Don't point at the Marine, please

Newly crowned Kerry storms back on the campaign trail

Spotting a group of US Marines, Kerry, who has made his Vietnam War service a cornerstone of his campaign, went over to chat. The Marines, who all turned out to be staunch Bush supporters, were not impressed.
"He imposed on us and I disagree with him coming over here shaking our hands," one of them told reporters afterwards. "I'm 100 percent against" Kerry, he said. "We support our commander-in-chief 100 percent."

Had the Newly Crowned pointed his finger like that at me, I'd have politely requested that he wouldn't. I might have even tried the subtle handshake-imitation techinique, where one attempts a handshake to end the offensive finger pointing.

Meanwhile, while still at Wendy's John Edwards and his wife consumed junk food to celebrate their anniversary as reminder of the days when they were struggling young law clerks, before they made their fortune using junk science to win medical malpractice lawsuits.
According to Allah, while the Edwardses were in familiar surroundings, Mrs Kerry hasn't been to a Wendy's for a long time, if ever:

The Edwardses had hearty meals of burgers and fries and shared a chocolate Frosty. Teresa Heinz Kerry, apparently unfamiliar with the Wendy's menu, pointed at a picture of chili and asked the cashier what it was before ordering a bowl. Her husband had the same, along with a Frosty

The article doesn't say whether Mrs Kerry had some pommes frites/papitas fritas/patate fritte with her chili.

Later on in the day, an onlooker passed out from the heat and Vanessa Kerry, a third-year medical student, rushed to give medical assistance. No word as to whether the Newly Crowned tried his successful hamster-resucitation techinique.

Apocalypse Kerry
. . . is the title of Lawrence Kaplan's article in The New Republic (via Betsy's Page)

Indeed, he spent far more time discussing domestic policy than he spent discussing foreign and defense policy. And when he did get around to discussing the matter of our national survival, he basically took a page from the post-Vietnam playbook favored by an earlier generation of Democrats. "We shouldn't be opening firehouses in Baghdad," the candidate declared to rousing applause, "and shutting them down in the United States of America." Suggesting that Europeans won't send troops to Iraq simply because they can't stand his opponent, Kerry promised to be nicer to our allies so we could "bring our troops home." Unlike, say, in Bosnia, he pledged to go to war "only because we have to." Leaving unsaid exactly by whom and at what cost, he dedicated himself to making America "respected in the world." Finally, and without saying precisely what it is, Kerry said he knows "what we have to do in Iraq." He has a plan, you see. Just like a candidate from long ago claimed to have a plan to end a war--the war that put Kerry on the stage last night and which, for him at least, wasn't so long ago at all.

Kaplan's clearly a member of The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.
Note to Kerry:  Saying "Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response." just doesn't cut the Grey Poupon.  We have been attacked.

Playing the Blame the Americans game
Chrenkoff has an article by Hitchens Christopher Hitchens: It happened, Mr Adams, responding to Phillip Adams's article that tried to white-wash mass-murderer Saddam enough to make Bush and Blair look just as bad. Hitchens states

It is quite conceivable that this horrific fact has in itself led to some over-counting. Tony Blair, scorned by Adams, has mentioned a figure of 400,000. The late UN special representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, specified a figure of 290,000 Iraqis over three decades. (That was before the Saddamist-jihadist alliance put an end to de Mello's life by blowing up the UN headquarters in Baghdad last year, thus adding to a toll that is by the way still rising.) Bear in mind that those are only statistics of Iraqis. But perhaps Adams doesn't wish to take the word of the man who assisted East Timor to liberation, and who was sceptical of the intervention in the first place.
Very well, he can consult the still-extant UN resolution that demanded in vain that Iraq provide an accounting of what happened to the many hundreds of Kuwaiti prisoners who vanished during the illegal obliteration of Kuwaiti statehood in 1990. Or he can inquire after the hundreds of thousands of young Iranians and Iraqis who perished as a consequence of Saddam's lunatic invasion of Iran. If he wants to do Baathist body counts, I can keep him busy for the rest of his journalistic career.

Also in Chrenkoff, Médecins sans Frontières blames America first. No matter that the doctors were killed by either Taliban remnants or opium growers. It's the Americans' fault because of their "attempts to use humanitarian aid to win hearts and minds. That jeopardises the aid to people in need and endangers the lives of humanitarian aid workers ... These soldiers are often out of uniform. It's hard to know what nationality they are." The BBC News broadcast repeated the sentiment.

Likewise, this op-ed article (in Spanish) lays the blame for the March 11 train explosions in Madrid on the Americans, since "they didn't win the war in Iraq" and coudln't protect Spain from terrorists.
Since when is it America's duty to protect Spain -- a sovereign country, a democracy, with years of experience in terrorist attacks -- from terrorists, may I ask?

Not lagging behind, yesterday's France2 news (no link) interviewed two relatives of the victims of the Bakuba car bomb, who said the explosion was caused by an American rocket. Taking those two at their word, the France2 commentator (yes, commentator, not reporter) finished his report saying "the locals fear the next American attack".

Clearly, none of these people asked Mohammed as to who's to blame.

Kerryoke
Mark Steyn has lots of song lyrics from his readers, among them Old Kid In Town (sung to the music of Take It Easy), Massachusetts Mancini (Baby Elephant Walk), Fifty Ways to Flip Your Flopper (to the music of Slip-slidin' Away), and The Bossa Snooza, titled The Pol from Massachusetts (also known as The Girl from Ipanema):

Tall and gaunt and grim and dreary
The pol from Massachusetts goes stumping
And as he's speaking, each one who's listening
Goes haaaooowwuuuuhhhhhnnnn (yawn)

A reader named Catherine B sent The Kerry Mambo #5, with instructions for the dance

A note on the dance: The John Kerry Mambo is a great deal like the normal mambo, with one notable exception- each individual dancer looks around, sees what other people are doing, copies it, and then changes moves again as soon as the one copied realizes what's going on. For this reason, we recommend that the dance not be done in large groups, as chaos can result.

Kerry's not the only subject;  other lyrics include Edwards, the Wilson/Plame couple and Whoopi.
Readers are warned that Mr. Steyn has an article titled Skinnydipping With Al Gore, which brings a visual image much too difficult to grasp at this time of morning.
For the morning news, don't miss this

This is what you support
From Iraq The Model:

Yes, all we need is the will and determination to crush a company that is so close to bankruptcy but the disgraceful doings of some parts postpone it once again, like what Spain, Manilla and Egypt lately did.
What’s even worse and disgusting is that these governments smugly come and ask the admirably determined nation Australia to apologize while it’s them who must apologize to the whole world for their awful mistakes that encouraged terrorists and reassured them that their criminal tactics can work.
These countries have found excuses for terror and gave the terrorists the motives to carry on with their plans as long as these plans can make "sovereign countries" yield in front of a true criminal action.

A must-read.

20 bags of manure
Someone in Crawford Texas sent 20 bags of manure to the place where Michael Moore's movie was to be shown,

Overnight, 20 bags of composted cow manure were dumped near the spot where television crews do live broadcasts from Crawford, a few miles from Bush’s Central Texas ranch.
The fertilizer, in 25-pound bags, included a sign addressed: “To Michael Moore. One piece of Bull**** deserves another."

which apparently caused Moore to stay away, even when Moore had said he'd "bring the movie" to Crawford and had previously invited the President to see the movie.

Moore wasn't the only one missing: the NYTimes reports that "only a handful of moviegoers from the tiny hamlet of Crawford were in attendance. There appeared to be twice as many foreign exchange students from Belgium as locals."

As far as the manure goes, Crawford Police Officer Ken Jones is quoted as saying "I do appreciate the guy leaving (the manure) in the bags."

Here in The Principality a couple of years ago a woman was caught trying to steal at the Princeton Shopping Center when shoveling (unbagged) horse manure into her car trunk. Obviously Crawford is not a college town.

More on Cole Porter
Writing about De-lovely in Oh, the Songs! A trip to the moon on gossamer wings, Derbyshire encourages us

To remind yourself of, or discover, a popular culture that did not insult its consumers, go to see De-Lovely. And if the stagey conceits, gym-rat physiques, feeble dialogue, and unexplored subtleties irritate you, just relax and listen to the songs, the songs, the beautiful clever songs of Cole Porter.

