April 30, 2005

Some People have NO MANNERS!

I mean its getting to be an epidemic. First John Bolton is chasing people down halls (or not) and now Teddy Kennedy is yelling at reporters. What next? Emily Post disinterred from her grave???

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:17 PM
Comments (18)

Faster than a Speeding Fiat! More Powerful than a...

... moribund newspaper... It's Patterico, who once more makes mince meat of my hometown snooze The Los Angeles Times, which evidently has bowdlerized their reporting of the Sgrena Affair for the consumption of their last Brentwood subscribers. Wouldn't want the ladies-who-lunch to have a conflict with their Italian amici on their next Milan visit for the collezione, would we? I can see why some people at the LAT are so dismissive of bloggers. I would be too, if I were so completely humiliated.

UPDATE: QuillNews gives us the macro from Patterico's micro.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:07 PM
Comments (30)

Neocon from Africa

One of the spinoffs of being inundated with sign up email for Pajamas Media this weekend has been receiving communications from some fascinating blogs of which I had no knowledge. I don't have time to look at all of them, but I just couldn't resist reading the blog of a man - Bill Ainashe - who describes himself as an "African Neocon" (from Somalia!). You shouldn't either.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:48 PM
Comments (2)

Justice Without Revenge

One of Lope de Vega's greatest plays came to mind from my grad school days, when Andrew Apostolou emailed me about this AP report on the current excavation of Kurdish mass graves in Iraq.

Outgoing Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin, himself a Kurd, said half a million people perished and 182,000 are missing.

"We must know what happened (and deal with) collective memory, so we can do justice, rather than revenge," Amin said.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:07 PM
Comments (34)

The Future Mrs. Kojo?

I don't know anybody's marital plans, but who could be surprised after this Reuters report on the latest UN hijinks?

Maurice Strong, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviser for North Korea, put his stepdaughter on his payroll in violation of U.N. staff rules, the United Nations said on Friday.

Strong last week withdrew from his post as Annan's adviser while the investigation was under way. The stepdaughter, identified as Kristina Mayo, has resigned, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

We all know the same kind of nepotistic nonsense is rampant in our own Congress, but does that make it right? Of course we know most of those hires come from campaign contributions, which is somewhat more justifiable. UN family favoritism comes straight from us taxpayers without passing go.

(hat tip: Rick Ballard who suggested the matrimonial potential)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:59 AM
Comments (21)

PAJAMA PARTY UPDATE

Response to Pajamas Media on the part of the blogosphere has been extraordinary with well over a hundred blogs already fully signed up (not to mention some 150 milblogs via Greyhawk) and more coming in every few minutes. Besides the US, countries involved as of this writing are UK, Australia, Canada, Iraq, Egypt, Israel, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Sweden, India and Malaysia with inquiries from as far away as Bengla Desh. (Well, Malaysia is pretty far.)

The number of monthly unique visitors this adds up to is as yet indeterminate, but should form the nucleus of a rather large advertising network.

Your blog can be part of it by sending email to join@pajamasmedia.com.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:52 AM
Comments (6)

April 29, 2005

PAJAMAS MEDIA UPDATE

Because of the surprising response to our initial announcement, we had email difficulties. If you sent email to join@pajamasmedia.com after 2:00PM Pacific or 5:00PM Eastern, it was inadvertently lost. Please resend your information or attachments. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:58 PM
Comments (8)

Trouble and Redemption in Fast Food Land

Evidently some Arab-Americans have a complaint with Denny's. I don't know the truth of their allegations - that they were accused of being "Bin Ladens" and refused service. (Did they look like ghosts?), But if every time I had to wait "an hour" for my food, I got to sue for four millions dollars, I would be financing Pajamas Media by myself from my own private island off Tahiti. Still, I can understand they'd be upset. We live in times when people are making assumptions about each other on the flimsiest evidence - and over the worst food. Fortunately, however, hope is nigh, at least in the flash point world of the ptomaine-friendly diner. The "Soup Nazi" is back.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:45 PM
Comments (12)

April 28, 2005

An Open Letter to All Bloggers

Charles Johnson, Marc Danziger and I have been sneaking around over the last few months, trying to turn blogs into a business. We have enlisted some others with names familiar to you with the intention of working in two areas - aggregating blogs to increase corporate advertising and creating our own professional news service.

With respect to advertising, we do not wish to go into competition with Henry Copeland's BlogAds, which we fully support. (Some of us even have them!) We are working on another model that will sell ads en masse, not blog-by-blog. We expect this model to go live within a few weeks.

As for the Blog News Service, a lot of work needs to be done and a lot of questions answered. An editorial board consisting of Glenn Reynolds, PowerLine, Lawrence Kudlow, Hugh Hewitt, Marc Cooper, Wretchard of the Belmont Club and Tim Blair, as well as the founders, is already in place with other bloggers in many countries having signed on as contributors.

This is no way meant to be exclusive. We invite you all to join us. On the advertising end, any blogger -- whether political or not -- is welcome. We would be delighted to place ads on your blog and pay you for them. You may find out more and, we hope, join by simply emailing us at join@pajamasmedia.com.

If you are an advertiser, you may contact us at advertisers@pajamasmedia.com.

UPDATE: Besides, the US, blogs from the following countries have signed up as of now -- UK, Australia, Iraq, Egypt, Israel, Spain, Germany, France, India and Malaysia. Just added - Netherlands.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:49 PM
Comments (128)

He's Bad (?) and He's Baaack!

The controversial Ahmed Chalabi has, according to the BBC, been named Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq - not to mention Acting Oil Minister. [I thought the State Department said he was an Iranian agent-ed. No, that was the CIA. Oh, then it must be true.]

But enough of this bickering. Here's how the BEEB characterizes Chalabi:

A seasoned lobbyist in London and Washington who studied mathematics at the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mr Chalabi has been described as controversial, charismatic, determined, crafty, cunning and ambitious.

In other words, more interesting than anyone currently working for the BBC.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:12 PM
Comments (12)

"Mr. X" could be me...

... except I live in Los Angeles (not New York) and would prefer to think for myself rather than register with any political party for now. But still - his thoughts resonate. I think they will with all the readers of this blog. (hat tip: Catherine Johnson. If you still haven't read this woman's book, you're missing something.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:36 PM
Comments (68)

Bigots of Blighty

Will the British Association of University Teachers (AUT) respond to Efraim Karsh's illuminating explication of the organization's racist policies regarding Israeli universities discussed here earlier? Somehow I doubt it. (hat tip: D. Freeman)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:02 PM
Comments (2)

Trouble in (Oil-for-Food) Paradise

According to Niles Lathem in the New York Post, two Congressional committees have approached Robert Parton - the recently-resigned UN Oil-for-Food investigator - to elicit testimony, but his former bosses aren't happy.

But sources said lawyers for the Volcker panel are moving to block Parton from telling his story before the House Government Affairs Subcommittee on National Security, invoking a confidentiality agreement he signed with the commission.

Because the panel was set up by the United Nations, the commission may also invoke "sovereign immunity," officials close to the probe said. "It's a complicated situation. We are now studying ways to get around this. We would like to hear what Robert Parton has to say," said a congressional investigator.

But is Parton willing to talk? If he is truly for UN reform, he would be, but it isn't particularly encouraging that he has hired Clinton mega-loyalist Lanny Davis as his attorney. As Benny Avni of the NY Sun points out, Davis may soon go against his colleague Gregory Craig in a UN version of the Year of the Long Knives:

Indeed, two former law partners, both of whom served on President Clinton's defense team during the 1990s impeachment hearings, may soon be pitted against one another: Gregory Craig and Lanny Davis. Mr. Davis now represents a former Volcker committee investigator, Robert Parton, who resigned citing principal differences with others on the team. The disagreements led to the Volcker team softening its conclusions about Secretary-General Annan, who is represented by Mr. Craig.

