April 2006 Archives
in that it was much more busy than most.
Protests from the left that there is too much war in Iraq, followed by protests from the left that there isn't enough in Darfur.
Colin Powell confirms that different folks have different ideas, and the left goes nuts because the President followed the Pentagon's plan instead of the State department's.
Bush gets lots of laughs from the press, and a lefty comedian's jokes are answered with the sound of chirping crickets.
Iran is starting to fear the UN Security Council, so they're now sqirming to avoid them.
And we've still got tomorrow's May Day to get through as the illegals and their supporters protest for something they had a better chance of getting if they hadn't.
And in spite of all the negativity from the press and the left, we're still winning in Iraq. The goal of having the Iraqis take over their own security isn't yet achieved, but is in sight. And Al Qaeda in Iraq is running out of nutcases willing to blow themselves up.
Next week will have to be busy indeed to top it.
Huffington Post is linking yet another song that's sure to please the "Hate America" crowd.
It's pretty complete - genocide, racism, Abe Lincoln is gay, fixed elections, church bashing, etc. It appears that in Susan Werner's view, there's nothing that America has ever done right. But in spite of it all, she won't move to France. I wish she'd reconsider.
I'll bet we start hearing her sing at the rallies sponsored by the communists and socialists.
Full lyrics below the fold... Be warned, though, it's pretty hateful.
Via AP/Reuters:
ROME (Reuters) - An Italian restaurant was fined 688 euros ($855) for displaying live lobsters on ice to attract patrons, in an innovative application of an anti-cruelty law usually affecting to household pets.
A court in the northeastern city of Vicenza ruled the display was a form of abuse dooming the crustaceans to a slow death by suffocation.
"We're appealing," said Giuseppe Scalesia, who runs La Conchiglia D'Oro, or "Golden Shell," restaurant along with his brother Camillo.
"They said that the lobsters, laying on the ice, suffer... They compared them in court to other animals, like cats and dogs."
The case was brought by Gianpaolo Cecchetto, a former environmental activist, who took his two young children to the Vicenza restaurant in May 2002.
"They were shocked by the display," Cecchetto told Reuters, adding he immediately got in touch with the ENPA national animal protection entity. "ENPA took care of the lawyers and legal proceedings."
Italy has some of the world's toughest animal rights laws. The city of Rome in October banned goldfish bowls, seen as cruel, while Turin passed a law last year that would fine dog owners 500 euros unless they walked their canine friends at least three times a day.
Has the whole world gone nuts? These lobsters are intended for food - death followed by consumption by human beings is the desired result. Who the hell cares how they got to the table?
I have a lot more to say about this, but I've gotta run - I have an irresistable urge to go melt some butter...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A three-year investigation into drug use by Rush Limbaugh ended abruptly when the conservative commentator was booked on a single charge of prescription fraud in a deal his attorney says spares him a trial.
The charge will be dropped if Limbaugh continues treatment, attorney Roy Black said Friday.
My guess is that some of the hinge-less crowd will be unhappy that his life wasn't completely destroyed...
A followup to Thursday's post. The woman who was spanked at work was awarded 1.7 million from her former employer, Alarm One.
Wow! This has certainly been a busy day for the hackers!
Sorry I was down, but this kind of thing happens to nearly everyone eventually. No word on where the attack came from this time. If I find out I'll pass it on.
I would like to say thanks to the Hosting Matters staff - two attacks in one day, I'm sure they were working their backsides off. But I should expect no less. Every time I've had a problem or a question they're been fast and courteous in addressing it.
If you're looking for a host, I recommend them strongly. They're pleasant to work with, and they understand blogs.
Again, thanks to Hosting Matters!
While I'm not a Drudge Report fan, I occasionally go to his site by following links on other blogs. Yesterday, I saw a mention of Drudge on PowerLine. The post John referred to was about low sales figures for Markos Moulitsos' book Crashing the Gate.