He also touches on the marriage, alliteration and assonance, muscles, botox, recitativo intros, and sophistication. I agree with him: they just don't write songs like they used to.

Stem cell research
Much was made of Ron Reagan's speech last night at the Convention. I must admit that I don't watch political conventions, but read the speech. The speech is, at the very least, inaccurate, and I would say, misleading. Some have called it cruel and contemptible .

As it stands today, stem-cell research is legal in the USA, and is presently being funded through private companies and the National Institutes of Health, which, as you can read in this document, started being funded during the present administration

Through the President's leadership and the extraordinary efforts of the NIH, we are making good progress in meeting the potential of this exciting new field of science- a field that had not been federally funded prior to the President's historic address to the Nation on August 9, 2001

and the government would spend $250 million on research involving stem cells from other (non-embryonic) sources, e. g., umbilical cord, placenta, adult and animal tissues.

The prior administration had prohibited federal funding on research to support the creation of human embryos for research purposes and directed NIH not to allocate resources for such research. Currently, cloning, and the creation of human embryos solely for research purposes are prohibited; you can read more details on other limitations in the Background and Legal Issues Related to Stem Cell Research document.

A great deal of the research involves adult stem cells. There is much controversy on the use of embryonic stem cells. Many people, like myself, fully support adult stem cell research but have great misgivings on the use of any human embryonic tissue, on the use of human embryos at all, and on the ethical long-term implications.

As you can see from this last link, the research is still in its early stages and there's much promise. It is not clear yet what the advantages are of one type of stem cell over another, much less what diseases might be cured,

Currently, it is not clear whether stem cells from adult tissues or umbilical cord blood are pluripotent. The comparison of human embryonic stem cells to adult stem cells is currently a very active area in research, and one that will hopefully lead to cures for tissue degenerative diseases in the future

however, Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs), present in the bone marrow and precursors to all blood cells, are currently the only type of stem cells commonly used for therapy.

Ron Reagan's political speech (and political it is by definition, given its venue, in spite of his claims to the contrary) focused entirely on the subject of the role the Federal government might play in funding embryonic stem cell research. His dream for a cure for "a wide range of fatal and debilitating illnesses" is simply that, a dream. Cures might develop, but they are presently highly unlikely. What might come from the embryonic stem cells is unknown and unknowable at this time. Exploiting his parents' fame -- which is why he was at the Convention -- while confusing embryonic stem cell research with HSCs ("And finally, those cells -- with your DNA -- are injected into your brain where they will replace the faulty cells whose failure to produce adequate dopamine led to the Parkinson's disease in the first place") to make a political point is unforgivable.

On slavery
A friend emailed me this article, Slaves in Saudi

The unpalatable truth is that, the Ottoman and Persian empires were one of the last to abolish slavery, falling far behind their European counterparts in matters of human emancipation. Full abolition of slavery did not come until the twentieth century, with Saudi Arabia holding out until 1962. Given that desert kingdom's shameful record on this basic human right, it was no surprise to read Human Rights Watch's report and find that today's migrant workers are kept in conditions of "near-slavery."
The Muslim world is sliding backwards into medievalism, and it is time for reformers to speak openly and bravely. There is a cancer that is eating away at our soul -- a disease marked by paranoia, double standards and virulent racism. While we are in full-throated cry against abuses in Iraq and Palestine, we stay completely silent when it is Muslims who are the abusers (of both non-Muslims and Muslims).
How else to explain our outpouring of sympathy for the Bosnian genocide, but our complete silence on the ongoing genocide in Sudan? In that country's civil war between the Arab Muslim North, and the black Christian and Animist South, 2 million people have been killed to date. In a BBC profile of the hundreds of black Africans who have been raped by pro-government Janjaweed Arab militia, one victim described the attackers: "They called me Abeid (slave in Arabic)."

Fear
Ted Kennedy, last night: ", "The only thing we have to fear is four more years of George W. Bush!"
You're wrong, Ted:

(photo via the Instapundit)

Four Months
When you hear that Kerry served in Vietnam, keep in mind he was there four months, as today's Day By Day points out.

In The Principality, where the wild things are
Skunks, squirrels, deer, rabbits, chipmunks, wild turkey, geese and a dozen or so different birds visit The Principality every day, and some are aggressive. Last year a deer burst through a window of The Place To Bead, upsetting the beads and the beaders.
Now we have even more exotic fauna: Neighbors on my street have been visited by at least one fox. Last month, parents picking up children at one of the local day camps were advised that the kids had been instructed on what to do when approached by a bear (the bear had made the newspapers).
Yesterday's paper headline: Mountain lion's sightings spread to Princeton border: Reports are unconfirmed by authorities; paw print examined. Was it a mountain lion? Or is it The Principality's version of Big Foot?
I'll start worrying when The Crocodile Hunter shows up. The Husband, however, is philosophical about it: "If the mountain lion eats deer, I'm all for it".
. . . .
In other NJ news, Roberto's noticed that State bond ratings cut over 3rd year of borrowing. Money quote (ehem):

With the latest borrowing, New Jersey's bond debt will equal 7 percent of the income of all its residents, Raphael said.
"It's always been above average, but now it's getting to the high area," Raphael said, noting the average among states is 3 percent

McGreevey's telling the Convention that "there is a better way, a New Jersey way".
No way.
For more coverage of the Convention, check out protein wisdom. Who cares if it might be fake?

Now I've seen it all II:
The NYTimes has a positive story (albeit with a lot of "ifs, ors, ands, buts") on Iraq on the front page: Early Steps, Maybe, Toward a Democracy in Iraq. And that's after the July 20 story. Amazing.

Welcome Instapundit readers!
Many thanks to Mr. Reynolds for the link. And a special thank you to all visitors, new and old, to The Bad Hair Blog. Please visit often.

Three buried stories, following up on story #1
From the Wall Street Journal, All the President's Memos: Let's all see what Sandy Berger was trying to hide,

the precision with which the former National Security Adviser zeroed in on one specific document in the National Archives suggests focus, not absentmindedness.
. . . At the least, releasing the Clarke after-action report now would provide better context for weighing such ongoing political accusations as the charge that the Bush Administration's concern about Iraq was simply a fantasy of a "neoconservative" cabal.
Toward that end we can't help but note page 134 of the Commission report, which documents a proposal early in 1999 to send a U-2 mission over Afghanistan to gather intelligence on where bin Laden was hiding out. Mr. Clarke objected on the grounds that Pakistani intelligence would tip bin Laden off that the U.S. was planning a bombing mission. "Armed with this knowledge," the Commission quotes Mr. Clarke as saying, "old wily Usama will likely boogie to Baghdad." Is that the same secular Baghdad that we are told would never cooperate with Islamist al Qaeda?
The entire justification for the highly contentious exercise known as the 9/11 Commission has been to provide Americans with a full accounting of that terrible day, let the chips fall where they may. Now we learn that Mr. Berger wanted to keep some of those chips hidden. Whatever Mr. Berger's legal liabilities, the largest interest here is less what he did than why a sophisticated ex-National Security Adviser would do it. And for that we need to see what he was hiding

And please, no "sloppy" excuses.

The road to budget hell is paved with good intentions
Roberto's posting on how the NJ Supreme Court ruled that, while McGreevy's plan to borrow more than $2 billion dollars to fund his budget is unconstitutional, they're going to allow it because "they believed the legislature and the governor acted in good faith, "relying on an honest, albeit erroneous, belief that the budget properly was balanced under existing constitutional standards."
Only a NJ judge would come up with that. Meanwhile, a judge in Wisconsin has noticed the obvious: Tax Code "Incomprehensible" Without Assistance of Tax Expert, and judge Learned Hand (I kid you not!) agrees.

