Les Jones

Alleged Green River Killer to Plead Guilty

Gary Leon Ridgway is expected to plead guilty to 48 murders as the Green River Killer. As part of the plea with the state of Washington, Ridgway will get life in prison instead of the death penalty. He also agreed to reveal the location of the victims who hadn't been found.

Serial killings attract false confessors, but there's no doubt that Ridgway was the killer. He was picked up several times during the investigation before being charged, and was absent from work on the dates of the killings. During one of his arrests the police took physical evidence. Years later when DNA technology matured his DNA positively matched the killer's and he was arrested. For background on the case, visit CourtTV's Crime Library.

One thing that jumps out about the Green River Killer is the sheer number and frequency of his murders. He seems to have had some compulsive disorder. Even when the murders were all over Seattle news, when Seattle police were actively looking for him, and when prostitutes in the city knew that someone was stalking them, he kept at it, killing an average of every two weeks during his episodic sprees. Ex- wives and girlfriends say he was obsessive about sex.

Devastatin' Dave's Funky Quick Links

You dig the Devastatin' Dave cover, baby? Pretty sexy, huh? Well, baby there's more where than came from at Worst Album Covers Ever. That Joyce is one foxy lady, and the cover of "Julie's Sixteenth Birthday" looks like the prelude to a class 2 felony. That's Dave's favorite felony, baby.

I just noticed that a new company is selling the Thunder 5. This is a legendary gun to me. A five-shot, .410 revolver, originally made in Piney Flats, Tennessee. It's a legendary solution to a non-existent problem, but that still makes it a legend.

Someone went and made Tomacco, the deliciously addictive crossing of tomatoes and tobacco. Is there anything the Simpsons didn't predict?

Someone (presumably a different person) recreated M.C. Escher's Relativity out of Legos.

The Quinn brothers have a new batch of reviews at GunBlast.

Muhammad and the 5 Percent; Anti-Semitism

John Allen Muhammad has been found guilty of murder in the sniper case in Virginia. Some people are noticing that Muhammad was a 5 Percenter:

As the Anti-Defamation League and a few scholars have noted, Five Percenter theory stands behind the apocalyptic visions of race war expressed in the rap music of some of the more influential hip-hop performers. In Goin Bananas, Da Lench Mob raps: "We're having thoughts of overthrowing the government. .. it's open season on crackers, you know; the morgue will be full of Caucasian John Does. .. oh my god, Allah, have mercy; I'm killing them devils because they're not worthy to walk the earth with the original black man I won't rest until they're all dead."

Via LGF. In other news, anti-semitism is making a comeback, even in the U.S.

Glenn Reynolds Roger Simon may be right. This may not be 1946, or 1945, or even 1943. This may be 1938. The war hasn't even started yet, and many people are still trying to appease the bad guys and play the isolationist card. Anti-semitism is on the rise, Americans aren't ready for war, and the British think their Prime Minister is playing up war for political ends.

Energy Bill and Ethanol

The new energy bill that passed the House has subsidies for ethanol. Ethanol is a renewable energy source made from grain. It can be made in the U.S. from excess corn.

Sounds good, right? But ethanol has lots of problems. For one thing, it encourages engine corrosion. For another, it takes more energy to produce ethanol than ethanol delivers, due to fertizilers, farm equipment, transportation, and processing. Bummer. Lynne Kiesling has a summary of objections to ethanol. Via InstaPundit.

Bush in Baghdad

I'm pretty impressed with Bush's Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad. That showed a lot of guts. A rocket attack nearly killed Paul Wolfowitz in Baghdad a few weeks ago.

He also sacrificed his Thanksgiving with his family to spend time with troops who were away from theirs. That's just good leadership. To ensure security, he went home to Crawford first, then snuck out and went to Baghdad. It would have been easier for him to go straight from England to Baghdad, but those two extra trans-Atlantic crossings made it less likely his visit would be disrupted or prevented by security concerns.

No Sympathy for the KKK

So someone thought Eugene Volokh was harsh in his treatment of a KKK member who got shot during an initiation ceremony. (I was even harsher.)

I guess one could cry for the KKK guy getting shot, and then laugh when the KKK burns a cross in a black family's yard, but, no, that's backwards. Better to laugh at the KKK guy and cry for the black family.

Some people would say that you should cry for both, but that's wrong. The KKK guy causes you to cry for the black family being terrorized. Crying for him is counter-productive. If he dies or stops his evil ways, that means there's that much less evil in the world. Unless you're just fond of crying, there's no reason to cry for him.

The correspondent's posted a reply to Volokh.

As far as we know, Murr has done nothing except hate a group of people because of their skin color. I would not condemn a man to death, or a life of paralysis or other incurable injury, because he potentially may have "victimized or terrorized" minorities, even minority children.

Pending evidence that he actually did something other than be initiated into a hatemongering group with bad fashion sense, I cannot help but feel sorry -- not for him, necessarily, but for his family (if he has one).

No one "condemned" this person to injury: it was an accident, albeit one that may have prevented harm to an innocent person. Human compassion is finite, and I think it's wise to save one's tears for people who are worthy of sympathy rather than waste them on the wicked.

Russia Delays on Kyoto Protocol

Vladimir Putin has blown off the Kyoto Treaty for another year. Link. This could be the death blow critics of the treaty have been expecting.

There was a time when I was pro-Kyoto, and was mad at Bush for unilaterally pulling out. At the time, Chris Range explained all of the problems with the treaty, particularly the fact that several of the largest, most-polluting nations on the planet were exempt. And it wasn't just Republicans who didn't support it: Clinton never signed Kyoto, and the U.S. Senate voted unanimously against it.

Mark Steyn has a good summary from 2001:

Worse, the treaty would set up an international emissions-trading market, whereby the only way to mitigate against the economic shrinkage would be for the U.S. to buy "pollution permits" from Russia, India or various developing countries, which would be allowed to sell their "pollution rights" for billions of dollars which would supposedly go to reducing their own emissions. But there'd be no way to ensure that those countries really do spend the money on emissions reductions: The U.S. would wind up paying the Russian mafia or the Congo's nutcake of the month for the privilege of not closing an auto plant in Flint. According to some estimates, the transfer of wealth from selling emissions chits could have been worth up to US$40-billion just to the Russians.

So on top of the other inquities, Kyoto wouldn't have cut pollution, but it would have served as a massive wealth redistribution from the U.S. to developing polluters. And the first thing you know old Yev's a millionaire.

The National Post article linked above notes that Canada, a signatory to the treaty, hasn't been able to meet its goals. Another interesting note:

The U.S. Senate recently handily defeated a bill sponsored by Joe Lieberman and John McCain that would have introduced Kyoto-style mechanisms to control carbon emissions.

Yikes. I like both of those guys, but my respect for both just went down a notch.

Spreading Radical Islam in America's Prisons

Muslim clerics may be spreading radical Islam in U.S. prisons.

Saddam Captured

SayUncle's take on what this means for the Democrats. I'd add a couple of claims to his list ("There were no WMDs!" and "Saddam wasn't linked to Al Qaeda!") that may be proven wrong before the 2004 election. (They've arguably been mis-proven already, but not convincingly enough.) Having Saddam in chains means that any facts will appear sooner, both because Saddam himself will supply some of the facts, and because some people who were afraid to talk won't be afraid any more.

The Blogfather on the possible ends that Saddam Hussein could have come to:

On the other hand, we're confronted with the question of what to do with Saddam. I've thought about this before, and the options seemed to break down this way: (1) Shoot him out of hand. Appealing for a variety of reasons, but not really our style, and obviously we decided against it. (2) Try him for war crimes ourselves. Potentially messy, and perhaps looking a bit imperialistic to some. (3) Turn him over to the Iraqis and let them try him.

The last is the most appealing for a variety of reasons, as long as we make sure that the process isn't in the hands of covert Saddam loyalists, which shouldn't be hard. On the other hand, he's likely to have some value in terms of information and cooperation, which might encourage people to want to cut a deal with him. That's tricky: He's a dreadful guy who deserves to be executed, probably via a plastic-shredder or some similar method, in light of his crimes. (A Mussolini-style ending probably would have been best, in my opinion). But he may offer enough to make his cooperation worthwhile, though letting him live, or go into exile (where would he go?) seems troublesome too, and offers him the possibility for future mischief.

