the talking dog
AUGUST 2002 POSTINGS
|
August
31, 2002, East Hampton, NY.
Well, another bad day for the Indonesian Chamber
of Commerce, as a
gunman
kills 3, including 2 Americans, near a copper mine in
Indonesian New Guinea. We're
sorry to hear about the loss
of musical great Lionel Hampton
as well, at age 94. And
in the "you're never REALLY sure about your well
thought out position department", we have the
Clintons telling us to "go easy" on possible
Iraq invasion.
I guess if a unilateral attack on a foreign
nation DOES NOT involve deflection of criticism from
lying under oath about workplace sex, then we'd better
be CAREFUL about it.
Well, I'm on record vis a vis the current Iraq
war plans; the Clintons, as always, are making me bite
my tongue... Finally,
for some of our readers (notably Unqualified
Offerings and Mrs. TD) who are in any way offended about
yesterday's post vis a vis Jackie Mason and Ray Hanania
(and for the record, for those who believe your TD's
barrage of bad jokes was "bigoted and
unfunny", all I can say is that you left out
mean-spirited and crass -- and by the way, the line
about the Gaza strip WAS INCREDIBLY FUNNY), let me just
offer the following:
Jackie's record as a racist and bigot, and more
importantly, a JERK goes back a long way, be it making
fun of Ed Sullivan, or referring to ex-mayor David
Dinkins as a "fancy schwarze with a
moustache". My
criticism of Jackie regarding THIS incident has little
to do with whether or not I consider him a bigot; his
record is not only clear, he has resurrected his career
on this basis. That's
the free market of ideas -- be it for him, or for a
certain talking dog. MY
criticism of Jackie is that his dismissive treatment
(sending out his manager/wife to wimp out, and then
LATER to say that the concern was Hanania's lack of
experience) is UNPROFESSIONAL.
In your TD's book, that is the most damning
criticism I can level (especially for the likes of
Jackie Mason, who the odds predict is infinitely more
rich and famous than your TD will ever be).
Had Jackie delivered the monologue I offered, he
would have been considered, perhaps a bit offensive and
insensitive (Don Rickles anyone?), but this event would
have gone unnoticed, except perhaps for the laughs
and/or groans of his audience.
Instead, we literally get an international
incident. Similarly,
Mr. Hanania is not JUST a Palestinian American -- he too
is a fascinating case study, as shown by this
and in this
example of his writings
demonstrating that this ain't no babe in the woods.
Among other things, I PARTICULARLY like this
screed by funnyman Ray: In
addition to its policy of murdering anyone it does not
like, Israel's Nazi-like government is also engaged in a
policy of murdering the truth, too.
And, they are very good at it.
You can't get away with a lie unless you have two
things in place:
First, you have to impose controls on the media
in the area of the conflict, which Israel has done by
banning reporters from covering areas where its soldiers
are on a blitzkrieg-like rampage, shooting civilians.
Second, you need to have a news media that
doesn't care about the truth, which is the dominant
attitude of the mainstream American news media.
People like MSNBC's Alan Keyes, for example, who
asserts that "there is no occupation" in
Palestine, and a list of commentators who enjoy the
gratuity of the Israeli lobby like NPR's Linda
Gradstein.
(Both Gradstein and Keyes are making more
"cents" than sense these days.)
With these two factors in place, the Government
of Israel can say whatever it wishes, and it is reported
like fact.
And, each lie adds to the impact of the
subsequent lie.
For example, the Israeli Government is asserting
that "Palestinian gunmen" have
"occupied" the Church of the Nativity.
The truth is that Palestinians who are resisting
Israel's assault have taken refuge in the Church of the
Nativity and nearly every other building in the region.
But the Israeli point is to touch a nerve with Christian
Americans, who are so naive about the reality of the
Middle East they will swallow anything they are fed. So
Ray, Jackie would have been more than justified to tell
you to go to hell, just for that article; a
Google search of the rest of your writings shows a
wide variety of views:
that, in some cases, some people (like Jackie, or
the 75 year old Jews that typify his fans) might not
appreciate.
Contrary to what you would like us all to
believe, you are NOT what I would consider to be a more
typical Palestinian-American (or for that matter, anyone
of Arab-American descent), i.e., someone who just wants
to be left alone! Unfortunately,
we can probably conclude that since Mason's announcement
did not mention that Ray was arguably an apologist for
terrorists, we can conclude that this was not why he
canned Ray, and as noted above, I think that's probably
right: most likely, Jackie is a jerk who canned Ray out
of pure bigotry, and that's too bad.
