The architect whose project resulted in this by way of this has died. Enough said.
UPDATE: That Irish Times link is supposed to be free but it's not; get related info here.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Virginia
The BBC News website has a nice little Ulster-oriented feature on the apparent winner in the Virginia race for US Senate, James Webb. As we noted a couple of years ago, one of Webb's careers (mixed in with an illustrious military record and Reagan appointee) has been chronicling the contribution of the descendants of Scots-Irish immigrants to American wars. Incidentally, it's not clear that David Brooks quite gets this aspect of Webb, judging from his (free this week) column in the NYT --
Webb named his son after Robert E. Lee, and wrote a book, “Born Fighting,” which is a full-throated defense of “Rednecks. Trailer-park trash. Racists. Cannon fodder. My ancestors. My people. Me.”
As Andrew Ferguson noted recently in The Weekly Standard, he took white Protestants — who have always been the villains in movies from "M*A*S*H" to "Remember the Titans" — and he described them as an oppressed minority group. And their oppressors were the highly educated liberal snobs from New York, Washington, San Francisco and L.A.
Note the tell-tale description "Protestant" when "Presbyterian" would be more accurate. Put another way, if you come away from the Brooks column thinking that Webb's book is a defence of the minority group of which the Protestants George Bush and Dick Cheney are a part, then you (and he) have the wrong impression.
One other thing about Webb. Coverage of his victory confirmation is likely to feature strained analogies between any concession by his opponent George Allen and Al Gore's decision to contest the 2000 election count. Which is rubbish. The Allen-Webb outcome will not leave votes uncounted that could change the result. Bush-Gore 2000, which remains the Original Sin of the last 6 years, did.
Webb named his son after Robert E. Lee, and wrote a book, “Born Fighting,” which is a full-throated defense of “Rednecks. Trailer-park trash. Racists. Cannon fodder. My ancestors. My people. Me.”
As Andrew Ferguson noted recently in The Weekly Standard, he took white Protestants — who have always been the villains in movies from "M*A*S*H" to "Remember the Titans" — and he described them as an oppressed minority group. And their oppressors were the highly educated liberal snobs from New York, Washington, San Francisco and L.A.
Note the tell-tale description "Protestant" when "Presbyterian" would be more accurate. Put another way, if you come away from the Brooks column thinking that Webb's book is a defence of the minority group of which the Protestants George Bush and Dick Cheney are a part, then you (and he) have the wrong impression.
One other thing about Webb. Coverage of his victory confirmation is likely to feature strained analogies between any concession by his opponent George Allen and Al Gore's decision to contest the 2000 election count. Which is rubbish. The Allen-Webb outcome will not leave votes uncounted that could change the result. Bush-Gore 2000, which remains the Original Sin of the last 6 years, did.
At the nexus
One of the surprises about George Bush's selection of Robert Gates as Donald Rumsfeld's replacement is the apparent inattention to how difficult it is going to be to get Gates confirmed. On the one hand, Bush could do worse than working through the Bush I Rolodex, but by doing so he finds someone who knows a lot that he hasn't said about the Iran-Contra scandal and the US support for the Afghan mujahideen -- policies with consequences that are of course still with us today. And today's Wall Street Journal editorial (subs. req'd), perhaps feeling a little less encumbered after the election losses, notes another problem --
Which brings us back to Mr. Gates, whose nomination makes us wonder if Mr. Bush is signaling a change in policy, or worse, a new resignation toward Iraq. Mr. Gates is a capable public servant with broad security experience. But much of that experience is with the CIA, which has misjudged the nature of the enemy throughout this conflict. Mr. Gates is also on the Baker-Hamilton study group that Congress established to examine policy options for Iraq, and we hope his nomination doesn't mean Mr. Bush has already signed onto its soon-to-be-released recommendations. One of those proposals is reportedly a new engagement with Iran and Syria, which would make a hash of the President's "freedom agenda."
Most troubling regarding Iraq, Mr. Gates was deputy national security adviser under Brent Scowcroft in 1991, when President Bush's father abandoned the Shiite uprising that followed the first Gulf War. One reason the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki has had such a hard time dismantling Shiite militias is because Shiites fear that it's only a matter of time before the U.S. abandons them again and they will have to confront the Sunni Baathist insurgency on their own. If President Bush wants to reassure Shiites on this score and about Mr. Gates, he should announce that the recent efforts to appease the Sunni terrorist political fronts in Iraq have failed.
They're certainly right to ask for tough confirmation hearings, even if the specific reasons are odd. It's bizarrely insular to assume that Shiites remember who the deputy national security adviser was in 1991 when, if they did, they'd surely remember who the defence secretary was back then too. Note also the Journal's persistent view that Bush's troubles spring from a CIA "war" on the administration or from a potential coddling of Iran -- not complaints that one is likely to hear in the reality-based community.
UPDATE 10 NOV: The opposition to Robert Gates spreads across the WSJ op-ed page. Bush's plan to get him confirmed in the lame duck session might be in trouble -- from within his own base.
Which brings us back to Mr. Gates, whose nomination makes us wonder if Mr. Bush is signaling a change in policy, or worse, a new resignation toward Iraq. Mr. Gates is a capable public servant with broad security experience. But much of that experience is with the CIA, which has misjudged the nature of the enemy throughout this conflict. Mr. Gates is also on the Baker-Hamilton study group that Congress established to examine policy options for Iraq, and we hope his nomination doesn't mean Mr. Bush has already signed onto its soon-to-be-released recommendations. One of those proposals is reportedly a new engagement with Iran and Syria, which would make a hash of the President's "freedom agenda."