It's hard to see how the cause of United Nations reform benefits from all this. (Maybe these people are too cynical anyway to care about kleptocracy.) But not to worry. At least the lawyers will, as always, get theirs. As Avni further reports:

Benon Sevan, who once headed the United Nations' oil-for-food program, hinted in a recent letter to the U.N. chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, that he would consider retributions against the organization if it refused to reimburse the mounting legal fees he has incurred while attempting to fend off allegations related to the program.

The letter adds to growing tensions among lawyers, the United Nations, and a host of investigators who are investigating the scandals swirling around oil for food. Defense attorneys employed by oil-for-food players now include influential Washington lawyers known for taking on high-profile cases - and demanding fat fees.

Meanwhile, as Tom Friedman assures us, the UN goes about its "good works" in Darfur, Rwanda, etc. It's time for Mr. Friedman - and the rest of the unexamined conventional liberals - to have another look at this movie.

MORE NOT-TO-WORRY: "Let us not get so focused on the veto," Don Kofi reminds us, apparently rebuffing the ambition of the world's largest democracy for a powerful role on the Security Council.

AND: Some related news from Provence. [Where's your invitation?-ed. I seem to have lost it.]

UPDATE: More about German involvement from their own Der Spiegel.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:38 AM
Comments (76)

Yes, but have they read this one?

According to a Harris Poll taken in March: Two-fifths of Americans who are online have read a political blog, and more than a quarter read them once a month or more.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:34 AM
Comments (8)

April 27, 2005

Dept. of Reification

Despite what some might think, I don't particularly enjoy ragging on other writers (politicians, publishers, sure, but not writers). It's depressing and bad karma. But I couldn't let this column by Tom Friedman go by without some comment - and not about his silly proposal of George H. W. Bush for UN Ambassador. That's just grandstanding and everyone knows it. I'm talking about this paragraph, which is indicative of a larger mindset.

"Reforming the U.N." is without question one of the most tired, vacuous conservative mantras ever invented. It is right up there with squeezing "waste, fraud and abuse" out of the Pentagon's budget. If the White House is concerned about waste, fraud and abuse, let's start with Tom DeLay and our own House.

The phony partisan reductionism of calling UN reform a "conservative mantra" is insulting and stupid and the idea of equating it with Tom DeLay et al ludicrous. Much as Mr. DeLay makes my skin crawl and I am willing to believe many of the accusations against him and his cronies in the House on both sides of the aisle, those accusations are nowhere near as important on a global scale as the Oil-for-Food scandal, which has subverted the stated goals of our most important international organization and turned them on their head.

The kind of sleazy self-justification being engaged in here by Friedman is of a piece with the outright lie in the Times' editorial pointed out earlier today by Glenn Reynolds: The only plausible reason for keeping American troops in Iraq is to protect the democratic transformation that President Bush seized upon as a rationale for the invasion after his claims about weapons of mass destruction turned out to be fictitious. If that transformation is now allowed to run off the rails, the new rationale could prove to be as hollow as the original one.

This is an especially weird comment since the Times' own executive editor wrote a long, positive profile in their magazine (before the war) of Paul Wolfowitz, in which the Deputy Defense Secretary speaks ad infinitum about the democracy argument. What I think is really going on here is liberal embarrassment. They have been caught on the wrong side of history. Worse, the anti-idealistic side.

Meanwhile, in the realm of news that is fit to print, a real reporter continues her work.

UPDATE: The all-time record for preaching to the choir has been broken. [Should we alert Guinness?-ed. They already read Drudge.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:53 AM
Comments (66)

April 26, 2005

Arthur! Arthur!

I know - bad joke. But I'm talking about the redoutable (Arthur) Chrenkoff who has post that is pretty sad, actually, reminding us of how low Teddy the K. has sunk in the land of grumpitude. I wonder if Teddy can even smile when he sees a million people marching for democracy in the streets of Beirut. Would his brothers have been the same way? What a way to get old. At least he has the recent CDC report to cheer him up.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:14 PM
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Breitbart Statement

My friend Andrew Breitbart - for many years the West Coast arm of The Drudge Report - has recently been inundated by questions from the media concerning a new website he is developing for Arianna Huffington. Because Andrew regards this as primarily a blogosphere (not MSM) matter, he has asked me to post the following statement for him. Here's Andrew:

I've gotten a ton of e-mails asking me what I'm up to. Here it is:

Developing...

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:21 PM
Comments (42)

Which Side Are You On - Part 34723 (at least)

But an extremely interesing part -- a thank you letter to Tony Blair from new Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The Kurdish leader urges everyone to stop worrying so much about missing WMDs. They already found one.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:07 AM
Comments (15)

"'Ban, 'Ban, Tataliban...

Have a new master, get a new man."

Reuters reports the Taliban deny they were or are in the heroin trade.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:18 AM
Comments (3)

Oil-for-Food Follies Continued

Behind the NY Sun subscription firewall, Benny Avni is reporting this morning the chief UN investigator Paul Volcker is now denying that his committee's findings exonerate Kofi Annan.

In an interview with Fox News' Eric Shawn, to be broadcast today, Mr. Volcker said of Mr. Annan, "I thought we criticized him rather severely. I would not call that an exoneration."

In the same interview, however, Volcker admits his own connection with the Power Corporation and tainted Canadian tycoon Maurice Strong:

"I have an acquaintance with Maurice Strong as many people do over the years," Mr. Volcker told Fox. "I was on the advisory board of the power corporation in 1988, 22 years after Maurice Strong was chief executive. And I asked about it, they had no business interest with Maurice Strong in their whole ownership of the power corporation. It's a ludicrous stretch. There is no, absolutely no conflict of interest."

I'm sure not.

In the same article, Swiss investigator law professor Mark Pieth issues the following Orwellian pronouncement:

"The committee is always in agreement," Mr. Pieth, who is one of two lieutenants for Mr. Volcker on the committee, told the Sun. "We all three [Volcker, Pieth, Goldstone] agreed." He added, however, that the two investigators who have stepped down from the committee, Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan, might have disagreed with its conclusions.

Meanwhile, Chris Dodd tells us on Face the Nation that UN ambassadorial nominee John Bolton "brings too much heavy ideology to this." (Does the Senator mean anti-corruption?) Speaking of faces, it's hard to know how Dodd looks at himself with a straight one. If the Senator could get beyond his jejune party politics, he might realize that history is looking over his shoulder, laughing at him. If more Volcker investigators start coming out of the woodwork, as well they might, even Dodd might get the joke. Too bad it will be on him.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:31 AM
Comments (37)

April 25, 2005

Leaving Dodge

The Syrians, including their notorious intelligence chief, have left Lebanon four days ahead of schedule.

MEANWHILE: The Daily Star has intersting stories on grieving families of Lebanese still in jail despite the Syrian demarche and of tentative Israeli hopes for relations with Lebanon. The dialectic moves on.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:54 PM
Comments (12)

Tony Snow

I just watched Tony Snow on the O'Reilly Show talking about his battle with cancer. What a great guy Snow is! He deserves all our good wishes.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:39 PM
Comments (10)

Bolton the New Mugabe?

I guess to the oh-so-sophisticated Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois who gave his view of the UN ambassadorial nominee to Chris Wallace on Sunday:

WALLACE: Senator Durbin, is the Bolton nomination dead?

GRAHAM: Yes, really? You said it. Go prove it.

Let's just be kind and say with respect to literate distinctions Senator Durbin is no Patrick Moynihan. He's also clearly no Lawrence Eagleburger.

UPDATE: Of course, we could ask if the Senator has been following Wretchard's continued unraveling of some hack's UN mystery, but it might be over his head (Durbin's, I mean).

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:10 AM
Comments (72)

It's a Trick...

I know it's a trick. And I haven't allowed myself to believe a word of it since I first read, several days ago, the Center for Disease Control has decreed it's okay to be overweight. Possibly beneficial. [Is that why you had a third helping of practically everything at the Seder last night?-ed. Shut up and eat.]

