November 30, 2004

Will Annan Last?

Pressure for the United Nations Secretary General to resign has been ratcheted up by Senator Norm Coleman in an oped in tomorrow's WSJ with the blunt title Kofi Annan Must Go. Coleman, chairman of the U. S. Senate Permanent Subcomittee on Investigations, pulls no punches:

While many questions concerning Oil-for-Food remain unanswered, one conclusion has become abundantly clear: Kofi Annan should resign. The decision to call for his resignation does not come easily, but I have arrived at this conclusion because the most extensive fraud in the history of the U.N. occurred on his watch. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, as long as Mr. Annan remains in charge, the world will never be able to learn the full extent of the bribes, kickbacks and under-the-table payments that took place under the U.N.'s collective nose.

Of course, one could ask what right a US Senator has to meddle in the affairs of the United Nations (other than the obvious that we pay 22% of their budget), but if not he, who? The French? The Russians? The Chinese? All have been documented as having profiteered hugely off the scandal. That's like having the Mafia investigate itself.

What's interesting about the Oil-for-Food is how the peace camp (those educated enough to know about it anyway) hate to talk about this mega-scandal. I can understand why. To any rational person it makes complete hash of the argument that the Coalition should have waited for the Security Council to act. I am sure this is why many media outlets were reluctant to cover it. History will mock them for that. The chickens are coming home to roost - and not just for Don Kofi. (oped via Power Line)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:23 PM
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What DOES It Mean Anyway....?

'Blog' is the No. 1 word of the year, i. e. the most looked up on the Merriam Webster website.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:55 PM
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Time for a Democrat

It may be too late (these things are usually pre-determined) but Bush should reach across the aisle to replace Tom Ridge as Homeland Security Director. Joe Lieberman is an obvious choice but there are others. Feel free to use the commments here as a suggestion box. [How much does the Homeland Security Director make?-ed. What's the matter? You don't like your job?]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:07 PM
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More Van Gogh

Pat Sajak has logged in on the curious absence of condemnation on the part of the Hollywood community of the Jihadist slaughter of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh. Never mind that Sajak himself is a little late to the party and doesn't credit the numerous blogs or even the Wall Street Journal article that were there ahead of him, I'm glad the talk show host is speaking out.

To Sajak the reason for movieland silence about Van Gogh's murder is Bush hatred:

There's another possibility; one that seems crazy on the surface, but does provide an explanation for the silence, and is also in keeping with the political climate in Hollywood. Is it just possible that there are those who are reluctant to criticize an act of terror because that might somehow align them with President Bush, who stubbornly clings to the notion that these are evil people who need to be defeated? Could the level of hatred for this President be so great that some people are against anything he is for, and for anything he is against?

I think that's part of it, but there's something bleaker... good old-fashioned ignorance. Despite their public proclamations, Hollywood people, for the most part, are not particularly well-informed about political events, especially those in far off lands which demand some background knowledge and research. And, like many people with vested interests in their point of view, they resist informing themselves about these events if that would necessitate changing attitudes. Sometimes this avoidance goes to great and comic lengths. I have a some personal stories about this but I will save them for my book.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:15 AM
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Which Side Are You On - Part 934

Jonah Goldberg has an intriguing new article (hat tip: Catherine) on who or what is conservative... and in what sense. This subject has been oft discussed on this blog. I have been calling certain liberals the "new reactionaries" and not getting, shall we say, much positive feedback for it... from them anyway. Of course, I was being a deliberate provocateur, but I would point out that people who chose one viewpoint as much as forty years ago because it was "cutting edge" might want to take a look at their premises after all this time. History has a habit of moving on.

On the other hand, this guy might want to think about sprucing up his image too.

UPDATE: Dept. of Oops.... the article is NOT NEW. Oh, well, blame it on jetlag. [Good try. -ed. How about poor eyes? Didn't you just get a new perscription? Okay, stupdity. Now you're talking.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:58 AM
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Mon Dieu! What Next? Blogs?

American newspapers aren't the only ones in trouble. Their French cousins, including the once unassailable Le Monde, now are apparently going through a period of "extreme turbulence." Of course, we must consider the source, The Independent, only yesterday dismissed on this site for its nonsensical reportage on the movie business. Nevertheless, Le Monde's controversial editor Edwy Plenel is evidently quitting to go back to the "the simple pleasures of journalism and writing".

Meanwhile, the oh-so-very-1968 Libération may be the target of a partial takeover bid by Edouard de Rothschild, of all people. What does this all mean (other than a better class of wine at staff meetings)? I'm not sure. We do know their papers are not selling. Some of our French readers will have more to say about this, I hope. (I'm not sure this has much to do with it, but I have observed that the French press is far more uniform than ours about foreign policy, as if democracy ended at their border.)(hat tip: AB)

UPDATE: Howard emails this explanation: Lagardère (formerly Matra) - controlled by the Lagardère family - has a major stake in the European aerospace and weapons sectors, along with control of the Hachette group. Hachette encompasses Paris Match, Elle, the only national Sunday newspaper and most newspapers in the Marseilles-Nice region. It is the biggest book publisher, the largest book distributor and the biggest newsagent in France. Dassault - controlled by the Dassault family - has substantial aeospace interests (eg produces the Mirage fighter) and in 2004 took control of Socpresse, the group that owns conservative daily newspaper Le Figaro, weekly news magazine L'Express, two of the largest regional newspapers (in Lille and Lyons) and over 60 other publications. Socpresse was formerly controlled by Robert Hersant.

That is why there is unanimity of opinion. The press is only interested is serving their weapons industry.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:23 AM
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November 29, 2004

Annan Family Values

Here's the latest from Reuters on the deepening scandal surrounding Kofi Annan, his son Kojo and the UN kleptocrats who used an allegedly humanitarian program to enrich Saddam and his Euro-criminal cohorts:

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday he was "disappointed" his son did not tell him the full story of his ties to a firm involved in the U.N. oil-for-food program, now under investigation.

"Naturally I was very disappointed and surprised," Annan told reporters, saying the discrepancy had not been brought to his attention.

I guess the Annans are a "distant" family.

For the rest of us two things are necessary. One, for Kofi Annan to resign. Two, for the UN to open its books 24/7 on the Internet. Every transaction. Every salary. That's our money they're stealing. Where is the MSM in this? If Annan were an American politician, they'd be all over him like the cheapest suit on the planet. This is their UN too, in case they don't get it.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:07 PM
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Hix Nix Blix Pix - Again!

Nelson Ascher wrote to recommend I fisk this article by Hans Blix in The Guardian (where else?). I thought the smarmy former UN chief weapons inspector had been sufficiently pilloried by some snarky filmmakers, but I figured "what the hey?"... I had an hour to kill before lunch with an old publisher friend. I would take a look. Blix begins:

The results of a review of the functioning of the UN, conducted by a panel appointed by the secretary general Kofi Annan, will soon be on the table. That there is a need to discuss an array of questions is not in doubt - but the fact that the most powerful member of the organisation shows disdain for it is not exactly conducive to a positive intergovernmental debate.

We learned before the invasion of Iraq that in the view of the US administration, the security council had the choice of voting with the US for armed action - or being irrelevant.

What?!... Slow down, hee-haw, whoa... What we learned was that members of the UN security council itself--notably Russia, China and France--were bought and paid for by Saddam Hussein to the tune, so far, of twenty-three billion bucks. That's the biggest bribe in the history of known bribes by a factor of what? Ten? Twenty? A thousand? Beats me, but I do know that it is sufficient to make the entire security council itself irrelevant as a deliberative body.

I could go on but...sorry, I give up. I don't have time to waste on Blix. I'd rather take a walk down Madison Avenue than read the rest of his article, let alone fisk him. I only have one question for the former weapons inspector. Mr. Blix, where do you bank?

UPDATE: Sorry, been away from the computer for several hours. Didn't realize Blix link was broken. Fixed now.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:30 AM
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Burns Out

On my last day of a great New York vacation I am even able to laugh at the fusty local paper the NYT which is still, incredibly after the election, living in 1972. (If you're going to be nostalgic, at least give us Paris in the Twenties.) This morning they are sporting an orange "Apocalypse Now"-style photo of what could be the Mekong River (wink, wink - we know it's the Euphrates) with the same writer, John F. Burns, flogging the same story he has for two years now, to wit Iraq could be the next Vietnam. (I know - you're shocked). And it's not even a Sunday. This kind of none-news usually fits better with bagel and cream cheese. Burns, once justifiably regarded as one of our better war correspondents, seems to be suffering from "Burns out," feeding his audience what they want to hear.

