We all know that there won't be any "successful" hearings on the misconduct of the Iraq war without some resignations or convictions, but when the Times editorializes that, "Congress has exercised virtually no oversight of the administration’s misconduct of the war", Protein Wisdom has no problem finding, oh, about two dozen separate Congressional hearings on the topic without even trying very hard. And don't forget, just because Republicans chair the various committees and some administration members were to be generous, reluctant participants, that doesn't mean that Democrats haven't had a chance to ask pointed questions, or express their general outrage.

Here's Democrat Senator Byrd demanding answers from Donald Rumsfeld on Abu Ghraib back in May of 2004, to give one of many example.

BYRD: I do not recall hearing a peep out of either of you, Secretary Rumsfeld or General Myers, about this before CBS broke the silence. Why did it take the televised broadcast of graphic photos of prisoner abuse, a broadcast General Myers has acknowledged he tried to suppress, to galvanize the leadership of the Defense Department to express its outrage over the situation? 

Why was a report that described sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses by American soldiers left to languish on a shelf in the Pentagon unread by the top leadership until the media revealed it to the world? 

Why wasn't Congress apprised of the findings of this report from the Defense Department instead of from CBS News? 

Mr. Secretary, it was President Truman who was said to have displayed the famous sign on his desk: The buck stops here. I served with President Truman. He was an honorable man. He did not shirk his responsibility. 

I see a very different pattern in this administration. I see arrogance and a disdain for Congress. I see misplaced bravado and an unwillingness to admit mistakes. I see finger-pointing and excuses. 

Given the catastrophic impact that this scandal has had on the world community, how can the United States ever repair its credibility?

Do we really have to go through all this again?  Is someone expecting a different set of answers?

My inner geek is really glad I got the HDTV set up last month. 

Live broadcasts from space next week should be visually stunning and historic, NASA said from Houston, because they'll be broadcast in high definition.

The two live high definition television broadcasts will feature Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria on the International Space Station, NASA said in a news release. The broadcasts, scheduled for Nov. 15, will be carried by Discovery HD Theater and the Japanese broadcast network NHK.

It will be on at 8AM ET / 7AM CT.

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In the strip mall just behind my house, there's a haircut place that only seems to have African-Americans visit which always seems odd, because there aren't a lot of African-Americans in the neighboorhood (not withstanding my own neighbors a few doors down).  It turns out that, according to today's local paper, it caters to "black professional athletes" and includes former Dallas Cowboys Deion Sanders and Michael Irving among it's clients.  The article was actually about Emmit Smith and his success on "Dancing with the Stars" - maybe he's hanging out around here too!  Cool.

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I saw Adam Snadler's "Click" last night on DVD.  I was expecting a mildly amusing comedy, but it turned out to be both laugh out loud funny and incredibly depressing.  Sure, I knew that things were bound to go horribly wrong for the man who could all of a sudden control his life with a new univeral remote control, but I didn't realize it would be absolutely tragic.  Not only that, the whole theme that runs through the movie is that if you're a man who spends a lot of time at work to "provide for the family" (especially for ungrateful managers) you might as well kill yourself.  I would highly recommend this movie, but if you're someone who has a life like the one I described above, do yourself a favor and don't see it late at night right before you go to sleep.

I think I need to go back into therapy.

Can't wait for "The DaVinci Code" to come out on Tuesday.

The Metamorphasis - Seattle writer John Moe spent a month living the Red State life. Now he’s into Toby Keith—big time.

Whether John Moe has “seen the light” or “gone to the dark side” depends on your politics. Either way, Moe, 38, the NPR host and Seattle writer, is generating buzz with his new book, “Conservatize Me: How I Tried to Become a Righty with the Help of Richard Nixon, Sean Hannity, Toby Keith and Beef Jerky.” Spoofing “Super Size Me,” Moe put himself on a steady diet of conservative culture for a month. The result? He was sold—sort of.

