Best Interview Segment EVER

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog interviews Michael Jackson supporters outside the courthouse(hat tip: Andrew Sullivan). I haven't seen anything this funny in a long time.

There's A Reason His First Name is Dick

I'm not sure I could have a lower opinion of the U.S. Senate or the Democratic Party anyway. But just in case, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin decided to insult the U.S. military by comparing them to Nazis...

When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here [at Guantanamo Bay]--I almost hesitate to put them in the [Congressional] Record, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:

On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. . . . On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

Patrick Ruffini puts it perfectly...

With rare exception, Democrats have taken the position of weakness. Oh sure, they can call it what they want: conciliation, negotiation, nuance, understanding, but their basic position is something the public pretty plainly understands and clearly rejected in the elections of 2002 and 2004. As such, we don't need to win the argument all over again when trying to mobilize people over al Qaeda detainees and Bolton: just connect these issues to the narrative of strength and weakness people already feel in their gut.

...The GOP should not be afraid to "go public" on otherwise arcane national security issues that can be used to reinforce the perception of Democrats as hopelessly lost on the war. When your opponents are playing the role of prison rights advocates for fanatical terrorists, reminiscent of the shills for big screen TVs and gyms in every jail, then the argument is pretty easy to make. National security populism is the way to go.

If the Democrats wonder why Americans don't trust them on national security, here's Exhibit A.

Shocking Insensitivity

Bono is shocked. I'm shocked that he's shocked...

U2 frontman BONO was horrified during a visit to Ethiopia, when he saw local women pelting a breast-feeding aid worker with stones.

The American woman was oblivious of the offence she was causing, and had to escape the angry onslaught from female Muslims who had no qualms about injuring her or her baby.

Bono recalls, "I remember one vision of the people who are with WORLD VISION, which is an American aid agency.

"One of the women was breast-feeding a child on the horse. She was so comfortable. She didn't mean to be insensitive."

Sorry to let the real world intrude, Bono.

More for Susan Torres

The story about Susan Torres, which we blogged about last month, is finally receiving the mainstream press coverage it deserves. Cnn apparently covered the story over the weekend, and USA Today and the Washington Times did so yesterday. The story should bring a tear to anyone's eye. Here's hoping more contributions come in.

In case you still wanted to contribute, here's the information on the fund:

The Susan M. Torres Fund
P.O. Box 34105
Washington, D.C. 20043-0105

Thanks again.

Commie Souveniers

I'm expecting this to show up on Ebay any minute now...

One of the most notorious murder weapons in modern history, the ice-pick that killed Leon Trotsky, appears to have been found, 65 years after it was apparently stolen from the Mexican police.

The daughter of a former secret service agent claims she has the steel mountaineering instrument, which is stained with the blood of the Russian revolutionary.

(hat tip: Jonah Goldberg at The Corner) I'm thinking CBS might want to make this part of a CSI episode. In the meantime, I'm surprised the ice pick didn't cross the border in the last 65 years, looking for a job.

Hollywood's Immorality -- Hitting Them Where it Counts?

Um, this is news? I know the Jackson trial is over, but I don't think we needed a poll to find this out...

Most Americans think movie stars are poor role models and almost half say movies generally aren't as good as they used to be, an AP-AOL poll found.

Australian star Russell Crowe's recent arrest for throwing a phone at a hotel employee is the latest in a long line of unflattering incidents involving major movie stars. Christian Slater faces charges he grabbed a woman's buttocks in a New York City grocery; Winona Ryder was convicted of shoplifting in 2002; and Hugh Grant was caught in a car with a prostitute in the mid-1990s.

Those occurrences, combined with most Americans' preference for watching movies at home, suggest the industry faces challenges if it is to reverse a recent drop in attendance at movie theaters.

Movie stars don't set a good example, said Earl Ledbetter, a movie fan who lives in Ventura, Calif.

"They just don't have the morals," he said. "They marry and divorce, sleep around a lot."

Almost three-fourths, 73 percent, said they would prefer to stay home and watch a movie on their DVD player, VCR or on pay-per-view. That's more than three times the number, 22 percent, who said they prefer to watch films at a theater, according to the telephone poll conducted by Ipsos for The Associated Press and AOL News.

Almost half, 47 percent, said movies are getting worse, while a third said they're getting better.