Meanwhile, the NYT's own hometown news, the UN Oil-for-Food Scandal, is dealt with only by William Safire, the opinion writer on the edge of retirement. Why doesn't the NYT do a little more digging on that? Not enough reporters in Manhattan? Or perhaps the story doesn't fit their narrative?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:48 AM
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November 28, 2004

An Interesting Blog from Korea...

...suggests those recent reports of missing portraits of the Dear Leader in North Korea may be psy-ops from the outside. Scroll down for this and other interesting posts including news of a Japanese porn star (okay, go there first).

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:05 PM
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A Lousy Movie Is a Lousy Movie

The tedious reactionaries at The Independent have seized upon the catastrophic failure of Oliver Stone's Alexander as a chance to bludgeon American "homophobes." I haven't seen the film but have been told by enough people I trust that it was deadly dull (no matter what way its hero swung), so I have filed it under "life's too short" and steered clear. To me that constitues time management but the gang at The Independent smells a rat. Other forces are at play than mere film quality (or lack thereof). Their James Hiscock (from Los Angeles!) and James Burleigh report:

But conservative Christians have loudly denounced Alexander as "pro-gay" propaganda from Tinseltown, insisting that Alexander was a firmly hetero hero.

Oh, really? Not being a "conservative Christian" or a Christian of any sort this is news to me. Who do they mean specifically? Unfortunately (no big surprise here!) Messrs Hiscock and Burleigh aren't naming any names. Oh, excuse me. They do cite one, naturally anonymous, "online critic" who says the films failure was because its Alexander is "gay as a maypole."

In fact, if anything, the reverse is true. The only interest in this obvious yawner of a movie has been dredged up by the minor controversy over its protagonist's sexuality. Were it not for that, it might have had negative grosses. But don't ask The Independent about that. Reality doesn't interest them, only an opportunity to bash anything that has to do with America. [Do you think their reporters would be fired if they wrote the truth?-ed. Good question.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:06 PM
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Who Flip-Flops More than John Kerry?

The government of Iran.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:38 PM
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November 27, 2004

Into the Streets

Now that Ukranian kleptocrats seem on the run, how about going after the biggest thieves of all? A march on Turtle Bay?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:23 AM
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Election Section

The Ukranian Parliament has declared "no confidence" in their presidential election, but let's be honest - how many of us knew the difference between Yanukovych and Yushchenko before this contretemps? I didn't. Of course, I've been trying to get up to speed and it is the blogosphere - as usual - that has educated me more than the MSM. This is something to be rembered as different blogs (hint hint) present new strategies for survival in 2005. Blogs are... to paraphrase Woody Allen on relationships during the Woodman's better period... like sharks - they must move forward or die.

But speaking of elections, at first blush I oppose the postponement in Iraq. It would seem to me the parties that wish to thwart democracy in that country will not disappear in six months (or six years, for that matter). Immediate elections will strike a blow against them, as they did in Afghanistan. But the Bush Administration is an awkward position if it is seen to override the Iraqis themselves in forcing an election. Tricky.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:28 AM
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November 26, 2004

Mama MOMA

The re-upped Museum of Modern Art designed by Yoshio Tanguchi deserves its good reviews. The collection looks better than it ever did... and it was always amazing. Even in the Disneyland-like Thanksgiving crowd, Sheryl, Madeleine and I had a great time. (Hint: If you're from out of town, join MOMA. The sixty dollar membership is about the size of three admissions and gets you around the lines which, indeed, look like Disneyland).

As for my question about Madeline being force fed, no way. She was totally into it, dropping to the floor to copy works of art on a little note pad we bought her. Maybe it really is the "family business."

Here's Madeleine with a Pollock she recognized immediately from a children's book followed by her dirtying up her new coat sketching in the sculpture court.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:44 PM
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Back in the USSR!

Suffering from yet another attack of nostalgie pour le fascisme, the Guardian's Jonathan Steele predictably warns us of "nationalist" and dangerous "American" fingers mucking about in the Ukraine. (hat tip: Clive Davis)

Meanwhile, on planet Earth (not the Guardian) where most of us understand that no movement is perfect, the real fascists... meaning the Russian Bear... have arrived and are trying to "mediate" the crisis in the Ukraine. No luck so far as the citizens of the country itself still appear vigilant. Talks are now scheduled between the warring sides.

Here's where I've been keeping up with the Ukraine story in the midst of New York's myriad Thanksgiving pleasures. On tap for today: taking Madeleine for her first trip, at age six, to the Museum of Modern Art. Will this be forced feeding? I'll let you know.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:34 AM
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The Future and Its Enemies

I could think of nothing better for the headline of this post than the title of Virginia Postrel's book, which so aptly describes the difference between today's post on Iraq the Model and today's editorial in The New York Times.

The Times, still writing as if we were in the midst of the election, whines on tediously about the bleak picture in Iraq and bemoans, yet again, American lack of cooperation with other countries (Would they recommend the triumvirate of Putin, Chirac and Annan? How "progressive" of them!) Hello, 43rd Street, John Kerry lost. And the biggest reason, in my estimation, was his unremitting negativity. He had nothing positive to offer.

But speaking of something positive, read Iraq the Model today. The three brothers have just formed a new political party. Too bad I'm not an Iraqi. As a disaffected Democrat, I'm looking for someplace to go with an optimistic view of the future.

More optimism... homegrown style... here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:02 AM
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November 25, 2004

Thanksgiving in Kiev

A good surprise comes from the Ukraine to mix with our Pepcid as the Ukranian Supreme Court has temporarily blocked certification of their apparently rigged election. I had been wondering that some of the blatant stonewalling by the Iranians, reversing their position on nukes after only three days, was in some way related to the victory of the fascist forces in the Ukraine. After all, it is the Russians who seem to be the mullah's great business partner and it was the Russians who seemed to be once more victorious over the long suffering Ukranian people. Fingers crossed for our democratic allies in New Europe.

I wish I knew more about this situation, because I think it's important the blogs stay involved. Unfortunately, I am not particularly informed, although I did visit the Ukraine once (the Crimea, circa 1990) and I have the Ukraine in my blood (the legenday Odessa on my father's side).

Meanwhile, not too far from the surface of Elaine Sciolino's above-mentioned NYT piece on the European/Iranian nuclear "agreement" is the none-too-amazing revelation that the USA stands mostly alone against the forces of reaction. All the more reason to stay involved on both fronts, which, as I said, I suspect are strangely related.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:50 PM
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Let's keep these folks in our thoughts. And, of course, practice moderation in all things, as somebody's guru once said...

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:18 AM
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November 24, 2004

Don't We Live in a Great Country?

The National Review is calling for Kofi Annan's head in its new subscription edition. "You're Fired!" says the cover. The article begins:

This has been a wretched year for Kofi Annan. The U.N. secretary general has looked a forlorn figure on the world stage: Hugely overshadowed as a global leader by George W. Bush and Tony Blair, he has appeared weak and clueless in confronting major problems, including terrorism, WMD proliferation in Iran and elsewhere, and genocide in Sudan. At the same time, the massive scandal over the U.N.'s administration of the Iraq Oil for Food program has brought the world body's reputation to an all-time low. To cap it all, in the wake of a series of internal scandals, the U.N.'s own employee union has just passed a vote of no confidence in the U.N.'s senior management: a thinly veiled protest against Annan himself.

As for the Oil for Food scandal, it is more than just the biggest scandal in the U.N.'s history; it may well be the biggest financial fraud in modern times. Set up in the mid-1990s as a means of providing humanitarian aid to Iraqis, the Oil for Food program was subverted and manipulated by Saddam Hussein's regime, allegedly with the complicity of U.N. officials, to help prop up the Iraqi dictator. Saddam's dictatorship was able to siphon an estimated $21.3 billion from the program through oil smuggling and systematic thievery, by demanding illegal payments from companies buying Iraqi oil and kickbacks from those selling goods to Iraq. All this took place under the noses of U.N. bureaucrats: According to the report of U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, Benon Sevan — Annan's appointee as executive director of the Iraq program — received from Saddam a voucher for 13 million barrels of oil.

Meanwhile another group of Americans is apologizing to the European profiteers from this same Oil-for-Food scandal for Bush's victory in our democratically held elections. Obviously, I think these folks are in cloud-cuckoo-land, largely because I would wager very few of them even know what Oil-for-Food is, at least to any serious degree, or have the faintest idea of its ramifications. But, hey, this is a democracy. They're entitled to apologize to anyone they want to - Bin Laden, Zarqawi, Jacques Chirac or their Danish girl friend - just as long as they do it in their own names, not mine.

