Buck Naked Politics

Peggy Noonan Offers Hillary Some "Friendly" "Advice"

by Damozel | Peggy Noonan is one of the many successful middle-aged women who are seemingly obsessed with Hillary Clinton, gloat upon her failures, and triumphantly anticipate her downfall.   Why?  I don't know.  As a middle-aged woman myself, I bear Hill no ill will (okay, sorry).   But perhaps this is because Hillary is too far out of my league to be a threat.

If I had climbed to the top of my---or any---tree, would I view her differently, i.e., in the manner of Noonan and, say, Maureen Dowd?  One's own ascendency might seem a little less unique if, looking up, one saw Hillary climbing away out of sight.  And we all know from high school that the worst rivals are the ones we despise.  So it's no surprise to see Noonan taking immense pleasure in Hillary's setbacks. 

Two London Car Bombs "Off the Radar."

posted by Damozel | So Britain's new PM, Gordon Brown, came within a narrow limit of having to spend the first days of his long-awaited premiership dealing with a horrific crisis.(The Washington Post)   

"It is obvious that if the device had detonated, there could have been significant injury or loss of life," [Peter] Clarke [Head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism unit] said, adding that the number of dead and injured "certainly could have been into the hundreds."..

Police said they found gas cylinders inside the Mercedes, along with large numbers of nails that could have enhanced the damage the bomb could inflict. (The Washington Post)   

Naturally, I'm extremely upset by this, as I have family in London, and it's a stark reminder of a certain ongoing reality of contemporary life.  But I am trying to look at the situation calmly.  It's now confirmed that there were two car bombs planted in the West End. (The Washington Post (BBC News ; The Telegraph) Both devices were "viable" and "clearly linked," said Clarke, which he finds---classic British understatement here--"troubling." (BBC News)  The police are actually not yet certain of their origin, though there is plenty of speculation. 

Elizabeth Edwards Asks Ann Coulter to be More Civil; Ann Interprets Request as Equivalent to Demand that She Stop Speaking.

posted by Damozel | COULTER UPDATE! The advocate of protecting little babies had a brief interchange on Hardball with Elizabeth Edwards which included, among other things, a suggestion by Edwards that Coulter refrain from uncivil cracks such as the joke about the Edwards' dead son. 

If you wish to enjoy Coulter's response, the video is here.  Subsequently,  Coulter tried to reframe the plea that she be a bit less nasty to Edwards and perhaps to raise the tone of her discourse as a request that she stop speaking at all.  But Edwards stolidly continued with her argument, which was about the quality of Coulter's brand of discourse and not its content.

Coulter looked a bit uncomfortable and awkward at moments, even---I thought---a bit abashed..   She was squirming a bit and made a couple of  pretty awkward missteps, even pointing out that the joke about the Edwards' dead son was "three years ago."  Oh good, I'm sure it was less painful for them then, three years closer to the date of the actual event.   

Signs of the Times: Ann Coulter Calls Bush an Unkind Name; Shows Disturbing Pro-[Right Wing] French Sympathies.

posted by Damozel | Speaking of incivility.....I can hardly believe it, but my sweet Ann---the Dems' secret weapon, I call her---apparently is fed up with Bush.  You can see the video right here.  ""I do get the sense now that people are reaching across the divide because we're all waiting for this nincompoop to be gone," Coulter said today on"Good Morning America," referring to President Bush." (ABC News) . 

Of course, she also compared him to FDR.  The war, she says, is the one thing she thinks he has done well.  ""I think he's been magnificent on the war, and his domestic policy has been an embarrassment," Coulter said. "The immigration bill is causing problems not just among his base, but among Republicans and Democrats""  (ABC News)   

Naturally Democrats and liberal pundits are agog.   Have all our birthdays come at once? 

PETA's attack on Michael Moore: Civility Rant.

posted by Damozel | Having just written at length about Michael Moore, I found PETA's attack on him and his work particularly out of order (because irrelevant to his work) and offensive.  But I'm bringing it up because it's an illustration of the decline of civility in public discourse, where attacks on the person (and particularly the person's appearance) have become a common substitute for reasoned argument on a position....ah hell.