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Legendary pop star Paul McCartney has sold untold millions of albums with The Beatles and Wings, as well as in his prolific solo career. Though he's dabbled in classical music before, Ecce Cor Meum marks one of his most conceptually and logistically audacious projects: a work written in the style of sacred English choral music, a tradition dating back 500 years. On Nov. 14, NPR.org -- in collaboration with member station WNYC -- will present a live webcast of the only U.S. performance of Ecce Cor Meum, taking place at New York's Carnegie Hall from 7:30 to 10 p.m. ET.

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On various NPR stations you can hear (or may have already heard) the World War One Living History Project, narrated by Walter Cronkite.  Researchers have discovered thelast dozen or so WWI veterans to records there oral histories.  You can listen to it in streaming audio here after you've signed up to the hosting website which seems like a small price to pay (needless to say given the subject matter).

Judge extends deadline for Haq in shooting case

Attorneys for the man accused of opening fire at a Seattle Jewish charity now have one more month to provide reasons why the suspect, who they contend suffers from "serious mental illness," shouldn't face the death penalty.

King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng now has until Dec. 15 to decide whether to seek the execution of Naveed Haq, 31, in the July 28 shooting that left one woman dead and five wounded at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

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Please take a moment today to remember Veterans Day.

Through the generations, America's men and women in uniform have defeated tyrants, liberated continents, and set a standard of courage and idealism for the entire world. On Veterans Day, our Nation pays tribute to those who have proudly served in our Armed Forces.

To protect the Nation they love, our veterans stepped forward when America needed them most. In conflicts around the world, their sacrifice and resolve helped destroy the enemies of freedom and saved millions from oppression. In answering history's call with honor, decency, and resolve, our veterans have shown the power of liberty and earned the respect and admiration of a grateful Nation.

All of America's veterans have placed our Nation's security before their own lives, creating a debt that we can never fully repay. Our veterans represent the best of America, and they deserve the best America can give them.

As we recall the service of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen, we are reminded that the defense of freedom comes with great loss and sacrifice. This Veterans Day, we give thanks to those who have served freedom's cause; we salute the members of our Armed Forces who are confronting our adversaries abroad; and we honor the men and women who left America's shores but did not live to be thanked as veterans. They will always be remembered by our country.

Is Jon Stewart this decade's version of Rush Limbaugh?

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Will Charles Rangel try to re-institute the draft now that his party is in control of Congress?  I mean, he tried it in 2003 when he was part of the minority, so why not now that there's a better chance it could pass?  You don't think it was a political stunt, do you?

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Slow down, you move to fast....one way to stop speeding...NSFW.  To paraphrase something out of The Simpsons....Is there anything that boobies can't do?

MediaMatters was outraged in August when Sean Hannity suggested that a Democratic takeover of Congress would be a "victory for the terrorists".

When Dick Cheney suggested that the potential election of Ned Lamont would be a victory for the terorrists, ted Kennedy wrote an Op-Ed calling the remarks an "attack on democracy" which drew a huge wave of media outrage:

Did Cheney Go Too Far?

By insinuating that the sizeable majority of American voters who oppose the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy, Vice President Cheney on Wednesday may have crossed the line that separates legitimate political discourse from hysteria.

Liberals have been telling us just the opposite in fact, using a laundry list of events and analyses "proving" that President Bush's policies have helped the terrorists.

Well then, let's step out of our political circle jerk now and see what those on whose behalf we pretend to be speaking have to say themselves...

Khamenei calls elections a victory for Iran
'Iraq al-Qaeda' welcomes US poll
The mood in Damascus was joyful
Al-Jazeera Highlights Nancy Pelosi's 'Iraq Is a Catastrophe' Declaration

George Bush has already mentioned at least once that our enemies should not confuse the workings of democracy for a lack of resolve in battling radical Islamists.  I await similar language from our Congressional leaders.

After winning her new position as Majority Leader of the House and receivng the news of Donald Rumsfeld's resignation, Nancy Pelosi issued a brief press release which included the following statement:

Secretary Rumsfeld has lost the confidence of his most crucial constituency: the men and women of our armed forces who rely on the civilian leadership of the Pentagon to provide them with the support needed to do their dangerous jobs as effectively and safely as possible.  Mr. Rumsfeld failed to do that – that is why I called for him to step down nearly three years ago.