Hollywood's domestic revenues through last weekend totaled $3.85 billion, down 6.4 percent from 2004. Factoring in higher ticket prices, the number of people who have gone to theaters is down 9 percent from last year, according to industry estimates.

After a strong start this year, movie business entered a prolonged slump, with revenues down the last 16 weekends compared to 2004. The wild card in comparing this year's revenues to 2004's is Mel Gibson's unexpected blockbuster last year "The Passion of the Christ," which drew a huge audience of Christians who were not regular movie-goers.

Oh, great. Blame the Religious Right for this, too.

I wish this indicated some great awakening of morality in America, but I tend to doubt it. People who aren't going to movies because Hollywood's stars are amoral jerks likely made that (admirable) choice years ago. Maybe Cinderella Man is suffering at the box office because of the bad timing of Crowe's arrest, but I don't think that's the reason for any industry-wide slump. Sure, that's anecdotal, but I think Hollywood's problem is the increasing competition it faces for our entertainment dollar. Why go to a theater and deal with the attendant hassles and expenses when a cheap pay-per-view movie can be watched on a big screen hi-def TV?

I don't know that the willingness of more Americans to catch movies at home is indicative of anything more than the fact that we have more options for our entertainment. But if they want to attract a larger audience of people who don't normally go to the movies, maybe Hollywood should make movies for those audiences. Gibson's success could be an object lesson for Hollywood.

Then again, we'll probably just get nine Bruckheimer movies instead.

Apparently, We're Too Stupid For Our Own Good

Frank Furendi has an interesting analysis about political elites in both Europe and the U.S. He seems to conclude that they're both similar. We're not sure who should be more insulted...

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the populist rejection of the EU treaty, the manner in which the 'No' campaign is disparaged by professional politicians betrays a powerful anti-democratic temper. It appears that professional politicians attempt to account for their isolation from the electorate by pointing their finger at the incompetence of the public. On both sides of the Atlantic, the political class has drawn the conclusion that the problem with the people is that they do not know what's in their best interest. This sentiment is particularly widespread among liberal and left-wing activists and thinkers.

'People getting their fundamental interests wrong is what American political life is all about', notes Thomas Frank in his US bestseller What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. Otherwise, Frank argues, how could they possibly vote for the Republicans? The belief that people are too stupid to understand the complexities of public life was also widely expressed during the heated exchanges that surrounded the recent referendums on the EU in France and Germany. Margot Wallstrom, vice president of the EU, commented on her blog that the Constitution is a 'complex issue to vote on', which can lead many citizens to 'use a referendum to answer a question that was not put to them'.

According to this view, since the people cannot be trusted to understand the finer points of legal documents, important decisions need to be left to the professional politician. Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament (MEP), agrees that consulting the electorate is a distraction from getting on with the job. After the referendums in France and Holland, he stated that 'the experience begs the question of whether it was ever appropriate to submit the EU Constitution to a lottery of uncoordinated national plebiscites'.

The people are not only regarded as politically illiterate. They are also depicted as simpletons who are likely to be swayed by demagogues. In the context of the Brussels bubble, a demagogue is anyone who is critical of the EU project. As far as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was concerned, his eurosceptic opponents have crossed the 'border from democracy to demagoguery'. He claimed that a 'populist trend' is seeking to 'undermine the Europe we are trying to build' by 'simplifying important and complex subjects'.

In the USA, this sentiment has been systematically articulated by Democratic Party activists, who cannot understand why many blue-collar workers vote for Republicans. According to George Lakoff, one of the most influential thinkers in the liberal wing of the Democrats, 'people do not necessarily vote in their self interest'.

The belief that the public is too simplistic or too gullible has led some Democratic Party activists to blame the defeat of their presidential candidate in two successive elections on the stupidity of the people. One liberal activist, Michael Gronewalter, states that 'civility and intelligent dialogue are useful tools among intelligent people' but are inappropriate for engaging with the public. He argues:

'I really think the problem is that we liberals are in general far more intelligent, well-reasoned and educated and will go to astonishingly great lengths to convince people of the integrity and validity of our fair and well thought-out arguments. The audience, in case anyone has been paying attention, isn't always getting it! I suspect the problem is not the speaker - it is most of the audience.'