It's so clearly an instance of an attack on someone famous for the sake of drawing attention to an issue ----perfectly valid if you happen to agree with PETA---that it wouldn't be worth a comment if it weren't such a perfect example of a systemic problem.  And because it is gratuitious and irrelevant to the actual argument, the fact that Moore is guilty at times of the same behavior doesn't excuse it.

PETA, wishing to promote vegetarianism, claims---did they even see the film?---that Sicko is hypocritical coming from a man they ASSUME is in poor health due to his weight problem. "“There’s an elephant in the room, and it is you,” PETA president Ingrid Newkirk wrote in a letter to Moore."  (MSNBC) Not that this is really even their issue:  their issue is that he eats meat.   

Andrew Sullivan on Baquba.

posted by Damozel | I realize that I, an acknowledged liberal, very often quote Andrew Sullivan, a conservative.  But isn't that a good thing?  It shows that agreement across the Great Divide is possible. 

Besides, though there's nothing at all funny about the failed operations in Baquba, Sullivan at least enabled me to enjoy the birthright of those who have learned the value of  thinking rather than feeling when confronted with the realities of the Iraq war.  "And so the game of whack-a-mole continues,"  Sullivan writes. 

After reading this harrowing article, I needed the elbow dig to keep my perspective.  Besides, there's this as well, to which Sullivan also drew my attention, and which is even worse if true. (Breitbart)  Better to chuckle bleakly than....well, any of the alternatives.  My ancient, glittering eyes are gay.  The alternative is either apathy, quiet desperation, or a life lived as if it were a 19th Century Russian novel.   

DC Administrative Judge Loses His $54 Million Lawsuit Over a Pair of Missing Pants.

posted by Damozel | So the administrative law judge who sued a laundromat for $54 million over a pair of missing pants gets nothing. (The Washington Post)  In fact, Judge Pearson may find himself saddled for tens of thousands of dollars in legal costs for attorney's fees and sanctions.(The Washington Post)  He might also find that he's no longer an administrative law judge for the District. (The Washington Post; The Washington Post2) ("Is there anything more absurd than someone pursuing a $65 million lawsuit over a lost pair of pants? Well, how about this same person being in a position to adjudicate the cases of other people? Or that there's a chance of his getting a new 10-year term as judge?" demanded a May 3 editorial in The Washington Post.)  The case has become "The case has become a worldwide symbol of litigiousness in American society," says Peter Lattman at The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog. 

I feel extremely sorry for the defendants, who got put through the wringer .  This litigation went on for two years and cost the Korean immigrant couple thousands of dollars to defend. (MSNBC)    It's really sad, though I must say I feel sorry for Judge Pearson as well.  I may be alone in this, I realize.  But what was he thinking?  What would the world look like if everyone could recover $54 million every time they suffered minor loss?  Does Judge Pearson really believe that the judicial system could survive it?

Michael Moore: Can You Forgive Him?

posted by Damozel | Since Sicko hit the screens, Moore is fast becoming to health care debate what Gore has been to the discussion of climate change. In a post at Pandagon today, Amanda Marcotte argues that "hating on Michael Moore is a worn-out cliche"---for liberals, she means, since it's unlikely that conservatives are ever likely to see the point of him.   

I think Marcotte is right and that it's time for Democrats to cease praising Moore---if they praise him at all---only with faint damns or dismissing him altogether as too partisan to be credible..(Pandagon)  I think she's also right that a lot of people who secretly agree with him affect to scorn him so as not to be dismissed as similarly partisan.  .(Pandagon)   He deserves better, at least from people who share his views.

But cliche or not,  I know for a fact why a lot of Democrats I know have a long-standing grudge against Michale Moore.   When one of my friends recently remarked (grudgingly) that "Sicko is an important film," she added, "but I'll never forgive him for that open letter to Al Gore in 2000."  And I'd hazard a guess that even Dems who didn't read the 2000 letter or remember what it said still remember they don't like him.  And Fahrenheit 911 might have mollified them to some extent, but it also abraded some of those still unhealed wounds.