Saddam should face the possibility of the death sentence if for no other reason than to give the U.S. a position of strength from which to negotiate. With a capital sentence on the table, Saddam is more likely to give up his secrets. There are lots of things we'd like to know: where has he been hiding, where are the WMDs, and traded with him during the long UN embargo?

Jeff Jarvis is all over the story, and is watching the reaction of the anti-Bush "Coalition of the Pissy." Follow that link and scroll around. I especially like his reaction to Howard Dean's suggestion that the UN needs to be brought in:

Damnit, the UN didn't capture Saddam. Old Europe did not capture Saddam. NATO did not capture Saddam. The coalition did. The American label is on this war. Proudly. We got rid of a tyrant and murderer. And now we are about the hard work of bringing security to Iraq and rebuilding the nation and creating a democracy. We're not going to cut and run.

Or as VodkaPundit summarized Howard Dean: "We're doing so well, we should turn it over to people who won't do so well."

Contrast Dean's reaction with Joe Lieberman's reaction:

My first reaction? Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!... This is a day of glory for the American military... This is a day of triump for anyone in the world who cares about human rights and cares about peace.

LATER: TruthLaidBear asks a good question: will the people who said this war was wrong or illegal now say that we should put Saddam back in power?

Lessons Learned in Iraq

Andrew Olmsted is blogging on Lessons Learned in Iraq. Some of the lessons are tactical military lessons about operating in a guerilla environment, but some of them speak to the specific situation in Iraq:

The Iraqi people have been submitted to a dictatorship that prevented them from voicing their opinions without retribution. Unsure of the future, they are tentative to assist either side for fear of such retribution. Rumors spread like wild fire and are readily believed by the populace. Many are unsure that Saddam is gone for good. The people prefer to remain neutral, often saying, "I saw nothing". There are still many that fear repercussions from other tribes or families if they identify someone as a regime loyalist. The concept of the "Blood Feud" is very much alive and well here. The police do not have much legitimacy at this point so paybacks often occur between families and tribes. Much of the cooperation we get is, in many cases, people "fingering" someone to settle old scores and get even with their adversaries.

Populations that have survived in a brutal regime over the past 35 years should not be expected to rush to the streets, offering unconditional assistance. This people are survivors and very willing to play both sides of the street as long as it is beneficial to do so. Trust must be earned (usually in the form of financial investment and visible improvement projects in the area) before they can be expected to provide assistance or intelligence. Apathy on the part of the general population should not be viewed as a threat to U.S. operations, rather as an untapped resource, yet to be won over.

Strom Thurmond's Mixed-Race Daughter

Essie Mae Washington-Williams claims to be the daughter of segregationist Strom Thurmond and his parent's black maid. Washington-Williams has documents showing that Thurmond supported her financially over the years. She's ready to take a DNA test to prove paternity.

(Since I wrote a draft of this, Thurmond's family confirmed paternity.)

By then, Thurmond had been elected governor, a Democrat who was gaining national attention for his progressive policies, including funding for the education of black children and a tough stance against racial lynching.

After several years as a liberal governor, Thurmond did an about-face in 1948 and spearheaded a southern states' revolt against the national Democratic Party and its presidential nominee, Harry S. Truman. Thurmond became the Dixiecrat presidential candidate, espousing total racial segregation.

One reads similar accounts of Alabama's George Wallace. He started out sympathetic to blacks, but, having lost a 1958 election to a racist, Wallace swore to never again lose on the race issue. In both cases, it appears that a politician's racism was entirely motivated by a desire for political power rather than by any real prejudice. That doesn't excuse the racism, and I don't know what to think of it, but there it is.

Saddam Opinion Roundup

Jim Hoagland looks back on 28 years of knowing Saddam Hussein.

Late Final helps to demolish the myth that poverty breeds terrorism. (It's mostly educated, wealthy people organizing the terrorism, though they're not above paying destitute Palestinians to be human bombs.)

Lee Harris is glad Saddam is alive so that the Wizard of Oz can be revealed at his true stature.

Donald Sensing looks at new evidence linking Saddam and Al Qaeda.

Dishonest Reporting Awards 2003

Honestreporting.com, a pro-Israeli group, gave Reuter's an award for most biased reporting in the Middle East conflict:

In violent acts by Israelis, "Israel" was named in 100% of the headlines, and the verb was in the active voice in 100% of the headlines, i.e.:

  "Israeli Troops Shoot Dead Palestinian in W. Bank" (July 3)

But in violent acts by Palestinians, the Palestinian perpetrator was named in just 33% of the headlines, and the verb was generally in the passive voice, i.e.:

  "Bus Blows Up in Central Jerusalem" (June 11)

Space Daily Article

The Spaceship and the Zeppelin compares the failures of the current space shuttle with the failure of airships. Hat tip to Chris Range, who emailed me the link.

Quick Links

Roger Simon - responding to a comment by Christopher Hitchens - notes that Israel is one of the oldest nuclear powers on the planet, having had the bomb for forty years. That's why Israel can be trusted and Libya, for instance, can't.

The Last Toryboy disputes the popular opinion that the British were defeated in Afghanistan. The history was more complicated than that. Along the way he gives a history lesson: it's easy to depose Afghanistan's rulers, but harder to rule Afghanistan.

A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon to stop treating soldiers to untested vaccines. Good. The military has been reckless with soldiers' health in the past, and the anthrax vaccine was a continuation of that.

Donald Sensing on why Saddam should be tried in Iraq. Short answer: the UN's trial of Milosevic has turned into a three-ring circus.

Tim Blair is having a contest: "It's an old-fashioned Google hunt! Your quest: To locate people who before the war argued that regime change was an issue only for the Iraqi people -- and who now argue that Saddam's trial should not be held in Iraq."

More journalists are falling for the plastic turkey story. (It wasn't plastic. It was a real turkey.) Whoops! Add Gregg Easterbrook to the list. See also Andrea Harris's post via InstaPundit.

P.S. Lots of people were willing to give Easterbrook slack during the Jew episode, but having since read his Web site I'm not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I haven't seen anything else that indicates he's anti-Semitic, but I've seen lots of evidence that he's a tool in general. Here's what he had to say about Saddam's capture:

Yours truly joins those Arab-world commentators who think it was a mistake for the United States to release film of Saddam having his teeth and hair checked. Maybe the intent was to show the former despot as passive and helpless but, in the tape, it's almost as if a veterinarian is examining an animal at the zoo. This is bound to make many Arabs or Muslims think America enjoys humiliating Arabs or Muslims, and, as it is, half of the distrust between Western modernity and Arabian traditionalism is based on Arab feelings of inferiority. Saddam is a horrible guy, but the United States should be treating him with the respect due the captured leader of an enemy power. In all dealings with the Arab or Muslim world, it is essential that the West show respect.

Giving a free dental exam is "humiliation." Somebody better tell Wesley Clark before he humiliates all of America.

Countries Banning U.S. Beef Imports

Ten countries have banned import of U.S. beef following the discovery of mad cow disease in Washington state.

Egyptian Airliner Failed Check in 2002

The Eqyptian airliner that crashed last week had already been banned from flying to Sweden Switzerland after failing a safey check. People naturally wondered whether the crash might have been a terrorist act. This latest information suggests it was probably the result of a malfunction.

Mad Cows and Canadians

The cow with BCSE came from Canada. Jay Caruso at Classless Warfare is hoping this means war with Canada. Then we'd get to use his catchy slogan: "Surrender pronto, or we'll level Toronto!"

Saddam and Cancer

There's an unconfirmed report that Saddam has cancer of the lymph nodes. I'd hate it if he didn't survive long enough to be tried and executed.

Baghdad Bob is Back!

The Iraqi Information Minister - Baghdad Bob - is back on the air!

Bob: No I'm not.

Al Franken Signs on to Liberal Radio Network

Al Franken will fill the noon to 3:00 slot on the upcoming liberal radio network when it launches. Link.

