South Dakota Politics

Ward Churchill

The CU-Boulder professor Ward Churchill, who described the victims of the 9/11 attacks as "little Eichmanns" resigned as department chair today, the Denver Post reported.  The kicker is that he gets to keep his professorship (I don't get that at all).  He also released a statement this afternoon. The Board of Regents have called a special meeting to discuss his comments, and probably/hopefully his future termination as a professor.

On the East Coast, Hamilton College is still planning for Mr. Churchill to attend a special forum on Thursday.  The President of the University has responded to the thousands of emails and calls about the professor (which they have posted 327 of the emails). 

Bill O'Reilly has hit this story hard, having on a 9/11 widow and her son (who goes to Hamilton) on "The Factor" Friday, and brought up the news today on his "Radio Factor" and tonight's "Factor".  Bill also flashed the University President's email and phone number at the end of the segment.  I noticed that the Hamilton website was down/crawling after the segement.

Doing a Google search, you can read his article, "Columbus Day commemorates a holocaust." The guest on "The Factor" tonight noted he was arrested this year for protesting the Columbus Day parade in Denver.  In the past, Ward was described as a "strange individual" and has close ties with the American Indian Movement.  If you want to know more about him, Davud Barsamian interviewed Churchill in 1995.  If you want a preview of Thursday, see what happened at a Ontario University last spring.   

This will get a lot of attention on Thursday if Mr. Churchill decides to attend....stay tuned...

The Northern Front

Powerline has another battle going with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

The Reid and Daschle Balancing Act

From the Washington Post:

Last August, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry pledged to boost funding for the national park system by $600 million a year by raising fees on mining companies. The National Mining Association immediately denounced the proposal, saying it would cost Nevada, a key battleground state, 44,000 jobs.

But that was before Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) went to work. Two months later, Kerry pledged to steer clear of any program that would threaten mining jobs: "Let me just say clearly to Nevada while I'm here: that [the NMA] is wrong. . . . As president I'm going to work with Harry Reid and with your miners to keep mining jobs, to keep people working."

The episode shows a side to Reid, the new Senate Democratic leader, that is not that well known outside Nevada. Like former Democratic leader Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.), Reid at times has had to balance his party's national political agenda against his state's more parochial economic interests.

Mining and the gaming industry are of paramount importance to Nevada, and Reid has repeatedly fended off legislative and regulatory threats to those two mega interests. At the same time, those industries have provided Reid with crucial political and financial support.

Reid has championed the mining industry's access to public lands and opposed environmental restrictions, while battling Internet gambling that cuts into Nevada's gaming revenue.

Crystal Clear Kerry on Iraq

John Kerry on NBC's Meet the Press

MR. RUSSERT:  Election day, Iraq.  Condoleezza Rice, the new secretary of State, has just told the United States and the world, "It has gone better than expected."  What is your sense?

SEN. KERRY:  I think it's gone as expected.  I think it was a good report by Brian.  I think it starkly lays out the challenges, Tim.  Let me begin, if I can, by saying first of all I was just there a few weeks ago.  I think our troops today deserve yet again a thanks and a word of praise from everybody. They are at extraordinary risk.  They're doing a remarkable job, and I want to give them that credit.

Secondly, it is significant that there is a vote in Iraq.  But no one in the United States or in the world-- and I'm confident of what the world response will be.  No one in the United States should try to overhype this election. This election is a sort of demarcation point, and what really counts now is the effort to have a legitimate political reconciliation, and it's going to take a massive diplomatic effort and a much more significant outreach to the international community than this administration has been willing to engage in.  Absent that, we will not be successful in Iraq.

Ok.  What exactly is he talking about.  "A legitimate political reconciliation," and a "massive diplomatic effort . . ".  Involving whom?  Is France still needed to supply something that the ladies with purple fingers can't?  Do they really need Jacque Chirac?  Or does he mean reconciliation with the insurgents.  Ok.  With whom do you negotiate?  Zarqawi?  Maybe bin Laddin? 

