: “Ford and Chrysler have increased the efficiency of their factories and workers so much in recent years that their basic cost of producing a car is now less than that of their Japanese rivals, according to a study published today.” Here’s Fortune in that same year saying that “For the first time in a decade, the U.S. auto industry has a genuine chance to grasp the lead from its Japanese competition. Ford and Chrysler are operating at worldclass efficiency, and General Motors has taken on a new sense of urgency with seismic shakeups at the top.” How’d that work out? This kind of coverage continued almost into the current crisis – here’s Fortune as recently as 2004 saying “GM Gets Its Act Together. Finally. How America’s No. 1 car company changed its ways and started looking like … Toyota.”

I watched Michigan Sen. Carl Levin on MTP this morning, and it nearly made me sick how intensely he was shilling for GM. I understand this is his state, and he is doing his job. But please. With this proposed bailout, I really feel like we are making a decision on the nature of capitalism and personal responsibility in this country. And I feel that all the lessons I have learned as I absorbed cuts of my own are really just a bunch of bullshit.

Welcome to the oligarchy. Maybe Sen. Levin can go to Japan and throw up all over their ministers for trade.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Amazingly, Goldman Sachs 7 top executives asked their board to forgo their bonuses this year. Lat year Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein received $68.5 million as his bonus.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Goldman had taken "an important step in the right direction." as as "This gesture by Goldman Sachs is appropriate and prudent and hopefully will help bring Wall Street to its senses..."

According to Goldman spokesman “Our senior officers decided on this course of action because they believe it to be the right thing to do."

Was it that, or was it that Goldman Sachs is scheduled to receive Troubled Asset Relief Program funds and it could be perceived as "an appearance of an impropriety?"

Hillary for Secretary of State?

Speculation abounds. Will Obama really ask Hillary to be his Secretary of State? I would think and hope not. The Clinton's hatred for Obama was more than evident during the primaries. Hillary's contempt for Obama can not be contained, and should she actually take the position, she will surely work hard to undermine Obama's Presidency and foreign standing. One of my favorite bloggers, Dick Morris, wrote a compelling article about just this subject HERE. He likens picking Hilary to Harry S. Truman selecting Jimmy Byrnes to be his Secretary of State and how he forgot he was not President and failed to keep Truman up on negotiations. This got him the sack after a year. Those of you familiar with Dick, know he was part of the Clinton advisory team and then Bill's campaign manager in 1986.

According to Fox News, Democratic officials say Obama met with Clinton in his Chicago office on Thursday and is seriously considering the New York senator for his top Cabinet post. Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has told an Indian audience that Senator Hillary Clinton would make "an outstanding appointment" as America's top diplomat. The elder statesman, who served in Republican administrations, says if President-elect Obama chooses Mrs. Clinton it would show "great courage" on his part.

A Mature Debate on the Wars

No comment.

Is she a joke?

My sparring partner has linked to a blogger named Debbie Schlussel. I guess I heard her once on Howard Stern. I had no idea. Here she is responding to a hateful email:

But that's just mere pretext for Ms. Thang, Caroline, Obama supporter extraordinaire, to unleash her simmering anti-Semitism, representative of many of her fellow Obamaniacal voters. [Emphasis mine]

Maybe 77% of her fellow MOTs were not "obamaniacal", but they did vote for Obama. Now, I have already pointed out Ms. Schlussel's tendency toward extreme rhetoric, and how that makes me take her less seriously. But, when you juxtapose a picture of Obama and a swastika, I guess I know where you're coming from.

Anyway, Ms. Schlussel has an article about how Obama has faked his Selective Service documentation. She then points to the hotness of her scoop: 9 - nine! - blogs have picked up the story!!!! However, take a look at what that means: at least one has ridiculed, several are just comments on mainstream blogs by unhinged readers, the rest are right-wing blogs I've never heard of. So I guess now she has 10 - ten! - blogs that have picked up her story. Then again, I never heard of Ms. Schlussel's, and, well, she's just so...awesome!

Attorney, Columnist, and Hip, Conservative Info-Babe Commentator, Debbie Schlussel is the VRWC's latest and greatest sexy, blonde, and beautiful commentator. With a law degree, MBA, long blonde tresses, and sports acumen to boot, she's a red-blooded American guy's dream. If you are into Debbie Schlussel's appearances on FOX News Channel, ESPN, FOX Sports Radio, CNN, ABC's "Politically Incorrect," and Howard Stern, and her Townhall.com and PoliticalUSA.com "Debbie Does Politics" columns, then this is the place for you--her unofficial fan club. If you've heard Rush Limbaugh or Howard Stern talk about her on their national radio shows or seen her speak at the NRA convention, Debbie is proof positive that "Dumb Blonde" is an oxymoron--her beauty and brains are a lethal combination, the reason Ms. Magazine declared Debbie its #1 enemy. To paraphrase "Wayne's World's" Wayne and Garth, if she were President, Debbie Schlussel would be Babe-raham Lincoln.

Whether one of her fans wrote this or she did...just, scary. Seriously, "Babe-raham Lincoln"? How lame can you get?

Anyway, my point is, I don't know enough about Selective Service docs to judge Ms. Schlussel's accusations. But given her rhetoric, let's just say I'm a skeptic.

And, apparently, I am far from alone.

Well, even we have a blog, so...

...yep, you guessed it:

Joe the Plumber has a blog.

I never saw that coming.

Silver Linings

Marty Peretz points out that crude oil stands at $55 today. Yes, this portends to less demand in a sour economy, but...I recall Chavez complaining when the price fell below $60, so that can only mean good news.