I have my doubts about the viability of the whole enterprise, but I happen to think Al Franken is pretty funny. He also has plenty of celebrity friends who will want to be on his show.

The question is will he be funny on the show or will he turn shrill? If he can stay funny and mix politics, news, and comedy, he could be a more newsy version of The Daily Show.

Sean Penn in Iraq

Michael Williams calls Sean Penn on his latest nonsense.

Michael Crichton on the Media and "Gell-Mann Amnesia"

Another great Michael Crichton speech.

Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

Talk Radio Hosts

Opinion Journal has Michael Harrison's thoughts about the prospects for Al Franken's show, and what it takes to succeed in talk radio. Harrison raises a point I hadn't considered, namely, that a talk radio personality's listeners don't necessarily have to like him:

According to Mr. Harrison, politics is a bad prism for measuring the prospects of radio success. Many of those who listen to radio conservatives, he says, listen because they hate the host. He notes that while Michael Savage would never be elected mayor of San Francisco, not least because of his views on homosexuality, it didn't stop him from getting the top rating there.

Bill Clinton Hits a Home Run in Qatar

My man Bill Clinton (I voted for him twice) is getting praise for his recent speech in Qatar. Via Smallest Minority.

As soon as he took the podium, Clinton began taking stands as brave as they were necessary. With virtuoso skill, he led the audience where they needed to go - while convincing them it was where they had wanted to end up all along. His sense not only of what required saying, but of how best to express it to that complex, contrary audience was almost supernatural.

We all know that Bill Clinton can speak persuasively, of course. But in this case the message mattered. Clinton just may have been the only American who could have reached that unforgiving crowd.

He didn't pander. He made America's case and made it well. Beginning with a sometimes-rueful look at the progress his administration had failed to make and noting that the wars that plague the world are begun by men his own age or older, but paid for in blood by the young, he refused to direct one syllable of blame at the Bush administration. Accepted as a citizen of the world, he spoke as a convinced American.

Asked by an eager-to-Bush-bash delegate if he, Bill Clinton, would have behaved differently after 9/11, our former president said he would have followed an identical course, pursuing our enemies into Afghanistan and beyond. Queried about his position on Iraq, he stated that any disagreements he might have would be most appropriately expressed at home in the U.S., not before a foreign audience.

He could have made an easy score. Instead, he did the right thing. Clinton has become the perfect statesman.

Pulling no punches, he made it clear that Yasser Arafat was responsible for the failure to secure a Palestinian state. He refused to trash Israel.

What Was Wrong With "Black"?

School has contest for Distinguished African-American Student Award. Smartass-American friends of white kid from South Africa put up posters campaigning for him. Moron-American school officials freak out because "African-American" really means black, but that word isn't PC so they had to use a less-accurate term. Smartass-Americans are punished, but secretly rejoice at having outsmarted grownups. Via the Spoon Sex Perience.

Kim Du Toit, my favorite actual African-American, comments: "What's really funny is that white South Africans know more about Africa, and are more in tune with Africa, than most Black Americans, including the likes of Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey. Black skin doesn't confer some mystic "African soul" -- that's just propaganda."

Just Call Janet Jackson "Nip"

During the Super Bowl half time show, Justin Timberlake tore off part of Janet Jackson's outfit. Her breast popped out, exposing either her nipple (according to Melissa) or a pastie (according to me). Which was it?

We were Tivoing the game, so we watched the clip a couple of times and even paused it, but we still disagreed. The costume-ripping looked intentional to me.

P.S. Go Panthers! Screw the Patriots. They've played dirty.

LATER: Here's a picture. It was a pastie. Do I know female anatomy or what?

LATER LATER: I'm convinced the clothes-tearing was intentional, because Timberlake not only tore off the fabric, he held onto it, as seen in this picture. Melissa had a good counter-point, though. She thinks Timberlake was supposed to tear off the cup (the black part) of Jackson's outfit, while leaving behind the bra (the red part).

That makes sense. It would square with the fact that Timberlake intentionally tore the clothes and that Jackson expected it. It also squares with another photo that shows Jackson covering her breast and Timberlake looking sheepish.

I can't believe that a TV executive approved of exposing a female breast, even with a pastie. On the other hand, I can believe that a TV executive approved exposing a bra.

CBS, which broadcast the Super Bowl, has apologized for the incident. MTV produced the half time show, and CBS claims that rehearsals did not indicate such a thing woud happen.

More updates here

Janet Jackson Boobie Blogging

Drudge has closeup shots. Conclusion: they're real and they're fabulous, to keep the Seinfeld references going. (OK, maybe they're not exactly fabulous.) It wasn't a pastie after all. It was nipple jewelry (some people are calling it a nipple medallion), attached through Jackson's piercing.

FCC Chief Michael Powell has promised an investigation. I think most people agree that exposing a breast in prime time to an audience of 90 million is inappropriate. Does it violate FCC standards? Possibly. Jackson's nipple and part of her areola were exposed.

KGB notes that Janet Jackson must get her nipple jewelry from the people who do Borg devices for the Star Trek franchise. Via VodkaPundit.

WM Double D's
"Terrorists didn't strike at this year's Super Bowl, though terror did strike viewers of the event as a "wardrobe malfunction" resulted in the accidental deployment of Janet Jackson's right breastisis during the Halftime Show. Officials are scrambling to contain the damage caused by the uncommanded mammary release, with many calling for an independent investigation into pre-Bowl intelligence declarations that Janet Jackson's wardrobe was "safe, secure and no threat to the television viewing audience."
- Sgt. Stryker

Wardrobe Malfunctions on the Rise
"I just got back to work from lunch, what a mess. I was headed to the sub shop when I had a wardrobe malfunction. Seems my pants flew off, hit a telephone pole and exploded. Well I pulled over, called the fire department; they show up and start putting my pants out. Then of course the International Garment Workers Union Wardrobe Malfunction Reconstruction Team shows up and blocks the whole street off while they take their measurements, all that's left of my pants was a zipper and a belt buckle, thank God I was wearing my Penis Medalion when they malfunctioned!"
- Two in the Hat in comments at Tim Blair

Ban on NFL Recruiting in High School

Marginal Revolutions gives a logical reason why the NFL is against recruiting high school athletes, and the reason has nothing to do with high-minded ethics and everything to do with unions and dollars:

Why might a professional sports league seek to prohibit such draft picks? First, the prohibition is part of an overall bargain with a players' union. Players' unions are composed of insiders, people already in the professional sport. By banning high school players, the league extends the career of the median established player. Apparently this is a cheaper concession than paying those players more money. In essence the players' union is redistributing money from the superstars to the average players. The very best players lose a few years off the beginning of their careers. But a comparable long-run penalty need not fall on the good (but not exceptional) high school players. Once they are drafted, they will enjoy a longer career than otherwise. The superstars, in contrast, can stick around with or without competition from high school players.

Iraqi Cultural Differences

Via Roger L. Simon I found this link to Rantingprofs, which published a letter from a U.S. Lieutenant in Baghdad. It's mostly about relations between the miltary and the media, but one section is especially fascinating.

When taking the word of an Iraqi it is important to consider the education level of the man and his ability to understand his world around him. Many soldiers believe all Iraqis are outright liars but I believe they simply misinterpret the things they see. Most Iraqis never progress beyong what we would consider a 6th grade education. They have no knowledge of physics or geometry (which explains why they can't hit 5 story buildings with mortars) and they have no history besides that which the Ba'ath party taught (I have seen text books with my own eyes that claim Saddam discovered flight).

Many Iraqis in Jisr-Diyala believed American food gave us X-Ray vision and that we had mechanical enhancements implanted in our bodies. Many Iraqis believe our helicopters can see through rooftops into houses. In Iraqi basic training, soldiers were taught to defeat "the electromagnetic shields on the Abrahms tank by wrapping RPG rounds with wet socks."

