Over a year ago, David Brooks wrote a controversial column claiming that America needed to lose for the Iraqis to win. The logic of the column was compelling to many. The Iraqis as a people had nothing to take pride in. Their country was liberated by outsiders. The only way for them to regain (or gain for the first time) their self-confidence as Iraqis, Brooks' theory went, was for them to shake off the Americans. I didn't think he was right, but I thought he grasped a fundamentally correct fact: the Iraqis did/do need something in their narrative which makes them the heroes, not the Americans. If these people really show up to the polls in large numbers, they'll have exactly the heroic story they need. I think everybody should be hoping they muster the very real courage required.

Just when you think that the EU’s foreign policy can stoop no lower, something like this happens:

“European Union plans to ban Cuban dissidents from national day receptions at EU embassies in Havana has sparked a diplomatic battle, officials said yesterday. Such a ban would bow to an explicit demand from the regime of Fidel Castro. Under a Spanish proposal that will be put to foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, EU embassies in Havana, including Britain's, would be advised not to invite dissidents to national day receptions.

Vaclav Havel is outraged, as we all should be.

It is now dusk in Baquba, a city that lies thirty-five miles Northeast of Baghdad, along the edge of the Sunni Triangle. The streets are quiet. Vehicular traffic has been banned today, a curfew is due to come into effect soon after dark. Mothers hurry home from the markets. Children scurry to keep up with them. Election posters cling to the walls and streetlights. The city is filled with expectations. The vast majority of the people realize what is at stake here. They are ready to cast their ballots tomorrow, to elect representatives who will govern them and craft a new constitution for their nation. They are eager to write a new chapter in the history of their country. Meanwhile, the enemies of freedom lurk in the dark alleyways of this city. Domestic and foreign terrorists lie in wait. They fear not only the outcome of the vote, but the very process itself. They want to halt the inexorable march of freedom. They may try to disrupt the voting. No matter what happens tomorrow, they are doomed to failure in the long run. The elections will take place, the citizens of Baquba will cast their ballots. The transformation of Iraq is about to commence. Still, this is not the end of the beginning; nor the beginning of the end; it is the beginning of the beginning. Sunday will mark the first step on the long road to political and moral recovery in Iraq – and in the region. When the sun rises, the people will speak.

Ok, after begging, scratching and pleading to see an advance copy of Jonah's Groundhog Day piece, I had to read it in the magazine like everyone else. All I can say is "Wow." And I thought it was a boy gets girl movie. Jonah's writing on the slap to post-modernity that is a 1 1/2 hour Bill Murray classic (though arguably not in his top three -- Caddyshack and Stripes are better comedies, whether or not they are "greater" films), reminds me of three things: 1) the essay I wrote in freshman year at a Catholic college analyzing Darth Vader in terms of Soren Kierkegaard's Sickness Unto Death (all that self becoming the self stuff); 2) the time I met Bill Murray at a Chicago White Sox game (delightfully funny in person); and 3) that I really have no business writing on these pages. So just continue to consider me among the lesser lights of NRO. I've got to say, Jonah, that you really worked that one over.

Testing the limits of Kathryn's patience with me:

A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche freed himself by drinking 60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it.

Rescue teams found Richard Kral drunk and staggering along a mountain path four days after his Audi car was buried in the Slovak Tatra mountains.

He told them that after the avalanche, he had opened his car window and tried to dig his way out.

But as he dug with his hands, he realised the snow would fill his car before he managed to break through.

He had 60 half-litre bottles of beer in his car as he was going on holiday, and after cracking one open to think about the problem he realised he could urinate on the snow to melt it, local media reported.

He said: "I was scooping the snow from above me and packing it down below the window, and then I peed on it to melt it. It was hard and now my kidneys and liver hurt. But I'm glad the beer I took on holiday turned out to be useful and I managed to get out of there."

Parts of Europe have this week been hit by the heaviest snowfalls since 1941, with some places registering more than ten feet of snow in 24 hours.

MATTHEWS: Suppose the minority Sunnis, who ran the government with Saddam Hussein when he was in power, supposed they decide as a community, 90 percent of them decide not to vote. Can we continue to call them insurgents or are they not secessionists, people who say we`re not part of this new government and therefore you have to ask the moral authority question. Can American service people fire on them if they simply say we`re not part of this new government? Do we have the right to tell them that they can`t do that...

Let me start with you, Tony, in country. What happens if the Sunnis say, we`re not playing ball, we`re not joining in this election? Could they become then a secessionist movement? What would happen?

PERRY: No, I don`t think so.

I think you have to realize that the Marines -- I`m with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment -- they`re not firing on people because of some philosophic difference. They`re firing on people they have to fire on to protect their own lives, people who have been using roadside bombs and suicide cars and snipers.

And I think -- I spoke to a Marine, a young Marine captain. He made a very good point. He said, this is not Vietnam. The insurgency here has no philosophy to speak of. This isn`t a philosophy like the Viet Cong that had communism, that had a national leader, Ho Chi Minh, that they adored. The insurgents basically have no philosophy, except no government, no control, no self-determination.

So it`s hard to think of them as some sort of legitimate party in that regard. They`re essentially -- in Ramadi, certainly, you could liken them to the Mafioso, who would really like to control, if not the whole city, certain neighborhoods and continue doing so.

Remember, this is a city that not even Saddam Hussein could control. They took over the government center from the Saddam Hussein government while he was in power. This is a very, very tough city as part of a tough province, the Al Anbar Province. There`s no philosophy here. There`s violence.

From a reader:

Hello Jonah,

I am probably way late with this response, and if you have already had enough of this topic please feel free to stop reading right now.

As a practicing dentist, though, I feel I must respond to your post. What your hygienist told you is a bunch of BS. All dentists must first attend and then graduate from an accredited dental school. Where they are taught all the finer things, such as fillings, extractions, securing patient financing, etc. Once they graduate, they can then go on to further study to be a specialist such as an Oral Surgeon, Endodontist, etc. However, they are still qualified to do all the other stuff they were taught.

Now many specialists devote their lives to their specialty and so an endontist will just do root canals and that's all. And after a period of time they may not feel comfortable attempting the work they learned in dental school, but haven't performed in years.

Most private dentists do extractions, and root canals, and some even braces. And most dentists use Nitrous. The specialists are there for when the case would be more difficult and involved.

I hope this helps. I'm available if you need a 'Dental Guy'.

From a reader (I could do without the "even your columns" comment):

Positrons and antielectrons are the same thing. Good Job S.F. Chronicle, and to the careful readers at www.defensetech.org. Should I go into my spiel now about how really, really, really, really, really awful journalism about science is these days? I'm a non-practicing chemist (currently typing with one hand, holding baby #2 with the other), and it ticks me off.

Thanks for the corner, and even for your columns!

Former Clinton aide Ickes supports Dean for party chair
By WILL LESTER Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Harold Ickes, a leading Democratic activist and former aide to President Clinton, said Friday he is backing Howard Dean to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee _ giving a powerful boost to the front-runner.

"I think all the candidates who are running have strong attributes, but Dean has more of the attributes than the others," said Ickes, who considered running for chairman himself before dropping out in early January. "Many people say Howard Dean is a northeastern liberal, he is progressive, but his tenure as governor of Vermont was that of a real moderate."

Ickes, who heads the political action committee of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said the endorsement was his alone and "does not reflect Sen. Clinton's opinion…."

Maybe the real problem is that politicians struggle and strive for high office in part because it gives them the opportunity to hang out with celebrities whose visages and alleged life experiences regale Americans in every grocery-store checkout line. This theory is reflected in the old jibe that "politics is show business for ugly people."

Any way you cut it, the ugly people of politics should try to ween themselves from excessive dependence on the pretty people of People…

Science moves us closer to the show which cannot be named and the Hulk! From defensetech.org:

"Unlike regular nuclear bombs, positron bombs wouldn't eject plumes of
radioactive debris. When large numbers of positrons and antielectrons
collide, the primary product is an invisible but extremely dangerous
burst of gamma radiation. Thus, in principle, a positron bomb could be a
step toward one of the military's dreams from the early Cold War: a
so-called "clean" superbomb that could kill large numbers of soldiers
without ejecting radioactive contaminants over the countryside."

