Shot In The Dark - Politics and Current Events in Minnesota and Beyond

Friday, September 13, 2002

The Definition of Injustice - Here it is:
Warren Zevon has inoperable lung cancer.
In the meantime, Hunter S. Thompson just keeps on ticking.
Not that I want Thompson dead, don't get me wrong.

I was listening to Jason Lewis yesterday, bemoaning that Elvis and half of the Beatles are gone. And I thought "cry me a river". Half of the Ramones are gone, and now Zevon. It's just not fair.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/13/2002 07:58:30 PM

Despondence - the New Republic is depressed about the way the Democrats are acting.

The money quote - no, one of several in this piece - is one I've been harping on in this space:
The Democrats rationalize their efforts to keep Iraq off the campaign trail by insinuating that the Bush administration, by proposing a congressional vote on Iraq before Election Day, is exploiting the war for political gain (see "Hidden Profit" by Michael Crowley, page 18). But in fact, the real cynics are the Democrats, who are trying to conceal their views on the war until after November 5 and, thus, deny their constituents the information they need to cast an intelligent vote. As a matter of democratic process, the party's position is untenable. And it is self-defeating even as a matter of crass political self-interest. Today's polls may show the Democrats with an advantage on the domestic issues the public supposedly cares about most, but ultimately that advantage will not matter if the party is timid and irresponsible on questions of war and peace. Do today's Democrats really need to be reminded of the political history of the last two decades of the cold war?

posted by Mitch Berg 9/13/2002 01:26:28 PM

The Longest Day - Robert George on what 9/11/01 - and 9/11/02 - and 9/12/02 - all mean in the long term.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/13/2002 12:11:26 PM

Bush at the UN - A great compendium of reactions, courtesy of the National Review.

Best line, from Edward Feulner:
President Bush did more today than make a case for removing Saddam Hussein from power. He made a case for U.N. delegates to choose between good and evil.
Feulner is president of the Heritage Foundation
posted by Mitch Berg 9/13/2002 12:02:10 PM

The Lunatic to the North - Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has been lashing out at America.

The Toronto Sun reacts. I love this part:
Why on earth would Prime Minister Jean Chretien blame America for terrorist attacks on not only the U.S., but Western civilization in a CBC-TV interview scheduled to run on or around Sept. 11 -- a day of remembrance and dedication.

And make no mistake -- it was America he was slamming, using the euphemism of blaming "arrogant, self-satisfied, greedy" western countries for "humiliation" that provokes others to resort to terror.

This, on the anniversary of the greatest ambush attack ever on American civilians that killed similar numbers of Americans that died on D-Day or Pearl Harbour.

Why would Chretien say this now, even if it was pre-recorded? Does he truly think it, or is he simply bursting with bile that America is fighting back, and President George Bush hasn't invited Chretien to his Texas ranch, like he invites Russia's Vladimir Putin or Britain's Tony Blair?

Chretien's diatribe on this day is akin to saying that we are to blame for Hitler and WWII on the anniversary of those who died fighting Nazism.
I love this line from Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit: "Until the other day, my attitude on Chretien was Bogartesque -- I probably would have despised him, if I had given him any thought. Then he made sure that I gave him thought."

Trifecta of Shame - Blogger Nick Hoy writes about today's triple-dose of dumb NYT editorials on the Iraq situation.

posted by Mitch Berg 9/13/2002 11:54:34 AM

False Alarms - three wierd incidents in the past three days:
The freighter off the Jersey Shore yesterday turned out to be a false alarm.
The three Middle Eastern guys who were caught shaving themselves in the bathroom of a NWA flight, causing it to divert to Fort Smith Arkansas, were arrested and will be tried for Interfering with a Flight Crew - but there's no word if they were involved in any terrorist activity.
The car chase in the Everglades, which began with a tip from a waitress about suspicious Middle Eastern men and two cars dodging a toll plaza, seems to have ended with three arrests. Bomb dogs apparently sniffed something, but no bombs were found.
In the Florida incident, a waitress supposedly heard a number of Middle Eastern men boasting about bombing something. Note to waitresses - good job, but the ones that are boasting about wanting to be terrorists while having coffee at a truck stop are probably not the A-squad of the Terrorist world. But good job anyway...

More on the Florida incident, from Kathy Kinsley of the Brigade of Bellicose Women.

Manners - Kate O'Beirne on the double-standard many reporters and editors feel about human rights.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/13/2002 10:55:27 AM

Style, meet Substance - Liz Smith in Sunday's New York Post's "Style" column, whined that the Bush Administration has been just murder on the Washington party scene.