Iraq: "Chemical Ali" and Other Aides to Saddam Hussein Sentenced to Death.

posted by Damozel | Three of Saddam Hussein's top aides have been convicted of genocide and war crimes and sentenced to die for their roles in the mass murder of 180,000 Kurds in 1988 (The Washington Post).  One of the defendants---the sad-eyed, fatherly-looking 66 year old man shown here---is Ali Hassan al-Majeed, otherwise known as "Chemical Ali." (The Washington Post).  In the course of Saddam Hussein's campaign to suppress the Kurds, he launched an attack that lasted almost seven months and that involved "attacks with chemical weapons, the destruction of some 2,000 villages, the complete depopulation of large areas and mass deportations." ( BBC News).  During the trial, the prosecutor said that Majeed was ""the ultimate master of the genocide operations against the Kurds.""   (The Washington Post)     

Some Western "legal monitoring groups" evidently question whether the campaign against the Kurds meets the international legal definition of genocide "in the sense of a systematic attempt to wipe out an antire ethnic, religious, or other group." (The New York Times) Tell that to the Kurds. The "Anfal campaign " "was a campaign of mass displacement and disappearance conducted by the Iraqi Government in the waning days of the Iran-Iraq war," during which---adopting a scorched earth policy---Saddam's government drove the Kurds from their villages and slaughtered them by the thousands.  (BBC News.)  A witness in Saddam's trial said that her family members were buried alive. (BBC News).  The account of a former Iraqui colonel seems to confirm this practice.

Judge Determines that Three Drug Companies engaged in Unfair and Deceptive Pricing.

posted by Damozel | This sort of thing is more in The Crux's line than mine, but aspects of this case are really troubling me.

Applying Massachusetts state law, U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris---who has evidently become "fed up" with the imaginative marketing schemes of Big Pharma--- held three companies liable in a nationwide class action lawsuit.  According to Judge Saris, Astra-Zeneca, Schering-Plough Corp., and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company "engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices regarding some of their drug prices," (Wall Street Journal)  resulting in substantial injuries to patients, insurers, and the government. (Wall Street Journal2)    [She determined that the conduct of the fourth defendant, Johnson & Johnson, though "troubling", was not sufficiently egregious to violate Massachusetts law. (Bloomberg.com) ]   As to the remaining three, ""The different pharmaceutical companies unfairly took advantage of the system by setting sky-high prices with no relation to the marketplace,''" Saris wrote.  (The New York Times) 

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Steve Berman, stated:  "We found this case to be so disturbing because the pharmaceutical companies were running their business to benefit their bottom line, period," said Berman. "Because of the actions of these companies patients who rely on these drugs, often times to save their lives, have been critically injured through the grossly inflated prices." (Wall Street Journal2)

They're Still Dropping Like Flies....

posted by Damozel | As we all know, Bush Fatigue has taken down  a lot of government officials and---according to this article in The Financial Times---is likely to claim many more victims before it's all over.   On his way out, Rob Portman, the Director of  the Office of Management and Budget, "jokingly" answered a query whether he was leaving because it would be good for his career by saying "It would be good for my mental health." FT.com   

During the past six months, at least 20 senior officials have quit posts of power and influence in the executive branch. FT.com  ""What is the point of sticking around in an administration that isn’t going to accomplish anything significant?” said a former official." Another official (who didn't want to be named), said, "“There’s a real sense of fatigue and very little sense of purpose. My guess is you’re going to see a lot more departures.”" FT.com.

All the Weird Science My Tax Dollars Can Buy (with bonus Jon Stewart Footage!)

Forget Star Wars; that's Reagan era technology.  Those Americans blessed with a touch of imagination will be thrilled to learn that the Pentagon has far more exotic plans for at least a portion of our tax dollars:

Just this month, the government confirmed that an Ohio Air Force laboratory had asked for $7.5 million to build a nonlethal "gay bomb," a weapon that would encourage enemies to make love, not war. The weapon would use strong aphrodisiacs to make enemy troops so sexually attracted to each other that they'd lose interest in fighting.

Last year, scientists at Boston University developed brain implants that could steer sharklike dog fish with a phantom odor.

Just three years ago, the military funded a specious study of psychic teleportation, according to the Federation of American Scientists. An 88-page report prepared by the Air Force Research Lab contended that moving through mind powers is "quite real and can be controlled."   ABC News,  Fringe Science  Yields "Gay Bombs" and Psychic Teleportation.

I know that others will disagree, but I personally prefer for my tax dollars to be used for studies of "psychic teleportation."   I love weird science and just wish I could earmark my own small contribution to the government so that it would be used for such purposes only.

