MIKE BORELLI has some pictures from the Spanish Consulate in San Francisco, where there was a demonstration of sympathy yesterday.

MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT, this time in Tampa.

POWERLINE has an amazing photo from Madrid, and also wonders if the notion of a “war on terror” makes more sense than originally thought. Eric Scheie agrees.

UPDATE: Sheila O’Malley has another amazing picture. And Jeff Jarvis notes that the Spanish seem angry, rather than grief-stricken. Yeah, I heard an NPR story today stressing the “grief,” but the crowd noises sounded at least as much mad as sad. Which is certainly appropriate.

More pics here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Bob Standaert emails:

The presence of 2.3 million marchers is all the more remarkable because it means 1 in 20 of the humans in Spain, showed up — the population of the nation is about 41,000,000, and that of Madrid is about 3,000,000. Thus, the population of Spain is comparable to that of California (34,000,000), and we have never seen 2,000,000 people showing up in L.A. or S.F. to support any cause.

Indeed. Then there’s this: “White Hot Anger.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES’ LAWYERS appear to have generated some blogospheric blowback.

POTS, KETTLES AND SMEARS: I discuss ’em, over at GlennReynolds.com.

ANTITERROR MARCHES IN MADRID:

MADRID (Reuters) – Chanting “Cowards” and “Killers,” millions of protestors packed rainswept streets across Spain Friday condemning the country’s worst ever guerrilla attack which killed at least 199 people. . . .

Many of the protesters draped themselves in Spanish flags or wore black crosses. Pillars that normally carry advertising were covered in black ribbons.

Protesters included the young, old and disabled. Some walked with crutches. Some carried candles or banged drums.

“The Spanish people will not give up,” Madrid resident Isabel Prado, 35, said.

Good.

UPDATE: Yes, I know — Reuters calls them “guerrillas,” not terrorists. That’s because Reuters is a miserable outfit devoid of moral credibility. But you knew that already. Meanwhile Steven Antler notes: “If you’re keeping count, newspaper reports of the turnouts in Madrid and other Spanish cities are running roughly double the wildly inflated numbers reported by the World Socialist Web Site during the so-called ‘antiwar’ protests prior to Iraq liberation.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Donald Sensing has pictures of the marches in Madrid.

JAMES LILEKS ON MADRID:

I’m somewhat annoyed by the assertion that this act was “sophisticated,” and hence the work of those brilliant strategerists of Al Qaeda. My definition of sophistication is somewhat different: it’s an unmanned drone flying over Pakistan, piloted by a guy in Florida, dropping a laser-guided bomb into the passenger cab of a truck full of Taliban. That’s sophistication. Synchronizing watches on detonators is not exactly all that tough.

Nope. He also observes:

To some, the act of “resistance” has such a romantic pull they cannot possibly renounce the use of flamboyant violence – until they find themselves in a train station on an average weekday morning, ears ringing, eyes clouded, looking down at their shirt, wondering why it’s so red all of a sudden.

I wonder if either of the women dressed as suicide bombers in this photo from Madrid last year was within earshot of yesterday’s blasts. As Wagner James Au writes in the email reminding me of the photo:

What was striking to me then was not how morally depraved these women were (though they are certainly that. What disturbed me so much is how their little bit of performance art didn’t provoke the slightest reaction, from their fellow Spaniards.

Look at the photo. They must be surrounded by thousands of people, but no one is shouting at them; no one is rudely gesturing at them; no one, in other words, seems enraged at this open glorification of terrorism. If anything, they’re *blase* about it. And this seems to be reflective of a common assumption, that *of course* bombing innocent civilians in Israel is a legitimate means of protest. So what are they to make of this equally savage violence yesterday, now that it’s directed at them? And what implicit message were the Spanish anti-war protesters sending to terrorist groups of all stripes, when they essentially announced that they approved of these methods as an acceptable means of pursuing grievances?

This is not a shoe-on-the-other foot observation; I’m not asking them, like many of them asked us after 9/11, to wonder, “Why do they hate us?” Rather, as we sympathize with the victims and demand justice for their perpetrators, I think we should also ask, as should they, “Why did so many of you support horrific actions like this so recently?”

The answer is simple: Those two women, like some of the other protesters, weren’t antiwar. They were on the other side. I wonder if they still are?

UPDATE: Barbara Skolaut emails: “Be interesting if some enterprising reporter found them and asked them. But I’m not holding my breath.”

It would be interesting.