MR. RUSSERT:  Do you believe this election will be seen by the world community as legitimate?

SEN. KERRY:  A kind of legitimacy--I mean, it's hard to say that something is legitimate when a whole portion of the country can't vote and doesn't vote.  I think this election was important.  I was for the election taking place.  You may recall that back in--well, there's no reason you would--but back in Fulton, Missouri, during the campaign, I laid out four steps, and I said at the time, "This may be the president's last chance to get it right."

So does Kerry think the Iraq election was legitimate?  All we know for sure is that he was in favor of it taking place. 

Is it really possible that we came within 17 electoral votes of putting this man in the White House?

 

America First! At the Star Tribune

The Star Tribune lays its principles on the table.  American troops should not be used to bring democracy to anyone. 

While the Iraqi people seized the day, it was a day achieved through the blood sacrifices of many young Americans. We still don't find that bargain justified. American troops should be called to lay their lives on the line for the defense of their nation, not to bring democracy to anyone. Iraq should not have been invaded.

The "anyone" is pretty firm.  No one is saying that we can bring democracy to everyone, by military means or otherwise.  But consider what the Trib is saying to the Iraqi people.  We're happy for you.  But you really aren't worth anything to us because you aren't Americans.   Apparently Archie Bunker is voting Democrat now.   

Newspaper Purchase

Rapid City Journal: "Lee Enterprises, parent company of The Rapid City Journal, buys Pulitzer."  Excerpt:

The acquisition is comparable to the 2002 purchase of Howard Publications. At that time, Lee grew by 50 percent in revenue and 75 percent in circulation. The Pulitzer acquisition will increase Lee's size by 60 percent in revenue and 50 percent in circulation.

Lee will become the fourth largest U.S. newspaper publisher in terms of dailies owned and seventh largest in circulation, growing from 44 to 58 daily newspapers in 23 states, with new total circulation of 1.7 million daily and 2 million Sunday. Combining calendar 2004 results, Lee's revenue will rise by more than $440 million, to $1.14 billion.

What is absolutely stunning about the above link is how incredibly detailed the story is (oh for something similar about Gannett Corporation, the owner of the Argus Leader)(more here).  It has been a long time since I took securities law, but those are some serious numbers on Lee's part.  I didn't realize the company was that big of a player.  Anyway, in case you've missed our earlier discussions on this, Lee Enterprises owns the Rapid City Journal and the Sioux City Journal.  Perhaps a pincer move is in order--moving against the Argus Leader-dominated Sioux Falls market in between.  According to the Chicago economic theories I explain to my students, if a firm is reaping monopoly rents in a market another firm is supposed to enter the market to get a piece of the action.  Well, Lee, the Gannett-owned Argus makes close to 50% profit a year in Sioux Falls according to the latest numbers available.  Some readers are also not happy with the Argus (55% according to one survey/poll) and would presumably be interested in switching to a new newspaper.  Note to Lee Enterprises: prove the Chicago economic models correct for once!

Vermillion Library

Nat Hentoff has written an article for the Washington Times entitled "Prisoners of Conscience" which discusses the public library in Vermillion.  Excerpt:

The public library in Vermillion, South Dakota, celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, and also exemplified the freedom to read in this country by being the only American public library to show concern for those independent Cuban librarians whom Fidel Castro sent to prison for 20 and more years in 2003 for daring to allow Cubans the freedom to read.
    On Nov. 18, the Vermillion Public Library Board of Trustees voted to sponsor the Dulce Maria Loynaz Library in Havana, Cuba, which, like other imperiled independent libraries in that country, offers public access to books not obtainable in Cuba's censored "public" library system.
    As a sponsor, the South Dakota library will be sending books to its sister library in Cuba, paid for solely by private contributions. The first two in Spanish-language editions, sent to library director Gisela Delgado, are the first two volumes in the "Harry Potter" series, as well as a collection of works by that powerful paladin of free thought, Mark Twain (who would have made Fidel Castro shake in his combat boots).
    The Dulce Maria Loynaz Library was among those raided by Castro's enforcers, who confiscated "offending" books, burning many of them. But Gisela Delgado was not imprisoned.