Love for sale
No, not the Cole Porter song, but Jacques's:

When French presidents invoke "the national interest," often as not it means they've cut a deal they'd really rather not explain. But when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came courting President Jacques Chirac in Paris last week, hoping the ever-reluctant French would back Turkey's bid to join the European Union, the cash-and-carry policymaking was right out front.
As one senior Turkish official told NEWSWEEK, the intention was to "spread a package of economic benefits" before Chirac that "France could not reject." Sure enough, Turkish Airlines announced it would purchase 36 Airbus planes worth more than $1.5 billion. Erdogan also hinted he might be in the market for France's big-ticket nuclear technology. And just as surely, after years of implicit opposition and fence-straddling, Chirac suddenly decided that support for Turkey's candidacy suits "the national interests" of France.

Of course Jacques would never get a cut from the deal . . .

Photo op? Updated

Colonoscopy hose jokes not welcome.
Update: Live long and prosper!

Melanie Phillips on Our post-moral confusion:

Such people often think of themselves as liberals. But authentic liberalism is very different. For it was at its core a moral project, based on the desire to suppress the bad and promote the good in the belief that a better society could and should be built. What has happened in recent decades is that this moral core which upholds social norms and discriminates against values that threaten them has been replaced by a post-modern creed of the left, which has tried to destroy all external authority and moral norms and the institutions that uphold them, and replace them by an individualist, moral free-for-all —the creed which has led to the moral relativism and denial of truth that lie at the core of the anti-war movement.
Where Sullivan is absolutely right is to call Bush a liberal. For in repudiating the corrupted values of both the post-moral left and the reactionary appeasers of the right, Bush has indeed exhibited the classic liberal desire to build a better society, along with the characteristic liberal optimism that such a project can and must succeed.
And this is surely why Bush is so hated by the left. For this hatred wildly exceeds the normal dislike of a political opponent. It is as visceral and obsessive as it is irrational. At root, this is surely because Bush has got under the skin of the post-moral left in a way no true conservative ever would. And this is because he has stolen their own clothes and revealed them to be morally naked. He has exposed the falseness of their own claim to be liberal. He has revealed them instead to be reactionaries, who want both to preserve the despotic and terrorist status quo abroad and to go with the flow of social and moral collapse at home, instead of fighting all these deformities and building a better society.

And, may I repeat myself, we must win the war.

More photos from Iraq
Via ¡No Pasarán!

Good news from Afghanistan, Part 2
In today's Chrenkoff and Opinion Journal. Here are a few highlights,
Upcoming elections, with women having the right to vote: "The Afghanis are growing increasingly optimistic about the future of their country and approving of its current political direction." Religious "scholars also called on people to support the government, and on religious leaders in towns and villages to encourage Afghanis to participate in the disarmament programme."
Society: "The pace of return to Afghanistan remains strong, with thousands of refugees going back daily. So far this year, we've seen some 450,000 refugees repatriate." Women are allowed to work, to walk in public, to study, and to participate in civic life.
Reconstruction: There's now an Afghan International Chamber of Commerce
Humanitarian aid: Turkey, the Coalition Forces, Operation Shoe Fly, several NGOs, and Afghanis living in the West are contributing to the reconstruction.
Security: "For the Coalition troops things seem a lot calmer than in Iraq".

The governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran are also signing a Memorandum of Understanding targeted at controlling the illegal drug trade across the region's borders. And Great Britain is providing Afghanistan with 100 million pounds funding to help combat drug cultivation and trafficking.
The UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme continues across the country.

Arthur concludes his article by saying, "Let's never forget that none of this would have been possible without the United States and allies who two and half years ago helped to bring peace and freedom to the long-suffering people of Afghanistan. Let's hope that, with the world's help, the Afghanis will now make the most of it."

"An acute sense of America's fallibilities"
. . . is the caption under Kerry's photo in this week's Economist article "Who is John Kerry?". To answer the question, the Economist points out, "Mr Kerry's politics are still undefined...His personality is ill-defined, too...Even his friends and allies provide few clues to his personality...His stump speeches are eye-crossingly dull . . . He has spent almost two decades in the Senate yet has no major items of legislation to his name" and he's "out of step with his colleagues", while

The contrast with Mr Bush is instructive. The president tends to go back to first principles. He strips each issue down to its essentials and presents arguments in black and white, right or wrong. He makes decisions easily, and moves on.

The Economist (which featured a "How to Beat George Bush" cover a few weeks ago, and the "Sincere Deceivers" cover I talked about on July 18), still pushes on for Kerry by saying,

For Mr Bush, America is always a force for good. The world, in his view, will benefit from the exercise of American power. At home, the country will thrive if entrepreneurial spirits are given free rein. The job of the president is to act on those principles. For Mr Kerry, the task is more downbeat and complex: to use the power of government to temper America's failings as well as to buttress its strengths.
It is not, in some ways, a compelling vision, just as Mr Kerry is not a compelling candidate. But this year, Mr Kerry and his message may appeal to voters who want to pause for a realistic and decent reappraisal of what their country stands for, a respite from four years of heroic, hectic and sometimes heedless history-making.

which to me, means, "you can stay the course with Bush, or you can go back to Jimmy Carter"! Or, in more practical terms, rather than drawing a line in the sand, we can stick our heads in the sand. Meanwhile, today's Day By Day,

and Ted's endorsement continue to remind me why I won't support Kerry. Never mind his rich-but-not-quite-classy wife's call for "dignity, always dignity": Minutes after telling her husband's supporters to restore a more dignified tone to politics, Teresa Heinz Kerry told a reporter to "shove it."
- - - - - - -
Update: Welcome Instapundit readers!
- - - - - -
As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... per the Watcher's instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.
. . .
Update: I'm nominated! Thank you Watcher!

HE DID IT!

Is the Pope Polish? Does the bear poop in the woods?
Is The New York Times a Liberal Newspaper?

 'Do you know who I am?'"
Apparently when F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "the rich are different from you and me", Ernest Hemingway retorted, "Yes, they have a hell of a lot more money!".  Several years earlier, Anthony Trollope had said in The Eustace Diamonds, "being the husband of a rich woman is not the same thing as being a rich man", but it all depends on how many rich women you marry, and how rich they are. Via the excellent Betsy's Page, an article, John Kerry Is Different from You and Me From You and Me: Yes, he has more money. Lots more. that sheds light on just how high-maintenance is John Kerry,

Granted staggering wealth on the basis of marriage, Kerry seems to believe he deserves it, and perhaps always has. Such, at least, is the popular perception among the voters who know him best. "One of the surest ways to get the phones ringing on any Massachusetts talk-radio show is to ask people to call in and tell their John Kerry stories," says Howie Carr, the Boston Herald columnist and radio host. "The phone lines are soon filled, and most of the stories have a common theme: The junior senator pulling rank on one of his constituents, breaking in line, demanding to pay less (or nothing), or ducking out before the bill arrives. The tales often have one other common thread. Most end with Sen. Kerry inquiring of the lesser mortal: 'Do you know who I am?'" Just For Kerry is a common Bostonian take on what his initials stand for; and a possible insight into his priorities could be inferred from his tax records for the year 1993 (when he was between wives), in which he earned $130,345 and gave exactly $175 to charity, while indulging in an $8,600 Italian-made mountain bike for himself.
. . .  How much does it take to keep John Kerry going? Let's see. Add up his wife's holdings, and divide them by two (they have no dependent children still living with them) and you come up with some interesting things. Their five very large houses are worth more than $30 million (the property taxes alone cost more than most people's houses), so it takes $20 million simply to house him. Add in the plane and the boat, and the cost of transporting and entertaining John Kerry comes to almost $16 million. Add in incidentals--the bike, the tending by Christophe, etc.--and you come out with one historically high-maintenance candidate.
Most rich people in politics have had one or two major houses, and made constant use of them. The Franklin Roosevelts spent their time at Hyde Park; the Theodore Roosevelts at Sagamore Hill. And the Kennedys were either in Palm Beach or Cape Cod, usually with a large horde of children. The Heinz Kerrys, by contrast, stay in some of their multimillion-dollar dwellings only a few weeks in the year. Most of the American political rich seem like American types, only richer, as they play in their none-too-elaborate family compounds, tossing a football, or whacking at brush. Kerry is a departure from this pattern, in the scale of his wealth, and his attitude to it. This is a republic, not the Austro-Hungarian Empire, nor even a plot from a Henry James novel. Are we really ready for a consort who seems to believe he's a prince?