(hat tip: Andrew Sullivan) It's never a good idea to blame the audience for not understanding your point. The deficiency lies with the communicator, not the audience. If you can't tell people why additional economic regulation, larger government, an expanded welfare state and higher taxes aren't good for them, they won't support it. And if you decide to tell them that they're wrong about abortion, capital punishment, religious prayer in schools and their right to bear arms, you better know that they're not likely to agrewe with you unless you tell them why -- and if they don't get it, that's your fault. Somehow, the liberals always remind of Homer Simpson running for Sanitation Commissioner...

Homer: (depressed) "My campaign is a disaster, Moe." (gets angry) "I hate the public so much!" (back to depression) "If only they'd elect me." (anger returns, shakes fist) "I'd make 'em pay!" (depressed once more) "Aw, Moe, how do I make 'em like me?"

To be honest, Homer's a better candidate than John Kerry. No hair issues, you never have to worry about windsurfing accidents, the speeches would be short, Homer won't dump us for the next wealthy woman he meets, and his wife isn't crazy. Hey -- maybe the Dems have a candidate for 2008.

Does He Know Which Direction to Drive?

You can't make this stuff up...

Ricky Williams began his return to South Florida on Monday when he packed some of his belongings and drove from Northern California, agent Leigh Steinberg said.

``Yes, he's driving there,'' Steinberg said Monday afternoon. ``I talked to him this morning, and he said he was all packed up. He should be on the road right now.''

Williams was living in Grass Valley, Calif., about 45 minutes northeast of Sacramento.

Until recently, he was attending a school of holistic medicine and also spent a month in India to learn yoga techniques, in an attempt to become an instructor.

Grass Valley? Are we sure that's not just an adjective?

Just remember, fellow Eagles fans -- a significant number of people in our family wanted to draft this guy, including Governor Rendell (if he ever runs for President, I want someone to ask him how we can trust his judgment when he wanted to pick Ricky Williams). Next time we want to doubt Andy Reid & Co., just picture your running back driving cross-country smoking a joint and noshing on potato chips.

Yes, But Who Gets Portugal in the Will?

Robert Samuelsson says Europe is dying, or at least failing. Man, the French infect everything they touch...

Europe as we know it is slowly going out of business. Since French and Dutch voters rejected the proposed constitution of the European Union, we've heard countless theories as to why: the unreality of trying to forge 25 E.U. countries into a United States of Europe; fear of ceding excessive power to Brussels, the E.U. capital; and an irrational backlash against globalization. Whatever their truth, these theories miss a larger reality: Unless Europe reverses two trends -- low birthrates and meager economic growth -- it faces a bleak future of rising domestic discontent and falling global power. Actually, that future has already arrived.

...It's hard to be a great power if your population is shriveling. Europe's birthrates have dropped well below the replacement rate of 2.1 children for each woman of childbearing age. For Western Europe as a whole, the rate is 1.5. It's 1.4 in Germany and 1.3 in Italy. In a century -- if these rates continue -- there won't be many Germans in Germany or Italians in Italy. Even assuming some increase in birthrates and continued immigration, Western Europe's population grows dramatically grayer, projects the U.S. Census Bureau. Now about one-sixth of the population is 65 and older. By 2030 that would be one-fourth, and by 2050 almost one-third.

No one knows how well modern economies will perform with so many elderly people, heavily dependent on government benefits (read: higher taxes). But Europe's economy is already faltering. In the 1970s annual growth for the 12 countries now using the euro averaged almost 3 percent; from 2001 to 2004 the annual average was 1.2 percent. In 1974 those countries had unemployment of 2.4 percent; in 2004 the rate was 8.9 percent.

...Consider some contrasts with the United States, as reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. With high unemployment benefits, almost half of Western Europe's jobless have been out of work a year or more; the U.S. figure is about 12 percent. Or take early retirement. In 2003 about 60 percent of Americans ages 55 to 64 had jobs. The comparable figures for France, Italy and Germany were 37 percent, 30 percent and 39 percent. The truth is that Europeans like early retirement, high jobless benefits and long vacations.

Perhaps we should consider this as our own welfare state expands mercilessly (even under GOP control, alas). But truth be told, the vitality that once caused Europeans to go out and seek new worlds and new challenges seems to have disappeared entirely, at least from Western Europe. The Eastern European nations that just escaped from Communism may have to escape from Europe soon as well.

Maybe the spectre of death really does hang over Europe -- or at least it's pasty white face. Word has it Michael Jackson's headed there next week. That should scare all the rest of the children into leaving.