And one other thing - when democracy's in danger, you don't call Brussels.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:29 AM
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Tales of the "Red Eye"

I'm in New York. In all my years of flying over "flyover country," as the part of our nation that actually elects the president is "graciously " referred to by us elite coastal types, I have never taken the "red eye" West to East (the reverse many times). I've always been afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep and my brains would turn to brie, as I have heard that organ described by neurosurgeons.

Anyway, it seems to be behaving passably for the moment, at least for now. Soon, no doubt, I will be in a semi-comatose state.

Meanwhile, have a look at this piece in the WSJ, which confirms what I've been saying on this blog for some time regarding the strange silence of Hollywood on the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh. [You've made six films. Why don't you get credit for speaking out?-ed. You tell me.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:30 AM
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November 23, 2004

On the Road Again

Sheryl, Madeleine and I will be headed to New York tonight for the Thanksgiving holiday on the dreaded "red eye." Travel conditions are not promising, but a porterhouse on Friday night at Smith & Wollensky is (I'm not a turkey person). Sheryl and I will also be checking out (Saturday night) Michael Frayn's "Democracy," which is supposedly the ne plus ultra of this theatrical season. Intermittent blogging (chance of showers) will occur, since our hotel has excellent WiFi.

And now I wish I hadn't thrown out all my old loafers. They're the perfect thing for traveling nowadays - easy on, easy off at the security check. To all the other voyagers out there, have a safe trip.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:39 PM
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From the Baghdad Rumor Mill

Hammorabi says Zarqawi may now be surrounded by the Iraqi National Guard in Barqoba.

More here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:11 PM
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Something to Be Thankful for at Thanksgiving

No, I'm not just talking about Michael Moore topping this year's "Frigid 50" as the "most-cold-as-ice" person in Hollywood. Nor even Ben Affleck rounding out the top ten. I'm talking about the general decline of the actor as a force for anything. Only one of the top four movies this weekend is live-action and that one, "National Treasure," is unlikely to have legs.

Is this a seasonal aberration or an over-all trend? Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm tending toward the latter - over the long run anyway. More and more young filmmakers will be tempted by the increasingly flexible and inexpensive lure of CGI as time goes on in telling their stories. Those of us who have spent our lives kow-towing to the whims of stars can only be envious.

Speaking of which, I was amused to read in a recent LAT Calendar piece that Johnny Grant, the erstwhile "Mayor of Hollywood," was bemoaning the absence of "live" stars from this year's Hollywood Christmas Parade. The only ones showing up are Bart Simpson, SpongeBob, etc. Maybe the trend is happening faster thn I thought.

SOMETHING ELSE TO BE THANKFUL FOR: Just when things were threatening to get dull, OJ is back in the news. Can Faye Resnick be far behind?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:17 AM
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Best Proof of the Existence of God Since St. Anselm

According to ABC, Dan Rather is stepping down as anchor of the CBS Evening News. He will still be keeping his role on "Sixty Minutes II", but I imagine that's going to be only slightly more popular than the McEnroe Show.

Of course, the role of blogs in all this will be denied or down-played, but we know the truth, don't we?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:12 AM
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The Artest Test - Part II

Ron Artest said his one-year basketball suspension was "too harsh," as he plugged his rap album on the "Today Show" this morning. Maybe he's got a point. Hey, if Dan Rather can get away with promulgating forgeries on "Sixty Minutes" to influence a US presidential election and still be an anchorman, why should Ron be punished for taking a swing or two at a couple of fans. They're still living, right?

UPDATE: A WSJ article this morning (subscription only) details how the NBA has moved quickly to contain the damage with its sponsors:

The good news for the National Basketball Association: Its strong ties with sponsors and advertisers, and solid reputation as a partner, helped minimize the fallout. Plus, in handing down some of the longest suspensions in league history -- nine players, 143 games and more than $11 million in lost salary -- NBA Commissioner David Stern demonstrated he wouldn't let the crisis escalate. "We're on notice," Mr. Stern told reporters Sunday night. "We've got really here the beginning of our work, not the end of it."

Will seat prices go down? [Dream on.-ed.]

UPDATE: Artest throws his support to the dead. [But does he know the diagnosis?-ed.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:21 AM
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November 22, 2004

Spirit of America - A Thank You

Thanks to the generous readers of this blog who have already contributed $4015 to the Spirit of America blogger challenge. There's still time to contribute... always is... and you can do so here.

(Note to Jim Hake: still no baseball cap?)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:57 PM
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Hate U.

If current Daily News rundown of anti-Semitic/anti-Zionist activities at Columbia University is even half correct (make that a quarter correct), the administration in Morningside Heights has a problem - a sertious number of their faculty members are mentally ill. They don't even seem borderline rational.

What does this mean? Some at Coumbia may pretend this is a "free speech" issue, but would they have members of the KKK on the faculty? I think not. Their admin will have to face this soon or deal with a significant decline in their reputation, which is already not nearly as good as it once was.

But there is a good side--call it "The New York Times Syndrome." As a graduate of two Ivy League institutions (Dartmouth and Yale) I am beginning to question the Ivy educational hegemony in general. Of course, I was always "supposedly" skeptical of it, but now my skepticism is firming up. Imagine the waste of educational time (not to mention your parents or your money) spent in the classroom with these bozos - unless you're studying "abnormal psych" in the Middle East studies department, a strategy not apt to get you the requisite professional degree, even if it is weirdly educational. (via JG)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:31 PM
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Dept. of Van Gogh - More Bad News from Europe

From Asia Times:

As a matter of record, most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh. During a November 19 radio interview, for example, Zahid Mukhtar, head of the Islamic Council of Norway, refused to condemn van Gogh's murder, creating a scandal out of proportion to Norway's small Muslim population. A Moroccan-born member of the Belgian Senate, Mimount Bousakla, received death threats after remonstrating with the umbrella organization of Belgian Muslims for its refusal to denounce the van Gogh murder. She since has gone into hiding.

There's a lot more unfortunately.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:00 PM
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A Promotional Stunt for Bloggers?

How else to explain CNN choosing Jonathan Klein--the clod who came up with the bizarre notion that bloggers were wrong about Dan Rather's lies because we wrote in our "pajamas"--as the new president of its US News Group?

Thanks for the publicity, CNN. You may not always be militantly pro-democracy, but you are, inadvertently at least, pro-blogger. (via Power Line)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:44 AM
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More Troops for Iraq

Military leaders are calling for what seems to me a relatively small number of additional troops for Iraq:

The officers said the exact number of extra troops needed is still being reviewed but estimated it at the equivalent of several battalions, or about 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers

Unlike various other pundits and bloggers (most of whom have not served either) I make no claim to any military expertise whatsoever, so I take these officers at their word for what they need. I remain agnostic on whether we had the correct number of troops, if indeed such a thing can be ascertained. The reasons on both sides are obvious, but the answers aren't, at least to me.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:03 AM
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Live in Fallujah... It's Saturday Night!

Channeling the Onion... or was it an audition piece for "Saturday Night Live"?... British Channel 4 "Presenter" Hugh Thomson has written one of the most inadvertently comic opeds yet for The Guardian. Mr. Thomson apparently sees the WoT as "Christian fundamentals" vs. "Islamic fundamentals". [What happened to Jewish neocons?-ed. Must have slipped his mind. What about you agnostics? Where do you fit in? We've been brainwashed by Billy Graham, don't you remember?].

Meanwhile, Mr Thomson informs us:

In the ideological and military clash of Christian fundamentals with Islamist fundamentals, the western media are simply off-limits to the latter. I am still getting emails every week from viewers demanding why we are not in Falluja, Tikrit, Amara covering this war properly and showing the other side.

What Thomson seems to be saying is that the "balance" situation would be rectified if some of our journos were embedded with the suicide bombers, etc., instead of with those indiscriminately war-like Marines. Care to volunteer, Mr. Thomson?

Via Clive Davis... and don't miss Harry's Place as well.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:36 AM
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Speaking of Hoaxes

Although he did not get through all 558 pages of the French medical dossier, Palestinian UN observer Nasser al-Kidwa has seen no evidence of poisoning in the death of his uncle Yasir Arafat - though, of course, al-Kidwa is not ruling it out. How could he? That would be behaving like an adult and possibly advancing his people. And of course Mr. al-Kidwa cannot resist a pathological opportunity to bash Israel.