A prince that's running as a democrat while living off the money of a (deceased) republican, at that. That is, when he's not using campaign funds to pay off personal loans.

Three stories the MSM will bury with all the Boston Convention fluff
1. The Berger story: Via DynamoBuzz,

In other words, according to the commission report, Mr. Berger was presented with plans to take action against the threat of Al Qaeda four separate times — Spring 1998, June 1999, December 1999, and August 2000. Each time, Mr. Berger was an obstacle to action. Had he been a little less reluctant to act, a little more open to taking pre-emptive action, maybe the 2,973 killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks would be alive today

It seems that Berger was removing documents that had his own handwriting on the margins.
2. UNScam: Via Roger L. Simon:

Central bank tracks foreign deposits
(Al-Mutamar) - An anonymous source in the Central Bank of Iraq said a number of countries, including Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and France, hid more than $10 billion. The source added they were sure of these sums, according to hard evidence related to the accounts of the oil-for-food programme. He pointed that the funds are deposited under names of people close to the former regime or under fake names. Most of the funds are in Lebanon and Jordan and are the result of corruption cases in the oil-for-food memorandum of understanding as well as agreements signed between Iraq and other countries. The Central Bank has taken legal action to restore the funds according to the Security Council resolution 1483 which states that all Iraqi funds abroad be deposited in the Iraqi Development Fund.

Via Friends of Saddam:
Engineer Confirms Iraq 'Oil-for-Food' Cash Anomalies:

"Engineering group Weir today said it had uncovered evidence of irregular payments in relation to its work for the oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
Weir said an internal review has found that £4.2 million was paid to a local agent in 2000 as part of work undertaken under the United Nations-run programme"

3.  Kerry's use of campaign funds to pay a personal loan: A friend emailed me this link, Kerry Repays Personal Loan to Campaign

Using campaign funds, Sen. John Kerry has repaid a $6.4 million personal loan that the Democratic presidential candidate used to keep his campaign afloat last winter.

I bet $5 none of these are going to be on the front page of a major newspaper any time soon.

Best blog short item of the day:
From Terry's Possumblog:
Post title: From the "Headlines Where the Jokes Write Themselves" File--Kerry to show soft side before convention
Terry's comment: You know, there are some things I can go my whole life without seeing. This is one of those things.

Steyn on Wilson, Djerejian on the NYT
Mark Steyn's been reading Wilson's book, has been going page-by-page with JOSEPH C WILSON IV LIE OF THE DAY: We read The Politics Of Truth so you don't have to!
Meanwhile, Gregory Djerejian at Belgravia Dispatch shows that in The Berger Follies: The NYT Has No Shame

Voice and Silent Running
Rick Perlstein of the Village Voice, in his article What liberal infidels will never understand about the president: The Church of Bush, thinks GWB supporters are simple-minded cultists "who never, ever are tough on him".
Silent Running's Wind Rider went through the trouble of doing a thorough fisking of Perlstein's article. One of the comments in Silent Running points to an article by Francis W. Porretto on the question of loyalty and character,

Loyalty, like so many other things, is a matter of character.
Character trumps all. I've been saying that a lot these last few months. There's never been more confirmation available to the casual observer. Character is why Bill Clinton surrounded himself with persons as corrupt or corruptible as he. Character is why John Kerry demands sycophantic deference from everyone around him, to the extent of not even allowing his running mate to answer questions put directly to him during a broadcast interview. Character is why hundreds of millions around the world mourned the passing of Ronald Reagan as an epochal tragedy. Character is why George Bush and his Administration have not one blot upon them, despite three and a half years of determined attempts to stain them by the Democrats and the Left.

Then, on the other hand, there are those (conservative or not) who believe that national security is the #1 issue, and GWB's doing the right things, and will continue doing them. Kerry's waffling, which reflects both on his character and on his view of national security, simply isn't an option.

Melanie Phillips on the UN
The united tyrants' club

The UN stands at the apex of a moral world order which is broken and bankrupt. It fuels despotism and terror, and ensures that their victims will be regarded at best with indifference and at worst demonised as villains. It is a tyrants’ club; and Sudan is its latest tragic casualty.

I agree with her 100%: We need instead a United Democratic Nations, a world body composed of states which embody democratic values.

Belmont Club on Jammers

The model that comes readily to mind is to regard Berger's escapade as a kind of information countermeasure. The most common ways to conceal information are to 1) create a decoy signal; 2) generate enough noise to blot out the underlying information; and 3) to reduce the signal of the original information which you want to conceal.
. . . As an exercise one can hypothetically regard the Plame-Wilson affair, the Richard Clarke book and Sandy Berger's bungled theft as representatives of these three kinds of information countermeasures. The first establishes a false "blip" -- the Bush Lied meme -- which misled intelligent bloggers like Oxblog's Patrick Belton for weeks as he followed this phantom echo. The Richard Clarke book can be considered a noise barrager type of countermeasure. It was for the most part a big sound and light show laced with ominous drumrolls with nothing behind it. When the time came to set Clarke's book against Condoleeza Rice's testimony at the 9/11 hearings there was curious lack of collision, as might be expected once you got past the boundary generated by a noise jammer. Berger's attempt to stuff codeword classified documents into his pants and socks looks like signature-reduction exercise on its face. It was an attempt to excise information; to create a stealth object which could pass through unnoticed.
. . .The significance of catching Sandy Berger in the act of purloining classified couments is that it enables investigators to "home-on-jam", to find the beneficiary of the coverup

He concludes by saying, "Remember that jamming needs to work just long enough for the real bandit to accomplish its mission".

Hit parade
Back when I was a kid they used to play a top-40 songs program on TV called "Your Hit Parade". The emcee was a guy named Alfred D. Herger who eventually became a shrink, and his kids took over the teen show business.
Now we have a hit parade of Sandy Berger-inspired tunes:
One from Day By Day

and one version of Crocodile Rock from Viking Pundit
(Don't miss Viking Pundit's post on the Boston Pizzeria while you're there!)

Lance Armstrong wins 17th stage

Yup, he won the 17th stage

Another dry run?
From a story from the Washington Times, Scouting jetliners for new attacks, talks about the Jacobsen story, a Feb. 15 incident on American Airlines Flight 1732 from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, and other incidents:

The pilot confirmed Mrs. Jacobsen's experience was "terribly alike" what flight attendants reported on the San Juan flight.     He said there is "widespread knowledge" among crew members these probes are taking place.     A Middle Eastern passenger attempted to videotape out the window as the plane taxied on takeoff and, when told by a flight attendant it was not permitted, "gave her a mean look and stopped taping," said a written report of the San Juan incident by a flight attendant.     The group of six men sat near one another, pretended to be strangers, but after careful observation from flight attendants, it was apparent "all six knew each other," the report said.     "They were very careful when we were in their area to seem separate and pretended to be sleeping, but when we were out of the twilight area, they were watching and communicating," the report said.     The men made several trips to the bathroom and congregated in that area, and were told at least twice by a flight attendant to return to their seats. The suspicious behavior was relayed to airline officials in midflight and additional background checks were conducted.     A second pilot said that, on one of his recent flights, an air marshal forced his way into the lavatory at the front of his plane after a man of Middle Eastern descent locked himself in for a long period.     The marshal found the mirror had been removed and the man was attempting to break through the wall. The cockpit was on the other side.
. . .  Recent incidents at the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport have also alarmed flight crews. Earlier this month, a passenger from Syria was taken into custody while carrying anti-American materials and a note suggesting he intended to commit a public suicide.     A third pilot reported watching a man of Middle Eastern descent at the same airport using binoculars to get airplane tail numbers and writing the numbers in a notebook to correspond with flight numbers.     "It's a probe. They are probing us," said a second air marshal, who confirmed that Middle Eastern men try to flush out marshals by rushing the cockpit and stopping suddenly.

Was the Jacobsen incident a dry run?  As Michelle Malking put it, Better a false alarm than a flaming plane.

