ARNOLD KLING writes that we’re not really in a war of ideas.

DARFUR UPDATE: The Ottawa Citizen editorializes:

The Sudanese government made a false promise to protect the people in Darfur, and has threatened guerrilla war if other nations try to help them. Courage must replace patience in dealing with Khartoum.

Under the cover of a 21-year civil war, the Arab Islamist government in Khartoum has been using bandit gangs called Janjaweed to drive black people in its western territory from their homes. The gangs are made up of nomads threatened by desertification and who are loyalists of President Omar el-Bashir; the farmers in Darfur have land Mr. el-Bashir wants to give them. The farmers are also Muslim, though not generally Islamists. . . .

The United States and Britain are pushing a Security Council resolution to impose trade sanctions, but they’re having trouble getting it passed. Pakistan and China, for instance, are hesitant to interfere with Sudan’s oil trade, which supplies about 300,000 barrels a day to Asia, partly pumped by a Chinese company.

The critics of the war in Iraq, those who said that was all about oil, are silent. France, the great multilateralist, has given just $6 million to a UN fund for Darfur, which Mr. Annan says needs $350 million. (The Americans have found $130 million so far.)

But for the aid to mean anything, the people of Darfur must have security, which Mr. Ismail has indicated the Sudanese government will deny them. These are the words of both a terrorist and a promoter of genocide, not a man who will be swayed by threats of trade sanctions. The world has dithered and innocents have died. It’s time to find the nerve to act.

Multilateralism is failing again.

UPDATE: More on Sudan here, and, of course, there’s this point: “As was the case in Iraq, France also has significant oil interests in Sudan.” And once again, they’re running interference for a murderous dictator.

NICK GILLESPIE:

Somewhere during Teresa Heinz Kerry’s long, meandering speech that only drew plaudits from party loyalists, I became convinced that she is, in fact, a Republican operative in deep, deep, deep cover. . . . If the Heinz Kerry speech served one useful function for the Dems, it’s that it lowered the bar for the last two days of the convention, which so far has been a pretty dreary, uninteresting, and unmoving spectacle.

He didn’t like Jimmy Carter’s speech much, either. The Kerry folks should be glad that his views aren’t reflective of the media in general. Meanwhile Robert Spencer wonders why the Democrats are catering to religious fundamentalists.

UPDATE: More on the Kerry speech here:

Teresa Heinz Kerry made it through her unprecedented speech at the Democratic National Convention without losing control of her famous temper, losing her place in the well-rehearsed speech, or otherwise providing dramatic entertainment. But she was just plain weird.

There’s much more.

MORE SUDAN NEWS from Rajan Rishyakaran.

MATT WELCH doesn’t like what he’s hearing:

Namely, that being a professional six-figure politician should be confused with noble “service,” while throwing them your hard-earned money amounts to a brave and selfless sacrifice. . . .

Not belonging to a political party, and believing fervently in Brian Doherty’s excellent maxim that time well spent is usually time away from politics, it is possible that I’m jaundiced. That said, the vision of a disabled woman handing over her last quarters to another moneybags politico who dreams of taking more of the stuff by force strikes me as, at minimum, nausea-inducing.

So, too, is the confusion of normal campaign politics with profound revolutionary bravery.

Read the whole thing. And don’t miss these important revelations from behind the scenes!

THIS IS NOT AS ABSURD AS THE TWINKIE DEFENSE, but I don’t think it’ll work:

Three Fort Carson soldiers charged in the drowning of an Iraqi man last January may argue today that their actions were caused by an anti-malaria drug. . . .

The drug is being investigated to determine whether it is linked to panic reactions, rage, aggressive behavior and other mental and physical problems, said Steve Robinson of the National Gulf War Research Center. Violent behavior by other soldiers has also been blamed on the drug.

“I am not saying this is why people push people off bridges, but there seems to be a pretty plausible connection to rage issues and taking the drug,” Robinson said.