Given that 80% of Iraqis are about as intellectually and emotionally developed as an American 6th grader, we must be very careful in trusting the average Iraqi's "eye-witness testimony." (AN ASIDE: Shortly after Ramadan and before Christmas I had a contracted Iraqi employee swear to me on Allah and his mother's life and all that was holy that the date was about Feb. 15. The conversation originated with him claiming he hadn't been paid his monthly wage. It ended when I learned he had no idea what day it was or when he was supposed to be paid. My pay records clearly had his signature showing he was paid only two week ago.)

Easterbrook Has a Job, Why?

Spoons linked to this before I got around to it, but it sounds like Spoons and I could be charter members of the "Gregg Easterbrook is a Tool Web Ring."

My proof that Easterbrook is a tool:

• Quick Links
• Review of Gregg Easterbrook's New Book
• Steyn's 'Jews You Can Use'

P.S. I have the day off for President's Day, so I'm doing some rare mid-day blogging.

David Crosby Headline Competition

The Story

Musician David Crosby is under arrest again after a hotel worker found a gun, two knives, and an ounce of marijuana in the suit case Crosby left at the hotel.

Raw Material

Crosby, of course, was a founding member of Crosby, Still, and Nash (and sometimes Young) and The Byrds. He's also the father of Melissa Etheridge's baby (via in vitro fertilization of Etheridge's wife). Most people seem to be going for variations on song titles.

The Entries

Boots and Sabers: Crosby Still Has the Hash

Fox News: Crosby, Knives, Stash and Gun

News.com.au: Crosby, Guns and Hash

Report on Abstinence Pledges

Clayton Cramer blogs a study that finds that kids who take pledges of abstinence until they're married have about the same rate of STDs as kids who don't take the pledges. The pledge kids start having sex later, but when they do have sex they're less likely to use condoms. So abstinence programs seem to have a positive effect, but without traditional sex ed instruction, they aren't any more effective than traditional sex ed.

"Under God"

So the Supreme Court is hearing a case about the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Some people say that "under God" doesn't promote religion. Here's a simple test. If "under God" doesn't promote religion, imagine that someone wanted to change the phrase to "under Allah." And imagine that our coins said "In Allah We Trust."

MSNBC Punk'd by The Onion

From the Tallahassee Democrat:

MSNBC got gigged last week when Deborah Norville reported a federal study that supposedly said 58 percent of all exercise done in the United States occurs in those TV infomercials for body-sculpting workout machines.

But the story was a spoof from The Onion, a satirical newspaper and online publication. The network said it inadvertently dropped the attribution in picking up the story, but c'mon - most of the exercise done in America is on TV? Shouldn't somebody in the control room have said, "Hey, wait just a minute ..."

That Deborah Norville is no Jane Pauley, is she? Via CableNewser.

Foiled Terrorist Attacks

A railroad employee found bombs on a rail line between France and Switzerland.

The Philipines foiled a plot to bomb trains and shopping areas. They arrested four members of Abu Sayyaf and seized 80 pounds of TNT.

UK authorities arrested eight men and seized half a ton of bomb-making materials.

Meanwhile, Moustafa Chaouki intended to destroy a McDonald's in Italy, but accidentally blew himself up instead.

The Madrid train bombing was very nearly foiled by traffic police. A stolen car carrying 220 pounds of dynamite used in the bombing was stopped by patrolmen in a town north of Madrid. The car hadn't yet been reported stolen. The police sent the driver away with a fine for a traffic violation. Via Brian Arner.

Incidentally, that's a total of four countries targeted by terrorists (five if you count both France and Switzerland in the first story), plus the successful attacks in Spain and Uzbekistan. Does anyone really think there's no war going on?

Stick a Fork in Richard Clarke

Some people want to think that Clarke's testimony is an indictment of Bush's culpability in 9/11. Yet here's what Clarke said last week in direct response to that issue when questioned by Slade Gorton of the 9/11 Commission:

Mr. Gorton: "Assuming that the recommendations that you made on January 25 of 2001 . . . including aid to the Northern Alliance which had been an agenda item at this point for two and a half years without any action, assuming that there had been more Predator reconnaissance missions, assuming that that had all been adopted, say, on January 26, year 2001, is there the remotest chance that it would have prevented 9/11?"

Mr. Clarke: "No."

And just to be sure there's no confusion:

Mr. Gorton: "It just would have allowed our response after 9/11 to be perhaps a little bit faster?"

Mr. Clarke: "Well, the response would have begun before 9/11."

Mr. Gorton: "But -- yes, but we weren't going to -- there was no recommendation on your part or anyone else's part that we declare war and attempt to invade Afghanistan prior to 9/11?"

Mr. Clarke: "That's right."

Condoleeza Rice is going to flay Clarke when she testifies.

Knocking off Terrorist Dons

Via Steven den Beste, this is the Belmont Club's analysis of Israel's strategy in assasinating Yassin:

The Israeli strike against the terrorist top tier exploits the weakness inherent in terrorist organizations which are unstable alliances based on a delicate balance of internal intimidation. None of them, the Palestinian Authority included, are either transparent or accountable. They are exceptionally vulnerable to changes in their leadership. They can stand the loss of any number of teenage fighters or youthful suicide bombers without much damage but are rocked -- as Yassin's death illustrates -- by death at the top. Twenty million Soviet casualties in World War 2 were a statistic, but the death of Stalin marked the end of an epoch.

If the Immorality Doesn't Make You Mad, the Stupidity Will

Read this story of sorority member Christie Key. She ordered other sorority members to lie about having colds, recent tattoos, or other disqualifications so that they could give blood and help the chapter win a campus "Greek week" contest.

That's the immoral part. The stupid part is that she put it in writing.

I dont care if you got a tattoo last week LIE. I dont care if you have a cold. Suck it up. We all do. LIE. Recent peircings? LIE.

We're not messing around. Punishment for not giving blood is going to be quite severe.

The university hasn't decided what, if any, punishment Key will face. For abusing a position of authority and endangering other people's lives, she easily deserves expulsion.

It Was 10 Years Ago This A.M., Green Card Lawyers Taught the World to Spam

Today is the anniversary of the original green card laywer spam on Usenet. If you weren't on the Internet back then, you wouldn't realize it, but the outrage was enormous. It was the first time Usenet had been spammed on a massive level. Today, it's routine.

Luckily, much of Usenet spam gets filtered out by newsadmins and is never seen. I remember the U.S Internet newsadmin (who knew that I posted to Usenet and maintained some FAQs) showed me the then-new spam filter he had installed. Even back then (1998 or so), the filter removed about a quarter of the posts on our news server.

What Else is Happening April 15?

Today is the second annual Buy a Gun Day.

Thomas will have the latest Volunteer Tailgate Party at NewsRack Blog today.

A long time ago Wendy Packan told me that April 15 is the average late frost in Tennessee. It varies across the state, but that's still a good approximation. So if you're in Tennessee, read the tailgate party, buy yourself a gun, and go plant some flowers this weekend.

Air America

So Air America is off the air in LA and Chicago in a financial dispute with station owner Arthur Liu, who was selling them airtime. Liu says they bounced checks. Air America says they stopped payment. Jury's out on who's in the wrong.

Here's the thing. Even if they're in the right, this letter on the Air America is over the top. (LATER: AirAmerica has now been shamed into taking down the letter. If anyone knows of a copy somewhere, let me know.)

But Arthur Liu --- not funny. He lied to us, he ripped us off and now we’re chasing him down with a pipe wrench. It’s a metaphor.

Here’s what really happened:

This Liu-ser was ripping off our boss Evan Cohen big time (he can’t do that, that’s our job). Evan found out about it and he stopped payment on a check to keep Liu-cifer from ripping him off even more. You can touch Evan for the occasional meal or drinks but a million bucks is crossing the line. And if we ever get low on cash, we can always call Barbra Streisand. Or any of the Baldwins. Except Stephen.

So cool your jets. Air America Radio isn’t dead, we’re in court and we’re going to slam Liu’s head in a car door. Another metaphor. We hope to be back on the air tomorrow or the next day in those markets.

Even assuming everything they say is 100% true, they're not exactly covering themselves with glory in the way they're dealing with this. If you owned a radio station would you want to work with these guys?

PS What's up with liberals being peaceniks against foreign powers and talking like gangsters when it comes to their domestic opponents?

