Judy Smith: Politics and War

Mon, 16 May 2005 22:39:48 GMT

CNN — Permalink

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan were skeptical after a U.S. magazine backed away from a report that U.S. interrogators desecrated copies of the Quran while questioning prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Read remarks from TheAnchoress, Jan Haugland, Steve M., and Marc @USSNeverdock. [memeorandum]

Mon, 16 May 2005 22:39:22 GMT

The Illusion of 'Managing' China.

By Robert Kagan / WaPo — Permalink

There has been much disc ussion recently about how to "manage the rise of China." The phrase itself is soothing, implying gradualism, predictability and time. Time enough to think and prepare, to take measurements of China's trajectory and adjust as necessary.

Read remarks from Dale Franks, DJ Drummond, Stanley Kurtz, and Matthew Yglesias. [memeorandum]

Mon, 16 May 2005 22:39:06 GMT

Newsweek Apologizes.

WaPo — Permalink

But critics are already pouncing on the story as the latest in a high-profile series of media blunders at such respected news organizations as the New York Times, USA Today and CBS News. In this case, the consequences — deadly riots — were far more serious than a breach of journalistic ethics.

Read remarks from Red @ScaredMonkeys, Glenn Reynolds, Gerry @DalyThoughts, and Michelle Malkin. [memeorandum]

So, we have the MSM (not really the MSM but those magazine people fronting for authors (well, of a sort) with information that doesn't followup the two sources smell test... 15 people dead in riots over this? isn't this why we have journalistic standards in the first place?

Wed, 11 May 2005 23:22:44 GMT

MoveOn.org's Latest Flash Campaign. While I may have mixed feelings about the President's Social Security "plan", I can certainly admire good Flash animation when I see it. MoveOn.org has been sponsoring another contest of late and drawn another huge number of Flash-based entries. The winner, featuring original music and some very simple but incredibly smooth animations is Brain Frieze]

Wed, 11 May 2005 23:01:10 GMT

Pastor Accused of Running Out Dems Quits.

AP — Permalink

(AP) — A Baptist preacher accused of running out nine congregants who disagreed with his Republican politics resigned Tuesday, two days after calling the issue ''a great misunderstanding.''

Read remarks from TChris, Steve Soto, Steve M., Avedon Carol, Tully @Centerfield, and James Joyner. [memeorandum]

Wed, 11 May 2005 22:58:06 GMT

Ridge reveals clashes on alerts.

By Mimi Hall / USA Today — Permalink

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.

Read remarks from Steve Soto, Kevin Drum, Attaturk, and Taegan Goddard. [memeorandum]

Wed, 11 May 2005 22:47:50 GMT

Why shouldn't we apologize for Yalta?.

By Jonah Goldberg / Townhall.com — Permalink

This week, while touring the remnants of the former Soviet Union on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, President Bush gave perhaps the greatest diplomatic performance of his career, balancing a host of moral and strategic interests simultaneously.

Read remarks from S.Z., Betsy Newmark, Mike Rappaport, and Orrin Judd. [memeorandum]

Fri, 06 May 2005 01:14:25 GMT

Why I'm Rooting Against the Religious Right.

By Christopher Hitchens / Opinion Journal — Permalink

I hope and believe that, by identifying itself with "faith" in general and the Ten Commandments in particular, a runaway element in the Republican leadership has made a career-ending mistake. In support of this, let me quote two authorities:

Read remarks from James Joyner, Ed Cone, Ann Althouse, Roger Ailes, and Dean Esmay. [memeorandum]

Fri, 06 May 2005 00:53:56 GMT

The Christian Complex.

By George F. Will / WaPo — Permalink

The state of America's political discourse is such that the president has felt it necessary to declare that unbelievers can be good Americans. In last week's prime-time news conference, he said: "If you choose not to worship, you're equally as patriotic as somebody who does worship."