Most troubling regarding Iraq, Mr. Gates was deputy national security adviser under Brent Scowcroft in 1991, when President Bush's father abandoned the Shiite uprising that followed the first Gulf War. One reason the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki has had such a hard time dismantling Shiite militias is because Shiites fear that it's only a matter of time before the U.S. abandons them again and they will have to confront the Sunni Baathist insurgency on their own. If President Bush wants to reassure Shiites on this score and about Mr. Gates, he should announce that the recent efforts to appease the Sunni terrorist political fronts in Iraq have failed.
They're certainly right to ask for tough confirmation hearings, even if the specific reasons are odd. It's bizarrely insular to assume that Shiites remember who the deputy national security adviser was in 1991 when, if they did, they'd surely remember who the defence secretary was back then too. Note also the Journal's persistent view that Bush's troubles spring from a CIA "war" on the administration or from a potential coddling of Iran -- not complaints that one is likely to hear in the reality-based community.
UPDATE 10 NOV: The opposition to Robert Gates spreads across the WSJ op-ed page. Bush's plan to get him confirmed in the lame duck session might be in trouble -- from within his own base.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
The more men, the lesser share of honour
In a sequence perhaps revealing of how George Bush has rationalized his Vietnam draft dodge to himself, today's news conference (also here) got around to the topic of Vietnam-Iraq analogies, and Bush claimed that one difference between the wars arose from the former being fought with a conscript army and the latter with a volunteer army, with the result that only the latter understood the stakes.
QUESTION: Mr. President, you mentioned the prospect that your successor would be dealing with the war. You'll be making your first trip to Vietnam in roughly a week. Some people are looking at the war as another Vietnam War. Are they wrong to do so? And, if so, why?
BUSH: I think they are. I think they are. First of all, Iraq is -- after the overthrow of the tyrant, voted on a constitution that is intended to unite the whole country. And then they had elections under that constitution where nearly 12 million people voted for this unity government.
Secondly -- which is different from Vietnam -- secondly, in terms of our troops, this is a volunteer Army. Vietnam wasn't a volunteer Army, as you know. And in this volunteer Army, people -- the troops understand the consequences of Iraq in the global war on terror.
It's quite an inversion to say that it's the less selective army was the one that didn't understand the importance of their war, not to mention Bush's apparent insinuation that the people who stayed out of Vietnam had a better view of its importance than those who went.
UPDATE: The remark is getting regrettably little attention, especially when compared to the staged uproar about John Kerry's comments. But Maureen Dowd noticed (link free this week with Philips ad).
W. also managed to bash Vietnam vets, saying that this war isn’t similar because there’s a volunteer army, so “the troops understand the consequences of Iraq in the global war on terror.” Is that why W. stayed out of Vietnam? Because he understood it?
QUESTION: Mr. President, you mentioned the prospect that your successor would be dealing with the war. You'll be making your first trip to Vietnam in roughly a week. Some people are looking at the war as another Vietnam War. Are they wrong to do so? And, if so, why?
BUSH: I think they are. I think they are. First of all, Iraq is -- after the overthrow of the tyrant, voted on a constitution that is intended to unite the whole country. And then they had elections under that constitution where nearly 12 million people voted for this unity government.
Secondly -- which is different from Vietnam -- secondly, in terms of our troops, this is a volunteer Army. Vietnam wasn't a volunteer Army, as you know. And in this volunteer Army, people -- the troops understand the consequences of Iraq in the global war on terror.
It's quite an inversion to say that it's the less selective army was the one that didn't understand the importance of their war, not to mention Bush's apparent insinuation that the people who stayed out of Vietnam had a better view of its importance than those who went.
UPDATE: The remark is getting regrettably little attention, especially when compared to the staged uproar about John Kerry's comments. But Maureen Dowd noticed (link free this week with Philips ad).
W. also managed to bash Vietnam vets, saying that this war isn’t similar because there’s a volunteer army, so “the troops understand the consequences of Iraq in the global war on terror.” Is that why W. stayed out of Vietnam? Because he understood it?
Bush news conference
1. An admission that he lied to reporters last week when he said he was keeping Donald Rumsfeld in his job; the decision had already been made last week that he would resign.
[he's now qualifying this to say that he knew Rumseld was going but hadn't confirmed this with his intended successor]
2. An admission that the statement "However they put it, the Democrat approach comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses" was meaningless.
3. Said in the "you talking to me?" voice: "you think I'm nuts?"
4. A claim that the spinners are going to have to walk back very quickly, that because the Vietnam era army was a conscript army, the soldiers then didn't understand the stakes, but the all volunteer army in Iraq does.
5. Freudian slip -- "It's hard to win an election when you're trying to win awrite-off write-in." (the latter a reference to Tom DeLay being on the ballot but not a candidate in Texas)
[UPDATE: Much more analysis of the event from Dan Froomkin]
[he's now qualifying this to say that he knew Rumseld was going but hadn't confirmed this with his intended successor]
2. An admission that the statement "However they put it, the Democrat approach comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses" was meaningless.
3. Said in the "you talking to me?" voice: "you think I'm nuts?"
4. A claim that the spinners are going to have to walk back very quickly, that because the Vietnam era army was a conscript army, the soldiers then didn't understand the stakes, but the all volunteer army in Iraq does.