Naming the Cheney Branch.

Now that Cheney's clarified for the rest of us that his office doesn't fit within any of the existing branches of government, we're going to need a name for it. 

Wonkette suggested "The Ministry of Information."   "In response to questions from Henry Waxman’s office, Cheney’s office asserted that it did not, in fact, exist at all. Then David Addington threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared, leaving behind only the echo of his laughter and his eerie disembodied smile."  Wonkette, Cheney Breaks Off, Forms Own Government.

Ana Marie Cox at Swampland:  "Yeah, I'll sleep better tonight knowing that Dick Cheney ANSWERS TO NO ONE. "   Swampland, When ABC Imitates the Onion.   

She speculates that ""his new undisclosed location  is an abandoned oil rig he's declared "The Glorious Nation of Dickistan.""  Perhaps that would do.   I myself prefer "The Ministry of Truth."  Perhaps we should have a contest!

But seriously, folks....at Midtopia, Sean Aqui remarks:

Swift on Althouse.

I salute you, Jon Swift, for this Swiftian/Freudian analysis of  Ann Althouse, that temperamental and terrifying blogging diva who administers her domain with a rod of red hot metal and the occasional petulant kick to keep her admirers and detractors in line.  A law professor, Althouse is usually to be found holding gravely forth on Paris Hilton, American Idol, and The Sopranos---or, if the mood strikes her, like Maggie's Ma, on Man and God and Law--- with maximum intensity and minimum detachment.  "Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit."  I absolutely love her for all these reasons.  But it is a hateful kind of love.

See Jon Swift's note for the reasons why liberal bloggers hate Althouse even more than they hate Hillary;  why she is obsessed with Bill Clinton; why nobody---left, right, or centrist---will ever appreciate her as much as she appreciates herself; and why even her regular commenters don't really like her that much.  Best of the best::

Wan Kim Testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee.

posted by Damozel |Wan Kim, the Justice Department's current assistant attorney general for civil rights, seems to be concerned that the Senate Judiciary Committee is rushing to judgment about the division's hiring practices under his predecessor, Bradley J. Schlozman. (Boston Globe ) 

Before the Senate, Kim stated that he was unaware at the time of any politically motivated firings until he read about them in WaPo and urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to wait till an internal Justice investigation is complete before drawing conclusions. Boston Globe.  (Poor Kim was invited to appear before the committee for "what was billed as a routine hearing on the civil rights division's work" (Washington Post).  Imagine his surprise!)

Other lawyers from the division would beg to differ about hiring practices under Schlozman. "'When he said he didn't engage in political hiring, most of us thought that was just laughable," said one lawyer in the section, referring to Schlozman's June 5 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Everything Schlozman did was political. And he said so'" (Washington Post, emphasis mine).   Wan Kim says that his own management is free of ideology.  "'Talent and competence and ability to me matter, and other things don't matter," he said" (Washington Post).

The President, Crocs, and Socks.

posted by Damozel | Robin Givhan of The Washington Post is concerned about President Bush's choice to combine a pair of black Crocs with black socks while dressing himself for a bike ride.

He wore the clunky resin clogs -- which have ventilation holes and a heel strap -- with a pair of black shorts, a white camp shirt, a baseball cap with the image of an unidentified Scottish terrier and black bike socks imprinted with the presidential seal. He had the backstraps of his Crocs flipped forward so they rested on the top of the shoes -- turning them into slides. This subtle gesture -- coupled with the subdued color -- actually made the exceedingly unattractive shoes look tolerable.   The Washington Post, By Executive Order, Crocs Aren't Chic (22 June 2007).

I am far from fashion forward, and rather like the idea of the leader of the free world wearing a baseball cap "with the image of an unidentified Scottish terrier", but I think he should draw the line at Crocs worn with black socks or perhaps at Crocs. 

The Lost Emails and Congressional Oversight

posted by Damozel | More White House officials than previously supposed took advantage of the Republican National Committee's generous offer of free email accounts. The RNC helpfully preserved more than 140,000 emails to and from Karl Rove, but only 130 of them pre-date Election 2004 (Washington Post).

President Bush refused to allow the turn over of emails to congressional investigators, claiming executive privilege. The RNC wants to give its emails to White House counsel Fred Fielding "to determine whether Bush will want to withhold those as well" (WaPo). What are the odds? 

