Archive for February, 2006

Convergence

By Callimachus | Related entries in Foreign Policy, History, Ideas, The War On Terrorism, The World

The storm over the Danish cartoons has been mistakenly described as a debate over the limits of free speech. One of the milder posters carried during a Londonistan anti-cartoon protest read “FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS WESTERN TERRORISM.” The coverage in the mainstream American press has ranged from the banal to the bizarre, depicting broad-minded Danes [...]

February 23rd, 2006 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

David Irving

By Callimachus | Related entries in Bad Decisions, History, In The News, The World

An Austrian court this week sentenced British historian David Irving to three years in prison. His crime? Denying the holocaust. Americans have steeled ourselves to an ugly truth: Our commitment to free expression means we must tolerate freedom of expression for people we despise, or else it means nothing. But Europe is different. Public Holocaust [...]

February 23rd, 2006 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

One Way to Look at It

By Callimachus | Related entries in Elections, General Politics

This actually makes sense, the more you read it. What one Republican strategist called “a marriage of convenience� has developed between Mrs. Clinton and the Bush White House. Republicans, flailing for a handhold as they approach this year’s Congressional elections, would like to make Mrs. Clinton the face of the Democratic Party. And Mrs. Clinton, [...]

February 23rd, 2006 | Permalink| No Comments »

Tell Me This is a Parody

By Callimachus | Related entries in Bad Decisions, Partisan Hacks

Please. Tell me this is a parody.

February 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Port Authority

By Callimachus | Related entries in Dumb Things Said By Smart People, In The News, The War On Terrorism, The World

I’m agreeing with Tim F. that the panic over Arabs running our ports is an over-reaction. I’ve said that from the start. It would seem the Bush Administration held the high ground here: Can you imagine the outrage if it had been the federal government that said, “Hey, we can’t let a bunch of A-rabs [...]

February 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

Joe Trippi Talks 2008

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Elections, General Politics

This comes, oddly enough, from MSN’s tech blogger Robert Scoble: In the 2008 election he expects that Hillary Clinton will be a lockin for the Democrats. He doesn’t see anyone who can challenge her from the Democratic side. On the right side he’s expecting a far more conservative than even George Bush is. Why? His [...]

February 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 21 Comments »

Idealpolitik

By Callimachus | Related entries in Foreign Policy, History, The World

Michael J. Totten, fresh from his excursion into Kurdish Iraq, reports that, while the Kurds there may be paying lip service to Iraq, their hearts are for independence. One of the reasons they don’t claim it outright, Michael writes, is they want to achieve it fairly and honestly — and with a legitimate claim to [...]

February 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Best Opening Lines

By Callimachus | Related entries in Kitchen Sink, News

In novels, that is, not in pick-up bars. “Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting.” … “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” … “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” Did you know, o [...]

February 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

7 Lessons For Iran

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Foreign Policy, The War On Terrorism, The World

Given the things that have happened in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Charlie Munn put together some thoughts about what Iran may have learned from it. This list feels dead on: 7. The media is your friend: Iran has been much better about laying out its case for acquiring nuclear technology than Saddam ever was. Part of [...]

February 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| No Comments »

Another View On KELO

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Supreme Court

At the time I decried, and I still think it’s rightfully so. But this perspective sheds some light on the why the court ruled why they did: Contrary to what many continue to believe, the Court in Kelo did not blaze any new trails. It was well-settled law dating back to Berman v. Parker in [...]

February 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 14 Comments »

For All You Dog Lovers…The Cat Piano

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Cartoons, Comedy, Kitchen Sink, Music

Apparently it pokes the cats and gets them to meow. Heh. Calm down, it was built back in 1650, so it’s not around anymore. Well, until I build a new one. More at Gizmodo.

February 21st, 2006 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Carter Backs Bush’s Seaport Plan

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in The War On Terrorism

Strange bedfellows indeed, especially when (as a commenter at The Glittering Eye suggests) it seems that Rush Limbaugh is defending Bush’s decision. However, I don’t like Carter’s logic: ”The overall threat to the United States and security, I don’t think it exists,” Carter said on CNN’s The Situation Room. “I’m sure the president’s done a [...]

February 21st, 2006 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Meet America’s Biggest D!CKHE@D

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Kitchen Sink

Jeezus…this is crazy stuff. In fact, it’s so crazy I actually marvel at this guy’s attention to detail. Oh…you’ll see. From The Smoking Gun: This country, as you know, is filled with the deranged. And then there’s Travis Frey, a 33-year-old Iowa man who is facing charges that he tried to kidnap his own wife [...]

February 21st, 2006 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

The Modern Left: Stuck in the 1970s

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in General Politics

While the modern left has many valid critiques of our government, leftist leaders and writers often seem disconnected from the realities of the modern world, willfully ignoring the very real threats and challenges we currently face. I often find myself in the odd position of agreeing with what the left has to say but strongly [...]

February 21st, 2006 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Palestine Not Lost?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Foreign Policy, The World

This is encouraging news: In the first poll in the territories since Hamas’ victory, 66 percent of respondents said the new government should honor the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to negotiations with Israel. Among Hamas voters, only 12 percent said they chose Hamas for its political agenda, while 43 percent said they were fed up with [...]

February 21st, 2006 | Permalink| 12 Comments »

Another Voice Against Torture Policies

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Law, Military, The War On Terrorism

I just found an interesting article in this month’s New Yorker about the former general counsel of the United States Navy, Alberto J. Mora: “Never has there been a counsel with more intellectual courage or personal integrity,â€Â? David Brant, the former head of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said. Brant added somewhat cryptically, “He surprised [...]

February 20th, 2006 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Port Problems

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in The War On Terrorism

From the Washington Times: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle yesterday threatened a congressional investigation of a deal to give control of six U.S. seaports to an Arab company, while one key Republican said the Bush administration’s security reassurances were not adequate. [...] The classified deal would let Dubai Ports World (DPW) of the [...]

February 20th, 2006 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Why Kicking the Bums Out is Not that Easy

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in News

George Will takes a look at why it’s so hard to beat incumbents in Congress. He says the system has been rigged with breakwaters to hold incumbents in power. The breakwater has three componentsâ€â€?gerrymandering, campaign-finance “reforms” and the particular form of profligacy known as earmarks. In state after state, redistricting after the 2000 Census proved [...]

February 20th, 2006 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

Religion’s Dark Side

By Denise Best | Related entries in In The News, News, Religion

History bears out the fact that atrocities, in the name of religion, have happened as a result of man essentially being taken over beyond reason and act in ways that could not be comprehended to those not in that state of mind and belief. An interesting, but no doubt controversial take on the dynamics and [...]

February 20th, 2006 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Alito’s Clerk A Federalist Society Member?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Supreme Court

Alito just hired one of his former clerks, Adam G. Ciongoli, to work with him at the SCOTUS. As the NY Times points out, Ciongoli was also the top aide to John Ashcroft when he was Attorney General. So what about the Federalist Society connection? Well, Ciongoli was a speaker at last year’s Federalist Society [...]

February 19th, 2006 | Permalink| 16 Comments »