What's next? Cholesterol is good for you? (Yes, I know... LDL, HDL... but you know what I mean. Better enjoy this while it lasts. No telling what they're going to say next year. Somehow I'm still suspicious...)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:55 AM
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Dept. of Takes One to Know One

Clive Davis has a post about a BBC series impugning neoconservatives by equating them with Islamic fundamentalists that appears headed for Cannes Glory. Besides the ludicrousness of the argument, what struck me from reading the transcript of the first installment is what an excellent form for propaganda this kind of documentary is. It fills the screen with inflaming images and appropriately chosen sound bites and then it's over before anyone can ask a question. Was the truth served? Who knows? Not most of the audience, that's for sure.

What is also fascinating about this series is the level of projection involved. Its biggest accusation against the neocons, it seems, is "they think they know better." Just like the makers of the documentary!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:36 AM
Comments (47)

April 24, 2005

OD'd on Matzah?

A litte Pesach rapping from JibJab.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:12 AM
Comments (1)

To Publish or to SELF-Publish?

I'm sure even most established authors would be intrigued by Sarah Glazer's essay "How to Be Your Own Publisher" in this morning's New York Times Book Review. Is this the publishing of the future? Could be. The stigma of the old vanity presses seems to be (slowly) dissolving. Those of us with big egos (who? moi?), used to seeing ourselves reviewed in the NYTBR and elsewhere, may be reluctant to give up the labels of Simon & Schuster et al, but the economics for all but the biggest commercial literary stars may already be at a tipping point. Within a few years, it could be a free-for-all.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:59 AM
Comments (32)

April 23, 2005

UPDATE: Oil-for-Resignations

Key UN Oil-for-Food investigator Robert Parton, whose resignation several days ago was first reported on this blog, is going public with his accusations toward the Volcker Committee in two news reports this evening, one from the AP and one from the Telegraph.

Says the AP's Desmond Butler:

The investigator, Robert Parton, confirmed a report by The Associated Press earlier this week that he had resigned along with another investigator to protest recent findings by the committee that cleared U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion program.

"Contrary to recent published reports, I resigned my position as Senior Investigative Counsel for the IIC not because my work was complete but on principle," Parton said.

From the Telegraph:

Last night, in the most explicit criticism so far directed at the report, Robert Parton, one of the senior investigators, told a lawyer involved with the Volcker inquiry that he thought the committee was "engaging in a de facto cover-up, acting with good intentions but steered by ideology".

According to Mr Gonzalez, Mr Parton felt that the committee had effectively divided the body of evidence relating to the oil-for-food scandal into testimony that it did want to hear, and testimony that it did not.

Much of what the Telegraph has to say is already familiar to readers of this blog, but now Parton has gone public. Undoubtedly, there will be more to come as other members of the committee have their say -- some of which may conflict with Parton and some not.

Meanwhile, Adrian Gonzalez has informed me that he was misquoted to some degree by the Telegraph. Gonzalez, the attorney for former Kojo Annan business partner Pierre Mousselli, says he has not spoken directly with Parton in some days and that Telegraph has exaggerated their report to some degree. Parton, Gonzalez believes, would not be so explicit in his criticisms. The reference to the "de facto coverup" were Gonzalez's words, not Parton's, although they may reflect the resigned investigator's feelings. In fact, in the end they don't seem so it odds with what what the investigator already told the Associated Press. He resigned "on principle."

However you parse this, the Volcker Committee is a now an unmitigated disaster. Just as it is ludicrous to think that Kofi Annan is the one to reform the United Nations, it is ludicrous to think this committee the means to investigate the scandal.

UPDATE: Another source inside the investigation has emailed me to say, among other things, that there is little coordination between the investigative teams (Parton, Duncan and Cornacchia were but one of several units not communicating with each other) and that there is "no coherent management plan."

Evidently.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:04 PM
Comments (28)

Brief Book Report

I have just returned from the first day of the LAT Book Festival, which seemed well attended as usual. My panel ("Not Your Usual Suspects") with Kem Nunn, T. Jefferson Parker, Marcos McPeek Villatoro, moderated by Tod Goldberg, drew a full house (300 or so) at Dodd 147 and went off pretty well, I thought.

Afterwards, I scribbled my name in a few books at the signing booth and started home when I ran into Mickey Kaus, running breathlessly (he was late) toward Royce Hall. "Going to the blogger's panel?" he asked. What was that, I wondered. Then I remembered: David Shaw, Hugh Hewitt, Arianna Huffington, some others (couldn't recall) at Royce Hall. I followed him over and we snagged a couple of the few remaining seats in the balcony. The place was jammed to the rafters, literally. It was a humbling experience after my panel--the hall seems to seat a couple of thousand or more. I could barely see Hugh, a friend, down on the stage, but their faces were being projected on large athletic event-style monitors.

The subject was, you will be stunned to learn, the War in Iraq, although the panel's title was "Brave New World: Monopoly, Media and the Right to Know." A fellow named Geoffrey Stone, an historian, was opining about how the media had enabled the war. Then Arianna stepped forward in high dudgeon to complain that some in the media were pronouncing the war a success after the Iraqi elections. No one had been saying this war was about democracy before it was fought, she insisted. At that point I walked out.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:26 PM
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Haifa, Mon Amour

When I first read this report about the boycott of Israeli universities by Britain's AUT (Association of University Teachers), I cleaned the steam out of my ears and shrugged, repeating the familiar saw: "Everything old is new again."

But then I realized that it was specifically Haifa University these clowns were boycotting, where I have a friend on the faculty. In fact, that friend, A. B. Yehoshua, is probably the finest writer I know (and I know more than a few). He is also arguably one of the world's greatest living authors, oft spoken of for a Nobel Prize, and a continuous and well-known supporter of Palestinian-Israeli peace, even at the height of Intifada II. So this is who those racist at the AUT are boycotting. Good thing Kafka isn't still alive. They'd probably boycott him too. What idiots!

(And now I am off the LA Times Festival of Books where I am hoping not to be boycotted. Back later in the day.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:45 AM
Comments (19)

Prime Minister Zen

It's hard to imagine what Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi really said to Chinese President Hu Jintao in their meeting today - probably not "Chairman... er... President Hu would you kindly refrain from distracting your people from the proto-fascist activities of your government with street demonstrations against what Japan did in 1930s?"

According to Reuters: Asked how the meeting went as he left a Jakarta hotel where the talks took place, Koizumi said: "Very good." He made no other remarks.

UPDATE: Speaking of zen, for today's LA Times Festival of Books, "showers" were predicted, yet now the skies over Hollywood are clear. What next? The sound of a frog jumping in the Los Angeles River?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:38 AM
Comments (61)

April 22, 2005

Tom Freidman on Tony Blair

"There is much the U.S. Democratic Party could learn from Mr. Blair." No kidding!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:42 PM
Comments (30)

Oil-for-TV

Claudia Rosett, Austin Bay and I will be back on Kudlow & Co. (CNBC) this afternoon/evening (5:40 Eastern) to discuss the latest UN Oil-for Food revelations.

UPDATE: More Canada-Blaming here.

MORE: Debbie Schussel has some intriguing information about the production of Sydney Pollack's new thriller about the UN, "The Interpreter." (I haven't seen the film, but the NYT's A. O. Scott has his reservations.)

UPDATE TRANSCRIPT: At some point the Kudlow transcript will appear on the for-once-not-indefatigable Radioblogger. Meanwhile, you can find a video upload here.

MEANWHILE: Only the Strong survive. (ht: Cathy Hudson)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:39 AM
Comments (53)

Raising the Dead

Cathy Seipp has a characteristically witty piece in the WSJ this morning on the hoary subject of the cultural separation between the Big Orange and the Big Apple. But the truth of the matter is that all that's over and has been for years. You can resurrect Chandler, Fitzerald, et al, all you want but they lived in a pre-707 (let alone Internet) world. There's only one significant difference between LA and NY now - weather.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:30 AM
Comments (11)

"Salmon-Fishing" in Canada

Who says life doesn't follow art? It may turn out that those South Park guys weren't just funning when they wrote the hilarious "Blame Canada!" The UN's Grand Inquisitor himself, Paul Volcker, has apparently been on the board of Canada's Power Corporation, one of the bigger companies at the heart of the OFF scandal because its past president is tainted Canadian tycoon Maurice Strong.

