Haditha

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From The Guardian, a report from August last year:

Under US noses, brutal insurgents rule Sunni citadel

The executions are carried out at dawn on Haqlania bridge, the entrance to Haditha. A small crowd usually turns up to watch even though the killings are filmed and made available on DVD in the market the same afternoon.
One of last week's victims was a young man in a black tracksuit. Like the others he was left on his belly by the blue iron railings at the bridge's southern end. His severed head rested on his back, facing Baghdad. Children cheered when they heard that the next day's spectacle would be a double bill: two decapitations. A man named Watban and his brother had been found guilty of spying.

With so many alleged American agents dying here Haqlania bridge was renamed Agents' bridge. Then a local wag dubbed it Agents' fridge, evoking a mortuary, and that name has stuck.

A three-day visit by a reporter working for the Guardian last week established what neither the Iraqi government nor the US military has admitted: Haditha, a farming town of 90,000 people by the Euphrates river, is an insurgent citadel.

That Islamist guerrillas were active in the area was no secret but only now has the extent of their control been revealed. They are the sole authority, running the town's security, administration and communications.
. . .
DVDs of beheadings on the bridge are distributed free in the souk. Children prefer them to cartoons. "They should not watch such things," said one grandfather, but parents appeared not to object.

One DVD features a young, blond muscular man who had been disembowelled. He was said to have been a member of a six-strong US sniper team ambushed and killed on August 1. Residents said he had been paraded in town before being executed.

The US military denied that, saying six bodies were recovered and that all appeared to have died in combat. Shortly after the ambush three landmines killed 14 marines in a convoy which ventured from their base outside the town.

Twice in recent months marines backed by aircraft and armour swept into Haditha to flush out the rebels. In a pattern repeated across Anbar there were skirmishes, a few suspects killed or detained, and success was declared.

In reality, said residents, the insurgents withdrew for a few days and returned when the Americans left. They have learned from last November's battle in Falluja, when hundreds died fighting the marines and still lost the city.

Blue Star Chronicles has more.

CNN's Arwa Damon knows Haditha.

Riehl World View has several posts on the subject. Michelle Malkin and Red Hot Cuppa Politics have interviews with survivors of the attack.

Haditha and My Lai: An instructive comparison?

The Scouts win one; noxious carbon emissions and today's food articles from Maria

The Scouts win one
Supreme Court rejects appeal in Boy Scout case: Atheist father asked court to bar recruiting in public schools

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Tuesday from an atheist father over Boy Scout recruiting at his son’s public school.

John Scalise had asked the court to bar public schools from opening their doors to Boy Scout recruiters and promoting membership, arguing that the group discriminates against nonreligious boys and parents by denying them membership if they don’t swear to religious oaths.
. . .
A Michigan appeals court said that Mount Pleasant schools allowed other organizations to use class facilities, including a hospital group, an Indian tribe, a Baptist church, and a hockey association.

Scalise argued that his son, Benjamin, was taunted by classmates and humiliated by a Boy Scout recruiter in front of other students. Benjamin Scalise is now 17.

The Supreme Court’s last Boy Scout case was in 2000. Justices ruled 5-4 at the time that the Boy Scouts can bar gays from serving as troop leaders. The ruling was written by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died last year.

Davao City in the Phillipines is hosting the International Urban Scout Jamboree this week.

More noxious carbon emissions
from Al, via Kesher Talk.

As for the poison ivy story, Michael Fumento correctly points out that

there's no special relationship between CO2 and poison ivy. Increases in CO2 make all plants grow faster and healthier. So yes, poison ivy and poison oak and kudzu all benefit from increased atmospheric C02. But so do rain forests, fruit trees, crops, and flowers. Indeed, as we've seen from previous warm periods such as the medieval one, global warming directly benefits crops by extending growing seasons and allowing crops in places previously to cold to even allow them.

While on the subject of noxious fumes, Chomski continues to spout off.

At the blogs
The Daily Ablution writes about Johann Hari's disgraceful contempt for Bjørn Lomborg.
In the same post, commenter Nigel links to a CNN story where the wounded CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier admitted that

"I can't go out and hunt a story. I'm having to wait for it to come to me, or I'm having to train Iraqi translators to go out and be my eyes, be my ears, ask the questions that I would ask if I could."

If you go to my sidebar links, the three Michaels, Michael Fumento, Michael Totten, and Michael Yon have been reporting directly from Iraq, and not one of them sat in their hotels "having to wait for it to come to me". Michael Fumento even has a photo of the Al Rasheed hotel, where journalists hole up while their stringers gather the news (photo #8 of the slide show).

Another darn thing you didn't want to know about Prince Charles

U.S. Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Sex Offender Visitation Case, ACLU Disappointed.

All Things Beautiful ponders a 'Deadly Charm' Offensive

On a lighter subject, Petite woman of the world,unite! You have nothing to lose but your dowdy, ill-fitting dresses

North Korean concentration camps, and today's articles from Maria
Via Maria, a horrifying story: North Korea's grisly arms tests on babies

Flights to US at risk after secrecy ruling

Despicable, in absolute terms.

New Jersey Anti-Tax Rally June 24th

Today's food articles from Maria
Significant increase diabetes prevalence in US. You heard it from me before, you'll hear it from me again: cut back on starches and give up sugary foods.

The Flavour Point Diet: Taste not waist

Bacterial Evolution in the Yogurt Ecosystem.

Today's video
Via Annika, behind the scenes in Star Wars.

Princeton Township budget now over $30 million:

The Township just approved its $30,900,000 budget. This means the budget has increased

2006 8.2%
2005 11.3%
2004 8.8%

If that's not bad enough, bear in mind that routine maintenance is not included in the budget:

The Township will typically put certain projects — roads, infrastructure — to bond

And they have the nerve to talk about a "surplus balance".

(technorati tags New Jersey, Princeton Township)

The "youths" are back

About 100 youths wielding baseball bats have fought French police in a Paris suburb

Via ¡No Pasarán!, Mayor targeted as youths fight police near Paris:

Montfermeil borders Clichy-Sous-Bois, where last year's riots began after two youngsters died while apparently fleeing police. In the three weeks of rioting that followed in poor suburbs around France, some 9,000 vehicles and dozens of public buildings and businesses were torched.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Latin America: Media games

While ABC News swallowed whole the charismatic-leader-helping-the-poor-offering-free-health-care-education-adult-literacy-and-job-training-initiatives-that-help-millions-of-Venezuelans^TM crap and would like us to believe that Venezuela's President Uses Oil Money for Health Care and Aid for the Poor, the nearly as sympathetic Toronto Star manages to mention Hugo's hubris: Poor are fed by Chavez's vanity: Clinics, cheap food boost support, but poverty remains high in Venezuela.

You would think that by now ABC could manage to do a puff piece without actually using the very words from the Venezuelan government ad that ran last year?

Hugo Chávez has a new role in Hollywood,

not as an Oliver-Stone conspiracy hero, but as a videogame villain.

The media games continue as Chavez supporters deem Mercenaries 2 "a justification for an imperialist aggression".