POLITICAL CHAOS in South Korea. There’s more on it here, here, and here.

FROM THE SPANISH EMBASSY, a reader reports:

I’m just leaving the silent march at the Spanish Embassy. A small crowd of two to three hundred gatheed at the embassy, and then at noon, walked across the street in silence to Washington Circle, across from the George Washington University Hospitals. Everybody filled up the Northern third of the circle, and silently faced the embassy, and the Spanish flag on front slowly flapping at half mast. A few friends greeted each other somberly, along with the inevitable quiet, nearly whispered checking. “Family alright?”. “I’m okay, you?”. I also heard a number of comments, to the effect that this was the most screwed up thing ever, women and children killed and maimed, a couple “Aznar was right” and of course a few “this means war” comments.

The crowd seemed mixed – a lot of younger people, probably students and World Bank interns and the like; some gray haired diplomats; Spanish expats, other Europeans, and a smattering of Americans including a few military members and a couple civil servants I know. The quiet dignity of the crowd was impressive.

I’m leaving now – gotta go back to work. There’s only so much joy a man can fit in a day. The crowd doesn’t seem to be abating – as some leave, others show up. It’s still really quiet – touchingly so. Just a lot of people looking at the embassy and the flag. It must look odd to the oblivious drivers in the slow mid-day traffic; in this town, we’re more used to giant papier mache puppets, cheerfully shouting pro-lifers and hollering anti-globalists than quiet, well turned out flash mobs.

By the way, the small garden adjacent to the front door of the embassy is packed with flowers. Nice job, bloggers.

More to come. The pictures of the flowers are cellphone pix just sent by Blaster of Blaster’s Blog, who’s there now. To speed page-loads, I’ve moved the rest of the pictures, etc., into the “extended entry” area. Click “more” to see them.

(more…)

THE NATIONAL DEBATE’S NEW YORK TIMES op-ed corrections parody is the subject of an article in the New York Daily News, which also features tough questions for Gail Collins on the Times’ correction policy relating to op-eds.

EUGENE VOLOKH is confused by press reports that Susan Lindauer, the former Democratic Congressional staffer, journalist, and “peace activist” charged with being an Iraqi agent, was a “spy.”

I think this is media sloppiness. If you read the indictment, you’ll see that she’s charged with being an “unregistered foreign agent,” among other things. I think that reporters read “agent” as “intelligence agent,” meaning “spy.” But there are all sorts of ways to be a foreign agent without being a spy. I don’t know if she provided intelligence or not — you could provide “political intelligence” without having access to secrets, I suppose — but it’s notable that the indictment does not charge her with espionage.

If you see other people who were being paid off by Saddam prosecuted, you may well see similar confusion. It’s possible to violate all sorts of quite strict laws (many of very long standing — this isn’t a Patriot Act issue) by working for a foreign country that’s subject to U.S. sanctions, without being an actual spy.

SCROLL DOWN, or click here, for a suggestion on what to do about Madrid.

THE DAILY ABLUTION is writing about Scientology, something that mainstream media, for some reason, have become reluctant to do. And here’s an interview with Scientology critic Keith Henson, currently seeking political asylum in Canada.

I’VE BEEN WRITING ABOUT NEW DIGITAL CAMERAS, but there’s something to be said for surfing the backside of the technological wave: Sony’s former top-of-the-line camera, the DSC-F717, is now selling in the neighborhood of $600. (Yesterday it was $499 when I got the Amazon recommendation — now the price is back up for some reason.) It’ll probably continue to get cheaper, and its predecessor, the DSC-F707, is available for $400. It’s certainly capable of producing some amazing photos.

I wish that everything got better and cheaper as fast as electronic gadgets do.

A DRAMATIC ADMISSION:

“If the existing assault weapons ban expires, I personally do not believe it will make one whit of difference one way or another” in “reducing death and injury.” Who said that? Tom Diaz, of the pro-gun-control Violence Policy Center.

It’s certainly true.

ARE THE SAUDIS USING THE OIL WEAPON to try to engineer Bush’s defeat? It wouldn’t surprise me.

IT’S NOT JUST THE REPUBLICANS ON INDECENCY:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House overwhelmingly passed legislation Thursday substantially increasing the maximum fine for radio and TV indecency.

The vote was 391-22. Similar legislation is pending in the Senate.

(Emphasis added.) There aren’t 391 Republicans in the House, you know. I really think that critics of this venture misconceive just how broad the Janet Jackson-inspired sentiment is. Portraying this as a Religious-Right-inspired Bush initiative misses what’s really going on.