"I believe Israeli authorities are largely responsible (for Arafat's death) at least because of the confinement of the late president to the Muqata in very bad conditions for three years," he said.

Uhuh. Shall we say "Are you Kidwa-ing me?"... Meanwhile, the US (with some positive Israeli contribution)is left, as usual, being the world's grown-up. Suppose we just opted out? What would happen? Unfortunately, we don't have a choice. Our own survival would be at stake in an increasingly infantile world, but just suppose...

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:42 AM
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Who Pays Those Think Tank Salaries?

The "home computer" of 2004 as predicted by the Rand Corporation. Man, were those folks pessimistic! (hat tip: Martin Larsen)

Of course, this man was notoriously optimistic (in his way).

UPDATE: I have been hoaxed! (This is not the first time, but, PLEASE, all distant cousins of deposed Nigerian royalty, do not clutter my already besieged email box.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:01 AM
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November 21, 2004

Missing Kims and Missing Rons

The missing photographs of Kim Jong Il remain a mystery. Has there been a coup in North Korea? Is the "Beloved Leader" dead or are these photographs just out for a bigger Rubens-sized frame? Much less of a mystery will be the missing Rons from the Indiana Pacers team photos this year.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:47 PM
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This Time the Truth is from Hollywood

Sometimes it seems as if 90% of the world hates America - John Kerry ran his tedious political campaign based on that banal truth - but that is only the most superficial version of reality. More accurately, America is idolized everywhere, even and especially in France. They won't admit it, of course, to themselves or to others, but those infants running around St. Germain and Trafalgar Square burning effigies of Uncle Sam and equating Bush with Hitler don't believe what they are saying deep down. They are simply "acting out," as the shrinks say.

Of course, that doesn't stop them from being really and truly dangerous. People who "act out" can cause geniuine trouble, get people killed and so forth. But no matter. You're probably still thinking that my first point is exaggereated anyway and that America is genuinely hated around the world.

Well then let me ask you this question: Why is it that this year... of all years... the worst Hollywood studio fare that failed miserably and justifiably in the domestic market ("Troy," "King Arthur," "The Terminal") is doing gangbuster business abroad as never before, tripling, according to the WSJ, its US grosses in the very venues where our country is supposedly excoriated. In the immortal words of Sally Fields, they love us, they really love us. Or sort of.

Unless we're black, of course. The only American turkey on the Wall Street Journal's list that seems not to have been resurrected in Europe is Eddie Murphy's "The Adventures of Pluto Nash." No surprise there, considering what we know abut racial tolerance in the old country.

UPDATE: For those interested, the WSJ article (subscription) has been copied into the comments.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:17 PM
Comments (16)

Special thanks and an apology...

...for those I may have neglected to email my personal gratitude for hitting the tip jar. I have been a little slipshod lately because of flying back and forth to NY. Email seems to "vanish" betwen laptop and desktop like... um... a candidate's military records. Again, my heartfelt thanks.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:07 AM
Comments (4)

Some Positive Theo Van Gogh Fallout in Germany

Thousands (mostly Turkish nationals apparently) demonstrated against terrorism today in Cologne. Is this the beginning of moderate muslims speaking out? Let's hope. Photos here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:57 AM
Comments (4)

Some great war reporting...

...by Dexter Filkins of the New York Times, who provides us with an emotional inside glimpse of Marines in action in Fallujah. Filkins clearly had empathy for men at war that Kevin Sites didn't. Reading Filkins' account of the Marines being shot by fascist jihadis (this site is now an 'insurgents'-free zone) masquerading in the uniforms of the Iraqi Army makes it clear what a cheap propaganda artist Sites is. These Marines were moving through a killing field in which their adversaries were busy beheading people in blood-filled execution rooms. How are the Marines supposed to act? If that particular wounded jihadi had been being playing possum, faking like those "uniformed" Iraqi Army soldiers, Sites and his buddy from NBC, not to mention everyone else in the room, would have been blown to smithereens.

It's obviously my turn of mind, but these self-righteous "anti-warriors" like Sites often make me think of the concentration camps. How would they have dealt with that most horrible of horrors from the vantage point of their soi-disant idealistic world view? Wretchard was obviously thinking the same way today when he wrote on the Belmont Club:

If Hitler was altogether more evil than we can conceive, he arose from a time and circumstance which few if any can still remember. Any comparisons between the 1945 and 2004 are likely to be inexact. Those who point to the shooting of Jihadi in Fallujah by a US Marine as evidence that America is drifting into Nazism would do well to remember that in 1945, American troops who arrived in Dachau were so disgusted by what they saw they executed hundreds of SS guards on the spot.

UPDATE: An extraordinary letter home from a Marine in Fallujah contains this excerpt -

It is incredibly humbling to walk among such men. They fought as hard as any Marines in history and deserve to be remembered as such. The enemy they fought burrowed into houses and fired through mouse holes cut in walls, lured them into houses rigged with explosives and detonated the houses on pursuing Marines, and actually hid behind surrender flags only to engage the Marines with small arms fire once they perceived that the Marines had let their guard down. I know of several instances where near dead enemy rolled grenades out on Marines who were preparing to render them aid. It was a fight to the finish in every sense and the Marines delivered.

Read it all. This one is not to be missed.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:52 AM
Comments (50)

November 20, 2004

Speaking Out on Iran

President Bush spoke out on Iran today, concerned as should be the Mullahs are exploiting a strange gap in the timeframe they negotiated in their deal with the European 3 (Britain, Germany and France):

Talking to reporters here after a meeting with Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, Mr. Bush cited reports that Iran was racing to produce uranium hexaflouride, a gas that can be enriched into bomb fuel. "They're willing to speed up processing of materials that could lead to a nuclear weapon," Mr. Bush said.

Carolyn Glick has an interesting anaylsis of where the situation may be heading. Also don't miss Gary Metz's Regime Change Iran blog. I check it daily.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:21 AM
Comments (21)

The Black Comedy Continues...

... around access to Yasir Arafat's medical records. The Jerusalem Post has a good rundown of the family tug-of-war between Arafat's nephew and Palestinian UN envoy Nasser al-Kidwa and the recently-deceased terror master's "charming widow." Debka, however, has a much juicier report:

Arafat's widow absconds to Tunis with his medical files ahead of his nephew al-Kidwa's arrival in Paris to collect them.

PA hoped to publish record and lay to rest rumors of foul play, including Israeli poison. DEBKAfile's Paris sources convinced widow will hold onto medical files as collateral for agreed PA payments and as leverage to help radicals Kadoumi, Mussa Arafat and Force 17 commander foil Abbas's bid for succession.

All those people chasing around after one dead man's medical records. Where are Blake Edwards and Preston Sturges when we need them? Of course, the MacGuffin in these kinds of stories is often a disappointment. But in this case it may be interesting.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:03 AM
Comments (11)

The Artest Test

As a hoops-aholic, I watched some of the clips from the brawl at the end of the Pacers-Pistons game and... whoa... and I don't think I've seen anything like this West of a European football riot. Well, it's not quite that, but I wouldn't want to be on the end of a right cross thrown by Ron Artest. NBA Commissioner David Stern has a problem. Realistically some of these players should be thrown out of the game permanently. As for the Detroit fans, well, I thought Philly was bad. Phew!

UPDATE: From NBA.COM, the statement from Commissioner Stern in which four player are suspended indefinitely. Sounds like the NBA is taking it pretty seriously. Of course, there may indictments from the DA, in which case they have no choice.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:05 AM
Comments (29)

November 19, 2004

Europe in Trouble

Reading these three links on Drudge this afternoon, it is difficult to escape the conclusion Europe is in an extraordinary crisis with great overtones of 1930s. Am I overstating? You tell me.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:25 PM
Comments (79)

Who Can Blame Them?

UN employees have voted 'No Confidence' in Top Leaders

A union representing United Nations staff has voted "no confidence" in senior management, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The move was in response to a series of scandals plaguing the United Nations under Annan's leadership.

Shall we say... "The Whole World Is Watching!" (hat tip: Daniel Aronstein)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:29 PM
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Putting Our Money Where Our Mouths Are - Blog Division

Jim Hake over at "Spirit of America" is starting a "Blogger Challenge" to see which blogs can raise the most money for the great things his charity is doing in Iraq. While I'm not big on contests (I hate to lose), I signed up immediately because I support so completely what Jim is doing. If you're not familiar with it, click on the link just above.