FrontPage Magazine (which incorrectly believed Hugo's lie about the Oliver Stone movie), in its article Chavez's Incredible Shrinking Revolution, notices that

When you strip away the red from Hugo Chavez’s rhetoric and the dishonest propaganda glorifying him from the world’s left-wing press, the naked Chavez turns out to be little more than an old-fashioned Latin American military dictator like Pinochet, a prating megalomaniac Caudillo propped up mostly by secret police and stolen oil money. Even the New York Times, if only to save its own waning credibility, has begun to report Chavez’s defects and decline.

José Enrique Idler points out that, while Castro has managed to keep Cuba as a prison,

The world is more interconnected, and Latin America is no exception. Globalization has become the norm and governments increasingly play by the rules of investment and economic exchange. Brazil's president, Lula, recently cited economic stability as one of his triumphs, declaring that the future "will be built on strong investment in education and training, with tax relief to encourage new investment, notably in science and technology." Additionally, Peru and Colombia have now struck free-trade agreements with the U.S -- and Ecuador and Panama may be next.

In Thursday's Wall Street Journal front page article, Bolivia Marching To Chávez's Beat, Evo Morales refers to Hugo as Bolivia's "godfather." (Nice choice of words, Evo!) Not everybody likes that:

As his power and influence grow, Mr. Chávez and his tactics are running into limits in a region where most people resent outside interference -- be it Spanish rule centuries ago or U.S. intrusion in recent decades. Support for Mr. Chávez has become a political flashpoint in races in Mexico and Peru.

Mr. Chávez's support of Bolivia's decision to kick out foreign energy companies this month and nationalize its natural-gas reserves has also put him in direct confrontation with Brazil, South America's largest economy. Brazil depends on Bolivia for half its natural gas, and Petrobras, Brazil's state oil company, is the biggest foreign investor in Bolivia's energy industry.

Mr. Chávez also may face stiffened opposition at home. Although he is still highly popular, his overseas spending makes growing numbers of Venezuelans angry. Despite high oil prices, problems like street crime and poverty have continued to loom large under his rule.

But Hugo's money - along with the ever-present Cuban "doctors" - is going a long way towards buying Evo much needed popularity among the underclass:

Mr. Morales has also adopted many of Mr. Chávez's social programs, including the use of Cuban doctors and teachers in poor neighborhoods. An estimated 708 Cuban doctors and volunteers have set up six clinics that offer, among other things, free eye consultations. At a Santa Cruz clinic, 200 Bolivians recently stood in a line that snaked around the block, waiting in the hot sun to get appointments for an eye examination. The clinic performs 100 free cataract operations daily. Some patients spent the night sleeping on the steps of the clinic. "It's a miracle," said Juan Alvarez, 56, an upholsterer awaiting surgery on an eye that clouded up three years ago after an injury.

Literacy classes are also a big hit. In a cramped classroom on the wind-swept plateau above La Paz, a few dozen Aymara Indian women and men gathered around a television set recently to learn the alphabet. At the end of the day's session, Hugo Chura, the Bolivian official in charge of the program, stood up to give a pitch. "Previous governments here never cared about you," he said in the Aymara language. "But the new president does. And he has friends like Fidel Castro and the Venezuelans who care about you, too." The class broke out in applause.

Thanks to such programs, Mr. Morales's approval ratings now hover above 80%. That will come in handy in early July, when the country votes to elect a new assembly to rewrite the constitution.

Understandably, Some are worrying Bolivia has sold soul to Venezuela, for a lot of money, as Chavez plans 1.5 billion dollar energy, mine investments in Bolivia as part of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).

If you think any of the investments will yield wealth to the poor, you are mistaken: The Wall Street Journal has an article today, Chávez Pushes Boliva, Cuba Trade, which points to ruinous politically-driven command economies:

Some of the basics of ALBA trade have yet to be worked out. When Bolivian entrepeneurs asked Mr. Aguirre [a merchant at a trade fair last week] for his Venezuelan-made paper, he said he didn't know yet. "We have nothing concrete on that", he said. In the background of his booth was a poster of Mr. Chávez, his arm draped around Mr. Morales, while in the background a smiling Mr. Castro looked approvingly on both men.

Elsewhere Bolivian Indian women in traditional bowler hats met with Cuban trade officials and Venezuelan entrepeneurs, who encouraged them to sell alpaca sweaters and embroidered shawls in Cuba and Venezuela, although neither country is known for cold weather.
. . .
It was tough going, acknowledged Rina Zeballos, president of the 1,200-trong Movement of Indian Women of the Kollasuyo, a weaver's cooperative. "We are producing these shawls, but we don't have a market"

No amount of Hugo's money can change the weather. Maybe his buddy Red Ken should help him market some sweaters in the UK instead of in the tropics. But Hugo and Evo are talking confederation, so odds are they won't be sweating the alpaca marketing details.

Either way, the propaganda continues, with the WaPo claiming that Chavez Educates Masses at a University in His Image (via Elephants in Academia)

The vast majority of students at the three-year-old university grew up in poverty. Now they are recipients of a tuition-free education. They are also part of a massive underclass that Chavez aims to empower through the social programs that have fed his domestic popularity. The school, the cornerstone of those programs, is aimed at educating millions and promoting the sort of social activism that Chavez says can help Venezuela's poor majority to overcome decades of oppression by the rich.

The Bolivarian University of Venezuela, a large-scale, PR excercise rich in propaganda, is not quite as the WaPo makes it. Instead, according to a first-hand account (via email),

The story is baloney. When I was in caracas, I put on the red t-shirt and checked this stupid thing out. Teaching at it were old grussies from the 1960s, long gray hippie-haired idiots who had been in the cold too long, wretched miserable, meritless "academics" who had
always formed the hardcore left in vz society and were too fanatical and extreme to ever fit in at a real university. Think "professional protestor" and you will get the picture. They knew nothing. One got up and did a spiel on atomic energy, showing a drawing of the famous atom star and explained that this was proof chavismo worked. It was that nutty, that meritless. And they were heavy rum drinking drunks, who ernestly played guitar after every class. Gee groovy.

As for the people in it, none were there because they wanted to be. They were there because of the govt check it involved. I was wondering why mom, pop and ghetto baby in head-to-toe red were all there, why young college students were there, and then i looked at the sign in sheet - it was everyone saying they were associated with some chavista schooling program. It was the checks that made them listen to the indoctrination, nothing more.

Hugo's hosting this week's OPEC meeting. Venezuela's oil minister said Caracas would back any move to curb the cartel's output, which naturally would drive up prices.

That's this week. Last week Tony Blair scored high,

The Prime Minister claimed that he had not been treated this way since the school, AFP quoted.

"The only thing I could tell about President Chávez is that he has the best line of insults among world leaders."

Yesterday Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo asked the Organization of American States (OAS) on Monday to give a ruling on Venezuela's interference in Peru's election. Via Publius Pundit, Hugo threatens that if front-runner Alan Garcia wins, Venezuela would not have diplomatic relations with Peru. Saturday's London Times predicts Defeat looms for Chavez's allies in Peru, and the bottom line is,

Chavez may in any case be obliged to concentrate on problems at home. Despite bumper revenues from high oil prices, Venezuela’s central bank said last week that it had lost $142m (£76m) in the first four months of this year, largely because Chavez’s administration had overspent.