Because Ray deserved better.
By my book, at least two minutes worth better.
August
30, 2002, New York, New York.
Wow.
In the world of missed opportunities, what can I
say about Jackie Mason's stupid,
bigoted decision not to let Ray Hanania open for him
in Chicago because Ray is a PALESTINIAN-American. Your
TD confesses that he sort of respected Jackie M.'s work
(particularly as the voice of the Aardvark on the
companion cartoon to The Pink Panther), but now, as far
as I'm concerned, Mason can go on the entertainment
scrap-heap with Zsa Zsa (she thrust herself onto the
scrap heap after making fun of handicapped members of an
audience in Philadelphia). Worst
of all, Mason missed a fabulous opportunity, one which
your TD WILL NOT WASTE.
THIS (or something like it) IS THE ACT JACKIE
MASON SHOULD HAVE PUT ON IN CHICAGO: Ladies
and gentlemen, Ray Hanania.
It does me good to see that there is hope for the
world that I, a big Jew, can have Ray, of Palestinian
descent, open for me.
Ray, come here, let me give you a big hug.
Whheeeww.
Thank God, ladies and gentlemen, he's clean!
Ray, I usually don't say this to my opening acts,
but Allah be praised that you DID NOT BOMB on stage
tonight!
Hey
--
you at that table -- don't all of you know its Haraam to
drink -- and those pork rinds -- don't get me started!
But I will hold off on issuing a fatwa against
you all if you tip the infidel waiters generously!
And don't think you can hide behind that burqa --
we know who you are!
Ray
--
how about that Yasir Arafat -- what, with the 1.4
billion dollars.
My regrets to Prime Minister Sharon, but with
that kind of money, this guy is not irrelevant!
He REALLY DID have a nickel for every time
someone called him a terrorist!
And what's with that thing on his head?
He couldn't pick a better restaurant than PIZZA
HUT to steal his shmatta from?
With all your money, Yasir, you could BUY
SOMETHING NICE for your head!
And what's with the beard?
Either grow it out, or shave it.
With $1.4 billion, the man can afford a barber!
Am I right, ladies and gentlemen?
I mean, the Ringo look looks good on Ringo, and
Ringo is a friend of mine.
Yasir Arafat, you're NO Ringo Starr.
Ladies
and gentlemen, Ray is a NATURAL for this business.
He's the only guy I know to work the Vegas Strip,
the Sunset Strip, AND the Gaza Strip!
So, what's with Saddam Hussein? I hear he's a
gas!
And
Ray, what's this I've been seeing with those horrible
pictures of little Palestinian kids with bombs strapped
on.
I saw one, the kid's shirt said "Mom and Dad
went to Jenin and all they brought me was this lousy
exploding belt!".
I mean, with parents like that, does the kid have
a chance?
I say we accuse those parents of collaborating
with the Zionist entity! Well,
Ray, I know you want to go back stage and wash the camel
shit off yourself, and make plans to blow up my
synagogue, so let's give him a big hand!
Ray Hanania, folks, he'll be here all week except
for Friday and Ramadan! August
29, 2002
,
Your
TD listened to an AMAZING array of reports on the radio
this morning, on a combination of a "classic rock
station", and the local affiliates of CBS and
National Palestine Radio (NPR).
The classic rock station made fun of the
plaintiff in a case from Reno, Nevada, whereby the
plaintiff Derek
Henkle alleged he was harassed and/or hazed in high
school for being gay,
and school officials did nothing about it other than to
blame him (the station, of course, played an interview
with an effeminate sounding young man, whom they
proceeded to CONTINUE mocking!) This
mocking by radio personalities immediately brought
thoughts of the St.
Patrick's Cathedral incident,
where, aside from the two CONSENTING ADULTS being
arrested (and probably facing real jail time), resulted
in pretty much the sacking of an entire radio show (and
suspension of many of the station's staff) and, OF
COURSE, the intervention of FCC Chairman Michael Powell
(yes, he is Colin's son) to bayonet the bodies in the
name of the President's "base". Note
what Cardinal Egan's Church seems to be all upset about:
consenting adults (who hurt NO ONE)
"defiling" its HOLY PREMISES.
