Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
by John Cole| 25 Comments
This post is in: Excellent Links
Interesting piece up by Tacitus on Doug Bandow and the implications of his being a paid shill and how this impacts blogs.
I agree with much of what he says and observes, but the part about Kos/Dean/Teachout I think is not even relevant. The rest, more so, in so far as it discusses where all this is going, and the lines between advocacy and simply being a paid hack.
by John Cole| 10 Comments
This post is in: Movies, Popular Culture
A new Jib Jab, and it is as good as all the others.
Second is the X-Men 3 announcement trailer.
by John Cole| 48 Comments
This post is in: Politics
The word deadline finds it origins in the American lexicon as the line around prison camp during the Civil War that if crossed by a prisoner, allowed the guards to shoot the prisoner for attempting to escape. Nowadays, it means something completely different, and usually much more innocuous. Except in this case:
Though the Supreme Court has prohibited the execution of the mentally retarded, a Texas death row inmate who may be retarded cannot raise the issue in federal court because his lawyer missed a filing deadline, a federal appeals court ruled this week.
The inmate, Marvin Lee Wilson, has “made a prima facie showing of mental retardation,” a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit wrote in an unsigned decision on Tuesday, meaning the court presumed Mr. Wilson to be retarded for purposes of its ruling.
But the panel said it was powerless to consider the case because Mr. Wilson’s lawyer filed papers concerning his retardation in a federal trial court without first obtaining required permission from the appeals court, which he did not seek until a deadline had expired.
“However harsh the result may be,” the panel said, its hands are tied by deadlines established in a 1996 federal law, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. The same law now forbids Mr. Wilson, convicted of killing a police informant, to appeal the Fifth Circuit’s ruling to the Supreme Court.
Yeah. That makes sense.
The death penalty has just got to go. And why is it always Texas, or Alabama, or Mississippi?
*** Update ***
Even more reasons to end the death penalty.
This post is in: General Stupidity
Bill Maher went on Larry King Live the other night and showed why he is so much smarter than George Bush:
CALLER: Hi, I was thinking about the situation in Iraq. And as we’re being perceived as imperial invaders, wouldn’t the solution be to have Muslim countries who are also democracies replace the American troops there as the American troops are lightning rods for insurgent attacks?
MAHER: Absolutely. Yes.
KING: Sounds like a good idea.
MAHER: Yes. One of the many good ideas, and you know, again, we’ve been talking about this, this hour that President Bush is now slowly coming around to some ideas that other people have been saying.
But, again, we all paid the price for him learning on the job. And maybe the next time Americans go to vote, they won’t vote for the guy who they want to have a beer with. You can say what you want about Al Gore and John Kerry, they were readers. They read things. They knew things about other countries that he didn’t. Maybe he would have gotten that idea before this caller did.
Hell- it sounds like a fabulous idea. Since Bill Maher is so up on book lurnin’, he can hit the books and tell us exactly which ‘Muslim Democracy’ we should turn to and which one has the 160k troops, the financial ability, and the logistical abilities to ‘replace’ our troops. I don’t know about you, but my list of Muslim democracies is pretty short.
Oh yeah- bonus points if he can provide us with a scenario to get this fictional Muslim Democracy to take over the situation in Iraq.
by John Cole| 18 Comments
This post is in: Movies
Best Movie of 2005- Cinderella Man. Just finished it, and it is one you want to own. Wish I hadn’t waited so long.
Against my better judgement, I also picked up the 40 Year Old Virgin, and it is a letdown. Although, I have to admit, the hair removal scene is pretty damned amusing.
Speaking of movies, Gary Farber has the latest Serenity clip.
by John Cole| 40 Comments
This post is in: Blogospheric Navel-Gazing
Back by Popular Demand– Blog Fights
The background- Weeks of back and forth about torture and bad feelings go public.
