DR. MANHATTAN offers a eulogy for Edward Said:

I’d argue that few if any intellectuals of his generation can truly be said to have been more devoted to “gods that fail.” Said spent much of the 1970s and 1980s advocating for a two-state solution for the Israelis and Palestinians. But when faced with the possibility that such a solution might actually be possible, Said became a fierce enemy of the concept and the means of its realization. Rather than agitating for a way to make the Oslo Accords better, he denounced Yasser Arafat as a dictator and a sellout. (The “dictator” part was certainly true, but Said’s sudden discovery of those tendencies after a long history as an Arafat adviser does not speak well of his powers of observance.) Rather than trying to work against Arafat to build a better Palestinian society during the Oslo years, he became a leader of the intellectual resistance to the whole two-state enterprise. His proposal was a “secular, binational state” – an idea that only makes sense in the ivory tower. It is well known that the Palestinians supported Yasser Arafat’s refusal to accept the Palestinian state offered at Camp David, believing they could get all of Israel. They were encouraged in this hope by intellectuals such as Said.

Read the whole thing.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE BLOGGER ERIC ZORN weighs in on the Bee blog brouhaha:

In reality, what needs to emerge here if the j-blog isn’t going to die at birth, is an understanding on the part of editors and readers that, procedurally, a blog is much more like an appearance on a TV panel program or talk-radio show than it is a fully sanctioned, completely vetted declaration in cold type.

My fellow columnists and I frequently appear on radio and television and offer live (and in many cases broadcast on the internet), unedited statements under the color of our publications. Several Tribune staffers even have their own radio shows. We give speeches. We respond to e-mail and letters in writing. We give interviews to the New York Times.

And almost never is the substance and wording of such communication approved in advance by minders or editors.

Yep.

IS THE SECRET SERVICE RESTRICTING ANTI-BUSH PROTESTS? Read this post by Eugene Volokh. And scroll up for more.

“TWENTY QUESTIONS THE MEDIA WILL NOT ASK ABOUT IRAQ:”

1. Where is all the money from the UN’s Oil for Food Program?

2. How many people have now lived at least six months longer than they would have under Saddam?

3. How many civilians were really killed in the major combat portion of the war?

4. How many civilians have been killed since the end of major combat?

5. How unreliable is the Iraqi electric distribution system in comparison to, say, the Washington, D.C., area system?

You’ll have to follow the link to see the rest. I’d like to see question #1 answered. And I’d like to see Kofi Annan face some close and careful questioning on the topic.

DAVID NISHIMURA POINTS OUT that the French are now questioning themselves. As they should. I like it that Chirac’s handling of the Iraq matter is being called a “diplomatic Agincourt.”

PAUL JOHNSON WRITES ON THE FRENCH HEAT DEATH WAVE and related topics:

One thing history teaches, over and over again, is that there are no shortcuts. Human societies advance the hard way; there is no alternative. Communism promised Utopia on Earth. After three-quarters of a century of unparalleled sufferings, the Soviet Union collapsed in privation and misery, leaving massive Russia with an economy no bigger than tiny Holland’s. We are now watching the spectacle of another experiment in hedonism, the European Union, as it learns the grim facts of life.

Meanwhile the latest total is 19,000 deaths in Europe, 14,802 in France, which Johnson identifies as the source of the EU’s governing philosophy.

CHINESE PLANS FOR A MANNED SPACE PROGRAM continue to advance.

HERE’S ANOTHER PIECE ON MEDIA REPORTING IN IRAQ (“More of the media should embed themselves with the Iraqi people outside the Sunni Triangle, rather than inside the Baghdad bunker”), and here’s another firsthand report from the troops hitting the mainstream media. I think we have a trend, here.

Meanwhile Jay Rosen gets it right:

In press think, journalists choose the watchdog who growls too much over the cheerleader with plastic smile, and they believe these to be the relevant choices. . . .

Maybe the complaint is not with covering the problems; it’s the narrow range of problems seen in the news. Maybe you’re not missing the positive note so much as proper warning signals about what could go wrong, if we’re not alert. Preventative journalism, (one possible alternative) talks openly about problems; it also has tacit confidence they can be solved, which is a democratic attitude.

I don’t think the press is too negative. But it is at times too unimaginative to tell me what’s going on. Personally, I want to know about problems on the ground in Iraq, a country my country has occupied; and if it takes relentless problem-scouting by special ops in the press, I want that too. But relentless problem-solving is what’s needed on the ground and in the atmosphere of Iraq. This much we know. There’s a big story in wait out there, but journalists do not necessarily know how to tell it.