Imagine if the Church brought 1% -- just 1% -- of
the vehemence it has shown in the case of
"defiling" its BUILDING, to bear against those
miscreants responsible for destroying countless lives
THROUGH RAPING CHILDREN, and ESPECIALLY holding those in
the Church hierarchy to account (yes, Cardinal Law
shouldn't still be a priest, let alone a cardinal, and
YES, serious consideration should be undertaken as to
whether CRIMINAL CHARGES should be brought against the
"see no evil when it’s done by priests"
Church hierarchy; you know: criminal facilitation,
accessory after the fact-- that sort of thing).
Much as the "pledge of allegiance"
BULLSHIT by Congress brought the Rabid Dog out of
retirement and into his position as The
Raving Atheist,
I think the use of the FCC to strongarm a radio station,
(which to its credit has apologized and sacked all those
responsible for the distasteful, though ONLY
distasteful, incident), is, shall we say politely, A
TRUE CALL TO ARMS AS A #$$%^ VIOLATION OF CHURCH-STATE
SEPARATION THAT WE BETTER STOP DEAD IN ITS TRACKS NOW! As
to CBS and NPR, I was listening to reports that This
story
(with
thanks to blogger and featured link Mark
Byron)
was ACTUALLY the subject of the NPR story that drove me
nuts: Zambia
refusing USA aid of food because the aid might include
genetically modified food which, despite over 5 years
and millions of AMERICANS eating it without apparent
consequences, may actually result in the EU later
refusing Zambia's own exports because of its truck with
GM food now!
So go ahead and let 2 million plus people starve
to death for the sake of political correctness at home,
and in I
am reminded of the Saudi clerical police who murdered 15
girls at a burning school by ordering them back into the
burning building because they came out without their
head scarves (by the way -- is there any reason we
should leave that country standing?
I can't think of any.
And the Bush family ties with the Saudi royals do
not give me reason for confidence in EITHER regime.)
I am also reminded of the first comments made by
Mohammed Atta's father back in Face
it The
other thing I heard on the radio that got my bile up was
a recent decision in Nanny
employers backed up by the nanny state. The
nanny state, ladies and gentlemen. It
will be here all week, all month, and forever, until we
tell it to back the hell off and let us kill ourselves
in peace! August
28, 2002
,
And
so a sonnet from the talking dog, The
Talking Dog
has had a real tough year, Don't
forget to check out Unqualified
Offerings, your TD's "sort of on vacation"
blog home, and the rest of our great recommended links.
August 27, 2002, Brooklyn, New York. We continue the blogosphere equivalent of the "emergency medical holograph", by sending our continued heartfelt thanks to your TD's home away from home in bloggerland, Unqualified Offerings. The Kennedy's go to Hyannis, the Boston Symphony goes to Tanglewood; this summer season, the Talking Dog goes to... Unqualified Offerings. Your TD's brilliant assessment of Saddam's redeployment (i.e., "Abdul, its time for the human shield bit again!)? Its on UO. TD's assessment of the perfidious podiatrist of Pinellas County? UO again. You get the idea...
August
26, 2002, New York, New York. Welcome
readers, to an extremely abbreviated "the editor is
out of town on vacation leaving the stupid techno-phobe
talking dog in charge of dealing with Frontpage and
related issues" edition. In short, I picked a
bad week to give up Prozac. OUR HEARTFELT THANKS go out to your TD's home away from home in bloggerland, Unqualified Offerings, for agreeing to put up your TD's post today (the funny one), and (we hope) the rest of the week (this web page stuff-- its just too damned complicated for us lawyer types!) . For those of you who are STILL READING (instead of linking over to UO LIKE I TOLD YOU TO!) its onto the news: the White House has decided, according to this report from easy-to-spell CNN, does not believe it NEEDS Congressional (let alone UN) approval to launch a war against another sovereign state (though it does think "Congress should be consulted and kept in the loop".) Am I alone on this? Has someone not read Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the constitution? Its sure starting to look like one either believes in the constitution, or does not. One gets the feeling that our current executive branch is picking a side on this one (and your TD is NOT convinced the Administration is "with us".) Elsewhere in bloggerland, some, such as the great Professor Reynolds of Instapundit) are rooting for the "Impeach Mineta" movement. Let's just say that in a cabinet featuring Tommy "Mr. Anthrax" Thompson, Paul "Clueless" O'Neill, John "No Nickname Needed" Ashcroft, the complaints of long airport lines hardly act to diminish Mineta's stature as a SUPERSTAR! Saddam is moving troops into "urban combat" position. Mesopotamean Stalingrad. Texas T (for trench warfare). Does he really think that an air force that routinely seeks legal opinions on blowing up the head of enemy forces while still being able to blow up not one but TWO Afghan weddings can be counted on NOT to blow the crap out of Baghdad ANYWAY-- human shields or not? Time will tell... August
23, 2002, New York, New York. Welcome,
welcome to our new featured links Cold
Fury and Steve
Chapman f/k/a Daddy Warblogs (we'll just call him
"Steve"). I
am duly chastened after my attempt at humor at the
President's expense regarding pre-emptive logging was
called by the Unseen Editor (speaking of our new links,
Cold Fury has something to say about the Oregon protests
regarding the President's statements; Steve Chapman also
had logging commentary:
weblog related (he suggested changing our column
width; we're always happy to try to be accommodating!) I
think, in the context of Western forest fires, I
previously said we have to try SOMETHING DIFFERENT,
preferably something that has a documented history of
effectiveness. If
increased logging does the job, so be it.
