EATING THE SEED CORN:

We will engage and kill anyone armed with an RPG,” he said. U.S. and U.S.-backed Iraqi forces do not use them.

He said his battalion had killed eight or nine fighters in the past three weeks or so, wounded four and captured a dozen. Of those involved in attacking U.S. forces many were the sons of families closely tied to Saddam’s clique. Russell said that suggested to him that the resistance had trouble recruiting.

“I think they’re eating the seed corn,” he said.

Sounds good to me. Let’s hope it’s true.

IF YOU HAVEN’T VISITED SGTSTRYKER.COM IN A WHILE, well, you should drop by.

MY TECHCENTRALSTATION COLUMN TODAY is about transhumanism. Superheroes, and the dating potential of The Elongated Man, are also mentioned.

STEPHEN GREEN:

Sparing civilians is morally noble, politically necessary, and just plain the right thing to do. However, doing so takes a lot of the pain out of being on the losing side. And without pain, the lesson becomes harder to learn.

We’re doing the right thing, waging war the way we do today. War, any war, is terrible enough even without massive civilian casualties. But to fight the modern way makes waging war more difficult.

And it makes waging the peace harder, too.

A thing to remember, on this Hiroshima anniversary.

ALPHECCA’S WEEKLY CHART OF MEDIA BIAS ON GUNS is up. Enjoy!

JAMES TARANTO HAS A SURVEY OF BLOGGING POLITICIANS, but he’s not enthused about their prospects: “Blogging, in short, thrives on sarcasm. Politics doesn’t. ”

JIM DUNNIGAN IS NOT OPTIMISTIC about the prospects for fixing things in Liberia:

To stop the fighting, you have to intimidate the teenage gunmen into giving up their weapons and force them to go back to subsistence farming, because that’s all that’s left. Billions of dollars in infrastructure has been destroyed, and donors are not lining up to replace it. Firestone is gradually leaving and other foreign firms only want to come in quickly and take diamonds or lumber. No one wants to set up a business in a country where the people hate each other in 34 different languages. There are no easy answers to the problems in Liberia, there aren’t many hard answers either. Africa’s last colony wants someone to come in and put the pieces back together. But no one is eager to do the job. Neighboring African countries, who have a direct interest in maintaining peace in the region, want the United States to help subsidize the peacekeeping. Even the neighbors don’t want to get lost in Liberia.

Nothing you couldn’t solve with a few thousand executions, and a few tens of billions of dollars. I doubt, however, that the international community has the stomach for either.

RALPH PETERS:

YESTERDAY, terrorists exploded a car bomb at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta. At least 13 people died; over a hundred were injured.

It was another failure for the terrorists.

Behind the breathless 24/7 reports and the images of burned cars and blown-out windows, the encouraging fact is that the bombing in Indonesia was the best the terrorists could do: They can’t defeat America, so they killed some folks having lunch.

He’s right. They would have preferred a nuclear bomb in Manhattan. Or at least a car-bomb outside Lutece.

UPDATE: Austin Bay has a somewhat less positive take on the subject.

SKBUBBA IS SHAKING UP THE POLITICAL SCENE here in Knoxville.

NEWSWEEK MISQUOTES A BLOGGER: And pays the price:

Well, let’s see: First, I’m 34 years-old, not 38. Second, I contributed $20 to Dean’s campaign, not $25. Third, while I like and support President Bush I have never referred to him either in public or in private – and most certainly not on the record to a reporter from Newsweek magazine – as “my man.”

That’s 2 factual errors and a misquote in 62 words of copy. I’m sorry, but that’s pretty shoddy journalism. . . .

I’m a bit shocked by the utter sloppiness of the reporting process. Newsweek is one of the nation’s most widely read and “respected” weekly news magazines. I spoke to the reporter on Thursday afternoon and then again Thursday evening at about 9:00pm eastern time for a cover story that hit the web early Sunday and newsstands today. No one called me back to fact check.

There’s lots more.

HOWARD DEAN IS OBVIOUSLY A ZIONIST AGENT.

ZIRCONIUM AND DIRTY BOMBS: Jay Manifold has a post following up on something I linked to earlier.

FRATERS LIBERTAS THINKS that Republicans may be using gay marriage as an issue to split black votes away from the Democrats. That’s an angle I hadn’t considered.

UPDATE: Although The Bleat has been hors de combat this week, here’s a James Lileks column on gay marriage that’s worth reading:

No, if heterosexual marriage is threatened by anything, it’s by heterosexuals. Famous heterosexuals in particular. We see them grinning from the covers of gossip mags, celebrating wedding No. 9 or dissolving marriage No. 14, or just having a hot fling with whatever good-gened, white-toothed cretin is the flavor of the season.