One question, updated
For a good fisking on the Berger story, here's Balloon Juice.
Sandy Berger admits (through his lawyers, of course) that

• He had walked out -- unintentionally, he says -- with important papers relating to the Clinton administration's efforts to combat terrorism
  
• He had also taken 40 to 50 pages of notes during three visits to the Archives beginning in July
  
• The documents that Berger has acknowledged taking -- some of which remain missing -- are different drafts of a January 2000 "after-action review" of how the government responded to terrorism plots at the turn of the millennium

So my question is, isn't it time he's prosecuted?
UpdateBelgravia Dispatch takes the NYTimes to task. Roger L. Simon's paying attention to the clues

Versions of the millenium review supposedly had handwritten notes from Clinton-era officials... hmm... Now that just about puts the kibosh on the idea that these documents were merely copies, doesn't it?. . . And some of the copies are still missing.
Was Berger spending all that time rummaging through those documents, taking them out of the building twice, etc., to find and get rid of one or two or three notations scrawled in the margins?

Meanwhile the Democrats are going on TV saying "Sandy was sloppy", "we haven't heard his explanation yet", etc. What they don't want us to realize is, as Hugh Hewitt puts it, "Every "copy" is an original if a note has been made in the margin". No amount of sloppiness can cover that fact.

"It motivates me more than anything. It puts a little fuel on the fire." UPDATE
I watched the France2 news last evening and saw Lance Armstrong speed up L'Alpe D'Huez.  It was hazardous and not pretty.  For some reason the Tour de France organizers don't keep the crowd away from the cyclists, there were nasty graffiti on the road, and hostile spectators.
Armstrong won the stage because of his skill, and because of his mental toughness
UpdateHe just won the 17th stage.

Orbiting Galileo
Dr. Richard North at EU Referendum has a most interesting post on the nature of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Galileo satellite positioning and navigation system.

Once again, the European Space Agency (ESA) is lying about the nature of its Galileo satellite positioning and navigation system, denying its military potential and applications, which could have serious threaten global security and already present a direct threat to United States interests.
In a press release yesterday, the ESA reported details of the implementation Galileo, claiming that the "development and in-orbit validation phase is well under way". But what is striking about the release is the egregious claim that "the first completely civil satellite navigation system is moving forward".
This is an utter and direct lie. This is not a "completely civil satellite navigation system".
As I wrote in my recently published Bruges Group paper this system is unavoidably "dual use" and has important – and potentially dangerous military applications

Salient points of Dr North's  paper Galileo: The Military and Political Dimensions:

• Although designed primarily for civilian applications, Galileo will also give the EU a military capability
  
• The move to exploit the military potential comes not from the military or governments, but from industry wishing to capitalise on the "significant commercial opportunities opening". Those "opportunities" come from countries which include Russia, China and Israel, and possibly India. South Korea, Brazil, Japan, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Chile are all discussing participation and, through the European Space Agency, Switzerland and Norway are already associated with the program.
  
• The EU's system could be available to enemies of the United States, and outside its control.
  
• China seems intent on acquiring the capability to neutralise US GPS satellites, while enjoying the use of the separate Galileo system
  
• With or without the [weapons sales] embargo [to China], EADS, Snecma and any other European aerospace company would still have difficulty in exporting armaments incorporating US satellite guidance technology to China. The US retains design and production control of chipsets capable of processing the military standard signal, which incorporate the embedded facility that enables them to be disabled, even if they could get access to the encrypted codes. Thus, technology which relied on GPS would be unusable. For France to maximise its business in China, it needs Galileo - a system that is outside the control of the US.
  
• The control of Galileo is diffuse and the precise mechanisms of control have yet to be published.

Here in the USA the mainstream media has given nearly no attention to this very important development.

Hogs on Ice, on Sandy in Socks
For the best photoshop and funniest commentary on the Sandy Berger, you must read up Steve Graham's comments in his blog, Hog On Ice, the guy that first came up with the "Waterpants" word.
Meanwhile, Roger's noticing that Clinton's not doing Kerry any favors.
As a commenter in the Daily Kos put it,

If this whole thing is news to Kerry, that Berger has been under investigation for mishandling classified information since January -- and that Berger actually DID mishandle, if innocently -- he absolutely owed Kerry an honest admission of that.
If he did not tell Kerry, he put Kerry in a very difficult and embarrasing position, and whatever the GOP sleaze machine has to do with timing, it's Berger's fault for doing that to Kerry.
If Kerry knew and still trotted out Berger so publically -- Kerry has quite actively identified Berger as an advisor -- then that's a poor decision on Kerry's part

Berger has resigned abruptly Tuesday as a senior adviser to John Kerry's presidential campaign.
Byron York explains

The documents Berger took — each copy of the millennium report is said to be in the range of 15 to 30 pages — were highly secret. They were classified at what is known as the "code word" level, which is the government's highest tier of secrecy. Any person who is authorized to remove such documents from a special secure room is required to do so in a locked case that is handcuffed to his or her wrist.
It is not clear why Berger would focus solely on the millennium-plot report. But it is clear that the report has been the object of intense discussions during the September 11 investigation.
. . . In May, a government official told National Review Online that the report contains a "scathing indictment of the last administration's actions." The source said the report portrayed the Clinton administration's actions as "exactly how things shouldn't be run."

The York article closes by saying, "the report was ultimately given to the September 11 Commission".

Worthy of Princess Diana?
Back when she was alive, the Princess had a rather high-maintenance lifestyle, so looking at these bills,
Clothing $124,000
Toiletries: $10,500
Laundry and dry cleaning: $100,000
Office supplies: $538,000,
one would ask, are these Princess Diana's bills, or maybe JLo's?
No, they're from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, self-proclaimed champion of the poor and dispossesed.

Berger, joining Wilson
From WhatsAPundit

Kerry currently has two radioactive (figuratively speaking) figures associated with his campaign. In the case of Joe Wilson, you could argue that Kerry didn't see it coming. (On the other hand, why in the world didn't the Democratic Senators on the Intelligence Committee give Kerry a heads-up that Wilson was about to implode?) But Berger's legal situation should have crossed Kerry's radar well before now. Again, doesn't this man have any friends outside the mainstream media?

Note how the documents were written by Richard A. Clarke.
Roundup of the roundups: Instapundit; Michelle Malkin, Roger L. Simon; Outside The Beltway

Summer heat in Paris. . . for Jacques, that is,
Young guns conspire to get rid of Chirac

In a once unthinkable display of lese-majeste, supporters of Mr Sarkozy booed the president during the Bastille Day garden party at the Élysée Palace after Mr Chirac criticised his finance minister's ambition and manoeuvring in his annual televised interview.

Meanwhile, in a characteristic attack of tactlessness, Chirac French President Jacques Chirac has informed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "he is not welcome" in Paris after he urged all French Jews to leave the country immediately. Sharon (who was in Israel when he made his remarks) must have been inspired to say what he did by looking at the facts: The French Interior Ministry registered 67 attacks on Jews or their property and 160 threats against Jews in the first quarter of this year compared with 42 attacks and 191 threats in the last three months of 2003. According to BBC News, however,

The latest French government figures show 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004 - compared to 593 for all of last year.
In recent years there have been bomb attacks against a number of synagogues and Jewish schools in France.
Jewish tombs have also been desecrated.

I have yet to see ONE arrest on any of these, and I've been watching the France2 news for several years. There's also Jacques's remarks on his Bastille Day interview, distinguishing between French Jews, French Muslims and ordinary French.

Now I've seen it all
The NYTimes has a positive story on Iraq on the front page:  Rebuilding Iraq, a Well at a Time.
I'm gobsmacked!

More on McGreevy's pals
In this morning's Star Ledger, Cop, private eye tied to Kushner sex plot: Sources identify E. Orange police captain and his brother as middlemen

The inclusion of a veteran police officer as a possible conspirator in the case adds another sensational detail to a lurid crime plot that already includes a fierce feud between millionaire siblings, secret sex tapes, high-priced hookers and federal agents.
Kushner, a multimillionaire developer, philanthropist and prominent Democratic Party donor, allegedly paid the men and two call girls about $37,000 in cash to arrange and videotape the seductions of two of his former employees. The targets had been cooperating with FBI and IRS agents who were investigating Kushner's businesses and political contributions.
The middlemen allegedly directed a prostitute to pose as a motorist with car trouble and lure Kushner's brother-in-law, attorney William Schulder, to a Bridgewater motel for sex in December.
Prosecutors say that Kushner then waited five months before ordering a videotape of the encounter mailed to Schulder's wife -- who is Kushner's sister, Esther -- as retaliation for the couple's cooperation with agents.
The middlemen and a second call girl allegedly set an identical trap for another witness, former Kushner Companies bookkeeper Robert Yontef. But Yontef spurned the prostitute's advances.