Policy Models

Perhaps no other piece of legislation was more important to the development of South Dakota (unless, of course, you include railroad legislation, but even then...) than the Homestead Act, passed in during the Civil War when the anti-"free soil" Southerners were out of Congress.  Anyway, George Will is taking note of the law in an article entitled "Homestead Act serves as model for conservatism."  Excerpts:

Its provisions were as simple as the problem it addressed was stark. The problem was writ large on American maps at that time, which often designated the Great Plains as the Great American Desert. Under the act, fees totaling $18 entitled homesteaders to farm 160 acres which they would own with no other price after five years, or after six months if they paid $1.25 an acre.

Rarely has a social program worked so well. Indeed, a few years ago historians voted the Homestead Act, which remained in effect in the contiguous United States until 1976 and in Alaska until 1986, the third-most important legislative achievement in U.S. history, ahead of, among others, the Social Security Act, the GI Bill and the Voting Rights Act, and behind only the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

More than 270 million acres -- 11 percent of today's America -- were put into private hands. These approximately 422,000 square miles are almost as much land as the combined area of 19 of today's states. According to Mark Engler, superintendent of the National Park Service's Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, Neb., 30 of today's 50 states had homesteads in them and there are up to 93 million descendants of homesteaders. ...

That is the crux of modern conservatism -- government taking strong measures to foster in the citizenry the attitudes and aptitudes necessary for increased individual independence. That is what the Homestead Act did, out in what no longer is the Great American Desert.

The Great American Desert.  That used to be the popular description of where we live.  The goal of the Homestead Act was widespread private ownership of small chunks of land.  When land becomes centralized, it often generates calls for "land reform," i.e. greater distribution of land, which often gets bloody.  To wit, see the article entitled "Venezuela Land Reform Looks to Seize Idle Farmland" in yesterday's New York Times.  Excerpt:

There may be no more explosive issue in Latin American politics than land reform, or how to address the problem of too much land in the hands of so few people.  In Latin America land reform has been met with mostly dire results in recent decades - failure and widespread violence in Colombia and Brazil, coups and revolutions in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. In Africa, President Robert G. Mugabe has all but plunged Zimbabwe's economy into ruin in the effort to redistribute vast - and vastly unequal - colonial-era holdings.

Now comes President Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's left-leaning populist, who has promised to end what his government calls "latifundios," estates of at least 5,000 hectares, or about 12,350 acres, that remain idle, as part of a fast-moving land reform that is being closely watched across the region and in Washington, where Mr. Chávez is no favorite of the Bush administration.

Initially, the effort, which began with a land-reform law passed in 2001, was met with few complaints as the government redistributed some five million acres of public land to peasants. But now, as Mr. Chávez's government trains its sights on 6.6 million acres of private holdings, farmers are increasingly worried that it will recklessly seize private property.

If you're really into these sentiments and how they shape politics on the High Plains, see the chapter on the "corporate farming debate" in my book American Agriculture and the Problem of Monopoly. 

Are these related?

The two big headlines on Drudge right now are "Dean Wins Backing of State Democratic Chairs," and "Hillary in Faint Scare."  I wonder if the one caused the other. 

Freedom of Press Study

The University of Connecticut published the results of an interesting study on press freedoms today.   

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.

I found the study troubling.  While I often have trouble with the main stream media, allowing the government to play a role in determining what stories are reported is both frightening and counter to what the framers of the constitution intended when they passed the 1st amendment press clause.  Perhaps more frightening than the survey itself are some of the interpretations of it made by Jack Dvorak, director of High School Journalism at Indiana University.   