Just a reminder. The Young Republicans at American University Feb. 2 (Groundhog Day!) at 8:15. PM. 4400 Mass Ave, in the University Club Room. I'm told all are welcome, but I have no idea what seating will be like. And you Georgetown and Georgewashington kids aren't invited because why should you cheapskates get a free-ride off of AU.

Okay, you can come too. But you're banned from asking questions.

I just got back from the dentist. Okay actually, I just got back from a late lunch with my bride which I went to after the dentist. Nonetheless, I learned something interesting. According to my loquacious dental hygenist, specialists in dentistry aren't allowed to practice general dentistry and vice versa. In other words, if you do root canals, you pretty much can only do root canals. If you're a kids dentist, you can't handle grown-ups. Etc. I found this out when I (wink, wink) jokingly asked for as much nitrous as they could spare. She said they didn't have any because they don't do anything that requires it in their practice. I said, "What happens when you've got to pull some teeth? (Or when you want to have a righteous nitrous-and-Quiet-Riot party?). She said they aren't allowed to do extractions. From their she spilled the beans.

I didn't get much info about why this is so. I can't imagine there's a federal law about this and if it was up to the states it wouldn't be a nationwide policy. Now I could be misinformed, but I suspect there's a racket here. I willl find out more...or I won't. It's that kind of hard-hitting, definitive reporting you've come to expect from me.

The Washington Post’s absurd story today that criticizes Vice-President Cheney’s attire at commemoration ceremonies at Auschwitz as childish, while simultaneously describing uber-weasels Chirac and Schroeder as “adults,” puts me in mind of a famous quote by Albert Einstein: "If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies... It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it."

It looks, from the pics, that it's actually a military-issued, cold-weather parka with hood (1 each). I can honestly say that this was probably one the of the best things I was ever issued. With the buttoned in liner, it the warmest piece of clothing I have. That and my military-issued mittens are the perfect combination for shoveling and keeping toasty.

Mine, however, does not have my name embroidered on the patch -- maybe I should have done that after I inadvertently neglected to turn it in with the rest of my field equipment.

FAIRFAX, Va. --- USA Next Chairman Charlie Jarvis blasted AARP’s just released poll on Social Security as “misleading and biased,” and vowed to get the truth out to AARP members as well as Congress and the general public.

“It looks as if AARP has a serious TRUTH-IN-POLLING problem. AARP’s misleading and biased survey does a grave injustice to AARP members, Congress and the general public,” Jarvis said. “We are committed to getting the truth about this poll to AARP’s members – as well as everyone else – so people can make informed decisions about the best way to reform Social Security.”

USA Next sent a memo to all Members of Congress featuring an analysis of the poll by nationally renowned pollster John McLaughlin. Among McLaughlin’s findings about the poll:

*The survey includes no respondents under age 30, even though voters age 18 to 29 made up 17% of the 2004 electorate.

*Those age 60+ constitute 34% of the sample, yet they were 24% of the 2004 electorate.

*20.7% of adults receive Social Security benefits. Yet 33% of AARP’s respondents report receiving benefits. This biases results against plans to strengthen Social Security since all surveys show resistance to change among Social Security recipients.

*AARP’s sample gives Democrats a six-point advantage over Republicans (37% to 31%). However, the parties made up equal percentages of the 2004 electorate (37% to 37%).

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - An abortion rights group is urging supporters to ask lawmakers to mail them a chastity belt in anticipation of the Legislature's annual designation of Chastity Awareness Week.

The form letter distributed Tuesday by NARAL Pro-Choice America said the organization wants lawmakers to support comprehensive sex education, equitable coverage for birth control and emergency contraception for rape victims.

"Until you give us real choices, please rush me the only thing that the Pennsylvania State Legislature seems to want to provide to protect my reproductive health: a chastity belt. My address appears below," the letter reads.

The poll finds that 53% of respondents favor a revote for governor; 35% oppose; and 12% are undecided. If there was a revote, 51% would support Republican Dino Rossi; 43% would support Christine Gregoire; and 6% were undecided. When asked who they believe actually won the gubernatorial election in November 53% said Dino Rossi; 37% said Christine Gregoire; and 10% were undecided. When asked if they believed if the courts would allow a revote, 41% said yes; 55% said no; 4% were undecided. Christine Gregoire was viewed favorably by 38%; 57% viewed her unfavorably; and 5% were undecided. Dino Rossi was viewed favorably by 50%; 47% viewed him unfavorably; and 3% were undecided.

From a reader in the military:

Jonah, I have a response to your reader who asks how we would feel if soldier's were forced to watch a crucifix being desecrated or a Torah being destroyed. Those things already happen, and they're paid for by the US Government under the premise that the acts are "art". Maybe we can just say that the people at Gitmo are artists, not interrogators. Then the left would have to appreciate their pushing the envelope. Just a thought.

From a reader, following-up on yesterday's post about how NRO is banned in China:

Howdy Jonah,

Never fear, I am living in Xi'an, China and cruise by NRO every day. To the
best of my knowledge you aren't blocked. Blogspot and Typepad are though.
China has a war on blogs. Fortunately I can use the proxy addon for Mozilla
Firefox to bypass this when necessary. So, bie dan xin (don't worrry -
Chinese Pinion) tech savvy flying monkeys across China will always be able
to get their daily dose of Star Wars/Simpsons quotes/inane time wasters!

The administrators decided to eliminate the spelling bee, because they feel it runs afoul of the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

"No Child Left Behind says all kids must reach high standards," Newman said. "It’s our responsibility to find as many ways as possible to accomplish this."

The administrators agreed, Newman said, that a spelling bee doesn’t meet the criteria of all children reaching high standards -- because there can only be one winner, leaving all other students behind.

"It’s about one kid winning, several making it to the top and leaving all others behind. That’s contrary to No Child Left Behind," Newman said.

A spelling bee, she continued, is about "some kids being winners, some kids being losers."

As a result, the spelling bee "sends a message that this isn’t an all-kids movement," Newman said.

Furthermore, professional organizations now frown on competition at the elementary school level and are urging participation in activities that avoid winners, Newman said. That’s why there are no sports teams at the elementary level, she said as an example.

The emphasis today, she said, is on building self-esteem in all students.

"You have to build positive self-esteem for all kids, so they believe they’re all winners," she said. "You want to build positive self-esteem so that all kids can get to where they want to go."

A spelling bee only benefits a few, not all, students, the elementary principals and Newman agreed, so it was canceled.

I am overwhelmed by this huge crowd but if all we do is march today, that will not change the direction that this country is headed under the leadership of this administration. This march must be the beginning, not the end of making sure that we register every American who agrees with us that this is a question of conscience and faith and personal choice.

BASRA, Iraq, Jan. 27 - A convoy of flag-bedecked sedans and pickup trucks, packed with cheering campaigners, nosed its way through the this southern Iraqi city on Thursday, accompanied by a pop-music-style refrain, a paean to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's most important Shiite cleric.

Campaigning in much of Iraq is a furtive, life-threatening affair, best done on the quiet, if at all. Not so in the south, where the party identified with Ayatollah Sistani, symbolized by a burning candle and called the United Iraqi Coalition List, is one of dozens stumping openly and sometimes raucously.

Rick - I agree with all that, and I like the Last European War as well. However, this touches directly on much of the stuff I've been working on for the last year or two and I should say that I disagree with the idea that populist is a term that automatically yanks one out of the left-right spectrum. After all, if it did Nazism would not and could not be rightwing in any way since few scholars dispute that it was a thoroughly populist phenomenon. Without getting deep in the weeds, it seems to me that Long was a populist of the left. It's impossible to put his Share the Wealth plan or his other major political-policy positions on the right. So what's left about him that makes him a rightwinger? Not much, save the fact that he's somewhat inconvenient to liberals -- and sometimes that's all it takes to find yourself on the right.

