It's not quite an invasion - AP has the latest.
AJ did an excellent analysis of the situation earlier today.
Read the rest of this post...
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Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Cynthia McKinney only up by half a percentage point in her primary election
It would be such a pity if she lost. According to the AJC it will likely be a run-off.
UPDATE: She's definitely in a run-off on August 8th. Read the rest of this post...
UPDATE: She's definitely in a run-off on August 8th. Read the rest of this post...
Israel may send ground troops into Lebanon
From AP:
Israel declared Tuesday it was ready to fight Hezbollah guerrillas for several more weeks and possibly send ground forces into Lebanon, raising doubts about international efforts to broker an immediate cease-fire in the fighting that has killed more than 260 people and displaced 500,000.Read the rest of this post...
Despite the diplomatic activity, Israel is in no hurry to end its offensive, which it sees as a unique opportunity to crush Hezbollah. The Islamic militants appear to have steadily built up their military strength after Israel pulled its troops out of southern Lebanon in 2000.
No surprise, gay marriage amendment fails in House
On the other side of Capitol Hill, the GOP continued their pandering to the theocrats:
The vote was 236-187 with one member voting "present," a slight improvement over the last House vote just before the 2004 election but still 46 short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance a constitutional amendment.Nothing like gay bashing to occupy the time of Congress. Read the rest of this post...
Open thread
Joe just phoned in, he's in Philly at the airport. Say hi if you're in the area :-)
Read the rest of this post...
The gift that keeps on giving
And for the record, this is not the man-whore-who-must-not-be-named. At least that's what he told Page Six the other day - no one has ever proven that this is him. Nor that the other 8 (or was it 9?) online hustler profiles we found are him. Uh huh.
Do not click this link at work. This link is rated R, seriously.
And do read the entire Page Six link, there are actually two NY Daily News stories about our boy. He's irrelevant at this point, I'm just posting this for a bit of fun, but also this serves as excellent insight into how tragic the closet really has been to gays who call themselves Republican. Not just in terms of how messed up he is, but also how messed up gay Republicans must be to consider this guy their representative. I mean, seriously, you guys can't do better than a self-loathing hooker? Read the rest of this post...
Do not click this link at work. This link is rated R, seriously.
And do read the entire Page Six link, there are actually two NY Daily News stories about our boy. He's irrelevant at this point, I'm just posting this for a bit of fun, but also this serves as excellent insight into how tragic the closet really has been to gays who call themselves Republican. Not just in terms of how messed up he is, but also how messed up gay Republicans must be to consider this guy their representative. I mean, seriously, you guys can't do better than a self-loathing hooker? Read the rest of this post...
Bush personally blocked Justice Dept. lawyers from investigating warrantless domestic spying program
This is getting into Nixon territory, having the president of the United States personally obstruct an investigation into his own possible wrongdoing.
Now it seems that even Bush's own administration is not trusted by Bush. So who is competent to provide checks and balances for this president - not the congress which is controlled by Republicans, not the courts which are supposedly "activists" who supposedly "don't get" how important September 11 really was, and now we learn that even Bush's own internal administration watchdogs are not considered "safe" enough to keep an eye on this president and his excess.
So at what point does this president's power stop? We now learn, at no point. Bush has created an imperial presidency, a dictatorial presidency, and no one in government - a government controlled by Republicans - is even willing to stand up and remind George Bush that we live in a democracy where he does not have the final word on right and wrong.
This is what the Republican vision is for America? It's high time Republicans took off their partisan hats and realized what their glorious leader has done to this country. He has created their worst nightmare of an all-powerful, unchecked federal government. And conservatives couldn't care less, because conservatives in America no longer apparently believe in anything.
And they wonder why so many of us left the Republican party. Read the rest of this post...
Now it seems that even Bush's own administration is not trusted by Bush. So who is competent to provide checks and balances for this president - not the congress which is controlled by Republicans, not the courts which are supposedly "activists" who supposedly "don't get" how important September 11 really was, and now we learn that even Bush's own internal administration watchdogs are not considered "safe" enough to keep an eye on this president and his excess.
So at what point does this president's power stop? We now learn, at no point. Bush has created an imperial presidency, a dictatorial presidency, and no one in government - a government controlled by Republicans - is even willing to stand up and remind George Bush that we live in a democracy where he does not have the final word on right and wrong.