And if you care to donate, you're welcome to do so through this blog by clicking here. I've started the ball rolling by donating $100.00. I had two reasons. One, I support the cause and, two, that's the bare minimum that has to be contributed through a blog for the blogger to win a "Spirit of America" baseball cap. As many know, I'm a well-known lover of hats. [Is that because you're short on top?-ed. You're fired.]

By the way, one of the many new initiatives SoA is involved in is the creation of new Arabic-language blogs in Iraq to counteract Al Jazeera, etc. ("Arabic Blogging Tool - Viral Freedom"). You won't be surprised to learn that the estimable crew (Omar, Ali and Mohammed) at Iraq the Model will be involved with that. Those three gentlemen, who, with other Iraqi bloggers, have opened so many minds in this country to the realities of life in Iraq, are coming to the USA in December. I'll be one of those hosting them here in LA. I look forward to meeting them and I dedicate all the contributions made by this blog to "Spirit of America" to them.

OBVIOUS UPDATE: Any other bloggers reading this, please click here to join in. Then click on "join the challenge."

UPDATE: As of 4:24 PM Pacific, $1690.00 has been donated to "Spirit of America" through this blog. Thank you.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:26 AM
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A Real Yo-yo!

Some people object to my calling certain "liberals" the "new reactionaries." A good example is this clown, a radio talk show host in Madison who called Condoleezza Rice an "Aunt Jemima." He probably wasn't aware that Rice is a concert level pianist who has played duets with Yo Yo Ma or that she is an expert in Russian literature. He's probably an expert in nothing but his own antedeluvian views.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:09 AM
Comments (82)

November 18, 2004

An Update on the North Korean Situation from a Reader in Japan

Friday morning (9:00 A.M. Japan time)a news/current events dicussion program on the Asahi network (affiliated with the Asahi Shimbun) is talking about a North Korean flyer they say they have acquired that is titled The Ten Great Lies of Kim Father and Son. So, it's no longer just the Sankei Shimbun.

Some commenters on here had questioned Sankei Shimbun's reputation. As any beer drinker knows, Asahi is the best (just kidding). Obviously something is happening. Maybe it is Team America's fault.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:08 PM
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Two Chuck Berry's, but no Little Richard?

Rolling Stone Magazine has released its top 500 songs of all time. Not only are there no Schubert lieder in the top 20, there's no Little Richard! Outrageous! Anway, here they are from one to twenty: [How come "Maybellene" got in ahead of "Memphis"?-ed. Oh, shut up!]

Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones
Imagine, John Lennon
What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
Respect, Aretha Franklin
Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
Johnny B Goode, Chuck Berry
Hey Jude, The Beatles
Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana
What'd I Say, Ray Charles
My Generation, The Who
A Change is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke
Yesterday, The Beatles
Blowin’ in the Wind, Bob Dylan
London Calling, The Clash
I Want to Hold Your Hand, The Beatles
Purple Haze, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Maybellene, Chuck Berry
Hound Dog, Elvis Presley
Let It Be, The Beatles

UPDATE: I love rock and roll--I grew up with it--but there's not a single song on this list that holds a candle to this... but, hey, that's just my opinion. I'm a sentimentalist. I'm crazy for La Traviata.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:36 PM
Comments (49)

Theo Van Gogh, The Sequel?

It's too early to tell, but we have the following BREAKING NEWS:

A rabbi's British secretary died in an Antwerp hospital after being shot in shot in the head outside his home today.

There were no witnesses to the shooting.

MUCH MORE here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:40 AM
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It's About Women

Thomas Dalrymple's brief article (via Instapundit) explaining the murder of Theo Van Gogh as a reaction by Muslim men at their must vulnerable point - the abuse of women - is correct as far as it goes, but it tells only part of the story. Writes Dalrymple:

The majority of Muslims in Europe, particularly the young, have a weak and tenuous connection to their ancestral religion. Their level and intensity of belief is low; pop music interests them more. Far from being fanatics, they are lukewarm believers at best. Were it not for the abuse of women, Islam would go the way of the Church of England.

Well, maybe. But religious traditions run deep and on the most primitive levels, even, perhaps especially, when they are tenuous. As a Jew who has been more or less an atheist since his Bar Mitzvah, I still think something is amiss if I don't celebrate Passover.

And women have been held in low esteem, even as second class citizens, to one degree or another in the Judeo-Christian tradition as well, but these beliefs have been under constant attack for some time. Huge portions of that tradition and its secular off-spring now reject that position. And as I am sure Dalrymple is aware (I have no real quarrel with him. He is quite brilliant), the very foundation of these religions (Islam included), it has been argued, has been ascribed in part to patriarchy's struggle for ascendancy over matriarchy. I don't have the knowledge to debate these theories, but it is clear modern life is going in a different direction. Many studies have related the financial success of society to the contribution of women in the work place. We are at a place now where women may even be becoming the dominant force there, since they may be more suited for the information age.

This leaves the Islamic world in a rage, clinging to traditions from a time when the world was thought flat. A woman named Monir Kazemi wrote tellingly of this dilemma in this email exchange quoted on Power Line:

Dear Jana, I was born in the Middle East and went to Islamic school and at one time I memorized parts of the Koran. I am from a neighboring country to Iraq.

You say that I am "not allowed" (by whom may I ask?) - that I am not allowed to say that the Koran has recommended to beat women or to disinherit women because of their gender.

Of course we can find similar, though probably not as extreme, comments about women in the Bible, they have been largely discredited. How to discredit the reactionary parts of the Koran? That is problem of our time. Monir Kazemi, in that same email to Jana, puts it as well as anyone I have ever read:

What stops me and other open minded people to say that the Koran contains nonsense of this sort? If it offends you that I say this, well then take a cold shower, and if you are a moslem (by the sound of it) then change your religion instead of being so embarrassed about it, as I am just repeating what is in there complete with verse numbers and am exercising my right to free speech, and I can say all I wish about Islam, including facts about the Koran - and this is exactly why the Marines are in Fallujah beating the hell out of these Islamofascists - because they want to stop me from saying the facts, and no Jana, you cannot stop me as those Marines are protecting me, the Iraqis, and ultimately America, and neither can you stop the good Marines who are risking their lives, to bring out the truth about this decrepit religion. You should be ashamed of yourself to undermine our men and women in danger in the battlezone who are fighting tyranny, while people like you suck up to it.

Yes, we are in a long struggle and, yes, women's rights are the very center of it.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:55 AM
Comments (35)

November 17, 2004

Powell Takes a Stand on Iran

Colin Powell, who famously got slapped down for his statements on Iraqi WMDs... [He may be exonerated one day on that one.-ed. Sooner than you think.]... has nevertheless stepped forward on the issue of Iran, citing evidence the mullahs are indeed pursuing nuclear weapons, according to the WaPo:

The United States has intelligence that Iran is working to adapt missiles to deliver a nuclear weapon, further evidence that the Islamic republic is determined to acquire a nuclear bomb, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday.

Separately, an Iranian opposition exile group charged in Paris that Iran is enriching uranium at a secret military facility unknown to U.N. weapons inspectors. Iran has denied seeking to build nuclear weapons.

North Korea, Iran... it's going to be an interesting year.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:21 PM
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A North Korean Freedom Movement?

Hopeful signs have apparently surfaced.

It's Thursday in Japan and I have received email from Kyoto from Mongai Kome, frequent commenter on this blog. His morning paper (Sankei Shinbun) is reporting anti-regime flyers being posted in over fifty places in North Korea. This public display of disobedience in that benighted country is unprecedented and has been going on for the last month. Here is Mongai:

The most prevalent flyer is called the "sixteen lies" of tyrant Kim and his tyrant father and it takes apart the fundamental myths and propaganda regarding the cult of the Kims and outlines the failings of the regime. Another flyer is based on the thesis that Kim Jong-il killed his father (perhaps some propaganda in and of itself but a brilliant move given the traditions of the Korean culture.)

Here is hoping things happen in twos and in Iran and North Korea justice will be done, and done soon, and done of, by, and for the people there with a little help from friends.

From earlier in his email, Mongai means Bush and Rice who he is happy are in office, considering the circumstances. But I think if Kim Jong-il is finally going to be gotten rid of, we already know who is going to do it.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:30 PM
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"The folks are throwing shoes and RICE..."