I guess the Bambi set has to realize that, at
some point anyway, the trees are pretty much going
anyway -- either in a logging operation, or in a
conflagration -- so the choice between "nature's
beauty" and "clear cut blight" is not
only often a gross hyperbole, but may be affirmatively
harmful if it mires us in inaction. Worse
than that, I fell into what I will call the "Upper
West Side" trap:
every issue must be viewed through the
stereoscopic prism of stereotype.
The President is perceived (in Blue America) as
environmentally suspect, so when he makes a statement
that can be quickly deemed "environmentally
irresponsible", I jump on it, regardless of whether
the stereotype holds.
(On the other hand, as my last evening's post
notes, thanks to the diligent reporting of The
Washington Post, the president REALLY IS more
interested in his 5K time than foreign policy, national
security, all economic issues except tax cuts for deca-millionaires
and up and just about anything else in the world with
the exceptions of pleasing his parents and baseball.) Now
that the "trillion" dollar mark has been
passed in ad damnum requests in lawsuits, hey -- let's
do it again. If
conspiring to kill thousands of Americans is worth
trillions of dollars, then SURELY junk e-mails and faxes
must ALSO be worth trillions of dollars.
America, she's such a great and powerful country
that even inanities like this won't bring her down.
Of course, I am reminded of something else.
Liberals (a club of which I was not a member back
in the '80's, based on my aphorism, if you're not a
liberal at 21, you have no heart, if you ARE a liberal
at 39, you have no money) actually thought (and many
foolishly STILL THINK) that RONALD REAGAN was the kind
of lightweight idiot more concerned with his personal
vanity than with good governance who might do something
REALLY STUPID AND IRRESPONSIBLE in the foreign policy
context and plunge us into some kind of horrible
conflagration. Thank
God we have no one like THAT running the country NOW!
TD
Evening Presidential Extra: the
Hundred Degree Club We
knew the President was in great shape, but your TD
clearly doesn't know the half of it, as reported by WaPo
here. My
favorite quote is: “If
the president of the United States can make the time,
anyone can make the time.”
Gee, I don't know, Mr. President.
The people I work for actually expect results:
they might be REALLY MAD if I took a couple of hours out
of every work day to run.
Fortunately, sir, you don't have that problem.
August
22, 2002, New York, New York. Welcome
to our newest featured link on the Dog Run, Electrolite. Our
Unseen Editor will soon be taking a well-deserved vacation across the pond; we believe we can STILL keep
this site up technically past tomorrow, but if we can't,
I guess we'll have to think about "vacation"
sites. Perhaps
Unqualified
Offerings? Or
else try any of our featured links -- as Anthony a/k/a
"Tony" de Tiger says -- dey're GRRRREAT.
Or something. (As I've said previously, though, if this site is down for
more than, say, 10 days, assume that I am in a military
brig as a declared enemy combatant, and send lawyers,
guns and money.) With
all due respect, yesterday, the Unseen Editor made an
observation on my purported hyperbolic expression of
Jewish media control as it relates to
soon-to-be-ex-Congressperson McKinney (Disney/ABC-
controlled by Michael Eisner -- A JEW; Viacom/CBS/UPN --
controlled by Sumner Redstone -- probably a Jew; NBC, a
division of the General Electric Corporation, long known
to be a Mossad front; Fox/News Corp., controlled by
Rupert Murdoch- a Jew). Apparently,
according to this from "Open
Secrets" (with thanks
to Instapundit), at least at some point, it was
MCKINNEY raising all her money out of state with her
opponent, what's her name, getting almost all HER money
in-state. As
the Instapundit updates note, there are delays in
reporting this information -- but this issue is not
NECESSARILY the usual shade of Black and Jew (just
because it satisfies an expected cliché), though late
out of state money may have been significant to the
outcome. Actually,
the UE raises an excellent point, as I torture myself to
lay sarcasm aside long enough to complete this
paragraph. As
the recent Congressional unity-lovefest to just about
unanimously condemn a LEGALLY PROPER NINTH CIRCUIT
INTERPRETATION OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL SEPARATION OF
CHURCH AND STATE WITH RESPECT TO THE PLEDGE OF
ALLEGIANCE (and by the way, Jesse Ventura is right about
the pledge: MAKING
a citizen recite the pledge, ceremonial deity included
or not, is something Saddam Hussein would do)
demonstrates, there are issues where our democracy
operates pretty much as the Soviet Politburo did.