5. Freudian slip -- "It's hard to win an election when you're trying to win a
[UPDATE: Much more analysis of the event from Dan Froomkin]
More medals of freedom
The first official action from the White House since the election losses is to announce the list of recipients of various honourary medals, to be awarded in a few days time. Among those on the list for National Humanities Medals--
The Hoover Institution (John Raisian, Senior Fellow and Director of the Hoover Institution, will accept the award on behalf of the Institution) - Palo Alto, CA
Bernard Lewis, Middle Eastern Studies Scholar - Princeton, NJ
This would be the Bernard Lewis who is the intellectual source of Bush's obsession with Osama Bin Laden's "strong horse" prescription for the reforming of the Middle East, and who predicted that an Iranian nuclear detonation would take place on 22nd August. And the full name of the institutional recipient is The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. Note the ordering.
The Hoover Institution (John Raisian, Senior Fellow and Director of the Hoover Institution, will accept the award on behalf of the Institution) - Palo Alto, CA
Bernard Lewis, Middle Eastern Studies Scholar - Princeton, NJ
This would be the Bernard Lewis who is the intellectual source of Bush's obsession with Osama Bin Laden's "strong horse" prescription for the reforming of the Middle East, and who predicted that an Iranian nuclear detonation would take place on 22nd August. And the full name of the institutional recipient is The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. Note the ordering.
In the wrong town
If Bono is going public with his concerns about Guantanamo Bay detentions, to the point of singling out a specific detainee, David Hicks, for mention before Sunday Bloody Sunday, shouldn't he be raising these concerns with George W. Bush and not with Australian PM John Howard?
Keeping it simple
In what looks like a pre-emptive attempt to package George Bush as a details man, his speechwriters have given some insights into his methodology for Wednesday's Wall Street Journal (subs' req'd) --
Mr. McGurn [lead speechwriter] says the president uses the "track changes" feature in Microsoft Word software to compare drafts of each address and ensure that the speechwriters are following his directions. Mr. Bush took a class on American oratory during his undergraduate years at Yale, and Mr. McGurn says the president is quick to point out perceived weaknesses in the drafts of his speeches.
Remember this is the man who doesn't use e-mail and refers to using "the Google," but it's always possible that he's directed all his computer skills into Word. Unfortunately it's unlikely that the iterations of these speeches will be preserved for historians to see.
Mr. McGurn [lead speechwriter] says the president uses the "track changes" feature in Microsoft Word software to compare drafts of each address and ensure that the speechwriters are following his directions. Mr. Bush took a class on American oratory during his undergraduate years at Yale, and Mr. McGurn says the president is quick to point out perceived weaknesses in the drafts of his speeches.
Remember this is the man who doesn't use e-mail and refers to using "the Google," but it's always possible that he's directed all his computer skills into Word. Unfortunately it's unlikely that the iterations of these speeches will be preserved for historians to see.
Monday, November 06, 2006
A Kurdish solution to a Kurdish problem
As part of a recent effort to repackage himself as a contrarian (perhaps in anticipation of 2 years of a Bush implosion), Christopher Hitchens uses his Slate column to argue against the death penalty for Saddam Hussein. While acknowledging that there are good arguments for execution even for those who generally oppose capital punishment, Hitch grounds his opposition in that of his heroes, the Kurds --
But the irony, if there is any, is actually the other way around. The elected president of Iraq, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, is opposed on principle to capital punishment .... he [deputy PM Barham Salih] told me that he hoped the new Iraq would abolish capital punishment "even when we capture Saddam Hussein." Like many leading Kurds, he had been influenced by discussions with Danielle Mitterrand, the widow of former French President François Mitterrand, who was a great friend of Kurdistan as well as a stern foe of capital punishment. The idea was that the new Iraq would begin life without the death penalty ... It is a shame that the Kurds were not part of the centerpiece of this trial, just as it is impressive that their leaders are the ones most in favor of magnanimity. And these, by the way, are the people that every liberal in the world is currently arguing that we should desert.
Regrettably for Hitch's romanticised view of the Kurds, it now turns out that the Saddam death warrant was in effect signed as part of the negotiations -- overseen by US Ambassador Zal Khalilzad -- that led to the formation of the unity (sic) government (sic) last Spring. The Associated Press has the details --
If the appeals court upholds the sentences, all three members of the Presidential Council — President Jalal Talabani and Vice Presidents Tariq al-Hashimi and Adil Abdul-Mahdi — must sign death warrants before executions can be carried out.
Talabani said Monday that although he opposes capital punishment, his signature is not needed to carry out Saddam's death sentence. Talabani, a Kurd, has permanently authorized Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, to sign on his behalf. Abdul-Mahdi has said he would sign Saddam's death warrant, meaning two of three signatures were assured.
Al-Hashimi, the other vice president and a Sunni, gave his word that he also would sign a Saddam death sentence as part of the deal under which he got the job April 22, according to witnesses at the meeting, which was attended by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.
"We wanted a written promise before the first meeting of the new parliament. But later and during a meeting in the presence of American and British ambassadors and other politicians, the promise became oral in which he vowed not to oppose important rules and laws — especially those related to Saddam," Deputy Parliament Speaker Khaled al-Attiyah told the AP.
Thus the approval of the death penalties handed down Sunday for Saddam, his half brother Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, chief of the Revolutionary Court, had been part of the pact under which al-Hashimi got one of two vice presidential posts.
