STAUNCH MODERATE

#  Moore Lies: The bleats of liberals are getting louder, what with the problems in Iraq and, now, the release of Michael Moore's new Bush-bashing flick Fahrenheit 9/11. Now, they say, the truth shall be revealed.

Except the film's premise appears to be based on mistruth. I've never seen the film (few people have), but Alan Murray, a CNBC and Wall Street Journal political correspondent, has reviewed an official synopsis and compared it to reality. Unsurprisingly, Michael Moore's version of reality differs.

Alan Murray gives his account in his May 11 column in WSJ. I can't link to the story, because the paper requires a subscription. But I'll go ahead and link to a site that violates WSJ's copyright and reposts the entire article for free:

The film explores, among other things, President Bush's "close personal friendships and business ties with the bin Laden and Saudi royal families" and culminates "in the decision to allow bin Laden family members to fly out of the country days [after Sept. 11, 2001] without FBI questioning." Mr. Moore makes the same charge in his book, "Dude, Where's My Country?" "While thousands were stranded and could not fly," he writes, "if you could prove you were a close relative of the biggest mass murderer in U.S. history, you got a free trip to gay Paree!" This would be a shocking charge . . . if it were true. But it isn't.

The Saudi flights -- including "Air Laden" -- have been investigated exhaustively by the 9/11 Commission, which carries no water for the resident. Staffers found that there were indeed six chartered flights, carrying 142 people, most of whom were Saudi nationals, which left the U.S. between Sept. 14, 2001, and Sept. 24, 2001. But contrary to Mr. Moore's claims, not one left until after commercial airspace reopened and normal flights resumed. Moreover, the Federal Bureau of Investigation screened all passengers to ensure that no one of interest to various terror investigations was aboard.

[...]

The bad news is that in today's freewheeling media environment, consumers seem increasingly unable to distinguish truth from fiction, news from polemic, reality from fantasy. The danger isn't that people won't see Mr. Moore's film. The danger is they will see it . . . and believe it.

Alan Murray publishes a report in WSJ every Tuesday. He's become a favorite of mine ever since he declared himself to be a "Raging Moderate" who is fed up with both the Republican and Democratic parties. Yes, our numbers are growing.

#  Time for Gaiety: Hundreds of gays are now getting married in Massachusetts. Yet, somehow, the world has not ended. And I believe we can share in the joy of lifelong couples getting the legal rights and recognition of their relationships -- just like every other American can -- without getting smote. Then we can learn that gay marriage is not a threat, but that it can be a reaffirmation of the importance of lifelong commitment and dedication that marriage is meant to represent.

#  News Update: Conservatives are claiming media bias again. This time they're saying the news media is suppressing stories about the Nick Berg execution, which would help Bush, and is overplaying stories about the Abu Ghraib abuse scandals, which seems to be hurting Bush.

Well, speaking as a journalist who strongly favors Bush's actions in Iraq, let me explain why the Abu Ghraib scandal is more newsworthy than Nick Berg.

Think about it this way: What have we learned from Al Qaeda's televised brutal execution of a 26-year-old American? We now know that Al Qaeda is a brutal terrorist organization that will kill innocent people and will attempt to lie and to distort public perception with ineffective and unbelievable propaganda. Is this new to anybody? Probably not. Al Qaeda has fit this description for some time.

But in the prisoner-abuse scandal, we've learned that Americans are mistreating Iraqi prisoners. Sure, these prisoners are terrorists, murders, and other run-of-the-mill scum of the earth. But the abuse was against the law, and was morally reprehensible.

And we're learning new things every day. Right now the U.S. government is trying to portray the abuses as the result of a few overzealous soldiers run amok. But that can't be true. Evidence indicates that higher-ranking officers ordered the excessive interrogation to get info on future terrorist attacks. And even if the abuse wasn't ordered, any soldier who is in charge of prisoners of war should have been given extensive training in Geneva Convention regulations.

That's not to say that the news media is doing a stellar job covering the Nick Berg execution and its fallout. News organizations are trying to paint it as a failure of the Bush administration. Remember, the murder isn't Bush's fault, it's Al Qaeda's fault. Plus, we need more coverage here. And it seems that Al Qaeda's propaganda video backfired -- Americans are now more committed to the war on terrorism as a result. Also, there appears to be utter hypocrisy among Arab governments. I applaud Colin Powell's condemnation of Arab leaders for not denouncing the murder.

But, first and foremost, I want my news media to act as a watchdog over my government. Let's not rush to implicate anyone without just cause. In the mean time, there are plenty of questions to be asked.