For better or worse, American support of Israel
happens to be one of those issues (another is my current
bęte noir, bankruptcy reform).
If I were of Arab or Palestinian descent, the
fact that, as far as Congress is concerned, anyway),
Israel can do no wrong (even when it does wrong!), I'd
be kind of pissed, and would certainly seek out any
remotely friendly voice I could find in Congress.
For Arab-Americans, Cynthia McKinney was their
man (er, person).
As Unqualified
Offerings put it, if Jack Valenti can buy
Congressmen, there is no reason to deny that privilege
to others (McCain-Feingold be damned!), be they out of
state Arab-Americans, or out of state Jewish-Americans. If there is a fair criticism of McKinney, it is not that she
questioned the knee-jerk automatic support Israel
receives in the Congress, its that she is a rather poor
spokesperson for those views, and brings baggage to the
issue that a better spokesperson might not be burdened
with. Elsewhere
in the wacky world, Letting
little kids Your
TD, who has a 2 1/2 year old (Baby TD) is not sure where
he comes down on this case; obviously, it's the parent's
job to keep children safe from harm (and severe sunburn
is really nasty). On
the other hand, there seems to be no line anymore beyond
which law enforcement will not cross in the name of
SOMETHING on behalf of the all-encroaching state
(compare, e.g., "war on terrorism"; but also
see, compare and contrast another great institutional
authority, as personified by Bernard Cardinal Law, and
how IT values the protection of children.)
Tough issue.
Still, the original felony charge seemed wildly
out of line for what was probably an accident. Finally,
feeling buff from the "war cabinet" meetings,
the President now proposes HIS solution to Western
forest fires: chop
the forests down first. Nope,
I can't top that. Won't
even try. [Editor’s
Note: Possibly because you shouldn’t even try.
Here’s the money line from an
article in last week’s Economist:
“In
a strange way, America's war against fires is similar to
its war against drugs. Many
lives have been lost and a great deal of money spent
struggling against a fearsome enemy. But
too little has been done to address the underlying
causes, while a radical solution goes begging.”
Suffice it to say that their suggestions track
pretty closely with the President’s.]
August
21, 2002, New York, New York. Many
thanks for the kind words from our
new featured link Captain Scott. Your
TD notes that HIS OWN Hebrew name happens to be Shmuel,
and that he appreciates the reference to "the last
Jewish boy to listen to a Talking Dog".
Presumably, the Captain refers to David
Berkowitz, the Son of Sam serial killer of the '70's,
who allegedly heard voices from a dog.
I am reminded of a MadTV bit where the claymation
dog Goliath tells his good buddy Davey (remember that
show?) that he must "cleanse the city" by
committing murders at lovers' lanes. Well,
on the occasion of Congressperson
Cynthia McKinney's primary loss, we take this
occasion to thank key blogosphere journalists The Indepundit
and our friends at Unqualified
Offerings for their yeoman's work following up the
Congressperson's 9-11 donations from people with Middle
Eastern surnames. Of
course, the blogosphere, which as we all know, is
nothing but a vast Zionist conspiracy, obviously wanted
to "get" McKinney, because of her anti-Israel
stances (and because she's Black).
So, in alliance with Jewish interests, and using
the Jews' superior influence (everyone knows that we
control the rest of the media and the banking system)
the outspoken advocate of freedom Cynthia McKinney goes
down in defeat. [Editor’s
Note: Um,
her opponent raised well over a million dollars, much of
it from out of state, and presumably mostly from Jewish
interests. Notwithstanding
that such out-of-state support is perfectly legal, at
what point does a joke about overstated Jewish influence
cross over into “methinks thou dost protest too
much” territory?] Finally,
the President is at his ranch in Texas meeting
with the "war cabinet".