Spellbound

The Lord of Truth tells me what I can expect from my kids someday...

When an Indian-American 13-year-old won the Scripps National Spelling Bee last week -- the fifth time in seven years in which a child from that ethnic group has won this stirringly absurd contest -- my first reaction, naturally, was to ask why such a striking pattern of success has emerged. (Indians are 0.66% of the U.S. population.)

...There are certain cultures -- particularly Asian ones -- that produce child prodigies. Relentless parents, goading their children to success at the youngest possible age, are but one explanation. These are all cultures in which, traditionally, children have begun work early, in which childhood as we know it in the West is an alien idea. Indian kids are potty-trained by two. In America, that would be regarded as precocious. Pressure is brought to bear much later on purely American children than on those kids whose parents persist in old-world child-rearing ways long after they immigrate to America.

And here, perhaps, is the last piece in the Indian-American spelling-bee jigsaw. Educationally, Indian-Americans are the cream of the crop of a fifth of humanity, thanks to U.S. immigration laws, which, for decades, let in only doctors and engineers and mathematicians. So these children are the kids of parents who themselves competed -- probably at a ferocious level -- to get into the best Indian schools, and then to get here.

I won't say a word about pushy parents -- I like to think of it as well-motivated kids. Of course, if my kids end up anything like their old man, they'll choke at the end on an easy word and win the consolation prize, which will be a book about the spelling bee or the home version of the game on CD.

Another Day Off From School

Poison caterpillars -- that's one I've never heard...

An outbreak of poisonous caterpillars in Germany has led to school and kindergarten closures, municipal authorities said.

Contact with the stiff-haired spines of oak processionary caterpillars, which have multiplied by the thousands in recent days in trees in the central state of Hesse, can lead to skin rashes and asthma attacks, a spokesman for the town of Dreieich said.

On Tuesday, a local day care center was shuttered and a school in the town of Roedermark Ober Roden closed for two days in June as a result of the outbreak.

Exterminators dressed from head-to-toe in protective gear have set to work destroying and removing the cocoons from school yards in the area.

Well, I guess it's better than closing schools early because it's too hot.

We Need a Timeout on T.O.

Sal Palaontonio, a former Philly sports guy who works for ESPN, keeps me up-to-date on the latest on the T. O. saga. His verdict appears to be "Save us from overkill"...

Like Banquo's ghost, the specter of Owens' presence haunts this team and this city. Indeed, it is a saga that is Shakespearean in scope, a tragedy that could bring down both a proud team and one of the NFL's truly magnificent talents.

Once wildly popular and beloved, Owens is now considered a traitor to the very team that he once praised for rescuing him from the purgatory of staying in San Francisco and the servitude of playing in Baltimore.

As for the Eagles, while few will admit it publicly, reaching the Super Bowl last year for the first time in 24 seasons would not have been possible without Owens. And, despite what Reid says, getting back without him seems to be at the very least an extremely difficult task – just like it was for three straight losses in the NFC championship game.

And in this very mad-about-sports town, people are taking sides – from the gas station attendant to the radio talk show host.

Every day, in drive time on WIP-AM, the city's raucous sports radio station, the divisive Howard Eskin – a personal friend of Reid's – has crucified Owens. When Owens complained that he needed a new deal because he had to "feed his family," Eskin started a food drive for No. 81, so that Owens wouldn't miss a meal. It was Eskin who first reported that Owens slept in some team meetings and was late for others last season – a report that the Owens camp did not deny publicly, but privately accused the Eagles front office of leaking.

And each Eskin zing has created a reaction from the dwindling number of Owens' supporters in the media, chief among them ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who is also a regular general columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In a recent column, Smith – who often talks to Owens – intimated that the Eagles simply were not used to players rocking the boat, because the leader in the locker room is the ultimate "company man," Donovan McNabb.

"I definitely need to know the definition of 'company man,'" McNabb replied. "A smart player? A smart athlete? A smart person? Knowing how to handle a situation? Knowing how to handle things in the right manner? That may be something that defines me."

Smith's column inspired a wicked response from another Inquirer columnist, Phil Sheridan, who is routinely lined up with Eagles management.

Even the venerable Philadelphia Daily News baseball sage Bill Conlin felt compelled to weigh into the Eagles' dominance of the sports news cycle – begging Phillies fans at Citizens Bank Park to please stop the Eagles chants between pitches.