This must have touched a few nerves - Glenn Greenwald, who has a book coming out, stepped up to the plate to defend Markos' book. So did a lot of other leftist sites. Glenn's was titled "Anatomy of the "thought" process of Bush defenders", although he bases his rant on Drudge and two conservative bloggers. Yet he paints his assertions with an overly broad brush on all those "Bush Lovers" he dislikes:
There are so many data holes and misleading omissions in this item that it is literally and wholly useless in determining whether the book is a success. I want to emphasize that what matters here is not whether the book really is a success (I have no idea if it is or isn't), but how the baseless Drudge assertion became gospel fact among Bush followers, a distorted and corrupt process which generally governs how they come to think about the world with regard to virtually every issue.
What happened to the dislike of stereotyping he displayed last week? This theme gets repeated several times though his rant. He dismisses Drudge's source (Bookscan) as unreliable and then uses the same source to run down sales of conservative books. At least he backs off on the assertions of his encyclopedic knowledge of the liberal blogging book world - Tuesday's claim:
"There have been a few other recent blog-based books, including Markos and Jerome's highly successful Crashing the Gate..."
Is corrected yesterday to:
"I want to emphasize that what matters here is not whether the book really is a success (I have no idea if it is or isn't)..."
The interesting thing about this is how silly it is. Drudge is petty for starting it, the small number of right wing bloggers who chimed in are petty for revelling in the low numbers, and lots of folks on the left are being downright childish for taking offense at it. I point out Greenwald because it appears that this opened an especially large wound for him, apparently inspiring him to drag in every single issue he has with the right, but there are plenty of other examples. Jane Hamsher doles out the reasoned and intellectual discourse she's so well known for:
The success of both Crashing the Gate and Glenn Greenwald’s book? The right are quite literally gagging on it.
Bon a-fuckin’-petite, you warmongering, bedwetting bastards.
Classy, huh?
Atrios, in an unusually long introduction to an open thread, also ties this to generalities about the right:
"Their defective mind processes work the same way, whether it's Iraq or book sales."
Surprisingly, Crooks and Liars has it right:
"It is a stupid pissing contest."
Glenn defends his generalizations here. It seems to be situational - sweeping generalizations are repugnant when used to describe liberals but necessary when describing conservatives.
By the way, Glenn's book is still showing at #1 at Amazon, and that's just fine. I wish him success (honest, I do). I may even read it, as I am curious to see if it contains any insight into his apparent contempt for the constitution (particularly Article III). In case it's dropped from the top slot at Amazon, here's a screen shot
.
I've checked a couple of times and noticed something that the folks who focus on politics only probably didn't - the number two slot has been solidly occupied by the same book. It's a ground-breaking tome about doggy discipline entitled Cesar's Way : The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems. Considering all the squabbling over rankings, and to demonstrate that there's more than sales numbers with which to evaluate a book, it occurred to me that Cesar's Way might be a useful marketing tool for Glenn in light of the constant companionship it's provided his book on the Amazon list. Maybe some creative marketing is in order....
I think it would look stunning in those glowing ad panels at the airport, don't you?
Update: Fixed link for screen shot.
VIENNA, Austria - The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that Iran has defied a U.N. Security Council call for a freeze on enriching uranium and its lack of cooperation with nuclear inspectors was a "matter of concern."
Meanwhile, Mahmoud is thrilling crowds with his atomic Rhett Butler imitation:
Sorry the site's been off line - Hosting Matters had a denial of service attack today. According to Charles at LGF, it apparently originated in Saudi Arabia.
Michelle has a very short list of blogs affected - Hosting Matters has a lot of blogs. They should all be back up now.
In the same week that we had a Spanish group trying to give apes human rights, today's Wall Street Journal features none other than Pamela Anderson on a "related" subject:
"Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, with at least 95% of the same DNA. We're closer to them than they are to gorillas, so when I see chimpanzees being used as on-screen comedians, dressed up in silly costumes to sell credit cards, I think, Is this any way to treat a relative?"
There's that nasty DNA thing again. Sigh.
But Pamela, what about the mice? Those poor, mistreated, 99% similar to human mice?
I usually just delete the spam without reading it. Maybe I should pay attention - this one showed up in my inbox today:
From:Mrs hassan.
Attn:The Managing Director
Before I proceed, may I humbly introduce myself to your goodself, My Name is Mrs. Amina hassan, an Iraqi refugee ,my husband was until recently, one of the personal aid to the president of Iraq who was formerly overthrown out of power by American Government .
