September 30, 2004

Treblinka Square

Perhaps the most peculiar slip of the first presidential debate of 2004 was when Kerry referred to Lubyanka Square (the former KGB headquarters in Moscow) as Treblinka Square, confusing the prison made famous by Sozhenitsyn and Arthur Koestler, among others, with the even more murderous Nazi concentration camp. Why this error? Those of us with a quasi-Freudian turn of mind might wonder if it has something to do with that sudden "discovery" by Kerry of his Jewish roots. The Senator, like Madeleine Albright, "stumbled" on his grandfather's Jewish background (both were Czech incidentally) quite late in life, indicating either a rather remarkable lack of curiosity or something worse, deliberate obfuscation. I frankly suspect the latter because Kerry has a record of this, having participated, to some degree or other, also in the pretence that he was Irish-American. (Christmas in Cambodia anyone?)

Being Jewish, of course, I find the denial of the Jewish roots particularly disturbing. Hiding your ancestry has always meant to me an acquiescence to racism, a kind of Stockholm Syndrome in advance. When I first heard about it in Kerry's case some time ago, I knew I could never support the man. And now we have this odd reference to Treblinka, like something buried trying to get out.

I have been wrestling with another question related in some way. Now that it is 2004 and I am a man of sixty, I have been trying to understand the real meaning of what happened in 1968. After all, I was a participant in those events, as much as John Kerry, perhaps more. One of the things that has always struck me is how many leaders of the Generation of 68 were Jewish, not just the likes of Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg and Jerry Rubin here, but abroad as well. Daniel Cohn-Bendit was arguably the most famous figure of May 68 in Paris. But here's the thing about the year 1968 looked at from the perspective of 2004, 36 years later. 1968 was only 23 years after the liberation of Auschwitz. In history, but a minute. Doesn't that give you chills? It does me. I'm trying to understand it. Were these people (was I?) running away from some unspeakable horror into a world of sex, drugs and rock and roll? Who could blame them?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:01 PM
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The Most Important Comment of the Debate

Almost everything on both sides was old news except that Kerry pronouncement that he opposes the US working on bunker busting nuclear weapons. Somehow I had missed that in the campaign so far. Of course these weapons are one of the key means of destroying underground nuclear installations built by rogue states like Iran. This should be brought out into the open and emphasized by the Bush campaign.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:10 PM
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Live Debate II

Chris Wallace: "Let's get ready to rumble."

At the outset, the whole event seems fake. Six or seven minutes in it all seems like blablabla.

When Kerry says that Iraq was not a center of the War on Terror it is hard to take him seriously as a man as anything but a liar. He's read the history and is no doubt aware of Abu Nidal, Zarqawi, etc.... of Saddam's relations with Al Qaeda in the Sudan and so forth. Frankly, I can't stand Kerry and can't be an unbiased reporter. Some people in the MSM must feel the same way about Bush. This is instructive to me - writing a moment to moment description. You can't keep your feelings out of it. Unbiased reporting is about as possible flying to the moon with a Piper Cub.

Bush just made an excellent case for the importance of a free Iraq. KErry has nothing to say to our troops. He is also pompous when he talks about the soldiers speaking to him. It sounds like it's about Kerry. He's no Clinton who is able to pull personal stuff off. This man is a stiff - again at least to me. Now he's talking about his going on "missions." Yecch!

Wait a minute... now Iraq was NOT a mistake according to KErry. He's flip flopping before our eyes.

Sheryl says Bush looks disgusted. I don't blame him. How will the public react?

This debate is actually quite boring. Both men just repeat themselves.

Does Kerry put me to sleep because I don't like him or does he just put me to sleep? The Zen koan for this debate.

I just couldn't understand Kerry's plan. Someone emailed me the obvious which I imagien most readers of this blog already know, that the original WTC attack in 93 had Iraqi connections. This effort to separate Irag from the WoT is tendentious bs.

BTW, Lehrer is deadly dull questioner. Not specific at all. Why no questions of Iran?

The question of the evening is how many people are still listening. Maybe Drudge will tell us tomorrow.

Now KErry is lying about Iran to such a degree I find it stupendous. He is telling us that Europe is leading the way. That is a bald-faced lie. Shame on him on this important issue.

Kerry just got caught mixing up plutonium and enriched uranium.

He continues to LIE about Iran. The Euros have a totally different interest in Iran. They are getting cheap oil for Iran via a deal they make with Khomeini. Maybe KErry wants to join in.

Overall, Kerry has drawn no blood tonight and he is the one who had to.

"I have never wavered in my life," John Kerry.

Good news for the mullahs: Kerry opposes the US developing bunker busting nuclear weapons.

Is it just me or does Bush actually seem to be more informed than Kerry?

Which side is Kerry on? I thought he wanted to strengthen our alliances. Now he wants to break our alliance with Putin. He prefers Chirac, I suppose.

In his concluding statement, Kerry kept referring to his plan for Iraq - but was it? I still don't know other than enlisting our allies from Oil-for-Food.

In the Fox post show, I'm agreeing with Mort Kondracke that a lot of people may have turned away for the football game.

Who won? Beats me. We'll let the pollsters tell us. Did anyone who is aware of the issues learn anything? Hardly.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:53 PM
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Live Blogging the Debate....

I just got off Hugh Hewitt. He's more concerned than I am with the Kerry suntan issue. Franky, that's between Kerry and his dermatologist, as far as I'm concerned. On the other hand, Hugh's point that this and the manicure are an indication of an effete character, well I see his point. Okay, Kerry's a metrosexual, whatever that means. But is he a metrosexual for me, as John Osborne would put it? I doubt it.

More interesting to me was the gossip the Lileks and all the Northern Alliance/ Power Line crowd were up there in Minneapolis knocking down shooters one for one every time Kerry mentioned (would mention, I mean) Halliburton. They could end up on the floor. No live debate bloggin for them!

But here's the Big Question - will there be more bloggers or readers? Considering the number of bloggers expected to engage in this stunt... er, process... I can't give the answer. Time to pour a good Central California Malbec and settle in. [What're you? Some kind of yuppie?--ed.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:32 PM
Comments (3)

MARKETING SURVEY COMPLETED

My great thanks to the over 5100 people who participated in the survey that ran here for the last few days. We will publish the results next week. [Don't you want to delete all the insults first?-ed. Okay, make that two weeks.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:37 PM

California is Injun' Country (ka-ching!)

My buddy Marc Cooper, the polar opposite, if there ever were one, of Gary Bauer has a cover story on the same subject as Gary - Indian gaming - in the new LA Weekly: Tribal Warfare. And in case you think you've had enough of the topic, Arnold's in it. We never get enough of Arnold, do we?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:55 PM
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Beware of the Spin Doctors (Who me?)

I will be joining some other bloggers... don't know who yet... on Hugh Hewitt's Show this afternoon at 5:30 PDT for a presidential debate warm up just before "game time". I'll update who the others are if I find out. You can listen in via Internet here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:28 PM
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Anti-Blog Vaccine?

Britain's Guardian has asked Glenn Reynolds to do a weekly column in the run-up to the election. Is this an inoculation against blog attacks? Given what's recently happened to CBS, you couldn't blame them. And maybe there's a little of that in this case. Cooptation, after all, is one of the oldest and most successful strategies. Still, it's great to see Glenn giving a lesson in Jacksonianism to the smart set in Chelsea. They need it. I'll be watching these columns as they go along. And the reaction to them, particularly across The Pond. Maybe our frequent commenter PeterUK can keep us apprised.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:03 AM
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Is today's carnage in Iraq...

... timed for the debate tonight? It's hard to know, but it's far from impossible. We do know, the terror mongers have tried to influence elections before, in the very recent past and with regrettable success. This particular outrage once again defines them as child murderers. We saw that before only a few weeks ago. I don't know about the rest of you, but this only stiffens my resolve! (Yes, I do. It's obvious most of the people on this site are on the side of the angels. But still, what a way to wake up in the morning!)

UPDATE: Speaking of those on the side of the angels, don't miss the new reports by Greyhawk, now in Iraq. His wife informs me that this site is among several weblogs over there being blocked by Websense. We're looking into it. [Do they think it's porn?-ed. We could use a little.]

MORE: Websense has lifted the ban. That was quick. Good for them.

AND MOST IMPORTANT: We share the grief with Omar and his family.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:18 AM
Comments (51)

September 29, 2004

Coco Chanel or Coco Puffs?

