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Interesting post from Wretchard
In this post about violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt, for some reason I was reminded of the old Conan the Barbarian comics (from the 70s, when it was good).
For some reason the notion of diverse groups of civilizations and barbarians has always had great allure to me. I’m not sure why.
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Libby
As you might could guess, I’m a bit let down by this whole Libby business. While it does involve perjury, (yay irony!) I don’t think it’s got the potential let us have prosperous gridlock and partisanship for the next few years.
It’s still surprising that people are taking what Joe Wilson said at face value, particularly the “it was impossible for uranium to get out of Niger (a third world country) because corporate safeguards were in place” bit. Also, the indictment would seem to make clear that no original crime (i.e. outing a covert CIA agent) was committed.
Also unmentioned by most commentators is the fact that Libby was the lawyer of fugitive billionaire Marc Rich, who was pardoned by Bill Clinton but still remains wanted for other crimes elsewhere. He was also mentioned in the UN Oil for Food scandal.
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Victory!
Miers withdraws!
Now Janice Rogers Brown perhaps?
Curiously this was not buried during the weekend.
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Cold and overworked
When was the last time it was in the mid 30s in October in Georgia? Weird.
And I’ve already worked eight hours today, and it’s not even 9:00 yet. Blech.
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Interesting post from McArdle
the longer the delay, the more likely that the charges in the indictments will be for obstruction of justice, with no charge on the underlying crime–or even no indictment at all, with the Fitzgerald team revealed to the world to have been engaging in a lengthy and ultimately unsuccessful game of chicken with the witnesses it is interrogating (though I think this is pretty unlikely). To me, a delay like this would usually indicate that the prosecutor is trying to push this into the weekend news-cycle, where the non-explosive nature of the revelations will be mercifully buried
RTWT
And a new term “Fitzmas” has now been coined
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Baby Boomer nostalgia
Rather than focusing on the good, though moot, objections to invading Iraq, or useful strategies for withdrawal, Anna Qunindlen writes her variant of the standard column comparing Iraq to Vietnam. Needless to say she doesn’t mention the American occupation of the Philippines as another, more accurate comparison.
There’s no need to read the column, it’s just like all the other baby boomer nostalgia pieces. One telling part was
They should remember one of the most powerful men the party ever produced, Lyndon B. Johnson, and how he was destroyed by opposition to the war in Vietnam and bested by those brave enough to speak against it.
At least Johnson had the good sense to be heartbroken by the body bags. Bush appears merely peevish at being criticized. Someone with a trumpet should play taps outside the White House for the edification of a president who has not attended a single funeral for the Iraqi war dead.
Two Comments
- If Johnson was destroyed by opposition to the war in Vietnam, then how was he followed by two terms of Richard Nixon? Wouldn’t a peacenik have been elected instead?
- Funerals are for family, friends, and people who knew the deceased. They are not photo ops, political opportunities or anything else. Were Bush to attend one it would be dominated by the media and Secret Service and ruin a special sad moment.
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Predictions
Michael Barone (and me) think that there will be no indictments in the Plame case. We should know this time tomorrow.
It’s too bad. A nice big scandal could winnow off the weak republicans and make them a much more worthwhile bunch while at the same casting Washington into happy gridlock. It would be especially funny if the indictments were for perjury.
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A link to remember
Patrick Fitzgerald’s new site, where presumably reports will be available for download soon.
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Voting on Miers
The Truth Laid Bear has a pretty cool tracking page for Harriet Miers. I oppose the Miers nomination. But all of you probably knew that.
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Thank you Mister Walton
Late last night my old D-Link router died. What was I to do? No electronics store opened before 10:00 AM and I had a full day planned with projects due.
I know (I thought), I’ll just head over to the Wal-Mart off of Memorial Drive. Then I remembered, the Avondale City Council decided that they preferred an abandoned building to a useful store.
So I had to drive to Dunwoody to find one that was open at 6:00 in the morning. They did have a nice Linksys Wireless G with 4 ethernet ports for a very good price.
That’s been my day so far. Fighting the good fight against zoning.