Obsidian Wings

I see a woman in a red scarf...

A telepathy charge is quickly gaining ground around here and Tacitus.org lately. Every time someone suggests the Bush Administration has some unexpressed motive as the only way to rationalize seemingly contradictory or otherwise inexplicable evidence, Bird Dog starts handing out his coveted Carnak Awards, and Slartibartfast virtually hurls the Tarot Cards from the card table.

The only problem with this attack is it ignores the lack of options critics have. Given the secrecy this Administration shrouds itself in, and given their admitted use of "emphasis" to make a point, and given their clear lack of clarvoyance when it comes to matters as significant as the rationale for invading another country, I'd argue critics are left with little recourse.

That doesn't mean the amatuer mind readers are right, mind you...but it does indicate it's time to replace the current Administration with one a little less opaque.

Duelling Reports.

The AP is reporting that President Aristide has left Haiti.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left Haiti on Sunday, bowing to pressure from a rebellion at home and governments abroad, his Cabinet minister and close adviser Leslie Voltaire told The Associated Press.

At least three other sources confirmed the information, including diplomats and a security aide.

An Associated Press reporter saw an unmarked white jet take off from Port-au-Prince's airport Sunday morning, and Voltaire said Aristide was on board along with his palace security chief Frantz Gabriel.

All of which is interesting, because you wouldn't have known it from CNN:

Aristide vowed Saturday not to leave office before his term expires in 2006, even as the rebels seeking to drive him out of power advanced on the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Departure is "out of the question," Aristide said on state-run television. He predicted the chaos would be resolved and that Haitians would be back in their offices, carrying on business as usual, by Monday morning.

Now, I'm inclined to believe the AP report, mind you - but it's odd that CNN isn't keeping up with the Associated Press. Of course, I'm also still trying to figure out whether Arisitide's departure will end up helping or hurting Haiti.

Instalanchy

Link to a couple of Tacitus posts and all of a sudden every site referral comes from there. I will therefore take it as a sign for... hmm, a poem seems appropriate, although I canna say why.

Thus, I give you a commemorative poem from my past blogging activity:

Instalanchy
(With apologies to... come on, everybody knows the poem I butchered.)

Well, it's official...

...blogging has become a part of the mainstream. Why do I say that? Easy: because somebody's written a book telling us how to get rich from this hobby.

While the Commissar has demonstrated his ability to succinctly both review the book and give his own, honest-to-Historical-Imperative* way to enrich his readers, I'd just like to add: you'd think that a guy able to make the kind of money that he's insinuating to make would be able to get testimonials from people that I've actually, well, heard of.

I do recommend reading the pitch, though; it'll make you laugh, weep or both. I haven't bothered putting up blogads, tipjars, Amazon wish lists or anything else... well, the primary reason is actually that this is a group weblog; trying to fairly divide up the loot would be a logistical nightmare and probably more trouble than it'd be worth. But the reason that it'd be more trouble than it'd be worth would be because I would be surprised to make back expenses - which are currently at the sky-high level of $15 a month. But that's OK, as 15 bucks a month is not a horribly unreasonable amount to spend on a hobby. But try telling that to the people planning to buy the book...

Moe

*Well, it's not like he'd say honest-to-God, now is it? Opiate of the people and all that.

Travelblogging.

Well, seeing as all the cool kids over at Tacitus.org are posting from the road* (Tac's in the Middle East and Mac's in Prague), I thought that I'd do the same. 'Course, in my case it's a bit less glamourous, as I'm posting from my girlfriend's grandmother's house... just outside of Pittsburgh, PA. An added amount of venom being dripped on my soul right now is that said grandmother has a better computer than I do.

But I perservere: besides, next month we go to Kitty Hawk. That's an interesting place to go, right?

Moe

*Some good posts, too - and some of our readers may have actually come to this place from somewhere else besides Tacitus.org, so I should stop assuming that you folks have already read the Good Bits over there.

UPDATE: I would have been cheefully merciless in my mockery for that one egregious typo, actually. Gotta love Saturdays.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: I hang my head in shame that Fafnir had to remind me that he's been visiting... places, too.