BeldarBlog - rapidly rising to the top of my list or near - has been doing some in-depth research on the latest CBS/draft nonsense.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:52 PM
Comments (16)

It's Only Rock and Roll!

The National Post has an interesting update on the Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam controversy. As you will recall, the onetime troubadour was recently sent home en route to the USA for possible terror connections, which he denies.

Yusuf Islam, the British singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, was the guest of honour at a Toronto fundraising dinner hosted by an organization that has since been identified by the Canadian government as a "front" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

In a videotape of the 1998 event obtained by the National Post, Mr. Islam describes Israel as a "so-called new society" created by a "so-called religion" and urges the audience to donate to the Jerusalem Fund for Human Services to "lessen the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Palestine and the Holy Land."

From now on I'll refer to Cat as a "so-called human."... More here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:04 PM
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Dept. of Old Habits Die Hard

My own included. But I found myself nodding my head as I read Jeff Jacoby's op-ed "Bush, Kerry, and the Jewish vote" in today's Boston Globe:

For countless American Jews, loyalty to the Democratic ticket is as automatic as breathing. The roots of that loyalty run deep. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, waves of Jewish immigrants from Europe, where the most anti-Semitic elements of society were often the most conservative, brought with them an intense aversion to right-wing politics - and an appreciation for the left, which they associated with emancipation and equality. Those attitudes were intensified during World War II, when the most lethal enemy in Jewish history was ultimately destroyed by an alliance led by a liberal Democrat named Franklin Roosevelt.

But America in 2004 is very different from the America of 50 or 100 years ago. American Jews owe it to themselves to base their political loyalty on something stronger than force of habit. Those who vote for Democrats (or against Republicans) because that's what their parents and grandparents did ought to take a closer look: When it comes to the issues they care about most, their loyalty may be misplaced.

Jacoby has a lot more to say, of course noting the obvious that for some Jews domestic issues like abortion and the environment trump foreign policy. Maybe when those people say "Never again!" they're talking about gas lines.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:21 PM
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I Can't Believe I'm Agreeing with Gary Bauer

And I don't on a whole host of matters. But his new article on Indian gaming is more than worth reading. Something's definitely wrong here. But of course if we start to restrict this boondoogle, these people will lose an important subject for satire. (If you haven't seen the episode, it was hilarious.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:49 PM
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TypeKey Problem Update

For those experiencing login problems with TypeKey, we are in the process of upgrading to Movable Type 3.1, which I am told should fix this.

UPDATE: As of 8:40 AM PDT Thurs. upgrade has not been done. Will be done later Thurs, I am told. The Management is frantic. [Who is the Management?-ed Oh, gimme a break.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:11 PM
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It Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady Sings

Many have written lately that Intifada II is over. Sharon's strategy - the security fence cum severe retaliation against terrorists - does seem to be working (and it's obvious the Pentagon has taken note), but it will be a long time before anyone can really say "Mission Accomplished!" Today's rocket attack by Palestinian psychotics, evil-doers, etc., (fill in the blanks) is a case in point. [What? No "insurgents"?-ed.] Firing from inside Gaza, they apparently scored a direct hit on a school yard. Good job, guys. How to strike a blow for a Palestinian State!

A Kassam rocket hit a path between two houses in the southern town of Sderot Wednesday afternoon killing two children, aged four and five.

Still, apparently some Palestinians are seeing the light. Let's hope for more.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:46 AM
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Revolution in Iran or...

... wishful thinking? I have a suspicion it's the latter, but want to believe the former. FREE IRAN is more optimistic, as they should be.

(Of course, who would have believed a bunch of bloggers could have forced a retreaction from a major American television network?)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:10 AM
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Look Down, Mr. Dvorkin

In his otherwise decent apologia pro vita NPR regarding blogs, NPR's ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin asks:

Third, while the bloggers will make life uncomfortable for the media, ultimately, it is a sign of a healthy democratic give-and take. A question for the bloggers is, "what are your standards? How can the rest of us know that your sources are reliable?"

Bloggers must be as accountable to the public as they demand the rest of us must be. That means there should be some consequence for spreading false or partial information. Any thoughts on what those consequences might be would be a useful discussion.

Well, Mr. Dvorkin, at the bottom of this post you will see a comments section. It is open, far more open than anything at NPR. If I make an error, I usually know about it in minutes - as do my readers. I have to correct it or I seem like an idiot or worse (a liar). My reputation, which is also available to you by clicking "about," is badly besmirched. So there you go. Your question is answered. Your turn.

UPDATE: Steve Verdon offers more food-for-thought for Mr. Dvorkin.

MORE: I call your attention to the thoughts of Frederick in the comments.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:28 AM
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Who Cares What the Networks Think?

The already discredited television networks are sticking their biased noses in the debate plans:

Although the Bush and Kerry camps have meticulously crafted an agreement on the rules for this year's presidential debates, the television networks broadcasting them refuse to go along with the plans.

Specifically, the networks object to provisions in the agreement that place limits on their cameras, including prohibitions on shots of one candidate while the other is answering questions.

The candidates are right here. The camera can be the nastiest and most distorting of editors. We've known that for almost a hundred years. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the Russian director Alexander Dovzhenko broke the rules of continuity editing to show how emotions can be manipulated through image juxtaposition. Later, the French auteur theorists spoke of "le camera stylo" - the camera as pen. [Aren't you going a little over the heads of these network execs? They don't have the background of you bloggers.-ed. Sorry. Forgot.]

Anyway, my real point is that the debates should not be shown on the networks. They should be on CSPAN only where an attempt, at least, can be made for impartiality (with the camera, it's difficult). Then all the networks could chime in afterwards to tell us unwashed what to think. This would also have the bonus effect of alerting many to CSPAN who were not already aware of it. It's an American treasure.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:51 AM
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September 28, 2004

They Did It Again!

After making buffoons of themselves over the National Guard forgeries, CBS is apparently now promulgating yet more phony documents, according to Ratherbiased , this time to promote an already discredited draft hoax. You remember - it's the one that says the Bush Administration is secretly preparing to bring back the draft (secretly even to them, because this administration, like it or not, has staked its entire reputation on the volunteer army). A week ago I blogged about this fraud, but very briefly, thinking only a fool would believe the email posted here and that serious news outlets would never pick up this kind of nonsense. Wrong again. Never underestimate the partisan illiteracy of CBS... or the ability of their allies to regurgitate their lies.

Now let's get down to something even more serious. I used to think the job of the blogs was to criticize these media folks, be their online editors. But it seems they really don't care about the truth. I know that seems an extreme statement, but think about. Everything seems to be about protecting their position. And CBS isn't the only one. The nearly uniform disrespect for blogs and the trashing of the reputation of bloggers throughout the mainstream media over the last week is not coincidental. Many are threatened. We are making a revolution here, but as with many revolutionaries we are caught up in the swim of events, unsure what to do. Everything is happening very fast. You, our readers, are our anchors - help us, correct us and support us.

MEANWHILE: Barbra wonders "Where is Our Free Press?" [She could buy one herself, if she's so worried bout it.-ed. Or two or three.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:28 PM
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"Michael Moore Hates America"

That's the over-hyped title of a new documentary on guess who? Frankly I don't really care what Michael Moore feels about America. I just care what Michael Moore thinks (not much). But apparently, according to this review by Andrew Leigh (logrolling check here) the movie isn't nearly as Al Franken-Ann Coulter-Up-Against-the-Ideological-Wall-MF as the title makes it sound. Actually, unlike its subject, it's supposed to be kind of sweet. I haven't seen it. My first chance would be Thursday at the Writers Guild Theatre where it double-bills with The Debate. But I'd rather watch that at home (close to the computer). And I'll be out of LA over the weekend when it plays at this venue - Hollywood's first conservative film festival. I have mixed feelings about that event because, much as the likes of Sundance are liberal-infested ad nauseum, I'd like to see film festivals in general be more balanced and devoted to the art of film. Maybe I'm dreaming.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:30 PM
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Another Disturbing Article - And the French Are Involved (Again)

I had not realized that the French had been selling submarines to the Pakistanis that were capable of carrying sixteen cruise missile. But this article in TruthNews says they have. (Caveat: I have no previous familiarity with this site.) Their Rachel Neuwirth writes:

Americans need to be asking tough questions of our government right now and demanding straight answers. What in the world is France doing selling these stealth submarines to Pakistan? Why does Pakistan need such a dangerous weapons system when it makes no sense regarding any threat from India? Why is the U.S. government allowing this potential threat to develop?