LATER: Neal "no permalinks" Boortz says almost the same thing today.

Tax Question (Paging SayUncle)

Jack Bog analyzed Bush and Cheney's tax returns. Now he has an analysis of Kerry's tax return.

One item on Kerry's return is from the sale of a piece of art. It was originally purchased in 1996 for $1 million, and sold in 2003 for $1.35 million. Kerry owned half of it. From the analysis:

Kerry's accountants miscalculated the tax on the gain on the sale of the painting. It should have been taxed at 28 percent, instead of the 20 percent rate that they used. Kerry has already filed an amended return and paid another $11,577 in tax to clean up this blooper, for a revised federal tax bill (before foreign tax credit) of $102,236.

The capital gains tax is 15%, right? Someone tell me why the profits from the sale should be taxed at 28%. I'm not arguing with it. I just want to know what type of income this falls under, and/or what are the rules concerning taxes on capital gains.

Homeless in Key West

Key West was recently listed as one of the five best places to be homeless. Result: more homeless people in Key West. Result: Key West puts up new amenities for the homeless, including air-conditioned tents. Likely result: even more homeless people in Key West. Interested Participant has the details.

I sympathize with the temporarily homeless. I even understand that some homeless have mental problems that keep them from being part of mainstream society, and that they should be institutionalized. However, there's an elastic group of homeless people who are just encouraged by lenient policies like this.

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

If you ever hear anything about the Council on American-Islamic Relations, remember that they're allies of terrorism, and active members have been convicted of violent crimes in the U.S. related to terrorism. From Daniel Pipes:

I mention this unsavory person [Randall Royer] because today he was indicted and arrested for his association with terrorism, specifically his having joined the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba, traveled to Pakistan, done propaganda work for it, and "fired at Indian positions in Kashmir." In addition, the indictment also states that Royer "possessed in his automobile an AK-47-style rifle and 219 rounds of ammunition" in September 2001. The grand jury charges that Royer "did unlawfully and knowingly begin, provide for, prepare a means for, and take part in a military expedition and enterprise to be carried on from the United States against the territory and dominion of India, a foreign state with whom the United States was at peace."

Royer was convicted this month and sentenced to two consecutive 10 year terms.

CPA Rips off Brookings' Web Design

This is just pitiful. The CPA (the provisional coalition government in charge of Iraq) appears to have stolen their Web design from the Brookings Institute. Via Bubba.

Syrian WMDs in Sudan

Latest development via InstaPundit:

Arab diplomatic and Sudanese government sources said the regime of Sudanese President Omar Bashir has ordered that Syria remove its Scud C and Scud D medium-range ballistic missiles as well as components for chemical weapons stored in warehouses in Khartoum. The sources said the Sudanese demand was issued after the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry confirmed a report published earlier this month that Syria has been secretly flying Scud-class missiles and WMD components to Khartoum.

It's long been alleged that Iraq hid its WMD in Syria. That's credible, since during the first Gulf War Saddam sent his fighter jets to Iran to keep allied forces from destroying them. Now Syrian WMDs - including Scud missiles and chemical weapons components - are being expelled from Sudan. Along with Iran and Libya's nuclear programs, color this another success for the Bush doctrine.

When Will There Be a Fox News for Broadcast?

AlphaPatriot notes that Fox News Channel's numbers continue to improve at the expense of the more-liberal CNN and MSNBC. Fox now has more viewers than both of them combined.

I've been thinking lately that a more centrist (or conservative if you like) national news program could dominate the broadcast news slot currently covered by Brokaw, Jennings, and Rather. If Fox TV doesn't do it, expect one of the Big 3 to go that route. With Brokaw's planned retirement later this year, NBC has the first opportunity to turn right.

Baby Diapers

The latest trend among the new tribal is diaperless babies. Note to mine and Melissa's friends: our baby will be very much diaperful. Please don't stop inviting us to your house once the baby's born. We'll double bag the kid if it makes you feel better.

In the '80s some people looked down on disposable diapers because they were supposedly clogging landfills. That turned out to be false. Now there's another debate over cloth vs. disposable diapers based on junk or non-existent science.

Known Saudi Arabian Oil Reserves Tripled

Saudia Arabia just announced that their known oil reserves are three times as much as previously believed. Link.

There are good reasons for reducing our petroleum usage, such as smog and reliance on foreign governments. However, as I've said before, I no longer worry about running out of oil any time soon. All of the predictions of impending oil depletion turn out to be wrong. What's more, in many cases older, depleted oil wells are re-filling.

Mistreatment of Iraqi Soldiers

InstaPundit has a good roundup of the blogosphere reaction to the photos showing U.S. and British soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners. It's terrible what happened, and those few soldiers responsible are undermining support for the entire coalition effort to bring democracy to Iraq. From the Telegraph:

London, April 30 (Reuters): Photos of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners drew international condemnation today, prompting the stark conclusion that the American campaign to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis is a lost cause.

Nice. Ever thought about giving up reporting and writing for the opinion page?

“This is the straw that broke the camel’s back for America,” said Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi. “The liberators are worse than the dictators. They have not just lost the hearts and minds of Iraqis but all the Third World and the Arab countries,” he said.

Note to Mr. Atwan: what the U.S. soldiers did to those people was despicable, and the soldiers will be court martialed. But in no way is this worse than Saddam Hussein. What the U.S. soldiers did was done of their own volition, not under orders as part of an intitutional culture of routine torture and mistreatment, as under Saddam. Uday Hussein did worse than this to Iraqi Olympic athletes, and much worse to political prisoners. Where was your outrage then?

Micah Wright, the Anti-war Liar

Via InstaPundit, a prominent and published antiwar activist has been exposed as a liar. Micah Wright claimed in his book to be a former Ranger turned peace activist.

I was an Army Ranger with the Second Ranger Battalion (3rd Plt, C Co 2/75). My MOS was 13F, Forward Fire Observer/Fire Support Team, Skill Level 20, SQI of "V" for being Airborne &Ranger qualified. My clearance was Secret. I graduated from Ranger School in the class of 13-87. If you look online, I am clearly to be seen in the back, third row, on the right. I served in the Ranger Batt for a little over two years. I spent almost four years total in the Army. I got out as a Sgt. E-5. I truly enjoyed the camaraderie and espirit de corps that I found in the military. It was the most fun period of my life until I participated in the 12th American invasion of Panama and saw what we did to that country (burnt it to the ground) just to avoid having Manuel Noriega expose President George Herbert Walker Bush the Third's involvement with Noriega's drug dealing (when Bush served as the Director of the CIA in the 70s, Noriega was on the payroll of the CIA and was simultaneously sending tons of cocaine north to the USA... but now we're supposed to believe that the CIA didn't know their man Noriega was a drug dealer.

Some people, including ex-servicemen, don't like to hear me say such things, but oh well. I'm not going to live my life to make hate-filled people happy.

Now The Washington Post has exposed Wright.

Wright, it turns out, is a liar. He never served in the military -- and confessed that last week to his publisher, Seven Stories Press, after we insisted on evidence of his service. Pursuing a tip from real Rangers who'd never heard of Wright, we filed three Freedom of Information Act requests with separate Army commands -- and last month finally confirmed that Wright never served.

Wright admits he lied, but he still hasn't come clean. On his Web site he hides the fact that a newspaper exposed him, and tries to make it sound as though his conscience got the best of him.

So why come clean now, you ask? Why shouldn't I continue on, seeing how far I can push it? Well, frankly, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of lying to my friends, to employers, to my fans, to myself. I'm not a Ranger. I've lied to so many people about this that it's made me physically ill. I haven’t been able to sleep and I’ve just about given myself an ulcer. It's all become too much. I'm stopping the lies.

This isn't the first time this has happened. Some of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War who testified before CongressWinter Soldier had never served in the military, and fabricated military backgrounds to gain credibility.