Thus the Kurdish opposition to the death penalty only extended to "ethical subsidiarity" as the Europeans say, and the Sunnis only got slots in the government on condition that they agreed to it in advance -- in a deal brokered by the US. And there's still that strange business about why the verdict was announced before it was actually ready (see also here). Hitch still chooses not to realise the degree to which he's sucked in; there are not going to many noble interpretations of Iraq available, despite his best efforts.
UPDATE: It's odd that Tony Blair sounded so peeved about being asked whether he supported the Saddam verdict at his monthly news conference today, since as the report above notes, the British ambassador to Iraq was at the meetings the death penalty agreement was reached. Similarly, does Margaret Beckett understand what her ambassador apparently already knew last April? [Finally, here's a fresh AP link that has the same content regarding the signatures as the now dead link above]
But the irony, if there is any, is actually the other way around. The elected president of Iraq, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, is opposed on principle to capital punishment .... he [deputy PM Barham Salih] told me that he hoped the new Iraq would abolish capital punishment "even when we capture Saddam Hussein." Like many leading Kurds, he had been influenced by discussions with Danielle Mitterrand, the widow of former French President François Mitterrand, who was a great friend of Kurdistan as well as a stern foe of capital punishment. The idea was that the new Iraq would begin life without the death penalty ... It is a shame that the Kurds were not part of the centerpiece of this trial, just as it is impressive that their leaders are the ones most in favor of magnanimity. And these, by the way, are the people that every liberal in the world is currently arguing that we should desert.
Regrettably for Hitch's romanticised view of the Kurds, it now turns out that the Saddam death warrant was in effect signed as part of the negotiations -- overseen by US Ambassador Zal Khalilzad -- that led to the formation of the unity (sic) government (sic) last Spring. The Associated Press has the details --
If the appeals court upholds the sentences, all three members of the Presidential Council — President Jalal Talabani and Vice Presidents Tariq al-Hashimi and Adil Abdul-Mahdi — must sign death warrants before executions can be carried out.
Talabani said Monday that although he opposes capital punishment, his signature is not needed to carry out Saddam's death sentence. Talabani, a Kurd, has permanently authorized Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, to sign on his behalf. Abdul-Mahdi has said he would sign Saddam's death warrant, meaning two of three signatures were assured.
Al-Hashimi, the other vice president and a Sunni, gave his word that he also would sign a Saddam death sentence as part of the deal under which he got the job April 22, according to witnesses at the meeting, which was attended by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.
"We wanted a written promise before the first meeting of the new parliament. But later and during a meeting in the presence of American and British ambassadors and other politicians, the promise became oral in which he vowed not to oppose important rules and laws — especially those related to Saddam," Deputy Parliament Speaker Khaled al-Attiyah told the AP.
Thus the approval of the death penalties handed down Sunday for Saddam, his half brother Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, chief of the Revolutionary Court, had been part of the pact under which al-Hashimi got one of two vice presidential posts.
Thus the Kurdish opposition to the death penalty only extended to "ethical subsidiarity" as the Europeans say, and the Sunnis only got slots in the government on condition that they agreed to it in advance -- in a deal brokered by the US. And there's still that strange business about why the verdict was announced before it was actually ready (see also here). Hitch still chooses not to realise the degree to which he's sucked in; there are not going to many noble interpretations of Iraq available, despite his best efforts.
UPDATE: It's odd that Tony Blair sounded so peeved about being asked whether he supported the Saddam verdict at his monthly news conference today, since as the report above notes, the British ambassador to Iraq was at the meetings the death penalty agreement was reached. Similarly, does Margaret Beckett understand what her ambassador apparently already knew last April? [Finally, here's a fresh AP link that has the same content regarding the signatures as the now dead link above]
So the BBC is biased after all!
Against Liverpool anyway -- as this opening sentence reveals:
A fashion show featuring footballers' wives is to be one of the highlights of Liverpool's Capital of Culture year.
A fashion show featuring footballers' wives is to be one of the highlights of Liverpool's Capital of Culture year.
Creating his own metaphor
Pascal Lamy, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (which, through no fault of his, is about as effective as the "World Organisation" occasionally seen in Austin Powers films) ran the New York City Marathon yesterday. He finished in 3:50 which is not bad at all, although the average speed of 8.5 miles an hour is nicely representative of the pace of global trade talks.
Turn left in Bushland
Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds decided to turn the tables on his RTE Prime Time interviewers (due to air tomorrow night) and conduct his own interview (with Mrs Instapundit) of Mark Little and Ken O'Shea at a restaurant in Knoxville. The soundfile is here. For the most part it's a fairly standard interchange of the quite different political perspectives one would expect, as the RTE lads stayed politely sk(c)eptical about the War on Terror. Unfortunately, the perils of impromptu interviewing meant that Instapundit's memory drive got full just as Mark Little was on to an interesting rumination about the incomptability of Irish and immigrant Muslim culture.
Reynolds makes his most perceptive comment in his roundup at the end, noting that in a political environment described as having "no ideological battles" (as Irish politics had been described to him), it just means that one ideology has won but doesn't realise that there are still others out there. Anyway, worth a listen, especially for anyone who does watch the Prime Time counterpart.
Reynolds makes his most perceptive comment in his roundup at the end, noting that in a political environment described as having "no ideological battles" (as Irish politics had been described to him), it just means that one ideology has won but doesn't realise that there are still others out there. Anyway, worth a listen, especially for anyone who does watch the Prime Time counterpart.