CRUSHING OF DISSENT: Or maybe not. The New York Times forced The National Debate to take down its Oped Corrections parody page — but it has reappeared here.

The Times could moot this, of course, simply by deigning to correct its own errors.

UPDATE: The parody seems to be spreading across the Internet. I think there’s a lesson here.

OH, THAT LIBERAL MEDIA:

She worked for four Democratic members of Congress but what does the headline in the Seattle Post Intelligencer say about the accused Iraqi spy?

Accused spy is cousin of Bush staffer

Yep, that’s the headline. Absolutely shameless.

UPDATE: Reader Jon Henke emails:

They didn’t happen to mention that she’d also worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer until the second paragraph. Presumably, her distant relation to a guy who works for Bush is more important than what she’s actually dirtied her hands at.

Dirtied, indeed.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More here: “Card turns in someone who is remotely related to him; the press reports the relationship but downplays the fact that he helped catch her.”

MORE: Alternative headline here. I’m guessing we won’t be seeing that one much.

I’VE SUSPECTED FOR SOME TIME that Al Qaeda has a major Algerian component (just search “algeria” in the search window to the left). It looks like someone agrees:

US special forces are hunting for Islamic militants linked to Al Qaeda along Algeria’s southern border with Mali in a little-known military operation aimed at destroying a key North African recruiting hub for Osama bin Laden’s global terrorist network, according to US and Algerian officials.

Small teams of elite US soldiers have been working with local security forces in recent months in the Sahara Desert in an effort to capture or kill members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, a radical Islamic organization that has pledged its allegiance to Al Qaeda and is suspected in terrorist plots in Europe and the United States, said the officials, who asked not to be identified.

I wish them luck.

TURLEYFREUDE: Various people seem to be making fun of Jonathan Turley for his $300 / hour consulting fee. I don’t see why. I charged $375/hr for my last paid consulting gig (my regular rate, except when I discount for local firms), though I didn’t run up nearly as big a bill. But that’s not an unusual charge for a full professor. (I raised my rate a few years ago when a former student did my will, and her hourly charge was higher than mine. . . .)

UPDATE: A law-professor reader emails: “I’m getting $475 an hour for expert witness work and nobody blinks. I think you need to raise your rates.” D’oh! I’m practically giving it away! But I don’t do a lot of consulting (my last project was back in November, I think) — the project has to be inherently interesting to me, and I have to have enough time to spare from my other activities. Sounds like I need to start charging more when I do, though.

A GOOD IDEA, which I’m embarrassed not to have remembered. Reader Ann Salisbury emails:

Back during the time of the terrorist bombing in Bali you publicized someone’s idea (I forgot whose) to send flowers to the Australian consulate/embassy to express sympathy and support. I’m sorry to say that now we should do the same for the Spanish. Would you mind helping to publicize the message?

Done. Here’s the Spanish Embassy’s address: 2375 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. – Washington, D.C. 20037.

The Embassy phone number, which you’ll need to enter for Internet orders (I used 1800flowers.com) is 202.452.0100.

UPDATE: From the Spanish Embassy:

The Embassy of Spain convenes a silent demonstration tomorrow, Friday, March 12th, to express its outrage for today’s terrorist attack perpetrated in Madrid, in which approximately 200 people have died and 900 have been injured.

The demonstration will take place at the Washington Circle (Pennsylvania Ave and 23rd St NW) at 12 am.

Please convey this information to others.

I presume by that they mean 12 noon. There’s also this, in an earlier email:

A book of condolences will be open at the Embassy (2375 Pennsylvania Ave NW) from 10 am to 2 pm today, Friday 12th and Monday 15th.

A funeral service for the victims will be held at St. Matthews Cathedral (1725 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington DC 20036) on Monday, March 15th, at 5:30 pm.

If any readers in the DC area are able to attend any of these events, please send me an account and photos if possible.

UPDATE: Here’s a list of Spanish consulates in the United States. If you’re in a big city, you might want to check and see if there’s one in your area.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Photos and firsthand reports from the Spanish Embassy demonstration, here.

THIS WEEK’S CARNIVAL OF THE VANITIES IS UP, with an amusing Emerson, Lake & Palmer reference.

SOME THOUGHTS ON PRESIDENTIAL TEMPERAMENT, over at GlennReynolds.com.

A BLOGGER GETS RESULTS from the Los Angeles Times.