According to this Benny Avni article in this morning's NY Sun - Avni, btw, has been doing some of the best reporting on "Oil-for-Food" - the connection of our brothers and sisters to the North to this mess may be total - well, maybe not Total, as in Elf.

Mr. Volcker's involvement with the Montreal-based Power Corporation, which in the past he had described as limited to social "salmon-fishing" with board members, could become a source of contention, as Mr. Park's investment in Cordex may link Mr. Strong to the oil-for-food scandal. And according to official documents seen by The New York Sun, at least one other former official of Power Corporation, William Turner, invested in Cordex, a now-bankrupt energy company.

What or who is Cordex, you might ask?

Yesterday, Mr. Strong acknowledged that Tongsun Park, the Korean accused by federal authorities of illegally acting as an Iraqi agent, in 1997 invested in Cordex, a Denver-based company owned by Mr. Strong and his son, Fred. Mr. Strong has voluntarily stepped down from his U.N. position as adviser to Mr. Annan on Korean affairs for the duration of the investigation.

In his first public interview since last week's complaint against Mr. Park, Mr. Strong yesterday told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper that in 1997, Mr. Park invested in Cordex, which counts both Mr. Strong and his son Fred as members of its board. The company went bankrupt two years after Mr. Park's investment.

The UN seems to have an affinity for father-son operations, just as it does things Canadian. [Does this mean you won't be skiing in Whistler Mountain anymore?-ed. Hell, no. I'm as corrupt as the next man.] Meanwhile, after yesterday's resignations, Nile Gardiner has had enough.

UPDATE: Of course, when it comes to the details, Wretchard has the NYSun beat.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:31 AM
Comments (30)

April 21, 2005

More Food-for-(Oil) Thought

I know - this blog seems obsessed with the Oil-for-Food scandal, but it is one of the greatest mysteries of our time and this blog is written by a mystery writer. And, as with any good mystery, you never know the identity of Mr. Big until the very last minute. Of course, in this case it has seemed for some time that Mr. Big's initial (pace Kafka) would be K. But who knows? There are nooks and crannies as far North as Ontario now. Surprises could occur.

Meanwhile, the reliably-left Independent has logged in with its coverage of the Parton/Duncan resignations:

The resignations exposed serious divisions among the panel's three committee members. One, the Swiss law professor Mark Pieth, appeared to side with the two departing investigators. He said: "You follow a trail and you want to see people pick it up." The committee "told the story" that the investigators presented, "but we made different conclusions than they would have". Another committee member, Judge Richard Goldstone, said it was not his understanding that the pair had left in protest and that they had been due to leave after completing their work.

Hmmm... The Swiss connection Professor Pieth sides with whom we can assume... at least for now... are the "good guys." But why hasn't the professor himself stepped forward and offered to resign? Perhaps he seeks to reform the committee from within. We shall see. In the meantime, that ubiquitous fellow the "senior official" has a comment:

A senior UN official said Mr Annan was alarmed that American conservatives who have been demanding his resignation would have been given more ammunition. Mr Volcker is due to issue his final report in the summer, but five other investigations are continuing.

Well, one thing we know - the "senior official" is not this man.

UPDATE: The State Department is now taking a stonger position against Kofi:

The statement from Mark Lagon, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, was the first time the United States had rebutted Annan's claim [of exoneration], made shortly after the release of the report on March 29, that he had been cleared by the committee.

Annan's claims came under fresh scrutiny a day after The Associated Press reported that two senior investigators with the Independent Inquiry Committee resigned because they believed the report that cleared Annan of meddling in the $64 billion program was too soft on him. Lagon said the resignations were further reason to suggest Annan wasn't cleared.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:21 PM
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The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - 2005!

It's that time of year again when readers, writers and booksellers (not necessarily in that order) come together to swap stories, read stories, sell stories, inflate their egos and drink untold cases of bottled water (for some reason it's usually brutally hot) on the UCLA campus for America's biggest festival of books. The rap on Southern California is that people here don't read, but it turns out they do. SoCal is actually the country's biggest book market, so the event attracts half the literary hucksters in the known universe. [I hope you're not referring to present company.-ed. Of course not.]

Anyway, the whole thing goes off this Saturday and Sunday, including many panels and speakers that you can find out about here. I'm going to be on the mystery panel on Saturday at one p. m. with two of the best thriller writers around, Kem Nunn and T. Jefferson Parker. And if that's not exciting enough, the moderator Tod Goldberg, is a blogger.

If you come by, introduce yourself. I may need support. Last year at my panel there were some nasty cracks about my apostasy. And speaking of last year, here are some photos.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:36 PM
Comments (8)

From Vietnam to Iraq

I highly recommend Neo-Neocon's analysis (in several posts - it's lengthy but worth it) of what has happened to some of us in the Boomer Generation as time has gone on and we have had to reevaluate some of our assumptions. Of course, many others have never questioned the pieities of that time.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:09 AM
Comments (65)

April 20, 2005

Pinocchios of the Volcker Committee

The level of prevarication surrounding the recent resignation of investigators Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan from the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme is so great that even a blogger in farwaway Los Angeles can see that committee members responding to the resignations are lying through their teeth.

Here's an excerpt from CNN's coverage of the breaking story by Richard Roth:

Another member of the Volcker panel, Richard Goldstone, discounted a media report that Parton and Duncan resigned to protest conclusions the panel reached about U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Goldstone told CNN that was not his understanding, and that Parton and Duncan had already been set to leave after having completed their work. He said their departure would not affect the investigation.

Well, I am sorry Mr. Goldstone but I am actually amazed you would put your name publicly to such nonsense (next time I would advise speaking, as did your female cohort from the committee, on "condition of anonymity" or some such). Why am I so sure this is nonsense? Because I have known personally about Parton's disaffection from the committee for over a month - that is long before the committee made its interim report and therefore long before Parton, Duncan or anyone else had "completed their work." Indeed, I had learned some time ago that somewhere around or about March 11 Parton had already tried to resign, but then was presumably persuaded to stay on or talked out of it by other members of the committee. What promises were made to him at that time about the "thoroughness" of the investigation I do not know, but I strongly suspect they were trashed within weeks or even days after having been made.

And I would be willing to testify about what I do know under oath. How about you, Mr. Goldstone? Oh, I'm sorry again., You were only testifying as to your "understanding." You're safe behind your weasel words. Smear Parton and Duncan. Smear Mouselli. Smear anybody you want to defend kleptocracy at the United Nations. Just don't expect the rest of us to believe you. Or believe your committee's final report. We would be idiots.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:57 PM
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"Now, please"

Ledeen wants thing to go even faster - and maybe they are.

Five hundred years ago Machiavelli insisted that tyranny is the most unstable form of government, and he warned that the most dangerous development for any tyrant was the contempt of his own people. That dramatic tipping point is now very close in China, Iran, and North Korea. All that is required to get there is a steady flow of the truth from outside their borders, guidance for those who undertake the struggle against the tyrants, and constant reminders - backed up with modest action - that we are with them.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:23 AM
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Your Foreign Relations Committee at work! (UPDATED WITH SCOOP)

I have no personal knowledge of John Bolton or of the degree to which the administration's nominee for UN ambassador is a hothead who mistreats subordinates, but color me suspicious he is much worse than the clowns who sit in judgment of him on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Meanwhile, this political game is being played out against a backdrop of escalating and seemingly endless corruption at the UN itself, which makes the question of Bolton's manners into a ludicrous sideshow. With Kofi Annan's adviser Canadian businessman Maurice Strong under fire, his Chef de Cabinet having resigned for destroying three-year's worth of documents, his first-ever deputy secretary general under a cloud for enabling 8-billion dollars worth of embezzlement (of money for starving children!), his own son having profiteered off the same scandal (not to mention the mother-of-all corrupt UN sleaze bags Benon Sevan and all the others we will soon know about), if Kofi himself isn't guilty, he's the only one in the Sectariat Building who isn't.