Good heavens - the "Bushies" as she calls them don't socialize much! No huge glittering parties! No hanging out with the Hollywood caste! The nerve! The notion that our President and his employees consider working, especially in a time of deep international, economic and military crisis, more important than putting on the tuxes and hobnobbing.

The transition of our presidency - from a stop on the glitterati itinerary to an institution where serious work gets done - is wonderfully shown by juxtaposing the Smith article about our workaholic administration, with this piece about our vapid, jet-setting previous administration. Or any of many others, for that matter...
posted by Mitch Berg 9/13/2002 10:48:26 AM

Bush at the UN - What a performance.

I liked the way Lileks put it:
It’s of a piece with the administration’s behavior since 9/11: Let all the carpers and obstructionists gather on the tip of the thinnest branch, then show up with a saw and announce they have five minutes to come hug the trunk, which incidentally is covered with sap and stinging ants. It was sheer malicious brilliance to cast the entire case in terms of UN resolutions, because it mean the UN had to chose: either those resolutions mean something, or the UN means nothing. Why, it's almost as if the UN painted itself into a corner - and woke up to find this rude simple cowboy holding the brush. How the hell did he do that?
I love the way Bush has the Reagan thing down - let everyone think you're an idiot, while you maneuver behind their hubris and beat them before they know they've been had.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/13/2002 10:07:44 AM

Thursday, September 12, 2002

Could Have Been Worse - Tom Shales, on yesterday's wall-to-wall TV coverage.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/12/2002 06:04:34 PM

Radioactive Ship - US Special Operations forces and a NEST team are searching a container ship off the New Jersey coast. Scanning apparently indicated an abnormal level of radioactivity on board the ship.

Reports differ on whether the ship is or is not named by intelligence sources as being involved in a potential nuke or radiological bomb plot.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/12/2002 02:55:42 PM

Wellstone Funds Slur Site - Paul Wellstone has spent $3,000+ in advertising on a site that essentially slurs Republicans.

First, his campaign is 2/3 out-of-state "soft money". Now, his railing about civil campaigning turns out to be a bunch of baked wind.

Could it be that the dead-heat poll results are getting to him?
posted by Mitch Berg 9/12/2002 12:36:52 PM

Back Home in Minnesota - There's still some politics going on.

A well-placed source in the MN GOP reports
The NRSC has Coleman up 46-42% which in my book makes this race a dead heat and dead heats lean towards the incumbent. I wouldn't be surprised if Tricomo (sp?) gets a visit from Wellstone to get him out of the race.

I'd have to wonder how likely that'd be - since the Senate race may be the only one in which the Green Party could draw the 5% vote it needs to retain major party status. Ken Pentel would seem to be polling (from what I've seen) below 5%. I've always suspected the Greens were a flash in the pan, buoyed in 2000 by the celebrity candidacy of Ralph Nader and the free publicity his candidacy got, in droves. Pentel's creating no buzz - a reporter friend of mine said sitting in a Pentel meeting is like being in a Puritan church service. The closest thing the Greens have to "buzz" outside Dinkytown is the fracas over Ed McGaa's bizarre Senate candidacy. Were the Greens to back out...what then?

The source goes on: "A prominent DFL Lobbyist tells me:
a Republican poll" shows the Gov Race has Moe with 28% Penny 26 and Pawlenty 20. I cannot get this confirmedby my contacts.

Jason Lewis was bemoaning Tim Pawlenty's lack of visibility in the gubernatorial race last week - and, as reported in this space a week ago, the GOP is working on it.
Pawlenty's ad is now out and all the insiders are very pleased. I feel that it is OK. The problem is that now is a little late to be building name ID. Tim needs to be on the attack.
I continue to wonder if Minnesota Republicans know how to attack. Maybe we were all raised right, and it's totally foreign to us. I don't know, but Minnesota needs its own homegrown Lee Atwater.

Hmmmm. I have been called abrasive...

Again, the source reports:
The endorsed Republican lost in 67A by 12 votes. Our candidate also lost in he Dist. 1 judge race. This is an excellent showing and continues to show the strength of the Republican endorsement. We also were able to remove Rbertson and Kiscaden, although Kiscaden has to be the favorite in Rochester. I hope the Party has the resources to put into this race.
One hopes indeed. That's one of my favorite unrequited threads - What Is A Republican. Why do people who are pro-tax, anti-life, anti-gun-rights, pro-lax-sentencing and pro-big government Republicans at all? Because it's easier to get nominated than at a DFL caucus?

Anyone?

posted by Mitch Berg 9/12/2002 09:59:06 AM

Khofi Annan's Message - I listened to the first ten minutes of his speech at the UN this morning.