Now we have heard that the US secretly holds the keys to the Pakistani nuclear arsenal. Perhaps that is true. But even without nukes, cruise missiles on subs can wreak havoc anywhere in the world. Knocking out the WTC didn't take nuclear weapons, nor would demolishing just about any other edifice, bridge, tunnel, etc. one could think of. We all know the results. I'm tired of bashing the French (really!), but what's going on here? The link above takes you on an interesting journey in answer to that question. (hat tip: Janet Levy)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:58 PM
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Here's Something to Cheer You Up

Maybe not... The Washington Times is reporting Al Qaeda seeks tie to local gangs:

Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was spotted in July in Honduras meeting with leaders of El Salvador's notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, which immigration officials said has smuggled hundreds of Central and South Americans — mostly gang members — into the United States.

And those gangbangers make their money selling cocaina, etc. It's the "ends justify the means" revisited, only this time under sharia. Frankly, I find it scarier than the communist version. And harder to combat.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:28 PM
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Debate Fever

Although I'm not sure debate success has anything at all to do with performance as President, I am getting debate fever and can hardly wait until Thursday. I'm especially keen on this first one because I'm a foreign policy guy. I no longer believe that hoariest of political clichés "All politics is local," at least in its intended sense. In the modern wired world, everything is local. Beslan is local.

But leaving that aside for another post, I gobbled up William F. Buckley Jr.'s column today on the debates. Who better to opine on such a thing? Buckley begins by throwing a bouquet to another relative old timer on the opposite side of the aisle:

Richard Reeves, who knows politics the way Webster knew words, has predicted that the debate on Thursday will be "bloody and dirty, demeaning to all concerned." On the eve of the encounter the odds have stabilized: Bush is ahead, Kerry is alert to this and is groping for riveting means by which to reannounce himself as an alternative to the incumbent.

Of course, in throwing this bouquet, Buckley is clever as usual. It allows him to refer to Reeves again at the end of his article:

Well, John Kerry is a skillful debater. In his column, Richard Reeves writes, "Kerry was called the 'second-best' debater he handled by the distinguished and revered Yale debate coach, Rollin Osterweis. The best, said Osterweis, was William F. Buckley."

Well, Mr. Kerry should be satisfied to continue in his career as runner-up.

I'll be watching to find out. I'm sure you will be too. Stay tuned. It should be fun, but if not fun at least "dirty and bloody."

UPDATE: On a much less significant note, I was debater myself as a kid, for the Scarsdale High School team. We did pretty well, if I can remember, but it's been a long time. This was my partner. I wouldn't want to debate him now.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:35 PM
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Just when I was gloating I didn't live in Florida....

...reality struck. I didn't feel it down here in the Hollywood Hills, but the seismograph evidently did.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:38 AM
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New Ads

Some will be amused to see a new ad on here from George Soros, a man excoriated on this blog only slightly more than a week ago. [If you'd known Soros was going to advertise, wouldn't you have raised your rates?-ed. About 2000%!]

There's also an arty new ad from the DNC attacking Bush for being "two-faced". I suppose they're trying to counteract the image of Kerry as a "flip-flopper." As I've said before, I don't think Kerry is one. In order to be a flip-flopper, you have to have ideas and convictions to flip-flop from. I don't think he does. [Are you a flip-flopper then?-ed. Yup. Big time.]

UPDATE: I told you you should have raised your rates!-ed.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:16 AM
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The Writers Guild Should Organize Bloggers

The Evangelical Outpost has by far the most interesting and detailed response to Sunday's NYT magazine cover story on blogging: With a Friend Like This... The New York Times Trashes Lefty Bloggers. For those of us who found the article a tad on the long side, he provides a convenient list of bulleted points. Here's the one that made my head swivel.

Points out that for a skin merchant, Denton is quite the skin-flint. Wonkette only gets paid $18,000 a year.

A measly eighteen grand for all that publicity? Anonymous television rewrite people end up with many times that for six weeks work because of the WGA. I don't know how many hits Wonkette gets, but I imagine it's up there. Does she get a cut from her advertising or does Denton take it all? If not, huelga! Bloggers of the world unite!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:58 AM
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Health Care Blogging

Because of our lengthy health care thread on here, I received email from Nicholas Genes alerting me to a newly instituted "Carnival of the Caregivers" , as I see Reynolds is already calling it, for health-related blogs. A quick perusal has already shown me this new "Carnival" will be another invaluable source for the blogosphere. I'll be checking in regularly.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:07 AM
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An International Moral Court....

... met in Paris this week to investigate the crimes of the Iranian Regime. [Shouldn't the World Court do that?-ed. As if.] Here is a preview article, their website and a fascinating report on the event by Ramin Parham. Parham's article is in a weird way a companion piece to Hitchens' below. What happened to the Democratic Party? Why aren't they in the forefront in dealing with the mullah's perfidy? Times have certainly changed. It's no longer surprising to me that I look to NRO for analysis like this.

"BUZZER BEATER" UPDATE: Apropos d'Iran, Belmont Club has yet another superb column. Not only did I learn many things about the mullah's nukes (some via Carolyn Glick), but I also learned Wretchard follows the NBA from Down Under. I knew he was a man of taste.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:47 AM
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Minerva Loves Me

Well, she undoubtedly loves scads of others too - but I'm still pleased. This blog has just been selected by the Minerva Program of the Library of Congress to be among the Internet materials they archive regarding the 2004 election.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:29 AM
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September 27, 2004

Why It's Hard for Me to Be a Democrat....

... and getting harder every day.

Christopher Hitchens puts his finger on it in Flirting With Disaster - The vile spectacle of Democrats rooting for bad news in Iraq and Afghanistan:

The unfortunately necessary corollary of this-that bad news for the American cause in wartime would be good for Kerry-is that good news would be bad for him. Thus, in Mrs. Kerry's brainless and witless offhand yet pregnant remark [the paranoid nonsense that the Republicans are secretly holding Bin Laden for an October surprise-ed] we hear the sick thud of the other shoe dropping. How can the Democrats possibly have gotten themselves into a position where they even suspect that a victory for the Zarqawi or Bin Laden forces would in some way be welcome to them? Or that the capture or killing of Bin Laden would not be something to celebrate with a whole heart?

I think that this detail is very important because the Kerry camp often strives to give the impression that its difference with the president is one of degree but not of kind. Of course we all welcome the end of Taliban rule and even the departure of Saddam Hussein, but we can't remain silent about the way policy has been messed up and compromised and even lied about. I know what it's like to feel that way because it is the way I actually do feel. But I also know the difference when I see it, and I have known some of the liberal world quite well and for a long time, and there are quite obviously people close to the leadership of today's Democratic Party who do not at all hope that the battle goes well in Afghanistan and Iraq. (emphasis mine)

Well, that's not just politics as usual - that's sick. We've reached an impasse in our society where political victory is more important to some than civilization victory. How crazy is that? I sure hope those polls showing Bush ahead are right. In fact, I hope he even beats that already generous spread, considering Hitchens' point, with which I obviously agree. As for my party affiliation, if any, I'll worry about that later. We have more important things to think about now.

UPDATE: Hitchens and yours truly denounced here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:25 PM
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They're Terrified!

It doesn't take Freud, Jung or Adler to tell you that when people start flailing around, making dumb statements and stamping their feet, they're usually feeling cornered (or even terrified, as the title indicates). Call it the Kruschev-bangs-his-shoe-syndrome. Lately a number of members of the mainstream media are "acting out" in this manner with regards to the blogosphere. The latest shoe-banger is a fellow named Steven Levy (likeHugh Hewitt I had never heard of him) who takes off after bloggers as "ankle biters" (please, no pajama jokes - that's so September 15). He also misquotes Glenn Reynolds - not too bright, Steven. People like Levy seem pathetic and desperate in their attempts to denigrate the blogosphere. Also they seem illiterate, because even a cursory tour of the players would reveal that many bloggers stand up very well, thank you, in terms of credits and CVs to their supposedly superior mainstream colleagues. But we've been over all that before. [Maybe Levy was just attacking bloggers to cash in on the blogger craze-ed. I wouldn't blame him.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:53 PM
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Polls High and Polls Low

By now most of the savvy readers of this site know that yet another round of Presidential polls has been released, which still have Bush ahead, although by varying margins. I have no idea how accurate any of them are, so I will offer no opinion, but... in the time-honored tradition of "all politics is local"... I was amused by the following pull from the new ABC-WaPo Poll:

The poll was conducted by telephone Sept. 23 to 26 among 1,204 randomly selected adults nationwide, including 969 self-identified registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

Only 1204 in three or four days? In the less than twenty-four hours the site survey at the top of the page has been going on, we already have well over 3000 responses! Maybe I should have thrown in a question on the Presidency, but given the tenor of the answers I've seen so far, I have a strong suspicion the incumbent would do pretty well (like an unprecedented landslide). I will publish the results when we're done, probably over the weekend.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:50 PM
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Chalabi Wasabi

The case against Ahmed Chalabi has been dropped. The New York Times writes:

The judge, Zuhair al-Maliky, said in a telephone interview that he took the action about a week-and-a-half ago because he had decided "the evidence was not enough to bring the case to trial." If more evidence emerges, he said, the case will be reopened.