Democracy Project has some disturbing links to cartoonists who may have fallen into the not-so "Tender Trap" of racism while making fun of our newly-nominated Secretary of State, including this "masterpiece" by the "highly-sophisticated" Jeff Danziger.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:00 PM
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Dept. of Funny

Well, he likes to live in France. (hat tip: "bkochba" - wasn't he a freedom fighter himself?)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:12 AM
Comments (4)

Important Oil-for-Food Breakthrough

Congrats to the Chicago Tribune for joining the few major MSM outlets to acknowledge the importance of this scandal. Their lead editorial for today begins:

One after another, with the cadence of choreographed mortar fire, disclosures about the phenomenally corrupt United Nations program known as Oil-for-Food--it ranks as one of the greatest financial crimes of all time--are exploding into the news.

With each troubling disclosure, last year's refusal of the UN Security Council to enforce its 17 resolutions against Iraq after the Persian Gulf war becomes more transparent. To prop up the regime that murdered his people by the hundreds of thousands, and to thwart UN sanctions, Saddam Hussein bribed officials and companies in influential nations worldwide. Given the vast payoffs he funneled to France, Russia and China--three countries with veto power at the Security Council--Hussein had nothing to fear from the UN's coalition of the bribed. (hat tip: John Ruark)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:51 AM
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"Star-Search Palestine"

William Dyer places Thomas Friedman's column on Arafat in context.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:40 AM
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Leakers of Langley - Part Infinity

How do you run an intelligence agency when your internal memos are leaked to the press virtually the minute they are received? Beats me. But it's happened again... newly-appointed DCI Porter Goss's discussion of reforming the CIA having been slipped to The New York Times seemingly before the laser print dried. (Okay, it dries immediately, but you know what I mean.) The Times, of course, published their version of this memo via Douglas Jehl. That's their job. They're in the news business. The leaking is the leaker's fault, not theirs.

But I have a suggestion for The Times. In cases like this, why not also publish the memo in its entirety? If you're going to run leaks, take the CSPAN approach and run them unedited. Let us make our own judgments. It's impossible to know whether Jehl's selected quotes from the memo reflect an accurate view of the document without having read the whole thing.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:13 AM
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Get Yer Daily Oil-for-Food!

Investigation of the metastasizing United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal continued on two fronts yesterday. Both Henry Hyde's House Committee and the UN's own independent panel were focusing on the role of the French bank BNP Paribas, which apparently did little checking on where the Oil-for-Food funds they distributed were headed. Bob Bennet, one of the bank's lawyers, deemed that assertion "outrageous," according to the NYT's Judith Miller. But Miller also reports:

Two people familiar with the United Nations investigation, led by Paul A. Volcker, said investigators had become frustrated with BNP resistance to requests for records and other information. But Mr. Bennet said the bank was cooperating.

Don't they always?

On a yet more blood-curdling level, the House Committee is set to reveal today how Saddam funneled the UN's Oil-for-Food money to the families of Palestinian suicide/homicide bombers. From Fox News:

It has long been established that Saddam paid bounties of $15,000 to $25,000 to the Palestinian families of the murderers. Hyde's committee will reveal at the hearing that some of the reward money was deposited from illegal profits Saddam made by demanding 10 percent kickbacks on all the contracts of companies that did business with the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food program.

Those funds were then deposited with other Iraqi money, such as Jordanian Oil-for-Food oil payments, into the Central Bank of Iraq account in the Rafidain Bank in Amman, Jordan. The funds were then transferred to another account in the bank controlled by Iraq's ambassador to Jordan Sabah Yaseen. It was from Yaseen's account that Saddam's officials would cut and hand out checks to the homicide bombers' families, Hyde's investigators are expected to say.

One of the many cruel jokes in all this is that those impoverished Palestinian families were being paid a pittance - relative to Saddam's fortune (not to mention Arafat's) - for the lives of their children. I wonder if Saddam or his henchmen set up this particular sick scheme the way they did just for their amusement. This part of the scam wouldn't seem to have cost them more than few dozen Mercedes, yet it was clearly engineered (through cut-outs) to come from rake-offs from the Oil-for-Food Program, kicking dirt in our collective faces. More to come, I'm sure.

UPDATE: More from Gertz (via Power Line)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:06 AM
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November 16, 2004

Which Side Are You On?.... Part 745

Earlier today I was drafted on the Hugh Hewitt's Show at the last minute. When it happens that way, I don't have a chance to put up an alert on the blog. Hugh called to ask what I thought of comments made my Chris Matthews on Hardball in which Chris said of the Iraqi 'insurgents' "they're not bad guys especially, just people who just disagree with us..."

Well, it is so, if you think so, part 954... Apparently, Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC political correspondent, was on the show before me trying to defend Matthews who O'Donnell claimed had been misunderstood. Mathews intended his statement just as an illustration of how the 'insurgents' might be feeling regarding that Marine who might have gotten trigger happy with a wounded terrorist. That's the Marine who had previously himself been shot in the face. So it goes in war.

Hugh quickly added me to the discussion because he knew I wasn't particularly sympathetic to this kind of cultural relativism - not anymore anyway, assuming that's what it was, which I don't. I found Matthews' comments despicable. But then I guess I just have trouble lumping our soliders in any way with Islamic terrorists who cut peoples' heads off or Baathist fascists who seek to reinstate a regime that dumped children in mass graves with their toys. I leave that kind of moral equivalency to Chris Matthews and his ilk.

But then these days I'm an acknowledged regime-changer and supporter of the administration. Therefore I am suspect. Never mind that getting rid of dictators used to be the policy of liberal Democrats and that I oppose the administration on several social issues... I am still a suspect hothead who thinks the Mainstream Media has turned reactionary in defense of views that no longer make the slightest sense.

So leave me out of it, since I am biased, and consult IRAQ THE MODEL. Omar, one of the three Iraqi brothers who write this blog which I regard as one of the most important documents of our time, in or out of the mainstream, was outside Iraq to meet with my buddy Jim Hake of "Spirit of America" in Jordan. While there, Omar made the following observation:

Being out of the events' field for a week and having the media as the only source of information made me understand more why many people have a blurred vision about the situation in Iraq, I mean watching Al Jazeera and the CNN for a relatively long time made Iraq- at certain moments-look like "hell on earth". Fortunately I lived my whole life in Iraq and when it comes to events taking place over there I can distinguish between the truth and the lies to a certain degree but my concern is about people who have never been there because the media twist facts and exaggerate things in an unbelievable manner.

I wonder how Chris Matthews would react to that. I would like to watch his face as he reads it.

MEANWHILE: Matthew Heidt - as opposed to Mathews, Chris - knows which side he is on. (via LGF)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:11 PM
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An Idea Whose Time May Have Come

The best ideas often come in humorous form, no?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:02 PM
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Book Promotion on the Web...

... not to mention advanced language studies... took a giant step forward with this video. (via Imshin)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:09 PM
Comments (2)

Brother Ledeen at the Ouija Board

JJA is back to explain the contretemps at Langley.

UPDATE: Stephen Hayes has more on the Leakers of Langley, including an explication de Washington Post texte. I must be naive, but I would have assumed unapproved leaking to the press by an intelligence agent would be cause for his immediate dismissal. I wonder how the Mossad handles such problems. We certainly know how the KGB used to. [Of course, all this assumes it was "unapproved". -ed. You've got a point there.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:28 AM
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What if the UN Oil-for-Food Scam had continued....

It did, according to the Senate Committee hearings yesterday, up through 2003.

But first, the Oil-for-Food quote of the day from the New York Post Online: Juan Zarate, a Treasury official investigating terrorist financing, told the [Senate] committee, "It is likely that some of these funds ended up in the coffers that are now available" to finance "the Iraqi insurgency and terrorism inside and outside of Iraq."

As we now know that fund worked from a base of 21.3 billion and counting. That's some number from which to finance an insurrection. plenty of financial wiggle room. No wonder things are so complicated at present in Iraq, though I remain optimistic they can be overcome and am prepared to stay the course. We have to.