Here's the bad news for people looking for a rest from this mess: There is more than a month until the Eagles report to training camp on July 29. And the only thing worth discussing until then is whether Owens will be showing up on time – if at all.

I'll save my angst for the fall and for late January. In the meantime, I'm going to go shopping for a Reggie Brown jersey.

This Never Happens To Me

Some folks have all the luck...

A woman who won $1 million playing a Pennsylvania Lottery scratch-off ticket earlier this year won another million on the same game Thursday.

Donna Goeppert, 55, of Bethlehem said it was "just unbelievable" as she was filing her claim Friday at lottery headquarters. "What are the odds of that?" she asked.

The odds of winning just once are 1.44 million-to-1, according to the lottery.

Goeppert's winning tickets both came in the lottery's $1 Million Blockbuster game. A lottery spokeswoman confirmed that a claim was filed and said it may be two months before a check is issued.

The Lord of Truth, in his note accompanying this article, was amused that someone figured out the odds of winning twice. I'm amazed that anyone who wins once keeps playing.

Wacko Jacko Thoughts

A few thoughts on the Michael Jackson verdict...

1. A true showman would have shown up at court wearing the 80's jacket and the beaded glove, and moonwalked through security.

2. Seriously, as the Lord of Truth noted, do any celebrities get convicted in California of anything? Winona Ryder, I guess... so the lesson for celebrities is, try to commit bodily acts of harm, but stay away from property crime.

3. I think I've seen more of the other Jackson brothers the last week, than I did in the last decade.

4. I'm not sure Michael could look worse. I was half-expecting him to emerge from court, pull off the face, and resemble the T-1000.

5. Where's the next celebrity trial? If there isn't one, how are we going to keep all these lawyers/TV commentators employed? C'mon, somebody convince Eric Roberts to hold a 7-11. It's not like he's doing anything else.

What Annoying Song is Stuck in My Head Today?

If I need to suffer with a song stuck in my head, why shouldn't you have to do the same? Sometimes they're good, most times they're bad... but no matter what, they make you suffer. So I like to share the suffering whenever it happens.

It's rare that current-day songs make it, because I make a concerted effort to avoid the radio. But then you go out to lunch because your sister and brother-in-law are in town, and the restaurant insists on playing Gwen Stefani. Like I needed this for the past 24 hours, pounding in my head incessantly.

Here's Rich Girl, with Stefani and Eve trying to hammer their point into my head...

If I was a Rich Girl
See, I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl
No man could test me, impress me, my cash flow would never ever end
Cause I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl

Think what that money could bring
I'd buy everything
Clean out Vivienne Westwood
In my Galliano gown
No, wouldn't just have one hood
A Hollywood mansion if I could
Please book me first class to my fancy house in London town

All the riches baby, won't mean anything
All the riches baby, don't bring what your love can bring
All the riches baby, won't mean anything
Don't need no other baby
Your lovin' is better than gold and I know

If I was rich girl
See, I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl
No man could test me, impress me, my cash flow would never ever end
Cause I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl
I'd get me four Harajuku girls to
Inspire me and they'd come to my rescue
I'd dress them wicked, I'd give them names
Love, Angel, Music, Baby
Hurry up and come and save me

All the riches baby, won't mean anything
All the riches baby, don't bring what your love can bring
All the riches baby, won't mean anything
Don't need no other baby
Your lovin' is better than gold and I know

[EVE:]
Come together all over the world
From the hoods to Japan Harajuku girls
What? It's all love
What? Give it up
What? (shouldn't matter) What?
Come together all over the world
From the hood to Japan Harajuku girls
What? It's all the love
What? Give it up
What? (shouldn't matter)
What happened to my life? Turned up side down
Chicks dat blew ya mind, ding, it's the second round
Original track and ting
You know you can't buy these things
See Stefani and her L.A.M.B. I rock the fetish people you know who I am

Yes ma'am, we got the style that's wicked
I hope you can all keep up
We climbed all the way from the bottom to the top
now we ain't gettin' nothing but love

If I was rich girl
See, I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl
No man could test me, impress me, my cash flow would never ever end
Cause I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl

You're welcome.

I Wish I Could Write Like This

Lileks takes on Time Magazine's "revelations" regarding torture at Gitmo. I haven't stopped laughing yet. A snippet...