Round 1: Sullivan:
And I think that all debate helps flush out the truth. Even if a majority decides to ignore the truth, in the end, it will count. Unlike Kerry, I also believe in fighting back against lies and smears. In fact, I’m delighted that the NRO-Reynolds chorus has finally decided, after months and months of pretending there was nothing to debate, that they have to deal with this question. The trouble is: their long months of denial and evasion have made them lazy and stunningly uninformed. Which is worth flushing out as well.
And Andrew Sullivan — pursuant to his apparent brand differentiation strategy, I guess — is bravely standing up to the “NRO-Reynolds chorus,” whatever that means. I don’t think I really agree with Mark Levin, Rich Lowry, et al. on the specific subject at hand, though I confess that I haven’t followed that particular pissing match very closely. However, I do agree with them that Andrew has been consistently, pompously, and annoyingly moralistic and irritatingly unspecific. So if that’s the chorus, well yes — but it’s a song that has a lot of notes, most of them struck by Andrew himself. And I’m irritated with him, not for the reason you might think — because I disagree with Andrew — but more the contrary, because every time I read one of his preening posts, I find my opposition to torture weakening in response, even though I’ve been consistently in opposition to torture since 2001 (and before). God help me if he ever starts blogging in support of nanotechnology and bans on cloning — I’ll probably start looking at Leon Kass more sympathetically. It’s like listening to Robert Bork talk about original understanding jurisprudence.
Round 2:
Instapundit finds me “consistently, pompously, and annoyingly moralistic and irritatingly unspecific” on the question of torture. I’m sorry about that. But I can promise him my position had nothing to do with “brand differentiation,” as he calls it. Believe it or not, opposing torture was and is a deep principle of mine, sincerely held, and I think the record shows I blog according to what I think, even if it loses me readers and alienates people who would otherwise be allies. I’m sorry that Glenn, over the last year and half, said he opposed torture but did nothing to help stop it. In fact, he did much to excuse and ignore it or look the other way, as well as denigrating or condescending to those of us who fought against it. He even argued that vocally opposing torture would only help legalize it, because most Americans were in favor. Mercifully, the American people, as represented in the Congress, have proven him wrong. He lacked faith in American decency. Some of us didn’t.
ANDREW SULLIVAN says he never called being wrapped in the Israeli flag “torture.” But in this post he listed it under the heading of “Anti-Islamic Torture,” along with a variety of nasty behaviors with nothing to suggest it’s not of the same order. And see this post, too. He says he doesn’t think fake menstrual blood is torture, but he sure has paid a lot of attention to the subject in that context for someone who doesn’t.
Sullivan’s heart has been in the right place on the issue, most of the time, at least, but his head has been sorely absent. Nor do I understand why he’s thought it useful to pick at me regularly, as opposed to, say, the bloggers who actually support torture.
Perhaps he’ll improve. As others have noted, “Tomorrow is always another day at andrewsullivan.com.”
Who is winning? Dunno, although I am praying for more carnage.
I will update as it happens.
The Background: Weeks of a select few individuals obsessing over PJ Media comes to a boiling point when I finally get sick and tired of the relentless bashing (and mostly pointless, although there has been some substantive criticism out there), and refer to two leaders of the bashing as the Axis of Asshole.
Round 1:
ME: In a post on the Iraqi elections, two commenters start up with the Open Sore crap again. I state:
You know- no more links to the Axis of Asshole, aka Althouse, Moxie, etc.
They are just bitter shrews who for some reason have a hard-on towards Roger and Charles. They are free to start their own competing businesses if they know so damned much.
And what makes me pissed off the most is that their commentary is so nasty and childish I feel compelled to defend PJ, even though I think they have made significant missteps.
BTW- I like how all the anti PJ crowd has banded together- presumably to maintain the ‘independence’ of blogging that Althouse is so deadset on protecting.
Think about it for a minute.
Moxie (In post #68675 on PJ):
Okay, so here I am trying to be fair and balanced just like Fox News. I tell it like it like it is (even if I am saying something not quite positive about fellow conservatives) and some guy John Cole has this to say:
“You know- no more links to the Axis of Asshole [sic], aka Althouse, Moxie, etc.