Prior to this last serious crisis that is still ravaging in my country,which recently led to misfortune of our government and my late husband position as the personal aid to the president, we were able to come over here in Thailand ,we inherited the sum of US$11 million.The funds were originally gotten from my late husband proceeds.
The rest is the usual plea for additional contact to further the scam.
While not universal, there are plenty on the left who feel that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was wrong. Apparently, the scammers are narrowing their demographic to increase their success.
After all, the folks who can be conned with even the most lunatic conspiracy theories regarding the Bush administration (in spite of evidence to the contrary) must be ready-made targets for this kind of scam that preys on the most gullable and emotion-driven of our society.
Note to scammers: If you can craft an email that contends that every breath Bush takes admits to breaking the law, I know where you can hit paydirt...
John at Powerline asks: "Wasn't There a Time When Republicans Knew Something About Economics?"
The post looks at the "Gas Price Relief and Rebate Act of 2006", and John opines, "it's not pretty".
I think John has overstated the quality of this bill somewhat - it's a train wreck of pandernomics.
$100 tax rebate? Check.
Endless investigations into gouging (whatever that is)? Check.
Contradictory tax incentive juggling? Check.
Tax incentives to build facilities that environmentalists will never allow? Check.
Did we really elect these numbskulls? This plan is just plain dumb on several levels. The only thing that makes sense (ANWR drilling) is also the most likely item to get left out of the final version.
Not that this is original, but here is the plan for gas price relief that I'll support:
1. Allow the oil industry to drill and build refining capacity.
2. Cut both state and federal taxes on gasoline.
It's funny that the biggest argument against replacing income tax with a national sales tax has always been that consumption taxes are regressive, hitting the poor much harder than the middle or upper classes. Yet there seems to be no such noble motive in play when it comes to energy. This isn't like tobacco or alcohol - gas is a necessity. There is gas price gouging - the shame is, the FTC won't see it because congress will tell them to look at the oil industry instead of the government. How can the oil industry's measly 9 cents per gallon profit be "price gouging" when state and federal government get a combined average of 60 cents?
I can't improve on John's closing sentiment:
Look at it this way: if the oil companies agreed among themselves not to drill for oil in new locations like ANWR, and not to build new refineries, so as to limit the supply of oil and thereby drive prices higher, it would be illegal; indeed, it would be the greatest price-fixing conspiracy in American history. But it isn't the oil companies that have conspired to limit supply and thereby drive prices higher. It is our government that has foreseeably, if not intentionally, achieved this ignoble end.
Via AP/Yahoo:
JERUSALEM - Iran has received its first batch of North Korean-made surface-to-surface missiles that put European countries within firing range, Israel's military intelligence chief said in an interview published Thursday.
The BM-25 missiles have a range of 1,550 miles and are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the Haaretz daily reported.
The report came as U.N. members consider slapping sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment. The United States, Israel and other Western countries say Iran is trying to get nuclear arms, but the Islamic regime says its atomic program is for civilian purposes only.
And I'm sure that these are peaceful civilian missiles. Right?
Hey - does this mean we get to see the Neutron Dancers again?
For those of you looking to motivate your workforce, I recommend taking them to lunch, offering bonuses, you know, the usual stuff.
Spanking your employees should be on the "avoid at all costs" list.
Hope that helps.
For seven months the Senate has been investigating FEMA and what happened before, during, and after Katrina. Next week a full report will be released, and today they've issued a teaser:
WASHINGTON - Hurricane Katrina's latest fatality should be FEMA, the nation's disaster response agency, a Senate inquiry concluded in calling for a government overhaul to avoid future failures like those the devastating storm exposed.
Why the statement was issued today - in advance of the full report - was assuredly not random:
President Bush was visiting Louisiana and Mississippi — which bore the brunt of Katrina's wrath — on Thursday.
The report apparently recommends a new name for FEMA:
The recommendations conclude that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is crippled beyond repair by years of poor leadership and inadequate funding. They call for a new agency — the National Preparedness and Response Authority — to plan and carry out relief missions for domestic disasters.
The proposed change is already drawing criticism as being skin-deep only:
But the proposal drew disdain from Homeland Security and its critics, both sides questioning the need for another bureaucratic shuffling that they said wouldn't accomplish much.