People don’t get divorced because Demi did. That’s not the point. But because the culture attaches no particular stigma to divorce or catting around, our pop-culture heroes don’t even have to pretend anymore. Say what you will about gay marriage, it’s nice to see someone taking the institution seriously.

I have, however, reported him for his anti-robot bigotry. Fortunately, some people are more enlightened.

WHO NEEDS HOMELAND SECURITY when you’ve got Frank’s tips for airline safety? Plus, he offers some advice for Al Qaeda:

And their attacks are against planes again; these are like one note terrorists. You gotta switch things up, dudes. You know, Speed was on a bus, and Speed 2 was on a boat; that’s how things work here in America.

More proof that we needn’t fear the terrorists, because we’re crazier than they are. Or at least, Frank is.

TALKLEFT has picked up on the story that I linked below regarding a man sentenced to prison for linking to bomb-building information on his website. There’s this bit, which was also in the earlier story that I linked, but which I didn’t play up: “Austin said he took a plea bargain because he feared his case was eligible for a terrorism enhancement, which could have added 20 years to his sentence.”

The news stories don’t say, but I believe the statute in question is 18 U.S.C. sec. 842(p)(2), which provides (key bit in italics):

(2) Prohibition. –

It shall be unlawful for any person –

(A)

to teach or demonstrate the making or use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass destruction, or to distribute by any means information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use of an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction, with the intent that the teaching, demonstration, or information be used for, or in furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a Federal crime of violence;

Hmm. The “intent” part doesn’t fit these stories, but who knows what evidence they have. Still, this seems quite dubious to me — in order to meet the Brandenburg test you would have to show both the intent that such criminal use would happen, and the likelihood that it would happen. And such criminal use would have to be “imminent.” (Yes, this is a rather simplistic analysis, but I think it’s correct in its essentials. I’d be interested in hearing what Eugene Volokh thinks.)

You also see in this case the way in which threats of “terrorism” are allowing prosecutors to extract plea bargains in dubious cases. One consequence is that when the Justice Department gets a plea bargain, you can’t automatically assume that it’s proof the underlying case was especially good, just that the accused was afraid to roll the dice.

Of course, this sort of thing applies in most other federal prosecutions, too, where the threat of drastic sentence enhancements produces plea bargains in quite flimsy cases at times.

UPDATE: Some of TalkLeft’s commenters link to what are supposed to be mirrors of the site. It’s pretty lame. Does it rise to the level of incitement? It’s possible that it does, because of the combination of the explosives content with the rhetoric about fighting police, etc. It looks rather puerile and harmless to me — unless you try to follow some of its bomb-making advice, which seems naive and unsound in places. This report suggests that the District Judge in the case took a rather active role:

But when Ron Kaye, Austin’s federal public defender, began making his appeal for the new plea agreement, Wilson’s stone-faced demeanor changed: He looked away or fiddled with his glasses whenever Kaye spoke. Before long, an agitated Wilson made it clear he thought even the latest arrangement was too lenient.

“I must tell you,” he interrupted Kaye,
“I see this case differently. I’m rather surprised the government hasn’t taken this case seriously.”

By “taking the case seriously,” Wilson said, he meant setting an example to deter other would-be revolutionaries. He hinted that he favored an 8-to-10-month sentencing range. “Maybe I’m just living in another world,” he said of the plea deal. “I just don’t understand it.”

Then Wilson turned to the federal assistant prosecutor, Rob Castro-Silva: “Has your recommendation been cleared with the Justice Department? I just find it shocking.”

“I don’t need their approval —” the prosecutor began.

“How old are you?” the judge suddenly inquired.

“Thirty-eight,” the surprised prosecutor replied.

“You look younger,” Wilson pronounced, before telling the court that Austin’s case “has national and international implications.”

Wilson then announced he was postponing sentencing until July 28 and ordered Castro-Silva to contact the Justice Department and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller for their views on the plea arrangement.

Filing out of the courtroom, Castro-Silva was heard to mutter, “Well, I have my marching orders.”

Interesting. There’s more background here.

AFRICAPUNDIT is back off hiatus. Drop by for Africa news. In particular, he notes this column on Liberia by Mark Steyn. Excerpt:

With Iraq, there was no agreement on what the thing was about: it’s all about oil, said the anti-war crowd; it’s about the threat Saddam represents to the world, said the pro-crowd. But with Liberia there’s virtually unanimous agreement: the US has no vital national interest in the country; its tinpot tyrant is no threat to anybody beyond his backyard; the three warring parties are all disgusting and none has the makings of even a halfway civilised government. For many on the Right, these are reasons for steering clear of the place. For the Left, they’re why we need to send the Marines in right now.