And now we have the rumors that two of the key lawyers on the "independent" inquiry committee into the scandal have resigned. If that's true, you can bet on one thing - they didn't quit because the investigation was being too thorough.

But have no fear. Our elected representatives in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are on the watch. They're not going to let some short-fused SOB who chases people "down a hallway of a Russian hotel" represent this country at the UN. It's such a civilized place. That could be embarrassing.

Of course the pathetic part is this: By playing the child's game of partisan politics, these same Senators are ultimately helping to destroy the reputation of the very institution they think they are trying to preserve - the United Nations. What dumbbells.

UPDATE: PowerLine has an interesting post on the Bolton affair.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Investigators Robert Parton (senior investigative counsel) and Miranda Duncan (deputy counsel) have resigned because information was not being followed up by the Volcker Committee!!! These are two of the top three field investigators for the committtee. Only Michael Cornacchia remains.

MORE: Following several hours after this blog, the AP now has the story. The CYA has already begun:

A spokeswoman at Volcker's committee, who would speak only on condition of anonymity, said the resignations came after the investigators had completed the work they signed on to do.

I wouldn't say that any other way but anonymously myself.

MEANWHILE: It will be itneresting to see if the Volcker Committee can stay ahead of the FBI. Somehow I'm skeptical.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:20 AM
Comments (129)

"Freedom of Speech" at DePaul

Richard Baehr at American Thinker has an overview of this story talked about earlier here.

UPDATE: Two more stories.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:09 AM
Comments (4)

April 19, 2005

Try "Through the Windshield"

... an excellent blog for car mavens. Has a sense of humor too.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:02 PM
Comments (1)

Fuddy Duddies of the Right AND Left

I wish the Bush Administration would show a little more modernity and sophistication in their approach to the energy situation. I agree with the New York Times editorial today bemoaning the oh-so-conventional energy bill making its lethargic way through our unimaginative Congress. As the Times points out:

What's maddening about this is that there is no shortage of ideas about what to do. Step outside the White House and Congress, and one hears a chorus of voices begging for something far more robust and forward-looking than the trivialities of this energy bill. It is a strikingly bipartisan chorus, too, embracing environmentalists, foreign policy hawks and other unlikely allies. Last month, for instance, a group of military and intelligence experts who cut their teeth on the cold war - among them Robert McFarlane, James Woolsey and Frank Gaffney Jr. - implored Mr. Bush as a matter of national security to undertake a crash program to reduce the consumption of oil in the United States.

Well, I can tell you one group that doesn't want us to -- the Mullahs.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:30 PM
Comments (44)

Trouble in (Volcker) Paradise ?

This blog has heard as yet unconfirmed... repeat unconfirmed... rumors of resignations of two key members of the legal staff conducting the investigations into the UN Oil-for-Food scandal on behalf of the Volcker Committee. What does this mean if true? It can't be anything good for public confidence in Mr. Volcker's committee.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:01 PM
Comments (5)

Death in the Silicon Wadi

Isreal is one of the most wired countries, but I didn't know it had gone this far. Let's hope this person lived to a ripe old age and didn't die while talking on a cell phone while driving. (ht: Stuart Longin)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:32 AM
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She should make an album with Ludacris

Via TigerHawk, Wafah Binladin (the niece of you-know-who but with trendy spelling) -- a wannabe rock star in New York -- is apparently having trouble realizing her dream of becoming the next Madonna. One thing we know - she's not going to try Kaballah. [How do you know? Stranger things have happened.-ed. You know, you're right for once.]

Meanwhile, this is another view into Bin Laden family values, which are almost as weird as they are homicidal. I take that back. Nothing could be quite that weird. Let's just say this is one kooky family with a lot of seriously screwed up rich people.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:48 AM
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The Politics of Patronage

David Frum's superb column on Canada this morning makes our neighbor to the North sound suspiciously like the UN. Somone should do a book on how this kind of patronage politics has worked in our time and what its results are.

UPDATE: It's worth reading another excellent article -- this one by Pejman Yousefzadeh (via Glenn) -- for clues to the direct-connect between Canada/UN paternalism and corruption. I know Pejman does not write about this explicitly, but that is what I was thinking when reading these two pieces one after another.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:38 AM
Comments (8)

April 18, 2005

Behind the Blue Nosers.

I fully support the BoifromTroy in his campaign to oppose the "decency" restrictions on cable and satellite stations being proposed by the Bush Administration and the National Association of Broadcasters. Besides the obvious -- that people censoring what we watch in the name of their "moral values" is anti-freedom and frequently hypocritical - I suspect something else is afoot: greed. Those "licentious" cable channels are just making too much money for the stodgy old networks.

I'll make my own decisions about what I watch, thank you, and my wife and I will decide for our six-and-half-year old daughter. As BoifromTroy asks, what do we have those V-chips for anyway?

UPDATE: Pieter Dorsman has more on the V-Chip and even news of the hitherto unknown N-Chip. [Does he know you have a Pamela Anderson ad?-ed I don't know, but I know somebody who does.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:34 PM
Comments (131)

Raising Rickman

Following in the grand tradition of thespian political self-congratulation, noted British actor Alan Rickman has directed a new play called My Name is Rachel Corrie. Ms. Corrie, for those who don't know, was the 23-year old American activist allegedly killed in Gaza two years ago while trying to prevent an Israeli army bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian house. I say allegedly because, as Clive Davis dryly notes in his London Times review, "the exact details of her final moments were hotly disputed, a point not acknowledged in this production."

Hotly, indeed. If the facts of the Rachel Corrie story prove to be as "accurate" as those of the notorious Mohammed al-Dura case, as some are now suggesting they are, Mr. Rickman deserves to be taken behind the woodshed for a good old-fashioned public school caning.

Meanwhile, we rely on the conclusion of Mr. Davis' review:

As for the scenes set in Israel - brilliantly evoked by Hildegard Bechtler's bullet-pocked concrete set - an element of unvarnished propaganda comes to the fore. With no attempt made to set the violence in context, we are left with the impression of unarmed civilians being crushed by faceless militarists. Early on, Corrie makes a point of informing us that more Israelis have been killed in road accidents than in all the country's wars put together. As she jots down thoughts in her notebook and fires off e-mails to her parents, she declares that "the vast majority of Palestinians right now, as far as I can tell, are engaging in Gandhian non-violent resistance". Even the late Yassir Arafat might have blushed at that one.

BTW, Clive Davis also blogs.

UPDATE: Melanie Phillips rounds up the usual (review) suspects on this "progressive" new drama.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:02 PM
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The Hollywood Ten Revisited

Art Eckstein has a fascinating new article on the Hollywood Ten, a subject I have felt to be "worked over" sufficiently. But this is an interesting and even-handed overview (unless you're a Stalinist) with some fresh information, at least to me (via Mark Moore)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:32 AM
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New Blog from Lebanon...

by the Cedar Revolutionaries. Definitely worth a look.

Meanwhile, from yesterday, please don't forget to help, if you can, the key blog of the Iranian student movement inside the USA, which is in jeopardy.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:15 AM
Comments (0)

Oil-for-Food --- The Canadian Connection

Who are the mysterious figures known only as U. N. officials #1 and #2 fingered by the grand jury investigating Oil-for-Food? And more importantly is anybody talking?

According to (who else?) Claudia Rosett in this morning's NY Sun:

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his staff responded to questions about the identities of the mystery officials by saying they have received no information on this from federal prosecutors and are as much in the dark as anyone else. On Friday, Mr. Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard, told the press: "I wish I knew. I don't think anyone in this building knows."

Mr. Strong could not be reached for comment on the indictment, but the Sun spoke with his U.N. assistant, who said Mr. Strong plans to issue a statement today, saying he had no involvement with the oil-for-food program.

In that event, it might also be useful for Mr. Strong to address publicly his former business association with the son of the secretary-general, Kojo Annan.