There are more than 100,000 emails from two of Rove's "top lieutenants" (Sara Taylor and W. Scott Jennings) but no emails from 51 of 88 White House officials, including Ken Mehlman, White House political director from 2001-2003.

The House Oversight Committee is determining whether this pleasant arrangement violated the Presidential Records Act [see Committee's report]. The PRA's Section 2203(a) provides that:

"...the President shall take all such steps as may be necessary to assure that the activities, deliberations decisions, and policies that reflect the performance of his constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties are adequately documented and that such records are maintained as Presidential records...." (emphasis mine).

About 75,000 of Rove's emails went to addresses ending in ".gov," (i.e., addresses belonging to government employees). 

Committee chairman Henry Waxman plans to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales knew of the e-mail use during his term as White House counsel and whether he "took steps to preserve the records" (WaPo). Apparently, Congressmen aren't tired of hearing "I don't recall." 

Shush, Harry Reid. You'll Hurt Their Feelings!

posted by Damozel | God, I wish Reid would pick his words with more care.  Republicans are so damn touchy.  His tendency to say just what he---along with many Americans---actually thinks has already brought "the world's dorkiest cheerleader" on us all.

Now he's been unkind to General Pace, thereby terrorizing the Secretary of Defense into dropping the nomination lest the Democrats blackball Pace and drag the whole Iraq war through the mire, causing the public to lose their childlike faith in staying the course.  The worst part is Democrats trying to do the Republican spin-thing. 

So did Reid call Pace "incompetent" as The Politico alleged?  Well, yes, he did, though apparently he meant it in [Dame Edna voice] the kindest way[/Dame Edna voice], at least if you believe Bob Geiger:

General Says Rumsfeld Misled Congress re: Abu Ghraib

posted by Damozel | General Taguba, the investigator of  Abu Ghraib, in an interview in The New Yorker that I wish had shocked me more than it did, states that though he was ordered to confine his investigation to the low-ranking soldiers directly involved, the responsibility goes right up the chain of command.  He also says that Rumsfeld misled Congress about what he knew and when.

Subsequently "mocked and shunned" for his report, and "forced to retire early because of his pursuit of the issue,"  he has now stepped forward to confirm the suspicions of those who believed that "senior Pentagon officials were involved in directing abusive interrogation policies." The Washington Post, Abu Ghraib Investigator Points to Pentagon (17 June 2007).   Taguba said:  "“The whole idea that Rumsfeld projects—‘We’re here to protect the nation from terrorism’—is an oxymoron.... He and his aides have abused their offices and have no idea of the values and high standards that are expected of them. And they’ve dragged a lot of officers with them.”"  The New Yorker,  The General's Report (25 June 2007).

Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish:  "Justice is coming."    Is it?  I hope so.  I tend to doubt it and I don't understand where Sullivan thinks it is coming from.  He's religious, I believe; does he mean from God?  I don't mean to be cynical, but  the 9-page article in The New Yorker just strikes me as a twice-told tale.  Maybe I've developed antibodies to my outrage.

General Peter Pace: Over and Out.

posted by Damozel |  General Peter Pace's first term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be his last.  US Defense Secretary Robert Gates decided to let him go rather than face "a backward-looking and very contentious process." (BBC News)   How very, um, politic!  And unexpectedly cautious.  It seems that the White House is, at least for the present, all about avoiding "divisive" discussions in Congress:  Pace is regarded as "a close ally" of the former Defense Secretary. (BBC) Remember the former Defense Secretary?  No?  Here's a clue:  I love my love with an R ... 

Last week, Harry Reid criticized Pace for failing to provide a "candid assessment on the war,"---an unusual step, Democrats in general having avoided criticizing the military (Washington Post ).  General Pace responded with admirable reticence. "Asked for comment on Reid's statement, a spokeswoman for Pace...said Pace "is focused on his duties as chairman and is not going to respond to press reports on who's saying what. He will let 40 years of service speak for itself." (Washington Post)

Meanwhile, at Fox News---ya'll know how I love Fox News---Colonel David Hunt, who is not even "a fan of General Pace...a consummate politician" is all up in the Bush Administration's collective grill for this "latest in a series of cowardly acts we have been treated to by the Bush administration." (Fox News )