And at one point the reader might assume that if something really bad had happened, we might have read about it by now. I know a little bit about modern journalism, and we tend to emphasis the splintery plunger up the butt over the mocking puppet show. In any case, this detail makes you almost want to weep in frustration; domestic politicians are posturing for the camera, huffing about then horrors of Gitmo, insisting that the rest of the world won’t forgive us until we close the joint down and pave it. Over what? A Punch and Judy show? If we gang-mimed the guy and had 17 men in striped shirts with white makeup pantomime falling out of a burning skyscraper, would the critics demand we not only let the guy go but pay him a per diem for his troubles? I’ve read the story twice, and I keep wondering if I missed the part where the suspected 20th hijacker spits teeth into a chamberpot rimming with own bloody urine while massaging the welts the jumper cables left on his groinal division. I mean, I take all that for granted, because our soldiers are all killbot brutes - except for the lower-class ones who got drafted against their will and can only hope Bruce Springsteen sings a monotonal account of their disaffection.

Seriously, the man can write. I'm in awe.

Dr. Demento Continues Unabated

Please, please, don't fire him. For the love of God, the Dems have found someone who's going to end up being worse than Terry McAulliffe. Here's Screaming Howard's greatest hits from last week...

The latest flap came Monday when Dean said of the Republican Party, "It's pretty much a white, Christian party." The comment drew fire from Dean's GOP opponents, but it also rankled Democrats, who have been nervous ever since the outspoken former Vermont governor and presidential candidate won the DNC post.

Although many admire Dean's fundraising and party-building skills, they worry about his penchant for red-hot rhetoric. Last week, Dean said of Republicans, "A lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives." Earlier he suggested that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.), now under an ethics cloud, ought to return to Houston to serve jail time.

But the "Christian party" comment has the potential of repelling millions of voters, and it had many Democrats running for cover. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) told reporters yesterday, "I don't think the statement [Dean] made was a helpful statement," and she attributed it to "the exuberance" of being in the job.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), one of Dean's opponents in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries, said the comment was "way over the top" and said he will ask Dean to explain himself during a previously scheduled meeting with Senate Democrats today. "I'm sure I won't be the only one," Lieberman said.

Man, I guess I'm not a Republican. I'm not white, I work really hard (although being a lawyer may not constitute an honest living... but Dean probably didn't mean it that way, since his party is a subsidiary of the trial lawyers anyway) and I'm not even Christian. I hope this doesn't make me a Democrat -- I've always considered myself too intelligent for that.

Apparently Dick Cheney, unaware of Karl Rove's advice that Dean be allowed to dive off the deep end unhindered, opted to rebuke Dean last week, during an interview on Fox News. Dean responded...

"My view is FOX News is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and I don't comment on FOX News," Dean said. That was in response to vice president Dick Cheney calling Howard Dean "over the top" on Fox News on Sunday.

Now I'm confused. If Fox News is Republican propaganda, does that mean only Republicans appear on Fox? If so, how does Dean explain his appearance on Fox News on numerous occasions, including this interview in February 2004. Wait a second...

Dean is white...

Dean is Christian...

Dean's been a politician for years, so I'm not sure he's actually earned an honest living...

Wow! Howard Dean must be a Republican!!!!

Man, that Karl Rove is a genius. First he tricked everyone into believing Dean is a Democrat, and almost won him the Democratic nomination for President. Now he got him elected chairman of the DNC. A Republican in charge of the DNC, sabotaging the Democrats from within. Perfect.

Actually, Dean may be doing too good a job sabotaging his party. Rove better adjust Howard's meds, or everyone will figure out this evil plan.

School Choice, Then and Now

The Lord of Truth sends us this link to Milton Friedman's piece on school choice last week in the Journal. Yeah, I'm a little slow here, but I've been busy. In any case, Friedman is always a good read...

Little did I know when I published an article in 1955 on "The Role of Government in Education" that it would lead to my becoming an activist for a major reform in the organization of schooling, and indeed that my wife and I would be led to establish a foundation to promote parental choice. The original article was not a reaction to a perceived deficiency in schooling. The quality of schooling in the United States then was far better than it is now, and both my wife and I were satisfied with the public schools we had attended. My interest was in the philosophy of a free society. Education was the area that I happened to write on early. I then went on to consider other areas as well. The end result was "Capitalism and Freedom," published seven years later with the education article as one chapter.