But here's my thought for the day. Suppose the US had not invaded Iraq and the Oil-for-Food scam had continued apace, netting billions a year for Saddam and his cohorts? What would that money have been used for? Well, probably some variation of what it had always been used for -- castles, cars, planes and more and more weapons of all kinds, some manufactured and some bought, distributed to Saddam and his allies. Soon enough the already fat spigots would expand (with UN endorsement, no doubt) and the gush of money increase. Think about that in light of the brain dead, self-immolating incantation of "No WMDs!" offered us by the self-described left as justification for their naive isolationism. A cash flow like that provided by UNSCUM could finance enough WMDs to destroy the world many times over with the resources to hide them simultaneously under practically every sand dune from Mongolia to the Mojave (they probably already have). Left alone, the United Nations and Saddam would have put civilization in tremendous jeopardy. Sound exaggerated? Think about it. The UN Oil-for-Food Scandal was justification by itself to invade Iraq - far more than enough.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:16 AM
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Grand Rounds 8 is Up

That's a jamboree of medical blogs. [Stop belaboring the obvious.-ed. Hey, I'm jetlagged and it's 5:30 AM. Gimme a break.] For those of you who have not been availing yourselves of this terrific service, there's no time like now. And just think - you don't have to fill out any insurance forms!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:28 AM
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November 15, 2004

Condi to State

Considering the speed this happened, it appears that Condoleezza Rice's nomination to replace Colin Powell for Secretary of State has been in the works for a while. If she does well, this could set up one of the most interesting presidential elections ever in 2008 - Condi vs. Hillary.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:34 PM
Comments (57)

Inflation Strikes!

UNSCUM inflation, that is. Previous reports estimating skimming by Saddam and his United Nations Oil-for-Food cohorts at 10 billion dollars were off by a measly 11.3 billion bucks, according to a probe by the Senate Committee on Government Affairs. It's now 21.3 billion (more than double the original estimate) and could go higher, making the Oil-for-Food Scandal the greatest heist in world history by far. Kofi & his cronies should be proud. They've earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records. [You're not trying to tell me the UN is worse than Halliburton?-ed. Nah. Don't worry.]

But maybe it's time to think about moving the location of the United Nations, while still keeping it in New York State, from its tony Manhattan Turtle Bay address to more historically appropriate digs in Ossining.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:53 AM
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Powell Resigns

This is no surprise. But the choice of replacement will likely be the most closely watched cabinet appointment in some time. Will Bush go after the State Department as he has, apparently, the CIA?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:02 AM
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The Plot Against Paul Bremer

Dan Darling does a superb job of explicating a fascinating "Special Report" from the current US News - "The Iran Connection" by Edward T. Pound. Both are eminently worth your time. The Pound article reveals a failed assassination attempt, allegedly with the help of Iranian intelligence, against Paul Bremer when he was the top US civilian administrator in Iraq.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:32 AM
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Local Yokels

You have to be amused at the LAT's coverage of the ongoing crise at the CIA (see below). Under the headline "CIA Tumult Causes Worry in Congress" they go on to quote for five graphs Rep. Jane Harman of Venice, CA who is the ranking Democratic member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She spends most of her time dissing Porter Goss' staff. (Goss, the new DCI, was formerly the chairman of that committee.)

Not until paragraph eight does the LAT's loyal Lisa Getter arrive at the comments of Senator John McCain, who said on ABC's "This Week" that Goss was doing the right thing at the CIA. He described it as a "dysfunctional agency, and in some ways a rogue agency."

"This agency needs to be reformed," McCain said, adding that Goss was "on the right track. He is being savaged by these people that want the status quo. And the status quo is not satisfactory."

It seems satisfactory to Ms. Getter, however, who quickly gets back to the subject at hand - saving the jobs of failed bureacrats who just might be on the Democratic side - giving the last word (three more graphs, in which she blames, shockingly, Donald Rumsfeld) to the Congresswoman from Venice.

Nothing surprising here, of course. This is journalism as it is practiced by the LAT... and by this blog, for that matter, which would love to see the CIA seriously reformed, not cosmetically retouched (injected with Botox?). The difference is I state my position up front.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:03 AM
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November 14, 2004

Leakers of Langley

Newsday, which recently misquoted yours truly, is now quoting the latest avatar of that ubiquitous critter the "CIA Leaker," latterly known as "a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House." Whatever. These self-serving bottom feeders of the intelligence world seem to be everywhere except doing their jobs. If they spent half as much time learning Pashtu as they did and do whispering into the ears of Seymour Hersh, et al, the state of our intelligence services might be somewhat better than abysmal.

This particular anonymous leakazoid is sallying forth in defense of Stephen R. Kappes, deputy director of clandestine services, "the CIA's most powerful division," according to Newsday. Kappes is on his way out and the Bush Administration is evidently happy to see him go. Well, duh. Let's get serious (Newsday won't, so somebody better)... that same clandestine services division of the CIA has been a near disaster for the last decade (over two adminstrations, Newsday, got that? Complicated for you?). In fact the CIA, were it a private corporation, would be filing Chapter 11 along with United Airlines by now. Restructing is long overdue (along with those discount tickets to Ft. Lauderdale).

And those of you who always come out when I criticize the CIA to remind me there are good people inside the organization - I know that! But like most bureaucracies, after a certain amount of time, its original intent, in this case intelligence gathering for the defense of a nation, gets distorted into self-preservation of its own structure and personnel. Read Julien Benda's great La Trahison des clercs for an account of how that happens.

(via Power Line)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:00 PM
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Iran has capitulated...

... and agreed... "more or less" according to one nameless Eurocrat... to the European proposal for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program. Is this real or is it Memorex? I'd bet on Memorex, but Iran's even paying lip service to a nuclear stand down at this time has got to be related to two things: the victory of Bush at the polls and the consequent unfettered militancy of US forces in Fallujah and (potentially) elsewhere. It's no accident Iran stonewalled up until the election. And I am sure it wasn't lost on the moo-lahs that the battle of Fallujah (how many miles to the Iranian border?) didn't last a week.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:41 PM
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"Barcepundit" Franco Aleman says he is looking for a Green Card...

And he has good reason. I know it could be difficult, but I would like to remind him that it has been done before.. And if the normal channels don't work, there's always the black market.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:04 PM
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What Does Kofi Annan Tell Himself?

I wonder if Kofi Annan thinks he is as corrupt as we do? Perhaps he really does see the United States as dangerously imperialistic and Yassir Arafat as a symbol of national aspiration. But I don't think so. I think there are some people so used to living with corruption they think it the way of the world. To be disturbed by it is somehow "unsophisticated." They "bow down" in homage to the kleptocrat who exploited his own people beyond comprehension.

Of course it is not surprising to see the French President do something as inherently racist as that. In any case, Chirac's days are as numbered as his bank account. But Annan is another matter. He works for the world. Or claims to. Time to give this UN kleptocrat the boot too.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:50 AM
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November 13, 2004

Our Man In Iraq

I mean the blogosphere's Greyhawk who has updates from Mosul far more interesting than what you will read in the MSM (the Los Angeles Times' coverage, as Greyhawk points out, comes from London)... He includes a long quote and link to a teen age Iraqi girl blogging from Mosul. Extraordinary.

Of course, I have girls on my mind, having just bought my daughter Madeleine a gift at the American Girl Cafe across from Rockefeller Center before returning to Los Angeles tonight. It is a brisk clear day in New York with Christmas already in the air. As I watched the skads of shoppers descending on the stores, the election felt months behind us. I wondered if all these well-heeled New Yorkers, so many of whom reviled Bush for so long, were beginning to lose their anger and would join us to help build a better future for that brilliant teenage girl in Mosul. Time will tell.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:01 AM
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Disturbing But Not Surprising

There's a blogger's cliché, if there ever was one, but it refers again to David Brooks' column The CIA Versus Bush in this morning's NYT. The CIA never seemed too comfortable with the militant-spread-of-democracy program of the current administration. At many points in their history, the intelligence agency wasn't particularly keen on overthrowing the Soviet Union either. An entrenched bureaucracy, they prefer things the way they are and leak policy "reports" to preserve their positions. If you believed them all, you believe the Berlin Wall is still there.

The Joseph Wilson-Valerie Plame Affair, still percolating on some back burners, should be examined in the context of this Inside the Beltway Cold War. More interesting than the endless jockeying over who leaked what to whom, or perhaps underlying it, is why Wilson was chosen in the first place. Nepotism may have been the least of it. It may have been an attempt by the intelligence agency to undercut the President by choosing a committed political opponent to perform a crucial task (checking out yellowcake in Niger). The result would be a foregone conclusion.

New DCI Porter Goss has his work cut out for him. Let's hope he has the stomach for it.

UPDATE: More views on CIA trouble here and here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:24 AM
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November 12, 2004

What Will Greta Van Susteren Do?