Former Peruvian intelligence chief and now jailbird Vladimiro Montesinos has written a book where he claims that presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, is a product of Cuban and Venezuelan intelligence (link in Spanish).

I'm sure Hugo's not too pleased with Uribe's landslide win in Colombia:

Uribe is Washington’s chief ally in a region where the Bush administration is not popular.

"We want a modern democracy with security, freedom, transparency and respect for all institutions," Uribe told supporters in Bogota after the results were read out.

Venezuela News and Views has some Random thoughts on Colombia.

Aleksander Boyd is Walking for democracy in Venezuela.

The media games continue. The stakes are high.

Update Ummm...

Update 2: Because it isn't imperialism unless the yankis are involved: Hugo talked up his first draft of the Bolivian constitution during his latest Alo, presidente show. Spanish article here.

(technorati tags Americas, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Colombia)

Today's articles from Maria

At the blogs
Google's Tribute to Memorial Day and Google's choice on Memorial Day.
Via Maria, World Net Daily also noticed. Anheuser Busch had a much better idea, as did SmadaNek.

Murtha’s Memorial Day Tribute: Accusing U.S. Military Of "A Coverup".

Coming attractions at Iran TV. I bet they won't be showing any of the protests on TV, which the American MSM seems to ignore, too.

Today's articles from Maria
Azerbaijan 'flattened' sacred Armenian site

Fears that Azerbaijan has systematically destroyed hundreds of 500-year-old Christian artefacts have exploded into a diplomatic row, after Euro MPs were barred from inspecting an ancient Armenian burial site.

The predominantly Muslim country's government has been accused of "flagrant vandalism" similar to the Taliban's demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan.

The claims centre on the fate of rare "khachkars", stone crosses carved with intricate floral designs, at the burial ground of Djulfa in the Nakhichevan region of Azerbaijan, an enclave separated from the rest of the country by Armenia.

Obit from The Telegraph, Major-General Frantisek Perina,

Major-General Frantisek Perina, who has died aged 95, escaped from Czechoslovakia to become one of the leading fighter pilots with the French Air Force in 1940, and then joined the RAF; when the Second World War ended, he returned to his homeland but had to flee again when the Communists took power.

Keep the Internet Free from Govt Regulation

EVEREST MIRACLE: LEFT-FOR-DEAD CLIMBER FOUND DAZED, DANGLING, and half-undressed?

Dining in Moscow got better. Just don't take the tunnel.

President defies most Republicans on immigration

Health news from Maria
Vaccine to Cut Risk of Shingles in Older People Is Approved

Wear your sunblock

Aging: Hit the Health Club: Offset Dementia's Onset, or at least some think so.

More blogging later. I'm back.
More from Maria,
The EU's version of eminent domain: take the family farm and give it to the fishies. Speaking of fishes, Richard writes about how EU fishing vessels were stripping the waters off Africa.

Ex-dean says Harvard run like day care
Video: City of David

and one more item,
Iraq Less Violent than Washington, D.C

"It's 45 violent deaths per 100,000 in Washington, D.C.," King told Crowley.

Other American cities with higher violent civilian death rates than Iraq include:
Detroit - 41.8 per 100,000
Baltimore - 37.7 per 100,000
Atlanta - 34.9 per 100,000
St. Louis - 31.4 per 100,000

The American city with the highest civilian death rate was New Orleans before Katrina - with a staggering 53.1 deaths per 100,000 - almost twice the death rate in Iraq

Heartfelt thanks,

on this Memorial Day to every person who has served our country.

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day (for decorating the graves of the Civil War dead, which decimated over 600,000 Americans, nearly 2% of the total population of the Union and Confederacy), but at the turn of the 19th century it was designated as Memorial Day.

Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868. In 1971 its observance was extended to honor all soldiers who died in American wars. At Arlington National Cemetery a wreath is placed at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and each grave is decorated with a small American flag.

Today let us all join in thanks to those who continue to serve our country.

Update Via Maria, Victor Davis Hanson writes about Iraq, A war to be proud of.

(technorati memorial day)

The Da Vinci Gym

Yesterday at Barnes and Noble they had a huge table of Da Vinci Code hype materials, among them not only the several versions of Dan Brown's books, but also a few books on the Louvre, Leonardo, and jigsaw puzzzles of the Last Supper.

And the latest on Da Vinci hype:


It made me wonder, what's next?

Since I was pressed for time, I didn't check the details, but I can envision Dan Brown starting a franchise of gyms, The Da Vinci Gnostic Health Clubs ("Your pain is our gain"), where instead of yoga you hear him drone on about all Catholic-related conspiracy theories, and where all the personal trainers are crazed albinos chasing after you with a whip.

(My apologies to all crazed albinos.)

(technorati tags Da Vinci Code, books)

Not commencement, no.

com·mence·ment:

1. A beginning; a start.

2. A ceremony at which academic degrees or diplomas are conferred.
The day on which such a ceremony occurs.

Via Gateway Pundit,

graduation day at Deathcult U: Dozens say they will die for Islam and Iran. More pictures here.


"Peace only unto those who follow the true path."

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Iran. . .

(technorati Iran)

X-Men III, Richard III, and more serious matters

X-Men: The Last Stand opens this weekend, and much to my surprise Bryan Singer didn't direct it. This is probably a big mistake.

No matter.

I'll go to any movie that has Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart in it.
Today's video is Hugh's interview. After that, scroll down and watch Patrick Stewart's interview.

BTW, even after decades of going to Broadway plays, the one most extraordinary stage performance I've had the privilege of seeing was Patrick Stewart when he gave a lecture at Princeton University some 11 years ago. And, as my friend said, "for a 60-yr old short bald guy, he's really hot!"
Hugh's easy on the eyes, too.
(clarification: At approx. 5'8", Patrick Stewart's not really short. He's just shorter than I. Hugh's 6'+)

On more serious matters, on to the cartoons,
The genius of a good cartoonist is that with a good cartoonist, like a good poet, brevity is the soul of wit.

Throw Hastert from the train. And while you're at it, throw Murtha, too:

(via Darleen)

Shakespeare's Richard III,
whose quote, Talk'st thou to me of 'ifs'? Thou art a traitor: Off with his head! comes to mind when one reads about poisonous bunch-back'd toad Galloway (via Allah).

. . . The Prisoner,
(via Instapundit).

and yet more movies, this time for propaganda,
Al Gore documentary rekindles political career. Or maybe not.
Al should take his pseudo science and put it in his lockbox. That way it won't get wet when the water rises.
Update: Al now says he went to Cannes when he was 15 to study the existentialists - Sartre, Camus. What a crock of hooey.

Not that Cannes is known for its philosophical depth, but as Betsy asks,

Is that what it takes to win over a red state, the goal of any victory-seeking Democrat in 2008? I doubt it.

Today's other articles from Maria
Hamas looking to fly planes into buildings: Terror leader details goal to carry out 9-11-style attacks, 'possibly against skyscraper'. Meanwhile, back in NYC, Fleet Week air stunt freaks out New Yorkers.