LATER: Laura (Mrs. Spoons) dated Wright in college, and has this vignette:

Sometimes the scams were bigger. He wasn't the most diligent student (he was still there after I'd graduated), and I remember his chuckling to me one day in 1992 that he'd gotten out of a class in a very creative way. He was in an anthropology class that he hadn't been attending or doing any work for, and now it was too late in the semester to withdraw, so he'd be stuck with an inevitable F. Well, instead, he went to the professor's office in his ROTC uniform, told the prof that the reason he hadn't been in class was that his ROTC unit had been deployed to Iraq for the Gulf War, and he'd only just returned. She thanked him for his service and immediately gave him and W (withdrawal) instead of an F. He crowed all afternoon at her gullibility.

Osama, Show Your Pretty Face

A new audiotape claiming to be the voice of Osama Bin Laden has put a bounty on the heads of US officials and military leaders in Iraq. Another audiotape a few weeks ago offered Europeans a reprieve from terror attacks if they withdrew troops from Iraq.

There are two kinds of people in this world. There are people like me who believe Bin Laden was killed in the bombing at Tora Bora. Then there are people who believe the bombs missed Bin Laden, but destroyed his videocamera.

Prior to Tora Bora Bin Laden was a videotape fiend. Since Tora Bora we have only audiotape evidence of his existence. If he can afford bounties he can afford a new videocamera. Come on, Osama. If you're still alive show us your pretty face.

Go Read Stephen Green

Right here. "Setbacks, shame, and blood. Such is the nature of war."

Mugabe's Plans Unravel

This shocking news just in from Zimbabwe: if you take away the farmer's land and give it to political chronies who have no interest in running farms, you'll set your country on a course for starvation. BastardSword has the play by play in this surprise turnaround for redistributionist socialism.

Canadian Health Care

Via SayUncle I found a couple columnists going over the latest results of a poll in Canada. Result: a 51% majority of Canadias prefer a two-tier system that provides public healthcare yet still allows private healthcare.

The reason is simple: the Canadian public-health-only system is failing to deliver quality medical care in a timely fashion. To give one example from the above articles: the average wait for an MRI scan in Canada is half a year. In the U.S., the average wait is just three days.

In a capitalist system, finite goods and services are rationed by price: dollars determine who gets what, and individuals decide how much they're willing to pay. It's an imperfect system, but no one has invented a better one.

All other attempts to distribute wealth have resulted in less wealth, but the same inequalities. Only the system of rationing changes.

In communist Soviet Union, goods and services were rationed according to politics rather than dollars: the size of your paycheck and your apartment were related to your loyalty to the Communist Party. Rationing by political connection is happening now in Canada's healthcare system.

Even though medical emergencies allow some people to jump ahead in the waiting line — making others wait longer — a survey published in the Annals of Internal Medicine medical journal found that more than 90 percent of heart specialists had "been involved in the care of a patient who received preferential access" to cardiac care based on non-medical reasons including the patient's social standing or personal connections with the treating physician.

Paul Jacob notes another way to ration goods and services without using money as the deciding factor:

Calling something "free" and paying for it with taxes doesn't take away the need to make hard choices. Demand for medical services is almost limitless, especially when you make the "demand" little more than a request. So some means of rationing has to be put in place. And in Canada, doctors and administrators naturally choose the easiest method: delay.

Like socialist systems elsewhere, Canada's health care system rations by procrastination.

Here's the fundamental point: why should the state run the health care system? If you say it's because health care is essential, then what about farming and food production and distribution - they're essential, so shouldn't the state run those, too?

Then look at the Soviet Union, North Korea, and now Zimbabwe to see what happens when the state rather than the free market is allowed to control the production and distribution of food. You turn prosperity into empty shelves, fertile soil into bread lines, and the bounty of the earth into starvation. Expect the same from socialized medicine.

9/11 Report

The 9/11 commission's report is being spun politically. InstaPundit has coverage.

And Hillary's Nose Grew as Big as a Mountain

In his new book, My Life, Bill Clinton repeats the story that Hillary took her name from Edmund Hillary, who along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first men to climb Mt. Everest. We know that Hillary and Norgay were the first on top of Everest because they took pictures. Hillary Clinton's story, on the other hand, doesn't hold up under even casual scrutiny.

The story has a fundamental problem: Edmund Hillary reached Everest's peak on May 29, 1953, nearly seven years after the infant Hillary arrived in the world.

Oops. Speaking of Everest-related mistakes... The only pictures from the first ascent of Everest show Norgay, but not Hillary. Hillary packed the camera, and it never occurred to him to ask his partner to take a picture of him standing on top of the world's tallest mountain. I suspect he's kicked himself over that one a few times in the last 50 years. He probably consoles himself with the fact that he can see his picture any time he wants on New Zealand's five dollar bill.

Saddam Hussein's Path to Justice Begins

The U.S. will transfer legal custody of Saddam Hussein to the new Iraqi government on Wednesday. This is the beginning of Saddam's legal ordeal, with months or years of courtroom testimony to follow.

For the people opposing the war in Iraq, this is the time they've either neglected or willfully ignored. Once the extent of Saddam's crimes are known, it's going to be impossibe to see the war in Iraq as a "phony war." There's an outrageous amount of evidence - eyewitness testimony of both oppresors and victims, videotape, paper records, and mass graves.

When Saddam was captured there were questions as to where and by whom he should be tried. I always knew we'd give him to the Iraqis, where he could face justice from those he injured. If we did anything else, we would invalidate our right to try Osama bin Laden should he be found alive. (But for the record, I think he's dead. If you disagree all I ask for is a post-Tora Bora videotape of OBL.)

Michael Moore's Opinion of Us Dumb Americans

This is what Michael Moore says about his fellow Americans when he's in England:

"They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet . . . in thrall to conniving, thieving smug [pieces of the human anatomy]," Moore intoned. "We Americans suffer from an enforced ignorance. We don't know about anything that's happening outside our country. Our stupidity is embarrassing."

I defended the Dixie Chicks when they told an audience in England that they were embarassed to be from the same state as George Bush. It's an honest difference of opinion with an elected official. But Michael Moore is embarassed to be from the same country as the other 290 million of us.

James Taranto beat me to the punch on implementing an idea that occurred to me after reading yesterday's account of Saddam Hussein's courtroom appearance. Put Saddam Hussein quotes and Michael Moore quotes side by side.

"The real criminal is Bush."--Saddam, July 1, 2004

"I'm telling you, we haven't heard the last of [Bush's] criminal behavior."--Moore, MichaelMoore.com, Nov. 3, 2000

"What is this court? Who are you? Under whose jurisdiction did you fall? I am the president of Iraq."--Saddam, July 1, 2004

"Al Gore is the elected President of the United States. He received 539,898 more votes than George W. Bush. But he does not sit tonight in the Oval Office. Instead our elected President roams the country without purpose or mission, surfacing only to lecture college students and replenish his stash of Little Debbie's Snack Cakes. Al Gore won. Al Gore, President-in-Exile. Long live El Presidente Albertooooooo Gorrrrrrrrrrre!"--Moore, "Stupid White Men," February 2002

This would be even better in a quiz format, as in the Al Gore/Unabomber quiz.

Praise for Clinton from Bruce Bartlett

Bruce Bartlett, a former member of the Reagan and Bush, Senior administrations, is asking conservatives to give an honest assessment of Bill Clinton's two terms in office.

Mr. Clinton was also steadfast in his support for free trade. It is doubtful that anyone else could have persuaded Congress to approve the North American Free Trade Agreement. On monetary policy, he reappointed Alan Greenspan, a Republican, as chairman of the Federal Reserve, thereby helping to bring inflation down to its lowest sustained level in a generation.

By contrast, Mr. Clinton's Republican successor has caused the surplus to evaporate, raised total federal spending by 1.6 percent of G.D.P., established a new entitlement program for prescription drugs and adopted the most protectionist trade policy since Herbert Hoover. While President Bush has done other things that conservatives view more favorably, like cutting taxes, there is no getting around the reality that Mr. Clinton was better in many respects.

Lt. Smash Attends Another Anti-War Protest

Via InstaPundit. Read the whole thing.

You Want Iraq News? This is What's Happening

Iranian agents with explosives captured in Baghdad. LATER: Captain's Quarters is checking major media outlets for coverage, and finds that this story isn't getting not attention. Actually, most of these stories aren't gettting any attention, since they don't put Bush and the war in a bad light.