"It's time to stop playing around with the organizational charts and to start focusing on government, at all levels, that are preparing for this storm season," Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said.
Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, who resigned under fire after Katrina, said the new agency would basically have the same mission FEMA had a year ago before its disaster planning responsibilities were taken away to focus solely on responding to calls for help.
"It sounds like they're just re-creating the wheel and making it look like they're calling for change," Brown said. "If indeed that's all they're doing, they owe more than that to the American public."
Of course, the devil's in the details, which we don't yet have.
Remember Esso? For the younger folk, here's what their logo looked like:
Back in the 70's (late 60's?), when they changed their name to Exxon, the joke at the time was "New name, Same old gas". Unless something more substantial comes along with the name change, the "National Preparedness and Response Authority" should adopt it as their slogan.
Via AP/Yahoo:
WASHINGTON - The simplest grammar, long thought to be one of the skills that separate man from beast, can be taught to a common songbird, new research suggests.
Damn - next the birds will be demanding equal rights, too. At least we're still trying to kill bugs, though.
Say you're a terrorist - you've just arrived in baghdad, you don't have much money, and you're dying to go after some infidels. Where do you go to gear up? Ask Reuters!
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - It doesn't cost a lot to set up your own death squad in Iraq. Military uniforms, guns and even police vehicles are easily available to all comers in the markets of Baghdad.
In a city where gangs of men dressed as police have killed dozens of people and stolen tens of thousands of dollars, anyone with a modest amount of cash can set up their own fake squad.
At Baghdad's Bab al-Sharjee market, a haven for criminals, anyone can walk into one of about 15 shops selling police and military supplies and buy a police commando uniform for 35,000 Dinars (about $24) or an ordinary police uniform for $15.
No questions asked, no identity checks. Badges of rank from Captain to Major-General -- enough to ensure no one asks questions on the mean streets of the capital -- go for $2.
"One person came yesterday and took 12 full commando uniforms. Another took 15 army uniforms and ski masks with holes for the eyes," said Tariq, who runs one of the stores.
"I don't care who comes to buy them. As long as they give me the money, I give them the products," he said, adding the most popular items were police commando uniforms.
Although some uniforms such as a plain blue Iraqi police shirt are relatively simple for any tailor to produce, it was unclear where Tariq and others get the complicated camouflage uniforms from.
There are plenty of smaller items such as laser pointers for weapons, face-hiding ski masks, and handcuffs.
(snip)
Just a few kilometres from Bab al-Sharjee, at the Nahdha car showrooms, it is possible to buy the same vehicles the police special forces or ordinary police use for $12,000.
For an extra few hundred dollars, sirens and police markings can be added at the central Sinak market. Then it's a short trip to Mureydi market in the sprawling Sadr City Shi'ite slum for fake IDs.
Car salesman Abu Mohammed will sell a customer anything they want, including a range of bullet-proof cars costing up to $340,000.
"There is a possibility some people buy these cars with violent intent, but we can't go around checking after them," he says. "Our job is to sell cars and make money.
"I can get anything you can think of, even an American Humvee if the price is right."
And yes, I know, that probably wasn't their intent. But they really could have gotten their point across without writing the story as a how-to guide for visiting jihadists...
about Tony Snow being appointed White House Press Secretary:
Tony's certainly a class act, and I wish him well. Previously, I had said that I would be surprised if he was picked. And I am. Given the media's disdain for Fox News and conservative pundits in general, I wonder if our leftist and overtly hostile press isn't going to be even more combative than they were with his predecessor.
Time will tell, and I'm hoping for the best. I'll miss him as a commentator, though.
Barcepundit has uncovered a plan to give human rights to apes (H/T LGF)
Socialists: Give apes human rights
Spain Herald
The Spanish Socialist Party will introduce a bill in the Congress of Deputies calling for "the immediate inclusion of (simians) in the category of persons, and that they be given the moral and legal protection that currently are only enjoyed by human beings." The PSOE's justification is that humans share 98.4% of our genes with chimpanzees, 97.7% with gorillas, and 96.4% with orangutans.
