July 30, 2004
Unified Convention, Unified Press
The theme at the Kerry convention seems to be Unity. All those happy, rainbow-colored faces, all in line with their candidate on every issue. No ranting speeches, no floor fights over obscure planks, no walkouts by Texas or Alaska over some slight by a controversial speaker. Never a discouraging word. Even Michael Moore was civil, at least on TV. In short the Democrats were behaving like Republicans. Right down to their four-square committment to the national defense.
Even Viet-Nam was in vogue.
And the press: did they call them on it? Did they note that their candidate was quite at odds with the Democrat base on issues like the military and terror? Did they seek out interviews with delegates who were miffed that no one was exposing Bush as a madman and/or a dictator from the podium. Did they comment on how beholden the party is to certain wildly over-represented groups (e.g. public employees unions and trial lawyers)? Nope. Nothing but hagiography and sycophantic "analysis", at least as far as the NY and LA Times had to report.
Drudge had more hard news each and every day than those two papers had all week combined.
Now, a pool: As the Republican convention approaches at the end of next month, how long will it take these same papers to turn over every Republican rock, seeking disaffected delegates and those seamy-side stories about this speaker or that? How long will it take before the obligatory "they're all rich, white and male" story graces the front page of both papers? How many reporters will they have scouring New York for some drunk reprobate delegate to quote at length? How soon until articles about how "lifelong Republicans" can't stomach President Bush.
Probably all that and more even before the convention starts.
July 29, 2004
Sharpton's History
According to AP, Al Sharpton claims that the reason African-Americans are Democrats is because:
...after the nation failed to deliver on Civil War-era promises of "40 acres and mule" to freed slaves, "we didn't get the mule so we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us."This a blood libel -- it was the Republicans that tried to get that "40 acres and a mule", not the pro-slavery Democratic Party
During the Reconstruction era, the freed slaves had much of the political power in the former Confederacy, supported by the Federal occupation. The Democrat Party not only opposed this, but their Southern members supported the "insurgents" (read KKK) that terrorised the black population and prevented full Democracy in the South for nearly 100 years. Eventually, after the close election of 1876, the Democrats prevailed and African-Americans were resubjugated.
Actually, the parallels here to Iraq and the anti-Bush Democrats are many, and Senator Byrd of West Virginia is pretty much the poster boy for this, being both anti-war and a former Klansman.
What is doubly annoying about this is that AP's reporter either doesn't know history or was unwilling to challenge such an august member of his own party.
July 21, 2004
Apollo 11
July 20, 1969 sometimes seems like the high point of the American can-do attitude. How far we came in only 8 years, and how little in the next 35.
And of course, the immigration form:
July 20, 2004
Those 14 Syrians
More on the Syrian airplane hijinks story at WWS.
Maybe I'm just dense (I'm on the Right, after all), but where does it say that you have to treat foreign nationals like you treat citizens? Especially when:
1) your country is at war.
2) they're from an unfriendly country.
3) our enemy recruits citizens of said unfriendly country.
4) they're behaving strangely in a way that reminds you exactly why we're at war.
Remember, we're not talking about discriminating against native-born Americans of Syrian extraction, we're talking about actual Syrians.
Conventions in High-Def
While the major TV networks are going to show little if any of the upcoming political conventions, HDNet (available on DirecTV and Dish plus selected cable systems), will be providing expanded coverage in high definition.
One more nail in old media's coffin. Now if they could just get a few bloggers to do the commentary...
Judge threatens to take control of CA prisons
According to Daniel Weintraub, Federal District Judge Thelton Henderson is upset by the new deal between the governor and the prison guard's union. The judge has issued several injunctions regarding conditions at state prisons in re Madrid v Gomez [889 F.Supp. 1146 (N.D. Cal. 1995)], and apparently finds that the governor's deal is outside the conditions of these injuctions. Accordingly, the judge is threatening to appoint a reciever to run the prisons, taking control away from the state Department of Corrections.
One should note that Senior Judge Henderson, a Boalt Hall graduate, was also the federal judge who found Prop 209 unconstitutional, and had to be overturned by the less-liberal 9th Circuit.
Now, I wonder: if the US District Court takes over running the state prisons, can the state just zero out that cost and let the feds pick it up? And if not, why not? Is this another example of a judge ordering a legislature to vote a particular way?
Note: Madrid doesn't seem to be available in the public database, but this incidental motion in the case made it to the 9th Circuit.
