Best of the Web Today - December 1, 2005
By JAMES TARANTO
We Get Results (Sort Of)
"The liberal political group MoveOn.org has yanked a video ad from its website after being criticized for using images of British soldiers to represent Americans in Iraq," reports CNSNews.com:
The ad showed soldiers who were "not wearing U.S. uniforms," according to a Pentagon spokesman who was interviewed by Cybercast News Service Wednesday, approximately two hours before the Internet version of the ad was pulled from the MoveOn.org website.
Actually, the ad, including the unretouched photo of British soldiers, still appears on the MoveOn.org site (click here to access it directly in QuickTime form), though it isn't listed on the homepage of the MoveOn Political Action Committee. What is gone is the still photo that MoveOn had altered to make it appear as though one soldier, actually clad in shorts, was wearing camouflage slacks.
The MoveOn page still solicits money to help air the ad, too; the group claims to have induced an unspecified number of fools to part with more than $350,000.
'Adopt a Detainee'
Here's a grimly humorous twist on the latest Iraq hostage story. The Christian Peacemaker Teams, the anti-American group four of whose members are being held captive by terrorists, for a year and a half ran an "Adopt-a-Detainee campaign," described on the CPT Web site:
The Adopt-a-Detainee Letter-Writing Campaign, beginning in March 2004, matched individual detainees with congregations, mosques, synagogues, and peace groups in North America and around the world. These groups wrote letters to U.S., Iraqi and other relevant officials on the detainees' behalf. The campaign grew out of CPT's investigation of and reporting on abuses within the U.S.-run detention system in Iraq during the fall of 2003. The Adopt-a-Detainee Letter-Writing Campaign included a total of twenty-seven detainees, nine of whom U.S. officials released during the campaign, ten of whom were still detained at last word, and seven of whom U.S. officials never confirmed as detained (i.e., the "disappeared.")
Why doesn't the CPT try writing letters to the terrorists and see how far that will get them?
Donkey Fight!
Reactions to President Bush's Iraq speech yesterday suggest that he has succeeded in dividing the Democratic opposition. "The president's speech in Annapolis today was a step in the right direction," said Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado. But his Wisconsin colleague Russ Feingold said, "It's a step back." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi endorsed Rep. John Murtha's call for an immediate pullout (though both Pelosi and Murtha voted against that proposition when Republicans called their bluff last month. But Pelosi's deputy, Steny Hoyer, said if his boss had her way it "could lead to disaster, spawning a civil war, fostering a haven for terrorists and damaging our nation's security and credibility."
Meanwhile, Angry Left blogger Markos Moulitsas is on the warpath against John Kerry*:
There's a little kerfuffle inside the Democratic Senate caucus over John Kerry's insistance [sic] in being part of the official party response to Bush's hilarious "plan" in Iraq. Reid originally had designated Sen. Jack Reed to provide the official response. Reed did the "prebuttal" yesterday and had a press conference set up for today.
However, John Kerry stomped over Reed by deciding he was going to hold a press conference this morning as well in a naked bid to steal the limelight. Eventually, Reid was forced to combine the two press conferences to try and maintain a unified Senate Democrat response, but Kerry's antics have generated some ill will.
Much ado about nothing? Perhaps. But several DC Democrats I've spoken to today were not happy with Kerry's antics. And given 1) Kerry's continued inability to clearly articulate a coherent position on the war . . ., and 2) the fact that Kerry voted for it (while Reed did not), it's not hard to see why.
Well, shame on Moulitsas for swiftboating America's greatest living war hero, though he partly redeems himself by using the word kerfuffle. We'd forgive him totally if he bought some T-shirts.
* Footnote tk.
Finally, a Positive Iraq Story!
"Warriors Off to Best Start Since 1991"--headline, Associated Press, Dec. 1
Sullivan vs. Sullivan
Mark Shea is a blogger we had never heard of until yesterday, when Andrew Sullivan linked us to one of his posts. Shea agrees with Sullivan's current position on "torture" of terrorists, but regards Sullivan as an unreliable ally:
[President Bush] is vulnerable on the question of torture and Sullivan has been doing a bang-up job pointing out the weakness of the Administration and its apologists on this matter. I have serious difficulty believing he would be nearly so passionate if Bush had announced that he would do everything in his power to make gay marriage the law of the land. In that event, I think we'd be reading lots of fawning suck-up pieces about Bush's "tough stands" against international terror, etc.
This "low blow" has Sullivan in high dudgeon:
Not a word of this with respect to my motives is true; and all of it is deeply offensive. . . . My opposition to the conduct of the war began very early--almost as soon as looting took place and Rumsfeld embraced the chaos his terribly-managed occupation had begun to foster. I'm used to these slurs, and the record shows they are baseless. But the notion that I would be finding excuses for torture if Bush had refused to back the FMA [Federal Marriage Amendment] is so vile an attack on my integrity it deserves a response. My position on this question has been the same my whole life.
What does the record really show? It was on Feb. 24, 2004, that Bush urged Congress to propose the Federal Marriage Amendment, and here was Sullivan's response:
WAR IS DECLARED: The president launched a war today against the civil rights of gay citizens and their families. And just as importantly, he launched a war to defile the most sacred document in the land. Rather than allow the contentious and difficult issue of equal marriage rights to be fought over in the states, rather than let politics and the law take their course, rather than keep the Constitution out of the culture wars, this president wants to drag the very founding document into his re-election campaign. He is proposing to remove civil rights from one group of American citizens--and do so in the Constitution itself. The message could not be plainer: these citizens do not fully belong in America. Their relationships must be stigmatized in the very Constitution itself. The document that should be uniting the country will now be used to divide it, to single out a group of people for discrimination itself, and to do so for narrow electoral purposes. Not since the horrifying legacy of Constitutional racial discrimination in this country has such a goal been even thought of, let alone pursued. Those of us who supported this president in 2000, who have backed him whole-heartedly during the war, who have endured scorn from our peers as a result, who trusted that this president was indeed a uniter rather than a divider, now know the truth.