For your inner X-men geek fantasy: Being invisible 'a possibility'.

Researchers: Anti-virus software has flaw.

Feds cut off phone tax after 108 years. Of course, they have another tax at the ready. Speaking of taxes,

THE BILL

Taxpayers are responsible for more than $500,000 per household for unfunded financial promises made by federal, state and local governments. How the debt breaks down:

Program Liability per household

Medicare $263,377

Social Security $133,456

Federal debt $42,538

Military retirement benefits $25,443

State-local debt $16,395

Federal employee retirement benefits $14,256

State-local retirement benefits $13,257

Other federal $1,956

Total $510,678

Take my advice and plan accordingly because you can't expect any kind of retirement benefit to come from the government.

The recipe of the week.

At the blogs,
friend of this blog Philomathean posts on A House Divided, where a physicist found out that

there are not many shades of gray in the political blogosphere,

which you probably knew, but what makes this finding interesting is that he studied a huge network. Read all of Philomathean's post.

At Barcepundit,

NOW IT SEEMS that for the AP, the fact that Iraqis laugh at their government is bad news.

I'm not the only former ACLU supporter who has turned against them. As Jay said, what better time than Memorial Day weekend to get behind this cause?

As always, All Things Beautiful has a great post.

The Anchoress is underwhelmed by the prospect of The Vaginal Speculum Spectacular and other such things.

At times, we live in a world that increasingly resembles a Salvador Dali painting.

(technorati tags X-Men, Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Politics, Dennis Hastert, John Murtha, George Galloway, Al Gore, Hamas, taxes, ACLU, Madonna)

Commuter heck, and today's articles from Maria

Can't commute
Change of plans, due to this: Trains halted between New York, Washington. I'm thankful I'm not stuck in a train somewhere.

Meanwhile, at the train destination, Pakistani Loner Convicted in NYC Bomb Plot

Inside the Islamic bookstore where he worked, Siraj unwittingly recounted for a paid police informant rumors among radicals that U.S. soldiers were sexually abusing Iraqi girls.

"That was enough for me," the Pakistani immigrant said in one of a series of secretly recorded conversations played at a trial in federal court. "I'm ready to do anything."
. . .
Siraj, 23, was arrested on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York on charges he wanted to attack a subway station in Herald Square.

Today's articles from Maria
Bert Prelusky's Psychoanalyzing the loony left

Hillary tries to Razzle dazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

At the blogs
As I've been saying, You're young only once, but you can remain immature forever (hat tip Pajamas Media).

My heart belongs to dada*

The Museum of Modern Art will be hosting the Dada exhibition from June 18 to September 11, 2006, with member previews starting on June 16.

Clive Davis has a post on the exhibit, where he links to Martha Bayles's review of the show when it was at the National Gallery of Art. Martha approached Dada with the necessary irreverence Dada demands from the viewer, unlike the pompous tripe it usually gets from Museum Curators, especially when it comes to contemporary art:

As you walk through these last two sections, keep an eye out for Francis Picabia, a true Dadaist but also a true artist. His intricate forays into mechanical drawing and parodies of commercial illustration are practically the only things worth looking at in these rooms. But that is the point: Picabia, not Duchamp, is typical of Dada. This exhibition is that rare phenomenon, a blockbuster that lays bare the intellectual and aesthetic bankruptcy of the contemporary art scene. The lesson is subtle but unmistakable: The majority of Dadaists were engaged in the old-fashioned business of creating objects, and most of the objects they created can, with some stretching, be called beautiful. Not only that, but when they got up to mischief, they did so with panache.

If they were alive today, they would not be endlessly recycling the same old Dada doodoo. They'd be doing for the art world what your Dadioguide is now doing for you: Pointing to the exit.

Dada may not be everybody's fur-lined cup of tea (yes, I know, Meret Oppenheim's a surrealist), but worth a look, unlike the execrable and boring biennal.

* Pun fully intended.

And in further art news, Duchamp painted a moustache on the Mona Lisa, but don't miss ‘The Ciphere of Leonardo.’ Don't try to drink coffee while you read it.

Update: Pun!

(technorati tags Art, Dada, Meret Oppenheim)

Border issues in today's articles from Maria

Now, isn't this precious?

"Even though you are far from Mexico, you are an integral part of Mexico," Fox said. "We will never forget you. We love you."

No, he didn't end by saying "now send money!"

Via Maria, Dr. Sowell writes on Bordering on fraud

The immigration bill before Congress has some of the most serious consequences for the future of this country. Yet it is not being discussed seriously by most politicians or most of the media. Instead, it is being discussed in a series of glib talking points that insult our intelligence.
. . .
How many times have we heard that illegal aliens are taking "jobs that Americans won't do"? Just what specifically are those jobs?

Even in occupations where illegals are concentrated, such as agriculture, cleaning, construction, and food preparation, the great majority of the work is still being done by people who are not illegal aliens.
. . .
Another insult to our intelligence is that amnesty is not amnesty if you call it something else. The fact that illegals will have to fulfill certain requirements to become American citizens is supposed to mean that this is not amnesty.

But let's do what the spinmeisters hope we will never do -- stop and think. Amnesty is overlooking ("forgetting," as in amnesia) the violation of the law committed by those who have crossed our borders illegally.

The fact that there are requirements for getting American citizenship is a separate issue entirely. Illegal aliens who do not choose to seek American citizenship are under no more jeopardy than before. They have de facto amnesty.

Yet another insult to our intelligence is saying that, since we cannot find and deport 12 million people, the only choice left is to find some way to make them legal.

When bad parenting turns into border policy

Rather than making threats, Mexican officials should warn their own people about the consequences they will face if they trespass into their northern neighbor's yard. But because they desire for their citizens a life not to be found under their own government, they act like coddling parents and neglect their own duty. They then demand that their U.S. neighbor provide that which they are failing to provide themselves.

Update: Mayor Bloomberg proposes:

1. Reduce Incentives.
2. Increase Lawful Opportunity.
3. Reduce Access.
4. Get Real.

At the blogs
Friend of this blog, Riehl World View has been dropped from Google web, and has a new post on the subject. I think I'll add a "dropped from Google" category to the sidebar.

BTW, Dan posts on Bob Kerry's comparing Senator McCain's speech at the New School to Tiananmen Square, yet another item Google vanished from its Chinese web search.

ACLU Disappointed By Committee Vote of Support for General Hayden. The ACLU statement "expressed its alarm" over Gen. Hayden's approval as head of the CIA, but "takes no position on Hayden’s nomination." The Vulcans would have loved the logic of that statement.

Today's articles from Maria
After reading Bob Kerry's ridiculous comments, small wonder that Mort Kondrake considers Bush-hatred a threat to national security. He has a point:

Bush-hatred has reached such intensity that CIA officers and other bureaucrats are leaking major secrets about anti-terrorism policy and communications intelligence that undermine our ability to fight Islamic extremism.

Here in The Principality one has to tread carefully when saying anything positive about the POTUS, lest one wants a heated argument, to say the least.