With respect to education, I pointed out that government was playing three major roles: (1) legislating compulsory schooling, (2) financing schooling, (3) administering schools. I concluded that there was some justification for compulsory schooling and the financing of schooling, but "the actual administration of educational institutions by the government, the 'nationalization,' as it were, of the bulk of the 'education industry' is much more difficult to justify on [free market] or, so far as I can see, on any other grounds." Yet finance and administration "could readily be separated. Governments could require a minimum of schooling financed by giving the parents vouchers redeemable for a given sum per child per year to be spent on purely educational services. . . . Denationalizing schooling," I went on, "would widen the range of choice available to parents. . . . If present public expenditure were made available to parents regardless of where they send their children, a wide variety of schools would spring up to meet the demand. . . . Here, as in other fields, competitive enterprise is likely to be far more efficient in meeting consumer demand than either nationalized enterprises or enterprises run to serve other purposes."

Read the whole thing. Then spend a little time with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's series on school choice in that city. The results aren't all rosy, but the summary shows where the schools currently lie on the continuum...

• The voucher schools feel, and look, surprisingly like schools in the Milwaukee Public Schools district. Both MPS and the voucher schools are struggling in the same battle to educate low-income, minority students.

• About 10% of the choice schools demonstrate alarming deficiencies. The collapse of four schools and the state's limited ability to take action against others have led to some agreement on the need for increased oversight to help shut down bad schools.

• The voucher program has brought some fresh energy to the mission of educating low-income youth in the city by fostering and financially supporting several very strong schools that might not exist otherwise. There are at least as many excellent schools as alarming ones.

• The amount of taxpayer money going to pay for religious education in Milwaukee has no parallel in the last century of American life. About 70% of the students in the program attend religious schools. Religion guides the choices that parents make, and the curriculum that a majority of schools choose, and has led to a network of dozens of independent church schools led by African-American ministers throughout the city.

• The choice program regenerated parochial schools in the city, including dozens of Catholic and Lutheran schools, which were experiencing declining enrollment. Overall, it has preserved the status quo in terms of schooling options in the city more than it has offered a range of new, innovative or distinctive schools.

• Parental choice by itself does not assure quality. Some parents pick bad schools - and keep their children in them long after it is clear the schools are failing. This has allowed some of the weakest schools in the program to remain in business.

• There is no evidence that voucher schools have "creamed" the best students from Milwaukee Public Schools, an early concern expressed by some critics. Except for the fact that the public schools are obligated to serve all special education students, the kids in the voucher program appear have the same backgrounds - and bring the same problems - as those in the public schools.

• Creating a new school through the choice program is easier than most people expected. Creating a good new school is harder than most thought it would be.

(hat tip: John J. Miller at The Corner) School choice won't solve every problem. But it represents a legitimate attempt to solve the crisis in public education, without sacrificing an entire generation of kids who might otherwise have a chance.

Sexual Torture.... Yeah, Right

I'm a big fan of the Volokh Conspiracy -- it's one of the best blogs out there, especially for legal analysis. But it also does a pretty good job of analyzing and breaking down news "reporting", especially when the errors are the egregious type of crap that we see in the press all the time. Eugene Volokh nails some misreporting by the Guardian in this post. The Guardian's article seems to have a rather broad definition of "sexual torture". I copied the first paragraph of the article below, followed by the supposed instances of "sexual torture" detailed here...

An American soldier has revealed shocking new details of abuse and sexual torture of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay in the first high-profile whistleblowing account to emerge from inside the top-secret base.

...Among the most shocking abuses Saar recalls is the use of sex in interrogation sessions. Some female interrogators stripped down to their underwear and rubbed themselves against their prisoners. Pornographic magazines and videos were also used as rewards for confessing.

In one session a female interrogator took off some of her clothes and smeared fake blood on a prisoner after telling him she was menstruating. 'That's a big deal. It is a major insult to one of the world's biggest religions where we are trying to win hearts and minds,' Saar said.