So in 2004 Sullivan said he had, to that point, "backed [Bush] whole-heartedly during the war," but now he claims that his "opposition to the conduct of the war began very early." Our recollection is that the first of these claims is much closer to the truth.
Indeed, on the specific question of "torture," Sullivan sang a drastically different tune pre-2/24. If his support for the president was anything less than wholehearted, it was because Sullivan thought Bush too soft on terrorists. We've amply documented this in the past, but if you need a refresher, see these Sullivan posts (you'll have to scroll to find some of them):
o "YES TO MILITARY TRIBUNALS," Nov. 19, 2001
o "THE DAILY MIRROR'S PRATFALL," Jan. 23, 2002
o "CAMP HOLIDAY INN," Feb. 4, 2002
o "THE ANTI-WAR DEMOCRATS," March 13, 2002
o "THE SURRENDER?," May 28, 2002
On the war, we mostly agreed with Old Sullivan. In light of the ensuing metamorphosis, we can certainly see why Shea would be wary of an alliance with New Sullivan.
The World's Smallest Violin
"The fate of a convicted killer from North Carolina, set to become the 1,000th person executed in the U.S. since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, rests with federal appeals courts and the state's governor," the Associated Press reports from Raleigh:
Unless they intervene, 57-year-old Kenneth Lee Boyd will be put to death by injection at 2 a.m. Friday, earning a man who shot and killed his estranged wife and her father an infamous place in American history.
"I'd hate to be remembered as that," Boyd told The Associated Press in a prison interview Wednesday. "I don't like the idea of being picked as a number."
ProDeathPenalty.com explains why Boyd is on death row:
On March 4, 1988 Boyd entered the home of his estranged wife's father, where his wife and children were then living, and shot and killed both his wife and her father with a .357 Magnum pistol. The shootings were committed in the presence of his own children--13, 12 and 10.
The AP not only does not give any details of Boyd's crimes, it doesn't even mention their names. We can only imagine that Julie Boyd and Thomas Curry would like to be remembered--at all.
The New 'Fake but Accurate'
"Some climate experts have said the potential cooling of Europe was paradoxically consistent with global warming caused by the accumulation of heat-trapping 'greenhouse' emissions."--New York Times, Dec. 1
Zero-Tolerance Watch
"An eighth--grader at West Central Junior High has been removed from school and may face a charge of disorderly conduct after school officials learned last week about a list that named students and school staff the boy considered irritating," reports the Hawk Eye of Burlington, Iowa, from Stronghurst, Ill.:
In a telephone interview Tuesday, [Superintendent Ralph] Grimm said the teen was taken out of school after being confronted Nov. 24 by Principal Jeff Nichols, who learned about the list late the previous day. A disciplinary hearing before the School Board has been set for Thursday.
The list was not a product of the Internet, Grimm said, but was in physical possession of the student.
Grimm would not go into detail about the nature of the list, or explain why its existence was deemed serious enough to precipitate the student's removal from school and the involvement of law enforcement.
In the post-Columbine massacre environment, Grimm said it is appropriate to err on the side of caution in these circumstances.
"You just can't take a chance," he said. . . .
There was no indication any other students at the school were involved in creation of the list, which Grimm said contained the names of people the boy found "annoying."
It's lucky for Santa Claus he finished his schooling before the Columbine massacre. In this day and age, he'd be expelled for making a list, if not jailed for checking it twice.
(Hat tip: State 29.)
Thanks for the Tip!--XX
"Health Tip: Wear a Helmet"--headline, HealthDayNews, Nov. 30
What Would Thieves Do Without Police?
"Vehicles Left Running Are an Open Invitation to Thieves, Police Warn"--headline, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Dec. 1
What Would Adolescent Brains Do Without Studies, Man?
"Heavy Marijuana Use Damages Adolescent Brains--Study"--headline, Reuters, Nov. 30
Let's Hope They Get Well. Soon
"Ill. Pharmacists Withhold Emergency Pill"--headline, Associated Press, Dec. 1
It's Light as a Feather!
"Justices Weigh Parental Notification Law"--headline, Associated Press, Dec. 1
Adeus, Brazil!
"Brazil Moves to Protect Amazon Tribe"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 30
Messiah Averts Naval Battle
"Novi Sub Backs Off, Baby Jesus Stays Put"--headline, Detroit News, Nov. 30
'If I Told You You Have a Heavenly Body, Would You Hold It Against Me?'
"Scientists Make Small Advances in Dating Moon"--headline, San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 29
Tape Worms
"Two government employees were charged Tuesday with taking kickbacks on the purchase of 100,000 rolls of red tape," the Associated Press reports from Nashville, Tenn.:
Veterans Affairs workers Joseph Haymond and Natalie Coker were arrested in Murfreesboro and charged with taking bribes for buying the tape, normally $2.50 per roll, for $6.95 each, U.S. Attorney Jim Vines said in a statement.
The two got kickbacks of $1 per roll for the purchases made between 1999 and 2001, Vines said. They could each face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Haymond and Coker worked at the VA's Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy, which mails prescription medicines to veterans. The red tape, stamped with the word "security," is meant to deter tampering.
This is an outrage, but it's also what people who say things like "a teachable moment" call a teachable moment. One of our biggest linguistic pet peeves is the misuse of the term literal, and here is a perfect example of its proper use: These people allegedly caused figurative red ink by overpaying for literal red tape. |