The party will announce its Great Ape Project at a press conference tomorrow. An organization with the same name is seeking a UN declaration on simian rights which would defend ape interests "the same as those of minors and the mentally handicapped of our species."
According to the Project, "Today only members of the species Homo sapiens are considered part of the community of equals. The chimpanzee, the gorilla, and the orangutan are our species's closest relatives. They possess sufficient mental faculties and emotional life to justify their inclusion in the community of equals."
It always starts that way. But we know where it will lead, don't we?
Update (27APR06): Protein Wisdom points out the flawed logic in the DNA argument, John Hawkins: "...does that mean monkeys can vote in Spain?"
I guess they couldn't do any worse than the humans.
Or at least that's what this study found:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Go ahead and have that second cup of coffee -- or third, or fourth. A study published on Monday shows heavy, long-term coffee drinking does not raise the risk of heart disease for most people.
The study, which followed 128,000 men and women for as long as 20 years, showed that drinking filtered coffee -- not espresso or French-style brews -- did not raise the risk of heart disease.
That's good enough for me - I'm taking the family to Starbucks for dinner tonight.
"We believe this study clearly shows there is no association between filtered coffee consumption and coronary heart disease," said Esther Lopez-Garcia, an instructor in the School of Medicine at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in Spain, who worked on the study.
"This lack of effect is good news, because coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world."
We're not going to tell you who commissioned the study, but you'd recognize him if you saw him...
Yesterday I reported on the possible anti-male merchandising policy at Hot Air. Today I decided to followup on this terrible injustice. There's a post by AllahPundit labeled "Site Business", but no mention of the most important issue facing the fledgling website.
And I still haven't received a reply from Hot Air staff. In hopes that this situation had been resolved (and they just neglected to notify me), I checked the Hot Air Gear portal hoping to find men's t-shirts available. Still not there. But wait - it gets worse...
They removed all the t-shirts! Even the womens' shirts!
Not only am I denied a t-shirt, but my beloved wife (TB) is as well!
I feel oppressed.
Everyone reading this should let the folks at Hot Air know that no matter how terrific the content of the actual site itself is (and it really is), if they can't get the merchandising right they're doomed. That's right - DOOMED.
In the meantime, what do you do if you want to sport the hottest new web logo? There's only one solution to this dilemma - and it's below the fold:
Via AP/Yahoo:
WASHINGTON - With gasoline hitting $3 per gallon, scientists have just found the most energy-efficient engines in the universe — black holes, those whirling super-dense centers of galaxies that suck in nearly everything.
It's nice that science makes these discoveries, but what do black holes have to do with gas prices?
Kevin Sites reports on an unusual musician:
Near the piano, on a black stand that resembles a bipod, sits a Winchester lever action rifle. On its polished barrel are four hash marks, representing, says Lopez, the four people killed by it.
But there's much more to the gun than its history: six metal guitar strings stretch from the mid-point of its wooden stock, across the loading chamber, past the fret board threaded over the weapon's barrel, ending at a guitar neck flaring past the muzzle.
It's part of project in which Lopez transforms weapons of war into instruments of killer sound, using them in a kind of political performance art.
I'm thinking this guy should make the props if they make another sequel to Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
Via AP/Yahoo:
TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hinted Monday that Iran was considering withdrawing from the worldwide Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and said he did not think the U.N. Security Council would impose sanctions on Iran.
In other words, "we're gonna do what we want, and you don't have the spine to stop us". He also mentioned Israel:
"We say that this fake regime (Israel) cannot not logically continue to live," he said.
Of note is that the press got to see the jovial side of this genocidal maniac:
Ahmadinejad often gives long, rambling speeches but Monday was one of the rare occasions when he allowed foreign journalists to question him. He seemed to enjoy the encounter, joking and bantering with reporters.
Mahmoud gave the speech in front of a poster showing a child holding up a glowing object:
Kinda sick if you think about it. Spouting hatred and genocide in front of doves and children used as props shows Mahmoud to be something else entirely:
Added: I wonder if the children Ahmadinejad uses as props really understand what they're celebrating?
Via InstaPundit, I checked out Michelle Malkin's new venture, Hot Air. What a terrific idea - looks like something I'll be visiting regularly. Looks like others think so, too.