The gist of the nub: We must act multilaterally, because...multilateralism is required.

Unintentional hilarity - Annan ascribed the liberation of Kuwait to multilateral action. He neglected to mention that the UN needed to be dragged to that action, kicking and screaming, and that the real multilateral action was on the part of the US-built coalition - not a UN-sanctioned force.

Current waiting to hear the President's speech.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/12/2002 09:45:47 AM

The President - He steered,thank God, clear of pathos and went for the Churchillian lip-stiffener

This nation has defeated tyrants and liberated death camps, raised this lamp of liberty to every captive land. We have no intention of ignoring or appeasing history's latest gang of fanatics trying to murder their way to power. They are discovering, as others before them, the resolve of a great country and a great democracy. In the ruins of two towers, under a flag unfurled at the Pentagon, at the funerals of the lost, we have made a sacred promise, to ourselves and to the world: We will not relent until justice is done and our nation is secure. What our enemies have begun, we will finish.

I believe there is a reason that history has matched this nation with this time. America strives to be tolerant and just. We respect the faith of Islam, even as we fight those whose actions defile that faith. We fight, not to impose our will, but to defend ourselves and extend the blessings of freedom.

posted by Mitch Berg 9/12/2002 03:45:58 AM

My Favorite 9/12 Article So Far - although the day is three hours old...

Lileks, of course, is great.
By “drop your hankies” I mean ball it in your fist and squeeze it dry.
I love that line.

Of course, the picture at the top of the page alone is worth the clickthrough.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/12/2002 03:43:22 AM

On Anger - I wrote about my continuing, unrequited anger yesterday.

Andrew Sullivan writes about the anger we all share, today:
It occurs to me that my somewhat insistent view that we need to fight back against the roots of this horror might be misconstrued as a love or passion for war. I hope not. In fact, I think some of the anger many of us felt a year ago is related to our hatred of war. I loved the innocence of America when I came here almost twenty years ago. The one strain of American isolationism I warmed to was the natural and so American desire to be left in peace on this continent, to start the world anew, to live as if the routine of war and threat and danger were forever dispelled by the vast oceans that surround this continent. I love the fact that Americans actively hate war, its trappings, its necessities. No lover of freedom loves war, which always limits freedom. But war was brought here - a vile, almost medieval religious war, fueled by hatred and resentment and paranoia and failure. Their campaign, alas, is not a metaphor. They are brutally opposed to such things. Even imagery is banned under their austere form of Islam. They read literally; they hate with divine dispensation. Our campaign against them and their sponsors and supporters in Baghad and Damascus and Ryadh and Tehran is not therefore a function of our love of war; but our determination to end it, and to liberate that part of the world from the despots and psychoses that now hold it back.
If you wake me at 4AM, I won't be angry because I enjoy anger - I'll be angry because I want to get back to sleep.

Food - "I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants".
--A.Whitney Brown
posted by Mitch Berg 9/12/2002 03:32:01 AM

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

Have Mercy - The Pope prayed for mercy for those responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

But - and this is important - he asked for something more:
"We also want to interrogate the consciences of those who planned and carried out such a barbarous and cruel action"

posted by Mitch Berg 9/11/2002 11:18:06 PM

It's September 12th - ...and it seems we've all survived. The Code Orange security alert seems (as of 4PM on the eleventh) to have been like all the others (I say, hoping Murphy's Law doesn't take over because of it...)

I wrote about 9/11 today (Wednesday) and nothing but. It didn't seem like anything else really mattered.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/11/2002 04:16:15 PM

The Death of -ism - George Will on one of the more justifiable casualties from a year ago.The money quote?
Sometimes gunpowder does smell good because civilization -- especially the highest, ours -- is not inevitable. So we fight.

posted by Mitch Berg 9/11/2002 04:08:08 PM

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Wilding - As we approach the date of the signature crime (and act of war) of most of our lifetimes, it's worth looking back at a crime that defined the Bonfire of the Vanities era of the late eighties; the Central Park Jogger case.

Turns out that, apparently, according to DNA testing, it never happened.

As sort of the flip side of the Tawanna Brawley case, it begs a ton of questions:
Where do New York prosecutors go to law school?
After the jogger, Brawley, Louima and Diallo, can anyone doubt that political expediency trumps justice in New York courts?
Isn't it a wonder New York hasn't descended into complete anarcy?

posted by Mitch Berg 9/10/2002 04:00:13 PM

Tomorrow - I have written - and am still writing - a rather long involved post on 9/11, one year later.

I realize this does not make me unique. I hope it works, in any case.