Apparently the local girls weren't interested, so middlemen had to cross the Hudson and spend big bucks,

But even together, the two men faltered in their assignment from Kushner, the federal complaint said, because neither co-conspirator could locate a prostitute to participate in the scam. Instead, after months of waiting, Kushner "personally recruited" a New York City call girl and promised to pay her $7,000 to $10,000 to seduce his brother-in-law, the complaint alleges.

Either way, Yontef turned her down. Good for him!
Meanwhile, in Bergen County, Pal admits passing bribes to Janiszewski: 'Betrayed' political adviser faces up to 37 months as probes near end

Advice to Amy
After reading this horrible article in yesterday's NYTimes Magazine When One Is Enough, and its ending sentence,

I had a boy, and everything is fine. But thinking about becoming pregnant again is terrifying. Am I going to have quintuplets? I would do the same thing if I had triplets again, but if I had twins, I would probably have twins. Then again, I don't know.

my advice is, simply don't get pregnant again. Ever.

UNScam today
The NYPost has an article U.N. Oil $$ Linked To Iraqi Terrorists

The network of bankers, front companies, couriers and money-launderers involved in handling Saddam's oil-for-food kickback schemes still appears to be active, investigators say.
U.S. intelligence officials believe a portion of the funds in these hidden accounts — possibly millions— is now being used to fund the Ba'athist guerrillas responsible for much of the postwar violence against coalition troops, sources said

Claudia Rosset and the WSJ will probably have more on this soon, I expect.

Teresa's funding Ruckus
According to this story Teresa Kerry's Tides foundation funds the Ruckus Society, which has been training protesters for the GOP Convention.
What kind of training protesters need, anyway?

Arthur hits the Big Time!
Arthur Chrenkoff, the magnificent blogger from Down Under, has been published in the Wall Street Journal. You got to read his Taking Power:
A roundup of the past two weeks' good news in Iraq. I am pleased to no end that the Journal's doing this. Thank you Arthur.
And there's the new Iraqi bond market just opening up, too.

The Economist should be talking about Sincere Deceivers, for sure
In a preachy op-ed, The Economist states "Mr Bush has said that he is running as a war president, which is not surprising given that he has fought two of them in the past four years." I beg to differ: To some of us, it's ONE war.
The Economist, full of editorial pride, insists that the President "has a lot to do to convince the electorate—and The Economist—that the buck should not in fact stop with him". Heaven forbid Mr. Bush convinces the electorate and not The Economist's editors. We might have to call in the UN to mediate.
Their arrogance doesn't stop there. In the same issue of the magazine/newspaper there's not on a word on the Wilson/Palme lies, not a word on what has been found so far, even by the UN, in Iraq regarding weapons -- including two tons of sarin that the Polish troops found in May (to which, of course they'd say that the Butler & Senate inquiries were not about what's been found now, but instead about what was known before the Iraq war), or other details that might prove inconvenient to The Econonmist's editorial board, such as these, from the Senate Intelligence Report:

• Wilson's trip to Africa did not "debunk" the administration position that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger - in fact it strengthened this position
  
• the CTC believed (and still does) that there were definite ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda, whereas the NESA is far more skeptical on this count
  
• The report reveals Iraqi plans to bomb Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague from 1998-2003
  
• Neither Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed denied the existence of a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda (a key point since the 9/11 Commission based one of their conclusions on their testimony)
  
• It appears that Saddam Hussein issued a standing offer of safehaven for bin Laden in 1999
  
• This report specifically undercuts some of the 9/11 Commission's key findings with respect to Iraq and al-Qaeda. It cites post-1999 contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda, which the 9/11 commission claims to possess no information on
  
• Also, this demolishes 2 of Richard Clarke's key claims with respect to Iraq: that there was no Iraqi involvement in terrorism post-1993, and that there is no evidence whatsoever of Iraqi support for al-Qaeda. Both of these claims, to put it quite simply, can now be shown to be factually untrue.

I've been a subscriber to The Economist for decades now, and nearly cancelled my subscription. The Husband prefers that I don't, and their reporting (not their editiorials) is still good. All the same, The Economist's editors have a lot to do to convince me that the buck should not in fact stop with them.
As to sincere deceivers, none more so than the press.

The Klebnikov muder is in the news
. . . again. Editor's Death Raises Questions About Change in Russia, in today's New York Times, states that "Mr. Klebnikov's work - informed and sometimes brazen - inserted him squarely into the worlds of Russian business, crime, power and wealth." It doesn't look like the murder will be solved any time soon, however, since,

The Russian authorities have described Mr. Klebnikov's death as a contract killing, and have said it appeared connected to his journalism. Some of those who were sources for his articles said they knew of no work that would have made him a target.

Let's see: There's the list of Russia's 100 richest people, which, according to Boris Berezovky "To publish this list is like sending a letter to the prosecutor's office". There's Mr. Klebnikov's second book, Conversation With a Barbarian, which dealt with organized crime in Russia's continuing war in Chechnya. The book, according to The Economist, "in which he made a passionate appeal to Europeans to defend Christian civilisation against Islamic extremism, can have earned him no friends in Chechnya". Let's not forget last year's Forbes cover article on Iran's Millionaire Mullahs: A looming nuclear threat to the rest of the world, Iran is robbing its own people of prosperity. But the men at the top are getting extremely rich". Additonally, the obituary at The Economist points out that

NTV, the last national television station to show any independence of spirit, has in effect been taken over by the state. Its programme “Freedom of Speech”, the only balanced political talk-show on Russian television, was given its final airing a few hours before Mr Klebnikov's killing. Neither has Russia become safer for journalists: 15 have now been killed since 2000. No one has been brought to book for any of their murders.

As The Economist puts it, "In short, the array of possible suspects in Mr Klebnikov's murder is long".

Kudlow on the economy
Ever since Rukeyser became ill, I've been turning to Larry Kudlow for financial inspiration.  Yesterday Kudlow had an article on NRO titled Kerry’s Economic Deficit:  The challenger will have trouble darkening this bright picture.  Kudlow notices that

The latest budget numbers show a $19.1 billion surplus for June, $3 billion higher than the $16 billion Wall Street expectation. It seems that a flood of new tax collections, spurred by fatter employment payrolls and corporate profits, is rapidly reducing the federal budget gap. Tax receipts from businesses rose an astonishing 38 percent over the past twelve months and personal income-tax collections increased almost 9 percent.
Just as the 1.5 million new jobs created since last August has terminated talk of a jobless recovery, the chatter over widening budget deficits will end. The fiscal-year 2004 budget deficit now looks to come in around $435 billion, less than 4 percent of GDP. This would be almost $100 billion below early-year estimates from the Office of Management and Budget and about $50 billion less than Congressional Budget Office forecasts. The administration is also getting its arms around federal spending. Fiscal year to date, domestic discretionary program spending has slowed to 2.7 percent from 6.8 percent a year ago.
. . .Like the modern Democratic party, the Kerryites neither understand nor acknowledge the tax-incentive model of economic growth that simply restates an old truism: Individuals produce and invest more if it is more profitable after-tax to do so.

Don't miss the numbers on the uninsured. 
Kudlow finishes by saying "Greater individual responsibility and personal choice in the context of our free-enterprise market system. It’s what will make this thriving nation even more prosperous".

De-lovely?  Yes
Cole Porter was one of the great poets of his time, something you can appreciate when browsing through The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter.  He set his lyrics to beautiful tunes that were impeccably rendered by the greatest stars of the musical stage, back in the days when performers actually –- and simultaneously --  enunciated, sang, and danced.  He was also famous, glamorous, rich and successful, so it’s no wonder that there are 2 movies about his life.  The most recent is De-lovely.
 