The Kyoto Treat meets Kojo Annan? Are we in the middle of a Michael Crichton novel?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:01 AM
Comments (27)

April 17, 2005

Blogosphere Alert Iran

SMCCDI - the Iranian student website through which we have gleaned so much about that benighted country - has, according to their own email, gone off line:

As stated our website has been shut down by the web hosting
service for what has been qualified as "abuse slowing
others' websites placed on the same shared server". No
prior notice of any kind was issued before this sudden
shutting down.

www.daneshjoo.org website has the very same average daily
hits of 45-65 thousands and nothing has changed in that
number for the last 3 years. Astonishing part is that they
were key dates that the daily hits reached even 183
thousands hits but not such thing ever happened. Witnessing
my comments of bringing the issue to legal levels, they're
proposing to move us to a dedicated server which we can't
afford as already we're missing of necessary financial
resources for our work at the committee.

This email is authentic. I just spoke with one of their organizers on the phone. These folks whose information has been so important - if you're not up-to-speed on them you can read their most recent report here - are in desperate need of money to stay on line. The figure is not large for such an important voice ($1380/year). You can help them by contributing via PayPal. If you don't already have an account go here. Donations should be sent to the email adress: smccdi@daneshjoo.org. I just did.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:42 PM
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Belushi's Back! (I knew it would happen sooner or later)

Mark Steyn does the "loco-Bolton".

As for the job Bolton's up for, what would make Barbara Boxer and Joe Biden put their hands on hips? Child sex rings run from U.N. peacekeeping operations? Sudan sitting on the Human Rights Commission while it licenses mass murder in Darfur? Kofi Annan's son doing a $30,000-a-year job but somehow having a spare quarter-million dollars to invest in a Swiss soccer club? There are tides in the affairs of men when someone has to put his hands on his hips and toss his curls. And, if the present depraved state of the U.N. isn't one of them, nothing is. Unlike most of the multilateral blatherers, John Bolton is hip to that.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:44 PM
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Freedom for the Cohesive Self

Dr. Sanity has now posted Parts II and III of her analysis of the relationship between Self Psychology and Politics. This is one of the most interesting series I have yet seen in the blogosphere. Recommended, obviously.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:46 PM
Comments (3)

DeLay with a Human Face

M. (no relation) Simon asks if someone's been whispering in "The Hammer's" ear.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:56 AM
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My Drudge Story

Perhaps Sissy Willis (via Glenn) doesn't know how right she is when she writes about Matt Drudge's blogphobia this morning. A few weeks ago, I was linked on the Drudge Report (in red, no less), concerning some original reporting I was doing on Oil-for-Food. No, my server didn't crash but the link, which had gone up in the evening, was gone by morning. Reason: it was put up by Andrew Breitbart in California and removed by Drudge himself in Florida the next day. Breitbart, who is very blog-friendly and was then doing half the Drudge Report, had made the citation and Drudge took it off. No matter that the story proved to be accurate. Our Matt evidently can't stand on line competition. No real surprise there.

Maybe I am prejudiced in favor of Breitbart - a bright guy who has now left Drudge for more ambitious pastures - but I've noticed a decline in the Drudge Report recently. It seems to have lost its edge. But I don't expect Matt to get desperate enough to link blogs. Generosity is not his long suit.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:10 AM
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I take back everything I ever said about the LA Times...

... at least for today. In this morning's Calendar Section of that paper, a movie whose screenplay I wrote - Enemies, A Love Story - appears on the list of the 129 'best' films: rich, risky and enduring by critic Peter Rainer (full disclosure: yes, I have met him but, no, he is not a relative). The list of 'must have' DVDs includes the likes of The Bicycle Thief, 8 1/2... and the extraordinarily insightful The Man with Two Brains (full disclosure: I've never seen it).

Anyway, many thanks to Mr. Rainer to whom this blog awards its first, and possibly only, Edmund Wilson Prize for brilliance in criticism.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:26 AM
Comments (15)

April 16, 2005

Public Service Announcement

It's a long shot but... you never know who is reading this site.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:45 AM
Comments (20)

April 15, 2005

The Scowcroft/Brzezinski Front

What's interesting to me about Victor Davis Hanson's Our Not-So-Wise Experts -- other than that it is, as usual, elegantly done -- is how our so-called experts cross party lines and ideologies. Liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican it matters not. What Scowcroft, Brzezinski, Albright et al really want is the status quo. It is the preservation of the "expertise of the experts" above all. If nothing changes, they remain in place. No wonder they oppose change. What a tedious group... what tedious ideologies.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:11 PM
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The Big Slide

Tribune Publishing President Scott Smith has an explanation for the continued circulation deline, 5.5% this time, of my hometown paper the Los Angeles Times (owned by the Chicago Trib):

Q1 circulation revenue for the company was down 9% due to "volume discounts." The largest revenue drops occurred at the Los Angeles Times and Newsday. Excluding the two papers, circulation revenue for the company would have been down 4%.

This piece of information didn't keep analysts from circling around the L.A. Times. When asked why the paper is experiencing such steep circ losses compared to the competition's -- the Los Angeles Daily News, for example, was flat last period -- Smith explained the Times relied too heavily on telemarketing. That, along with the implementation of tighter controls on field sales, contributed to the drop-off.

"Field sales" and that pesky "telemarketing" again. Good. I was beginning to worry some readers might have suspected the slide had something to do with the product itself. What a relief.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:23 PM
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The Discreet Charm of the Chiracoisie

The world's most tiresome pol is evidently no Clinton on TV. His time might have been better spent picking up a hose.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:23 AM
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Kudlowing It Up

I will be on Kudlow & Company again this evening at 5:30 or so Eastern. I am not the only blogger to have appeared frequently on Larry's show, because the host is obviously blog-savvy. Of course, everything seems to be trending online these days.

UPDATE; Radioblogger's transcript of the brief proceedings here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:31 AM
Comments (7)

Stop the Mean Sisters - A Political Movement (?)

My home state used to be identified by surf bunnies runnin' on the beach and maybe some hippie stoners wandering around lost in Laurel Canyon. Okay, we had to live with all those jokes about the fruits and nuts ending up in California, but it was cool. I mean - everyone made fun of us, but who didn't really want to be here? Just ask Mama Cass (if you can find her).

Nowadays, however, everything's changed. The good vibrations are nicht so gut anymore. The scene is dominated by the bleakness twins -- Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer. Those Sisters of Mean can put a downer on everything, know what I'm sayin'? Well, maybe not the bank account of a half dozen or so Beverly Hills plastic surgeons, but everybody else. And this has been going on for too long. It's getting so serious I'm in danger of having my Frank Zappa MP3s erased. (No wonder the Lakers are losing. People blame it on Kobe and Shaq, but imagine those two ladies courtside!)

So since the Democratic Party doesn't seem about to rectify the situation by at least nominating a blogger for the Senate, I have a suggestion where Ms. Boxer is concerned. (Sorry, but finding someone interesting in California to run for Congress ain't happening. Too small change.) Once in a blue moon the Republican Party in this state wakes up and stops running ciphers with forgettable names, remembers where they're living and nominates someone from the home town industry - show biz, dude. It got them the Governorship, as we all know. Time to move on to the Senate!

Yes, I'm still a registered Democrat (believe it or not) and it's none of my business, except that I'm tired of that Mean Sisters' reign. So the campaign starts here: BRUCE WILLIS FOR SENATE. Yes, I know Bruce has a checkered past, but we all do. Still he's funny, he's smart and, hey, now even the French like him. (Okay, maybe that's not such a great recommendation, but I was following the law of threes.)

Say it loud and say it proud: BRUCE FOR SENATE.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:55 AM
Comments (67)

April 14, 2005

Fighting the War in Iraq all over again (already)...