#  Swing State Update: Saw a John Kerry commercial in New Hampshire. It was much better than the slew of Bush's attack ads that I've seen. Kerry's was upbeat, optimistic, hopeful. That's a nice message, especially in this era of bad news.

#  Yet Another Trip: This time I'll be in New Hampshire for the rest of the week. Enjoy yourselves.

#  WTF? Syracuse is changing its team name from the Orangemen (and Orangewomen) -- to just the Orange.

This isn't the first time Syracuse changed its team name for politically correct reasons. Up until the 1970s, the mascot was the Saltine Warrior -- but it was changed because of the racial overtones. No, the name didn't offend white people who thought they were being called crackers. The Saltine Warrior represented a member of the Iroquois tribe, and Native American groups were none too pleased.

Now Syracuse joins Harvard (Crimson) and Stanford (Cardinal) as the only teams named after colors. Actually, Stanford was once the Indians, but changed the name to be politically correct as well. Someday, maybe all sports teams will change their names to bright, lovely colors that don't offend anyone -- except rational people.

#  Band of Brothers: The Iraqis are fighting back against Al Sadr, and the radical Shiite is agreeing to disarm. This just shows that the U.S. can gradually pull out of Iraq and let the Iraqis run their own country. We'll always be there for support, and this mission will ultimately be a success.

#  No Love in Virginia: Andrew Sullivan points out that Virginia (the state where I currently reside) has gone above and beyond the usual discrimination against homosexuals and has outlawed any private contract that would confer the legal benefits of marriage to a gay couple. While this is blatantly discriminatory, it's also most likely unconstitutional.

What's really sad is that the bill was passed by a veto-proof majority. But a group is organizing a boycott of tourism and commerce that has to do with Virginia. I can't boycott where I live, but I can vote accordingly. And gay rights issue has just become priority number one for me when it comes to state and local elections.

#  Undivided Attention: So far, I'd say, the Bush administration has handled the prisoner abuse scandal as well as could be expected. Bush has apologized. Rumsfeld has apologized. And we're beginning the court martial hearings.

Of course, many folks are calling for Rumsfeld's ouster. I don't buy that. I'm disappointed by his earlier inaction, but getting rid of Rumsfeld seems more political than practical.

Now that we're taking care of this problem, let's focus again on our true enemy. Al Qaeda has now released video of the severed head of an American hostage -- as punishment for the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners.

What America did to the Iraqi prisoners was horrible. But it wasn't anywhere near as horrible as what Al Qaeda keeps doing. And remember, they have been this awful long before we ever invaded Iraq. So don't fall for their propaganda. But let's not feed it either. We can take the high road and win this war at the same time.

#  Flip Flop: Polls change every day. And each day we get a new story predicting who's going to win. Oddly enough, the story always picks the candidate who's ahead in the polls that day.

We've got six more months, people. Relax.

#  Never Satisfied: Of course, bad economic news sends the stock market tumbling. However, good economic news also sends the stock market tumbling.

Why? Because investors are terrified that improvement in the economy will persuade the Fed to raise interest rates. But the problem isn't that interest rate hikes would hurt the economy. In fact, rates are insanely low and should be brought up to a moderate level. The problem is investors believe that other investors will see potential rate hikes as a bad thing, so they sell.

It's times like these that it's important to remember that the Dow, Nasdaq, and all those other funny names just reflect the value of a few stocks, not the strength of the economy.

#  Swingin': My reporting trip once again took me to a swing state, this time Pennsylvania. The TVs in the background kept playing Bush ads trashing Kerry over and over and over again.

I still have yet to understand the effectiveness of negative ads. Yeah, I have a problem with Kerry being a waffler and weak on defense, but hearing that accusation ad nauseum doesn't strengthen the point. In fact, it weakens the effect. I start to think that Kerry can't be all that bad, and that the Bush campaign is most likely exaggerating its case or taking something out of context.

Most importantly though, the tone of the ads are depressing. Bush is an incumbent. He needs to talk about what he's done and what he's going to do. If all he has are some trumped up charges against Kerry, then that doesn't exude confidence.

The ads should convey optimism. Instead, I hear a president on the defensive and who seems scared of his upstart challenger.

#  Another Trip: I've got another reporting trip. Enjoy the rest of the week.

#  Do the Right Thing: Amid all the uproar over the prisoner-abuse scandal, let's remember to put it in perspective. It's nothing compared to what Saddam Hussein's regime has done. It doesn't come close to what terrorists are doing to hostages from America and other countries.