This, combined with an Obama administration that will call the Iranian regime on its bluff to meet, sure looks interesting:

"People who put on a mask of friendship, but with the objective of betrayal, and who enter from the angle of negotiations without preconditions, are more dangerous," Hossein Taeb, deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Wednesday, according to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency.

"The power holders in the new American government are trying to regain their lost influence with a tactical change in their foreign diplomacy. They are shifting from a hard conflict to a soft attack," Taeb said.

For Iran's leaders, the only state of affairs worse than poor relations with the United States may be improved relations. The Shiite Muslim clerics who rule the country came to power after ousting Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a U.S.-backed autocrat, in their 1979 Islamic revolution. Opposition to the United States, long vilified as the "great Satan" here in Friday sermons, remains one of the main pillars of Iranian politics.

So maybe the Iranians will get really hostile when their lifeline of high oil prices dries up. The world will see them, however, as a regime more interested in destroying Israel than feeding its own people. Unmasked, and vulnerable. Then maybe they can turn on their Supreme Leader, and everyone will be better off.

Hopefully this means a compromised Hizb'allah and HAMAS as well. Allah be praised.

Dan Savage v. Tony Perkins

To get a good feel for what is at stake in the post-Prop 8 fight, this is worth watching:



I wouldn't say that Savage skewers Perkins, a clearly skilled debater. But Perkins has a hard time not looking like the bad guy here. (Warning, 9 minutes long, but worth it.)

Stevens about to lose his seat

Heh. Still doesn't vindicate Alaska. This guy should've gotten creamed.

Prop 8 and "McCarthyism"

At what point is getting a person with whom you disagree "politically" fired OK in this country? (I'll explain the scare quotes around politically later.) The response most everyone (I hope) would instantly give is "never". Yet, this is what happened in Sacramento, and for once, I am not so disturbed by it - in fact, it is validation of an American market economy at work.

As is well-known now, CA Proposition 8 - which amended the CA State Constitution so as to redefine "marriage" between a man and a woman - passed 52 to 48. Many people who voted for this did not see this as taking away anybody's rights, but as a way to draw a box around something they thought they knew. Others, like myself, see it as a way to make sure gay couples know they are second class. I can only imagine how gay couples feel.

This story begins, however, with the finding that the director of the California Musical Theater in Sacramento - an outfit that employs, patronizes, and uses as suppliers untold numbers of gay people - donated $1,000 to Yes on Prop 8. Once this broke, gay people in the business immediately called for a boycott of the theater.

He has since resigned and released the following statement:

I understand that my choice of supporting Proposition 8 has been the cause of many hurt feelings, maybe even betrayal. It was not my intent. I honestly had no idea that this would be the reaction. I chose to act upon my belief that the traditional definition of marriage should be preserved. I support each individual to have rights and access and I understood that in California domestic partnerships come with the same rights that come with marriage. My sister is a lesbian and in a committed domestic partnership relationship. I am loving and supportive of her and her family, and she is loving and supportive of me and my family. I definitely do not support any message or treatment of others that is hateful or instills fear. This is a highly emotional issue and the accusations that have been made against me are simply not true. I have now had many conversations with friends and colleagues,and I am deeply saddened that my personal beliefs and convictions have offended others. My choice to support the Proposition was personal, and does not represent the views and opinions of California Musical Theatre or the many people associated with the organization. I was required by law to identify my employer and occupation at the time of my donation.

I feel for this guy, I do. But only to a point. His feelings aside, he works with a lot of people for whom his vision of the world directly harms their idea of their family. Their inclusion in the American dream. It was an idiotic, brazen move, and if he did not see how hurt people would get, then people are simply not listening. So, I feel that folks did have the right to choose to not work with, or patronize, the place where he works. This is America, and that is a valid protest.

A comparison with McCarthyism is unfair - McCarthy had the full weight of the Federal gummint to root out leftists and ruin their lives. This guy's job propects - he ruined them himself.

BTW Why is it that a guy who works this closely with the gays who he feels are ruining his idea of marriage is only talking to them now?

UPDATE: Katherine Mangu-Ward has a post, contra mine, and makes a good point: campaign finance laws are really responsible for the outing of this guy. True true. And I imagine if the situations were reversed, would I be angling for the rights of the conservatives in this case? And, yes, this guy is clearly not a homophobe (how could he be??). That said, those who stick up for causes must face the consequences. Campaign finance laws are in effect, and this guy should have known that. His stance did hurt the feelings of those with whom he worked, and he paid. Maybe the campaign finance laws are a travesty (I'm not so sure), but there they are.

"No Amnesty, No Welfare for Illegal Aliens"

The latest thing to worry about is whether Obama will allow immigrants to get amnesty. This would have the effect of a meteor smashing into the earth. The NY Times would hope that all people would be given immediate citizenship to increase their dwindling readership.

I will defer to my esteemed Congressman Ron Paul for my thoughts on this: "No Amnesty, No Welfare for Illegal Aliens".

Obama has promised to address this in his first 100 days in office to Hispanic groups. This should be interesting as Mark Krikorian from the National Review says, "The first opportunity is his illegal-alien Auntie Zeituni living in Boston. Make that his visa-overstaying, fugitive illegal-alien aunt living on welfare in Boston. At least she was in Boston until the London Times found out about her, using such unfamiliar techniques as reading Obama's memoir and doing a Google search; she fled to relatives in Cleveland since. "

Although John McCain was for amnesty, most Republicans were and are not. Saying we will enforce the laws in the future is not very nurturing to the public. Where is Ron Paul when we need him most?

Nothing personal

Then:

I'd never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful. It's reprehensible.

- John McCain on the campaign ads used by Saxby Chambliss against Sen. Max Cleland in the 2002 GA U.S. Senate race

Now: McCain is going to campaign for Chambliss in the runoff for his re-election.

Politics is a funny business.