Well, not the war, but the internal war within our country leading up to the war. Even to this outsider (okay, I'll be honest, far outsider) nothing could be more obvious than that the attacks on the John Bolton nomination for UN ambassador are not about the nominee's attitudes toward subordinates (the "presenting complaint"), but about something much more important. What we are watching is yet another reenactment of the endless battle between the Pentagon and the State Department. During the runup to the Iraq War, Bolton was one of the few people within the State who stood up for the administration's (and Defense Department's) policy. Now he is being paid back, particularly since the administration's policies are looking better and better in retrospect. Who better to punish for this than Bolton - the thorn living among them? Fortunately, this charade will soon be over.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:08 PM
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The Food-for-Kojo Program

I respect the right of the Wall Street Journal to keep much of their newspaper on a subscription-only basis, but today's Oil-for-Food tidbit is too good not to quote:

Among all the leads and clues churned up in the wake of Paul Volcker's second interim report on the United Nations Oil for Food scandal, one strikes us as especially deserving of further scrutiny. It is the news, first reported by the Financial Times, that in 1999 Secretary-General Kofi Annan's son Kojo invested $235,000 in an ailing Swiss soccer club called Vevey-Sports and was elected the club's president. Yet, according to the FT, Kojo had little to do with the club's management and was never once seen at a match.

The Volcker Committee's recent report does not address Kojo's investment in Vevey-Sports. But here's a question it might wish to pursue: Where did the 25-year-old Annan -- who comes from a family of moderate means and who, until 1998, was making some $2,500 a month -- get that kind of throw-around money?

Good question, isn't it? Maybe Senators Dodd and Boxer will go onto that one since "reform" of the United Nations seems so high on their agendas.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:52 PM
Comments (20)

Dept. of Been There/Done That

Cigar division... Meanwhile, the Bolton vote is delayed (no pun intended). At the same time, in real news rather than political posturing by Senators more interested in themselves than genuine reform of the United Nations (who knew?), the first Oil-for-Food indictments are coming in - and it's the American judicial process taking the action.

UPDATE: Here is the NYT story on the Oil-for-Food indictments of a Texas businessman as well as a British and Bulgarian citizen. I am posting (for me) a long excerpt of the final part.

Many member countries at the United Nations have refused to cooperate fully with a separate inquiry by investigators looking into waste, fraud and mismangement in the oil-for-food program, which was intended to allow Iraq to sell limited quantities of oil in return for humanitarian relief.

On Jan. 18, Samir A. Vincent, an Iraqi-American businessman, pleaded guilty to lobbying influential Americans on behalf of Mr. Hussein without registering as a foreign agent. Mr. Vincent admitted he had secretly been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and granted rights to sell millions of dollars' worth of Iraqi oil, in exchange for working to end United Nations economic sanctions imposed in 1990. He is now cooperating with [US Attorney] Mr. Kelley.

Look back at the first quoted paragraph ("Many member countries at the United Nations have refused to cooperate fully...") and ask yourself whether it isn't time for a strong reformer like John Bolton for US Ambassador to the UN. A political game is being played over his nomination right now in our Senate with people who habitually mistreat their subordinates accusing others of doing so. I don't doubt they all do. Politics is not a world of pleasant people, particularly behind closed doors. Larger issues are involved here, however. Much larger. Time for the likes of Chris Dodd to get serious (shame on him)!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:28 AM
Comments (31)

April 13, 2005

He's no Fidel...

...when it comes to putting his hand in the people's cookie jar, but I had to laugh when I read that the former "socialist" mayor of Burlington has been caught with his wife and step-daughter on the payroll from campaign donations. Those who think this exonerates Tom DeLay, accused of the same thing, are of course ridiculous. To the extent this may or may not be legal or improper, it doesn't necessarily implicate or exonerate either of them. It just proves once again that the labels people apply to themselves are just that -- labels.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:57 PM
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Al Jazeera at Princeton

The Bad Hair Blog has a report on a colloquy with Al Jazeera yesterday sponsored by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies and Adam Smith Global Television. That's "Adam Smith" as in Jerry Goodman, the bestselling author. The dialogue between him and Al Jazeera's Abderrahim Foukara is as interesting for what is not said (inadvertently or otherwise) as for what is said.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:06 AM
Comments (3)

April 12, 2005

Uncovering the Coverup - More Mouselli on the Way (now with PHOTOS)

Pierre Mouselli -- the Franco-Lebanese businessman first reported on on this blog who told the Volcker Committee investigating the UN Oil-for-Food Programme of contacts he arranged between Kojo Annan and Iraqi ambassadors in Nigeria -- will be the subject of profiles in the NY Sun and on Fox News in the next couple of days. Additional information on Kojo and Mouselli's business will appear.

But why hasn't the committee itself followed up on Mouselli's several leads, most amazingly his encounter with the second Iraqi ambassador in 2002 who told him the Iraqis were looking for Kojo and that the Secretary General's son had done them a favor? It wouldn't take Sam Spade or Sherlock Holmes to figure out that was worth pursuing. But as far as I know they haven't. The committee is moving on to the next phase of the investigation - operations - without having completed the first one.

Meanwhile, here are some photos the committee might have found interesting:

1. Kojo with Mouselli at the French Embassy in Lagos.
2. Mouselli with the Iraqi ambassador Taha Sukar... There's evidently more in Mouselli's scrapbook.

The folks on the Volcker Committee seem to be working overtime to do that most difficult of all things - go far enough not to be accused of a coverup while not going too far to do any real damage. This was the kind of tap dance done by the Thornburgh Committee over at CBS and it is being done all over again by the committee at the UN -- a far more important venue than a mere television network (big as that may be). Of course, their "lawyerliness" is misguided. The horse of UN corruption is miles out of the barn by now. Continuing to obfuscate it at this point may have some short term benefits for a few, but over the long term will only contribute heavily to the institution's destruction.

UPDATE: The NYSun article referred to above is here. Don't miss it.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:01 PM
Comments (27)

Consumer Report - Boomer Division

When you attain a "certain age," the quality of your monitor becomes more important than the speed of your computer. And in this area anyway, size counts. I stepped up a couple of weeks ago to a Samsung 213T, which is, yes, 21.3". Eureka, I can see again. It's terrific--and it pivots (software included) for writing screenplays. And while I'm bragging, I have to say I got an incredible deal on a factory-reconditioned one on ebay, paying about three hundred dollars less than this new version. I'm sure if you watch for it, you can find a reconditioned one too.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:39 AM
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More Chalabi Wasabi

(Okay, that's the last time I'll use that joke, but I keep hearing Groucho say it and it makes me laugh.)

This must be WSJ day on this blog, because they have another opinion piece worth linking. [You're paying them back for putting you on their favorites list. That's indication of bias.-ed Who're you, Jay Rosen?] Before I was so rudely interrupted again, I was about to link this (subscription, alas) OpinionJournal piece, which finds it "a little puzzling that more than 10 days after the bipartisan Robb-Silberman Commission debunked a major piece of the media's Iraq war narrative -- that Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress played a major role in the bad intelligence on Saddam's WMDs -- almost none of the outlets that sold the story have seen fit to correct the record or explain their reporting."

I think the Journal is being a tad disingenuous there themselves. We all know this is par for the media course these days - or maybe always. Nevertheless, what's a litttle disingenuousness among friends? And they go on to point out yet another example of unretracted allegations, this time at the end of an interview by Tim Russert (one of the lone examples of major MSM players to bring this up) of Senator Jay Rockefeller:

At which point Senator Rockefeller added the name of Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith to his rant, repeating still more phony allegations that have been undercut by both the Robb-Silberman findings and an earlier report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on which Mr. Rockefeller sits. Kudos to Mr. Russert, but whoever is doing Mr. Rockefeller's staff work is overpaid.

Well, the staff usually writes what the boss wants to hear. (ht: Catherine Johnson)

UPDATE: Some Chalabi Wasabi from Mark Steyn. (ht: Charles Martin)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:53 AM
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"Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk"

Jim Geraghty predicts "trouble ahead, trouble behind" for Syria's Bashard Assad on his forthcoming visit by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The embattled dictator had helped for support in his struggle to keep control of Lebanon (and stay in control himself), but Jim's sources says the ophthalmologist won't get more than "happy talk" from his neighbor.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:25 AM
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April 11, 2005

Dr. Sanity Sets Us Straight

Me anyway. I spent a good portion of the 1980s struggling through Heinz Kohut's works on self-psychology and object relations while I was in psychotherapy, but never got a clearer view of his theories than I did from reading this post on Pat Santy's blog. The doctor is clearly after other game, however, and will soon be linking up her explanation of narcissism with current politics and the way people behave. I'll be reading carefully because I suspect her thinking dovetails with some of the ideas that I am putting in my book, although in a less formal and more personal fashion. And in any case, those of us who live in Hollywood need as much knowledge of narcissism as we can get -- healthy or otherwise. (ht: Rick Ballard)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:21 PM
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The Big Test

This morning's WSJ asks the question who stayed the course and passed the tough tests during the dog days of the battle for Iraqi Freedom. The President did. Our soldiers did. The American people did. Someone missing?