July 13, 2004
Ecoterrorists threaten millions
According to the Independent, bioengineered plants may offer the best chance to deliver cheap AIDS vaccines to the millions of people in the the third world -- particularly sub-Saharan Africa -- who are likely to die over the next 20 years from epidemic AIDS. But in the allegedly enlightened first world, "environmentalists" threaten to destroy any such experimental attempts. It's time to call these people for what they are: terrorists. Worse than that, perhaps, for they would doom millions for their cause. This isn't tree-hugging anymore. It's conspiracy to commit mass murder.
July 10, 2004
Kitten blogging
Proof that cats, or at least kittens, are Libertarian. Meet our new kitten, Leeloo. And yes, she climbed up there herself.
July 08, 2004
Genocide for Oil
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Sudan and the genocide going on in the south against the non-Arab population can be found in this report from the Human Rights Watch. Probably far more than you ever wanted to know, actually.
Far too much to summarize, except to note that over the past 20 years, the government of Sudan, with the collusion of oil companies from Sweden, France and China, have been systematically ridding the southern oil fields of the indiginous population, by any means necessary.
No US firms operate in the Sudan.
Protecting our youth?
If only the problem with youth gangs was that they were spending too much time with computers. But apparently the LA City Council thinks this is a real threat, as this article in the computer-industry rumour-mag The Inquirer reports. It seems there are now stiff requirements on when minors may frequent LA's Internet Cafes, and all premises must be monitored by camera.
July 06, 2004
"Blame W"
(to the tune of Blame Canada, of course)
Times have changed, the world is getting worse.
Planes fly into tall buildings, North Korea's getting nukes!
Should we blame the terrorists?
Or blame the Taliban?
Or should we blame dictators like Saddam?
No! Blame W! Blame W!
With all his dirty little schemes and flapping mouth so full of lies!
Blame W! Blame W!
We need to end this evil reign.
W's insane!
Don't blame me for my son Jack.
He joined the damn army and now he's off to save Iraq.
And my boy Andrew once had Che's poster on his wall,
But now he's got a blog and speaks ill of Teddy Rall.
Well? Blame W! Blame W!
It seems that everything's gone wrong since W came along.
Blame W! Blame W!
He's not even the President anyway.
Al would'a been President, if they counted all the votes.
Instead he's making speeches while that evil bastard gloats.
Should we blame Osama? Should we blame the FBI?
Or the politicians who fired all our spies?
Heck no! Blame W! Blame W!
With all his stupid "Bring 'em On"
He sounds like Hitler's son.
Blame W! Shame on W!
For the troops we must cut,
France we must appease,
And Haliburton's greed must be shown.
We must blame them and cause a fuss
Before somebody thinks of blaming us!
July 05, 2004
Chronic Perspective Loss
Ted Rall writes:
Saddam Hussein, influenced by fascism, ordered the deaths of tens of thousands of people, fought two disastrous wars, turned his nation into an international pariah and ruined his country's economy.Isn't there somewhere we can send Ted? North Korea? Thugistan? Some fine country in Central Africa? The man has the worst case of CPL I've ever seen.
In other words, his record is identical to George W. Bush's.
As we saw at his "arraignment" before a U.S.-picked Iraqi puppet tribunal last week, however, there is a difference between the two men. Hussein is much smarter, funnier and more erudite than Bush. When Saddam pointed out that Bush was the real criminal, who could argue? He even managed to defend the invasion of Kuwait! So why not swap them out? We get Saddam Hussein as our president; the Iraqis get Bush. Consider the benefits: we get gargantuan statues and a leader capable of using language--think how fast he'll solve the Palestinian issue! and they get, well, the guy who's really in charge anyway.
(via a small victory)
July 04, 2004
Rhonda Miller Case Dismissed
Remember Rhonda Miller? The lady who accused Arnold of groping just before the recall election, and who was momentarily confused with a prosititute of the same name? She sued Schwarzenegger over an email from his campaign that had the confused information in it, claiming that she was a private person, libeled out of the blue by a mean-spirited politician.
Well, as expected, a judge ruled Friday that, due to her high-profile comments during an election campaign, she was momentarily a public figure and as such must tolerate a certain level of abuse. Something about kitchens and heat.
This is of some note, as several bloggers in CA posted the allegedly incorrect information and were searched for the term Rhonda Miller fairly often back then. It sure did look for a moment that Miller and her attorney, Gloria Allred, might decide to sue anyone who communicated the error. Doesn't look like that's going to happen now.
July 01, 2004
Bumper Sticker Watch
How long will it be before the "FREE SADDAM" bumper stickers appear? After all, Hussein's insistance that
"This is all a theatre. The real villain is Bush."closely tracks what the anti-war Left has been saying all along. It's but a mild step to the point where the Left drops its "Saddam was bad, but..." throatclearings and whole-heartedly portrays Saddam as yet another victim of the ruthless fascists that rule Amerika. You know, like Mumia.