Kids aren't learning enough about the First Amendment in history, civics or English classes. It also tracks closely with recent findings of adults' attitudes.

I have not seen any similar study tracking adult attitudes towards the press clause but I certainly hope Mr. Dvorak is wrong.  While people have many reasons to question main stream media and just as many reasons to lack confidence in it, letting the government run the presses is not the answer.  There are much better solutions starting with blogs.  Blogs help provide a check on the main stream media (just ask Dan Rather) to ensure that the media reports accurately.  In addition, many blogs offer stories not seen in the local media.  That is the reason SDP started. 

If 30% of the adults in the US really feel that the government should take an active role in the media I hope they will seriously reconsider their position and start by checking out some alternative sources of getting their information starting with blogs.   I hope people will come to SDP, Powerline and Instapundit.  Then I hope they check out Daily Kos and other liberal blogs to see what their point of view is on similar subjects.  People can look to the blogosphere and see what the media is doing right and what they are doing wrong.  If they voice their opinions to the media there is a potential for change.  Rather than losing faith in the 1st amendment press clause people can do their part to make the press better.  It is certainly a better solution than depending on the government to give us our information. 

8 Million

About 8 million Iraqis voted, about the same number as in Afghanistan.

The Minnesota Front

On Minnesota Senator Mark Dayton, running for re-election in 2006, see Powerline's "Profiles in Disgrace."  I can't believe that guy holds Hubert Humphrey's old seat (HH was from Doland, South Dakota).  Dayton's approval rating has dropped to 43%, as noted by Dayton v. Kennedy.  If the North Dakota and Nebraska races don't pan out, we might be spending a lot of time looking East in the next few years.

The Good Sense of the Arab Press

This morning in a conversation with my wife I said that the Associated Press was the American version of Al Jezeera.  A moments reflection led me to take it back.  "That," I said, "was unfair to Al Jezeera."  In fact the American Press coverage of the election has been reasonably good, a few quirks of the New York Times notwithstanding.  But the Arab Press has been remarkable.  Consider Hassan M. Fattah's piece for NYT. 

After nearly two years of providing up-to-the-minute images of explosions and mayhem, and despite months of predictions of a blood bath on election day, some news directors said they found the decision surprisingly easy to make. The violence simply was not the story on Sunday morning; the voting was.

That, as Frank Zappa was wont to say, is the crux of the biscuit. 

Iran-Venezuela-China?

Financial Times is reporting on a new Iran-Venezuela-China friendship:

Venezuela has enlisted Iran's help to steer its oil exports to China and away from its traditional US market.

A team of traders from Petroleos de Venezuela, the state-owned oil company, is to be trained in London by Iranian advisers in how to best place oil in Asian markets, people close to the industry say.

The move is part of an effort by Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, to strengthen ties with China at the expense of the US, with whom relations are again becoming strained after a two-year period of calm.

So, China is now friends with Venezuela, welcoming them with open arms; and Iran is going to be their mentor in this Asian "exploration"?  Could be a story to keep your eye on....

What Political Courage Looks Like

Note not only the purple finger but the tear in the corner of her eye.  If there are any actions that dignify the entire human species in all its history, this would be one of them.

What would John Kerry think?

From the New York Post:

January 30, 2005 -- BAGHDAD — The man replacing the mayor of Baghdad — who was assassinated for his pro-American loyalties — says he is not worried about his ties to Washington.

In fact, he'd like to erect a monument to honor President Bush in the middle of the city.

"We will build a statue for Bush," said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. "He is the symbol of freedom."

Heh.

Bush to Fargo Thursday

President Bush plans to visit Fargo on Thursday to push his Social Security plan.  AP notes that he is the 11th sitting President to visit our northern neighbor.

[On a side note, if anyone knows how to get tickets, I'd love to have one.  Email me!]

