Archive for November, 2006

I’VE BEEN WONDERING why everybody makes a big deal about the ISG report leak — it seems as if it stands for more or less the current plan. The Mudville Gazette seems to see things the same way, describing it as a “360 degree about face,” which seems about right.

No big surprise — it’s not like the ISG is made up of a bunch of guys who’ve spent their lives thinking outside the box. And the Mudville Gazette notes that the Security Council has just renewed the mandate for the international force in Iraq, at the request of the Iraqi government. So this seems to be much ado about nothing, as a “cut and run” doesn’t seem imminent, but there’s no real sign of a “new direction” either. And now that the Security Council has acted, wouldn’t it be, ahem, unilateral of us to pull out?

UPDATE: Another take: “Reading the Washington Post, doesn’t it sound a bit like they’re going to just re-serve current policy?”

Stay the course! Or as Greyhawk puts it in the comments: “We are going to end up going in a ‘new direction’ that is the same direction we were going in before, except it will be new. Hope this clarifies.”

ASKING MUSLIMS TO SPEAK OUT in defense of a journalist under a fatwa of death over the Danish cartoons.

I’M WATCHING EUGENE VOLOKH AND DENNIS PRAGER on this topic — of which I was only vaguely aware — of whether newly-elected Muslim Rep. Keith Ellison should take his oath of office on a Bible or on the Koran. Volokh seems to have the better of this argument by a huge margin. In fact, I think that Prager’s argument that oaths must be on the Bible is absolutely nonsensical. But weirdly Paula Zahn keeps cutting Eugene off. I’m sorry, but Prager’s reference to “the American Bible” as the root of the Constitution is ridiculous. What’s “the American Bible?” And whatever happened to that bit from the Constitution about “no religious test”?

UPDATE: Rather than Prager, I recommend reading this post by Mark Daniels. I think you’ll be able to find the key bit on your own.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Video, courtesy of Hot Air.

I USED TO BE BI-CURIOUS, but now I’ve just gone all the way to becoming “bi,” as I’m now in possession of this entree to the Mac world. So far it seems pretty cool, although every time I try to post in movable type I get a popup warning that it says I can disable by setting “safari_warning=’false'” — but I can’t figure out how to do that.

UPDATE: Solved that problem — by switching to Firefox!

RICHARD MINITER is now blogging for Pajamas Media.

MILBLOGGER JASON VAN STEENWYK is unhappy with the AP’s response to the Jamil Hussein scandal:

I didn’t get out in front of the whole Mystery Captain Jamil Hussein story too early, because it’s really easy for Americans to screw up Arabic names. Now that the Iraqi Information Ministry has also come on record saying this Captain Hussein does not exist, it’s clear that AP has a problem.

But this bogus source is the least of AP’s problems.

Kathleen Carroll, a senior VP and executive editor of Associated Press, is now saying she is “satisfied with AP’s reporting.”

Yes, only two sources will go on record, and one has recanted his testimony, while the other apparently does not exist, and Kathleen Carroll is “satisfied with the AP’s reporting.”

Jason isn’t.

UPDATE: Is AP stringing us along? But don’t miss this cautionary note from Allah.

MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT at an American university.

OKAY, I HAVEN’T BLOGGED MUCH TODAY, but Danny Glover rounds up some interesting tidbits.

ERIC UMANSKY IS SAYING I TOLD YOU SO:

A few years ago, Erin Brockovich spearheaded a lawsuit alleging that an oil-rig next to Beverly Hills High School was causing cancer. She got all sorts of attention. I dug into the story for the New Republic and concluded that, well, Brockovich was full of it and that moreover she had a knack for fomenting panic in communities by misleading them about purported toxins in their neighborhoods and potentially even forging testing data.

Why I am telling you this? Because a few days ago a judge seemed to agree with me and tossed Brockovich and her suit to the curb.

Umansky’s original TNR piece can be found here.

AS MAX BOOT HAS POINTED OUT, THE IRANIANS ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS:

U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq: brand-new weapons fresh from Iranian factories. According to a senior defense official, coalition forces have recently seized Iranian-made weapons and munitions that bear manufacturing dates in 2006.

This suggests, say the sources, that the material is going directly from Iranian factories to Shia militias, rather than taking a roundabout path through the black market. “There is no way this could be done without (Iranian) government approval,” says a senior official.

What I continue to be puzzled by is why the Bush Administration has taken such a low-key attitude toward Iran when its role in fomenting problems in Iraq — and its unrelenting hostility to the United States — has been obvious for years. I had assumed that a key reason for invading Iraq in the first place was to let us put pressure on the mullahs, something that we don’t seem to have even tried to do.