Vice President Cheney will have to sit out on
several of the sessions, which we understand include
spinning (Condi Rice is excellent at this), pilates (Don
Rumsfeld excels at these) and, of course, wind sprints
(let's just say the Commander-in-Chief rules in this
department). All
in all, a productive session is anticipated.
TD
Early Evening Laugh Out Loud Post Mohmmar
Qaddafi Remember
the UN Human Rights Commission the US of A got kicked
off of? In
a spate of poetic justice, the commission will be headed
by Colonel Qaddafi (however you spell it!).
Obviously, Idi Amin was busy.
(with thanks to Pejman
Pundit)
TD
Mid-Afternoon Congress Extra Well,
let's wish good luck to the combatants in the battle for
a Congressional seat in Georgia: Cynthia
McKinney, and the other chick. Meanwhile,
in bęte noir news, the bankruptcy bill has not been
defeated,
so
see some amusing cruelties of the new bill,
such as making evictions easier! More
to come!
TD
Mid-Afternoon Extra So,
it appears that a mere 30 years after the Munich
Olympics massacre, German
police were willing to storm something to free hostages,
in this case, the Iraqi consulate in Berlin. All
involved appear to be unharmed. Taking
hostages in an embassy in Europe where the hostages are
ARABS (and not Americans, or ESPECIALLY, Israelis).
What a strange thing to do?
TD
Noon-Time Berlin Hostage Extra CNN
reports that an Iraqi dissident group (naturally,
operating OUTSIDE of Iraq) has taken hostages at the
Iraqi consulate in Berlin.
We are assuming that they saw the "bat
signal" from the roof of the White House during its
test run, and didn't actually mean to invade Iraq (or
its consulate) THIS FAR ahead of Congressional
elections! If
you don't like the weather, or the news from Iraq, WAIT
FIVE MINUTES!
August
20, 2002, New York, New York. Welcome
to our newest links on the Dog Run, Captain
Scott, The
Counterrevolutionary and Bo
Cowgill... Busy
day here in TD land; but your TD is amazed that a report
he heard last night -- about the Administration
"debating" whether to attack an alleged al
Qaeda chemical/bio weapons lab in Iraq!
It turns out, of course, that the alleged
facility is NOT in a part of Iraq controlled by
Saddam...stay tuned!!!
August
19, 2002, New York, New York. In
all this talk of Friend
of freedom and democracy Jiang Zemin is confounding many
by wrangling to maintain his grip on control of the
People's Republic of China.
China, as you will recall, was deemed a strategic
partner – no, competitor – no, partner – no,
competitor – by President Bush in the
pre-90%-approval-rating-because-of- 9-11 early days of
his presidency, with some troubling events surrounding a
downed US aircraft.
To make matters interesting, China is
traditionally allied with (1) our new buddies in
Pakistan, to keep their large neighbor India off
balance; and (2) Axis of EvilTM member North
Korea (to keep Japan and the US off balance). Saddam or no Saddam, China could probably destroy Los Angeles
NOW if it felt like it.
In short, Saddam or no Saddam, the world will
continue to be a troublesome place.
Much as the nation is delighted to hear Dubya
talk tough when the competition is, say, Afghanistan, or
even Iraq, let's just say the President's handling of
the Chinese air craft affair was less than fully
confidence building. Good
news from Iraq? Well,
long-time Palestinian trouble-maker and terrorist Abu
Nidal (so awful that even Arafat hated him and wanted
him dead) apparently "killed himself" in
Baghdad. Of
course, if this becomes the start of a spate of high
level "suicides" in Iraq, we could only (of
course) attribute it to Saddam's chess game,
anticipating the coming attack (if it comes).
(Unless Abu Nidal was in the Saudi Royal family;
you never know!) In
other atrocity news, we direct you to CNN's unearthing
of Al Qaeda training for atrocity tapes.
Younger viewers should probably look at something
else. Finally,
we welcome our newest featured link Matthew
Yglesias to the Dog Run, and we welcome "TD the
Wonder Dog" to our home page (the guy holding the small child is
relegated somewhere else...)
August
18, 2002, East Hampton, NY. Our
friend Pooty Poot Of
course, elsewhere in the Axis of EvilTM
Russia is ALSO helping those stable, responsible Iranian
clerics build a nuclear facility. Meanwhile,
the US of A (and Western Europe) continue to crassly
under-fund the agency responsible for safeguarding the
nuclear assets and waste of the former Soviet Union, and
a group of countries (including the US of A and Japan)
are helping North Korea build their own
"peaceful" nuclear reactor. Chemical
weapons Apparently,
American officials were well aware that Saddam's Iraq
was using chemical weapons against Iranian forces during
the war between those two members of the Axis of EvilTM
during the 1980's. Frankly, this type of revelation is not good for advancing
American moral and legal authority for taking out Saddam
now. The
Saudis are pissed The
Saudis will be ESPECIALLY pissed when the plaintiffs
demand INTEREST – expressly forbidden by Sharia
Islamic law.