This is what the Republican vision is for America? It's high time Republicans took off their partisan hats and realized what their glorious leader has done to this country. He has created their worst nightmare of an all-powerful, unchecked federal government. And conservatives couldn't care less, because conservatives in America no longer apparently believe in anything.
And they wonder why so many of us left the Republican party. Read the rest of this post...
The Middle East: Bad strategy all around
The hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah continue unabated, increasing the instability (and casualties) in Israel, Lebanon, and beyond. What began as tit-for-tat retaliatory actions quickly escalated into a full-scale conflict, and the endgame is still very much up in the air. The strategic implications of the events of the past week are myriad, but virtually none of them appear to benefit any nation or group for which I have any affection.
The conflict between Israel and Lebanon, I should note, is fundamentally different from that between Israel and the Palestinians. In the midst of a complicated regional and political situation, I think some observers are unfairly linking those two separate situations. Criticisms of Israel that are fair with regard to Palestinians are less persuasive with regard to the situation in Lebanon. There is no “legitimate” resistance from Lebanon against Israel, insofar as Israel does not occupy any part of Lebanon (having unilaterally withdrawn from southern Lebanon in 2000). Hezbollah is not a Palestinian group, nor is it immediately associated with Palestinian interests. The stated goal of Hezbollah is to eliminate the existence of Israel. One cannot equate Hezbollah with Hamas, structurally or politically. Both are terroristic political organizations that attack Israel, but there are marked differences.
Hezbollah is a Shia group supported by Iran and Syria. It is a movement with over 1 million estimated supporters, but it does not have the support of a majority of the Lebanese population, and although it has representation in Lebanese parliament, it is a decidedly minority party. Lebanon has not been able to satisfy the requirements of multiple U.N. resolutions requiring the government to take control of the southern part of the country, which has been essentially ceded to Hezbollah control. When Israel withdrew in 2000, it had a reasonable expectation that Lebanon would get Hezbollah under control, and that Hezbollah’s legitimacy would decrease since Israel no longer occupied any part of Lebanon. Lebanon has not managed to control Hezbollah since then; rather, Syria was the nation with the most control over Hezbollah, an influence which waned considerably when Syrian troops were forced out of Lebanon in 2005.
In contrast, Hamas, which still is absolutely a terrorist organization, is the fairly elected governing political party of the Palestinians, who do have territory occupied by Israel. Hamas is a Sunni group, and it is not significantly managed by other states (though other Arab nations do provide some funding).
The current conflict is between Hezbollah and Israel, and in this fight Israel has more legitimacy than some give it credit for. This position is further supported by the remarkable and unprecedented recent reactions from other Arab states, which have criticized Hezbollah rather than the usual approach of blaming everything on Israel. A decent analogy is (the old) Afghanistan, a sovereign nation wherein a terrorist group operated with impunity. Virtually everyone agreed that the U.S. had the right to invade Afghanistan to get at al-Qa’ida because the Afghan government wouldn’t (and really couldn’t) control them itself.
The method of retaliation, however, has erased some of this legitimacy, and the attacks against Lebanon’s infrastructure and economy are morally questionable to say the least. While I understand the goal, Israel is going about it the wrong way, punishing too many of the wrong people. I'm not convinced that Israel's actions are appropriately matched to its strategic goals. Hezbollah, of course, remains morally repugnant, and continues to indiscriminately fire missiles into civilian areas.
But I’m not an ethicist, nor am I a moral philosopher. My greater concern with this situation is the apparent lack of strategy on the part of Israel, Lebanon, and the U.S. Each could end this conflict relatively quickly, and, in my estimation, the first one to take that initiative will end up the political “winner.”
Israel could cease attacks, pull back, offer aid to help restore the civilian infrastructure destroyed and demand that Lebanon and the U.N. rein in Hezbollah. Israel isn’t going to completely destroy Hezbollah, which is both huge and decentralized, and it can’t effectively control southern Lebanon (see: 1982 – 2000), so I don’t see a solid strategic endgame for them in the attacks, other than to provoke Lebanon to control Hezbollah. Israel could claim mercy and self-restraint if it pulled back now (or soon), and it might be able to parlay the Arab irritation with Hezbollah into better security and involvement with Lebanon. Conversely, continued attacks against Lebanon (rather than Hezbollah specifically) will only increase popular Lebanese support for the group that most stridently criticizes Israel . . . even when that group helped cause the conflict in the first place.