Two of the soldiers, Sgt. 1st Class Tracy E. Perkins, 33, and Sgt. Reggie Martinez, 24, are charged with involuntary manslaughter. The third, Spc. Terry Bowman, 21, is charged with assault.

The three soldiers’ superior officer, 1st Lt. Jack Saville, is also charged with involuntary manslaughter.

This is the case involving Zeyad’s cousin, which has been written about here quite a bit (links to earlier posts in that one). Lariam has, in fact, been linked to psychiatric symptoms — some quite severe — but the likelihood that several soldiers would all suffer from those simultaneously seems quite low to me.

INTREPID INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER MICKEY KAUS is uncovering security holes at the Democratic Convention.

SOFT POWER: Not the solution, according to Claudia Rosett.

SEND IN THE PINKERTONS! Eduwonk finds a surprising case of union-busting.

THE DEMOCRATS HAD MICHAEL MOORE: Here’s a filmmaker that the Republicans might want to have at their convention.

9/11: A failure of academia?

SOMETHING FAR FROM BOSTON, involving the latest X-prize developments, over at GlennReynolds.com.

THIS CAN’T BE GOOD NEWS FOR KERRY:

Breaking sharply with the enforced harmony of the Democratic National Convention, the president of the largest AFL-CIO union said Monday that both organized labor and the Democratic Party might be better off in the long run if Sen. John F. Kerry loses the election.

Andrew L. Stern, the head of the 1.6 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said in an interview with The Washington Post that both the party and its longtime ally, the labor movement, are “in deep crisis,” devoid of new ideas and working with archaic structures.

Stern argued that Kerry’s election might stifle needed reform within the party and the labor movement.

Neither, probably, is this:

Whether democracy is really coming to Iraq, or whether it is even possible here, seemed of no immediate concern to Dr. Ahmad Abu-Raghif, a physician in Baghdad. He was game anyway.

He showed up at a university hall here on Sunday with a good haircut, a blue suit and a big smile: the outfit of the office-seeker worldwide. He buttonholed 50 people, he said, at the grass-roots caucus, making the pitch for their votes. . . .

Caucuses like the one Dr. Abu-Raghif attended have been convening around Iraq to select roughly 1,000 delegates, who will hold a national conference in Baghdad in the next week.

The concrete goal of the conference is to vote – openly and freely – on a 100-seat transitional council that will oversee the government of Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister, until national elections are held in January.

(How do we know it’s bad news for Kerry? The UN wants to delay elections!) And, while we’re on the list of things that sound bad for Kerry, how about this report?

U.S. consumer confidence rose this month to a two-year high, boosted by an improving job market that also is helping keep new-home sales close to a record. . . .

The creation of 1.3 million jobs so far this election year is starting to lift optimism that lagged as gasoline prices rose as much as 35 percent and higher food and health-care costs helped pushed consumer prices up 3.3 percent from June 2003. The Conference Board said the percentage of Americans who consider jobs hard to find is now the lowest since October 2000.

It must be a bummer to be in a situation where all this good news feels like bad news.

UPDATE: The terrible tidings just keep rolling in:

The first-ever public opinion poll in Afghanistan shows that people there are optimistic about the future and excited about upcoming elections. . . .

Afghanistan has a constitution, is registering voters and is moving toward holding a presidential election in October. And the survey of 804 randomly selected male and female Afghan citizens, commissioned by the Asia Foundation notes that:

* 64 percent say the country is heading in the right direction.

* 81 percent say that they plan to vote in the October election.

* 77 percent say they believe the elections will “make a difference.”

* 64 percent say they rarely or never worry about their personal safety, while under the Taliban only 36 percent felt that way.

* 62 percent rate President Hamid Karzai’s performance as either good or excellent.

This was no pro-Bush put-up job. The polling firm, Charney Research, is a partisan Democratic polling firm. And superstar Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who’s read the study — and who has worked on similar polling in developing countries — calls it “very reliable.”

The horror, the horror.