A week-and-a-half ago? Took a while to reach here, didn't it? Wonder why... No, I don't. It always seemed like a set up. [Like the FBI's "case" against the "spy" for Israel in the Pentagon?-ed. Yeah, like that. What happened to that one? Don't see a lot of arrests so far.] Chalabi may not be a saint, but the people out to get him are probably worse. The Times calls this a "minor victory." I guess to them having your case dropped before even going to trial is "minor." [Don't they have editors over there?-ed. They need you.] Of course, they get off the subject as quickly as possible and on to the "seemingly unending string of suicide car bombs" in the same article. Not enough to say about the Chalabi business, I suppose.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:16 PM
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Eyeless in Gaza - The Sequel

Riad Ali, a CNN producer for two years, has been abducted in Gaza today by armed gunmen. CNN Middle East Correspondent Ben Wedeman was in the car with Riad who had been apparently been pre-selected for the kidnapping. There are few details of the event so far, but one jumped out at me. Unlike many kidnappers, this group did not bother to wear masks.

Nidal al-Mughrabi reports for Reuters: Asked whether the abductors had given any clue why they were seizing Ali, who was identified by fellow journalists in Gaza as an Israeli Arab, Wedemen said: "These men were not very communicative. They just asked which one of you is Riyad, and that was it."

More here than meets the eye... or the eyeless, Mr. Huxley... I wonder.

CNN's own coverage is here.

At CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, CNN President Jim Walton said, "We are working actively for Riad's safe return and are in touch with his family, offering them our full support during this difficult time. We have not yet heard from his abductors but urge them to release Riad immediately. He is a veteran journalist of the highest integrity."

UPDATE: From Debka: CNN appeals to Arafat to secure release of Israeli Druze journalist, Riyadh Ali, on CNN TV staff, kidnapped by armed Palestinian gang in Gaza City’s Rimal City Monday. Arafat and Saeb Erekat said they would handle request. CNN asked Israel to refrain from any action so as not to jeopardize their efforts. Nothing of this on CNN's own sit as yet.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:02 PM
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This Year in Jerusalem

According to Egyptian engineeers, the most hotly-contested piece of real estate on the planet - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Moslems as the al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) - is in danger of collapsing. [Good thing Madonna's not at the Wall anymore.-ed. Yeah, phew!]

But, seriously folks, this is no joke:

Israel's Antiquities Authority said the mosque foundations in the galleries known as Solomon's Stables had become unstable from a combination of neglect, shoddy construction work and a recent earthquake.

Without curbs on admission to Solomon's Stables when an expected 200,000 Muslims crowd into the compound once the holy month of Ramadan begins in mid-October, the eastern wall and roof risk collapse, Israeli officials said.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:21 PM
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James Does The New York Times...

... in his typical amusing style. He made me think how often now my fat Sunday papers (LAT and NYT) go unread - or a large part of them anyway. Rituals are changing. You go online and see what's up - a little this, a little that. What's everybody talking about today? Why restrict yourself to a couple of sources? That's so 2002.

Of course there is that problem of getting your brunch food in the computer keyboard. But it's not insurmountable. As WiFi proliferates, someone will invent washable tablets for the brunch table. Bagels and lox or chicken and gravy as you surf. Fresser's choice. Order 'em online too - just like your news, wherever it comes from.

DAVID FRUM evidently took the NYT blogger article more seriously than Lileks. I am with James on this one - just another voice in the din.

UPDATE: Treacher (more or less) agrees with Frum, as does Eric Deamer in the comments bleow.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:05 AM
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TypeKey Problem

Many readers have been having new problems with TypeKey the last couple of days. They may be overloaded as the numbers on this and other blogs have grown. I am working to correct from this end, but direct email to the service would be helpful. Thanks.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:40 AM
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Jimmy Waves a Finger -- Again!

My least favorite ex-President, national scold Jimmy Carter, is making sure America is safe for democracy in this morning's Washington Post. The man who rushed to certify the election of a dictator in Venezuela is concerned that Republicans may be helping Ralph Nader get on the ballot in Florida.

The top election official has also played a leading role in qualifying Ralph Nader as a candidate, knowing that two-thirds of his votes in the previous election came at the expense of Al Gore. She [Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood] ordered Nader's name be included on absentee ballots even before the state Supreme Court ruled on the controversial issue.

Well, that's not so great, but it was clear the Florida Supreme Court would certify Nader and they did. Boring and self-centered as he may be, he has as much right to run as Kerry and Bush. And speaking of boring and self-centered... oh, never mind...

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:17 AM
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Our New Media Overlords are Flawed

CBS may have been manipulating the news (okay, scratch the "may have been" and make that "was"), but they are an Old Media company par excellence with the declining numbers and tedious programming to match. I can't remember the last time I watched, but I'm a New Media kind of guy. So this news about a service I use about every ten minutes -Google - is disturbing. Our newly-minted billionaire friends in Mountain View seem to have been cooperating with some rather "traditional" customs of some wildly rich pretend socialists (no I'm not talking about Susan Sarandon):

Google Inc. recently launched news service in China doesn't display results from Web sites blocked by that country's authorities, raising prickly questions for an online search engine that has famously promised to "do no evil."

Dynamic Internet Technology Inc., a research firm striving to defeat online censorship, conducted tests that found Google omits results from the government-banned sites if search requests are made through computers connecting to the Internet in China.

Some people will do anything for a buck. [What about you?-ed. Jury's out.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:08 AM
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September 26, 2004

Is There a New Eli Cohen?

In recent years the once vaunted Mossad has had its reputation slightly tarnished. But now with the assassination of Hamas leader Iz a Din al-Sheikh Khalil in Damascus, it is certainly back. Hamas, of course, will find more recruits for its endless cycle of suicide bombers, but it is getting more difficult for them to operate. But according to veteran Haaretz columnist Amos Harel, the real loser here may be Syria.

More than for Hamas, the assassination is an embarrassment for Damascus. Bashar Assad's regime already suffered a blow earlier this year with a series of Muslim Brotherhood attacks in the Syrian capital. Now it's someone from Hamas who was targeted - after Hamas ostensibly ceased operating in Damascus. And it's all happening while Assad is under intensifying pressure from the Americans to stop aiding terror and to pull his troops out of Lebanon.

Lately, France surprisingly joined that call, with a joint resolution at the UN with the U.S. for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. Assad, already facing a severe economic crisis at home, now has to find work for thousands of soldiers (who moonlighted as construction workers in Lebanon) and officers (who earned their extra money by selling drugs). Syria, in any case, probably couldn't respond with force.

Et tu Chirac? Bashar must feel surrounded. And this won't be the first time for Syria. One of the most fascinating stories in the history of spying is tale of Israeli intelligence operative Eli Cohen. This man, a Syrian Jew from Aleppo who became an Israeli citizen, went underground and arrived in Damascus in 1962 as an Argentinian businessman. Gaining the confidence of the Baathists, he was able to rise in the Syrian government almost to a high ministerial level and was ultimately responsible for much of the Israeli success in the Golan Heights. An Israeli agent could almost have been running Syria, before his transmissions were caught by the Russians and he was hanged.

Much more of the story is available at the above link. And don't think for a moment the Syrians don't remember it. They are worried right now there is another Eli Cohen in their midst. Could be.