I was expecting to hear from someone that we should be outraged by the "sexual tactics" at Gitmo. A few folks offered some arguments about how maybe we should be troubled. But not much outrage. One reader argued that we should be bothered by any attempt to separate a man from his God. How would you feel, he asked, if American soldiers were forced to witness a crucifix being desecrated or a Torah being destroyed? I thought this was interesting, but really not very persuasive. I'd gladly settle for that sort of treatment over beheadings.

Another reader did say that as a matter of honor this shouldn't be done. "Jonah, what about *honor*, what the hell ever happened to honor? Of course it is not f*****g torture. But do you think Nelson Would have done this? Grant? Eisenhower? Russel? Washington?....Gonzales is right, it doesn't violate any treaty or law, but I expect the military that I pay for-and that I defend the honor of from my communist neighbors every damn day TO ACT WITH HONOR!"

"You're a conservative," he lectured, "you should understand that some things are simply matters of honor."

I find this even more unpersuasive. I'm not a close student of the history of intelligence gathering, but it seems to me that the use of sex to extract information -- in all sorts of way wasn't invented in Gitmo and that nothing of the sort happened under, say, Eisenhower's command. Prudishness and squeamishness is not automatic cause for concluding that the people involved are dishonorable. Again, I can't say I love that we're doing this. But it doesn't seem like something to bang my fist about either.

Seattle's Organization of Chinese Americans claims to have found more than 100 examples of incorrectly used Chinese words, phrases and grammar on the secretary of state's site.

Professional ethnic activists are, of course, horribly offended: "The poor translations on the site were insulting to some people," Debbie Hsu complained.

The state's response? A "translation disclaimer" that said the state could not vouch for the accuracy of Web translations.

Washington State taxpayers paid about $6,000 annually for the computerized translation system and can expect to pay much more if their state is forced to hire more interpreters. How about English classes instead?

From a reader:

We'd be fools not to pursue science that brings us real, live Thundercats.

As an avid West Wing viewer (despite the leftist drivel of most of the episodes) I have a theory about last night's episode. The writers have created a no-lose situation for themselves. The primary race between the former VP, current VP and Santos isn't really about those candidates; it's about which cast audiences like better, thus keeping ratings high for upcoming seasons, if they decide to keep the show going. Do we like Will Bailey and Donna? Josh and Congressman Santos (Hoines will never win, so we can forget that one)? Of course the wildcard is Alan Alda, the Republican with a heart of gold? Who woulda thunk it? He's even got himself a loveable cast in Patricia Richardson and the guy from News Radio, who plays the frumpy speech writer. So the country's getting more conservative, the writers say. Then Alan Alda becomes president, and lefties who love Alda will even tune in to watch him. Genius.

From a reader:

Dear Jonah: Your Corner post and continued commentary about the Federal Civil Service called to mind this passage from one of the great truth-telling movies of all time. I refer, of course, to Office Space:

Peter Gibbons: You see Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.

Bob Porter: Don't... don't care?

Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's another thing, I have eight different bosses right now.

Bob Porter: Eight?

Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get

until my cell phone rang.

Jenna Jameson sells "moan tones" for your cell phone. Super, super idea.

AMMAN (Reuters) - President Bush has hailed Iraq's first postwar election as a "grand moment in Iraqi history" but it runs the risk of deepening communal divisions and pushing the country toward civil strife.

"It has the potential to make things worse, precisely because it will accentuate communal differences," said Robert Springborg, director of the Middle East Institute at London's School of Oriental and African Studies. ...

When a modern young European has to choose between setting up a family of his own and a comfortable life without children, he is very likely to pick the latter option -- unless he belongs to a social class which regards children chiefly as a source of social benefits. A high amount of taxation combined with ill-functioning labor and housing markets is a truly genocidal mix. That is the case of Italy, but also Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Its impact cannot be corrected by all sorts of government subsidies paid out to young families. On the contrary, under certain circumstances the benefits for families may even lead to a drop in birth rate….

One more on whacky ward. From a reader:

Jonah,

You overlooked one other important point regarding Professor
Churchill's "credentials."

If you examine the list of publications appearing at the bottom of
his homepage, you'll find that none of them were published by
academic presses. Ignoring, of course, the reality that many
academic presses publish a good deal of nonsense, what this indicates
is that Professor Churchill has not had the courage to subject
his "research" to peer review.

Best,

"Name witheld to avoid professional repraisals"

Don't let the name Churchill fool you. This U. Colorado dude looks the part he's playing. Check out his faculty page. The PhD.-less professor Churchill attended Sangaman State University which, I'm told, was little more than a commune in the 1970s (no grades, lots of empowerment). Funny, I've got all these brilliant friends with PhDs from top flight universities who can't get a job as an instructor. Meanwhile this "scholar" becomes chairman of the no-doubt super-rigorous Ethnic studies department.

From another reader:

Jonah, I am retired Navy, now Navy civil service. My command has served as a test bed for the reformed personnel suystem for the last 4 years. I have to tell you it is wonderful. There are no automatic raises as before. If you are productive, you actually get more incentives. It rewards the motivated employees and keeps the dead wood where they are. (No it is not perfect, it is still tantamount to an act of Congress to get rid of someone for anything other than conduct). There are people who do not like it and coincidently they are almost an exact match for the ones you would love to see go down the road. Incidently, further to what your prison guard correspondent said, we have achieved some amazing tactical training innovations since 9-11. That has been accomplished by our civil service/contract team and you could watch the results on the news every night (well, Fox News anyhow). Thanks and keep up the great work.

From a reader:

Hi Jonah: Moved from Oregon twenty months ago to take a job with GSA at the White House - a dream come true in many ways. But as a conservative, and from the less than government loving West, I tell my friends not to worry. Yes, the Fed is HUGE, and so bloody inefficient - I tell them is it ever became efficient then life as we know it will end. The public sector in general, like socialism, is a gaping maw that only consumes, delivering no useful end product for the most part.

I have decided that Federal employment is the single largest social welfare program in history.

My best story from a co-worker at the WH is that she called in sick 3 days out of 5 for about a year an a half, because if you are out four days in a row you need a letter from a doctor to come back to work. As she put it "I was having problems with GSA then." And when asked by her supervisor for a doctor's letter in the midst of her "personal strike" she replied "I don't HAVE one - what are you gonna do now?" He did nothing, becausze there was nothing he could do. And she remained a Federal worker!

I am jumping to the private sector in the next few months - my resume looks gorgeous, and I would not have passed on my experience at the WH for all the money in the world. Serving this President, even as one of the little people that keep the buildings in order has been a singular honor.

GREAT magazine by the way.

Just to let you know, it's not "yo'all", it's "y'all". Did you decide to switch from "you all" to "y'all" in the middle of the word or something?

A professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado (what is wrong with that place, by the way?) calls 9/11 victims deserving "little Eichmanns" and says we had it coming.

"As for those in the World Trade Center, well, really, let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break."

(Nod to Andrew Sullivan)

St. Paul, Minn. — Gov. Pawlenty has recommended eliminating about 27,000 people from the state's MinnesotaCare program as a part of his budget solution. During his budget address, he said the state's health care program costs are growing too fast.

"It is not fair to the rest of the obligations and responsibilities we have to stand by and say, 'It's OK to grow welfare health care at 27 percent, when we're also trying to fund K-12 education and transportation, and so many other priorities that I know Minnesotans want funded as well," Pawlenty said.

From a reader:

Jonah,

I know may Civil Service workers are lazy and unmotivated, but I think you paint us all with too broad a brush. I am a recently retired Federal Employee and my job was running a cell block in a U S Penitentiary. A dangerous, high stress and mostly thankless job, but our mission was to protect the public, and that we did.

Thanks for reading this.

Sam Rosenfeld at Tapped is pretending not to understand an argument because he doesn't like an argument, or so it seems. He criticizes Fred Barnes (and takes a parting shot at Kathryn) for claiming that if Republicans treated a female black Democratic nominee the way they've treated Rice, there would be screams of racism coming from the Left. To which Rosenfeld responds, "This is rather lazy argumentation. Is Barnes saying that the Democrats’ attacks on Rice actually were racist? If not, what is he arguing?"

As Rosenfeld has complained about all this before (and I've criticized him for it) I suspect he does in fact understand what Barnes is arguing but is himself being lazy for rhetorical effect; "Why Barnes' argument is so dumb I don't even understand it."

