Obsidian Wings

I Meant To Link This...

...but better late than never. Non-satirical, but (as always) when Scott's good, he's good.

Excuse me, Glenn?

Just so you don't think that I worship the fellow, I'm going to have to say that the second paragraph of this particular post is out of line. The post (which started to be about improving Israeli/Indian relations, then segued into an odd - and to my mind, unsupported - allegation* that the Intifada is a 'proxy war' between the EU and the USA) ends with this:

I've thought for quite a while that "proxy war" was the appropriate characterization, and indeed I've used that term here before. Europeans should worry, though, about what will happen if Israel -- or America -- decides to return the favor. Providing financial aid to terrorists who target European civilians would be uncivilized -- but, then, the Europeans are supposed to be the civilized ones, no?

Glenn Reynolds, I'm sure that you've used the phrase 'proxy war' before, although I can't remember offhand the last time you've used it. However, those last two sentences are offensive. Europeans should not have to worry about us 'returning the favor', both because it's not going to fragging happen and because the entire idea is not what this country is all about**. And I don't buy this tit-for-tat bit, either - and I find that I don't really like the tone of that last line, either. Too close to deniably advocating in the classic Henry II fashion.

Retract, please.

Iranian Earthquake Post.

It's a hell of a way to start up after Christmas, but by now you've probably read about this. As of today, there are fears that the death toll could reach 40,000.

OK, three points to address here, one after the other. First, due to existing diplomatic complications, groups like Direct Relief may end up being the primary instruments of American aid. You can donate to them here. Any other groups that you guys hear of, feel free to add in comments and I'll update where I can. It hardly needs to be said that I was saddened by the destruction and loss of life, and that I offer my hopes and prayers that the initial estimate of the loss of life turns out to be exaggerated.

It gets partisan from here, so you can ignore the rest if you like.

UPDATE: BuzzMachine's got more links (via Instapundit).

ANOTHER UPDATE: Matt Stinson's got an interesting suggestion involving UNESCO and the First Lady. Check it out. Pejman links to a site with several other relief groups. Check him out.

New and Improved Holiday Horror Open Thread -- Now, with Extra Cursing!

Not too long ago, the irrepressible Moe Lane said in these (virtual) pages, "So, if you show up at this site after experiencing a holiday horror story (waving hand grandly) feel free to tell it here."

It was a good idea. It was a great idea. It was the kind of idea that might lead to peace in the Middle East, goodwill towards men, and the Indianapolis Colts beating the Denver Broncos.

There was one problem, however. We got no comments. None. No one wanted to share their holiday horror stories with us. (And the Broncos beat the Colts, gosh-darnit.)

It took me all night and a fifth of Beefeater gin, but I think I've finally figured out why. Moe, gentle soul that he is, admonished our readership "to limit the profanity." Sorry, that simply will not do. One cannot tell a holiday horror story and "limit the profanity." Many holiday horror stories consist of nothing but profanity.

So, I'm unilaterally relaxing the posting rules for this thread only.* Consider this your gratuitous profanity holiday open thread. Since I'm an anal-retentive lawyer jerk, however, I'll ask that you obey the following rules:

(1) Do not limit yourself to past events. Is your mother trying to convert your Jewish boyfriend to Catholicism at this very moment? Post on it. Did your Aunt just refer to your goyish girlfriend as "that shiksa"? We want to know. Has Uncle Bob appeared at another Christmas morning breakfast in his boxer shorts with the fly is wide open? Every detail, friends.

(2) Do not use real names or characteristics that will easily identify your subject. Why? Google. You don't want your remarks to come back and haunt you (or us) as a result of some ill-advised, post-holiday egoGoogling. Now is also not the time to discover that extra-randy poster "DrEXXXtasy" is your father or that super-bitch "Lorax84" is great aunt Thelma. So a little self-restraint is needed. Remember: we cannot (and will not) monitor the comments section in real-time.

(3) Use of the "curse" words "biotch," "effing," and "shite" is forbidden. Really, people: curse like adults.

(4) No ad hom against other posters. We're all in this together, folks. (This rule does not apply to ad homs against unrepresented friends, family members, and loved ones, of course.)