Dennis Prager's article, Harry Reid and the end of liberal thought, left a word out of its list of one-word descriptions of what liberals are for: diversity. The only diversity that counts to a liberal is PC-approved diversity, not any kind of diversity that has to do with diversity of opinion. And even then, diversity of race, ethnic, religion, or national origin is to be "embraced" (another liberal-friendly term) if, and only if, the said "diverse" person toes the PC line. I speak from personal experience. For instance.

Update 101 Ways to Experience Diversity, if you have a LOT of leisure time. One question, did Spike Lee's agent come up with that?

No movie for you!

Following up on my post re: Chavez saying that Oliver Stone was making a movie about him, Oliver Stone denies plan to make film about Venezuelan president.

I was rather skeptical, and had another psychic moment, when I said,

However, since the source of the film news is Hugo himself, and he's known to make things up, I wouldn't be getting the popcorn in the microwave yet.

Reuters and the WaPo weren't as skeptical; they're not used to one of those things the charismatic-leader-helping-the-poor-offering-free-health-care-education-adult-literacy-and-job-training-initiatives-that-help-millions-of-Venezuelans^TM comes up with when he's running at the mouth in public.

Update, Wednesday, May 24: Publius Pundit has the goods.
Update, Thursday, May 25: Stone, passing

(technorati tags Venezuela, South America, Hugo Chavez, Latin America)

What bloody man is that? The fake Ranger story

Starting with the headgear insignia, and working their way down, the bloggers unmasked "Iraq veteran" and Wendy's employee Jessie Macbeth for the fake he is:

In addition to the other indicators of phoniness, consider these:

* He has a profile page at military.com. On it he claims to have three combat parachute jumps (stars on his jump wings. Sorry, Jessie, but no one in 3d Bn made three combat jumps in 2001-05.

* He claims to be Special Forces qualified. (Claiming to be a “Special Forces Ranger” is almost a sure way to spot a phony. But, if he was SF and Ranger qualified, he would not be an E-4, unless he was busted. Although he claims to have an SF scroll, he does not list SF as his unit.

* He claims to have two CIBs. He would not have been awarded two CIBs for service between 2001 and 2005.

* He claims to have been w/ the Rangers in Fallaujah. To my knowledge, 3d Ranger Bn. was not in Fallaujah.

* He claims to have been shot, wounded w/ shrapnel and stabbed (multiple times), but only claims one Purple Heart.

* He claims to have been w/ the Rangers in Iraq for 16 months. Some reporter should ask him which company he was with and how long their tours were. The Rangers don’t go for one year tours like other Army units. And, public reports show that some of 3d Bn’s time has been in Afghanistan, not Iraq.

Now the videos are gone, but Dan has an interview transcript.

Didn't take long for the blogosphere to unmask a fake.

I've only known one man who was a retired Ranger, and his bearing was the same as that of a former Marine, or a former policeman. It showed. This pseudoRanger has never been.

As The Opinionator put it, Ever Notice How Frauds and Reincarnation Are Alike?

I started with a quote, and am ending with a quote: That Macbeth's story Stands not within the prospect of belief.

Update: The Daily Brief has a Memo

A bookshelf: Slavery on the Barbary Coast and today, and today's articles from Maria

Via Judith, U. S. has fought Islamic terrorism before - The Barbary Pirates

The stories we read in today's headlines of Islamic terrorism against innocent civilians and slavery under Islamic regimes are nothing new. Just as the current Islamic regime in Sudan enslaves it's southern Christians, and gives them the choice of "convert or die," the Islamic armies that overran the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe gave their captives the simple choice of conversion, death, or slavery. Two hundred years ago American sailors sailing the Mediterranean faced the same choice when their unprotected ships were captured by the Islamic "Barbary Pirates" of North Africa.

British Slaves on the Barbary Coast

Slaves in Barbary fell into two broad categories. The 'public slaves' belonged to the ruling pasha, who by right of rulership could claim an eighth of all Christians captured by the corsairs, and buy all the others he wanted at reduced prices. These slaves were housed in large prisons known as baños (baths), often in wretchedly overcrowded conditions. They were mostly used to row the corsair galleys in the pursuit of loot (and more slaves) - work so strenuous that thousands died or went mad while chained to the oar.

During the winter these galeotti worked on state projects - quarrying stone, building walls or harbour facilities, felling timber and constructing new galleys. Each day they would be given perhaps two or three loaves of black bread - 'that the dogs themselves wouldn't eat' - and limited water; they received one change of clothing every year. Those who collapsed on the job from exhaustion or malnutrition were typically beaten until they got up and went back to work. The pasha also bought most female captives, some of whom were taken into his harem, where they lived out their days in captivity. The majority, however, were purchased for their ransom value; while awaiting their release, they worked in the palace as harem attendants.

Many other slaves belonged to 'private parties.' Their treatment and work varied as much as their masters did. Some were well cared for, becoming virtual companions of their owners. Others were worked as hard as any 'public' slave, in agricultural labour, or construction work, or selling water or other goods around town on his (or her) owner's behalf. They were expected to pay a proportion of their earnings to their owner - those who failed to raise the required amount typically being beaten to encourage them to work harder.

White Slavery Was Much More Common Than Believed

Putting together such sources of attrition as deaths, escapes, ransomings, and conversions, Davis calculated that about one-fourth of slaves had to be replaced each year to keep the slave population stable, as it apparently was between 1580 and 1680. That meant about 8,500 new slaves had to be captured each year. Overall, this suggests nearly a million slaves would have been taken captive during this period. Using the same methodology, Davis has estimated as many as 475,000 additional slaves were taken in the previous and following centuries.

The result is that between 1530 and 1780 there were almost certainly 1 million and quite possibly as many as 1.25 million white, European Christians enslaved by the Muslims of the Barbary Coast.

Seabed gold 'clue to white slavers'

The idea of white slavery, overshadowed by the unarguable brutality of centuries of the trade in black slaves, is now mainly dismissed as the stuff of Victorian novels, while the "Barbary corsairs" became pantomime figures. The terror of the pirate raids remains a vivid folk memory on Mediterranean islands, but it has largely been forgotten that they also raided as far north as the coast of Scotland, in search not of ships or gold but human booty.

However, academics are re-examining the subject, with startling results. Linda Colley's recent book, Captives, draws together hundreds of accounts of capture by pirates, and the desperate pleas to parliament for help from those left behind.

That was then; this is now (hat tip Jihad Watch.

If you think slavery is a thing of the past, visit the American Anti-Slavery Group's website. Armies of Liberation also posts regularly on the subject.

Today's articles from Maria
Dick Morris writes about DUBYA'S ROAD BACK and reviews John Podhoretz's book "Can She Be Stopped?"BEATING HILLARY: LEAVE IT TO THE DEMS

In all likelihood, the ethical issue of 2008 won't be Whitewater, the pardon of Hillary's brothers' clients, the FALN terrorist pardons designed to win her the Hispanic vote or the theft of White House china.

