Archive for 2007

AN AWFUL ARTICLE on Ahmadinejad.

PEOPLE USING INTERNET EXPLORER were having trouble opening the Pajamas Media Straw Poll to the right. I fixed the coding problem and it should work for you now. Please vote!

LEE HARRIS OBSERVES that cleverness is not on top, and never has been. Jurgen figured this out a while back. . . .

HEH.

REMEMBERING THE ARCHITECT of victory in Anbar.

COULD AN UNTRAINED PERSON LAND A JETLINER IN AN EMERGENCY? I could, but only if I could plug in a keyboard and mouse, and run Flight Simulator . . . .

IS THE U.S. LIKE ROME? Carter Wood says no, and adds: “Besides, everyone knows it was overtaxation that caused Rome’s fall.”

A FINAL SOLUTION TO THE REDNECK PROBLEM. Jeez. (Via Hot Air). Call me crazy, but I doubt that the forced migration of millions from Texas and Mississippi to the East Coast would result in liberal nirvana . . . .

UPDATE: A pungent response from Bill Quick.

WELL, IOWA IS LOCKED UP.

goldbergcov.jpgIt’s sure to make a splash, and it’s already got some left bloggers in a tizzy even though it doesn’t come out until next week. It’s Jonah Goldberg’s new book, Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning. The title comes from H.G. Wells, and the history won’t be news to people who’ve paid attention — which means it will be news to a lot of people — but Goldberg has a lot to say about the “progressive” roots of both socialism and fascism and the way they’re reflected in contemporary politics. (He goes out of his way to make clear, though, that he’s not saying liberals are fascists.) Plus, thoughts on the Hillary and Huckabee candidacies.

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A FINANCIAL SURGE:

It’s no front-page news that Iraq is a dangerous place. But a capital magnet? The presses have stopped for less. According to the not-quite-closed record book for 2007, Iraqi sovereign bonds, the Iraqi currency, and the Iraqi stock market have each logged astounding, not to mention politically provocative, gains.

Not many would have predicted that Iraq’s long-dated, dollar-denominated debt would have proven a safe haven during a worldwide credit crisis. But the 5.8s of 2038 did just that. Since the subprime mortgage meltdown began in August, these evidences of indebtedness of the government in Baghdad have gained no less than 18.3%.

Interesting. I seem to recall someone arguing last summer that the surge wasn’t working, based on the performance of Iraqi financial instruments. I wonder if they’ll revisit that argument now.

DAVE HARDY: “47 Senators have requested that Interior Department modify its regulations to allow [gun] carrying in National Parks. Since National Parks are often large, thinly populated with LEOs, and frequently contain wildlife that may think that humans taste very good, it seems like a plan to me.”

I’VE MENTIONED THIS BEFORE, but here’s more on cut-and-paste in police reports:

“It’s a shortcut and I shouldn’t have done it,” Officer Daniel Pratt said in his recent testimony, before apologizing on the stand.

When asked by defense attorney Mary Carey why police officers aren’t supposed to cut and paste, he responded: “For the obvious reasons of mistakes and every statement is individual.”

Carey said, “I’m absolutely appalled that the person who we trust to be honest would present evidence in an official document that was false. “The fact that there’s history in that department presenting falsified police reports makes me extremely worried of the propriety of any reports coming out of that department.”

“It’s impossible to know whether it’s one bad apple or a culture of fraud and deceit,” she said.

I can see why people do it, but I can also see why people don’t like it.

MUCH MORE ON THE BENAZIR BHUTTO ASSASSINATION, including statements from various Presidential candidates, at The Corner.

Plus, a questionable reaction from Bill Richardson.

UPDATE: Dropping the ball at NBC.

And Huckabee apologizes. Apologizes? Jeez, he is Jimmy Carter.

ANOTHER UPDATE: At the Huckabee post linked above, an update with this from the Huckabee campaign: “Gov. Huckabee while speaking at a campaign event earlier this morning in Florida intended to extend his deepest sympathies to the people of Pakistan when he used the word ‘apologies.’ He is outraged and saddened by the attack and the loss of a world leader whose life he believes was a profile in courage.”

AL SHARPTON, STILL RELEVANT? “The piece remains mysteriously congratulatory, given the low batting average Sharpton boasts on peaceful, lasting resolution of such conflicts.” Gee, you think?

BENAZIR BHUTTO killed in suicide attack. (Via JWF).

UPDATE: Big roundup here. Watch for further developments.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More here and here.

MORE: Some perspective from Bob Krumm:

Ms. Bhutto was killed at a campaign rally just two weeks before a Pakistani election. It is worth remembering as we begin our own campaign season in earnest next week that no matter how acrimonious the political discussion becomes, we live in a country where those who root for the death of their political opponents exist far outside the mainstream and that even if an assassination attempt were to occur here, there is zero risk of anything but an orderly transition of power on January 20, 2009.

Excellent point. And follow the link for more.

MARK WARNER emails that he’s trying to get 1500 new donors before the end of the year. Our podcast interview with him can be heard here. I don’t know much about his Republican opponent, Jim Gilmore.

BRITAIN STILL DOOMED.