And away we go . . . . .

And a Happy New Year

As Moe suspected, I've been too busy with Hanukkah celebration/Christmas preparation to post. I have limited computer access, especially if I don't want to reveal my secret identity to my extended family. Also, I've paid almost no attention to politics for the past few days so I don't have all that much to write about. I did notice the orange alert, which they seem to arrange for me whenever I come to New York--I was mildly freaked out for 10 minutes, then remembered this has happened about a dozen times before and got over it.

Okay, clearly I will never get this post done unless I do a random list:
1. The Jets game Sunday was painful. Five interceptions. Say it ain't so, Chad.
2. There's a rumor that the New Jersey Nets may move to Brooklyn. I've always been pretty lukewarm about the Knicks, so I'd definitely transfer my allegiance if this happened. Also, I could root for the Mets, Jets, and Nets, which rhymes.
3. I like the Freedom Tower design, though it seems slightly awkward & a few minor changes from being really great. I don't like the name so much, and I can't really figure out why. At first I thought it was a form of protesting too much (like the rule my social studies teacher taught us about how the more complimentary adjectives in a country's official name, the less democratic the country is.) But I don't mind the Statue of Liberty or the Liberty Bell so that's not it. My guess is that the whole stupid Freedom Toast episode last spring seems to have tarnished the word itself a little for me (as well as tarnishing more good natured French bashing, which a good friend of mine has said "used to belong to all of us.) I wouldn't have thought that was possible. I'm sure the plans to make it a part of the Republican convention have a lot to do with it too...ah well. Hopefully this is the temporary; in the meantime I can call it the French Tower or the Libeskind Tower or what have you.
4. Christmas shopping in Manhattan is really just wonderful. So wonderful that it turned into strolling in Manhattan more than shopping--I walked from 86th Street and Madison, down the park, down past the windows on Fifth Avenue in the 50s, past Rockefeller Center, across town on 48th or 49th to Times Square. My only two mistakes were walking past Fox News headquarters (grrr...arr) and getting on the subway at 42d Street (I don't mind crowds in general, but oy.)
5. I close with my holiday message of peace, love, joy and schmaltziness. Growing up on Long Island, I sang almost as many Hanukkah songs as Christmas songs in holiday concerts. Most of them were pretty freaking lame, so I was surprised a few years ago to learn how pretty the Hebrew blessings and songs are. This prayer, called the Shehecheyanu, is the third blessing recited on the first night of Hanukkah (it's used on other occasions too):

Baruch ata adonai elohenu melech ha olam, shehecheyanu, v'kiyimanu, v'higiyanu laz'man hazeh.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, King of the Universe who has given us life, sustained us, and allowed us to reach this day.

I believe in God more often than not, but I'm not at all religious and some of my very favorite people are atheists. But I don't think you need to be religious to know the feeling that must have inspired the person who first wrote that. I hope all of you have it sometime this week.

It's Christmas Eve Day...

...which sounds kind of weird, but there you go.

I'll be running around a lot tomorrow and I'm about to go to sleep, so I'll take the time now to wish everyone a happy holiday of the appropriate type, religious or secular; I'll post in from time to time, but you know how it is. Everyone drive safe, party safe and stay safe...

Moe

PS: What does Moe want for Christmas? Blogroll links. Oodles and oodles of blogroll links, all from sites registered on NZ Bear's Ecosystem, so that we may become Marauding Marsupials and TAKE OVER THE WORLD! MMMWHAH-BAH-HAH-HAHH-HAHHH!!!!!

(pause)

Either that, or a pony.

I think that Katherine might have linked to this...

... so I will. It's from the Blogging of the President: 21st Century Participatory Democracy: A Perspective. In deference to her, I merely link to it without comment, analysis or uncontrollable fits of laughter.

But do go out and vote next year, and every year. Vote for all the boring stuff, including municipal elections that almost nobody really cares about. Find out what the heck's going on, pay attention and don't expect a cookie or anything for doing your civic duty - that last bit's important, actually. One of the biggest things that drives me nuts about things like Rock The Vote: I don't mind trying to make civics somewhat more interesting, but really for most of the population the rituals surrounding it are always going to be at best not actively suffocating. Turning it into some sort of fun-filled politic-o-rama just raises expectations... and people expecting fun, fun, fun get kind of pissed off when it turns into slog, slog, slog.