Iraqis want foreign militant out of their country. So much for the theory that regular Iraqis are fighting the U.S.

Marine Corps reservist Eric Johnson served in Iraq, and has harsh words for Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post. Johnson met Chandrasekaran in an official capacity, and questions his qualifications and impartiality.

Vladimir Putin says he warned the U.S. after 9/11 that Iraq was preparing attacks on the U.S. Russia and Iraq were essentially allies (or at least trading partners), so Putin had no motivation to impugn Iraq if the intelligence wasn't earnest.

Polish forces in Iraq discovered the deadly nerve agent cyclosarin being offered for sale to terrorists. The weapons dated from the 1980s, but were still effective. Right. No WMDs in Iraq.

The New York Times says CIA held back information that Iraq abandoned WMD development efforts before war started. Hat tip: Clayton Cramer. (Who knows at this point? I'm partial to the theory that Saddam thought he was developing WMDs. The program wasn't really working, but no one wanted to tell the big guy the bad news for fear of getting a 9 mm spanking to the brain.)

Ihsan Karim, the Iraqi official appointed by Paul Bremer to investigate the U.N. Oil for Food scandal, was killed yesterday when a car bomb planted in his carbomb exploded. We have a crime perpetrated by Saddam and our U.N. allies to drain money away from the Oil for Food program, and now there's an attempt to coverup the crime by killing investigators. For more about the so-called UNSCAM scandal, see the Friends of Saddam blog.

Joseph Wilson Dis-credited

Last week's bi-partisan Senate committee report has discredited Joseph Wilson. According to the committee, Wilson was disingenuous about whether his wife (Valerie Plame) recommended him for the job, and was untruthful in representing the contents of his report to the CIA. Wilson told reporters there was no indication that Iraq had tried to obtain yellowcake uranium from Niger, when in fact his own report bolstered the idea. Last week a UK government inquiry likewise concluded that Iraq had sought yellowcake uranium from Niger. British and French intelligence reached the same conclusion.

InstaPundit has a roundup of Wilson-related news.

Calling Josh Marshall's Bluff

Zonitics is calling out Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo. Marshall has developed a disturbing M.O.: talk up the rumor, foreshadow the big revelation that's going to blow the Bush administration apart, turn blue biting your lip as you hold back the delicate intel... that never, ever comes.

Zonitics cites five cases where Marshall promised and never delivered. Via Spoons.

The New York Times: "Yep, We're Liberal"

New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent:

Is The New York Times a Liberal Newspaper? Of course it is.

I'll get to the politics-and-policy issues this fall (I want to watch the campaign coverage before I conclude anything), but for now my concern is the flammable stuff that ignites the right. These are the social issues: gay rights, gun control, abortion and environmental regulation, among others. And if you think The Times plays it down the middle on any of them, you've been reading the paper with your eyes closed.

I've been relatively agnostic on liberal bias. It seemed to me that whether or not the media looked biased depended in part on one's own biases.

My own experiences weren't a useful guide. I was an editor on my university's newspaper. True, most of those people were liberal like I was, but we were college students, so what did you expect? I knew some journalists after that, and they were liberal, but so was I, so who do you expect I'd meet?

Now Edward Driscoll has collected quotes from and about prominent national journalists that erases all doubt in their cases:

Andy Rooney on Larry King Live in June of 2002 may have been the first when he said, "I'm consistently liberal in my opinions," and that he considers Dan Rather to be "transparently liberal." (Rooney's quotes later framed Goldberg's introduction to Arrogance, his 2003 book.)

In May of 2003, according to CNSNews.com, Bob Zelnick, who spent 21 years at ABC News, "confirmed fellow former ABC News correspondent Peter Collins' contention that anchor Peter Jennings routinely attempted to insert his left of center editorial slant into correspondents' news copy."

In August of 2003, Walter Cronkite added, "I believe that most of us reporters are liberal." (Does Lesley Stahl know this?)

And then ABC's "The Note" Weblog on February 10th of this year basically gave the game away in detail:

"Like every other institution, the Washington and political press corps operate with a good number of biases and predilections.

"They include, but are not limited to, a near-universal shared sense that liberal political positions on social issues like gun control, homosexuality, abortion, and religion are the default, while more conservative positions are "conservative positions."

"They include a belief that government is a mechanism to solve the nation's problems; that more taxes on corporations and the wealthy are good ways to cut the deficit and raise money for social spending and don't have a negative affect on economic growth; and that emotional examples of suffering (provided by unions or consumer groups) are good ways to illustrate economic statistic stories."

For more, see Rather Biased andThat Liberal Media.

Why I Hope the Democrats Lose in 2004

I watched a little of the Democractic National Convention last night, including Carter's speech.

The party out of power has to convince people that things aren't going well. Otherwise people are going to vote for the incumbent. When Reagan ran against Carter in 1980 he asked people if they were better off than they were four years ago. They weren't. Subsequently they voted Carter out and Reagan in.

In 2004, convincing people that things aren't going well means in large part convincing people that Iraq is going badly, despite a quick victory, despite rebuilding so much of the country's infrastructure, despite creating a constitution and handing over power.

The U.S. liberated an entire nation from a murderous dictator and installed a nascent democracy. The only way to turn that into a defeat is to endlessly harp on every problem and spin it as a defeat, which is what the Democrats are doing.

It's one thing to make political hay out of domestic issues, but to do the same with foreign policy when 140,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq is just irresponsible. We have enemies in the world. We also have allies and potential enemies who are waiting to see how Iraq plays out. Spinning it as a defeat is bad for America, which means in 2004 the Democrats are bad for America.

Richard Clarke May Have Tipped Off Osama

J.D. Hayworth (a Republican Congressman from Arizona) outlines the case that Clinton appointee Richard Clarke tipped off Osama Bin Laden when we had intelligence about his location in 1999.

From the 9/11 Commission report:

Even after Bin Ladin's departure from the area, CIA officers hoped he might return, seeing the camp as a magnet that could draw him for as long as it was still set up. The military maintained readiness for another strike opportunity. On March 7, 1999, Clarke called a UAE official to express his concerns about possible associations between Emirati officials and Bin Ladin. Clarke later wrote in a memorandum of this conversation that the call had been approved at an interagency meeting and cleared with the CIA. When the former Bin Ladin unit chief found out about Clarke's call, he questioned CIA officials, who denied having given such a clearance. Imagery confirmed that less than a week after Clarke's phone call the camp was hurriedly dismantled, and the site was deserted. CIA officers, including Deputy Director for Operations Pavitt, were irate. 'Mike' (the CIA's Bin Ladin unit chief) thought the dismantling of the camp erased a possible site for targeting Bin Ladin.

Michael Moore on the O'Reilly Factor

Just caught the show. O'Reilly rightly called Moore on his claims that Bush lied about WMDs, pointing out that the Butler report, British intelligence, and Russian intelligence all thought Iraq had WMDs. Moore responded by saying that psychopaths believe in what they're doing, too.

O'Reilly missed an opportunity. He should have pointed out that Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Madeleine Albright, and others are on record as saying that Iraq had WMDs, based on the same intelligence, prior to George Bush being in office. In other words, the WMD claim was based on intelligence collected during the Clinton administration, not the Bush administration. If it was a lie for Bush, then it was a lie for Clinton, Gore, and all the rest.

Moore kept asking O'Reilly if he would sacrifice his children to remove a dictator. O'Reilly said he would sacrifice himself, but wouldn't put the question in those terms. That's perfectly fair, in my opinion. Parents of U.S. soldiers don't "sacrifice" their children. First of all, it's not the parent's decision that their children join the military.

Second, let's define what we mean by children. A soldier may be his parents' child, but he's not a child; he's an adult. Children don't fight wars for the U.S. Adults do.

We have an all-volunteer army in this country. Adults can choose to do what they want with their lives, including joining the military. Democrats are trying to affect a paternalistic attitude towards the military, and from what I can tell the military doesn't want it, and what's more they don't trust the Democrat's motives. Neither do I.