A couple points are in order. Volokh is probably right that some of the tactics detailed here are questionable. I personally have little in the way of objection to porn magazines or stripped-down interrogators -- neither constitutes an abuse of the prisoner in question. If he doesn't want to see a half-naked woman, he can shut his eyes. I'd argue that the case is more close to the line on rubbing against prisoners or smearing blood on them. I can see the case against these. But none of this, in my opinion, qualifies as "sexual torture." By this definition, Victoria's Secret engages in mass acts of minor sexual torture when they mail their catalogs to any place where a Muslim male may see them.

Exaggerating the nature of what's taking place isn't necessary to inform us and allow us to make our own decisions as to whether the interrogation techniques are overboard. Inform the American people and let us make the decision. We may have varying opinions as to what's right and what's wrong, but trying to fool those of us less likely to object to what's going on isn't going to result in anything good.

Finally, there's Saar's point that we're trying to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world, and that Guantinomo isn't helping. I won't dispute the latter part of the point, but the former is one that needs to be put in context. Yes, we're trying to win hearts and minds, but the point of our detention and interrogation policy is not to win hearts and minds -- it's to detain terrorists and obtain information from them. The key question to ask is not whether the tactic in question will help us win hearts and minds -- letting people go in a mass release might accomplish that, but would also place all of us in danger.

The key questions are ones that involve the question of what's right and what's wrong -- what we as a society are willing to accept from our military leadership and the troops who follow their rules. We set the rules, within the context of legal structures -- the latter are important, but so's a sense of morality. Put it this way -- smearing the fake blood on the prisoner may or may not violate the Geneva Convention, but I would expect an argument that it's still not right regardless. And that's a good argument to have.

I think a large division exists between those who are infuriated by the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanimo, and those who view these as the type of problems that occur when you're fighting a war. I tend to fall into the latter camp, but I understand why the other side (within reason) thinks of these as serious problems that need to be solved. I just disagree as to the nature of the problems -- they tend to view them as systemic and serious, while I view them as isolated and generally not as severe as they are portrayed.

I think the vast majority of American people were upset at what happened at Abu Ghraib, but don't particularly feel a great degree of pain about it. The public humiliation of prisioners is wrong -- but the constant attempts by some on the left to draw moral equivalence between Abu Ghraib and the terrorist attacks on civilians where people were injured and killed tend to lose the moderates who might be willing to listen to the case at hand and appreciate it.

Put rather bluntly, we live in a culture where convicts in the justice sytem go to prisons where they really are subject to varying degrees of physical and mental abuse (including rape, which would easily qualify as sexual torture). That's a terrible thing. Someone peeing on the Koran is bad, but nowhere near as awful by comparison. Both are wrong, but exaggerating the latter will not make it the former. Calling Guantanimo a "gulag" is another example. Using the term "sexual torture" in this case is the latest sample of the hysteria of the left.

Here's To You

For once, I'm ahead of the curve on style. I've been a fan of Yuengling for years...

A line of taps pouring elegant brews from Bass to Blue Moon beckon twentysomethings packed into Bomber's bar. But 21-year-old Elliot Cunniff orders something homier for himself and a friend. "Two Yuenglings," he tells the bartender, explaining the attraction after a sip from his pint glass. "Price. Color. Flavor," he says. "And the name alone, 'ying-ling.'"

Cunniff doesn't come out and say it, but it becomes apparent as other Yuengling orders roll in: Old school brews are cool.

Just as young consumers might wear `70s-look sneakers, sip `50s cocktails or download `80s hair band tunes, many are bellying up to the bar for the beers Grandpa drank — maybe a Rheingold, a Leinenkugel's, or a Utica Club.

They're sometimes called "retro beers," brands that might bring to mind old men in ribbed undershirts, and which are now finding a new audience with the young. It worked for Pabst Blue Ribbon and now others are playing the same nostalgic chords.

Getting new life from an old brand is a great deal for brewers because they avoid the cost of launching a new product. The trick is doing it right. Heavy-handed advertising can backfire. Word of mouth seems to work. Television commercials with the Swedish bikini team are a big no-no.

"That's the whole point of the retro thing, I think," said Eric Shepard of Beer Marketer's Insights. "The harder you try to push it, the more skeptical people are going to get."

These are not the happiest days for brewers. Sales are growing slowly and beer is losing ground to spirits as consumers turn more to mixed drinks. Beer's market share dropped from 56 percent in 1999 to 52.9 percent last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

Man, that last paragraph is depressing. What's happening in America? Personally, I blame all you damn coffee-drinkers and the bastion of evil known of Starbucks.