They are just bitter shrews who for some reason have a hard-on towards Roger and Charles. They are free to start their own competing businesses if they know so damned much.
And what makes me pissed off the most is that their commentary is so nasty and childish I feel compelled to defend PJ, even though I think they have made significant missteps.”
No idea who that guy is — he must have started blogging YEARS after I did. But “bitter shrew” is par for the course. I was asked many times to join the Pajama Game. I thought Pajamas Media was an awful idea and said as much.
I’m just darn glad these people don’t get emotional.
For the record, I offered to fix Pajamas Media for them and put a 1 million dollar price tag on it. Still no takers.
Dennis the Peasant (who by every account I have read, is about the only person with a right to be bitter):
More Pajamas Media Blogger Brilliance… … From John Cole of Balloon Juice.
Via Moxie, Cole represents Pajamas Media in a manner that is, well, kinda batshit crazy, insanely bitter, and somewhat deranged:
“You know- no more links to the Axis of Asshole [ sic ], aka Althouse, Moxie, etc.
They are just bitter shrews who for some reason have a hard-on [ ! – ed. ] towards Roger and Charles. They are free to start their own competing businesses if they know so damned much.And what makes me pissed off the most is that their commentary is so nasty and childish I feel compelled to defend PJ, even though I think they have made significant missteps.”
Hum… that’s the Mother of all Mixed Metaphors, John.
But, irrespective of John’s difficulties with basic anatomy… all I can say at this moment is “CONTEST TIME” !!!
Would any of my creative and artistically inclined readers care to design an “Axis of the Assholes” logo I could distribute to people such as Moxie, Ann Althouse, Steven Den Beste, Steve H. and others?
A Fight PJM Doesn’t Want
And they should be careful about making it appear sexist, as well.
“You know- no more links to the Axis of Asshole [sic], aka Althouse, Moxie, etc.
Is it just me, or is John Cole going off the ad hominem deep end?
I pick on the founders of Pajamas Media, true enough, and I love making up names for PJM, like “Rather’s Revenge,” “Pajoompa Loompas,” “Pajamas Mediocrity,” “Mighty Morphin’ Pajama Rangers,” and “Pajamikazes,” but I don’t think you can find an example of me firing off ad hominems at the PJM member bloggers. Saying someone has backed the wrong horse isn’t an ad hominem. Saying they showed a lack of insight by buying into the PJM plan isn’t an ad hominem.
But “Axis of Asshole”? “Bitter shrews”? Those are his terms for Moxie and Ann Althouse.
Dainty souls, those fierce, independent critics. And for the love of everything that is good, will someone please explain to people the difference between a straight up insult and an insult being used as an argument ad hominem?
I doubt there will be a round two, as I have learned that if you ‘sold out to the man’ and ‘sent your independence packing,’ you are supposed to just sit there and take the cat calls from the independent souls who have banded together to offer ‘constructive criticism,’ but I will update as more PJ bashers rush to the self-promotion fest. Easy traffic, being a victim.
Who wins? You choose. I see no clear winners (although that may be because they are not utilizing their full verbal powers), although I do have a newfound appreciation for right-wingers who are willing to play the sexism card, straight from the leftist handbook, when it is to their advantage. By the end of the week, I suspect one of the aggrieved will have changed their name to Anita Hill.
Although if anything, it should be clear I have kept my ‘blogger independence’ and blogging is still ‘Free!’
And do I own the Axis of Asshole TM, or do I have to file for that? (There is now a logo!)
*** Update ***
More logo possibilities here (Although that TO bit is just below the belt). Now these folks can turn their cottage industry of kvetching about every aspect of PJ into a cottage industry of promoting themselves as assholes. Works for me. Poor independent souls- so picked on.
by John Cole| 16 Comments
This post is in: Popular Culture, Previous Site Maintenance, General Stupidity
Some day next week (I think Tuesday), there will be an Airing of Grievances here in celebration of Festivus.
Make sure you have your grievances put together by then. Other blogs are welcome to join in.