I know the Arab street is outraged by the images of the Iraqi prisoners. But I don't remember hearing their outrage when burnt American bodies were pulled through the streets and hung from bridges among cheering Iraqis. I don't see them condemning the terrorists who blow up busloads of innocent victims, including children, in Israel and other parts of the world. I don't see the shock in their faces when terrorists recruit kids to carry out suicide bombings.

The United States is condemned for taking pictures of naked people, while the United Nations elects the Sudanese to a spot on the Human Rights Commission, despite presence of slavery and genocide in their country. Then the Sudan has the balls to criticize us.

The U.S. soldiers who committed those terrible acts will be punished. That just shows how the United States, the lone superpower, holds itself to a much higher standard than most of the world.

#  $25-billion more: I'm happy that Bush is seeking extra money to help our troops fighting the war on terrorism. But I can't help but notice how political this maneuver is.

Seeking even more money after the controversy surrounding the original $87-billion is sure to raise some tempers among Democrats. But that puts the issue of the war squarely in the midst of political debate in time for the election -- and Bush wins on that issue.

What will be really interesting is to see how John Kerry votes. He's voted for the war, then spoke out against the war, voted against the funding, then spoke out about the lack of funding. Will he vote for the $25-billion before he votes against it? Sen. Kerry will be scrutinized no matter what he does. I wouldn't be surprised if his presidential campaign schedule prevents him from being in the Senate the day of the vote.

#  Gory Television: The last thing we need is another 24-hour news network. But Al Gore's proposal has the potential to do some good.

Young adults have not been courted by the political process. Instead, government has been focussing on expanding Medicare, providing prescription drug coverage, and other programs that primarily help old folks. The arguably most important segment of our population, the one that does the most work and on whom our future depends, is being practically ignored. And a news network that focuses on a young-adult audience could give the political clout this demographic needs.

However, I'm skeptical that WGOR TV will succeed. It's tough to attract young people, especially if the topics are boring. There has to be a coolness factor, and Gore doesn't seem cool -- even to old people.

Plus, it will be difficult for Gore's network to shake any perceived liberal leanings. And that can limit the effectiveness of a network. Despite some of the good reporting Fox News does, some people reject it because they view it as a conservative mouthpiece. Gore's network is already being branded liberal, and it hasn't even gone on the air yet.

But I wish Gore luck with his endeavor. This could be a chance to create a news network that's provocative and influential that can get a neglected segment of our population back into government and politics.

#  Damage Control: It's good that Bush is realizing the gravity of the prisoner-abuse scandal and has agreed to personally make an appearance on Arab TV. But I suspect even that won't quell the anger that those pictures surely cause. We're going to have to publicly rebuke and punish the American offenders. Then all we can do is hope that the outrage sufficiently lessens.

While the instances of abuse aren't indicative of the character of all our armed forces, I believe this is more widespread than has been initially admitted. What concerns me is the soldiers who were guarding and interacting with the prisoners weren't told ahead of time how to treat the Iraqis. That is a major failure of higher officers in the military, and the responsibility rests on their shoulders.

You wouldn't send a soldier into battle who isn't properly trained on not only battlefield tactics but also the rules of warfare. By the same token, you don't give prison responsibility to a grunt who hasn't been taught that abuse is illegal and won't be tolerated.

I've never served in the military, but I can imagine it's psychologically tough at times to distinguish right from wrong. You're job is to kill your enemy to protect yourself, your friends, and your country. To do that, you have to dehumanize your enemy to a certain degree in order to maintain your own sanity.

That's where officers should come in and set strict guidelines of what's appropriate and inappropriate. Apparently, somebody in the high ranks screwed up.

#  Real Problems: Militarily, we've been dominant in Iraq. But we've slipped a bit in the perception game. Lately the United States has been perceived in the Middle East as both weak and cruel -- a terrible combination in that region.

The prisoner-abuse scandal is inciting anger among Arabs. We're going to need to crack down hard on any wrongdoing to salvage any shred of credibility. Fortunately, Bush is at least talking tough to start things off.

I'm also worried about the Iraqis' perception of our pullout from Fallujah. From a military standpoint, it made sense to withdraw our marines and put in an Iraqi security force. We've toppled the regime, so we don't need to keep pounding away at the Iraqis. We just need to make sure security is maintained.