Deciding to show my enthusiasm for the new site (with its dynamite logo), I slip over to their CafePress portal for official Hot Air gear. Summer's coming, I thought. Another t-shirt for the collection... But alas, I won't be adding to my closet today.
Why not, you ask?
Oh, the humanity! All the women will soon be adorned with the hip new gear of the summer, and the men get left out in the cold. Darn it, I can't go to the park wearing a refrigerator magnet!
So c'mon, Michelle - give the guys a break, OK?
Update (1:46 PM EST 24APR06): Of course I emailed Michelle Malkin and Bryan Preston within minutes after posting this. After all, it could have been an oversight that excluded much of Hot Air's demographic from the opportunity to conduct meaningful commerce at their gear site.
After 3 hours, unfortunately no answer from either. And worse, it looks like my trackback was denied! Here
is a screenshot showing the successful trackback to one of Hot Air's posts. But go to that post, and it's not there (Here's a screenshot just in case). Note that the last three trackbacks shown were made after mine!
Lord knows I'm not one to foster conspiracy theories, but it's starting to look a little suspicious. Could it be that this is a coverup of Hot Air's anti-male merchandising policies? And what about Bryan Preston? Why would he go along with it? You'd think he would address this egregious injustice. Hmmm?
Update 2 (3:00 PM EST 24APR06): My Trackback now appears. But there's STILL NO MEN'S T-SHIRTS! C'mon, Hot Air staff, help conservative men everywhere! Think about it - lots of us are old and overweight. Do you really want to see us at the beach wearing nothing but a Hot Air Bumper Sticker (even though it is UV resistant)?
Scientists Probe the Use of the Tongue
PENSACOLA, Fla. - In their quest to create the super warrior of the future, some military researchers aren't focusing on organs like muscles or hearts. They're looking at tongues.
Ick. This makes me kinda glad I'm retired.
Ed Morrissey posts about John Kerry's morning on George Stephanopolous' show. Kerry manages to suggest the real reason for classification and declassification, and surprise, it's the same for each:
"You know, classification in Washington is a tool that is used to hide the truth from the American people. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was eloquent and forceful in always talking about how we needed to, you know, end this endless declassification that takes place in this city, and it has become a tool to hide the truth from Americans."
It frightens me how close we were to having this kind of thought process in charge of the country.
Mark Coffey and Glenn Greenwald are conducting some cross-blog chatrooming this morning. The tone is somewhat less than amiable - surprising considering their long history...
This morning's chat started when Glenn updated a post on the leak story with a shot at Mark that I'm sure he thought was clever.
Right now Mark has the upper hand by pointing out that the Dems opposed increased security at some ports in order to score a few cheap political points.
Glenn continues his tortured Democrat leaks good / Republican leaks bad meme today. In the "Dem leaks good" story, he misses the point of the CIA's objections to publishing the story. Many GWOT operations are being carried out with the cooperation of foreign governments - exposing ongoing classified operations has the natural effect of these governments cooperating less, since they can't trust that their own intelligence services won't be compromised by some partisan with an axe to grind. Political condemnation would surely be more than skin deep in this case.
While we're here, I'd still like to see if his praise of Ms. McCarthy's leaks would be in any way tempered by this, which came out Friday. Even a dismissive mention would make him appear a little less uninformed...
I promised myself I'd try to followup more - this one's a good opportunity because Maryscott O'Connor provided an update last Sunday:
"The only factually incorrect thing in the Washington Post story about me was the description of my husband Adam's job..."
Unfortunately, the piece painted her and bloggers in general in a pretty bad light, as I illustrated in my previous post:
I've also had a chance since then to read what a few others wrote - for the first time I agree with Glenn Greenwald:
There is no cheaper or emptier form of argumentation than to isolate a specific individual, describe her, and then, without any basis, ascribe those attributes generally to some larger group -- in this case, a much, much larger and more diverse group -- of which she is ostensibly a part. Anyone who has even minimal exposure to "the blogosphere" knows that it is insusceptible to the sort of sweeping generalization oozing from every misleading paragraph in this article.
Not that he agrees with it - in the same piece he also writes:
"The real difference is that, to find rank hatemongering on the Right, one need not go digging into the 300th Comment on a blog or the most extreme postings of a relatively obscure blogger, because this type of limitless rhetorical attack has been a staple of the mainstream Right for more or less two decades now."