Now, I say that it's better to treat 'em like adults from the beginning instead of trying to turn the whole thing into something trendy... but, then again, I'm one of them, so go figure.

Mean? Yes. Accurate? Hmmm: could be...

Where Mike of Cold Fury got these transcripts, we'll never know... but don't let the rough language and unfair accusations made against our good, dear friends Germany, France and Khofi Annan distract you from the point. Said point will no doubt be transmogrified* in a fit of heavy-handed sarcasm by somebody, but, hey, it's almost Christmas.

Moe

*I apparently spelled it right the first time. Wahoo!

Dean and Religion (boring title, no?)

Thanks (big thanks) to two Matts (Stinson and Yglesias) I was finally able to read this TNR article about Dean and religion. You should, too.

It seems to be the CW that Dean's religious impulses are, shall we say, somewhat less overt than, well, just about everybody else running for President these days. Now, here's the sixty-four dollar question: will that matter? TNR seems to think so; Matt Yglesias is a little less sure, but he's a tad biased - or is he? You need a scorecard to figure out who in the blogosphere is supporting who in these last days before the primaries - and Matt Stinson brings up what effect that this will have on African-Americans... which CW also says is Dean's biggest obstacle among Democrats.

For myself? It's certainly something that Dean is going to have to watch - not so much for himself as for his volunteer krew - but he can survive one medium to large screwup without permanent damage and if he can't learn from mistakes it's best for the Democrats if they learn this now and save themselves some heartache. As for the AA vote - I don't think that getting it will be made all that harder by his secularism, provided that he at least makes a good-faith effort to blend in. Translation: Howard, put down the Jean Wyclef CD and pick up the hymnal. It'll do you more political good in the long run.

'Course, I'm a Republican, so can I be trusted? (wanders off, whistling)

UPDATE: The criticism implicit in the title of this post should not be taken as a commentary on the interest level inherent in the title of Matt Stinson's post of the same name... no, no, it's not working. Matt's got me cold on this one.

Put up or shut up.

General Hugh Shelton was asked whether he would back General Wesley Clark for president, and he responded as follows:

I will tell you the reason he came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. I'm not going to say whether I'm a Republican or a Democrat. I'll just say Wes won't get my vote.

General Shelton didn't say, however, what "integrity and character issues" led to Clark's departure. Tom Delay repeated the charge on Meet the Press last Sunday: "General Wesley Clark, as you pointed out, was commander of NATO. He was also removed from that post because of character reasons." But Tom Delay also didn't say what "character reasons" led to Clark's departure.

On Tacitus, Bird Dog asks: "What exactly were those integrity and character issues that Shelton was talking about? Where's the follow-up?"

Let's take it one step further.

It is wrong -- in the good, old-fashioned sense of "morally wrong" -- to say that person X has a bad character, but to refuse to say why. If Shelton and Delay think that Clark is morally unfit to be president, they should state their reasons. If they're unwilling to do so, they should shut up. It's a very simple: you don't speak ill of someone unless you have a basis, and you must be willing to share that basis with others so that they can draw their own conclusions regarding your charge. Fairness to the accused demands nothing less.

Who lacks integrity in this little drama, or suffers from "character issues"? Hugh Shelton and Tom Delay, certainly. General Wesley Clark -- well, it remains to be seen.

UPDATE: Macallan provides the circumstances for General Shelton's remarks in comments. They're worth reading. The venue where General Shelton made his remarks was small. The likelihood of the media being present to hear his remarks was also small. Given these (new-to-me) facts, it's understandable that General Shelton would not have been as careful with his words as perhaps he should have been.

Now that his remarks are out there, however, I think that General Shelton must undertake the unhappy task of providing the basis for it. (Bird Dog makes a similar point in comments.) That you stepped in dog doo-doo by accident does not excuse you from cleaning up the mess. And this is a mess.

My opinion of Tom Delay, I'm happy to report, remains exactly the same.