Ms. Pelosi and her colleagues should make sure that while she tries to fulfill the desires of the American people at large, she should not confuse their beliefs with those of the troops stationed on the front lines who tend to be more a more conservative lot.

For example, in a Zogby poll taken earlier this year, only 30% of the troops felt "the Department of Defense has failed to provide adequate troop protections, such as body armor, munitions, and armor plating for vehicles like HumVees." (This isn't to say that the majority thought we should still be in Iraq, but that's not the Defense Deprtment's call).

Today marks the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, which some refer to as the day the Holocaust really started.

A new synagogue was inaugurated in Munich today to help herald the rebirth of the German-Jewish community.  More photos here.  This is the memorial for the original synagogue which it replaces.  There's some fascinating photos, blueprints and computerized recreations of the original Munich Hauptsynagogue here. 

Whenever I see a beautiful Catholic cathedral, I always dream that there are synagogues that are just as beautiful, ancient and awe-inspiring to pray in.  There used to be...there used to be.  :-(

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Bill Maher was on Larry King last night, speaking part of the time about how Republicans were divided against themselves because of the gay-bashers in the base and his claim that "a lot of the chiefs of staff, the people who really run the underpinnings of the Republican Party are gay."

Rush Limbaugh played part of the interview on his show, including a statement right after the quote above where Maher says that Ken Mehlman is gay.  CNN has removed this portion of the transcript from their website (see link above).  In any case, Maher plans to mention more names on his show Friday night, so if you want to know who all the supposedly self-hating gays are, you know where to go.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

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Odd - the "playboy bunny" ad against Harold Ford, Jr. which was decried by Democrats and the NAACP as so racist that it was pulled, starred a blond "who has Mexican heritage".  An African-American woman,Tammy Thompson, also appears in the ad.

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Argentine Judge Seeks to Detain Iran’s Ex-Leader

This is mostly symbolic, but at least it's a formal acknowledgment by a government official that Iran might be involved.

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Glenn Reynold's snarky headline writing says it best. 

THE DEMOCRATS WIN, AND THE SUN STARTS TO SHINE! 

From USA Today:  Poll: Afghans express confidence in country's direction, security

Back in May, USA Today's editorial board warned us that "Afghanistan is increasingly beginning to resemble that war (in Iraq").  The Iraqis should be so lucky.

Of course, that's all just spin.  As the International Herald Tribune points out , "Afghans' doubt grows, poll finds", which I think is the bigger story.

If you don't want any of the spin, you can go right to the Asia Foundation website.  For example if you compare the 2004 and 2006 surveys, you do see that optimism was much higher in 2004.  That probably makes sense given that it was taken right before their first national election which was a time of great anticipation.  Of more interest for this discussion is that of the people who weren't happy with the country's direction, violence was the second most worrisome issue in 2004 and it doesn't show up on the radar screen now.  Jobs, the economy and electricity are the top concerns.

We report, you decide.

Just because I've seen the term so much, I just wanted to provide a little backup on conservative, or  "Blue Dog" Democrats.

The term is a reference to the "Blue Dog" paintings of Cajun artist George Rodrigue of Lafayette, Louisiana; the original members of the coalition would regularly meet in the offices of Louisiana representatives Billy Tauzin and Jimmy Hayes, both of whom had Rodrigue's paintings on their walls.

On a road trip to New Orleans a few summers ago, we actually had dinner in the Blue Dog Cafe.  I was familiar with the paintings generally which you can see by the link are all over the walls, but didn't know at the time who the artist was or that he was based in the town we were in at the time.  The gumbo was awesome and I would highly recommend it.

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Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley died of leukemia this morning. He joined the staff of the venerable news magazine 26 years ago.  Damn.  As

zarq

asked me the other day - how the hell does Wikipedia get updated so fast?

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Don't mean to stir up all the anti-Semites out there, but we Jews are really over-represented in the Congress.  Growing up in NYC, I thought the Irish were the only ones who went into politics.  Jewish support for Republicans was only 12% according to this report. It was double that according to this report. In any case, it ain't a lot.  "I'm such a lonely boy, lonely and red...."