Indeed, the issue may post-date the publication of Podhoretz's excellent book. It might turn out that the Emir of Dubai has funneled millions in income to the Clintons through billionaire Ron Burkle and the Yucaipa Corporation. Possibly the emerging connection between the budget items Hillary has earmarked in Congress and her campaign contributors will be fodder for the 2008 campaign. Or we may end up focusing on the almost total lack of legislative accomplishment during Hillary's Senate tenure, including little more than renaming post offices or courthouses

Another book review in the Post, SCREAMING AT THE U.N., gets low marks for not being thorough enough,

Shawn does not tackle U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan with sufficient determination. Annan's anti-U.S. bias over Iraq and his self-serving statements on the Oil-for-Food investigation, in which he has sought to exonerate himself from having insufficiently separated personal and professional interests, are subjects worthy of lengthier treatment.

Shawn's lack of argument also means that he does not properly explain Chinese, French and Russian behavior over Iraq. The easy answer is that these countries were motivated by greed and were bribed by Saddam. Yet Iraq was about more than just money.

In Iraq, China, France and Russia could make their influence felt and be the dominant external powers, for once ousting American influence. Better still, they could inflict damage on the United States by proxy by undermining the sanctions and the American bid to contain Saddam.

Speaking of China, last night John Batchelor had Jed Babbin talking about Babbin's new book, Showdown : Why China Wants War with the United States, a chilling look at China's possible strategy. As regular readers of this blog know, I'm interested on the subject.

Today's video, also via Maria,
Raid on the Reactor

In a lighter vein,
SPOILER ALERT
Last night was 24's season finale. Blogs4Bauer was watching.
As one of the commenters said, Jack Bauer joins cast of Prision Break.
It'll be a long wait until January, 2007.

But there's Christmas to get through.

Update: Not Charles and Marty

In showbiz news, One hoped, for decency's sake, that her trousers were made of sturdy stuff. Not a good review, but a good review, via Drudge.

(technorati tags slavery, History, China, Politics, 24)

Coming soon to a theater near you?

Via Elephants in Academia, Hugo Chavez says upcoming film to focus on coup in Venezuela. Apparently Oliver Stoned will direct. I predict another lost weekend or two. The WaPo’s rather sympathetic to the public relations effort.

Bear with me and let's take this news item at face value:
On the one hand, consider how Hugo's been tossing money around in his quest to control Latin American politics and at the same time do a PR job on the credulous.

On the other hand, Oliver Stone's last dud had Victor Davis Hanson comparing the movie's hero to a third-rate Cecil B. Demille in drag, and Oliver loves the tyrants of the Caribbean.

So, the only surprising thing about this match is that it took so long. Maybe Hugo's people were being squeezed too hard by Oliver's people. Oliver probably wanted to make sure the money wasn't coming from the garage sale.

Aside from talking about movie deals, Hugo hasn't exactly been charming Mexico and Colombia, however, since both countries have free-trade pacts with the United States. While the USA is Venezuela's top oil customer, Hugo wants the rest of Latin America to deal with him, not with the US.

The Economist this week looks at the situation in Latin America (emphasis mine):

Broadly speaking, one camp is made up of moderate social democrats, of the sort in office in Chile, Uruguay and Brazil. The other camp is the
radical populists, led by Mr Chavez, who appears to have gained a disciple in Evo Morales, Bolivia's new president. The populists shout louder, and claim that they are helping the poor through state control of oil and gas. Neither Mr Chavez nor Mr Morales is from the "white" elites who, in caricature at least, have long ruled in the region. Both direct volleys of abuse at Mr Bush. For all these reasons, the
populists have captured the sympathy of ignorant paternalists abroad, such as London's mayor, Ken Livingstone, who this week welcomed Mr Chavez as "the best news out of Latin America in many years".

The facts speak otherwise. Yes, after seven years in power and a massive oil windfall, Mr Chavez has finally created some health and education programmes for the urban poor. At last, poverty is falling (though it is still around 40%) in Venezuela--but it would be extraordinary if it were not, given the oil price. Yes, Mr Chavez has twice been elected and remains popular. But he is running down his country's wealth. Having dismantled all checks, balances and independent institutions, his regime rests on his personal control of the state oil company, the armed forces and armed militias.

The Economist isn't buying the charismatic-leader-helping-the-poor-offering-free-health-care-education-adult-literacy-and-job-training-initiatives-that-help-millions-of-Venezuelans/Cubans/Bolivians/[insert nationality here]^TM crap. Instead, it proposes that

Meanwhile, democrats everywhere--including in Europe and in Latin America itself--need to make it clear on which side of the battle they stand. They should not welcome Mr Chavez in their midst unless the presidential election in Venezuela in December is demonstrably free and fair. Restoring democracy in Latin America cost too much blood for the achievement to be lightly thrown away.

I don't think Oliver's going to include that in his movie.

However, since the source of the film news is Hugo himself, and he's known to make things up, I wouldn't be getting the popcorn in the microwave yet.

For all of Hugo's clowning around, let's not lose sight of how serious the situation is.

Jed Babbin looks at China's South America

A few weeks ago, Chavez met with his hero, Castro, and the newly elected Evo Morales of Bolivia to talk about how they can combine their influence to America's disadvantage. Chavez, for all his crude bluster, is neither ignorant nor lacking in savvy. He knows that China is the number two oil importer in the world, and that the Hu Jintao government is pressing every advantage it can find to tie up oil supplies around the world. And, he knows, China periodically tests American resolve. The last time China engaged in such a test, an American Navy EP-3 Orion was forced down on Hainan Island and the crew held hostage for a week to China's demand for an apology from President Bush. With Chavez's and Castro's help, China is testing Mr. Bush again.

Last month I was posting on that same subject.

Update: if Stone is out shilling for the crazy Venezuelan dictator, whose world reputation is rapidly falling, this movie could go down like a Stone.

(technorati tags Venezuela, South America, Hugo Chavez, Latin America, China)

NYT public editor bemoans late correction of Airbus story

Byron Calame, the beleaguered NYT public editor, is upset that the NYT didn't correct the SRO airline seat story sooner than it did. As readers of this blog remember, when I first heard about the Airbus proposal for standing-room airline "acomodations" I let it rip (see April 26 post). My post did include links to articles where Airbus said it was not in discussions with carriers about having a standing room "seat", starting with the London Times. I first heard of the story through France2 news, not through the NYT.

However, there is a most interesting line in Calame's article:

Airbus had abandoned the idea no later than 2004.

which means they did think of this in the first place. Last month I suggested that the Airbus geniuses that came up with this idea be forced to fly standing up every time they travel.

And don't give them any food or water, either.

(technorati tags airbus, Travel)

News from NOLA, and today's articles from Maria

Jay posts about Rep. William Jefferson, D-La, videotaped taking a $100,000 bribe

Wasn’t Jefferson the one that used the National Guard to remove items from his home during the flooding? Don’t you remember, he had them back the truck up to the door and the truck got stuck. Then they had to call in another truck to pull them out. And the Congressman, had to be evacuated by the Coast Guard while the National Guard was waiting on the second truck to pull the first truck out of the Congressman’s waterlogged front lawn.

And yes, Nagin got reelected. Newton comments on a detail.
Update: Frozen assets, indeed. I'd check the mattresses, too.