It's a term of art
George Bush at a rally in Nebraska today, explaining his rationale for warrantless wiretaps --
And so I talked to the -- our phone boys, and I said, if they're calling in, if al Qaeda is making a phone call from outside the United States to inside, or if somebody affiliated with the enemy is making a phone call from outside to inside, we better understand why.
And so I talked to the -- our phone boys, and I said, if they're calling in, if al Qaeda is making a phone call from outside the United States to inside, or if somebody affiliated with the enemy is making a phone call from outside to inside, we better understand why.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Getting out the Supreme Court voters
Towards the end of a comprehensively delusional interview by Dick Cheney on ABC --
Q No, you don't think it's going to hold down turn-out [the Ted Haggard affair]. Are you worried about conservative turn-out? You worried about it crumbling?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: You always worry about turn-out. You always focus on it. And the key to our success, I think, both in 2000 and 2004 has been we had a first class turn-out operation.
To state the obvious: the 2000 election turned on the design of ballots in Palm Beach County, the decisions of the state official in charge of elections, Republican Katherine Harris, and the 5-4 decision of the US Supreme Court to select George Bush as President. If had depended on turn-out, Al Gore, who got more voters nationally and more voters in Florida who intended to vote for him, would have won.
[This is another example of the Right's bizarre amnesia about how recent elections have been decided. One possibility in the above is that Cheney meant to say 2002 and not 2000, but he said what he said]
Q No, you don't think it's going to hold down turn-out [the Ted Haggard affair]. Are you worried about conservative turn-out? You worried about it crumbling?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: You always worry about turn-out. You always focus on it. And the key to our success, I think, both in 2000 and 2004 has been we had a first class turn-out operation.
To state the obvious: the 2000 election turned on the design of ballots in Palm Beach County, the decisions of the state official in charge of elections, Republican Katherine Harris, and the 5-4 decision of the US Supreme Court to select George Bush as President. If had depended on turn-out, Al Gore, who got more voters nationally and more voters in Florida who intended to vote for him, would have won.
[This is another example of the Right's bizarre amnesia about how recent elections have been decided. One possibility in the above is that Cheney meant to say 2002 and not 2000, but he said what he said]
Saturday, November 04, 2006
More historic information
A bizarre claim today from Condoleezza Rice in an interview with Bloomberg News --
QUESTION: You mentioned stability and you mentioned chaos in that answer. The New York Times published a chart this past week, a Pentagon chart, which has stability on one side, chaos on the other side, and it shows a steady continuum in Iraq of it moving closer to chaos.
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I haven't seen that chart.
The chart -- circulated within the Pentagon, seen in the New York Times and from there seen all over the Internet, and the Secretary of State says she hasn't seen it?
She did tell a less incredible tale to Laura Ingraham, though --
You know, I wander around the White House a fair amount.
QUESTION: You mentioned stability and you mentioned chaos in that answer. The New York Times published a chart this past week, a Pentagon chart, which has stability on one side, chaos on the other side, and it shows a steady continuum in Iraq of it moving closer to chaos.
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I haven't seen that chart.
The chart -- circulated within the Pentagon, seen in the New York Times and from there seen all over the Internet, and the Secretary of State says she hasn't seen it?
She did tell a less incredible tale to Laura Ingraham, though --
You know, I wander around the White House a fair amount.
Gentlemen of blood and quality
The lesser-spotted sane Christopher Hitchens pops up in Saturday's Wall Street Journal (subs. req'd; alt. free link) to hint that, besides having genuinely botched a joke, John Kerry would have had a point had he actually made his alleged claim that the US troops in Iraq are disproportionately less well credentialed educationally. Hitchens accepted a challenge from conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt to give out his personal e-mail address on air to get what Hewitt believed would be a more representative selection of military e-mails critical of Kerry. So --
I have since had the chance to read about 500 or 600 messages. Almost all of them politely phrased (I exempt one from "the Riordan family" who evidently have not forgiven the long history of British depredation in Ireland) and almost all of them appending the list of college degrees as well as of medals and citations held, these letters show a very deep and interesting rift in which Mr. Kerry plays only a secondary part. Many of my respondents agreed that his words may not have meant or intended quite what they first seemed to mean, but they also felt that the klutziness was Freudian, so to speak, in that the senator's patrician contempt for grunts and dogfaces was bound to come out sooner or later.
One thing I already knew is confirmed -- there is a very great deal of class resentment in these United States. Another thing I wasn't so sure of is also confirmed -- James Webb in Virginia is right to stress the huge rage felt by those of Scots-Irish provenance who feel that they have born the heat and burden of the day in America's wars, and been rewarded with disdain.
Even my most relaxed soldier-correspondent from Iraq itself (a highly educated friend of faultlessly Irish extraction) confessed to a feeling of irritation at the few chances he had to meet Ivy League types in uniform.
Which hits several interesting points. It's over two years ago that we noted James Webb's account of the crucial role that the Scots-Irish played in staffing the US military from the very early days; it's interesting to look back at that now and see Webb in what was clearly, in retrospect, the beginnings of disillusionment with Republicans -- a path that now sees him as the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Virginia.
Anyway, Hitch's e-mail invitation seems to have attracted a more general cross-section of Irish-Americans, but probably not many members of the elite circle that George W. Bush moves in. It's also true that the media rarely pass up a chance to fete any Ivy Leaguer-in-uniform that they do come across; witness the excellent coverage that the Princeton-educated General David Petraeus can always get.