Lebanon could move its army, such as it is, into the southern part of the country, which it has long ceded to Hezbollah control. It could claim that it was finally going to take care of the Hezbollah problem, and although its military would likely be reluctant to fully take on Hezbollah (much of the army is Shia and probably sympathetic to the Hezbollah brethren), it could at least assert some authority. Israel would be heavily pressured to pull back, because the last thing it would want to do is start a war with Lebanese regulars, especially by accident. Lebanon would look competent and assertive (for the first time in forever) and would gain international appreciation for trying to take care of a long-standing problem. On the other hand, if Lebanon continues to abdicate responsibility for Hezbollah, it’s hard to blame Israel for taking matters into its own hands (against Hezbollah if not against Lebanon as a whole).
Finally, the U.S. could (and should!) throw its weight around. A negotiated settlement would probably relieve all parties at this point. Israel has got to be wondering what, exactly, it thinks it can accomplish with the total isolation of Lebanon, and anxiously contemplating the prospect of reoccupying southern Lebanon, which didn’t work for 20 years and is unlikely to work now. Lebanon is worried about total collapse, either through a no-confidence vote and new elections (which would almost certainly favor Hezbollah at this point) or from economic disintegration. Syria and Iran are wary about a very pissed off Israel and a perhaps freelancing Hezbollah. Comrade Putin’s diplomatic endeavors notwithstanding, the U.S. is the only nation with the ability to influence all parties, but we’ve apparently abandoned this opportunity. The refusal to negotiate with many of the parties (including Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria) is foolish, but we should still be able to effect an end to the violence, which is hurting our interests significantly through distracting attention from Iran’s nuclear progress and, even more importantly, by inciting Shia fury in Iraq. Unfortunately, our delusional Commander in Chief seems to think this is really all about Syria.
So . . . who will be the first to make a smart strategic move? It’s times like this I wish I was still reading the behind-the-scenes information, ‘cause with the public information available, it’s impossible to tell. Read the rest of this post...
The conflict between Israel and Lebanon, I should note, is fundamentally different from that between Israel and the Palestinians. In the midst of a complicated regional and political situation, I think some observers are unfairly linking those two separate situations. Criticisms of Israel that are fair with regard to Palestinians are less persuasive with regard to the situation in Lebanon. There is no “legitimate” resistance from Lebanon against Israel, insofar as Israel does not occupy any part of Lebanon (having unilaterally withdrawn from southern Lebanon in 2000). Hezbollah is not a Palestinian group, nor is it immediately associated with Palestinian interests. The stated goal of Hezbollah is to eliminate the existence of Israel. One cannot equate Hezbollah with Hamas, structurally or politically. Both are terroristic political organizations that attack Israel, but there are marked differences.
Hezbollah is a Shia group supported by Iran and Syria. It is a movement with over 1 million estimated supporters, but it does not have the support of a majority of the Lebanese population, and although it has representation in Lebanese parliament, it is a decidedly minority party. Lebanon has not been able to satisfy the requirements of multiple U.N. resolutions requiring the government to take control of the southern part of the country, which has been essentially ceded to Hezbollah control. When Israel withdrew in 2000, it had a reasonable expectation that Lebanon would get Hezbollah under control, and that Hezbollah’s legitimacy would decrease since Israel no longer occupied any part of Lebanon. Lebanon has not managed to control Hezbollah since then; rather, Syria was the nation with the most control over Hezbollah, an influence which waned considerably when Syrian troops were forced out of Lebanon in 2005.
In contrast, Hamas, which still is absolutely a terrorist organization, is the fairly elected governing political party of the Palestinians, who do have territory occupied by Israel. Hamas is a Sunni group, and it is not significantly managed by other states (though other Arab nations do provide some funding).
The current conflict is between Hezbollah and Israel, and in this fight Israel has more legitimacy than some give it credit for. This position is further supported by the remarkable and unprecedented recent reactions from other Arab states, which have criticized Hezbollah rather than the usual approach of blaming everything on Israel. A decent analogy is (the old) Afghanistan, a sovereign nation wherein a terrorist group operated with impunity. Virtually everyone agreed that the U.S. had the right to invade Afghanistan to get at al-Qa’ida because the Afghan government wouldn’t (and really couldn’t) control them itself.