Best Sarcasm of the Day

Boi From Troy:

Voter Turnout falls 28% in Iraq; country more divided than ever

News out of Iraq should send chills of distress around the world.  As voting ended, turnout was esimated at 72%.  Although Andrew Sullivan may or may not consider that a success*, it reflects a 28% decline from voting in Iraq'a last election. Furthermore, the unity that marked Iraq's 2002 election has been dissolved by the Bush Administration's divisive policies. The consensus which marked the last election has fallen apart to the point that one party may not even gain a majority.

The Insurgents Get the Finger

Instapundit has a scathing note on the NYTs.  Like Glen Reynolds, I noticed the original headline of the Times piece on the elections.  I didn't notice the revised, more negative headline until I read the Instapundit note.

To defend the NYT's honor, which as Groucho said, is more than she ever did, the headline on the homepage gets it exactly right.  "Iraq voters turn out in large numbers despite efforts to deter them."  That is the story.

And they get the picture right. 

See Powerline for a great cartoon on this theme.

More Iraqi Pics on Powerline.

Some pretty good ones here.

Dean and his bid for the DNC

Howard Dean, the Republicans favorite for the Chair of the DNC, was in New York City yesterday with the six other candidates vieing for the position.  The NY Daily News reports:

HOWARD DEAN, THE favorite to be the next head of the Democratic National Committee, made his case in midtown yesterday, promising to make his party operate more like the GOP - at least when it comes to elections.

"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organization," the failed presidential hopeful told the crowd at the Roosevelt Hotel, where he and six other candidates spoke at the final DNC forum before the Feb. 12 vote for chairman.

But Dean said the Democrats should not change their beliefs to be "Republican lite."

Interesting words indeed. 

Disappointed on Iraq

The Daily Kos post that Professor Schaff alludes to below is evidence of the increasing decrepitude of the left.  With the Iraqi election approaching, you might suppose that someone in the Democratic party would take a moment to praise the heroism of the election workers, many of whom have given their lives in this cause.  But if Al Gore or John Kerry or Bill Clinton gave such a speech, I missed it.

Paging Senator Boxer

Looking at the pictures Prof. Blanchard has posted of the long voting lines in Iraq, one wonders whether the long lines will discourage some from voting, thus disenfranchising the marginalized.  Or marginalizing the disenfranchised?  Whatever Jesse Jackson would say right now.  NO MORE OHIOS!!

Sure they're voting, but...

There is some carping about the elections in Iraq, and some down right defeatism.  Daily Kos asks:

"Is the Iraq Election a success? The early reporting is that there is good turnout among the Shia and Kurds.  Does this qualify as success?"

And continues:

" This Election is simply, in my estimation, an exercise in pretty pictures. Why? Because Elections are to choose governments, not to celebrate the day. Are the people elected capable of governing Iraq at this time? Without 150,000 U.S. soldiers? Or even with them? I have been accused of gloating by people right HERE because of my focus on the continuing violence. But my focus has been on the realities of governing a land in chaos, in the midst of civil war, with 150,000 U.S. soldiers the only force with the ability to provide security. And this is 2 years after the invasion."

At MSNBC online, Fareed Zakaria tells us that elections are not a democracy. Let's all agree that democracy is more than elections, but obviously it is not LESS than elections.  All would like to see a democratic and prosperous Iraq (except for the Kennedy wing of the Democratic Party that would hate to see any Bush policy vindicated).  In order to do that there must be elections.  And yes, Zakaria is right that democracy does not necessarily mean decent government.  But Zakaria's point of view is also a recipe for accepting the brutal status quo of the Middle East, as Mark Steyn points out in today's Chicago Sun-Times.  Steyn writes:

"When Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, warned that the U.S. invasion of Iraq would ''destabilize'' the entire region, he was right. That's why it was such a great idea...Nothing stands still. ''Stability'' is a fancy term to dignify laziness and complacency as sophistication."