One final observation: with the Green Day video for Wake Me Up When September Ends, no one complained about the stereotypical depiction of a straight-out-of-school small-town teenager heading off to Iraq. Because it seemed realistic.
I have since had the chance to read about 500 or 600 messages. Almost all of them politely phrased (I exempt one from "the Riordan family" who evidently have not forgiven the long history of British depredation in Ireland) and almost all of them appending the list of college degrees as well as of medals and citations held, these letters show a very deep and interesting rift in which Mr. Kerry plays only a secondary part. Many of my respondents agreed that his words may not have meant or intended quite what they first seemed to mean, but they also felt that the klutziness was Freudian, so to speak, in that the senator's patrician contempt for grunts and dogfaces was bound to come out sooner or later.
One thing I already knew is confirmed -- there is a very great deal of class resentment in these United States. Another thing I wasn't so sure of is also confirmed -- James Webb in Virginia is right to stress the huge rage felt by those of Scots-Irish provenance who feel that they have born the heat and burden of the day in America's wars, and been rewarded with disdain.
Even my most relaxed soldier-correspondent from Iraq itself (a highly educated friend of faultlessly Irish extraction) confessed to a feeling of irritation at the few chances he had to meet Ivy League types in uniform.
Which hits several interesting points. It's over two years ago that we noted James Webb's account of the crucial role that the Scots-Irish played in staffing the US military from the very early days; it's interesting to look back at that now and see Webb in what was clearly, in retrospect, the beginnings of disillusionment with Republicans -- a path that now sees him as the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Virginia.
Anyway, Hitch's e-mail invitation seems to have attracted a more general cross-section of Irish-Americans, but probably not many members of the elite circle that George W. Bush moves in. It's also true that the media rarely pass up a chance to fete any Ivy Leaguer-in-uniform that they do come across; witness the excellent coverage that the Princeton-educated General David Petraeus can always get.
One final observation: with the Green Day video for Wake Me Up When September Ends, no one complained about the stereotypical depiction of a straight-out-of-school small-town teenager heading off to Iraq. Because it seemed realistic.
Friday, November 03, 2006
The new WMD
Today in Missouri, George Bush went into more length than usual about his frequent suggestion that the Iraq invasion really was about oil --
Imagine the radicals and extremists taking over a country, and they were able to pull millions of barrels of oil off the market, driving the price up to $300 or $400 a barrel, whatever it would be, and saying, okay, we'll reduce the price, all you've got to do is surrender. All you've got to do is abandon your alliance with Israel, and we'll lower the price. All you've got to do is retreat.
Three questions: Death and destruction in Iraq won't bring surrender but more expensive oil would? Osama would go to all that trouble just to be able to act like a cartel? And wouldn't he need Sunni fundamentalist extremists in charge of OPEC to do it? Oh, wait ...
UPDATE 6 NOVEMBER: Further analysis of this point via Dan Froomkin (scroll down to Blood and Oil).
Imagine the radicals and extremists taking over a country, and they were able to pull millions of barrels of oil off the market, driving the price up to $300 or $400 a barrel, whatever it would be, and saying, okay, we'll reduce the price, all you've got to do is surrender. All you've got to do is abandon your alliance with Israel, and we'll lower the price. All you've got to do is retreat.
Three questions: Death and destruction in Iraq won't bring surrender but more expensive oil would? Osama would go to all that trouble just to be able to act like a cartel? And wouldn't he need Sunni fundamentalist extremists in charge of OPEC to do it? Oh, wait ...
UPDATE 6 NOVEMBER: Further analysis of this point via Dan Froomkin (scroll down to Blood and Oil).
Not the meaning he intended
Powerline's "Hindrocket"
Is a vote for the Democrats a vote for the terrorists? No Republican would dare say such a thing, but the terrorists do.
Hindrocket's Messiah, George W. Bush:
However they put it, the Democrat approach comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses.
Is a vote for the Democrats a vote for the terrorists? No Republican would dare say such a thing, but the terrorists do.
Hindrocket's Messiah, George W. Bush:
However they put it, the Democrat approach comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses.
In his box
A bunch of warbloggers have today admitted that Saddam Hussein's regime spent the 1990s with the technical knowledge to construct a nuclear weapon, but was unable to implement it because of the constraints of UN sanctions.
UPDATE: Prime example of someone not seeing the logical implication of Saddam having the valuable information but not able to use it: Michael Ledeen. But thanks to efforts of people like him, the Iranians can now use it.
UPDATE: Prime example of someone not seeing the logical implication of Saddam having the valuable information but not able to use it: Michael Ledeen. But thanks to efforts of people like him, the Iranians can now use it.
The first mile
Is it possible to provide improved service to customers and extract hundreds of millions of euros for owners with a single corporate strategy? The claimed answer from Eircom's new Australian owners is Yes. Friday's Wall Street Journal (subs. req'd) has a detailed report on how the owners plan to extract value from the Irish telecoms market. Rather than the traditional approach to such companies, splitting the fixed line and mobile businesses (moot in Eircom's case anyway), Eircom is apparently proposing to split the business into a line network and a services network. The line network would own all the switching and wires and would sell usage of it to service providers.