WHODUNIT UPDATE: Haaretz and Maariv Inernational say the information for the assassination came from an Arab intelligence agency, Egypt. Debka has another theory. And Maariv itself has Egypt in opposition to Israel over Iran in another report... Hmmm... Maybe it's none of the above. Maybe it's all of the above.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:11 PM
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Jonathan Freedland Wants a Vote

Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland wants a vote in the US presidential election:

There's a reason every newspaper in the world will have the same story on its front page on November 3. The American presidential election will be decisive not just for the US but for the future of the world.

So perhaps it's time to make a modest proposal. If everyone in the world will be affected by this presidential election, shouldn't everyone in the world have a vote in it?

It's easy to understand his point. America is the Big Dog. In fact, in many ways it's the only dog. But Freedland's solution, in whatever spirit he offered it (I'm not sure even he knows), that American presidential elections be open to the world, is a pure example of contemporary "liberalism" at its most unconsciously reactionary. By acknowledging (and tacitly endorsing) America as the preeminent power, it abdicates responsibility on the part of the rest of the world, and assures that America will remain the only power. Europe is especially culpable in this regard. Almost since World War II, the "Old Country" has ironically taken the child's role opposite the "New World." They have made us their parents, not only militarily, but culturally. Then they run around like adolescent children, rebelling. Well, Jonathan, only daddy counts because you Euros allowed it to happen. You didn't keep up. That's your fault, not ours. We didn't stop you or even attempt to do so. We did the reverse (the Marshall Plan). Trying to participate in daddy's decisions now only perpetuates the situation. Time for Europe to grow up.

UPDATE: Here's how abdication of responsibility works on a global scale.

MORE: The excellent Normblog responds to Freedland here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:30 AM
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Vietnam Not

I believe the comparisons between the Vietnam War (whatever you may think of it now) and the War on Islamofascism, Iraq, etc. are close to idiotic, so I was pleased to read (via Instapundit) that one of the most famous war protestors of that earlier era, Oregon's Mark O. Hatfield, essentially feels the same way. He supports the present war and is fully backing President Bush. And Hatfield was no part-time peacenik. He voted against nearly every military intervention of our times, including Gulf War I and Bosnia, both of which I supported. That is a measure of the seriousness of this situation.

On another note, I read in the same Instapundit post Glenn's weary amusement at being called a "conservative" because he is pro-War on Terror. I can sympathize. I have had the same thing happen to me, even though my opinions are all over of the lot on many matters. People seem to treat political opinion like religious faith and have little tolerance for apostasy. Well, I reserve the right to think for myself, thank you. I have posted ad infinitum that I think "liberal" and "conservative" have become junk terms. Now I think it's worse. They are an excuse for blindness and stupidity.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:12 AM
Comments (32)

September 25, 2004

Media Troglodytes

The media cliché is that the American public is troglodytic and has no interest in things foreign. As with so many other things that is pure projection. It is the media who have little interest in things foreign, even when they are life and death matters. As Mark Steyn observes of the Grub Street residents at yesterday's Allawi/Bush press conference...

They're six feet from Iraq's head of government and they've got not a question for him. They've got no interest in Iraq except insofar as they can use the issue to depress sufficient numbers of swing voters in Florida and Ohio.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:01 PM
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What Do the UN and CBS Have in Common?

They are both conducting internal investigations - the UN of Oil-for-Food and CBS of Rathergate.

Second question: What's the difference between an "internal investigation" and a "cover up"?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:34 AM
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Terminate This! Schwarzenegger Smashes Auto Pollution

Bravo for Arnold! Once again California's governor terminates ideology - the tired and tiresome liberal/conservative dichotomy - and makes the pragmatic choice. He was among the backers of what the Associated Press is calling the "world's toughest smog rules," just adopted by Calif. regulators:

Among those supporting the regulations was Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's environmental protection secretary, Terry Tamminen, who said Friday he and Schwarzenegger believe California should do its part to reduce pollution. He strongly urged the board to adopt the proposals.

That's my governor - socially liberal, intelligently pro-environment, fiscally conservative and a foreign policy hawk to protect all of the above. Right now I couldn't be more pleased he was the first Republican to get my vote!

UPDATE: I noticed someone on here getting hot under the collar that this new legislation is a plot against the poor. Actually some of the most environmentally friendly cars are rather inexpensive and provide tax rebates as well. Only recently are upmarket cars like Lexus going hybrid.

More importantly, an argument can be made that some environmental legislation (notice the some, please) is good for the market and actually stimulates business by forcing innovation. None of this is simple, but anyone who has lived in Los Angeles as long as I have knows that this is not the same city as it was in 1970. You can even see the hills now and your eyes don't tear all summer. Sometimes you can even breath. And the primary reason for this is environmental legislation, much of which, ironically, was initiated by the Nixon administration.

UNA COSA MAS: Some commenters one here seem to assume that because I favor strong emission controls on automobiles, I oppose nuclear power. Not true. I strongly support nuclear power and regard the opposition to it as, mostly, folklore.

NOTABLE: I call your attention to the interesting comments of John Pearley Huffman below who writes for Car & Driver.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:32 AM
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The "Great Conspiracy" Continues

Hugh Hewitt interviews the "Evil One" here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:15 AM
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Whoa, kemosabe!

At least 120 persons have been hanged in public in Iran since March, according to the state-owned press.
These are the people with whom Kerry and Edwards wish to negotiate? Read it all.

UPDATE: Regarding the mullahs, two events described in this article are worth noting: 1. claims by Iran that they have successfully test-fired a "strategic missile" with a range of 1200 miles. 2. the sale of 5000 smart bombs and 500 one-ton bunker busters by the United States to Israel.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:23 AM
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"Deja Vu All Over Again"

Channeling Yogi Berra... or was it Nietzsche's doctrine of "eternal return"?... John Podhoretz shows us how CBS' behavior during Rathergate was/is nothing new in an excellent Weekly Standard article this morning - Dan Rather's Day of Reckoning. Great Yom Kippur reading for Rather (as if).

UPDATE: The Podhoretz piece is not a thumbsucker, but a serious examination of liberal bias in the media since Goldwater. The last part of the article centers on a speech by one of the figures I most reviled - Spiro Agnew - in which the soon-to-be disgraced Nixon VP said: "I am not asking for government censorship or any other kind of censorship. I am asking whether a form of censorship already exists." These now seem like prescient words (probably Willam Safire's).

MORE: Howard Veit has an Agnew Anthology. Does anyone know if it all was written by Safire? I have my suspicions.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:49 AM
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No Sense from Websense

Mudville Gazette's Greyhawk - now reporting from Iraq - tells that a filter called Websense is blocking some of our favorite independent military blogs over there, including Chief Wiggles, praised for his generosity in a speech by Bush. Go figure. (It's probably a bureaucratic screw up, but still, as Greyhawk puts it, "Looks like many GIs will have to rely on CBS..." for now.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:36 AM
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September 24, 2004

I Never Boycotted France, but I'm Sure Boycotting Wal-Mart

I don't care if they have finally removed this infamous forgery from their online service. It's incomprehensible it would have been there in the first place along with a description which said they did not "support or deny its message." Who wrote that? If he or she was a Wal-Mart employee, are they still working for the company? Let's find out!

UPDATE: Several on here have said I was hasty about this. I agree and will take a wait-and-see on whether the offending material really came from Wal-Mart. Sorry. I'm allergic on the subject.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:23 PM
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"Lookin' Out My Back Door" - Take two

Some have criticized the previous image of Michael J. Totten blogging over the very secure Air Simon as too solemn. Well, he's a serious guy. But this image is bit more studious and less pessimistic (who says we don't respond to criticism around here? That's means you, Matt Welch.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:26 AM
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Dept. of Circling Wagons

Barbara Wawa throws her support to Dan and other great Rather gossip from Page Six. (via Ellisblog)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:06 AM
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Spy vs. Spy

Michael Ledeen takes on George Will on Iran. Guess which side I'm on. Hint here.

UPDATE: Europe is beginning to make firmer noises toward the mullahs, at least according to this Reuters report:

European countries are losing patience with Iran over its nuclear program, diplomats said on Friday, as France's foreign minister insisted Tehran must assure the world it does not plan to acquire nuclear weapons.