So just in case Rosenfeld is being sincere in his assertions of ignorance let me lay it out in plain english. The point is this: Democrats are astounding hypocrites. When liberal blacks are criticized, Democrats have no reluctance crying racism. When conservative blacks are criticized by liberals, it's automatically a matter of substance. Indeed, liberals often see nothing wrong with making the patently racist "uncle Tom" argument which says that there is a natural "black" way of thinking and those who violate it are "race-traitors." Now, I happen to agree that the criticisms of Rice were largely substantive, if at times very cheap, and had nothing to do with race. But liberals like the gang at Tapped are very soft on, and often complicit in, the charging of conservatives with racism whenever we criticize Democratic blacks.

Can Rosenfeld really, honestly not grasp how infuriating such charges are? Barnes argument may not have been on point, but it was certainly a legitimate point. This one-way rule truly rankles because it is so dishonest and cheap and, when Democrats go for the jugular and punch below-the-belt at conservative blacks it is almost impossible not to notice the double standard.

Is that clear enough?

If only Boxer could be a couple inches taller, have a deeper voice, do something with her hair — and be, as Henry Higgins sang, more like a man? Well, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), seated a few seats down, is 6 feet 4 with a basso profundo and the best hair in the business, and he couldn't land a punch. Mr. "I Voted For It Before I Voted Against It" lacked what Boxer showed: spine, and the simple courage to call "misinformation" by its right name.

From a reader:

Jonah, I do not want to sound defeatist, but as someone who has spent considerable time working both in the federal government and in the private sector, deadwood is there to stay. Once someone has burrowed into the system, they can basically treat this as employment for life, so long as they do not embezzle, harass or commit some other similar misdeed. They do not actually have to provide real service to the movement. I have long viewed this as just another welfare program for the residents of the District. The only reform that would work would be a hiring freeze -- let the civil service whither away through attrition. A direct assault will only prove futile.

Big Story on the frontpage of today's Washington Post about the White House's efforts to overhaul the civil service system, starting with the Dept of Homeland Security. It sounds great to me for a few reasons. One, anyone who has lived in DC for any period of time knows that there's an astounding amount of dead wood in the bowels of the federal government. I don't want to pay for it. Second, many good ideas and talented people die from metaphorical brain death trying to work around the functionaries and bureaucrats. Maybe this will make things easier. Third, it's Old School Republicanism: Civil Service Reform! Yes, yes, previous reforms created their own problems, but can't ya just feel the nostalgia? Makes me wanna say "Bully!"

Four, it will make scads of the right people angry.

Five, hopefully there's a little "strategery" in the background. There was a lot of conjecture that the original DHS reorganization was partly intended to keep Congress busy while Bush got other things done. I don't have any 411 on this, but it'd be nice if something like that is going on.

Here's the opener from the Washington Post:

The Bush administration unveiled a new personnel system for the Department of Homeland Security yesterday that will dramatically change the way workers are paid, promoted, deployed and disciplined -- and soon the White House will ask Congress to grant all federal agencies similar authority to rewrite civil service rules governing their employees.

The new system will replace the half-century-old General Schedule, with its familiar 15 pay grades and raises based on time in a job, and install a system that more directly bases pay on occupation and annual performance evaluations, officials said. The new system has taken two years to develop and will require at least four more to implement, they said.

"We're not rushing into it," DHS Secretary Tom Ridge said.

Under the new plan, employees will be grouped into eight to 12 clusters based on occupation. Salary ranges will be based, in part, on geographic location and annual market surveys by a new compensation committee of what similar employees earn in the private sector and other government entities. Within each occupational cluster, workers will be assigned to one of four salary ranges, or "pay bands," based on their skill level and experience.

I hope the old test results hadn't pushed anyone to atheism. The shroud of Turin could be as old as Jesus after all:

The Shroud of Turin is much older than the medieval date that modern science has affixed to it and could be old enough to have been the burial wrapping of Jesus, a new analysis concludes.

Since 1988, most scientists have confidently concluded that it was the work of a medieval artist, because carbon dating had placed the production of the fabric between 1260 and 1390.

In an article this month in the journal Thermochimica Acta, Dr. Raymond N. Rogers, a chemist retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory, said the carbon dating test was valid but that the piece tested was about the size of a postage stamp and came from a portion that had been patched.

"We're darned sure that part of the cloth was not original Shroud of Turin cloth," he said, adding that threads from the main part of the shroud were pure linen, which is spun from flax.

A PREMATURE baby that the High Court ruled should be left to die by hospital doctors has survived against the odds. So remarkable is the little girl’s progress that lawyers for her parents will this week go to court and ask for the ruling to be lifted.

Charlotte Wyatt, who weighed just 1lb when she was born prematurely, was given only months to live after a hospital won the legal right last autumn not to resuscitate her if she stopped breathing.

Doctors secured the ruling, against the wishes of Charlotte’s parents, on the grounds that she was brain-damaged and it was in the baby’s own interests not to be resuscitated since it would prolong her suffering and would be “purposeless”.

Doctors expected that Charlotte, now 15 months old, would succumb to an infection that would prove fatal without emergency intervention. However, she has survived 3½ winter months since the ruling; there is also evidence that her breathing is becoming stronger and she is less dependent on an oxygen supply — an improvement confirmed by hospital sources. The family claims she has some sight and can hear clapping.

Yesterday Carol Glass, a friend of the Wyatts, said: “Doctors said Charlotte would not live to see her first birthday and that was months ago. The hospital then said she was unlikely to make it through the winter months, but we are now a good way through.

Some of the Democrats who opposed Rice were centrists from states in which President Bush won or ran strongly in November, including Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)

I would like to declare a moratorium on the 'Hollywood conservatives are closeted' bit. Worrying that to declare support for Bush is to commit career suicide is silly. And worse, its cowardly. The fact is, people in Hollywood don't really mind a Republican voice – but they will bristle at an annoying Republican voice. Be brave, but be sensible. No one really wants to argue politics at work, and this is especially true if your side is 0 and 2 for the century. But really, are there people pretending to laugh at the "Bush is an idiot" jokes out of fear? Don't they get it? We're Republicans, dammit, and we can kick anyone's a--!

As you read this, President Bush is on a health care swing through Ohio. In the midst of photo ops and canned speeches, he is offering no genuine solution to the fact that 11 million American children have no health insurance. You and I must work to provide the ideas and leadership that are missing from the White House and the Republican leaders of Congress. And we have to work day in and day out to mobilize America to cover every child.

On the streets of Baghdad, the campaign is also in full swing. Iraqis ponder voting by the number. There are more than 250 election slates, representing approximately 7,000 candidates. A lottery assigned each slate a ballot position between 101 and 365. Driving to Kadhimiya, a largely Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, I see walls covered with posters for Slate 169, the Iraqi National Alliance. The posters alternately show a burning candle or the images of Sistani and the late Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq Sadr superimposed over the number 169. Streets along Baghdad's now-decrepit Abu Nawas corniche are emblazoned with posters advertising the Constitutional Monarchy Movement's leader, Sharif Ali bin Hussein, a Sunni businessman who has managed to attract significant tribal support. In a sign of tolerance and political maturity, competing campaigns do not obstruct one another's posters.

To Iraqis, the elections are no longer theoretical. With voting less than a week away, there is electricity in the air. Pundits and politicians can discuss whether the elections should go forward, but for most Iraqis, such debates are moot. Democracy may be a process, but it is one in which Iraqis are ready to take the first step.

A certain national megastore chain is now putting security tags on all condom boxes due to an “increasing demand for condoms on the black market,” says its PR rep. (Don’t ask us who’s buying rubbers in an alley.) Supposedly, the tags are deactivated at checkout. Maybe we’re just paranoid, but it sounds like a secret Pavlovian plot to stop premarital sex. Two separate friends were recently forced to play show-and-tell with elderly security guards when their purchases set off alarms.

The first "map" of teen sexual behavior gives new meaning to the old warning that you don't just have sex with a person, but with everyone that person ever had sex with, researchers said on Monday.