Scott Peterson has been convicted. Well, at least Greta can now bore us silly with the question of sentencing. Was the public really interested in this trial or was it just filling a vacuum on cable? One of the major results of the OJ case has been the nearly endless parade of tedious trials on television, none of them remotely as interesting as watching the Juice get away with cold-blooded murder in front of our eyes. What's interesting (faintly) about the Peterson case is that he was found guilty with virtually no real evidence. Orenthal Simpson had Ron Goldman's (a man he allegedly had never met) blood splattered in the back of his Bronco and walked. Do I think Peterson should have walked too? I have no opinion. I switched off the case months ago.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:47 PM
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Democracy is Hard Work

Daniel Henninger's oped in today's WSJ bemoaning the decline (through bias) of Big Media is likely to get a lot of attention. The heart of the matter came for me just a few graphs from the bottom:

In fact, it's too bad this abdication has occurred just as political opinions have become overheated by the kind of electronic technology deployed in the 2004 election. We really could use some neutral ground, a space one could enter without having to suspect that "what we know" about X or Y was being manipulated. The problem with being spun day after day by newspapers or newscasts is that it gets tiresome, no matter your politics. You end up having to Google every subject in the news (Guantanamo, gay marriage statutes, Tora Bora, the Patriot Act) to find out what's been left out or buried at the bottom.

I certainly can sympathize with Henninger. I remember well the halcyon days when I opened my New York Times in the morning and thought I was getting The News. Then I would go my merry way and enjoy (or not) my day. But I'm not sure, in retrospect, I was getting The News any more then I have been in the Rathergate era. And this is not just because of bias, rampant as it may be. Or even just because of normal human error. I disagree with Henninger. A citizenry using Google (or the equivalent) to find its news, to search for the truth, elusive as that may be, is a concerned citizenry, an engaged citizenry. This is democracy at work. Big Media, well intentioned or not, is simply one source. It should never be more than that. People are learning not to be passive, Mr. Henninger. Let's not turn the clock back.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:22 AM
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November 11, 2004

Who to Believe?

The Syrian Defense Minister called Arafat "the son of sixty thousand whores," but Jimmy Carter called him "a powerful human symbol and forceful advocate" for a Palestinian homeland. Well, great minds can differ. I wonder if Jimmy is getting a cut.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:10 PM
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Long Live Death!

Sorry for the continued TypeKey madness but it will be resolved, with luck quickly, if not when I am back in LA this weekend.

Meawnhile we will all have to listen to a fair amount of Arafat dishonesty - a normal state of affairs with the recently dead. Reader Craig emails:

CBS news is trying its dead level best to sabotage their own network. They just interrupted the end Of "CSI: New York" with a "Special Report" that Arafat is dead. No kidding, good damn riddance. John Roberts, who is quickly becoming my least favorite newsman, and that's saying something, inflicted upon us a two minute video French kiss on Arafat which included the ridiculous statement that "Arafat didn't live to see his dream of an independent Palestinian state become a reality." Puh Leez.

Puhleez indeed. If Arafat had wanted a Palestinian state, he could have had one many times over. He wanted no such thing. He wanted hundreds of millions in the bank and the perks of a Mafia chieftain - and he got what he wanted. Looked at objectively, he had more contempt for the Palestinian people that anybody alive.

Meanwhile, Jacques Chirac seems to agree with CBS while Power Line is skeptical.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:47 AM
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November 10, 2004

Et tu, Encino?

The RLS Secret Source (not to be confused with secret sauce - that's what I use on my grilled Porterhouse) now reports yet another heavily Jewish Southern California neighborhood with a serious bump up for Bush - tony Encino. Encino 2000 - Bush 26%... Encino 2004 - Bush 37.8%

I think we can say at this point, at least in SoCal, and I'd bet elsewhere to a greater or lesser extent, there was a sea change among Jewish voters. Of course nothing compares with the knowledge that ding, dong, the Wicked Witch is Dead!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:24 PM
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Sorry for the Continued Comment Problem

It is evidently still not fixed. Since I have been in NY on urgent family business, I have again been away from the computer. I am now trying to deal with it. This too shall pass.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:12 PM
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Suha's Sweet Deal

People's acceptance of corruption never ceases to amaze me. I guess they think it's in some way "sophisticated" or "necessary." The French even went so far as to elect a President it was widely suspected would have been indicted if had he not won. Maybe they all secretly want a chance to be corrupt, to be Don Corleone. But it is pretty clear this is a prescription for nothing but misery as this excellent article on the Pursuit of Happiness reminds us.

And speaking of born for misery, how about the porcine Suha Arafat, who, according to Debka, has made off with the following settlement in return for allowing the dictator husband she never sees to be declared dead and returned to Ramallah for a funeral:

Last July, Arafat sent his wife $11 million to cover her living expenses and those of their daughter for six months - $1.8 million per month. The new accord guarantees her the same allowance from the Palestinian Authority as a regular annual remittance, i.e. $22 million per annum, for the rest of her life. Abu Mazen and prime minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) signed on the dotted line, although they have no notion how the penniless Palestinian Authority faced with a people in dire poverty can possibly stump up this kind of money.

Well, "laisser manger humus," I guess we could say. I wonder how many of those starving Palestinians are aware of this settlement and, if they are, why they put up with this? It is a Stockholm Syndrome larger than Sweden itself. Instead of following the rais' funeral bier down the streets of Ramallah, they should be tearing him limb from limb, pissing down his mouth and tossing the remains in one of those HazMat recycling bins.

Of course, despite their well known proclivity for conspiracy theories, you can't expect the poor Paleos to know all that much about how they have been raped when the details are continually softened by European and even American news organizations. It was almost other-worldly listening to Juan Williams on Fox News last night calling Arafat a symbol of his people's liberation movement. I guess Juan confused liberation with enslavement. He's not the only one. The biggest enablers in this sadistic game are the Swiss (and other) bankers with their unmarked accounts, which allow dictators to rob their people blind, often with the tacit permission of their supposed "charitable" donors. Isn't it about time these accounts be opened up and declared illegal? Why don't we ask Kofi Annan's help with that?... Oh, yeah, forgot, sorry...

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:07 AM
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No Comment

In case you haven't noticed, the redoubtable TypeKey is having problems with our comments section. I have "opened a ticket," as they say in the parlance. With luck it will be repaired quickly. Unfortunately, I will not easily be able to interact with them because I am out most of the day again (NY Time) on a family mission. My hope is they can fix it without me.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:00 AM
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November 9, 2004

The Patriot Act, John Ashcroft and Me

By now practically everyone knows that John Ashcroft is resigning as Attorney General. Whether he was in any way pushed out or whether this is entirely his own decision, in part in response to his own equally well known health problems, I do not have a clue. What I do know is that when he was first appointed, I groaned. It was proof, if I needed any, that the new "Chimp" in the White House was a reactionary Christer. He had chosen one of his own to be the country's number one law enforcer.

Then 9-11 came and Ashcroft's job became quite serious. The Patriot Act was enacted and the attorney general charged with seeing to its enforcement. In short order, Ashcroft was the butt of almost every anti-Bush assault. "Ah, Ashcroft... Ah, the Patriot Act..." many of my friends and acquaintances said, rolling their eyes in disdain. Ashcroft was the scourge of democracy, the number one threat to our civil rights.

Yet, here's the interesting thing. Not one... I will repeat in bold face... not one of the people I knew who excoriated Ashcroft and the Patriot Act ever read the legislation, which is short and easily available on line. (I know because I asked them. The subject was quickly changed. Kerry, as we know, like virtually everyone in Congress, voted for it and then made his, as usual amorphous, assertions that some parts should be amended.) Furthermore, despite all the bad-mouthing of Ashcroft as if he were the second coming of A. Mitchell Palmer, only one... I will put that in bold again... only one person, as far as I know, in a nation of some three hundred million may have been illegally incarcerated - Jose Padilla. And even that is inconclusive.

Yet I would still agree, as Theo Van Gogh would, I am sure, were he still alive, that religious fundamentalism is a highly dangerous phenomenon in this world. But I am now absolutely certain that those who thought or are still thinking that John Aschroft is or was a dangerous fundamentalist are lying to themselves or to us. Ashcroft, whatever his indiosyncracies, his prudish desire not to be photographed with nude statues, etc., was fully aware of one of Jesus' greatest teachings - render unto Casear what is Caesar's - and behaved accordingly. Nothing remotely happened during his tenure to dispute this. We owe Ashcroft a debt of gratitude for his service during exceptionally difficult times. And personally, I think I have learned something from him in a strange way. I used to be rather intolerant of people of faith. I am now less so.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:01 PM
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The Three Parts of California

Is California itself... for all its fruits and nuts reputation... a micrcosm of America? The RogerLSimon secret source within the political establishment seems to think so.

A day or s