Via Atrios, news that is just infuriating:
JUST A MONTH before the next U.S. Army unit is due to deploy in Iraq to relieve the hard-pressed forces already there, the military is confessing to a potential showstopper. The deploying unit
Archives for 2003
Hypocrites
Michael Kinsley once was a reputable writer (maybe I am being charitable). After Arthur Silber finishes with him, you will prbably never read Kinsley again.
(via the Instapundit)
Apparently Kinsley is being sarcastic. I can never tell- he is normally so pedantic and petulant that I miss any sarcasm. Go read it for yourself.
Policy Vs. Partisanship
Over and over again we read how the blogosphere is polarized between the far-left and the far-right, and that the discussions online seem to be far more fierce than of those in the reral world. While some may view this, I find that the majority of the people in the blogosphere have rather centrist political ideologies (not to mention the over-representation of libertarians in the blogosphere), but what runs deep is the partisanship. I am as guilty as most, and I find myself defending Republicans far more often than they merit, if only because of the nature of their enemies. At any rate, in the last 24 hours, Kevin Drum has some prime examples of this partisanship, and I note this only because from my interpretation of his less snarky posts, Kevin actually has pretty middle of the road politics.
Yesterday, Kevin posted this doozy:
For all those American conservatives who have decided to give Silvio Berlusconi’s egregious corruption a pass just because he supported the Iraq war, maybe you’d better take a second look at your guy:
In a newspaper interview published this week, the health minister in Italy’s right-of-centre administration, Girolamo Sirchia, announced that he would be doing what he could to reinstate Friday as a day of fasting throughout Italy.
“Apart from being an ancient religious tradition, the weekly fast is a useful health measure,” Mr Sirchia told the daily La Stampa. “It has a scientific basis. It helps to purify the system of the effects of an unhealthy diet.”
….”In school and works canteens and in the hospitals, we shall take the path of reduced portions and a day of abstinence,” Mr Sirchia declared.
A day of fasting in hospitals? Enforced by the government?
For the record, I find the idea of government enforced fasting in hospitals to be reckless and stupid- ‘No anti-nausea medicine today, chemo patients- you won’t be needing your appetites!’ Almost as stupid and reckless as this statement:
….For all those American conservatives who have decided to give Silvio Berlusconi’s egregious corruption a pass just because he supported the Iraq war, maybe you’d better take a second look at your guy.
This is just a partisan swipe, a cheapshot, and it has no basis in reality. Conservatives may have hailed Berlusconi for being supportive of the administrations policies, but one of the main reasons many were praising Berlusconi was that he was also simply standing up for the United States at a time when certain of our ‘allies’ were running domestic political campaigns with the sole platform of America bashing. Remember this statement:
Editor’s note: This article is written by Jose Mar
Tonight We Are Serving Justice for Dinner
A federal judge on Thursday threw out a revised lawsuit against McDonald’s Corp . that accused the fast food restaurant of using misleading advertising to lure children into eating unhealthy foods that make them fat.
U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet had previously dismissed the plaintiffs’ original case but allowed them to submit a new filing with information backing up their advertising allegations.
In dismissing the current suit, Sweet said that the plaintiffs had not followed his detailed instructions and he barred them from filing another version, quelling litigation fears the suit had sparked in the food industry, .
“The plaintiffs have made no explicit allegations that they witnessed any particular deceptive advertisement and they have not provided McDonald’s with enough information to determine whether its products are the cause of the alleged injuries,” Sweet said.
“Finally, the one advertisement which plaintiffs implicitly allege to have caused their injuries is objectively non-deceptive,” he said.
The suit has raised fears in the food industry of a new wave of tobacco-like litigation against restaurants and manufacturers. Indeed, the possibility of bringing more suits over fattening foods was the focus of a seminar during the spring in Boston attended by anti-tobacco lawyers.
I am glad this is over, but IMHO, it was McJustice. Real justice would have been a court order proclaiming that these greedy lawyers and their obviously greedy clients be publicly humiliated/flogged and the lawyers disbarred for being a public nuisance.
Tonight We Are Serving Justice for DinnerPost + Comments (3)
Congratulations, Hispanics
I am sure the Hispanic community is proud to now have their own personal Robert Bork:
Miguel Estrada, President Bush’s embattled nominee for a federal appeals court judgeship, has withdrawn his name from consideration, ending a bitter battle with Senate Democrats who blocked his nomination, administration officials said Thursday.
Estrada wrote a letter to Bush explaining his reasons, and an announcement could be made as early as Thursday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Estrada was one of a handful of federal judicial nominees named by Bush who became lightening rods during the Senate confirmation process, where Democrats argued they were too conservative to serve on the nation’s second highest court.
The nice thing about this is that he is now free to do the talk show circuit, and I hope to see him savaging assholes like Leahy.
Day By Day Does Radio
The always outstanding Chris Muir, creative force behind the best cartoon strip out there, will be interviewed on the radio this evening. If you are around, give him a listen.
Surprised? I Am Not
We should be used to this by now:
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, weakened by his power struggle with Yasser Arafat, told parliament Thursday it must either support him or send him home.
Abbas suggested the Palestinians can only hope to make progress on the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan if he is given the full power to implement it, but he stopped short of seeking a vote of confidence. Parliament scheduled a closed-door session for Saturday to discuss his speech, after which legislators were to decide whether to hold a vote.
The U.S.-backed Abbas, who has minimal support among Palestinians, could be toppled in a confidence vote, dealing a heavy blow to efforts to end three years of violence and move toward Palestinian statehood.
Ok, one more time for the brain-damaged.
Arafat is a terrorist. There will be no peace until he and his coterie of swine are dead.