I PROMISED HIM THAT I WOULDN’T OUT HIM a long time ago, but now Atrios has been unmasked as a guy named Duncan Black who, among other things, works for David Brock’s Soros-funded Media Matters operation. Nothing wrong with that, but if I were working for, say, Richard Mellon Scaife, I think somebody — like, say, Duncan Black — would be making something of it.

TVNEWSER:

Let me step up on my soapbox for a sec. MSNBC is treading lightly on traditional standards of journalism. Ron Reagan will address the Democratic convention tonight, speaking on the topic of stem cell research. Two hours later, he will co-anchor an MSNBC talk show. Does anyone else feel queasy about this?

Reagan was on Hardball at 6 (then left at 6:30 for speech prep). He will grant Chris Matthews an “exclusive interview” immediately after the speech, this press release says. Reagan is an “MSNBC political analyst,” so isn’t MSNBC paying for this “exclusive interview?” And he is more than an “analyst” — he is a show host (After Hours), a “special correspondent” (reporting live across from the “free speech zone” on MSNBC Sunday), and an interviewer (Michael Moore, yesterday).

Democratic activist, member of the mainstream media — what’s the difference? “Let’s talk a little media bias here. The media, I think, wants Kerry to win.” Evan Thomas set the stage for this whole election, I think. But if Kerry’s already enjoying the 15-point media-induced edge that Thomas predicted, then he’s running a really weak campaign. . . .

On the other (non-journalistic) hand, Ron Reagan’s convention speech is praised here.

BETH MAULDIN: “I loved listening to Mr. Obama and hope like hell if he’s elected to the Senate it doesn’t suck the life out of him.”

UPDATE: More here: “Barack Obama gave a fine speech, but it was not a speech that reflects the current Democratic Party.”

But Howard Dean gets a bad review: “going through the motions in a flat performance that should make Hillary Clinton and John Edwards rest easy.”

More on Dean: “Could Dean not find even one nice thing to say about John Kerry? Apparently not. The overwhelming impression that a viewer gets from this convention so far: The only candidate that gets this convention excited is George Bush.”

Matthew Gross: “Of course, all the journalists have a full copy already. Do you see the man behind the curtain yet?”

MORE: Another reader emails:

I have to say, Obama impressed me tonight. He is definetly articluate and a bright star for the democrats. His “One America” speech resulted in a standing ovation from the delegates. However, one must think that Edwards will receive a similar ovation with his more divisive “Two Americas” speech tomorrow night. So which is it: Two Americas or One America? I’m confused. I guess Obama didn’t get the memo about class warfare. It really shows the current problem of the Democratic party.

Indeed. Teresa Heinz Kerry gets a less-warm review:

Not terrible, I guess — but she was Schoenberg and we want our conventions to be Bruce Springsteen. OK, she was early Schoenberg — not atonal, but astringent and chromatic and lugubrious. I don’t know — I’m not sure speechifying is really her event.

Dean didn’t have much of a speech but had some fire, Ron Reagan was OK, Obama had flashes of brilliance at the end but isn’t Clinton yet. I have hopes for Elizabeth Edwards. I bet my mom will like her.

Probably so.

SELF-REFUTING SPIN: The goofy Kerry NASA photos have drawn this response: “Cahill, asked by FOXNEWS whether it was a dirty trick, said: ‘Well, what do you think?’ No photos were supposed to be taken, she said.”

But if you follow the link, you’ll see Kerry obviously posing for photos. His campaign folks blew it, and now they’re only making it worse.

UPDATE: How out of touch is the Kerry campaign? A bunch of these pictures were made public on the Kennedy Space Center website. As reader David Mayer emails: “Just scroll on past the (pretty cool) MESSENGER stuff, and there’s a series of official Bunny Senator photos. It’s pretty hard not to look dumb in a suit like this; that’s why few people have them in their wardrobe. But pretending that it’s all a dirty trick is very avoidably stupid.”

“Avoidably stupid.” Not much of a campaign style. Perhaps they’ll do better. But hey, not everybody thinks it’s stupid. Reader Bill McLane emails: “What a genius this guy is! Who else would have cleverly gone for the bee keeper vote?”