They found a chain of 288 one-to-one sexual relationships at a high school in the U.S. Midwest, meaning the teenager at the end of the chain may have had direct sexual contact with only one person, but indirect contact with 286 others.

The students in this network are not unusual. They are just average students, and not extremely active sexually. So social policies that could help some of them protect themselves from STDs could break a lot of these chains that can lead to the spread of disease," [sociologist James Moody, who led the study] said.

"Anything that limits that and restricts the flow of body fluids between people would help." That includes education about condom use, abstinence and other policies, he said.

As a math teacher (in Michigan) for 17 years now, my biggest irritation is the fact that I believe the standards are wrong.

I have always believed that if left alone, I could teach the kids the necessary material. If it was Algebra, I could teach them algebra, if it was Geometry, I could teach them geometry. We (our department) kept in contact with other teachers in the area, we talked to college professors and we knew what was expected of kids. We decided when topics were old or out-dated (such as synthetic division) and we removed or minimized them.

One of the results of the standards (I feel) is that it no longer lets me concentrate on individual students. Because our funding is tied to our success on the MEAP test (our Michigan test), I must cover a certain amount of topics because each student will be tested on them. So, if I think a particular student is weak and would benefit from more instruction in fractions, percents, "checkbook' math...I can't always give them that extra instruction because he needs more statistics and probability (yes, I agree with Finn, it's overemphasized)

Additionally, they keep moving more and more stuff into lower levels. One of the proposed changes is to have 7th graders understand one proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. While this is a nice thought, some kids are just not ready for this. And furthermore...how does it really help them? They really need to spend more time on algorithms, understanding what division actually means, being able to compute fractions correctly and efficiently.

And yet, if you complain about this, it will come back to you as not caring about kids, not having high standards, etc. I have a student who is totally unmotivated, comes to class and does nothing. I isolated that student because they were disruptive to some of their friends, but otherwise, they do nothing. Now, I have tried talking with the student, etc. but their goal is just to do nothing. According to the literature, maybe if I restructured my class, made it more exciting...more appealing, then presto, she would be successful. But instead, I have decided that my method works, the kids who want to learn do learn, the kids who struggle can still learn.

I really feel for the kids who struggle with math. We not have to test a certain percentage of our kids in Special Education. This might be nice for a big school, but for a small school, our percentage who can opt out might end up to less than one student. Knowing how to do fractions and work a checkbook will be more important in the life of these students than knowing what a box and whisker plot is.

I actually have very few problems with "high-stakes" testing...if I feel the standards and the test are worthwhile. I would rather (in our district) come up with our own minimum competency test. We can identify and track individual students easier, see how we need to adjust our curriculum to meet our students needs. And, I think you would find, we are still giving our students a quality education. They might not all know what a box and whisker plot is...but then, I (never) see this method of reporting data used, but it claims a very high place on the MEAP test.

Oh, I think I'm past the rambling stage now, but I've just been dying to vent and get this stuff off my chest. I feel like I've been compromised and if I don't teach to the test (or in this case, they like to say...the standards) I jeopardize my school/students with loss of funding.

The Army for the first time is placing women in support units at the front lines of combat because of a shortage of skilled male soldiers available for duty in Iraq and is considering a repeal of the decade-old rule that prohibits women from being deployed alongside combat forces, according to Pentagon officials and military documents.

Actually, I was midly sympathetic to the anti-Tinky Winky crusade. See this antique-looking (and sounding) G-File.

I could be wrong, but I think we want to keep an eye on this guy. He is relatively independent, and we don’t want to forget that his predecessor converted (from Democrat to Republican).

He tried to avoid campaigning with Kerry – finally giving in one time.

He advised Colorado that voting for the split electoral vote could not legally apply in the 2004 election – something that Democrats did not want him to do.

He introduced and recommended Alberto Gonzalez – supposedly at his (Salazar’s) request....

His question “times” on Senate committees have, so far, been both smart and moderate

While he has the Hispanic name and is from Colorado, he is the descendant of the New Mexico Spanish who preceded the pilgrims.

Bush, in his speech to the new congressmen and senators, specifically called out the newly elected Salazar brothers (one in the House), making me think that he is courting them also.

I think where this fundraising solicitation crosses the line and where it finds itself in company with some of the partisan attacks that have been made without substance against this nominee is when it goes on to say ‘Click here to contribute to the Democratic senatorial campaign committee’ and making this part of not only a political attack, but a fundraising effort by the Democrats in the United States Senate. That Mr. President, I believe, crosses a line that should not have been crossed and one for which I believe Dr. Rice is entitled to an apology.

To tie the confirmation of the Secretary of State to a fundraising campaign and to propagate misinformation or disinformation about this distinguished nominee, who is an American success story, in an effort to raise money for the Democratic senatorial committee is inappropriate and I think would offend and does offend the American people, and this offense, I believe, deserves a quick repudiation by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who maybe weren’t involved in this and indeed an apology to Dr. Rice for the way she has been treated.

Dear DSCC friend,

The Republicans were expecting the Senate to confirm Dr. Rice with little debate and questioning from the Foreign Relations Committee.

They didn't count on me to ask the tough questions. What the Republicans don't realize is, no matter who is in charge in the White House, the role of Congress will always be to act as a check on the Executive branch of government. And when it comes to presidential nominees, the Senate must take its "advise and consent" role during the confirmation process seriously.

That's why I took a stand last week and voiced my concerns about Dr. Rice's misleading statements leading up to the war in Iraq and beyond. I will continue to make my voice heard on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, but in order to put the brakes on four more years of misdirection in Iraq and reckless policies at home, we need to elect more Democrats to the Senate during the 2006 midterm elections.

Click here to contribute to the DSCC today.

Because after Dr. Rice is confirmed, the Senate will face many more crucial decisions in the coming months: confirmation of President Bush's choice for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, social security, Iraq and possibly a Supreme Court nomination. My Democratic colleagues and I will hold the Bush Administration accountable for its decisions. But we will need your help to hold them accountable in the ultimate public hearing: the next midterm elections in 2006.

The Republicans want us Democrats to step back and pave the way not only for this one nominee, but for their entire social, economic and international agenda. We have a chance during the midterm elections to make sure the Republicans don't have four years to do so. The DSCC is working every day to recruit the strongest candidates in every Senate race across the country. They are fighting early and fighting hard, but they need your ongoing support today.

Click here to contribute to the DSCC today.

So while I raise my voice on the Senate floor, I hope you will join us on the campaign trail and send the loudest message of all--one that the Republicans will not be able to ignore--unseating them in the midterm elections and sending more Democrats to the Senate.

Yours sincerely,

Senator Barbara Boxer

Ohio's worst weatherman. G-rated but long and excruciating.

Update: I'm asked to point out that this is a college TV station, not a professional one. I didn't realize.

These days, Internet blogs are all the rage. Blog-related companies such as Technorati and Six Apart have people in technology hyperventilating like it's 1999. Blogs are ripping down mainstream media and the ruling class! Blogs give power to the people! Everything is blogolicious!

Jeez. Take a pill, all you blogomaniacs. Blogs are fun. Blogs add a fascinating new element to public discourse. But blogs are another turn of history's wheel, not a radical departure.

Joining the animated fray, the United Church of Christ today (Jan. 24) said that Jesus' message of extravagant welcome extends to all, including SpongeBob Squarepants - the cartoon character that has come under fire for allegedly holding hands with a starfish.

"Absolutely, the UCC extends an unequivocal welcome to SpongeBob," the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, said, only partly in jest. "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we."

For that matter, Thomas explained, the 1.3-million-member church, if given the opportunity, would warmly receive Barney, Big Bird, Tinky-Winky, Clifford the Big Red Dog or, for that matter, any who have experienced the Christian message as a harsh word of judgment rather than Jesus' offering of grace.

The UCC's welcome comes in the wake of laughable accusations by James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, that the popular SpongeBob and other well-known cartoon characters are crossing "a moral line" by stressing tolerance in a national We Are Family Foundation-sponsored video that will be distributed to U.S. schools on March 11, 2005....