TD
Troubling Saturday Afternoon Extra Your
TD finds himself troubled when he is more or less in
full agreement with ANYTHING on the New York Times
editorial page (even though your TD proudly insists he
is a New York City liberal...)
So, he presents to you this
piece by former theatre critic and now proud
commentariat member Frank Rich (with thanks to Instapundit). Further
troubling is the public position of Brent Scowcroft,
suddenly questioning the coming invasion of Saddam.
If this LEGITIMATELY signals a policy change (in
Poppy Bush's mind that is), i.e., if George H.W. Bush
(41) somehow thinks that invading Iraq is a BAD IDEA,
then I would almost certainly have to reverse my
position, and call for an IMMEDIATE, ALL-OUT ATTACK ON
IRAQ -- RIGHT
NOW. Scowcroft's
statement could just be another clever Bush misdirection
designed to deflect attention from the growing evidence
that it is Saudi Arabia's government that must be
immediately removed, however, so I cannot make this
statement at this time.
Stay tuned.
August
17, 2002, East Hampton, NY. Well,
thanks to Josh Marshall for getting
right to the point regarding the president's recent
blustering speech on the $5.1 billion in proposed
spending pullbacks.
It was a really bad idea.
The firemen were REALLY upset -- and if there's
one unassailable group in post 9-11 America, that would
be them. Mr.
President, I have told you time and again:
fluids, fluids, fluids!
Texas is a lousy place to work out this time of
year, but if you must, DRINK UP!
The heat and humidity take their toll -- even on
someone in as remarkable shape as you, Sir. Kudos
to our new featured link Voice
from the Commonwealth.
V from C takes on those who would lambaste the
great Charlton Heston (not that I am immune from that,
of course), because of his NRA credentials.
Let me say a couple of things:
as to Heston, let's face it Chuck, the NRA chose
you because you are a HUGE celebrity -- bigger than,
say, Kurt Russell or Tom Selleck.
So, you get your lumps (plus, Guns and Moses is,
well, just funny.).
Let me make the more serious Second Amendment
point, though, which not only Chuck (and Kurt and Tom)
will uphold – with their lives if necessary – but
your TD will too. The
Bill of Rights is a funny thing:
if you look at the
First Ten Amendments to our Constitution, only the
Second and the cryptic Tenth involve anything
affirmative; the rest seem to be promises the government
won't break. (By
the way, in your TD's opinion, the Tenth is SO vague
that it would itself be unconstitutional were it not
part of the Constitution itself.) But
the Second Amendment gives the people themselves
something (what has been described in this column as the
"you keep your guns and we'll keep our porn"
social contract). It
gives the people ARMS: if
the government of any American polity (local, state or
national) treads too far, ultimately, it must deal with
an armed citizenry.
THIS IS A CHECK AGAINST TYRANNY.
Is it the BEST check?
No comment.
But it's in the Constitution (compare and
contrast some other "Constitutional rights"
invented by the Supreme Court NOT in the Constitution: again,
no comment). So,
my liberal brothers, GET OVER IT.
And be sensitive to Chuck: you'd
be sensitive if ANY OTHER HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITY had a life
threatening illness, wouldn't you? And
from a place where governmental tyranny is NOT unchecked
(even with, most likely, a well-armed populace!) --
Mugabe's Zimbabwe, where
80 white farmers have been arrested for not obeying
a farm confiscation law (was it like that when Steve
Hatfill was there in happy Greendale?
I wouldn't think so...)
TD Late Afternoon We
Could Not Tell You The
King Is Dead, Long Live the King.
I'm not sure what it says about the citizenry of
Earth that, (1) the late Elvis Presley seems to be
selling more records now than, well, WHEN HE WAS ALIVE;
(2) 25,000 plus people show up for a vigil at
Graceland; and (3) Elvis seems to be the number one
artist right now, in at least a dozen countries,
including Israel and Afghanistan...