Western diplomats close to negotiations between Britain, France and Germany and Iran said the European trio might soon be ready to support U.S. demands to refer Tehran's nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council in November.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the Europeans ended up taking a harder line against Iranian fascism than George Will? I can't help but thinking this isn't entirely unrelated to Bush's seeming lead in the presidential election.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:40 AM
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Which Side Are You On - Part 706

Look, let's start with a little honesty. Ayad Allawi is no saint. Totalitarian societies don't normally breed saints. Survival is Hell. Allawi was once a Baathist and doesn't bear too many resemblances to Mother Teresa. But, it's worth noting, as some will recall, Mother Teresa may not have been a Mother Teresa either.

Nevertheless The New York Times editorial this morning does its best to debunk the interim Prime Minister at all costs. My God, he's even committed the "sin" of reinstituting "capital punishment" in a society where civilians are being beheaded right and left. He must be a real thug.

Okay, here's my second bit of honesty. That NYT editorial is appalling. I almost never use profanity on here but whoever wrote that (Gail Collins?) could give less of a shit about the Iraqi people. All he/she cares about is the defeat of George Bush. It is a perfect example of what Victor Davis Hanson wrote about in the article linked below.

UPDATE: Of course we now have a new Mother Teresa.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:29 AM
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What He Said...

Victor Davis Hanson on Dan Rather and Liberal Hypocrisy:

If we wonder why CBS is in trouble, why no one trusts the universities or the U.N., or why the Democrats may soon lose the Senate, the House, the presidency, and the Supreme Court, the answer has a lot to do with arrogant hypocrisy - the idea that how one lives need have nothing to do with what one professes, that idealistic rhetoric can provide psychological cover for privilege and preference, and that rules need not apply for those self-proclaimed as smarter and nicer than the rest of us. But none of us - none - get a pass simply because we claim that we are more moral, educated, or sophisticated than most.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:03 AM
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Profiles in Courage - The Sequel

I can understand why Instapundit has his suspicions about the bizarre behavior of the Kerry campaign in reaction to Iraqi interim PM Allawi's visit to Washington - dissing an ally during war, etc.

I think that statements like this are more evidence that the Kerry campaign -- or at least the Clinton folks running it -- expects to lose. Hence, they don't have to worry about who they'll be working with, but they want to fire up the anti-Bush base. That doesn't make it any less disgraceful to be going around uttering comments that might as well be designed to undermine America's alliances, of course. This sort of stuff is appalling.

It certainly is, but I think it's more a product of "Hail Mary" desperation than a conscious desire to bring out the base. The isolationist anti-war left, noisy as they are, do not constitute a large enough minority to be useful in that regard. Bad strategy all around. It might even be a turnoff, because it leaves us with these Profiles in Courage to compare:

1. Awad Allawi - a man who was once left for dead (1978) in his Surrey home after having been bludgeoned with an ax by one of Saddam's henchman who thought he had killed him. Allawi then spent a year in a hospital. He is still said to walk with a limp and is now the object of, one would imagine, daily assassination attempts.

2. John Kerry - a man who left the Vietnam War after 4 1/2 months after having been "seriously wounded" - a description that now even his biographer finds dubious.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:23 AM
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September 23, 2004

Symbols of Transformation

We all remember 9/11, seared in our memories as it is, most of us anyway, but my wife Sheryl reminded me tonight of some other moments that shattered our perspectives in recent years, transformed us to one degree or another. One of those was the horrific destruction the Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan by the Taliban. It was a difficult act for modern people to wrap their heads around, coming as it did from the most primitive human behavior. I post it here as a reminder of the forces that confront us, what they stand for.

Another, seemingly much smaller event, was the case of a twenty-nine year old Iraqi man, Adnan Abdul Karim Enad. You probably won't remember the name, but you may remember him. He was the fellow who tried to clamber 'into a UN inspector's jeep on January 25 [2003] clutching a notebook and screaming "Save me! Save me!" in Arabic. A UN inspector sat motionless in the front seat as Iraqi guards pulled the 29-year-old man out of the car and carried him away by his arms and legs.' The italicized quote comes from James Bone of the London Times who was shocked by the incident, as many of us were, as the man's relatives evidently were. This marked the beginning of my disaffection with the United Nations, of my wondering which side they were really on. My confusion, and ultimately disgust, only increased when the revelations of Oil-for-Food appeared. Bone went on to describe the reaction of Hans Blix to the event:

Hans Blix, the chief UN inspector, appeared flummoxed when questioned about the case this week but said that he would consider raising it in his talks tomorrow in Baghdad.

"I've just talked to our security chief in Baghdad . . . and he said there was nothing in the booklet he seemed to be carrying," Dr Blix said. He added that Iraqi scientists could find "more elegant ways" of approaching UN inspectors.

More elegant.

Like Blix.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:19 PM
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Allawi in the Washington Post

Their writer, Lynne Duke, clearly thinks more highly of Iraq's Dynamo than does John Kerry. Good read.

And speaking of good reads, I'm midway through master spy novelist Charles McCarry's Old Boys. I can tell you already if you like Greene, Ambler, LeCarré, etc., this is right up there. But if you buy it and finish ahead of me, don't tell me how it turns out!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:20 PM
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I Admit It - I'm a "Koch Democrat"

I received email from a few readers of this site to say they heard me referred to on a CSPAN panel discussion (we defnitely get a tony crowd) as a "Koch Democrat". Well, as it happens I am on the email list of the former NYC mayor and I received the following today in my inbox - a copy of a Letter to the Editor 'Hizzoner' sent to The New York Times on September 21:

In today's article reporting the decapitation by terrorists in Iraq of American civilian Eugene Armstrong, The Times reporter wrote:

"In the video of the beheading, an insurgent wearing a ski mask and surrounded by four men with assault rifles says the group is killing Mr. Armstrong because the American occupiers and the interim Iraqi government failed to meet the deadline. Much of the man's long speech is addressed to President Bush, who is called a dog at one point."

Please note that the news article omitted an important part of the story which was the exact phrase uttered by the executioner at the time he cut Armstrong's throat and severed his head from his body. That phrase was, "Oh you Christian dog, Bush, stop your arrogance."

The reference to President Bush by the terrorist strengthens the belief of many that we are involved in a war of civilizations. Fanatic Islamists believe that Christians and Jews who do not recognize the supremacy of Islam should die. That awful message is part of the story and The Times erred in not carrying that quote which many other papers did.

Lee Hamilton, Co-Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, has said in describing Muslim terrorists, "They want to kill us." Why? Because those making up western civilization and its ideas which Jihad is bent on destroying are overwhelming Christians and Jews. I believe it is President Bush's faith that gives him the strength to stay with and implement the Bush Doctrine which is, "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."

Your reporter refers to the spokesman for the murderers as an "insurgent." What would it take for The Times to call someone who has just participated in the beheading of an innocent civilian a terrorist? I am sure the public would like to know.

I'm sure they would too. Readers of this blog know that I, like the Mayor, have for some time put the word "insurgents" in scare quotes because I believe it is a propagandistic lie. [Is there something about an ex-mayor of New York that makes you an honest politician? Do they inject them with a truth serum or something? First Koch... then Giuliani.--ed. Well, maybe not all of them - but two of them. Not a bad percentage in politics.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:50 PM
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Rooting for the Fascists

By finally adopting the reactionary "Dean Line" (well, not finally, there's no such thing with him) on Iraq, Kerry has placed himself in the position of having to root against the forces of democracy in that country, at least until the November election. He must hope for continued slaughter, beheadings and the like from the rag-tag collection of homicidal sociopaths and paleo-misogynists - Baathist and Islamist - that constitute the "insurgents" in order to defeat Bush, so is acting accordingly. Barely was Allawi's speech out of the interim PM's mouth when Kerry informed us, in the opinion of one of the two major presidential candidates in the most powerful country on Earth, there would be no January election in Iraq. (From your lips to Zarqawi's burning ears, Senator.)

Leaving aside whatever moral evaluation we could make of those remarks - that is, after all, a personal matter - what if Kerry wins using this rhetoric? What will he do when confronted with decisions to make on Iraq? Will he help them hold an election? If not, will he withdraw our troops? Will he defend the majority of Iraqis who favor democracy? He hasn't told the public - ours or theirs. I doubt he knows himself. But it could be worse, far worse, than what happened in Vietnam after we left.

No, I take it back. I will make a moral evaluation. It's inescapable. One word: shameful.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:42 PM
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Dept. of Uh-Oh

Sumner speaks. Rather cringes.

Reacting to the document scandal at CBS News, Sumner M. Redstone, chairman and chief executive of Viacom (nyse: VIAb - news - people ), CBS' parent, vowed that the results of a recently announced probe would be "appropriate--and the consequences will be appropriate." [bold mine as a public service to stockholders]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:04 PM
Comments (4)

Beer for Soldiers?

