From Rich Lowry, the Corner: A cooler head following the process closely sends along these points about the Iraqi constitution, at least as of Sunday evening (it’s obviously a moving target): —The Afghanistan Constitution contains strong Islam-based provisions, including a blanket provision saying: ‘In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.’ But the Afghan constitution also contains strong human rights
August 2005
August 23, 2005
John Roberts, Liberal (which, when taken in the classical sense, is a GOOD thing…)
Illuminating piece by the Weekly Standard’s Duncan Currie examining SCOTUS nominee John Roberts’ judicial record on civil rights issues. From “In John Roberts’s America…The civil rights laws mean what they say”: […] when the Bush administration released reams of papers from Roberts’s 1981-82 tenure as a special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith and his 1982-86 stint in the White House counsel’s office, [Liberals] found a new angle: civil
August 23, 2005
Overheard inside a Najaf bunker, Tuesday, August 23
First militant: “May I speak frankly with you, Jibril?” Second militant: “Of course you may, brother.” First militant: “It concerns the infidels. Certainly we are the stronger warriors—menacing, steel-fanged lions to their paper tigers (Allah be merciful)—but that aside, they are killing us in far greater numbers. Yet their countrymen feel that they are losing the war and must retreat. Is this some devious subterfuge, friend?” Second militant: “Ah, but
August 23, 2005
My shelves are full, 6
..So I need to clear some space. DVDs for sale: $6.50 each, 2 for $12, 3 for $16; 10 for $50 (shipping included on all). All in perfect shape. Titles below the fold.
August 23, 2005
red pills found behind the sofa cushions, analepsis 10
Sure, the CIA has encouraged the mullahs to believe otherwise; but I have it on peacoat-clad authority that Iran is really not particularly close to acquiring nuclear weapons—though they are quite close to acquiring a series of heavy cylindrical encasements, each one forged from titanium and lead, and each one containing a large, meticulously-trained sugar beet that, in addition to being able to perfectly mimic the sound of a Geiger
August 22, 2005
“The yin and yang of intimate interpersonal relationships post, 17” (from the protein wisdom conceptual series)
yin: “Well, it is only pre-season football, but if you really want to watch it, I’m okay with that.” yang: “No offense? But until you can turn your head into a plate of hot wings, I’m not really all that interested in what you’re ‘okay with.’”
August 22, 2005
Grieving Mom Cindy Sheehan and 70s Kung-fu expert and counterculture icon Billy Jack discuss strategies for twenty-first century anti-war activism while ostensibly maintaining their commitments to fighting global terrorism, 2
“Wow. Joan Baez, David Crosby, you… It’s almost like the Summer of Love has regathered itself and sprung fully formed from the Crawford earth!”* “Well, sure. Except this time, a lot of us are secretly hoping these old Hippie retreads will keep their clothes on, if you want the brutal truth…”* **** update: “We don’t want to debate with people who don’t understand our point of view.” Well. So much
August 22, 2005
PC culture’s ascendency, continued
Well, what do you expect, guy? After all, any opinion not sanctioned by the tolerance police is ipso facto “hate speech.” And hate speech, we all know, is the most pernicious form of speech one could stoop to utter in mixed company. Well, with the exception of political speech, as understood by McCain-Feingold, of course… (h/t Ardolino)
August 22, 2005
“Iraqi Shiite, Kurdish Leaders Back Draft Charter; Sunnis Don’t” (UPDATED)
From Bloomberg News: Iraq’s Shiite political leaders prepared to send a draft constitution to the parliament later today while trying to persuade minority Sunnis to back the charter. Kurdish and Shiite Muslim leaders have agreed on the broad points and “the difficulty now is for all the other groups, including the Sunnis, to agree on the text, too,’’ Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s spokesman, Leith Kubba, said in a telephone interview
Former teen idol Leif Garrett comments on Repulican Senator Chuck Hagel’s defeatist assertion that the Iraq War is another Vietnam conflict
Garrett: “Well, he’s got a point, doesn’t he? I mean, in both cases the insurgents wore sandals. And then there’s that whole creepy Jane Fonda overlap…”* **** More here and here.