It wouldn’t have crossed my mind.

MORE: Now this, on the other hand, is just wrong.

STILL MORE: Tom Maguire: “Maybe ‘the campaign’ had no idea that there would be any photographs, but Kerry must have known – what did he think was happening when the four people gathered together and smiled? Who is he smiling at in the other photos ? . . . C’mon, there are cameras everywhere. Kerry should not let his campaign manager go out and embarrass herself this way.”

MORE STILL: Reader Ted Armstrong emails:

If Kerry had any sense of humor, he’d make fun of the photos himself. If I were he, I’d put one in my speech and then have a humorous comment to say about it. It would take a lot away from his aloofness. But I don’t expect them to take my advice .

That would have been much better than lame assertions of dirty tricks.

FINAL UPDATE: Howard Kurtz has more on this story:

But Kennedy Space Center spokesman Mike Rein said a video was routinely made of Kerry “as we have done for the last 40 years.” He said NASA takes such footage because Kerry was in “a very confined and hazardous area” and that the pictures are always made public.

I thought we were supposed to be for openness in government.

THESE THINGS JUST WRITE THEMSELVES: Reader David Hines emails:

Suggested TV commercial:

FADE IN: on Ted Kennedy, on the podium, partway through his garbled
convention speech, as he delivers the line, “The only thing we have to
fear is four more years of George W. Bush!”

CUT TO: New York City skyline. The old one. With the World Trade
Center.

TITLE/ANNOUNCER: Really?

Ouch. And Rand Simberg observes: “If Karl Rove is smart, the Republican convention will feature some grateful Iraqis in prime time, just as a reminder.”

UPDATE: Another Kennedy goof here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader suggests this image.

ANNENBERG’S FACTCHECK.ORG has this to say on the “sixteen words” imbroglio: “He May Have Been Wrong But He Wasn’t Lying. Two intelligence investigations show Bush had plenty of reason to believe what he said in his 2003 State of the Union Address.”

Joe Wilson, once again, comes off badly.

DANIEL DREZNER is unhappy that outsourcing is going to be a major Democratic theme between now and November. (Here’s his Foreign Affairs article on why it’s not a big deal).

Well, I warned people about this over a year ago. Here’s Dan Pink’s piece from Wired on the subject, and I’ve also written about the topic here (invoking the documentary Spellbound). Plus, this New Republic piece by Clay Risen is worth reading: “While offshoring may displace some workers in the short term, in the medium and long terms it represents a net benefit for both domestic businesses and their workers. In fact, the greatest threat from outsourcing is that its opponents will use it to force a new wave of protectionism.”

INTERESTING STORY on blogs from The Hollywood Reporter.

PEER TO PEER NETWORKS can be a security threat. On See What You Share, examples of military and other information found on peer networks are posted as a way of bringing attention to the subject.

ALEX TABARROK NOTES that the Patriot Act seems not to be doing much useful work.

UPDATE: It said “Tyler Cowen” above — I had forgotten to check. Darn that group-blog confusion!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Orin Kerr says Tabarrok is factually wrong in his examples.

LOTS OF WEB PROBLEMS because of the latest MyDoom variant. Don’t forget to check out the InstaBackup site if this one goes down.

CONVENTION BLOGGER DAVE WEINBERGER COMMENTS ON STYLE:

I went to a “get-together” for people involved in various of the Kerry policy initiatives. (Disclosure: I’m on some sort of mailing list for people with opinions about tech policy.) In contrast to the standing, crying, clapping crowd at the Dean/Moore event, this one was women in dark suits and guys in khakis. (Hint: If Kerry looks like he’s going to win, invest in khaki shares. Through the roof, I tell you!) And, yes, they were serving petit-fours. Would Dean show up in Birkenstocks? Would Bush strap on a six-shooter? Would Cheney grow a handlebar moustache? Then Kerry’s policy advisory get-together shouldn’t serve petit-fours.

Hmm. Are there khaki futures I can buy now?