DARFUR UPDATE: On the way home from the studio I passed a big Darfur rally, starting in front of the synagogue and continuing quite some distance down Kingston Pike. I don’t know how many people were there, but it was certainly more than I’ve seen at any antiwar protests in Knoxville.

Those are going on all over the place, with support from people like George Clooney. I’m happy to see it, but I agree with Tim Cavanaugh’s point:

I don’t want to make the umpteenth cheap shot about Hollywood stars and their political campaigns. I think military intervention in Darfur is a non-starter, and I’m glad about that. But what’s the clear categorical distinction between intervening in Iraq (which I think it’s fair to say Clooney and many other Darfur hawks opposed) and this one? Why does it always seem like progressives support any intervention that clearly does not advance any American interests?

Why, indeed?

UPDATE: Jose Guardia emails: “Yeah, it’s great that some people are marching against the genocide in Darfur; and no, I can’t understand either why for them for them it’s OK to intervene militarily in Darfur and it wasn’t in Iraq. Anyway, just wait until -if- Bu$Hitler starts making plans for an intervention. You’ll see how fast they start chanting ‘No War.'”