Update: Discussion on this article has expanded. Read remarks from James Joyner, Tbogg, Sam Rosenfeld, John Cole, Josh Chafetz, Glenn Reynolds, Chris Mooney, and Atrios. [memeorandum]

Fri, 06 May 2005 00:40:17 GMT

Col. David. H. Hackworth, 1930-2005

SFTT Washingt....

Col. David. H. Hackworth, 1930-2005

SFTT

Washington, D.C., May 5, 2005 â€“ Col. David H. Hackworth, the United States Army's legendary, highly decorated guerrilla fighter and lifelong champion of the doughboy and dogface, ground-pounder and grunt, died Wednesday in Mexico. He was 74 years old. The cause of death was a form of cancer now appearing with increasing frequency among Vietnam veterans exposed to the defoliants called Agents Orange and Blue.

Col. Hackworth spent more than half a century on the country's hottest battlefields, first as a soldier, then as a writer, war correspondent and sharp-eyed critic of the Military-Industrial Complex and ticket-punching generals he dismissed as "Perfumed Princes."

...With Gen. S.L.A. "Slam" Marshall, he surveyed the war's early mayhem and compiled the Army's experience into The Vietnam Primer, a bible on a style of unconventional counter-guerrilla tactics he called "out gee-ing the G." His finest moment came when he applied these tactics, taking the hopeless 4/39 Infantry Battalion in the Mekong Delta, turning it into the legendary Hardcore Battalion. The men of the demoralized outfit saw him at first as a crazy "lifer" out to get them killed. For a time they even put a price on his head and waited for the first grunt to frag him.

Within 10 weeks, the fiery young combat leader had so transformed the 4/39 that it was routing main force enemy units. He led from the front, at one point getting out on the strut of a helicopter, landing on top of an enemy position and hauling to safety the point elements of a company pinned down and facing certain death. Thirty years later, the grateful enlisted men and young officers of the 4/39, now grown old, are still urging the Pentagon to award him the Medal of Honor for this action. So far, the Army has refused.

By null. [^âˆžFouroboros]

Wed, 04 May 2005 22:58:58 GMT

Judge Rejects Lynndie England's Guilty Plea. A military judge has thrown out the guilty plea entered by Lynndie England two days ago. England is the Army private who was prominent in some of the first pictures of U.S. troops abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. The judge says he is not convinced England knew that what she was doing was wrong. [NPR Programs: All Things Considered]

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 20:01:22 GMT

Bloodied Marines Sound Off About Want of Armor and Men. Marine leaders and infantrymen of a unit that sustained heavy losses say a lack of armor and manpower hampered their efforts. By By MICHAEL MOSS. [NYT > Home Page]

Wed, 13 Apr 2005 22:11:07 GMT

Ricin case sparks asylum concerns. Fears are raised about false passports and asylum abuses as a man is found guilty of plotting to spread ricin in the UK. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Fri, 08 Apr 2005 00:19:45 GMT

Was the Schiavo memo a fake?.

Washington Times — Permalink

All 55 Republican senators say they have never seen the Terri Schiavo political talking-points memo that Democrats say was circulated among Republicans during the floor debate over whether the federal government should intervene to prolong her life.

Read remarks from Lorie Byrd, Deacon, The Big Trunk, and Betsy Newmark. [memeorandum]

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 23:49:02 GMT

The Internet and Campaign 2004. The Internet and Campaign 2004 [Pew Internet and American Life Project: Front Page]

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 02:36:37 GMT

You've Come the Wrong Way, Baby. Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy says more women won't be chosen to head companies until they're given the "high-impact" jobs that matter [BusinessWeek Online -- Top News]

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 22:19:36 GMT

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGBAD264Q6E.html

so this is one of those stories that I really, really hope is not true.
Deputies: Man Tried to Steal Gun to "rescue Terri Schiavo"
The Associated Press
Published: Mar 25, 2005

SEMINOLE, Fla. (AP) - A man was arrested after trying to steal a weapon from a gun shop so he could "take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo," authorities said.