I just joined the Keg Club. (hat tip: Sandy P)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:30 PM
Comments (3)

All Right Already!

Gerard Van Der Leun... and CBS... say the blogoshpere should get over this Rathergate obsession and on to serious matters. And they have documents to prove it.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:27 AM
Comments (3)

File Under "Wish I'd Been There"

Lloyd Grove reports today:

It was standing room only Tuesday night at the New School for the Graydon Carter-hosted debate on the resolution "George Bush has made the world a safer place." Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens, a onetime left-wing firebrand, joined former CIA director James Woolsey to argue the affirmative before the heavily anti-Bush crowd. At one point, Woolsey leaned over to hug Hitch, prompting moderator James Naughtie to remark: "I never thought I'd see the day when a former head of the CIA embraced Christopher Hitchens." A pre-debate poll of the audience - which included Gabriel Byrne, Sandra Bernhard and Diane von Furstenberg - showed that 88 agreed with the motion, 264 disagreed and 60 were undecided. After the debate, the pro-Bush side had lured 56 new supporters while the anti-Bush team of Harvard terrorism expert Juliette Kayyem and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy attracted only 14. Only one person remained undecided.

MEANWHILE... file this one under "Zzzz...." (fining these guys a half mill is the equivalent of one lunch at The Four Seasons).

AND... file this one under "Endangered Species."

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:40 AM
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The Best Speech of the Political Campaign from Allawi

The best speech of the political campaign so far (I'm serious) came today from Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. He was elegant, eloquent and gracious. When he thanked America, I was genuinely moved. When he warned of the media distortion of events there, I thought of Rather. When he told us that they could hold an election today if need be, I clenched my fist. Go for it.

Meanwhile, in one of the front rows, isolated by the video camera, was the much excoriated Paul Wolfowitz. Bravo for him. History will reward him.

UPDATE: Allawi transcript here.

MORE: Having watched the Bush-Allawi press conference, I must say that this "Koch Democrat" (some people emailed that I was called that on CSPAN) is more impressed than ever with George W. Bush. (To my "social liberal" comrades. Sure, he doesn't support gay marriage. But hardly anyone even talked about gay marriage in the whole history of our country until a few years ago. Relax. Gay rights are on extraordinarly fast upward curve. Take a slight breather to give the Islamic world a chance.) And for those of you who are still wavering about how to vote, I suggest reading this article and considering whether this President is a force for good in the world.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:39 AM
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Health Care Thread

I awoke with a start this morning with an image of my late father, a physician, and suddenly I realized I had not put up the health care thread I had promised to many of the regulars on this blog. It's not that I am not interested - I am very interested - it is just that the rush of political/media events that usually dominate this site has been particularly great.

We are supposed to be in the midst of a health care crisis, and I imagine we are, but it seems to me that we have been in one as long as I can remember. Still, the numbers of the uninsured continue to rise and those of us with insurance see our co-payments mounting into the stratosphere and our choices of care restricted. There must be a better way, but is there? I would like to think there is because I am one of those who believe that health care is or should be a basic human right - like universal education. Yet, I also know that if you are seriously sick today, for the most part you want to be in the good old USA where the quality of medicine is the best, not waiting on line for service in one of the societies with national health plans. (I have been in the position!) I further realize that most medical innovation comes from America or the dreaded, over-priced pharmaceutical companies, a product of the market. I want more of that innovation, better drugs, increased longevity. Who wouldn't? It's a conundrum.

Anyway, I am deliberately being brief to throw the discussion out to the commenters on this blog, many of whom - for personal, profession and scientific reasons - know far more about the subject than I do. Have at it.

UPDATE: This was not instigated by Kaus' importuning the blogosphere to get beyond Rathergate to other issues, which I read after writing this.

MORE: Patrick Lasswell ruminates on health here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:39 AM
Comments (173)

September 22, 2004

Mossad Spinoff?

Israelis have invented a lip-reading phone for the deaf.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:14 PM
Comments (7)

This Is the Army, Mr. Jones...

... or not.

ABC is reporting a bizarre warning by Kerry that Bush is about to reinstitute the draft. Power Line theorizes: The Dems' polls must be looking even worse than we thought. This is a deeply contemptible move by Kerry, and he can't possibly be under any illusions about what he is doing.

Either that... or it's just a continuation of this creepy strategy.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:26 PM
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"Legacy Media" in Free Fall?

Well, not quite... but close enough according to the new Gallup poll quoted here. (via Glenn)

I do enjoy the computer-oriented term "Legacy Media" because it makes me think that New Reactionary drivel like this Newsday opinion piece will soon go the way of the parallel port with "Fear of Blogging" replacing "Fear of Flying" as the number one neurosis of the leisure class. The factual inaccuracies of this article have been fisked elsewhere. Why do it twice? Or three times? (The view from on high here.) Make that four times... and more.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:15 PM
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Too Old!

I shouldn't be saying this at my age, but the two-person panel reported on DRUDGE as selected by CBS to investigate Rathergate is too old. Part of this investigation involves modern digital technologies, which were at the heart of unmasking these forgeries. I have my deep suspicions that neither of the two men chosen, former US Attorney General Dick Thornburgh or retired AP CEO Louis Boccardi, "unimpeachable" as they may be, are anywhere near up-to-speed on these matters.

UPDATE: The invaluable Corante points out not only is it a case of too old, it is a case of too little.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:54 AM
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Is Dr. Germ... or her sister in crime... spilling the beans?

The following graph stopped me up short in Debka'sZarqawi Is Using Hostages to Ransom Old Friends, Drs Germ and Anthrax:

According to DEBKAfile's intelligence sources, Zarqawi has been tipped off that one of the two Iraqi scientists is on the point of breaking under questioning and spilling the beans on Saddam's WMD to her American interrogators. He therefore interceded by seizing the three Western hostages, either to gain her release or scare her into holding silent.

If this is true (who knows?), it means Zarqawi has ears within the... I would imagine... close-knit unit holding the two women scientists. It's hard to believe our people are that sloppy... or is it? Read the whole thing.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:35 AM
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Frum asks an important question...

... about yesterday's Bush speech at the UN.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:48 AM
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Retraction?

Finally that important word is raised this morning in Howard Kurtz's latest - CBS, Sitting Between Fiasco And Fallout:

Bob Zelnick, a former ABC correspondent who now chairs Boston University's journalism department, faulted CBS's apology, saying: "There's one word I haven't heard so far: retraction. They've yielded inch by inch on the authenticity of the documents and the reliability of the source, but without the documents there was no story." Until CBS retracts the story and apologizes directly to Bush, "it mitigates the potential beneficial effect of an independent board." (hat tip: Catherine Johnson)

MEANWHILE... and more importantly... Safire says "First Find the Forger"... At the root of what is today treated as an embarrassing blunder by duped CBS journalists may turn out to be a felony by its faithless sources.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:25 AM
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Peter Collier's Mistake

I mentioned on here a couple of weeks ago that after decades of making things up - writing novels and screenplays - I was now really going to make things up by writing a non-fiction book. I neglected to mention the publisher that is taking this wild risk. It is Peter Collier whose relatively new house Encounter Books has a growing reputation for serious political works. His list includes some fairly distinguished characters like Victor Davis Hanson, Roger Kimball and Norman Podhoretz. [Does Collier know what he's getting into?-ed? Shhh...] Podhoretz in particular interests me as a model because he literally "wrote the book" on the genre in which I will be working - the memoir of political transformation. I have just finished his latest, Ex-Friends: Falling Out With Allen Ginsberg, Lionel & Diana Trilling, Lillian Hellman, Hannah Arendt, and Norman Mailer. It's great, but it makes me nervous. I have a few interesting "ex-friends" too - but nothing like that list.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:29 AM
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The Mother of All Stonewalls

We live in times when stonewalling is almost chic. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you do it in pursuit of an enemy who is supposedly worse than you are. Anything is fair game. Anchormen slide by in hundred thousand dollar limousines telling us that black is white. Newspapers report forty year old drug deals that may or may have happened and then repeat again that they may or may not have happened just to be sure you never missed the allegation against their adversary in the first place. College students receive emails warning them they might be drafted when their chances of being drafted are about as great as being hit by an asteroid. In yet more serious, far more grave, matters, men go half way across the planet to help others and end up with their heads, quite literally, on a platter.