I also would like to note that I so, so, so badly want to upgrade my usual connection from dialup. Yup, my girlfriend's grandmother is just kicking my butt in all aspects of the computer experience. I am shamed, shamed I tell you. Shamed!

Baghdad Journal

Steve Mumford, an artist I know, has now made at least three trips to Iraq to document the war. He's very good at mixing with our troops, and more and more he's getting up close to some serious conflict. He's also very good at getting Iraqi's to share their experiences with him. The last time I saw him he looked thin and decidely older, but he's an impressive, courageous guy.

The lastest in his installments of text and accompanying watercolors is available here.

When they came for me...

Andrew Sullivan (who doesn't have a comments function on his blog) has been posting letters from folks alarmed by the President's announcement about the FMA. This one from a Republican Lawyer suggests there's a much larger objective than stopping gay marriage behind it.

Pertinent paragraphs:

Under the Constitution of the United States there is no express right to privacy, rather this right to be free from excessive government interference in our personal lives has arisen from Supreme Court precedent that cites the lack of regulation of intimate relationships and the protections of the bill of rights as the basis for an inference of the right to privacy. The right to privacy, according the Supreme Court is found in the penumbras and emanations of these two factors. A shadow of a right, very delicate and now threatened.

By including a provision regulating the most intimate of relationships into the Constitution, the traditional analysis that the court has used to limit government power will be fundamentally changed and the right to privacy, if it is not destroyed completely, will be severely curtailed. As a result, decisions like Roe v. Wade, (Abortion), Griswold v. Connecticut (Birth Control), Lawrence v. Texas (Private Sexual Acts), will all be fair game for re-analysis under this new jurisprudential regime as the Constitutional foundation for those decisions will have been altered. A brilliant strategy really, with one amendment the religious right could wipe out access to birth control, abortion, and even non-procreative sex (as Senator Santorum so eagerly wants to do).

This debate isn’t only about federalism, it’s about the reversal of two hundred years of liberal democracy that respects individuals.

So you legal minds out there, I ask you: Is this Republican Lawyer loosing sleep over nothing, or is this a real threat to all Americans?

Somebody Said Somewhere...

... that it's a bad thing to blog just to give your readers something to read. I dunno if that's true or not, but it's been a busy week for me (had to actually concentrate on work for a change; oh, the horror), so here's an open thread. If you're strapped for a comment, I wouldn't mind somebody explaining why this site's daily traffic has been going steadily up while the percentage of our posts that get linked to by other sites has been going down, but that's just me*.

Moe

*Just so you know, I find that particular situation to be bemusing, not worrisome.

Legal meme analysis while you wait.

Sasha and Eugene Volokh have put up a couple of interesting posts about the limits of Congress' ability to strip the Supreme Court of jurisdiction in a particular area. Well worth checking out.

BTW, 'interesting' in this context translates to 'I understood what the heck they were talking about'. You've no doubt noticed that I tend not to talk too much about legal issues on this blog, mostly because Katherine R's and von's legal eagle Kung Fu is much stronger than mine. A man's got to know his limitations.

Thanks for sharing.

I've been meaning to blogroll QandO for a bit, now, so I'll introduce him with this post about Representative Corrine Brown. I'll be honest: I couldn't believe at first that any Congressperson could be enough of a fool to say "You all look alike to me" in public, but apparently she did. Brown has since apologized - sorta kinda not-really* - but it's always nice to see a member of the Distinguished Opposition rear up and say what she really thinks, no?

Calpundit and Yglesias have their own (disapproving) takes on this; as usual, be careful if you should stray into the comments sections. Chum and sharks, I'm telling ya.

(via Balloon Juice)

Moe

*One thing I've noticed about public apologies in this country is that the makers of them typically display all the charm and remorse of a particularly obnoxious twelve-year-old. I understand that the urge to explain and excuse away one's failings is a deep and powerful one - but that's an excuse, and a tired one. Just get up there, say that you're sorry, don't pass the buck and don't try to wriggle out of it. Hard to do, sure. Do it anyway.