Mmmmmm - Chicken, swiss and bacon.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/10/2002 02:21:18 PM

Blair - A story that's gone largely unreported in the major media is Tony Blair's courageous break with the British political elite and much of the mainstream over Iraq.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/10/2002 02:17:03 PM

Ridder Redux - George Dawson wrote this post on the Minnesota Politics/National listserv earlier today:
The Wisconsin Project has numerous documents relevant to this issue, including Mr. Ritter's 1998 testimony before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees. In that testimony he described his resignation from UNSOM as being out of frustration "because the U.N. Security Council, and the United States, as its most significant supporter, was failing to enforce the post-Gulf War resolutions designed to disarm Iraq". He also describes some conflict with a member of the Clinton administration at the time as well as the belief that the administration was undermining the efforts of the inspectors. His conclusion about the situation in Iraq at the time was:

"Iraq, today is not disarmed, and remains an ugly threat to its neighbors and to world peace. Those Americans who think that this is
important and that something should be done about it have to be deeply disappointed in our leadership."

An interesting counterpoint is a less publicized piece in Science magazine, where a number of weapons inspectors agreed to be interviewed under condition of anonymity. According to that document it took the inspectors four years (1991 - 1995) to make any headway
at all. At that point it was apparent that there was 17 tons of culture media unaccounted for. A relevant quote from the article: "U.N. investigators were just starting to get a feel for the top secret program's broad outlines when Iraq slammed the door on them in 1998". A list of biological agents is included in the table for that article.

I would like to call again, for our elected officials to state in clear terms what is known about Iraq's WMD...partisanship and a premature jump into political thinking and rhetoric are not the best way to approach this problem. Neither is keeping quiet.
I thought this post stated it very nicely.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/10/2002 02:12:53 PM

Tale of Two Spins - Carla Passino on how two different papers spin identicial information on Hussein's nuclear capability, in two completely different ways.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/10/2002 01:49:00 PM

Monday, September 09, 2002

Tuesday - I may not post nearly as much tomorrow. I'll be getting the 9/11 edition of this blog ready.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 08:47:40 PM

Birth of a Hawk - James Cramer was a soft-core liberal - no Paul Wellstone, but certainly no Jack Kemp - until 9/11.

He changed his mind.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 04:33:22 PM

It's the War, Stupid - Jonah Goldberg on why the war is about politics - and why it should be.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 04:26:54 PM

Penny-Foolish - One of the few things that ever attracted me to Independence-party neo-liberal Tim Penny was his rather broad (for a DFLer) worldview on many issues - to the point where he even worked for a while with the Cato Institute, a libertarian, fiscally-conservative think tank in Washington. It was a fascinating juxtaposition...

...and a sham. He's backing away from the one thing that actually separated him from politics as usual - his record as somone who busted political boundaries - and racing to the left. From the Strib article:
After leaving Congress in 1994, he said, "I was in the private sector. I was doing several things on a volunteer basis and this was something for which [Cato] offered me a retainer. It was just something that kept me in the mix, involved with public policy at the national level."

But when Penny was named Cato's fellow for fiscal policy studies, a news release at the time left a different impression of his involvement with the institute.

Penny, the release said, would work closely with institute Chairman William Niskanen and Moore, Penny's coauthor on the federal budget chapter.

In the release, Penny said he joined Cato because its vision of limited government was in tune with the times. "I've long admired the Cato Institute and am delighted to be affiliated with them," he said in the release, noting that he "looked forward" to advancing Cato's goal of a more limited role for government.
So, Tim - or his apologists - what's the story?
posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 02:05:23 PM

The Patriotic Left - I always knew that there was such thing as a patriotic left - my parents lionized JFK and FDR, neither of whom could be mistaken for Berkeley grad students, and living in St. Paul, one meets plenty of flag-waving, red-white-'n-blue union members.

And since 9/11, the patriotic left has made its presence known - Bono wrapped himself in the flag at the last Super Bowl, Springsteen's muted support of the invasion of Afghanistan...

And Christopher Hitchens, who's written this excellent column. As Instapundit says, read the whole thing - but this excerpt is just delicious:
If you remember, there were also those who warned hysterically of a humanitarian disaster as a result of the bombing: a "silent genocide," as one Boston-area academic termed it. But to the contrary, the people of Afghanistan did not have to endure a winter with only the food and medicine that the primeval Taliban would have furnished them. They survived, and now the population has grown by almost 1.2 million, as refugees from the old, atrocious tyranny make their way home. Here is the first country in history to be bombed out of the Stone Age.

posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 01:44:18 PM

Panic - Goverment seems to assume that people's first response to unforeseen calamity is to panic.