Insusceptable indeed - but I digress.
The Post article was unquestionably a hit piece. It painted the entire blogoshere in an unwholesome light with all the class and finesse of a drive-by shooting. Mrs. O'Connor was used and she knows it - "of course they're using me", she writes. To her credit, she's refreshingly honest on the point:
"I am using them, too. And so far, the benefits have far outweighed the costs. Both personally and politically, I have been enriched by my experiences in the corporate media..."
So there we have it - a story that alludes to Maryscott's particular brand of BDS as a projection of other issues such as the death of her father. Presumably Finkel took the time to read her online bio where her father is discussed along with her disability (Fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder that commonly affects cognitive function). It's mentioned in other posts as well. That Finkel took advantage of anyone bearing so many crosses is repugnant.
And disconnected she truly is - in the above linked post, she makes this statement:
"Anyone who places wholesale blame on any group for a particular ill in this world is delusional."
Has anyone noticed that the left is sensitive to stereotyping? And that was just a week after she responded to the news of Brian J. Doyle's arrest with:
"Are ALL these motherfuckers sexual deviants?"
Delusional, indeed. But again I digress.
So each party involved in the Post story used each other - does that mean there's no villain here? I suggest no - Finkel is a villain, but not the primary one. The real villains here are the readers and commenters of My Left Wing - who have watched this slow-motion train wreck and knowing that it was a train wreck, encouraged, prodded, and praised Maryscott - and gave her the notoriety that made her vulnerable to media hacks like Finkel.
To DJ Drummond for the loss of his father.
The identity of the leaker was divulged after my post from last night as one Mary McCarthy. While I actually need sleep in order to function, fortunately there are bloggers who don't. A good example is Curt at Flopping Aces who has 10 updates about the different small details about Ms. McCarthy that are coming out. Much of the speculation is about connections between McCarthy and prominent administration officials during the Clinton years and campaign donations to Kerry and the Dems.
I refuse to get caught up in too much of this. Politics tends to be very tribal, and some of these connections will likely turn out to be a natural manifestation of that. Time will tell. However, the hints that there will be more leakers taken to task is heartening and an indication that this is becoming a much bigger and more interesting story. Other good reading on the CIA firing is at A.J. Strata, who also functions well without sleep. A.J. points out that the left is crying foul over the firing.
The hinge-less side of the blogosphere is being predictable in the wake of the news from yesterday. Some examples:
FireDogLake: "the campaign against whistleblowers has just begun."
The "poor, innocent whistleblower as a target" meme seem to be the predominant view on the left. Considering this somewhat distorted view of justice, it's a very good thing indeed that we don't treat terrorism as a law enforcement matter as they would wish.
Glenn Greenwald: "This has nothing to do with national security or with safeguarding classified information. It is about punishment, vengeance, and deterrence..."
It should be no surprise that Glenn has an aversion to punishment - he endorsed a guest poster on his blog who feels that the drug dealer who wants to sell crack to your children should be let out of prison because prisons are, well - bad. I still can't figure out how he reconciles that view with his support of the lunatic-fringe idea of scrapping article III of the constitution in favor of having guilt assigned by legislative decree. I guess it depends on who you like...
Nearly all on the left have tried to draw the comparison with the declassification of historical data to dispute Joe Wilson's lies. None will admit that there is a significant difference between declassifying historical background data and leaking details of ongoing operations to keep Americans safe.
The award for hinge-lessness goes to Larisa Alexandrovna, who writes:
Imagine for a moment that during WWII, a German whistleblower was privy to plans for the building of concentration camps and made those plans known to the world. Imagine if this person also provided information that the German leadership, under the sadistic madness of Adolph Hitler, was abducting countless innocents who where then transported to undisclosed locations, never to be heard from again.
If that person risked everything for neither fame nor money in order to get this information out, would you - as a German citizen of that time - have considered them a national security threat, in violation of the law, a criminal? Or would you have wanted to know what was being done in your name? What is national security in this context?
The intellectual and moral disfunction displayed here is stunning. Of course none of the bleaters of the "whitleblower" meme have any excuse for selectively ignoring another story from yesterday that exposes their hate-based fantasies as fabrication.