It’s probably a GOOD thing that we are all
willing to be subjects to the same King. Baseball
players vote As
we (I hope) move on to a national (and preferably
international) debate on whether the Bush family's
personal feud with the Hussein family (our survey says!)
becomes a matter of military action (to rid the world of
Saddam’s ability to threaten mutual assured
destruction -- which must be carefully undertaken to
make sure that the "prophylactic" military
action itself does not CAUSE such destruction.)
It is NOT an unserious question to ask about the
aforementioned sport of baseball's propensity
for....MUTUAL ASSURED DESTRUCTION!
Why? One
very good reason. George
W. Bush WILL NOT BE CONTENT to retire into
post-presidential life as a mere big-time speech maker
and husband of a senator.
NO! Although I guess he enjoys being President (great gym
facilities at the White House), in his heart, our
President wants to be COMMISSIONER OF BASEBALL.
He loves the game:
t-ball on the White House lawn, the Andover team,
the Yale J.V., the Texas Rangers – it’s just the
man's first love. He
will have very little to look forward to (with over TWO
YEARS until the election in 2004) if major league
baseball has destroyed itself. Let's
hope these guys figure it out...we'll send in Dennis
Ross and George Tenet to negotiate with Selig and Fehr...perhaps
not... Been
to Harare, And
now for something completely different, anticipating
TD's investigative blogging, Dr. Hatfill denies ever
having BEEN to Princeton: apparently, he has CATEGORICALLY REFUSED to deny having been
to Zimbabwe. Your
TD remains angry -- very angry, indeed -- with the FBI's
anthrax investigation: pictures
of Dr. Hatfill are now being circulated in the Princeton
area. Your
TD gets the feeling that in the bizarrely politically
correct post 9-11 environment, FBI agents were
specifically under orders NOT to ask about, say, the
Middle Eastern guy in the hazmat suit who dropped
something in the mail box across from the bio
department!
August
16, 2002, New York, New York. After
reading this,
about the Central European floods that have made their
way to Dresden, don't you get the feeling someone there
is saying: sure, NOW we get floods.
No floods when we were getting our asses
fire-bombed, no
sirree, nooooo!!!!!!!
NOW we get floods. Danker. Danker
ein lot! Meanwhile,
elsewhere in my fantasy life, neo-libertarian Bruce
Springsteen announced that he had absolutely no
connection himself to the anthrax case (or any other
ongoing FBI investigations), but was joining Richard
Jewell, Wen Ho Lee and Steve Hatfill in a special
benefit concert to raise funds to fight Western forest
fires... On
this
story, of the class-action suit filed by 600 or so
relatives of loved ones lost on September 11th, your TD
has seen various accounts of claims between $1 trillion
and $100 trillion.
As, I suspect, the GDP of the planet is not quite
up to $100 trillion, I admire the creativity of
plaintiff's counsel in asking for such a figure. From
time to time, your TD (a lawyer by profession) comments
on interesting lawsuits.
In substance, of course, this case is in NO sense
frivolous: a
group of people clearly conspired (and then put their
money where their mouths were) to intentionally do harm
to another group of people. In law school, we call such a thing a "tort".
The problems with this case are, alas, more
practical in nature. So,
let me first address the "international law"
concerns: for
better or worse, private American citizens are unable to
launch massive military strikes against foreign
governments (or citizens) who cause harm to their loved
ones; their remedy tends to be limited to, alas, a
lawsuit in the United States.
[Only foreign nationals (particularly from the
Middle East) are permitted to engage in private military
type actions (i.e., if the victims of those actions
include citizens of either the United States or Israel,
or preferably, both).
Any American or Israeli who tries, or is even
accused of, such a thing will be hauled up before the
ICC at the Hague, or subject to indictment under Belgian
"universal jurisdiction".]
Anyway, here
is a pretty good analysis of suing foreign
governments. Scroling
down, you will see a mention of Stephen Flatow v. Iran
(see also this),
where the father of a victim of terrorism sponsored by
Iran, obtained a hefty judgment against Iran, but was
not permitted to execute on "diplomatically
protected" property, and thus, has what amounts to
a Pyrrhic victory.
A 1996 law (the law that greatly helped the Flatow suit)
applies to "declared terrorist" states, which
include, e.g., Libya and Iraq, but NOT Saudi Arabia or
Afghanistan. So I suspect one of two unfortunate outcomes to the lawsuit: either a lengthy jurisdictional battle over sovereign immunity, or a straight default and reliance on the fact that Saudi Arabia is not on our "terrorist" list and thus its assets may quickly be deemed "diplomatic: and thus not subject to seizure here! While it will provide some level of satisfaction to |