It's at this point that the rationale gets tricky. Eircom is going to claim that this is a good deal for customers, because the line network could be split off and regulated to keep prices under control -- but also a good deal for them, because the market would value the line network more highly as a separate entity than it does at the moment. That value has to be coming from somewhere. The closest we get to an explanation is this --
Because Ireland has a relatively small population of about four million spread out over the island, it would be too expensive for any competitor to build a network reaching all the homes and offices, leaving Eircom with a monopoly. The company must share the network by leasing access to competitors and others such as Internet providers, but the system for doing that is clumsy and loses money and is a headache for regulators.
"We share, but we share begrudgingly," Mr. Topfer says. The answer, he says, is to hive off the network and regulate it like a utility. For the regulator, such an outcome would be "nirvana," he adds.
i.e. the network would be a monopoly but it would be a nice one because regulators wouldn't let it do any nasty stuff like jacking up the price for network access. Which is very questionable. The entire scheme of a separate hardware network selling access to providers sounds suspicously like the UK's Network Rail/Railtrack, generally recognised as a disaster. And it also sounds a lot like the deregulated power supply market in the US, in which the monopolistic aspects were supposed to be dealt with by these same omniscient regulators. In fact, the market seems to understand this potential for monopoly power quite well, hence the high value allegedly attached to a stand-alone network.
Speaking of power supply and regulators, is anyone in Dublin looking into why big chunks of the Poolbeg power station have been offline (subs. req'd) for nearly a year, given the role that strategic power station "maintenance" shutdowns played in driving up the price of electricity in California in 2000-01? Today the ESB, tomorrow Network Eircom?
It's at this point that the rationale gets tricky. Eircom is going to claim that this is a good deal for customers, because the line network could be split off and regulated to keep prices under control -- but also a good deal for them, because the market would value the line network more highly as a separate entity than it does at the moment. That value has to be coming from somewhere. The closest we get to an explanation is this --
Because Ireland has a relatively small population of about four million spread out over the island, it would be too expensive for any competitor to build a network reaching all the homes and offices, leaving Eircom with a monopoly. The company must share the network by leasing access to competitors and others such as Internet providers, but the system for doing that is clumsy and loses money and is a headache for regulators.
"We share, but we share begrudgingly," Mr. Topfer says. The answer, he says, is to hive off the network and regulate it like a utility. For the regulator, such an outcome would be "nirvana," he adds.
i.e. the network would be a monopoly but it would be a nice one because regulators wouldn't let it do any nasty stuff like jacking up the price for network access. Which is very questionable. The entire scheme of a separate hardware network selling access to providers sounds suspicously like the UK's Network Rail/Railtrack, generally recognised as a disaster. And it also sounds a lot like the deregulated power supply market in the US, in which the monopolistic aspects were supposed to be dealt with by these same omniscient regulators. In fact, the market seems to understand this potential for monopoly power quite well, hence the high value allegedly attached to a stand-alone network.
Speaking of power supply and regulators, is anyone in Dublin looking into why big chunks of the Poolbeg power station have been offline (subs. req'd) for nearly a year, given the role that strategic power station "maintenance" shutdowns played in driving up the price of electricity in California in 2000-01? Today the ESB, tomorrow Network Eircom?
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Yes, that's really his name
[BBC] Itai Pinkas, a member of Tel Aviv's city council and a gay community leader, told Israel's Haaretz newspaper the attack was a "malicious provocation".
Wish fulfillment
George Bush keeps using this line, so the focus groups must love it, but it's perhaps the most bizarre rationale of any offered for the Iraq war --
Oh, I hear them in Washington all the time saying Iraq is just a distraction from the war on terror. I don't believe it's a distraction. Our troops know it is not a distraction in the war on terror. And guess who else doesn't think it's a distraction? Osama bin Laden.
Oh, I hear them in Washington all the time saying Iraq is just a distraction from the war on terror. I don't believe it's a distraction. Our troops know it is not a distraction in the war on terror. And guess who else doesn't think it's a distraction? Osama bin Laden.
Soccer and rappers
We're not entirely sure what the mutual fascination is but here's more evidence:
[Manchester] United were paid a visit in their hotel on Tuesday night by P Diddy, the rap star who is due to appear at the MTV European Music Awards in Copenhagen this evening. He chatted with [Alex] Ferguson, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand for half an hour, the nature of his conversation with the United manager an intriguing thought.
[Manchester] United were paid a visit in their hotel on Tuesday night by P Diddy, the rap star who is due to appear at the MTV European Music Awards in Copenhagen this evening. He chatted with [Alex] Ferguson, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand for half an hour, the nature of his conversation with the United manager an intriguing thought.
Winds of change
One minor point of curiosity about P.W. Botha's funeral next week is whether the apparently immortal Ian Smith will show up.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
So who has to apologise?
From the Pentagon's website, a photo insight into a day in the lives of Iraqis (in Fallujah) and Americans.
Miseducation
Giving his two cents to the fake John Kerry "outrage" story, Victor Davis Hanson at National Review's The Corner notes --
It used to be that millionaire FDRs and JFKs felt sympathy for those of the lower classes and wished to ensure that the hoi polloi had some shot at the American dream.
Samples of VDH's bio:
Hanson was educated at the University of California, Santa Cruz (B.A. 1975), the American School of Classical Studies (1978–79) and received his Ph.D. in classics from Stanford University in 1980 ... Hanson was a full-time farmer before joining California State University, Fresno, in 1984 to initiate a classics program. In 1991 he was awarded an American Philological Association Excellence in Teaching Award, which is given yearly to the country's top undergraduate teachers of Greek and Latin..
All those credentials, and he commits this grammatical blunder?