The method of retaliation, however, has erased some of this legitimacy, and the attacks against Lebanon’s infrastructure and economy are morally questionable to say the least. While I understand the goal, Israel is going about it the wrong way, punishing too many of the wrong people. I'm not convinced that Israel's actions are appropriately matched to its strategic goals. Hezbollah, of course, remains morally repugnant, and continues to indiscriminately fire missiles into civilian areas.
But I’m not an ethicist, nor am I a moral philosopher. My greater concern with this situation is the apparent lack of strategy on the part of Israel, Lebanon, and the U.S. Each could end this conflict relatively quickly, and, in my estimation, the first one to take that initiative will end up the political “winner.”
Israel could cease attacks, pull back, offer aid to help restore the civilian infrastructure destroyed and demand that Lebanon and the U.N. rein in Hezbollah. Israel isn’t going to completely destroy Hezbollah, which is both huge and decentralized, and it can’t effectively control southern Lebanon (see: 1982 – 2000), so I don’t see a solid strategic endgame for them in the attacks, other than to provoke Lebanon to control Hezbollah. Israel could claim mercy and self-restraint if it pulled back now (or soon), and it might be able to parlay the Arab irritation with Hezbollah into better security and involvement with Lebanon. Conversely, continued attacks against Lebanon (rather than Hezbollah specifically) will only increase popular Lebanese support for the group that most stridently criticizes Israel . . . even when that group helped cause the conflict in the first place.
Lebanon could move its army, such as it is, into the southern part of the country, which it has long ceded to Hezbollah control. It could claim that it was finally going to take care of the Hezbollah problem, and although its military would likely be reluctant to fully take on Hezbollah (much of the army is Shia and probably sympathetic to the Hezbollah brethren), it could at least assert some authority. Israel would be heavily pressured to pull back, because the last thing it would want to do is start a war with Lebanese regulars, especially by accident. Lebanon would look competent and assertive (for the first time in forever) and would gain international appreciation for trying to take care of a long-standing problem. On the other hand, if Lebanon continues to abdicate responsibility for Hezbollah, it’s hard to blame Israel for taking matters into its own hands (against Hezbollah if not against Lebanon as a whole).
Finally, the U.S. could (and should!) throw its weight around. A negotiated settlement would probably relieve all parties at this point. Israel has got to be wondering what, exactly, it thinks it can accomplish with the total isolation of Lebanon, and anxiously contemplating the prospect of reoccupying southern Lebanon, which didn’t work for 20 years and is unlikely to work now. Lebanon is worried about total collapse, either through a no-confidence vote and new elections (which would almost certainly favor Hezbollah at this point) or from economic disintegration. Syria and Iran are wary about a very pissed off Israel and a perhaps freelancing Hezbollah. Comrade Putin’s diplomatic endeavors notwithstanding, the U.S. is the only nation with the ability to influence all parties, but we’ve apparently abandoned this opportunity. The refusal to negotiate with many of the parties (including Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria) is foolish, but we should still be able to effect an end to the violence, which is hurting our interests significantly through distracting attention from Iran’s nuclear progress and, even more importantly, by inciting Shia fury in Iraq. Unfortunately, our delusional Commander in Chief seems to think this is really all about Syria.
So . . . who will be the first to make a smart strategic move? It’s times like this I wish I was still reading the behind-the-scenes information, ‘cause with the public information available, it’s impossible to tell. Read the rest of this post...
DC police had address of suspect before he slashed Brit's throat in Georgetown
Gee, what a surprise. So the guy who slashed the throat of a young Englishman in Georgetown last week, and then tried to rape his girlfriend, had actually committed a crime a few weeks before, the DC police had the guy's address, but did nothing about it. So the guy stayed at large and then murdered someone. I seriously hope his family sues the DC police for millions.
When I was mugged a few years back, and the guys tried to strangle me, I ID'd the third accomplice who the muggers were hanging with while picking who to attack. He was still at the 7-11 when the cops arrived. The cops talked to him, weren't able to get him to name the kids who attacked me, so they let him go, and that was the last time they talked to him.
Like I said, the public safety institutions in this town, from the Mayor to the Police Chief, are a joke. Have been a joke for years. And nothing ever gets done about it.