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The Israelis screwed up again.  19 innocent Palestinians dead.  As I generally don't believe about the Israeli army what Amnesty International does ("reckless disregard for human life"), I always assume there is a reason behind such tragic mistakes.  Nevertheless, it's a terrible, terrible thing to have done.   The Palestinians should sue the manufacturer of the artillery gun in it's country of origin if you ask me.  How's that for an interesting application of civil law in times of war?

Just some additional thoughts on the recent election and why I still feel that being conservative/Republican is part of my nature.

After the 2000 and 2004 elections which the Democrats lost, it seems that conspiracy theories abounded. The Republicans stole the election, the Republicans committed voter fraud, the Republicans rigged the electronic voting machines. Even assuming all of these things were true, in part, the 2006 election just proves to the world that Democrats have been living off fantasies of irreversible persecution. The government is theirs to have if they convince enough of the people that it should be so. Same as it ever was.

Perhaps the fact that the Bush administration had six years of complete control of the government and couldn't manage to turn the US into a Nazi-style dictatorship is just another sign of their incompetence. :-)

The other day, the Senate was lost by only several thousand votes out of about 56 million cast. Now as usual, their was plenty of dirty campaigning on both sides. There were even scattered reports of irregularities at the polling places. The one thing you don't hear though from the Republican leadership and conservative media is the assignment of blame to anyone but themselves. I don't hear Republicans calling Democrats (yes that means you dear voter) "stupid" or "misinformed". I don't expect to see a wave of conservative protesters disrupting or attacking liberal speakers.

There is no anger - just acceptance of the inevitable. Rush Limbaugh even feels "liberated".

In sports, when a team loses on a bad call or some other turn of bad luck, the great ones say they never should have put themselves in a situation where they could lose. The Republicans did, they know it, and to paraphrase Tom Hanks character in "A League of Their Own", there is no crying...in politics. It's time to get back to basics - less government, less pandering to the fringes and better communication.

To Hillary Clinton - the slaves on the "plantation" have been freed. Let's see what kind of crops you produce.

Congratulations to the Democrats who might just be taking both Houses of Congress. I hope there's no whining by Republicans in the too-close-to-call Senate races. I am proud of my country that so many people came out to vote.

Personally, I expect things could get worse for me and my family because we're part of the "rich" and my taxes will go up and I'm not sure why the people who want to kill us should be more worried today than yesterday, even if one admits that our adventures in Iraq totally misguided.

Expect President Bush to dust off that veto pen that he's practically never used - I'm surprised I haven't heard anyone discussing this at all. I am expecting that this will keep things pretty stable for the next two years. This will probably help the Democrats for 2008 - hey look, they didn't ruin the country! This will be even more true if Bush doesn't make some kind of change, like firing Rumsfeld. He should probably do that, just as a sign of goodwill towards the new congressional leaders.

Ken Mehlman is saying on FoxNews that NOW the Republicans have to focus on corruption. ALWAYS would have been better.

I expect interesting things from Keith Ellison, first Muslim in Congress and former member of the Nation of Islam.

Larry Sabato, who I see on the news practically predicted the exact amount of Republican losses in the house has a round-up and explanation of past mid-term results. Seems like the 2006 results are average in that there have been much smaller and larger turnovers historically since WWII.

I'm glad the abortion ban in South Dakota failed.

I think it will be much more fun blogging over the next two years as I "speak truth to power" :-)   My prediction - Rush Limbuagh's ratings will skyrocket.

Once a slut, always a slut. Classic.

Meanwhile, a judge in Los Angles has thrown out Spears' lawsuit against Us Weekly, ruling the pop star cannot be defamed by published rumors that she and Federline had made a sex tape and were worried about its release.

Superior Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole said Spears has "put her modern sexuality squarely, and profitably, before the public eye" and it would be unlikely for the magazine article to be found defamatory.

The judge's decision to dismiss the $10 million lawsuit filed last year did not address whether the October 2005 story was true or false.

"The issue is whether it is defamatory to state that a husband and wife taped themselves engaging in consensual sex," Cole wrote in the decision issued last week. "The backdrop against which this issue must be addressed is that the plaintiff has publicly portrayed herself in a sexual way in her performances, in published photographs and in a reality show."