Another Great Picture from Iraq

From New York Times.

Stunning Results from Iraq

Here's a remarkable picture from the NYTimes: 

To these jaded eyes, this is what democracy looks like.

Iraq

Stunning admissions of the day by Michael Ignatieff in The New York Times Magazine:

Liberals can't bring themselves to support freedom in Iraq lest they seem to collude with neoconservative bombast. Meanwhile, antiwar ideologues can't support the Iraqis because that would require admitting that positive outcomes can result from bad policies and worse intentions. Finally there are the ideological fools in the Arab world and even a few here at home who think the ''insurgents'' are fighting a just war against American imperialism. All this makes you wonder when the left forgot the proper name for people who bomb polling stations, kill election workers and assassinate candidates. The right name for such people is fascists.

And what about the plan to "internationalize" the conflict that Senators Kerry and Daschle supported?  Ignatieff:

As I was told by one suave European observer, with a look of self-satisfaction on his face, all that remains is the final act. We are waiting, he said, for the helicopters to lift off the last Americans from the roofs of the green zone in Baghdad.

Yes, the 'Iraq as Vietnam' master metaphor has been invoked incessantly over the last year and many people are heavily invested in it.  It reminds me of what Christopher Hitchens once called "The vile spectacle of Democrats rooting for bad news in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The KELO-Land--Argus Leader merger

Again, for the uninitiated, there have been rumors for a while that the state's biggest newspaper, the Gannett-owned Argus Leader, might buy the state's dominant television station, KELO-Land.  Now note this from The New York Times:

ASHINGTON, Jan. 27 - Media companies hoping to expand their television station holdings and to own both TV stations and newspapers in the same markets suffered a setback yesterday when the Bush administration decided to abandon its challenge to a ruling that blocked the relaxation of ownership rules.

The Justice Department will not ask the Supreme Court to consider a decision last year by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia that sharply criticized the move toward deregulation and ordered the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its action. The decision is a final slap to Michael K. Powell, the departing chairman of the F.C.C., who had advocated the changes. ...

Relaxation of the rules had been advanced by most of the broadcast television networks and many large media companies, including the News Corporation, Tribune, the Gannett Company and The New York Times Company.  ...

Big media companies want to expand the number of markets in which they can own both newspapers and TV and radio stations. In the last few days, some of those media companies, most notably Tribune, pressed the Justice Department to challenge the appeals court ruling, lawyers involved in the case said.

If this move does anything to scotch a possible Gannett/Argus purchase of KELO-Land I'm all for it.  More on Gannett's efforts to buy up its competitors here, along with the Department of Justice's efforts to scrutinize them.  Has the Argus Leader reported on any these happenings so its readers know about the effects of these rulings/decisions/investigations?  Of course not. 

royal purple

I noticed on television this morning that the purple finger clearly indicates who has voted in Iraq and who hasn't.  Talk about fingering those who voted!  This would make it easy for terrorists to exact revenge, but Iraqis seem to wear it as a badge of honor.  See Instapundit for pictures like this:

Coalition? What coalition?

Hidden deep in the Jerusalem Post's story on the Iraqi election one finds this nugget:

In another suicide bombing, five people were killed and 17 injured when a suicide attacker blew himself up aboard a minibus bound for a polling station in central Iraq, a Polish military spokesman said Sunday.

The blast rocked a minibus carrying voters to a polling station near Abu Alwan in Babil province, Lt. Col. Artur Domanski told The Associated Press by telephone from Iraq.

It was not immediately clear if the suicide attacker was being counted among the dead, Domanski said. Polish authorities are investigating the attack, he said.

Poland, which commands a 6,000-strong international force in central Iraq, also reported several other attacks in its sector Sunday, but said that no deaths or injuries resulted.