But hey, a few days ago the DC City Council did vote to give the police chief a whopping 33% increase to his pension. And who says crime doesn't pay? Read the rest of this post...
The Georgetown woman said she is a victim from one of the earlier cases: She was attacked about 2 a.m. June 11 near 27th and P streets NW by three men who put a gun in her face, grabbed her purse and demanded her cellphone. She was not injured.The police had to do more surveillance? She said she could ID the guys, the cops had video of the guys committing a crime in progress by using her stolen credit card, the cops had proof that the stolen credit was used to mail goods to the suspect's address, but that's not enough to bring the suspects in for a line-up. Again, do you get what I'm telling you about how corrupt and inept things are in this city?
About a week after she was robbed, the Georgetown woman said, she got a letter from her credit card company notifying her that her card was used to order an item being shipped to the 2700 block of Robinson Place SE.
The item was ordered from a company that sells male-enhancement products. The woman said she alerted the police, figuring the information would lead to the robbers.
Police responded by telling her they could not get an arrest warrant without first doing surveillance at the apartment building and then conducting a lineup to determine whether she could identify suspects. She said she was sure she could identify her attackers and was waiting for a call from the police.
Instead, she said, on July 9 she saw the faces of the men who robbed her flash across a television screen because they had been arrested in Senitt's slaying.
In addition to the address she provided, police also had surveillance video of the suspects from a camera at a gas station, where the suspects apparently used a credit card taken in another robbery, the Georgetown woman said.
When I was mugged a few years back, and the guys tried to strangle me, I ID'd the third accomplice who the muggers were hanging with while picking who to attack. He was still at the 7-11 when the cops arrived. The cops talked to him, weren't able to get him to name the kids who attacked me, so they let him go, and that was the last time they talked to him.
Like I said, the public safety institutions in this town, from the Mayor to the Police Chief, are a joke. Have been a joke for years. And nothing ever gets done about it.
But hey, a few days ago the DC City Council did vote to give the police chief a whopping 33% increase to his pension. And who says crime doesn't pay? Read the rest of this post...
Tuesday morning open thread
Good morning from hot, sticky and un-air conditioned Paris. What's happening this morning?
Read the rest of this post...
45 killed in another Iraq street market bombing today
Today the suicide bombing was at a street market in the Shia holy city of Kufa. Besides the high number of dead an additional 60 are reported wounded. Is this what the administration and Blair see as an improving situation? How are Iraqis killing Iraqis explained any other way besides civil war?
Read the rest of this post...
Bruce Gordon is correct
And I think this applies for just about anyone, not just the black community. It's tempting to shrink into the victim mentality but it only ends up empowering others and ultimately does more harm than good. I've picked up a few tidbits from his keynote address at the NAACPs annual meeting and am impressed with what I am hearing.
I have not followed Gordon much so I don't know where he stands on many other issues, but in my opinion he is right on the money with these keynote address issues. Read the rest of this post...
"We may not have all the power that we want, but we have all the power that we need," Gordon said. "All we have to do is believe it and use it."Besides telling African-Americans to give up their "victim-like thinking" he is also telling them to put their money where their mouth is and support or not support businesses that are uninterested in working with the black community. It's not always easy and being in agreement on everything is hardly realistic, but I agree and try as much as possible to support businesses who at least try to support my overall ideals.
I have not followed Gordon much so I don't know where he stands on many other issues, but in my opinion he is right on the money with these keynote address issues. Read the rest of this post...
Java tsunami claims over 300
I was hoping that the initial reports of just a few dead would hold but it unfortunately looks like the tsunami that hit Java yesterday was much more deadly than initially reported.
Read the rest of this post...
Bush gives female German Chancellor uninvited neck massage at summit
At first I thought this was just weird. Then I looked at the photos and the video. The chancellor looks rather surprised at someone suddenly touching her neck from behind. This is sexual harassment in any other workplace, isn't it? And it's rather inappropriate behavior for any man, let alone the president of the United States at a summit with foreign leaders.
You'll find the photos and video on this page - photos by clicking the left-hand box, video by clicking the right-hand box.
(Hat tip to DocStrangelove.) Read the rest of this post...
You'll find the photos and video on this page - photos by clicking the left-hand box, video by clicking the right-hand box.
(Hat tip to DocStrangelove.) Read the rest of this post...
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