Oddly enough - Spears and her husband just announced their divorce.  Didn't see that coming.  Not.

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Tomorrow afternoon, Mercury will cross the face of the sun.  But don't look at it, or you'll go blind or something.  I wonder if it can be seen against a relatively safe-to-look-at sunset sun.

The story about the gang of Jewish kids who beat up a Pakistani in Brooklyn continues to fascinate me.  For the life of me I just can't imagine a group of religious American Jewish kids beating anyone up for now reason at all, and actually less so as part of a racial/religious attack.  If anything, it's usually the Jewish guys from Brooklyn who are on the receiving end of this stuff (worse actually), as far as I know.

Now they say that aside from the five teenagers they arrested they may be looking for five more.  I've read some Jewish blogs in the past few days that claim that one or more of the boys are from broken homes, the attackers were the ones who called 911 and wondering why the attackers waited around for the police to come to the scene.  Assemblyman Dov Hikind seems to defend them somewhat here, but not every Orthodox person is happy with Hikind's reaction.

The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee condemned the attack. Now the Council on American-Islamic Relations is getting involved.

It's all very strange.

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Remember this?



Thomas Friedman of the New York Times has the same question.  (Apparently it's free access week at TimesSelect so that conservatives like me can have access to the truth.)

Let Karl know that you think this is a critical election, because you know as a citizen that if the Bush team can behave with the level of deadly incompetence it has exhibited in Iraq — and then get away with it by holding on to the House and the Senate — it means our country has become a banana republic. It means our democracy is in tatters because it is so gerrymandered, so polluted by money, and so divided by professional political hacks that we can no longer hold the ruling party to account.

It means we’re as stupid as Karl thinks we are.

I, for one, don’t think we’re that stupid. Next Tuesday we’ll see.

Of course he's wrong, because roughly half of us will still wind up voting Republican.  I mean, 41% of us voted for a second term for Jimmy Carter whose list of economic and foreign policy successes was pretty damned short.  Were those people stupid?  Fuck you, Friedman.  While you and Lou Dobbs bitch and write books about how we're outsourcing millions of jobs, our unemployment rate is as low as it's been in 40 years.  Shmuck.

Colleague John Tierney has a message for Mr. Friedman, even if it's not meant to directed at him specifically:

You can always find a group online to affirm your brilliant opinions. It’s immensely satisfying, but it can also make Election Day a miserable experience. Tonight, you can’t help noticing how many ignorant people out there disagree with you.

Touché.

Trailer and TV ads for "For Your Consideration", the latest film from the creators of Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.



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Does anyone else out there just want all this election stuff to be over with already?

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I love this from RedState.  Who said it?  Borat or the Virginia Democrat?

Do you think women should be educated? Is it not a problem that women have a smaller brain than men?
-Borat

"And I have never met a woman…whom I would trust to provide those men with combat leadership."
-Jim Webb, US Senate Candidate

"If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this."
-Jim Moran, (D-8-VA)

"Which gun would be best to defend from the Jews?"
-Borat

I saw Little Miss Sunshine with the wife last night. We enjoyed the movie very much, although I did think it would be a little more laugh-out-loud funny than it was. What really makes the film is not so much the script, but the visuals and the understated acting. Just about everyone (except Grandpa) expresses their emotions most intensely when, as we say, there really are "no words".

The movie is sometimes billed as a family film and conservative critic and talk-show host Michael Medved mentioned that it was a great movie as far as "family values" goes. That being said, this is definitely not a movie for kids to see (which Medved also mentioned). After a particularly long and profane tirade by one of the characters, a group of about 4 women actually walked out of theater. Maybe they should have done a little research first.

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Afterwards we went to Roy's for dinner as it was the wife's birthday the night before. Roy's (Hawaiian fusion focusing on seafood) is a pretty fancy place with pretty fancy prices. The restaurant is literally minutes from our house, we pass it at least a couple of times every day and it's a little weird that we haven't tried it once in over four years of living here. The food and the service was superb and I would definitely go back.

When we made the reservation, I told them it was a special occasion, which I also did at Maggiano's the previous night when it actually was the wife's birthday. All they give you is an extra mini-dessert and a candle, but hey, it's something. I wonder how many days before and after an actual occasion can you morally state that you're celebrating something so that you can get a free dessert.