I expect lots more in the coming days. The talking heads shows on Sunday should be especially interesting.
Update: Tom Maguire and Ace have some good reading as well.
Update 2: It appears that Flopping Aces is down - it's not a bad link.
Don Surber has uncovered a possible plot to rid the planet of cocoa merchants.
Where's the press on this? Why isn't Greta covering this night after night after night after...
Oh, the humanity.
This time it's about gas prices (H/T Ex-Donkey Blog):
Democrats Eager to Exploit Anger Over Gas Prices
Gary makes the point that this should backfire on the Dems since their record on energy would have to be viewed through rose-colored glasses to appear merely abysmal.
It may be useful to talk about why gas prices are so high, though. I have a close relative who works with the petrochemical industry, and he passes along a nugget or two from time to time. First, here's an average breakdown of the cost of a gallon of gas from September 7, 2005 (when gas prices were much higher than they are now). Keep in mind that taxes and emissions rules vary widely from state to state, so treat this as typical:
Distribution and marketing costs: $0.07
Credit card fees: $0.09
State excise tax: $0.18
Federal excise tax: $0.18
Dealer Markup $0.20
State and local sales tax: $0.23
Refinery cost and profit: $0.89
Crude oil cost: $1.54
RETAIL PRICE $3.38
Now here's what's happened in the US market since the beginning of the year:
1. All gasolines have to meet new environmental specifications for sulfur content (30 ppm). For those regions that had reformulated gasoline (RFG)(like California), it wasn't as big a shock since most of those 'boutique' gasolines had lower sulfur content. However, 'conventional' gasoline, which comprises most of the market, averaged around 250 ppm+ of sulfur. So going to 30 ppm wasn't a no cost exercise. Refiners have had to built specialty units (one project my relative told me of cost $100 million to construct) to remove all that icky sulfur from the gasoline.
2. Many states have mandated elimination of MTBE. MTBE in gasoline helped refiners meet oxygen requirements as well as add more gallons to supply. One requirement in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005) mandates ethanol in gasoline. MTBE can be blended at the refinery, then shipped as part of the gasoline via pipeline from Houston up to Virginia, for example. You can't do that with ethanol. It has to blended with the gasoline at the local terminal in your city. You can't add as much ethanol as you can MTBE due to vapor pressure limits. Ethanol is subsidized and costs more than MTBE. In effect, a multi-whammy - higher cost, less supply. And added to the pain is the spectre of shortages in some regions as terminal owners deplete their stocks since they can't mix the two blends together.
3. It is during Feb-Apr period that the refining industry has to change from 'winter' gasoline to 'summer' gasoline specifications. That is a costly change in that you can't put as much of the 'cheap' stuff into what you sell as you can in the winter (like butane) due to tighter vapor pressure, NOx, toxics limits. Summer gasoline has and will cost more. Period. Thank the Democrats and the environmentalists for the regulations that drive the prices up in the summer.
4. It's fine to talk about price hikes as gouging, but does it make logical sense that the oil industry would let the average price drop by over 80 cents/gal as it did from Sept to Nov last year? If they were really gouging as too many people claim, they could have easily done so - crude oil prices dropped to the high fifties during that period (about a 15% drop) yet gas dropped by a third. What many people also forget is that part of the cost of refining isn't just crude oil (which makes up over 50%), but also the cost of energy. With high natural gas prices, you have a higher cost to refine.
5. A lot of hay has been made about the record profits made by oil companies. The Democrats have already set out it's attack dogs like the ultra-lefty Foundation For Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) with the message of profit=gouging. Oil companies are like most businesses, their models for markup are based on a percentage of the cost. I don't know what the margins are at Exxon (I could probably find out) but lets assume that it's 10%. At $1 /gallon, they make 10 cents. At $2, its 20 cents. Gas prices are higher, so the profit will be as well due to their business model - not because of "gouging".
If you're interested, here's more on the subject:
Fortune Magazine - The Truth About Oil - Oct 2005
Energy Information Administration - A Primer on Gasoline Prices (a little dated, but mostly holds up well)
Rightwingsparkle points out the hypocrisy of Howies recent remarks.
Go read.