Here it is. I see her point about being different than Williams. But I'm not sure I see how she shouldn't have just said something on her site at least. Again, very disappointing. I'll ponder and comment more in a while, but I have a deadline this morning on something else (hence the pre-dawn posting) that requires my full attention for the next several hours, at least.

is the name that jumps out at you on this list of Democrats against Rice's confirmation: "The critics, all Democrats, included Senators Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, first and second, respectively, in Senate seniority, as well as Carl Levin of Michigan, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Barbara Boxer of California, who was perhaps most pointed in her questioning of Ms. Rice during the confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee." Sorry, Senator Bayh: This isn't going to make up for being against partial-birth abortion. It will be interesting to see if Senator Clinton feels it necessary to go along with this line of attack.

Which raises the question: Do the other Democrats think that Rice lied, or not? If they think she did lie about the war, they have no business voting for her. If they don't think that, they should be pressed to say so.

Somewhere in central Iraq an aircraft lands delivering goods that aren't made in country. Nothing unusual in that; go to any bazaar in this land and you'll find imported items outnumber those manufactured locally. Years of brutal dictatorship, UN sanctions, and ultimately war to end both have left this nation's manufacturing infrastructure less than intact, to say the least. The task of rebuilding is a daunting one, made more so by factions that would see to it that success is limited, that progress isn't made.

That's the future, at least the future as those with any sense of optimism see it. For now forklifts scurry quickly up the lowered cargo door and hoist pallets of material then return to their starting points, unload and climb for more. A forest of pallets forms on the pavement, soon to be loaded on trucks for transport away from the relative safety of the airbase. Now empty, the plane taxis away to retrieve another load. Now full, a convoy of trucks departs for other locations around the country, the drivers will quite literally risk their lives to get this material to its intended destination.

The forklifts stand by as in the distance the drone of another approaching aircraft signals their job is far from over.

The scene is repeated in various locations around the country. The payload? The material thought worth dying for by hundreds of men determined to move their nation forward? Election material, of course. The future history of free Iraq is being written. Across the country the people express a commitment to democracy, a determination to vote. Should they see the reports from America they must be stunned; stories of "disenfranchisement" from here and there where the weather was bad and many voters felt the wait in line was just too long, thanks. This is America? Could these people actually be somehow related to the men and women in uniform here in Iraq? Those who are shoulder to shoulder with the people of Baghdad, Mosul, Basra... delivering the ballots, manning the checkpoints, ever vigilant for the appearance of the "former regime loyalist" and the "foreign insurgent" determined to inflict the rule of the knife on a population that has never known anything but?

Bloody days are in store. These elections will be like nothing before witnessed. In most areas of the country all will be well, but elsewhere a shredded remnant of the anti-Iraqi forces will make their presence known. Their efforts are nearly impotent; on a recent day five separate car bomb attacks failed to reach their intended targets. Yet even as their failures mount, even as their ranks are diminished and their slaughterhouses are shut down they know one thing that brings them a glimmer of hope: their allies in the world media will not let them down. Whether to simply sell papers, lure advertisers, or to support a cause they firmly believe in, many in the media are the insurgent’s final hope.

From a reader:

Bush's address also undermines the arguments I've heard from fellow Jews that Bush's support of Israel is a sham, and that as a born-again Christian, his primary motivation is his own religous views.

Before New Year's, when I heard of Bush's attraction to Sharansky's ideas in his new book, I ordered it to read on vacation. As a Hebrew school student in the late '70's and early '80's, I and most of my friends wore the metallic "Refusnik" bracelets in solidarity and support of Sharansky and his fellow Jewish refusniks suffering in Russia, both in jails and in society at large. As a very liberal college freshman, I marched in Washington DC in December 1987 with thousands of others in order to convince Reagan to act on behalf of Refusniks. That an American president can base so much policy and political capital on the writings of a Jewish-former Gulag-prisoner should prove that he believes what he said on Thursday regarding the tides of freedom washing over the world in the years (even decades would be okay) to come.

I know that the 'Lance Armstrong' bracelets are all the rage with kids nowadays. Maybe "freedom" bracelets with the names of political prisoners held in non-democratic countries, from North Korea to Syria to Russia to China, might make an appearance soon?

I hadn't read Dionne until Ramesh pointed out the column. Ugh. I wonder how E.J. would respond to the fact that the spirit of his criticism would apply to his sainted FDR in spades. FDR really did deceive the public on foreign questions time and again. He spoke eloquently about freedom even as he allied himself with the Soviet Union and inked the deal with the Saudis we are still living with today.

This isn't to say that FDR was wrong for any of these things, but it is a problem to believe he was the greatest president of the 20th century while at the same time you condemn the current president for eerily similar behavior.

You know, it dawned on me the other day that Bush's inaugural address and it's emphasis on the unique power of freedom undermines -- or should undermine -- the popular conception that Bush is a "theocon." According to those who were horrified when Bush cited Jesus Christ as his favorite political philosopher, our president is a Christian "crusader." How many times have we read that?

Well in his speech, he said:

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

Now, I understand that Christians and particularly evangelicals have a theologically and morally serious understanding of free will, liberty etc. But, according to the caricature of Bush, he should have said that the only historical force which can do all of those wonderful things is acceptance of Jesus Christ or, at minimum, acceptance of God or "faith."

He didn't say that. Indeed, the notion that political freedom is the only proven weapon against tyrants and tyranny which can "reward the hopes" of decent people would be something akin to heresy if Bush were anything like the religious fanatic so many people tell us he is.

I have just this very hour been appointed-selected-annointed-enshrined as a member of the Board of Contributors to USA Today. What does this mean? Well, first of all, I shall be empowered with laser vision and super-strength. My sense of smell will be heightened beyond the human range. Consuming carbs will make me skinnier and I will have the right -- protected by law -- to take, free of charge, any items from stores or eateries (but not bistros) which begin with the letters U, S, A or T.

Actually, it just means I'll be writing for them more often. But that's cool too.

I deliberately and without any affectation made Vera Drake to pose a moral dilemma that has no slick or easy answers. We live in an overpopulated world. There is no question that to bring an unwanted and unloved child into this chaos is deeply irresponsible. There is no question that you destroy life when you terminate a pregnancy. But there is also no question that choice ought to exist. Those are my personal views. The film can only work if the audience takes the moral and emotional debate away with them.

Allison -- I didn't mean to imply that Mein Kampf was unavailable in the West. I knew that it was. My point was that it was available and didn't seem to do much damage to our resolve.

Anyway, I'm back, baby (no, sweets, I'm not calling you baby).

If this truce does indeed take hold, it will be by far the second smartest thing--after electing Mr. Abbas as their leader--that the Palestinians have done in years. Mr. Abbas deserves credit as the only real Palestinian leader who candidly acknowledges what the world has always known. Palestinian violence against Israel is pointless, and has served only to bring forth overwhelmingly punishing responses. From the start of the intifada, back in 2000, Mr. Abbas warned that it was counterproductive, and that years of pointless carnage later, Palestinians would be back at square one, except poorer, more tired, held in lower esteem by the world.

The Iraqi Islamic Party's announcement of withdrawal in late December was considered a big blow to the elections because the party is popular among Sunni Arabs. But the party never removed its slate of candidates from the ballot. Mr. Abdul-Hameed said that if the slate won national assembly seats, he would not bar his candidates from taking them, as long as the candidates were not official party members.

Pregnant women in their third trimester, mothers with children older than 1, and about 5,600 disabled people are among the additional 14,000 welfare recipients who would have to work under welfare changes Governor Mitt Romney will propose later this week.

Overall, Romney's plan would more than double the number of welfare recipients who have to work, from roughly 12,700 to about 26,700. A total of 49,000 recipients are currently on the state's welfare rolls. The governor's proposal would also ratchet up the hours per week that some recipients must work, and would establish a five-year lifetime limit for receiving benefits.

Documents 1 - 6 of 6.