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When I turned on the TV this morning, the only network that had full coverage of the Saddam Hussein verdict was Fox. They showed celebrations in the Shia nighboorhoods and protests in the Sunni neighboorhoods. I even saw Dan Rather being interviewed about his pre-war interview with Hussein from February 2003. Maybe that's not enough of a fair reporting job for some folks, but it was practically the only reporting. All CNN was showing was some taped footage of Saddam surrounded by cheering supporters from before the war and other news shows were doing fluff or election pieces. Sorry, but for this story Fox was the only game in town. Glenn at Instapundit made the same comment earlier today, but I thought it first, I swear.

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Both Pew Research and ABC/WaPo show dramatic shrinkage in the lead that Democrats have in the generic "which party would you vote for polls". If it were one outlet, it could be an aberration, but two? There's a similar Gallup poll expected out tonight.

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Whoever you are and whatever your politics - VOTE TUESDAY. I will not tolerate bitching afterwards, especially from Democrats who were so sure of victory. Nancy Pelosi is already saying that if her party loses it can only be because of voter fraud. Not good sportsmanship at all. Or as they say in football, if the fact that you lost came down to a bad call or a missed pass, but you played miserably for most of the game's 60 minutes, you deserve to lose anyway because you shouldn't have even been in the position where you could lose. Don't tell me you couldn't work with this.

Next week, I'll start attending another Chabad-led series of weekly classes from the Jewish learning Institute. This one is called You Be The Judge. The topics that will be discussed are the enforceability (or not) of immoral contracts, what should happen when objects are abandoned and how do we distinguish creative opportunity from crass opportunism, among another things.

I made a decision earlier this year that Chabad won't be my synagogue of choice, but these educational opportunities to delve into Jewish texts just aren't offered in the Conservative movement and I'm happy to support them.

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I splurged on a bracelet for my wife's birthday tomorrow. I know she won't be happy about the money I spent because we're looking at some big expenses in the near future and my long-term job situation is a little shaky, but dammit she deserves something nice.

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That a Rabbi of a New York City synagogue can be this unaware of the Arab/Muslim position on Israel is frightening and goes a long way towards explaining why there is still a "peace camp" in the Jewish community.

Muslim-Jewish Dialogue Hits Unbreachable Wall

In soaring rhetoric, host Rabbi Marc Schneier of the New York Synagogue and Imam Omar Abu Namous of the Islamic Cultural Center urged that Jews and Muslims should put aside conflicts and reach out to each other.

But after Rabbi Schneier and moderator Joel Cohen pressed him on why more Muslims don’t speak out against Islamic extremism, Abu Namous, leader of New York’s largest mosque, unleashed a barrage of criticisms against Israel, at one point even questioning its legitimacy.

“It demonstrated how far apart we are and opened my eyes to the reality that we have a long way to go,” Rabbi Schneier said after the event.

This is the same imam who was fired as a chaplain to the NY Fire Department after he said that he tended to believe theories that the September 11 attacks were a conspiracy designed to further US interests. 

And here's the usual well-written piece by David Harris of the American Jewish Committee regarding Israel and the situation in Gaza.

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From the Jewish Press of all places, something for Democrats to do when they're watching the election returns next week.  It's Sudoku, just use the letters in the word DEMOCRATS instead of the numbers 1-9.

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I didn't know about this - I join the ADL in condemning a group of Jewish teens who were arrested for beating up a Pakistani man in Brooklyn the other day.  Assholes.  There's WABC video here, although I don't know how long it will be up.  I have to admit though that it seems odd to me that a huge group of Jewish kids would beat up an older, non-religious Pakistani guy in a mixed neighborhood just for the hell of it.

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I had no idea Red Auerbach was Jewish. Not that I thought of him as anything else, I just didn't know.

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Tomorrow I'll be seeing Rabbi Daniel Gordis speak.  he's the author of some really great reads such as "If A Place Can Make You Cry" at my girls' school tomorrow at lunchtime.  That and the fact that it's the wife's birthday mean I'm taking the day off.  Dinner tomorrow night at Maggiano's after services - can't wait to sample the pickings from their fall harvest menu.