Or at least, care enough to do so. But that seems to be changing. And I agree, I don’t want cheerleading. But fake-toughness is just as phony as a plastic smile.

IF IT CAN’T BE FIXED WITH DUCT TAPE, it can’t be fixed.

RANDY BARNETT looks at the swift passage of do-not-call legislation and asks what happened to “gridlock?”

Perhaps genuinely popular legislation is not so hard to pass after all? Perhaps the other stuff is harder to enact because significant segments of the population oppose them?

Questions worth asking.

UPDATE: And Ernest Svenson was asking them over a year ago. And invoking Father Guido Sarducci!

HERE’S A USA TODAY STORY on the explosion of consumerism and entrepreneurialism in Iraq.

Virginia Postrel comments: “TVs, refrigerators, and air conditioners–Anna Quindlen won’t like this news.”

Boo freakin’ hoo, as they say. Here’s the really good news from the story:

Hassan al-Dinwani, 53, owner of al-Yussir Trading Shops in Baghdad’s Karada neighborhood, says one of his new customers was a policeman. ”This was a surprise to me,” he says. In the past, officers couldn’t buy goods at his shop because their salaries were too low.

Iraqi police Lt. Raad Rasheed says his salary is now the equivalent of $275 a month, up from $25 before the war. ”My family is happy,” he says. ”I am also more focused on my job because I no longer have to worry about money.”

Underpaid police and functionaries, and the resultant corruption — many literally can’t feed their families without income from bribes — are a blight on much of the world. Sounds like this isn’t the case in Iraq.

AL QAEDA IS WORRIED ABOUT INFILTRATORS and engaging in mole hunts. They’re also (scroll up) facing problems in Yemen. Heh. All from Rantburg, a site that’s chock-full of interesting intelligence.

CONTENT ANALYSIS: “BBC reporters seemed much more sceptical about Coalition claims than they were about what the Iraqis were telling them.”

You don’t say.

BIG EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN: Not much news yet.

“WE’VE UNDOUBTEDLY LOST SOME OF OUR AUDIENCE, to Web sites that specialize in politically tinted news.”

CALL ME CRAZY, but I’m suspicious about this: “United Nations nuclear inspectors have reportedly found traces of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium at a second site in Iran.”

HERE’S A REPORT from the World Congress of Philosophy, which was in Turkey this year.

EDWARD SAID IS DEAD. Here’s some commentary on his work, by Adil Farooq. And here’s more from Charles Paul Freund.

UPDATE: Here’s more.

VIRGINIA POSTREL offers an excellent suggestion in support of Chief Wiggles’ toys for Iraqi children initiative. She suggests that you order them from Toys RUs on Amazon and have them shipped directly to the Chief. Here’s his address:

Chief Wiggles
CPA-C2, Debriefer
APO AE 09335

I suspect that he’ll get a lot of mail. Be sure to follow the link to his site to see the kinds of things that he’s looking for, and the kinds of things he doesn’t want you to send. Of course, as I suggested earlier, he should definitely get at least one of these.

Her suggestion that the Chief set up a wishlist is a good one, too. If he does, I’ll post a link.

PAUL BOUTIN has beaten me to the punch with a review of Neal Stephenson’s new novel, Quicksilver. Of course, the publisher probably sent him an advance copy. Publishers send me books, too, but they’re mostly policy-geek stuff (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), not cool novels.

HUGH HEWITT contrasts editors who aren’t needed with editors who are.

MORE FIRSTHAND REPORTING FROM IRAQ, via Bergen to Baghdad. Follow the links on the right — lots of photos, too.

BEN DOMENECH is angry at how long it’s taking PEPCO to get power restored. But don’t get carried away, Ben!

UPDATE: Gregg Easterbrook has a lot more on this, and slams the Post for not taking the story seriously:

Right now the biggest populist story in a generation is playing out in Washington. The Washington Times and WTOP Newsradio, which care about Washington, are hitting the story with everything they’ve got. The Washington Post, which holds Washington and especially its suburbs in contempt, is fumbling the populist story in its backyard.

Ouch.

THE PROMISED LENGTHY POST on the death penalty, and Scott Turow’s new nonfiction book thereon, is now up over at GlennReynolds.com.

UPDATE: Talkleft comments.

WINDS OF CHANGE has an Iraq roundup as well as a more general war news roundup, both chock-full of links to stories you’d be likely to miss otherwise.

UPDATE: And Jim Miller has an interesting WMD item.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s another war roundup that’s worth a look. And read this post on intelligence failures.