1. The New York Times, January 25, 2005 Tuesday, Late Edition - Final, Section A; Column 5; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 1, 1300 words, Clinton Seeking Shared Ground Over Abortions, By PATRICK D. HEALY, ALBANY, Jan. 24

2. Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), December 12, 1998 Saturday, ORLEANS, METRO; Pg. 7B, 735 words, ANOTHER HILLARY REMAKE, By Maureen Dowd

3. The Boston Herald, December 10, 1998 Thursday, ALL EDITIONS, NEWS;, Pg. 032, 698 words, Since you didn't watch TV, here are some tidbits, By Margery Eagan

4. Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), December 10, 1998 Thursday, FINAL / ALL, EDITORIALS & FORUM; Pg. 17B, 702 words, HILLARY GETS AIRBRUSHED; IS THAT HER REWARD OR PUNISHMENT FOR PUTTING UP WITH BILL?, By Maureen Dowd

5. The New York Times, December 9, 1998, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final, Section A; Page 29; Column 5; Editorial Desk , 706 words, Liberties; Icon and I Will Survive, By MAUREEN DOWD

6. The New York Times, December 7, 1998, Monday, Late Edition - Final, Section C; Page 1; Column 2; Business/Financial Desk , 1316 words, MEDIA; The First Lady Strikes a Pose for the Media Elite, By ALEX KUCZYNSKI

As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I would offer perhaps the best chance of building consensus, dissolving Democratic obstruction, and getting the president's nominees confirmed. I learned a long time ago that if you want to get something done in Washington, you have to be willing to cross party lines.

Mel Gibson's religious blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ" missed out on main categories, but did pick up nominations for cinematography, makeup and original score.

Michael Moore's gamble to hold his hit film "Fahrenheit 9/11" out of the documentary category -- to boost its best-picture prospects -- backfired. The movie was shut out across the board.

from the FEC data base -- TORSELLA, CAROLYN SHORT
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19128
REED SMITH SHAW & MCCLAY

CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM
VIA HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON FOR US SENATE COMMITTEE INC
09/19/2000 500.00 20020341078

"The women on this committee who stand behind Joe stand behind him because he is the clear-cut candidate to go to Washington and get things done toward the issues that matter most to women of southeastern Pennsylvania — creating better job opportunities, protecting the constitutional right to choose and working to make sure women have the health coverage they need," said Carolyn Short Torsella, the candidate’s wife and chairwoman of the committee.

"He's going to be an interesting little boy," Dr. Colaizy said. We couldn't agree more, except to say "heis an interesting--and wonderfully strong--little boy."

So I told The Times's publisher two years ago that the 2004 presidential campaign would be my last hurrah as political pundit, and that I would then take on the full-time chairmanship of Dana. He expressed appropriate dismay at losing the Op-Ed conservative but said it would be a terrible idea to abandon the Sunday language column. That's my scholarly recreation, so I agreed to continue. (Don't use so as a conjunction!)

Listening to the Fox News broadcast of the parade, Shep and Co. mentioned the empty seats along the parade route. Ceci Connelly said that folks were probably scared away by the ramped up security and the closing of metro stations. Perhaps if Fox had a camera outside the security gates, they would have seen the actual reason for the empty seats. At both the swearing-in and the parade, security - believe it or not - was totally undermanned for the crowds. I waited for two hours on Independence Ave to get onto the mall for the swearing in, but only made it half way to the gate in that time. I ended up returning to my office to watch the speech on tv. I have heard similar stories from the parade. The protesters blocking the way didn't help either. At least I live in the D.C. area and had my office to go to. I feel sorry for the people who traveled across the country, only to miss the events because they were standing outside the security gates.

THE THIRD ANNUAL CULTURAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION (U.S.) MEETING
Tucson, Arizona
April 21-24, 2005 ....

3. Bush Won. What Next?<BR> Eric Hayot, Assistant Professor of English, University of Arizona

Assuming that practical considerations keep most of us from moving to Canada, what kinds of (intellectual, pedagogical, practical) acts are possible within the institutional frameworks in which we find ourselves? But also: what possible personal relationships can those of us in the United States adopt to the fact of our geographic location or our citizenship? What kinds of resisting subject can emerge from that kind of complicity? Participants will be asked to write short (3-5 page) answers to these questions and distribute/read them in advance of the conference. Up to 30 participants will be accepted.

A spokeswoman for publisher Doubleday said it was important for Americans to understand the mind of their enemy. "This gives a direct perspective on their philosophy," Suzanne Herz said on Thursday.

But some who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks objected.

"I do not want to give the terrorists any platform to forward their agenda," said Jack Lynch, whose firefighter son Michael was killed at New York's World Trade Center.

"I fear this book could ignite the lunatic fringe in this country who are sympathetic to al Qaeda," he said.

Herz said Doubleday had "no intent to offend anybody who suffered at the hands of the terrorists" but hoped to "educate Americans and offer information useful to combat the enemy." The company would donate any profits to charity, she said.

In his view, apparently (the Baltic Times reports), "the Ukrainian crisis was resolved thanks to EU efforts and not because of mediation on behalf of Aleksander Kwasniewski and Valdas Adamkus. Poland and Lithuania, claimed Borrell, had not been instrumental and had essentially been “under U.S. control” while negotiating a settlement between the two sides in the conflict."

The Poles and Lithuanians were, unsurprisingly, none too happy to learn that they were under US "control", and there's been a certain amount of backtracking on Borrell's part, but the incident is yet another reminder of the real views of the EU establishment.

Meanwhile, it's interesting to read in the same piece that the EU's ex-president, Romano Prodi, is saying that there is little hope that the Ukraine will be able to join the EU. Perhaps he would like to explain why - or does he just think that some Europeans are more equal than others?

Ukraine is a part of Europe, and it belongs in the EU, and once (hopefully as soon as possible) it becomes a member, it should help in the process of cleaning Brussels up. After all, Ukraine knows a thing or two about crooked bureaucracies - and how to get rid of them.

The EU Referendum blog has more.

Doubleday is not “hyping” the Al Qaeda Reader. Far from it. The news of the signing was leaked prematurely--presumably by a disgruntled competitor—and we are responding as best we can to the resulting media storm. If Mr. Coffin had bothered to call someone here before writing his article, he would know that. I also don’t know where he gets the idea that we are motivated by the liberal “peace through understanding” delusion. I’m quite sure that none of our public statements can be interpreted that way, and it is pure projection on his part. Witness the fact that we’ve been attacked from the left as pushing a “conservative” agenda with this book. Both kneejerk reactions are equally wrong.

And that is ultimately why the question of the September 11 video is important. It is far easier to argue that the War on Terror is about oil, or empire, or Halliburton, when you simply don't show what it is really about: the attacks of September 11. Americans won't forget that day. But as it recedes in time, they may lose the visceral feeling they experienced as terrorists struck at the centers of American power and killed 3,000 people. Showing that horrifying video would remind people of just how they felt -- and of why the War on Terror goes on.

I, and I'm sure many others, certainly appreciate your keeping the Specter issue open in the corner, but I must disagree with your conclusion that GOP senators should "lean" on Specter. Even if they get the desired results one fact will always remain. Specter just can't be trusted. As soon as Specter feels that he is safe again he will be back at it.

Frankly, the only thing left for the GOP to do (as we can't get rid of him for 6 more years) is to remove Specter from the Judiciary Committee and make sure that he is in charge of nothing more significant than a broom closet. In such case, I would suspect that GOP Senators would not get their offices cleaned for 6 years, but that is an acceptable (and in fact appropriate) price to be paid. The worst that Specter can do to us in such case is pull a Jim Jeffords, but at this point, and particularly with a 5 seat majority, I think a lot of people would rather have Specter as an acknowledged adversary.

Well, fundamentally it's an effort to make an argument for new stem cell lines, by undermining the viability of all the existing lines, including those federally funded. There's not much new to it, except now it's dressed up in a "new" study, when everyone has always known that these lines (not just the Bush-approved ones, but almost all ES cell lines developed past a certain stage) were developed with so-called mouse feeder cells. To call this "contamination" is simply dishonest. A good number of cell products used in humans are developed with feeder cells from animals, and some of these (not embryonic cells, but other cell products) have been successfully developed into medical treatments in the past.

A couple of key points. First, it is not true that all the Bush-approved lines were developed with these mouse feeder cells. There are sixteen lines (not counted in the LA Times's "20 or so" available lines) that have been frozen in an early state, so as to wait for better cell development techniques. These have never been exposed to mouse feeder cells or any other cells, they are frozen and could be used if these folks had a better method to suggest.