It’s precisely the lack of any national interest that makes it appealing to the progressive mind. By intervening in Liberia, you’re demonstrating your moral purity. That’s why all the folks most vehemently opposed to American intervention in Iraq — from Kofi Annan to the Congressional Black Caucus — are suddenly demanding American intervention in Liberia. The New York Times is itching to get in: ‘Three weeks have passed since President Bush called on the Liberian President, Charles Taylor, to step aside, and pledged American assistance in restoring security. But there has been no definitive word here on how or when.

So the question for the Americans is not whether you want to send 2,000 boys in to get picked off for a few months, until whichever warlord is willing to be bought can be installed as head of a provisional government after a token ‘election’ for the benefit of the international community (Taylor held his in 1997). The question is whether you want to commit yourself to fixing West Africa.

West Africa needs fixing, almost as badly as the Middle East. But it’s another case where patience will be required. Are people who already regard Iraq as a “quagmire” — and have done so since April — really willing to go the distance?

Probably. We’re still losing soldiers in Bosnia and you don’t hear much about that. It’s only a quagmire, you see, when certain people are against being there in the first place.

NOW THIS is just plain disturbing. I might save the image, though, since Talk Like a Pirate Day is just around the corner.

NICHE MARKETING: A magazine for tall people? Why not? We’re people, too. Just, er, taller.

BLOGGER BUSTED FOR INFIDELITY: Somehow, I think there ought to be a bigger lesson in this one than “clear your location bar.”

UPDATE: The lady in question responds. She suggests polyamory. Polyamory is fine, by the way, if that’s what you want (though my parents’ generation’s efforts to live by Open Marriage make me a skeptic). But then why hide things?

SPOONS SAYS I’M DUCKING THE REAL QUESTION that everyone wants to know the answer to. In the interests of full disclosure, I’ve answered in his comments section.

ANOTHER DOWDIFIED QUOTE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, this one involving Mel Gibson.

HERE’S MORE EVIDENCE that the war on terror isn’t the main threat to free speech:

The Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of Jesus Castillo, a man fined and on probation because he sold a comic book not suitable for children — to a grown-up.

Yet another prosecutor who ought to be looking for a new job, but won’t be.

ANOTHER MOVIE BLURB YOU’RE NOT LIKELY TO SEE:

“after 120 minutes of this cheerfully destructive narcissism you’ll feel like you’ve swallowed a whole bucket of rat poison.” — Matt Welch

Blogs: not likely to be featured in movie ads any time soon.

ROBERT TAGORDA WRITES IN THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE on what bodybuilding teaches us about a Schwarzenegger campaign. What’s more, he’s annotated that with a blog entry giving citations.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES says that lie detectors don’t work. But people still use them:

After a series of stormy public meetings in New Mexico, Congress mandated the testing of the 20,000 employees at both labs. But New Mexico senator Jeff Bingaman, for whom this was a constituent matter, forced into the bill the funding for the National Academy of Sciences report on the reliability of the polygraph when used for security screening. When it was released late last year, the study proved the most significant critique of the polygraph since the Frye decision.

The study determined that not only was the polygraph useless for security screening but that its use might actually be detrimental to the work of keeping the labs secure. It argued that the test was so vague that, to catch one spy, nearly 100 other employees might have to have their security clearances lifted. “Polygraph testing,” the report concluded, “yields an unacceptable choice . . . between too many loyal employees falsely judged deceptive and too many . . . threats left undetected.” . . .

“Why do we keep using it when we keep saying it’s not reliable?” asks Bingaman. “That’s an awfully good question. I think it just appeals to a lot of people’s faith that there’s a technological fix to every problem and, if you just get the right machine hooked up, you can determine all the right answers.”

It’s basically trial-by-ordeal with fancy printouts, and about as accurate. My own sense is that when somebody proposes a polygraph test, then either he’s ignorant, or he thinks that you are.

UPDATE: A slightly disturbed reader emails:

Next thing you know, you’ll want to deny me Benefit of Clergy. You are a damned communist, Glenn.

Do you know the “neck verse?” Anyway, I sentence him to the Ordeal of the Accursed Morsel, quite a few of which are available from the cafeteria downstairs. . . .

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: What’s the “neck verse?” email a couple of readers. Ah, you may well ask. (“I am asking!” “And well you may!”) It’s here. I couldn’t find a reference to the “ordeal of the accursed morsel” online. (Yes, not everything is on the Web, you know.) If I recall correctly, a priest said some words over a piece of dry bread that was then fed to the accused. If he choked he was deemed guilty. This was a sort of primitive lie detector, in that nervous people often have dry mouths. Of course, when you find yourself before Theodoric of York, Medieval Judge, you ought to be nervous, regardless of guilt or innocence. And that’s the problem with lie detectors, too. As soon as someone gives you a lie detector test, you know your fate is in the hands of either idiots or charlatans, which should make anyone nervous.