TPM MUCKRAKER REPORTS:

The leadership ambitions of two senior Democrats have already been deep-sixed for their murky ethics histories. Here’s a third Democrat heading for a powerful post whom folks may want to keep an eye on.

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) is under investigation by the FBI. And he’s set to assume a top post which would put him in control of the FBI’s budget. Neat trick, eh?

The FBI’s probing Mollohan for possible violations of the law arising from his sprawling network of favors and money which connects him to good friends via questionable charities, alarmingly successful real estate ventures, and hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarked funds.

The investigation appears to be active and ongoing. We’re told that the Feds continue to gather information on the guy. Yet the Democrats look poised to make Mollohan the chairman of the panel which controls the purse strings for the entire Justice Department — including the FBI.

Seems like a bad move to me.

ANOTHER RUSSIAN POISONING? “Yegor Gaidar, former Russian architect of Russia’s market reforms as acting Prime Minister for Boris Yelstin, is being treated in a Moscow hospital after coming close to death with a mystery ailment during a visit to Dublin.” Doctors think he was poisoned.

Plus, radioactive planes.

YES, BLOGGING HAS BEEN LIGHT: Today is root canal day. Recovering OK but not blogging much for a bit.

Meanwhile, note that Stephen Hawking is once again calling for space colonization:

Humans must colonize planets in other solar systems traveling there using “Star Trek”-style propulsion or face extinction, renowned British cosmologist Stephen Hawking said on Thursday.

Referring to complex theories and the speed of light, Hawking, the wheel-chair bound Cambridge University physicist, told BBC radio that theoretical advances could revolutionize the velocity of space travel and make such colonies possible.

“Sooner or later disasters such as an asteroid collision or a nuclear war could wipe us all out,” said Professor Hawking, who was crippled by a muscle disease at the age of 21 and who speaks through a computerized voice synthesizer.

“But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe,” said Hawking, who was due to receive the world’s oldest award for scientific achievement, the Copley medal, from Britain’s Royal Society on Thursday.

Bring it on.

BILL ROGGIO WILL BE EMBEDDING IN IRAQ AGAIN shortly, and has some interesting things to report on how the credentialling process works for bloggers. Plus a PayPal button if you’d like to support his work.

IN THE MAIL: Eric Flint’s new alt-history novel, 1824: The Arkansas War. It’s the second installment to his alternate history where the War of 1812 went differently. I’m enjoying Sam Houston’s prominent role — since Sam was a Maryvillian, like me, I heard a lot about him when I was younger. Though I don’t remember hearing much talk about his fondness for whiskey and large knives. . . .

A CONVERSATION with Bjorn Lomborg.

FROM CATHY SEIPP: Kramerology 101.

MAX BOOT: Iran and Syria aren’t our friends. (“Hard to believe, but those who advocate negotiations under such circumstances are known as ‘realists.’ A real realist would realize that Syria and Iran are only likely to accommodate the U.S. when they’re afraid of us.”) It’s a sad comment that our foreign policy establishment needs to be reminded of this, but . . . .

LOTS OF COVERAGE from the L.A. Auto Show.

I WONDER WHAT THEY’RE HIDING?

Tony Blair is under increasing pressure to halt a three-year-old corruption inquiry and avoid losing a £10 billion extension to an arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

The news comes after Saudi Arabia suspended negotiations on the 20-year-old Al-Yamamah deal after Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigators tried to access some of the Saudi royal family’s bank accounts in Switzerland.

Thousands of jobs in Britain and Saudi Arabia would be at risk if the Saudis dropped an order for 72 Typhoon jets and, instead, signed a contract with the French for up to 36 rival Rafales. . . . The deal, which was signed off by Britain and Saudi Arabia in August, has been brought to the brink after the SFO asked to access bank accounts in Switzerland.

Something pretty embarrassing, I’d guess. I wonder where that money was going?

I’VE SUDDENLY GOTTEN A LOT OF DONATIONS LATELY, which I appreciate — if you donated through PayPal I’ve thanked you; if you donated through Amazon I don’t know who you are unless you click the button that keeps it from being anonymous — and I’ve also gotten some emails asking if I’m depressed or something. Is that why people are donating?

I’m not depressed. I am, however, extremely busy. In the last couple of weeks I’ve turned around two articles to law reviews, done revisions for the paperback edition of An Army of Davids — coming out in January, I’m told — read and commented on a bunch of student paper rough drafts for my space law seminar, and my Administrative Law class’s comments on proposed regulations (as usual, actually filed with the agency in question) and finished up my Popular Mechanics column, as well as the usual stuff I do all the time. That may have made my blogging seem a bit more sparse, or detached, or something. But life’s actually pretty good, aside from being busy.

STILL MORE ON ALCEE HASTINGS and the Democratic leadership. I think they’ve made a good decision.