Usage Note: Hoi polloi is a borrowing of the Greek phrase hoi polloi, consisting of hoi, meaning “the” and used before a plural, and polloi, the plural of polus, “many. ... Since the Greek phrase includes an article, some critics have argued that the phrase the hoi polloi is redundant.
Now, the above goes on to argue that it may be pedantic to criticise "the hoi polloi" -- but how could an academic and self-proclaimed expert in ancient Greece make that excuse?
UPDATE: In fairness to the Corner, John Derbyshire is doing a fine job of being the contrarian on the Kerry story.
It used to be that millionaire FDRs and JFKs felt sympathy for those of the lower classes and wished to ensure that the hoi polloi had some shot at the American dream.
Samples of VDH's bio:
Hanson was educated at the University of California, Santa Cruz (B.A. 1975), the American School of Classical Studies (1978–79) and received his Ph.D. in classics from Stanford University in 1980 ... Hanson was a full-time farmer before joining California State University, Fresno, in 1984 to initiate a classics program. In 1991 he was awarded an American Philological Association Excellence in Teaching Award, which is given yearly to the country's top undergraduate teachers of Greek and Latin..
All those credentials, and he commits this grammatical blunder?
Usage Note: Hoi polloi is a borrowing of the Greek phrase hoi polloi, consisting of hoi, meaning “the” and used before a plural, and polloi, the plural of polus, “many. ... Since the Greek phrase includes an article, some critics have argued that the phrase the hoi polloi is redundant.
Now, the above goes on to argue that it may be pedantic to criticise "the hoi polloi" -- but how could an academic and self-proclaimed expert in ancient Greece make that excuse?
UPDATE: In fairness to the Corner, John Derbyshire is doing a fine job of being the contrarian on the Kerry story.
Le monde, c'est moi
In a column that takes his self-parodic tendencies up to 11, Tom Friedman today (subs. req'd) inadvertently announces his retirement --
You know the old story, ''As my Parisian taxi driver said to me about the French elections '' Well, you can forget about reading columns starting that way anymore. My driver was too busy to say hello, let alone opine on politics.
We also can't let pass an insight into the music preferences of the Globalist-in-Chief --
After the car started to roll, I saw he had a movie playing on the screen in the dashboard -- on the flat panel that usually displays the G.P.S. road map. I noticed this because between his talking on the phone and the movie, I could barely concentrate. I, alas, was in the back seat trying to finish a column on my laptop. When I wrote all that I could, I got out my iPod and listened to a Stevie Nicks album, while he went on talking, driving and watching the movie.
With everyone now too busy to write Friedman's columns for him, could it have been Trouble in Shangri-La?
You know the old story, ''As my Parisian taxi driver said to me about the French elections '' Well, you can forget about reading columns starting that way anymore. My driver was too busy to say hello, let alone opine on politics.
We also can't let pass an insight into the music preferences of the Globalist-in-Chief --
After the car started to roll, I saw he had a movie playing on the screen in the dashboard -- on the flat panel that usually displays the G.P.S. road map. I noticed this because between his talking on the phone and the movie, I could barely concentrate. I, alas, was in the back seat trying to finish a column on my laptop. When I wrote all that I could, I got out my iPod and listened to a Stevie Nicks album, while he went on talking, driving and watching the movie.
With everyone now too busy to write Friedman's columns for him, could it have been Trouble in Shangri-La?
A different 5th of November
Seemingly unrelated corrections from the New York Times today --
A map with an article on Oct. 27 about motorists’ anger in Britain over cameras along the roads that help identify speeders incorrectly applied a shading to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that made them look as if they are not part of Britain.
The London Journal article yesterday, about the irritation with Halloween expressed by many Britons, misstated the nationality of Guy Fawkes, who was the perpetrator of a failed plot to blow up Parliament in 1605 and is the inspiration for a traditional fall holiday in Britain known as Bonfire Night. Fawkes was English, not Irish.
A map with an article on Oct. 27 about motorists’ anger in Britain over cameras along the roads that help identify speeders incorrectly applied a shading to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that made them look as if they are not part of Britain.
The London Journal article yesterday, about the irritation with Halloween expressed by many Britons, misstated the nationality of Guy Fawkes, who was the perpetrator of a failed plot to blow up Parliament in 1605 and is the inspiration for a traditional fall holiday in Britain known as Bonfire Night. Fawkes was English, not Irish.
Word from the wise
In the context of the latest phony outrage over words (in this case, from John Kerry), not needs or deeds, consider this Paul Krugman advice from 3 years ago --
Don't fall for political histrionics. I couldn't believe how much ink was spilled after the Gore-Dean event over Joe Lieberman's hurt feelings. Folks, we're talking about war, peace and the future of U.S. democracy — not about who takes whom to the prom.
Political operatives have become experts at manufacturing the appearance of outrage. In the last few weeks the usual suspects have been trying to paint Howard Dean's obviously heartfelt comments about his brother's death in Laos as some sort of insult to the military. We owe it to our readers not to fall for these tricks.
Don't fall for political histrionics. I couldn't believe how much ink was spilled after the Gore-Dean event over Joe Lieberman's hurt feelings. Folks, we're talking about war, peace and the future of U.S. democracy — not about who takes whom to the prom.
Political operatives have become experts at manufacturing the appearance of outrage. In the last few weeks the usual suspects have been trying to paint Howard Dean's obviously heartfelt comments about his brother's death in Laos as some sort of insult to the military. We owe it to our readers not to fall for these tricks.
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