But many of the insurgents have interpreted our withdrawal as a victory. That message is emboldened by the seemingly ineffective Iraqi security force that is meant to take over. However, so long as the radicals in Fallujah don't gain excessive power in Iraq, their protests could be negligible.

Yet I'm afraid this is a bad turn of events in postwar Iraq. Some people have been harping on every uprising and every terrorist attack to paint Bush as incompetent. I've never bought any of that. We defeated Saddam Hussein handily a year ago. Now we're continuing our fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorists who are entering the country. This fits perfectly with our larger war on terror, which will take awhile, and we can definitely win.

While the latest events have been a hard hit for us, we're still on the offensive and we're still winning. This is just going to make a difficult job even harder. But we're more in danger of defeating ourselves than of losing to our enemies. This is nothing we can't handle. The war will take patience and perseverance.

#  Mass. Executions? Even Massachusetts is considering bringing back the death penalty. I guess it says something that a state with among the most stringent gun laws and a ban on capital punishment still suffers from murders and other crimes. It shows that we still are a long way from understanding the root cause of crime. And until we do, we're going to have to deal with it the only way we know how.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for rehabilitation. But we have no idea how to effectively rehabilitate anyone reliably. Until we do, we still have to punish murderers and other criminals.

#  UNSCAM: There have been some rumblings about this on the blogosphere, but not much in the mainstream news. The Washington Times has a broad piece about how the countries that opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq were the ones apparently profiting from the U.N. oil-for-food bribery scandal.

Even if all the allegations prove true, that doesn't necessarily mean that the governments of these countries were purely looking to protect their under-the-table deals when they voted against the war. But it is a factor, and it undercuts their credibility. Most of all, the scandal gives us another indication how terrorists, dictators, and other governments are intertwined and self-supporting. Allowing such corruption to continue puts lives in danger. And removing a dictator like Saddam Hussein is akin to killing a cancerous growth that was weakening the world body and letting terrorists thrive unchecked.

#  Hearts of Men: The abuse of the Iraqi prisoners by American and, now, British troops is a reminder that there are no true good guys. Each and every one of us has the capacity for evil as well as the capacity for good. We are all individually responsible for our own actions. But the environment that surrounds us influences our decisions.

America has remained a great country and has accomplished so many wonderful things because our freedom and democratic principles compel us to do good and act as a watchdog over evil and corruption. We are far from perfect, and we've made mistakes, but our contributions to this world mostly uplift people and provide help.

In places like Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, goodness is trampled by tyrants like Saddam Hussein and wannabe tyrants like Osama Bin Laden. Only by changing the culture can the good of the region smother the evil and terrorism that brews there.

Our soldiers did not act according to American ideals. Fortunately, the reaction from Bush, Kerry, and all others who have viewed the sickening display have been the same -- disgust. And I am confident that the perpetrators will be punished appropriately.

This will surely hurt our already low standing among the Arab world. But nobody said this mission was going to be easy. Overall, we're still doing the right thing, and we will succeed.

#  Wuv. Twue Wuv: I don't always agree with Tom Toles, but he is the best political cartoonist there is. And this cartoon is right on the money.

#  Great Minds: Unfortunately, we journalists are addicted to cliches and tend to overuse them. And, even more unfortunate, we tend to use the same ones over and over. Case in point, both The New York Times and The Washington Post used a version of the "If a tree falls in the forest" cliche for their coverage of Bush's secret testimony with the 9/11 commission.

Here's Alessandra Stanley's lead in The Times:

If an important meeting takes place in the Oval Office and there are no television cameras to record it, did the meeting matter?

And here's Howard Kurtz's lead in The Post:

If a sound is made behind classified closed doors, does anyone hear it?

But you won't see any of that here. I avoid cliches like the plague.

#  Just Say No: The man who dreamed of opening a university bearing Ronald Reagan's name just got his idea vetoed by Nancy Reagan. Terry Walker, president of the short-lived Ronald Reagan University, never bothered asking the former president's family if it were okay to use the man's name. Instead he publicly announced his intention to open the institution, only to be embarrassed by the equally public refusal.

#  Sigh: Now Donald Trump wants to start a talk radio show. He wants to blather about media, the entertainment world, and politics.

I don't listen to talk radio, except for NPR's Morning Edition. Conservatives took over the medium as a way to rail against the supposed "liberal media", and that's fine. Then liberals felt like they had to compete in the talk radio market -- which is strange, but no biggie.

Now Trump is feeling like we aren't paying enough attention to him, despite his constant presence on TV and news. I don't know if he has anything interesting to say, but I have no desire to find out either.