De-lovely has a lot going for it, not the least of which is the Porter music.  Contemporary artists do the singing, including two of the leads, Kevin Kline and Jonathan Price, both veterans of the musical stage.  Of the other singers, the most amusing was Elvis Costello singing “Let’s Misbehave”.  The weirdest was Sheryl Crow singing ''Begin the Beguine'' in an odd arrangement worlds away from Benny Goodman’s clarinet instrumental.  I’m undecided as to buying the soundtrack, but went home and listened to a Cole Porter CD anyway. The film takes a lot of liberties as to the actual history of Porter's career. Overall, however, the audience at the theater I went to was smiling throughout the songs and even applauded at the end of the film. The film also has lovely locations, beautiful houses, elegant gowns for Ashley Judd, and Armani suits for Kevin Klein.  For product placement, Johnny Walker Red is placed atop  grand pianos.
 
The script makes much of the songs’ subtext in view of Mr. Porter’s sexuality.  This plot device might or might not be adequate, depending on your point of view.  I never knew either Cole Porter or his wife, but if one’s to judge by his lyrics, it seems to me that the real-life Cole Porter possibly was not as conflicted as the movie makes him up to be.  At least the movie opens the possibility that, aside from Cartier cigarette cases, Linda gave Cole a most rare gift, that of total acceptance.  The NYTimes critic panned that aspect of the film,

Porter's incandescent love songs voiced an obsessive sexual romanticism. His lyrics, packed with juicy double-entendres, dripped with eroticism and a connoisseur's appreciation of the erotic life and its roller-coaster peaks and valleys. ''De-Lovely'' simply cannot imagine a world before the age of Oprah and Dr. Phil, before television decreed that sexual gratification and maintaining a hot body were the most important things in life. It can't imagine a wealthy, sophisticated couple marrying for friendship and social advantage without that arrangement involving torment and guilt over its lack of sex

and I tend to agree, but without ruling out that the real-life Mrs. Porter was a wife, not simply a rich “beard”.  There’s more to sex than just sex, after all.
 Yale alumni should be warned beforehand that, unlike Night And Day, De-lovely doesn’t have any of the Yale football songs.   Missing also from both films are the naughty lyrics to You’re The Top, but you can find those on page 171 of the Complete Lyrics book.

More on Jacques and Nick
Helen at EU Referendum has insightful analysis and update on the current situation between those two fun guys, Jaques Chirac and Nicholas Sakozy, Ructions in the UMP.
My bet is that Nick (a.k.a. Sarko) will manage to hold on to his cabinet post, and become head of the UMP, too.  Time will tell.

On Ozzy and Sharon
Ozzy has spoken, to bash Bush.  Thankless jerk he is, considering that in his MTV program, Ozzy not only went to the White House at the President's  invitation, but also said something to the effect that he (Ozzy, not Mr. Bush) when he was a kid trolling the streets of Birmingham, England (or wherever Ozzy hails from) never dreamed of coming as far as he had, even being invited by the President, imagine that.
 
(Yes, I come down from my high-culture horse and watch MTV at times.  The truth comes out)
 
Watching The Osbournes is like watching a burning building.  You might be horrified, but it holds its own fascination.  Ozzy, in my eyes, is a poster boy for what happens when you do drugs.  He's got obviously substantial neurological damage that affects his speech and his motor skills, he can't drive a car, and sometimes can't even microwave himself one of his beloved burritos.  However, his children (and probably many young people watching the program) don't see much wrong with him because
a.  he's "old" (born in 1948).  When you're in your teens, anyone over 25 is old.   Old people are supposed to be doddering
b.  he's making $20million/yr
c.  he's still rocking
In the program one finds that the LA house is sometimes decorated with lots of crosses and other (Christian) religious imagery, which I suppose is meant to go with the Satanic undercurrent of Ozzy's music, and there's lots of faux-finishes, drapes, and floral prints.  Ozzy calls himself the prince of darkness, but he looks pretty transparent.  Ozzy cares about his wife and manager Sharon, and nearly drugged himself into a coma when he found out she had cancer.  Sharon (who must have avoided drugs enough to keep her wits, since she's very much a business manager) recovered from cancer and now has her own talk show (I haven't watched that, thanks -- even I have standards).  The 2 younger children, Jack and Kelley, are in the show.  The oldest daughter declined to participate in the "reality TV" program, which shows to me that at least one member of the family has some common sense.  
 
Nobody else seems to.  There are no boundaries in that family.  Never mind the vile language.  The underage children are allowed to drop out of high school, stay overnight in hotels with their lovers, smoke all the pot they want (at least that part's not shown on screen, but Sharon always reminds Jack's keeper to not allow him to smoke on business trips), and come home fall-down drunk.  Not even the dogs have boundaries -- there's a multitude of dogs that have never been house trained.  As a result, both Jack and Kelly have already been in rehab, even when they are both still under 21 years of age.
 
So the moral of the story is, it's not enough to love your family.  You also have to be a parent.

"To the ballot boxes citizens!"
Via Samizdata, now that the  French will be holding a referendum on the proposed European constitution, here's  Combat, le blog de la résistance.
Cool.
PS, don't forget to read EU Referendum , too.

Are we really prepared?
Terror in the Skies, Again?  
A harrowing description of what looks like a dry run:

After seeing 14 Middle Eastern men board separately (six together, eight individually) and then act as a group, watching their unusual glances, observing their bizarre bathroom activities, watching them congregate in small groups, knowing that the flight attendants and the pilots were seriously concerned, and now knowing that federal air marshals were on board, I was officially terrified.. Before I'm labeled a racial profiler or -- worse yet -- a racist, let me add this. A month ago I traveled to India to research a magazine article I was writing. My husband and I flew on a jumbo jet carrying more than 300 Hindu and Muslim men and women on board.  We traveled throughout the country and stayed in a Muslim village 10 miles outside Pakistan. I never once felt fearful. I never once felt unsafe. I never once had the feeling that anyone wanted to hurt me.  This time was different.

Finally, the captain announced that the plane was cleared for landing. It had been four hours since we left Detroit. The fasten seat belt light came on and I could see downtown Los Angeles. The flight attendants made one final sweep of the cabin and strapped themselves in for landing. I began to relax. Home was in sight.

Suddenly, seven of the men stood up -- in unison -- and walked to the front and back lavatories. One by one, they went into the two lavatories, each spending about four minutes inside. Right in front of us, two men stood up against the emergency exit door, waiting for the lavatory to become available. The men spoke in Arabic among themselves and to the man in the yellow shirt sitting nearby. One of the men took his camera into the lavatory. Another took his cell phone. Again, no one approached the men. Not one of the flight attendants asked them to sit down.  I watched as the man in the yellow shirt, still in his seat, reached inside his shirt and pulled out a small red book. He read a few pages, then put the book back inside his shirt.  He pulled the book out again, read a page or two more, and put it back.  He continued to do this several more times.

I looked around to see if any other passengers were watching. I immediately spotted a distraught couple seated two rows back. The woman was crying into the man's shoulder.  He was holding her hand.  I heard him say to her, You've got to calm down. Behind them sat the once pleasant-smiling, goatee-wearing man.  

I grabbed my son, I held my husband's hand and, despite the fact that I am not a particularly religious person, I prayed. The last man came out of the bathroom, and as he passed  the man in the yellow shirt he ran his forefinger across his neck and mouthed the word No.

A must-read.  Update Michelle Malkin's  verifying the story.   USSClueless posts on the war.  Southern Watch is looking at Summer tourism in Spain. 

Jersey, Machiavelli, a big heart, and the girls
. . . perfect together! Paul Mulshine writes about McGreevey's scandals

On rare occasions, the quid pro quo might come to light. In last week's scandal -- not to be confused with this week's scandal -- the feds indicted another McGreevey fund-raiser by the name of David D'Amiano. The indictment alleged that those in on a scheme to win a big state buyout for a farm owner would use the term "Machiavellian" to signal the farmer that they were in on the deal. Among those using the term was McGreevey.