Second, the FDA has a lot of experience dealing with cell products (again, not embryonic stem cell, but others) developed with such animal cells. Then-administrator of the FDA Mark McClellan, in testimony before [the president’s bioethics council] in September of 2003 [found here] was asked about the mouse feeder layer issue in embryonic stem cells, and he replied: "We've certainly had experience, successful experience, in thousands of patients in documenting the safety of cells that have been exposed to animal feeder cells, mouse feeder cells, and the like."

This new study strikes me as a partially dishonest repackaging of old worries in an effort to put new pressure on the Bush administration's funding policy. The trouble with it, as with all similar efforts by the researchers, is that the policy is based on a moral conviction, not a scientific assessment. Even if what they are saying were correct, it doesn't change the moral problem with embryonic stem cell research, and so will not change the policy. And from what I can see, it isn't correct either.

Par for the course, alas. What a course!

The abortion regime was born in lies. In Britain (and in California, pre-Roe), the abortion lobby deceptively promoted legal revisions to allow "therapeutic" abortions and then defined every abortion as "therapeutic." The abortion lobby lied about Jane Roe, claiming her pregnancy resulted from a gang rape. It lied about the number of back-alley abortions. Justice Blackmun relied on fictitious history to argue, in Roe, that abortion had never been a common law crime.

The abortion regime is also sustained by lies. Its supporters constantly lie about the radicalism of Roe: even now, most Americans who "agree with Roe v. Wade" in polls think that it left third-term abortions illegal and restricted second-term abortions. They have lied about the frequency and "medical necessity" of partial-birth abortion. Then there are the euphemisms: "terminating a pregnancy," abortion "providers," "products of conception." "The fetus is only a potential human being"--as if it might as easily become an elk. "It should be between a woman and her doctor"--the latter an abortionist who has never met the woman before and who has a financial interest in her decision. This movement cannot speak the truth.

With the prospect of several federal supreme court justices retiring at some point over the next four years, including the ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, George W. Bush is likely to be given the opportunity to name several nominees and preside over the selection of a new chief justice. The survey found that while most Americans (65%) said they fully expect any Bush nominee to the country’s highest court to be politically conservative, there is not widespread alarm at the prospect.

Overall, just under a quarter of Americans said that they believed that Bush will nominate conservatives and were pleased by that idea, while the same proportion said they found the prospect of a conservative nominee upsetting. The religious right is particularly pleased at the prospect—nearly half said that they were happy in their conviction that Bush’s nominee would be right of center. Among all of those who said they expected a Bush nominee to be conservative, 36% were pleased at the prospect, 34% said it upset them, and 28% said it makes no difference. It will surprise no one that nearly three quarters of the liberals in this group were concerned, while the same proportion of the conservatives were pleased.

Survey respondents were reminded of George W. Bush’s past assertion that he would not use a nominee’s beliefs on abortion as the deciding factor for a judicial selection and then asked if they believe that will be the case. Only Republicans (77%), conservatives (68%), and those who believe abortion should be made illegal (64%) said they believed that the president would not use abortion as a nomination litmus test. Overall, 45% said they believed the president, while 50% said they did not, including nearly three in five independents, a 55% majority of moderates, and 65% of those who favor legal abortion.

Overall, the country is split over whether nominees to the supreme court should be required to state their position on abortion before being approved by the senate. Forty-six percent said that such a statement should be required, while 48% disagreed. While there is some division along the usual partisan lines, the survey did not find gaping ideological divides. Half of Democrats said that a nominee should be required to state their position on abortion, while 45% disagreed. Forty-two percent of Republicans would like to compel such a statement compared to 53% who would not.

"These people are so emboldened," said Dian Harrison, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, which helped organize the counterdemonstration. "They really do believe they've received some kind of mandate or message from Washington, D.C., that it's OK to do what they do."

My disagreement with the Bush administration on Iraq has been spelled out in past columns. I'm also a member of an editorial board that has been critical of administration policies -- and by extension, Rice -- on several foreign policy fronts. For example, when it comes to opposing oppressive regimes, this administration, despite its soaring rhetoric, has come up way short. But characterize Condoleezza Rica as a presidential stooge? Count me out.

Man I can't get away with anything around here. From a reader:

Jonah, I'm sure you're getting a few e-mails like this one, but you can't just go and claim "[whatever]-est ever" for anything that's so easy to research. You only have to go back to Sunday, January 9, to find a later first post: http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/05_01_09_corner-archive.asp#049798 Now, if you had qualified it as "latest weekday first post ever" I would not have had the patience to research it. But someone would. Someone that doesn't have to get back to work like me.

Was that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi fell for it. Bush's inaugural -- and the massive threat these elections pose to his cause -- taunted him out into the opening to declare forthrightly which side he is on. Zarqawi's vision is a Middle Eastern version of what Orwell described a boot stamping on a human face forever. Zarqawi has proudly declared that he doesn't believe individual Muslim's or Arabs or Iraqis should be able to live by any idea, principle or aspiration other than the one prescribed in Zarqawi's own pinched and bitter reading of the Koran. He can still use the language of "national liberation" but he has permanently married it to the goal of human bondage.

“We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology,” he declared in his latest tape. “Anyone who tries to help set up this system is part of it.”

Democracy may just be a means of making decisions, but it is seen across the world as system which brings decency, the rule of law, peace and hope. These are the things Zarqawi -- al Qaeda's prince in Iraq -- has declared he is at war with.

In the UK?

“The veracity of the reports is brought into question as soon as there is any suspicion of alcohol influencing the observations. Several sightings between 2 and 5 September 1977 are dismissed even though the informants are adamant they saw a "pulsating bright light, emitting a vapour trail" near Derby. The file ends: "Four witnesses had been imbibing at the local hostelry and their sightings were discounted."

It’s an old point, but it’s worth making again, the notion that one group finds something ‘offensive’ is becoming one of the more insidious enemies of freedom, particularly in the age of state-sanctioned multiculturalism.

So here’s this ominous little story from the London Times :

“Billboard adverts featuring partial nudity are being defaced by Muslim activists who are offended by displays of flesh. The advertising watchdog has confirmed that increasing numbers of posters are being torn down or painted over in predominantly Islamic areas. A website giving advice on how to vandalise billboards and listing potential targets has been set up by a group calling themselves Muslims Against Advertising (MAAD). “

Nothing more than a freelance FCC? Well, no. Whatever one’s objections to the FCC and its current crusade against naughtiness, the FCC is at least a body subject to democratic control. That’s not true of those now defacing these posters: their ideology apparently trumps democracy. And that is what is obscene.

And, as always, appeasement doesn’t work:

“The campaign has gathered momentum since the Advertising Standards Authority banned an underwear advert from being sited near mosques.”

But still the authorities continue to cringe and to cower:

“One area we’re concerned about is causing religious offence — the use of religious imagery and also being sensitive to location. If something is offensive in a particular area then the company will normally take it down. We’re getting more and more complaints about the inappropriate location of adverts, outside schools or places of worship.”

The slow death of the Enlightenment continues.

This statement, reportedly from Zarqawi, is worth repeating:

"We have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it…Candidates in elections are seeking to become demi-gods while those who vote for them are infidels. And with God as my witness, I have informed them (of our intentions)."

And so is this statement, from Michael Moore last year:

”The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.”

Here’s more on those minutemen:

“Insurgents in a town in central Iraq made a gruesome billboard threat to behead Iraqis who take part in next weekend's elections, warning they will use ink thumb prints to be issued at polling stations to target voters. The graphic poster, showing a headless body with its' thumb covered in ink, was pasted next to campaign materials in the town. All voters will have a thumb marked with a visible UV ink - which will remain on the skin for 48 hours - to prevent repeat polling.”

Minutemen.

From the London Sunday Times

"British Muslims are to boycott this week’s commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz because they claim it is not racially inclusive and does not commemorate the victims of the Palestinian conflict. Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, has written to Charles Clarke, the home secretary, saying the body will not attend the event unless it includes the “holocaust” of the Palestinian intifada."

Prince Harry-style controversy to follow? I doubt it.