Meanwhile, astride this world upside down, sits the Lord of Stonewalls, the slick king of the United Nations whose silver tongue and elegant manners mask a deviousness perhaps unknown even to him. We are in an era when lying to the self about the self has reached global proportions and takes place on a global stage. This man, Mr. Annan, who so many of us revered not so many years ago, now condemns the US action in Iraq while desperately hiding from view the complicitness of the organization he leads, the United Nations, in the horrors of that very dictatorship. Thankfully, Claudia Rosett is here to remind us of The Real World. Too bad more people aren't paying attention to the Oil-for-Food scandal, because it is the center of it all, the beating heart of global corruption.

Ms. Rosett's latest report... on the exploitation of baby formula for totalitarian profit... is perhaps her most blood-curdling:

And within that Oil-for-Food sample shopping spree, the baby formula deals were estimated to be even more egregiously overpriced than the average contract for most other staples. Compared to the hundreds of baby food and milk contracts in the overall program (many of those with France and Russia) the Pentagon sample was small. The study looked at four baby formula contracts, two originating in Egypt, one in Tunisia and one in Vietnam--totaling $43 million (which in any normal relief program might actually rank not as a small sample, but as a lot of money). But it seems telling that every single one of those four baby-formula contracts appeared "potentially overpriced" by about 26%, for a total of $11 million in potential overpayments. On the biggest of these sample contracts, a $26 million deal between Saddam and a Vietnamese dairy company--approved by the U.N. in October 2002, in the thick of the U.N. debate over going to war to remove Saddam--the estimated overpricing of 26% worked out to well over $5 million on that contract alone.

Translation: In late 2002, while Mr. Annan was lobbying against U.S.-led removal of Saddam, he was running a U.N. program in which money meant for baby formula, among other goods, was very likely flowing into the pockets of Saddam and his sons and cronies.

And from there who knows where? Al Qaeda?

UPDATE: More global deviousness here. (hat tip: M. Simon)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:28 AM
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September 21, 2004

It's Dirty Tricks Season

Good thing we didn't have email back in Vietnam days when I was a student, because this kind of nasty business in my inbox might have sent me scampering to Canada. Or Timbuktu.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:42 PM
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Rather Bump

Yesterday this blog went over 25,000 daily visitors for the first time and over one million hits for the second time (first was on Sept. 16). [Hurry up. Invent the next scandal.-ed.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:21 PM
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A "Diminished Capacity" Plea?

I wrote earlier today that Dan Rather might not have the "intellectual capability" to understand the technology involved in the forgeries. I was only half serious. (How could anyone be that dumb?) But now I see the anchorman still believes these documents are authentic. I take it back. I'm all serious now. If Burkett sues CBS, as his lawyer indicates, maybe Rather should plead "diminished capacity." [I hope he hasn't been eating "Twinkies." -ed.]

MEANWHILE: Daniel Weiner has another interesting analysis - this time over the flap revolving around the presence of a CBS reporter at the debates.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:58 PM
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Michael Novak Tells It Like It Is

Okay, that's an extreme cliché, but it seemed appropriate to his new article on the critical moment we are now in in the Middle East. The following paragraph is the least of his argument, but since it is of "local interest" I will quote it:

Reading the blogs of our own military guys in the field is infinitely more satisfying to intellectual curiosity than reading (or hearing) the ordinary empty droning of journalists. Compared to bloggers in America, American journalists seem like amateurs; compared to military professionals on the battlefield, journalists (whatever their age) seem like undisciplined college kids. When one compares these professions as professions, the military profession to journalism, journalism really is dropping fast - and not only because of Dan Rather.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:11 PM
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Dion(ne) and the Belmont (Club)

E. J. Dionne has a silly column in today's WaPo once more going after the "serious matter" of Bush's National Guard service. No matter that CBS News may already have destroyed its reputation forever in this quixotic pursuit, E. J. climbs aboard Rocinante and soldiers on. (Sancho opted out this time.)

Earth-to-E. J. -- nobody cares and nobody's listening. And don't tell me you don't know why. I'm sure you do. But here it is anyway: Virtually no one in the National Guard fulfilled ALL his requirements. Like all things that go on for that long, they tend to dribble off. Things are left undone. That's the way of human events, mine, yours and everybody else's.

The public, of course, knows this. Not only do most people have friends and family who have been in the Guard, they have basic common sense. If you want to write an interesting column with something new to say, I suggest taking a look at the Belmont Club who today introduces us to "The Human Security Doctrine for Europe." Do you know what that is? I didn't. But it is certainly worth writing a column (and thinking) about - another example of new media striking out in original directions while old media are sinking in tar.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:13 AM
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Who Needs Paris When You Can Have Harbin?

Some Jews may be leaving France because of rising anti-Semitism, but they are being welcomed back to China, according to a front-pager in today's LAT: A Home for Jews in China

Now, after years of not being welcomed, they are returning to a city that is eager to see them. Harbin recently announced a $3.2-million renovation of its main synagogue, and it is stepping up efforts to preserve other historically significant buildings and sprucing up the Jewish cemetery, Asia's largest.

For the Chinese, it's less a warm and fuzzy embrace of the old days than a fairly blatant bid to spur the struggling local economy. Last month, at an international conference on "Jewish History and Culture in Harbin" that was attended by nearly 100 former residents and their families, officials gushed about the "always smart" and "always good with money" Jews who might help return Harbin to its former glory.

Well, what's a little prejudice with your moo goo gai pan?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:47 AM
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Dept. of Possible Smoking Gun - Woman Overboard!

According to Ellisblog, the internecine war at CBS has already begun and it isn't pretty. John Ellis pulled the following from the AP wire:

(Kerry "Message Maven" Joel) Lockhart said (Rather producer) Mapes asked him the weekend before the story broke to call Burkett. "She basically said there's a guy who is being helpful on the story who wants to talk to you," Lockhart said, adding that it was common knowledge that CBS was working on a story raising questions about Bush's Guard service. Mapes told him there were some records "that might move the story forward. She didn't tell me what they said."

Scroll up and down for more at Ellis' great blog.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:23 AM
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Attention... Bill Burkett!

It's time for you to stop talking to the press and to start talking to this man.

MORE: In a way, I am sorry I have made a joke about all this. When you read the USA Today link above, all you can wonder is what was going through the minds of the CBS producers when they trusted this poor man. It is certainly more than possible that Burkett is lying, but it couldn't be more obvious he is a highly disturbed invididual. He has seizures. (Yes, I know those with seizures are not always disturbed, but in this case it comes with a whole host of other indications.) And yet the CBS producers decided to exploit him for their pathetic political ends. Those producers deserve whatever happens to them and more. And I hope it's a lot. Besides being liars, they are morally repellent.

UPDATE: Well, it's not Mark Geragos, but Burkett has evidently called his lawyer.

MEANWHILE: Michael has a good piece examining other legal implications of what is going on.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:36 AM
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Dumb and Dumber

I don't know if - as the Wall Street Journal is implying pretty strongly this morning - Rathergate implicates CBS directly in "a partisan dirty trick," (although the network certainly still has some 'xplain' to do, a whole lot of explaining).

All of this raises the question of whether CBS was a vessel for, if not a willing participant in, a partisan dirty trick two months before a closely contested Presidential election.

But if it's not a dirty trick, it indicates a shockingly low level of intelligence on the part of the network - or at least some of its producers and anchorman. And I'm not just talking about their choice of someone as hugely unstable and biased as "Wild" Bill Burkett as an "unimpeachable" source. Yesterday I was watching the CBS video linked on Drudge in which Rather was interviewed giving his mea culpa to one of their own newswomen. It was the expected kind of pseudo-breast beating. But in it the anchorman informed us in the great unwashed (paraphrase here) that authenticating these documents was an inexact science at best. "There's no DNA here."

Wrong, Dan. This is the modern digital world. These things can be tracked down immediately and exactly. And they were! When I told this story to Charles Johnson over lunch - the man who launched a thousand blogs by posting his exact copy of the document by quickly typing the same words into Microsoft Word, he had a good laugh. He told me how a commenter on his site just tried to type the same document with an earlier version of the word processor (Word 4.0). Guess what? It didn't match at all. The DNA, in that case, did not fit. If Rather had bothered to consult this man, he would have been able to see exactly how specific this digital DNA could be. But the question remains, ha