Via Maria, Social Security for illegals OK'd: Senate blocks effort to limit benefits for those who become legal residents. Mark Steyn writes in the NY Sun, ‘Call It a Banana'

From The Washington Times:

"The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment."

Well, I think that's the kind of moderate compromise "comprehensive immigration reform" package all Americans can support, don't you?

Some mean-spirited extremist House Republicans had proposed that illegal aliens should only receive 75% of the benefits to which they're illegally entitled for having broken the law.
. . .
Meanwhile, Senator John McCain, in a quintessentialy McCainiac contribution to the debate, angrily denied that the Senate legislation was an "amnesty." "Call it a banana if you want to," he told his fellow world's greatest deliberators. "To call the process that we require under this legislation amnesty frankly distorts the debate and it's an unfair interpretation of it."

He has a point. Technically, an "amnesty" only involves pardoning a person for a crime rather than, as this moderate compromise legislation does, pardoning him for a crime and also giving him a cash bonus for committing it. In fact, having skimmed my Webster's, I can't seem to find a word that does cover what the Senate is proposing, it having never previously occurred to any other society in the course of human history. Whether or not, as Senator McCain says, we should call it a singular banana, it's certainly plural bananas.
. . .
But a "worker class" drawn overwhelmingly from a neighboring jurisdiction with another language and ancient claims on your territory and whose people now send so much money back home in the form of "remittances" that it's Mexico's largest source of foreign income (bigger than oil or tourism) is not "immigration" at all, but a vast experiment in societal transformation. Indeed, given the international track record of bilingual societies and neighboring jurisdictions with territorial claims, it's not much of an experiment so much as a safe bet on political instability.

By some counts, up to five per cent of the US population is now "undocumented". Why? In part because American business is so over-regulated that there is a compelling economic logic to the employment of illegals. In essence, a chunk of the American economy has seceded from the Union. But, even if you succeeded in re-annexing it, a large-scale "guest worker" class entirely drawn from one particular demographic has been a recipe for disaster everywhere it's been tried.

Speaking of McCain, here's The speech the Angry Left tried to suppress.

At the blogs:
The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid notices that Krugman can't even do simple arithmetic. Which is probably why he's on the NYT op-ed page.

Today's articles from Maria
George Will asks, Who isn't a 'values voter'?

Jodie Foster is in worse shape than she was four years ago.

Explaining Jews, Part VI: Jews who aid those who hate Jews (and America)

A Gentile's View Of Today's Germany

Statement on Immigration Research, by Robert Rector, a must-read.

Carnival time!
The Center of NJ Life hosts Carnival of New Jersey Bloggers LIII





and let's not forget,

the final episode of this season's 24 starts at 8PM EDT tonight.

Will someone please tell Harry Reid that 'people who speak Spanish' come in all races?

Yesterday

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called a proposal to make English the official language "racist" on the Senate floor yesterday.
"This amendment is racist. I think it's directed basically to people who speak Spanish," the Democrat said during the already tense debate over immigration reform.

Note to Harry: 'people who speak Spanish' come in all races.

More importantly, as Roger points out,

Any encouragement to immigrants (in the current situation, Spanish-speaking immigrants) to think that they can live and work here in their language of origin is the most surefire way to condemn those same immigrants to a life of poverty and bad jobs.

Roger is right: Take a look at the professions where English prevails, not only in the USA, but across the world:

engineering
computers
other technology
natural sciences
medicine
financial institutions such as banks, stock markets, commodities markets, and trade in government-issued securities
accounting
economics
international law

A small amount of research will show you that those are the highest paid occupations in the world.

According to the College of Natural Science, these are the highest-paid college majors; look at the average starting salaries for recent graduates:

Chemical Engineering $55,900
Computer Engineering $54,887
Electrical Engineering $52,899
Mechanical Engineering $50,672
Accounting $45,723
Economics/Finance $45,191
Logistics/Supply Chain $43,017
Civil Engineering $44,999

While Harry bellyaches about job outsourcing to China, he should take a look at the high-skilled jobs being outsourced: I guarantee you that the best Chinese engineers with world-class skills, like engineers all around the world, learned English.

Harry should also try getting hold of his friendly tech support hotline person. The odds are the person is in India. India's become a preferred place for outsourcing jobs because India's an English-speaking country. Again, English pays:

India's IT and outsourcing sector is currently worth about $22bn and expected to grow by 25% until the end of the decade, it said.

India is actively courting more investors, and its economy will continue to grow in those areas.

Even Rochefort (a town best known for its cheese) in France, the most language-chauvinistic - they created the word - country in the world, was holding an English language music festival, in a bid to put itself on the cultural map. (click on sidebar item for video)

Newton's post, About Darned Time! explains that making English the official language should have been done a century ago. Newton, like me, was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and has a word or two for Harry:

For those who believe that such measure amounts to "racism", count me among the "racists". Yep, a multi-racial individual married to a white guy, two languages under the belt, and an International Relations background is a "racist", just because of advocating English as the official language of the United States. That makes sense... not!

Sen. Harry Reid just insulted a huge chunk of the electorate, including those who learned English after arriving here in order to be successful in life.

While you're at it, forget about official second languages of any kind. Every country with an official second language is permanently divided. While the teaching of foreign languages should be compulsory in every school in our country, English is and should remain America's language.

Every person who comes to the USA should work hard to participate in all of our country's opportunities. Learning English is only the first step.

Harry can't seem to realize that.

(technorati tags Immigration, Politics, outsourcing, Harry Reid, Democrats)

Good news from The Real Iraq

If you haven't read it yet, The Real Iraq by Amir Taheri (former executive editor of Kayhan, Irans largest daily newspaper), is this week's must-read.

• By the end of 2005, in the most conservative estimate, the number of returnees [to Iraq] topped the 1.2-million mark.
• In 2005, the holy sites [of the Shiite shrines in Karbala and Najaf] received an estimated 12 million pilgrims, making them the most visited spots in the entire Muslim world, ahead of both Mecca and Medina.
• Over 3,000 Iraqi clerics have also returned from exile, and Shiite seminaries, which just a few years ago held no more than a few dozen pupils, now boast over 15,000 from 40 different countries. This is because Najaf, the oldest center of Shiite scholarship, is once again able to offer an alternative to Qom, the Iranian holy city where a radical and highly politicized version of Shiism is taught. Those wishing to pursue the study of more traditional and quietist forms of Shiism now go to Iraq where, unlike in Iran, the seminaries are not controlled by the government and its secret police.
• the new Iraqi dinar has done well against the U.S. dollar, increasing in value by almost 18 percent between August 2004 and August 2005. The overwhelming majority of Iraqis, and millions of Iranians and Kuwaitis, now treat it as a safe and solid medium of exchange.
• According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as well as numerous private studies, the Iraqi economy has been doing better than any other in the region. The countrys gross domestic product rose to almost $90 billion in 2004 (the latest year for which figures are available), more than double the output for 2003, and its real growth rate, as estimated by the IMF, was 52.3 per cent.
• Iraq now exports foodstuffs to neighboring countries, something that has not happened since the 1950s.
• vast network of independent media has emerged in Iraq, including over 100 privately-owned newspapers and magazines and more than two dozen radio and television stations.
• By September 2005, more than 8.5 million Iraqi children and young people were attending school or universityan all-time record in the nations history.
• By January 2006, all of Iraqs 600 state-owned hospitals and clinics were in full operation, along with dozens of new ones set up by the private sector since liberation.
  