That leaves America's elite -- the politicians, wise men, think-tank experts, academics, magazine and editorial-page editors, big-city columnists, TV commentators. Many opposed the war from the start, and whether they have now reassessed their views in light of recent events is a matter of some interest. But because they never signed on to the war in the first place, the question of their fortitude throughout its ups and downs is less an issue.

Two years later we know the answer to that question is yes, thanks to the fortitude and wisdom of a President, our soldiers and the American public. Maybe next time, our best and brightest will show the same character.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:47 PM
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Another Icon of My Generation Gone

Feminist activist Andrea Dworkin, author of "Woman Hating" and other books, died yesterday at the age of 58. I was surprised to read that she had married her lifetime companion, John Stoltenberg, now the managing editor of AARP Magazine. Dworkin was most famous for her identification of all pornography with rape. The RadGeek People's Daily mourns her passing. (ht: Richard McEnroe)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:04 PM
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Free Michael!

I think we should set up a defense fund for my friend Michael Ledeen who is being accused of forging the Niger Uranium Documents by former CIA official Vincent Cannistraro. It all happened on a radio show over the weekend:

Ian Masters, host of Background Briefing, in Los Angeles, interviewed Vincent Cannistraro, the former head of Counterterrorism operations at the CIA. Cannistraro came close to naming the man who forged the Niger documents. When Masters asked, "If I said 'Michael Ledeen'?" Vincent Cannistraro replied, "You'd be very close."

Is that "close as in close" or close as in "close, but no cigar"? (Insider's note: Ledeen is a cigar maven.) I hate to rain on Mr. Cannistraro's anti-neocon parade, but I have news for him: The Niger Documents were in French and Michael doesn't speak French (well, barely, but trust me, not enough to pull off a forgery of anything remotely official). Now if the docs were in Italian...

What we have here is obviously another dim-witted round being fired in the ongoing internal intelligence/foreign policy wars. In the old days, uttering such ridiculous slanders on Pacifica Radio would amount to nothing because no one would notice. In our Internet Age, inane remarks of this nature spread like wildfire. But perhaps Cannistraro is not up to speed on such things.

MEANWHILE: some people want to know if "Michael Ledeen kidnapped the Lindbergh baby?"

(Cohibas will be accepted for the Defense Fund.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:55 AM
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The Politics of Niche Marketing

I have been enjoying the excerpts of Byron York's The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy being published by NRO, but the one today downgrading the importance of Fahrenheit 9/11 to the last election is less surprising to me than previous installments.

The answer, although no one beyond a few Hollywood executives, and probably Moore himself, knew it at the time, was that Fahrenheit 9/11 never had the sort of national appeal that its maker and its publicists claimed. The truth was just the opposite; deep inside the dense compilations of audience research figures that are used by movie studios to chart a film's performance was evidence that Fahrenheit 9/11's appeal was narrowly limited to those areas that were already solidly anti-Bush. Moore's daily pronouncements about the movie’s success in pro-Bush areas, and the growing anti-Bush movement it was supposedly engendering, were little more than wishful thinking.

Well, of course. Does this surprise anyone? You don't have to be in the movie business to realize that Moore's work and Moore the man are "choir preaching" at its purest. I don't imagine that kind of person convinces anyone of anything ultimately.

But what does change our minds? I'm not sure I understand that, though I do know that seeking the most common ground and then shifting subtly is far more effective than Fahrenheit 9/11. And by the way, those Industry stats that York quotes as being secrets of movie executives are readily available to anyone on line now. I'm sure Karl Rove knew them. No wonder he wasn't alarmed by Moore.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:17 AM
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April 10, 2005

Sunday at the Matzah Factory with Madeleine

Passover's on its way and Madeleine's Sunday School class, accompanied by a fair number of parents, went to the source today to see how that famous unleavened bread is actually made. This particular Matzah Factory, however, isn't in Poland or even the Lower East Side, but in Westwood, CA at the UCLA Chabad House where several of the young Chabadniks entertained the kids with their version of the Passover story. That's Ramses, the Pharoah and Moses boogieing down, in case you didn't know.

After the dramatics, Madeleine and the others were asked to slip out of Egypt via this Pyramid, which actually had a tunnel through it.

Then they arrived at a farm where they were instructed in the harvesting of wheat (for the matzah, of course):

And then proceeded on to:

...where they travailed, flattening that flat bread and pricking it with that strange medieval device...

...and then bringing their efforts to the baker...

... before eating them...

A real, authentic Passover Matzah has to be made in eighteen minutes, we were told, to mimic the speed our ancestors took while hightailing it out of Egypt. This took a bit longer, but it was fun. And the matzah wasn't bad!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:03 PM
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April 9, 2005

Anschrift unbekannt

If you've been looking for The Anchoress, she's moved here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:27 PM

Revenge of the White Boys

Maybe they can't jump, but they can shoot. (via Boing-Boing)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:39 AM
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Diary of a Mad Iraqi Housewife (UPDATED)

No, it's not a remake of that shopworn 1970 Frank Perry movie. [Thankfully!-ed. I'm with you on that one.] It's something far more interesting - a new blog from Baghdad called "Neurotic Iraqi Wife." Catherine Johnson, who tipped me to this site, says "this is probably the best news I've heard about what is really going on over there." And... assuming this blog is not some of the most brilliant intelligence work I have ever read... she has a point. According to the blogger, daily life in Baghdad is starting to resemble Brooklyn in its level of violence. Of course, she may be referring to the Old Brooklyn, but all things change... Brooklyn.... Baghdad... even you and I. Don't miss this blog. It's fabulous!

MEANWHILE: The demonstration by Shiites loyal to reactionary religious thug Muqtada Sadr seems to have been a bust, although you wouldn't know it by most media reports, which trumpet "tens of thousands" of demonstrators in their opening paragraph. That usually means ten to twenty thousand, although the Voice of America writes "thousands." Who knows? In any case, the number isn't much in Baghdad, a city of five million. The Washington Post finally admits the truth in the 14th (!) paragraph of their coverage:

Sadr had stayed out of the limelight since leading failed uprisings last year in the southern city of Najaf and in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. But he has stepped up criticism of the United States in recent weeks, mainly by organizing Saturday's protest, which fell far short of the 1 million people he hoped would assemble.

Talk about burying the lede! Oh, well, we're all propagandists in the end, n'est-ce pas?

AND: More signs of life in Baghdad. (ht: PeterUK)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:49 AM
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April 8, 2005

Full of Bullitzer

The startling revelation that a CBS (yes, them again!) stringer wounded the other day by US troops might actually be a terrorist... excuse me... "insurgent" himself and not an innocent member of the Fourth Estate (as we were led to believe) immediately made me think of the recent awarding of our Pulitzer Prizes. The one for "breaking news photography" went, as you will recall, to the Associated Press team in Iraq. As you will also recall, some of us had doubts about the provenance of the photographs they took, marveling at the sudden arrival of their photographers on the scene and wondering if the AP itself or its employees had ties to the terrorists.

I wonder now how the Pulitzer Committee would feel if it turned out they gave their prize to people who were inside the "insurgency" and effectively functioning as publicists for jihadist killers. I know - that's not an easy question to answer. But don't worry. It couldn't have happened. I'm sure the Pulitzer folks checked it out. This CBS guy was just an aberration. The Pulitzer people are professionals. They don't make mistakes like that.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at