ANOTHER PETRAEUS RADIO INTERVIEW: And crickets from the left.
Archive for 2007
August 8, 2007
MORE BOGUS REPORTING from Iraq?
IF CAIR KEEPS THIS UP, people will start thinking that they’re a bunch of terrorist apologists or something. No wonder its membership is so minuscule.
UPDATE: More on CAIR at the Counterterrorism Blog.
MICKEY KAUS: “Markos Moulitsas’ co-author and MyDD blogger Jerome Armstrong–recently quoted assessing the state of the left blogosphere in Salon–has agreed to pay $30,000 to the S.E.C. to settle stock-touting allegations, according to TimesSelect prisoner Chris Suellentrop. That seems like quite a bit to me, though I’m no S.E.C. expert. It apparently includes a $20,000 fine.” More at the link. Note that Armstrong neither admits nor denies the charges.
UPDATE: More thoughts here. Meanwhile the Kos Krowd responds — Matt Drudge is gay! — and Dan Riehl collects more sane reactions. What is it with the lefty types and gay slurs?
DEPARTMENT OF “HUH?” Benjamin Zycher emails:
I notice that your blog has shined virtually no light on Steve Levitt’s utterly embarrassing letter to John McCall, a letter that most scholars with a shred of dignity would write only after having crawled into a deep hole. (As best as I can tell, all you have done is offer an “update” posting with a link.) In case you missed it: Levitt admits that even as he claimed that the special issue of the JLE that Lott put together was not refereed, Levitt himself was one of the referees. Second, Levitt’s claim that Lott invited only authors whose views were consistent with his was undermined completely by his admission that he had been invited to submit a paper. (As, by the way, were others with views differing from Lott’s.) And, third, the comedy highlight of Levitt’s letter is his claim that “[Levitt] did not mean to suggest that Dr. Lott did anything unlawful or improper in arranging for the payment of the publication expenses for the Conference issue.” Of course not; precisely what, then, did he mean to suggest?
Perhaps you could offer some of your usual musings on that. More generally, your rather loud silence on this latest development in the Levitt/Lott controversy is interesting, particularly given the massive amounts of attention, quotation, and credibility over these past few years that you have deemed appropriate for those attacking Lott’s integrity. Now, why is that? Could it be that you simply are far less objective or “fair” than you like to pretend?
No obfuscations, please: A straight answer would be appreciated. Feel free to post this note if you wish.
Really, I don’t have anything to say besides “huh?” Well, and my earlier characterization of the Lott/Levitt dispute as “In my opinion, a lawsuit that shouldn’t have been brought, over a chain of events that shouldn’t have happened, and involving accusations that shouldn’t have been made.” Neither Lott nor Levitt has come off especially well in this, though it’s true that the latest news, which I did link, makes Levitt look bad. As for the rest, I really don’t think I’ve devoted “massive amounts of attention” to attacks on Lott’s integrity, though I did mention some of the problems he’s had, and I’m quite surprised to be accused of harboring some sort of brutal anti-Lott agenda resulting in “loud silence.” Whatever. Judging by the email address, it’s this Benjamin Zycher, (whom I actually gave space on my blog to defend Lott over an earlier matter) and the email seems a bit intemperate for a scholar.
THOUGHTS ON THE SURGE, FROM Victor Davis Hanson: “So the key is not debating whether the surge is ‘working’ (it is), but rather concentrating on the post-surge, and defining exactly what are the conditions that result from it vis a vis Iraqi security and our military situation and national mood.”
UPDATE: More here.
“AUTODOCS” ARE A STAPLE of science fiction. Now they’re moving closer to reality:
One of the first announcements at this year’s three-day DARPATech conference is going to be hard to top: the first portable, self-contained surgical robot will be deployed in the next two years. Brett Giroir, director of the research agency’s Defense Sciences Office also announced that the system, called Trauma Pod, has successfully “treated” a mannequin during a test, with no complications.
It’s remote-controlled, not autonomous, though.
IN WHICH I AGREE WITH A DAILY KOS COMMENTER:
Biden has single-handedly f****d more Americans than Wilt Chamberlain with his 2005 Bankruptcy bill. He can talk a good game from time to time, but don’t kid yourself – he’s playing for the other team.
Unfortunately, the other team doesn’t lose many players. I think it’s the excellent pay and benefits.
Earlier stuff on the bankruptcy bill, which inspired a lot of cross-blogospheric agreement, here, here, and here. I wouldn’t mind if this came up in future Republican and Democratic debates.
DANIEL DREZNER ON THE DECLINE OF TERRITORIAL WARS, as a sign that the world is becoming “more pacific.”
A JET-POWERED PORT-A-POTTY: And some of you will want one after seeing the photo.
BUT IT STILL SMELLS BAD: The Beijing Olympics are one year away.
JAMES PETHOKOUKIS ON the Democrats’ views of economics as displayed in last night’s debate.
JAMES LILEKS: “What I wouldn’t give to find the exact location, and deepest fear, of the miscreant who’s spamming Buzz.”
Hmm. Here’s a suspect . . . .
O.J. SIMPSON’S HOUSE, WITH A KNIFE-SHARPENING VAN PARKED OUTSIDE: Yes, really.
DON SURBER: “Politics is a stock car race, meaning the crashes into the wall are just as important as who wins. And far more entertaining. Edmund Muskie crying. Gary Hart’s follow-me romp. Dr. Howard Dean’s scream. Ah, sweet memories.”
A LOOK AT CAMPAIGN WEB DATA: Most surprising: “The oddest thing is that despite all of John Edwards net-roots efforts and his popularity with power-house web presences like DailyKos and MoveOn.org, he lags in fourth place with 12.08%.”
PELOSI ARM-WRESTLES OVER cash for the House Gym. “Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are not eager for a multimillion-dollar renovation of the congressional members-only gym to be one of the first accomplishments of the Democratic majority. They worry that freshman Democrats could be attacked on the campaign trail next year for approving a fancy new gym for themselves after winning office.”
DAN RIEHL continues to bird-dog the Goose Creek arrests. [Bird-dog? Goose? — ed. Just keeping the metaphors consistent.]
ETHANOL PRODUCTION CREATES A STEAK SHORTAGE in New York City?
Reminiscent of the Soviet Union — because, of course, the subsidies for ethanol are, in a modest way, the kind of market-distorting policies that the Soviet Union loved. And with similar effects.
JOHN TABIN ON TNR and Beauchamp.
UPDATE: Further thoughts here.
YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: “At least 1 million pounds of suspect Chinese seafood landed on American store shelves and dinner plates despite a Food and Drug Administration order that the shipments first be screened for banned drugs or chemicals, an Associated Press investigation found.”
FEMINISTS: They’re everywhere.
HOW ORGANIC FOOD contributes to climate change.
BLOGGING FOR TIBETAN INDEPENDENCE, from Beijing.