• Iraq has resumed its membership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and has returned to world markets as a major oil exporter.
• all political parties representing the Arab Sunni minority have joined the political process and have strong representation in the new parliament.

Read it all.

Today: Parliament Gathers to OK Iraq's New Gov't

Dr. Sanity, Gateway Pundit, and Belmont Club have been posting about it.

(techonorati tags Iraq, War on Terror)

L'affaire Clearstream: Gergorin's the corbeau

Well, this didn't take too long:
Gergorin, EADS VP, admitted he's the secret informant, known up to now as "le corbeau" (the crow), that wrote the anonymous letter:

Identity of 'the crow' revealed in Clearstream affair
A MYSTERY at the heart of a scandal shaking the French Government was cleared up today when a senior aerospace executive admitted that he had written an anonymous letter alerting prosecutors to apparent corruption among politicians.

The confession to Le Parisien by Jean-Louis Gergorin, 60, a vice-president of the EADS aerospace giant, confirmed the identity of the so-called "crow", the anonymous writer who sent a list of bank accounts to an investigating judge in 2004.
. . .
M Gergorin’s letter, which was followed by others, triggered a judicial investigation that found the bank list to be a fabrication. This cleared Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister, and other senior politicians of holding illicit accounts with the Clearstream financial house in Luxembourg.

Since then the case has unravelled into a murky tale of double-dealing among the Chirac administration, secret agents and the close-knit Paris power elite. At the very least, a smear campaign against M Sarkozy was apparently exploited by Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, and by President Chirac.

It has emerged over the past month that M de Villepin knew about the Clearstream list months before the anonymous letter and that he ordered a senior intelligence officer to investigate it at a meeting attended by M Gergorin, an old Foreign Ministry colleague of his, in January 2004.

The plot has thickened with the revelation that M Gergorin had already outlined the contents of the letter to its recipient, Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke, at an earlier meeting. M Gergorin and the judge have now confirmed that they agreed to using an anonymous letter to avoid formal procedures.

Which of course got the judge in trouble,

Judge Van Ruymbeke, one of France’s most feared investigating magistrates, failed to tell colleagues that he knew the "crow’s" identity, causing them to waste a year looking for him. He is now under investigation and was questioned yesterday by judiciary inspectors.

However, Gergorin refused to say if he was also behind a subsequent letter that falsely implicated Nicolas Sarkozy.

(technorati tags Clearstream, France, Politics, Jacques Chirac, Dominique de Villepin, Nicolas Sarkozy, UMP)

The Da Vinci hype

Today's article Holy Sepulcre! "The Da Vinci Code" shows that conspiracy theories have no limits by Daniel Henninger has the best line so far on Dan Brown's book:

"The Valley of the Dolls" was about people having sex. "The Da Vinci Code" is about Jesus leaving Mary Magdalene pregnant with his baby while he dies on the cross. So in a sense, Mr. Brown's novel respects tradition.

Henninger takes a look at real bestsellers:

"The Da Vinci Code" would not be the subject of this column had it not sold 60.5 million copies, according to its publisher Doubleday. Of course this does not make it the best-selling book of all time. That title, as irony would have it, goes to the Bible, half of which one of Dan Brown's characters dismisses as "false."

Like the Bible but unlike Mr. Brown's novel, most of the books in the sales Pantheon have had utilitarian staying power--McGuffey's Reader, the Guinness Book of Records, Noah Webster's "The American Spelling Book," Dr. Spock's baby book and the World Almanac.

Brown had published a novel before The Da Vinci Code called Angels and Demons which is basically a rehash of a lot of old Masonic conspiracy theories (a theme that was more amusingly treated in National Treasure).

While Brown won a copyright infringement lawsuit from the authors of the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, readers of Umberto Eco's 1989 novel Foucault's Pendulum will notice more than a passing similarity or two in the plot and in the novel's structure, including one person who said,

The Da Vinci Code it's a slap in Umberto Eco's face. It's the triumph of the credulous conspiracy fanatics that Eco was ridiculing.

Dan Brown knows how to write a conspiracy potboiler, an easy read, while Eco's writing can be a slog at times. The fundamental difference between the two lies in that Eco's book - to quote the Wikipedia reviewer of TdVC - "is in fact a satire about the futility of conspiracy theories and the people who believe them."

Part of the appeal of TdVC lies in its idea that Mary Magdalen is exalted over the male apostles, a concept deriving from the "gospel" of Mary, a 2d century AD document that was found in 1896. It segues into our modern, diversity, equal opportunity mentality because

In this gospel Christ teaches that sin is not a problem of moral ignorance so much as a manifestation of imbalance of the soul.

which fits exactly into New Age, Taoist and Buddhist concepts we are familiar with. The idea of sin not being a problem of morality but rather of imbalance is also a most cushy place to rest our weary, self-help driven, Dr. Phil-counseled and Oprahsized psyches. It bothers not a conscience, or a lack of a conscience.

How convenient.

But speaking of concepts, let's look at the reading for today's Catholic Mass, from the Gospel (no quotation marks needed, as this is Gospel) of John, 15:12-17

12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants* any longer, because the servant* does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another

A simple message that seems to be lost in all the gnostic "gospel" hooey and Hollywood-induced hype.

The Anchoress, who has written brilliantly on the subject of conspiracy theories and heresies, commented last month,

the Holy Spirit uses things to His own advantage. This may be one of those times.

The Anchoress' statement holds more truth than those who speak of gnostic "gospels" as

spectacular discoveries that are exploding the myth of a monolithic Christianity and showing how diverse and fascinating the early Christian movement really was.

Diverse, fascinating, yes. Gospel, no.

While bearing all this in mind, I'll end in a lighter note and go back to Henninger's article,

The real accomplishment of "The Da Vinci Code" is that Dan Brown has proven that the theory of conspiracy theories is totally elastic, it has no limits. The genre's future is limitless, with the following obvious plots:

Bill Clinton is directly descended from Henry VIII; Hillary is his third cousin. Jack Ruby was Ronald Reagan's half-brother. Dick Cheney has been dead for five years; the vice president is a clone created by Halliburton in 1998. The Laffer Curve is the secret sign of the Carlyle Group. Michael Moore is the founder of the Carlyle Group, which started World War I. The New York Times is secretly run by the Rosicrucians (this is revealed on the first page of Chapter 47 of "The Da Vinci Code" if you look at the 23rd line through a kaleidoscope). Jacques Chirac is descended from Judas.

None of this strikes me as the least bit implausible, especially the latter. I'd better get started.

Since the subject of this post has to do with hype and I'm not above making a buck, my favorite translation of the Bible is

and here are the other books Henninger mentions:


As for the books I didn't link to, I read them at the Public Library. If you want to buy them go ahead, but I'm not linking to them.

(technorati tags Da Vinci Code, books, Movies, Entertainment, Religion, Christianity)