DynamoBuzz has a round-up on the round-ups, and a post on New Jersey Commerce Secretary William Watley's resignation after being charged with nepotism & confict of interest. Parkway Rest Stop writes that Kusher's in the soup, but The New York Times, on the other hand, feels that Kushner, the Democratic Donor Is Known for Short Temper and Big Heart. Big heart? The man entraps his brother-in-law to prevent him from cooperating with a Federal investigation AND then sends the video to his own sister and he has a BIG HEART?? Media bias, you ask? The NYT does manage to mention that

"On Tuesday, Mr. Kushner was charged with obstructing a federal investigation into his business dealings and political contributions by hiring prostitutes to try to seduce two men he believed were cooperating with federal prosecutors in the case.
One of the prostitutes succeeded in the seduction plan and the result was a videotape, which federal investigators said Mr. Kushner and his co-conspirators secretly made, then mailed to the man's wife - Mr. Kushner's sister Esther. According to the complaint, the act was in retaliation for his brother-in-law's actions and to discourage further cooperation into the continuing investigation into campaign contributions that Mr. Kushner had made to Gov. James E. McGreevey and other prominent Democrats.

Among the "other prominent Democrats" are Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, according to FEC [Federal Election Commission] records. The FEC fined Kushner $508,900 last month for contributing money improperly to candidates in the names of his companies. That's what a big heart gets you.

What WMDs?
A WSJ op-ed The Yellowcake Con: The Wilson-Plame "scandal" was political pulp fiction, on the British inquiry and the Senate Intelligence Report

the exhaustive British study found some flawed intelligence but no evidence of "deliberate distortion." Inquiry leader Lord Butler told reporters that Prime Minister Tony Blair had "acted in good faith."
What's more, Lord Butler was not ready to dismiss Saddam Hussein as a threat merely because no large "stockpiles" of weapons of mass destruction have been found. The report concludes that Saddam probably intended to pursue his banned programs, including the nuclear one, if and when U.N. sanctions were lifted; that research, development and procurement continued so WMD capabilities could be sustained; and that he was pursuing the development of WMD delivery systems--missiles--of longer range than the U.N. permitted.
But the part that may prove most salient in the U.S. is that, like the Senate Intelligence findings, the Butler report vindicates President Bush on the allegedly misleading "16 words" regarding uranium from Africa: "We conclude also that the statement in President Bush's State of the Union Address of 28 January 2003 that 'The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa' was well-founded."
. . . The Senate Intelligence Committee found, finally, that far from debunking the Iraq-Niger story, Mr. Wilson's debrief was interpreted as providing "some confirmation of foreign government service reporting" that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger. Why? Because he'd reported that former Nigerien Prime Minister Ibrahim Mayaki had told him of a 1999 visit by the Iraqis to discuss "commercial relations," which the leader of the one-industry country logically interpreted as interest in uranium.

As the Journal puts it, "All of this matters because Mr. Wilson's disinformation became the vanguard of a year-long assault on Mr. Bush's credibility. The political goal was to portray the President as a "liar," regardless of the facts. Now that we know those facts, Americans can decide who the real liars are."

On Slavery
From Armies of Liberation

85 Black Sudanese boy slaves were freed from Arab masters last month through the mediation of the Arab-Dinka Peace Committee at Warawar, Southern Sudan. The freed slaves were documented last week by an international team of researchers sponsored by CSI.
The freed slave boys were among the tens of thousands of Black women and children who had been enslaved by Sudanese government-sponsored militias during two decades of civil war

A friend sent this link: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Sex Slave Trade in Iran

Joining a global trend, the fundamentalists have added another way to dehumanize women and girls: buying and selling them for prostitution. Exact numbers of victims are impossible to obtain, but according to an official source in Tehran, there has been a 635 percent increase in the number of teenage girls in prostitution.

There's also a substantial list of references for the Iran article, available at this page.

AH-nold, back when
Via Hispalibertas, AH-nold in Japan.
Also via Hispalibertas, a new blog (new to me!) Southern Watch.

Why am I not surprised?
Via DynamoBuzz, from the National Taxpayers Union, Sinking into the (Economic) Swamp: New Jersey’s Governor McGreevey is winning the race for worst

New Jersey is at an economic turning point. The state benefited from the
post-9/11 exodus from New York City as billions of dollars and thousands of jobs flowed into New Jersey. But if Jim McGreevey continues current taxing and spending policies while creating a legal loophole to allow for massive budget deficits, he may very well transform the Garden State into the equivalent of an economic swampland.

Don't miss what DynamoBuzz has on the corruption scandals.

Meanwhile, here in The Principality, our deer are wearing earrings and necklaces, because they get tagged after their birth control shots, which haven't been working. Mind you, I have TWO very young deer and their earring-and-necklace-wearing parents repeatedly having lunch in my yard (lunch? but I thought deer were nocturnal? Well, think again. They're here during the day); I can attest to the fact that there's a baby-deer-boom in this neck of the woods. Hence -- finally! -- Township Approves Deer Hunting Tactics
Just another day in the Garden State.

Hitchens on Plame/Wilson

Now turn to the front page of the June 28 Financial Times for a report from the paper's national security correspondent, Mark Huband. He describes a strong consensus among European intelligence services that between 1999 and 2001 Niger was engaged in illicit negotiations over the export of its "yellow cake" uranium ore with North Korea, Libya, Iraq, Iran, and China. The British intelligence report on this matter, once cited by President Bush, has never been disowned or withdrawn by its authors.

What matters about the Wilson/Palme issue is that -- to use Patterico's words -- the Senate report destroys the credibility of this all-important witness to the supposed lies of the Bush administration. Read Hitchens's article in Slate. Then take a look at what Roger and Patterico have to say. To quote Patterico again, "Wilson's accusations were front-page material before. Why is a bipartisan report debunking them not worth mentioning anywhere in the paper?"

UNScam today
Rosset keeps at it

But bit by bit, the picture comes into sharper focus. More than a year ago, while trolling the U.N. Web site looking for clues as to what in creation was really going on inside the black hole called Oil for Food, I came across a most wondrously cryptic notation. It appeared on the U.N.'s public list of Iraq relief contracts, a list so generic that it was impossible to identify Saddam's business partners, or how much of what, exactly, they were selling, or at what prices. But even in that bland landscape--in which, for instance, the lone word car served to describe $5 million worth of vehicles supplied via two contracts out of the United Arab Emirates--one entry stood out for sheer vagueness: The contractor's country was Russia, and the contract was for "Goods for Resumption of Project."
What goods? What project? Querying the U.N. produced only the answer that such details were secret. The U.N. was protecting the confidentiality of Saddam and his goods-for-resumption-of-project suppliers.
Now, thanks to assorted studies and leaked lists, it is possible with a little cross-referencing to discover that the supplier was a Russian state company, Technopromexport, and the contract was for "mechanical equipment," sold to Iraq for $1,475,261. The question remains: Why should this have been a U.N. secret?

Why indeed.

Thieves in Atlanta, resolved (update)
AtlasLine is holding $30,000 of Operation Give's money

We are having a problem with the first shipping company that we used. The problem comes in the form of deposits that we were required to put down on the 3 containers that we shipped. For each container, we placed a $10,000 deposit to guarantee its return. This deposit was placed with the shipping company in the US, Atlas Line.
This is where the problem comes in. The containers arrived and the shipping company in Kuwait responsible for the containers safety never received their deposits. We were still able to ship the contents of the first container on to Baghdad, but the 2nd and 3rd have been held in Kuwait because of this. We have tried working with the shipping company in the US but to no avail. They are currently holding $30,000 of Operation Give's money and we need resolution. We have bank records showing our deposits and their acceptance and cashing of the checks. We have also contacted Bank of America, the bank we use, and they have traced the checks and confirm that they were deposited by the US shipping company, Atlas Line.
We are asking for anyone who can help us, especially anyone in the Atlanta area where the company's US office is based. Following is the contact information:
Atlas Line
President: Alicia Ludwig
Atlas Line (USA), Inc.
650 Atlanta South Parkway, Suite 500
Atlanta, GA 30349
Phone: 404-766-4676
Fax: 404-209-8493

For more information on Operation Give, read this. Many thanks to Jane for the alert.
Update, July 15 Reid says Operation Give is back on track!