LATER: Donald Sensing makes the same point about it being the adult child's choice. His son just joined the Marines.

P.S. I'm shocked that the Democrats are including Michael Moore on the podium. He may be box office dynamite right now, but I expect him to be ballot box poison by November.

Ron Reagan's Convention Speech

Democrats are crowing over having Ronald Reagan's son at their convention. Can't blame them, though it's not like the guy ever got elected to office or did anything particularly notable. His major accomplishment seems to have been being born to a former president. In contrast, the Republicans have lined up former Democratic Senator and Georgia governor Zell Miller to speak at their convention.

Reagan used his time to discuss stem cell research. For a while he sounded like Bill Nye the science guy. I have a degree in biology and my eyes glazed over a bit, but once he got past the specifics it was a welcome change, in my opinion. I thought he was effective at outlining and humanizing the benefits of what is a pretty difficult scientific subject. It's also an area where I part ways with Bush. It's worth noting that Nancy Reagan parted ways with President Bush on this same point. Stem cell research isn't somehow inimical to Republicans, but Bush has approached it as if it is.

LATER: Welcome, InstaPundit readers. Here's a transcript of the speech. Excerpt below.

Now, imagine going to a doctor who, instead of prescribing drugs, takes a few skin cells from your arm. The nucleus of one of your cells is placed into a donor egg whose own nucleus has been removed. A bit of chemical or electrical stimulation will encourage your cell's nucleus to begin dividing, creating new cells which will then be placed into a tissue culture. Those cells will generate embryonic stem cells containing only your DNA, thereby eliminating the risk of tissue rejection. These stem cells are then driven to become the very neural cells that are defective in Parkinson's patients. And finally, those cells -- with your DNA -- are injected into your brain where they will replace the faulty cells whose failure to produce adequate dopamine led to the Parkinson's disease in the first place.

MUCHO LATER: Manish points me to this news that the GOP is trying to get Nancy Reagan to speak at the Republican National Convention.

Mrs. Reagan might condition her appearance on a clear ability to demonstrate her support for stem cell research.

"She can have anything she wants," a former Reagan administration official said.

I hope it works out that she can rally Republicans for federal funding of stem cell research, and increasing the number of cell lines.

Teresa Heinz Kerry's Speech

Teresa Heinz Kerry's speech explained that Nelson Mandela heard women's voices in his head. Or something. If you listened with your left brain you might have liked it, but my poor right brain couldn't pull any substance out of it.

P.S. The camera kept cutting to Hillary Clinton, who always looked like she had just slammed a shot of vinegar.

Ted Kennedy Speaks the Truth

"The only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush." That's Ted Kennedy speaking at the convention, via Lileks.

That nails it, really. If you think George Bush is the biggest threat to the U.S. and the world, vote for John Kerry. If you think Islamoterrorism is the biggest threat to the U.S. and the world, vote for Bush.

Religion on Parade

The Republicans are traditionally seen as the Christian party in the U.S, but I'm curious to see if the Republicans will put more religion on parade than the Democrats.

I watched the John Kerry video montage leading up to his speech. He says he returned from Vietnam thanks to a higher power. That's one way to soft-pedal it. He wants to take the religious vote, but he won't use the G-word. LATER: He did during the speech, saying (I paraphrase from memory) the Democrats don't want to say that God is on their side, but that they are on God's side. Seems a little weak when facing an enemy determined to destroy us for being infidels. Then again, I'm unconvinced that Kerry thinks we're at war, so why should I expect him to think it's a religious war for our enemies?

P.S. Melissa said she thinks the Republicans will have even more religion at their convention. I said I don't see why - the Republicans are already seen as religious. What the Republicans will do is feature minorities, since they aren't seen as the party for minorities.

Media Conflicts of Interest

Jim Miller on MSNBC's ethically-questionable decision to hire Ron Reagan - a man the Democrats invited to speak at their convention - to co-anchor a talk show.

Ron Reagan was hired by MSNBC, in my opinion, in order to trash George Bush. Does anyone think that he is such a great journalist that he would have been hired if he supported Bush? Or that he will keep his job for long after the campaign?

Another dubious hire is ABC's Richard Clarke. The former counter-terrorism "expert" is both an advisor to ABC and an informal advisor to the Kerry campaign.

"What the fuck are you guys doing up there? We want more balloons coming down, more balloons."

CNN broadcast the audio from the director's booth at the convention.

'We need more balloons. All balloons! All balloons! Keep going! Come on, guys, lets move it. Jesus! We need more balloons. I want all balloons to go, goddammit. Go confetti. Go confetti. More confetti. I want more balloons. What's happening to the balloons? We need more balloons.

'We need all of them coming down. Go balloons- balloons? What's happening balloons? There's not enough coming down! All balloons, what the hell! There's nothing falling! What the fuck are you guys doing up there? We want more balloons coming down, more balloons. More balloons. More balloons'...

Oops. Drudge has an MP3.

NPR's Scott Simon on Michael Moore

If you want more proof that the liberal news establishment isn't capable of telling the truth, here it is. Scott Simon, host of NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday" criticizes Michael Moore, saying "Trying to track the unproven innuendoes and conspiracies in a Michael Moore film or book is as futile as trying to count the flatulence jokes in one by Adam Sandler."

Simon's venue for airing his thoughts? Not NPR. He had to go to the conservative Wall Street Journal to get his piece published.

Simon points out something about the movie that bugged Melissa when she saw it (I didn't go): "Mr. Moore tries hard to identify himself with U.S. troops and their concerns. But he spends an awful lot of effort depicting them as dupes and brutes. At one point in "Fahrenheit 9/11," someone off-camera prods a U.S. soldier into singing a favorite hip-hop song with profane lyrics. Mr. Moore then runs the soldier's voice over combat footage, to make it seem as if the soldier were insensitively singing along with the destruction."

In a similar vein is this pre-Fahrenheit 911 article on Michael Moore from the Democractic Leadership Council. Via InstaPundit.

Is Michael Moore a courageous political documentarist who unmasks the chicanery all around us -- or just a charlatan in a clown suit? Is he an entertainment genius or a dangerous ideologue? The answer, of course, is all of the above. The problem is that you never know which of the four is doing the talking in Moore's movies and books. The end result is that the writer-filmmaker spreads a fog of misbegotten notions about America, politics, business, and international affairs among his youthful, left-leaning following at home and, indeed, around the world. Uninformed readers and viewers tend to believe everything he says.

"Help Is On The Way"

Tim Blair - "By the way, if John Kerry is the guy America turns to for "help", what are America's problems? Can't tie a reef knot? Bicycle keeps falling over? Wife nuts?"

TexasBestGrok - "Heh. Don't worry. We're from the government and we're here to help you."

Did someone mention a Mary Poppins cartoon?

Moore Lies

Moore faked a news front page for Fahrenheit 911 and the newspaper is asking for an apology.

Also in the movie, Moore claimed "Not a single member of Congress wanted to sacrifice their child for the war in Iraq." In David Kopel's "Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 911" he refutes Moore's claim:

Moore’s second statement is technically true, but duplicitous. Of course no-one would want to "sacrifice" his child in any way. But the fact is, Moore's opening ("only one") and his conclusion ("not a single member") are both incorrect. Sergeant Brooks Johnson, the son of South Dakota Democratic Senator Tim Johnson, serves in the 101st Airborne Division and fought in Iraq in 2003. The son of California Republican Representative Duncan Hunter quit his job after September 11, and enlisted in the Marines; his artillery unit was deployed in the heart of insurgent territory in February 2004. Delaware Senator Joseph Biden's son Beau is on active duty in the Judge Advocate General Corps; although Beau Biden has no control over where he is deployed, he has not been sent to Iraq, and therefore does not "count" for Moore's purposes. Seven members of Congress have been confirmed to have children in the military.

...Moore ignores the fact that there are 101 veterans currently serving in the House of Representatives and 36 in the Senate. Regardless of whether they have children who could join the military, all of the veterans in Congress have personally put themselves at risk to protect their country.

And the Democrats have embraced this guy as a spokesman for their party.