Michael W. Mitchell, of Rockford, Ill., entered Randall's Firearms Inc. in Seminole just before 6 p.m. Thursday with a box cutter and tried to steal a gun, said Marianne Pasha, a spokeswoman for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

Mitchell, 50, told deputies he wanted to "take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo" after he visited the Pinellas Park hospice where she lives, Pasha said.

The feeding tube that has kept Schiavo alive for more than a decade was removed March 18 over objections from her parents. Schiavo's husband has said his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially.

Doctors have said she would probably die within a week or two of the tube being pulled.

Randy McKenzie, the owner of Randall's Firearms, said Mitchell pulled out the box cutter and broke the glass on a couple of display cases.

"He told me if I wasn't on Terri's side then I wasn't on God's side, either," McKenzie told The Associated Press.

McKenzie said he then pointed his own gun at Mitchell and ordered him to lie on the ground. But Mitchell fled out the store's back door before police arrived, he said.

Mitchell was later arrested in a parking lot and was scheduled to appear in court Friday. He was being held on $125,000 bond on charges of attempted armed robbery, aggravated assault and criminal mischief, officials said.

It was not known if he had a lawyer.

Seminole is about 5 miles west of Pinellas Park.

AP-ES-03-25-05 0309EST

Sat, 19 Mar 2005 14:35:24 GMT

Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid - Justin Blum, Washington Post. Hundreds of times a day, hackers try to slip past cyber-security into the computer network of Constellation Energy Group Inc., a Baltimore power company with customers around the country. "We have no discernable way of knowing who is trying to hit our sys [Techno-News Blog]

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 13:39:43 GMT

Fake News, Courtesy of the US Government (Again) [Edu_RSS]

This fake news thing can really blow up on anyone who has a need to communicate a and be considered credible by the customer. On the other hand, this might just be one more nail in the coffin to get companies to do what is coming anyway.. get out of the message buzz biz and into providing a "place" (or multiple places) where customers can get info from each other.

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 12:43:55 GMT

U.S. Lists Possible Terror Attacks and Likely Toll. The Department of Homeland Security has identified a dozen possible strikes it views as most plausible or devastating. By By ERIC LIPTON. [NYT > Home Page]

Tue, 15 Mar 2005 15:47:03 GMT

The $600 Billion Man.

By Paul Krugman / NYT — Permalink

The argument over Social Security privatization isn't about rival views on how to secure the program's future - even the administration admits that private accounts would do nothing to help the system's finances. It's a debate about what kind of society America should be.

Read remarks from Brad DeLong, Atrios, Chris Andersen, and The Farmer. [memeorandum]

Tue, 15 Mar 2005 00:28:05 GMT

A savvier breed of missionary student [Edu_RSS]

Sun, 13 Mar 2005 22:05:17 GMT

Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant.

Times of London — Permalink

ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme.
The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave "initial authorisation" for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert.

Read remarks from Roger L. Simon, Patrick, Betsy Newmark, and Orrin Judd. [memeorandum]

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 01:29:21 GMT

'Rendition' Realities.

By David Ignatius / WaPo — Permalink

Torture is immoral and illegal, and the refusal to allow cruel interrogation techniques is one measure of a civilized society. But this ironclad moral argument doesn't necessarily apply to the practice known as "extraordinary rendition."

Read remarks from Dale Franks, Barbara O'Brien, Laura Rozen, and Cori Dauber. [memeorandum]

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 01:28:08 GMT

U.N. May Need Bolton's Bitter Medicine.

By Jacob Heilbrunn / LAT — Permalink

President Bush's nomination of neoconservative pit bull John R. Bolton to become ambassador to the United Nations is raising red flags among liberals.
"Bush gives the U.N. the finger," complained the Nation's David Corn.
Bolton has made no secret of his disdain for the U.N.

Read remarks from Charles Johnson, Pejman Yousefzadeh, James Joyner, and Orrin Judd. [memeorandum]