Yet one of the great untold stories of 9/11 is the calm with which most people on the scene reacted. People helped each other down from the floors below the airplane impacts, even before the firemen arrived; Pentagon workers (military and civilian) reacted quickly and effectively; and of course, the people on Flight 93 (citizens, not soldiers and cops) assessed their situation quickly, and quickly organized and moved to re-take their plane - hardly a panic response. Says the article:
Note that most of the positive social behavior that saved so many lives was not organized by any formal agency, much less by any command-and-control mechanism. People saved themselves. Other people converged from all over the city to help. As Tierney says, ''The response to the Sept. 11 tragedy was so effective precisely because it was not centrally directed and controlled. Instead it was flexible, adaptive and focused on handling problems as they emerged.''

In some sense, Sept. 11 was a victory over the terrorists. Socially responsible free Americans prevented the loss from being much worse. Yet, the response of the planning agencies has been to establish more and more elaborate command-and-control structures, which will force a population that is not about to panic into panic behavior.

Says Tierney: ''When Sept. 11 demonstrated the enormous resilience in our civil society, why is disaster response now being characterized in militaristic terms?''

Perhaps because those who are determined to control everything don't understand that even in military situations, it's the second lieutenants and the sergeants who win battles, as, for example, in the Omaha Beach chaos at Normandy.

Americans are good at sizing things up and taking charge when the heat is on. One of the most jarring stories from 9/11 was that after the first plane crashed, an automated message went out over the Trade Center's public address system - advising people to stay put in their offices. Fortunately, most of those in the WTC knew better.

People, far from being the panicky rabble, tend to keep their cool and react appropriately.

So - why won't government give us any credit for this?

posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 11:47:05 AM

Scott Ritter - "Scott Ritter says the Iraqis have no weapons of mass destruction".

That's the standard retort from most "peace" activists when the spectre of Iraqi nuclear weapons is broached. Scott Ritter - former weapons inspector who was ushered out of Iraq during the Clinton Administration, has become the celeb du jour against a pre-emptive invasion.

But, says Anthony Andragna, Ritter may have different motivations. Andragna, author of the blog "Shouting 'Cross the Potomac", has put together a fascinating bit of time-lapse journalism that indicates Ritter's mail motivation might be less pacific and more revenge against his former bosses.

Ten Reasons for Gun Control - This is from the Federal Observer, courtesy of the Brigade of Bellicose Women.

The DFL can use it the next time a firearms topic comes up. Don't say I've never done anything for you!

posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 11:35:23 AM

Barry - Dave Barry is a very funny guy.

He can also write, maybe once every couple years, some stunning things. This is his memorial to the passengers and crew of Flight 93.

And What They Did... - According to Al Quaeda sources (via the BBC), Flight 93 was, indeed, heading for the Capitol. This article is fascinating, by the way - it gives some idea of the organization involved behind the hijackings.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 06:46:14 AM

In Contrast - London will host a gathering of fundamentalist Islamofascists on Wednesday, celebrating September 11.

Which isn't the big news - you'll find plenty of Americans, in Berkley, Madison and Dinkytown celebrating the date as well.

Here's the money graf:
The clerics claim that the ICB [Islamic Council of Britain] is funded by Saudi-based businessmen, which, if true, will embarrass Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh government expelled Mr Mohammed in 1986 and recently launched a multi-million-dollar public relations campaign to persuade America that it is rooting out Islamic militants.

Al-Muhajiroun claims to have secured a six-figure sum for funding the ICB and said it would build a dozen Islamic centres, launch a website and hold seminars and classes for Muslims..."We have been working on getting the funding for six months: it is from a group of Saudi businessmen. Please don't write about this. I am against the killing of innocent people; we are not at war with anybody in this country."
Celebrating the deaths of 3,116 innocent people.

While I've always been happy to be an ecumenical, there are times, deep in the recesses of my heart, when I think Ann Coulter was right...
posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 06:35:31 AM

More Reasons - why Hussein must go.
posted by Mitch Berg 9/9/2002 06:31:17 AM

Sunday, September 08, 2002

La La Land - In Madison - a place that battles Minneapolis for the title "Berkeley on the Prairie" - there's a great congressional race shaping up.

A black conservative former firefighter is trying to get through the primary to face the House of Representatives' only openly lesbian member.

And best of all - it's totally personal!

posted by Mitch Berg 9/8/2002 04:55:05 PM

Berg's Law of Liberal Iraq Commentary:

In attacking the reasons for war, no liberal commentator is capable of addressing more than one of the justifications at a time; to do so would introduce a context in which their argument can not survive