Seymour Hersh - If Americans knew the full extent of U.S. criminal conduct, they would receive returning Iraqi veterans as they did Vietnam veterans, Hersh said.  “In Vietnam, our soldiers came back and they were reviled as baby killers, in shame and humiliation,” he said. “It isn’t happening now, but I will tell you – there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq.”

Hersh is promoting an argument that Americans are evil.  The theme travels across both generations and presidents.  That's all there is to it.  It's not so much the evidence that he presents which bothers me (and I'll believe it when I see it), it's the lack of perspective and the broad brush he uses to paint our whole society as worse than anyone else's.  He thought that when our fighting forces consisted of a lot of drafted young men and he thinks that when we have a volunteer army which probably has more women and older men with families than previously.

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A reporter at my alma mater's newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian, has a rather unpleasant experience covering Democrat candidate Bob Casey.  I think the communications director needs to a copy of How To Win Friends and Influence People.

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A Hamas spokesman is given propaganda space in the New York Times and several readers write back - "Are you kidding?"  Except the one from France of course, where Muslims and non-Muslims live in peace and harmony.  Not.

This is not a paid advertisement, but I have to say I'm loving the idea of the new Blockbuster Total Access deal where you can now swap your finished internet-rented movie for a free replacement at any physical store while you wait for your next movie to arrive in the mail.  I was on the simple plan for $9.99, so if I'm efficient I could probably see 20-25 movies a month.  It's almost free!

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Just to show I'm not a corporation-hugger, the wife and I had a miserable experience at Home Expo Design with regards to a potential kitchen remodeling.  The only positive thing I have to say is that I feel lucky they refunded our non-refundable deposit.

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Speaking of kitchen remodeling, my secretary and his partner are redoing their kitchen pretty much on their own and have I have a tentative acceptance for them to come over to dinner some time soon to tell us their home improvement war stories.  The funny thing is, I feel totally comfortable inviting an openly gay couple to my home for dinner (and when they were younger we visited my gay cousin and his partner), but I still don't want my children to get their knowledge about gay couples/families from school or TV and I wouldn't take them to the Gay Pride Parade.
I want us to be able to discuss the issue (if it ever even comes up) and do it myself at our own pace and having them get to know real people so that when they grow up it will be like "Oh, are they gay?  What's the big deal?".

I think I'll avoid the whole issue of their relationship and introduce them as mommy and daddy's friends though.  I mean I wouldn't invite our neighbors over and say "Girls, these are the Christians! They're different than us!"

On the list of safest American cities, Dallas ranks 338th out of 371.  Plano, right next door, is 41st.

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Proof that not all Republican-led governments need to be big spenders. New York State will have a surplus of  over $1 billion this year and has a reserve of $3 billion.

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John Yoo is a former employee of the Justice Department and is best known for his memos which became rather notorious as he advocated the possible legality of torture and that enemy combatants could be denied protection under the Geneva Convention as a means of diminishing legal challenges regarding war crimes.   He has written a book, “War by Other Means” which is criticized in a NY Times review today.

..he has written a book that reads like a combination of White House talking points and a partisan brief on presidential prerogatives — a book that is strewn with preposterous assertions, contorted reasoning and illogical conclusions. He writes that “because of our aggressive policies post 9/11, al Qaeda is no longer the threat it was.”

Now of course, I would argue that an organization that has been able to carry out exactly zero attacks against us for over 5 years could be considered somewhat of a lesser threat.  But let's go to the opening statement of the recently declassified NIE document which the left has used as a tool to prove that we are losing the War on Terror.

United States-led counterterrorism efforts have seriously damaged the leadership of al-Qa’ida and disrupted its operations;

Wouldn't that make them less of a threat?  Especially when "seriously damaged" is a euphemism for killed or captured. Or is that preposterous, contorted and illogical?  I understand that the document goes on discuss the overall threat of jihadi terror which is changing and may even get worse overall, but Yoo's statement as presented above is factually correct.

Republican Michael Steele of Maryland has produced a very personal video ad response to those who accuse him of not supporting stem cell research.