Evil Drug Companies

Next time you hear someone bash the evil money grubbing pharmaceutical industry, just remember this story, and think about how drugs have revolutionized medicine.  AZT has virtually eliminated the transfer of HIV from mother to child in the United States.  GlaxoSmithKline, which developed AZT for its use against HIV, probably did this not for humanitarian reasons, because they saw an opportunity for profit. No profit, no life saving drugs. 

Andrew Sullivan Was Wrong, Thank Heaven

James Dwight:

The polls just closed, and there was 72% turnout with mimimal sporadic violence. The ball is now in the MSM's court. Or, to use perhaps a more appropriate cliche, the Iraqi people have given the MSM plenty of rope.

About 40 people were killed by 8 suicide attacks, according to the tube.  Well, those deaths are horrible, but nowhere near the bloodbath that was predicted.  Remember that Andrew Sullivan, who was once a supporter of the war, had set forth these criteria for success:

Here are my criteria: over 50 percent turnout among the Shia and Kurds, and over 30 percent turnout for the Sunnis. No massive disruption of voting places; no theft of ballots. Fewer than 500 murdered.

Thank above that Andrew's criteria were met...by a long shot.  Professor Juan Cole at the University of Michigan is also taking some heat from the Belmont Club:

Think of what it means for anyone to dare vote in Fallujah at all, despite the penalties prescribed by terrorists, some of whom are certain to be kinsmen. And when was the time, at any Faculty meeting, that the halt and the blind tramped in to vote (cars are banned from approaching the polling precincts for security reasons) at the risk of death? If the electoral process was a charade, it was one in which too many participated too willingly.

Well said.  Captain Ed on turnout:

Nationwide: 72%
Baghdad: 80%
South: 92%
Najaf: 80%
Karbala: 90%

Hell, you can't find numbers like that in America -- except in certain precincts in King County, WA and Milwaukee.

Treachery in Journalism

See The Belmont Club for a story about how a successful operation by Iraqi security forces is turned by the AP into a story of defeat and dismay. 

I'm sorry, but this kind of journalism is siding with the enemy. 

The Meaning of the Iraqi Election from the Perspective of Nashville

The New York Times has a superb piece by an Iraqi American,Bakhtiar Dargali, who is participating in the current election.  The Long Road to a Vote is essential reading.  I offer this tidbit:

When I heard about the plans for Iraqis in the United States to vote in the national elections, my initial reaction was not to participate. Although I feel a strong tie to my homeland, I am an American citizen, and my life is here now.

But then came the news that 31 marines died on Wednesday in western Iraq when their helicopter crashed as they were on what Gen. John Abizaid said was a "mission in support of the election." How can I ignore the sacrifices of these marines who died so my family can vote? The best way for me to honor their martyrdom is to vote myself.

That is a standard to live up to.  Let us hope that both Mr. Dagli's old home and his new one will rise to meet it.

Blogs

From The New York Times:

HITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va., Jan. 29 - Republican members of the House and Senate turned their attention to the politics of changing the tax code and the lessons of President Bush's campaign on Saturday, the second day of a party retreat here. ...

In another presentation, Senator John Thune of South Dakota introduced senators to the meaning of "blogging," explaining the basics of self-published online political commentary and arguing that it can affect public opinion.

Kojo and Oil-For-Food

In tomorrow's UK Times, there is an article on  Kojo Annan and his involvement with the Oil-for-Food scandal:

The son of the United Nations secretary-general has admitted he was involved in negotiations to sell millions of barrels of Iraqi oil under the auspices of Saddam Hussein.

Kojo Annan has told a close friend he became involved in negotiations to sell 2m barrels of Iraqi oil to a Moroccan company in 2001. He is understood to be co-operating with UN investigators probing the discredited oil for food programme.

Should make things a bit more interesting.

Polls open in Iraq

Polls opened in Iraq about an hour ago.  Jeff Jarvis has a round-up of Iraqi bloggers.  Little Green Footballs has a open comment thread for discussion and breaking news.  It seems FOX, CNN and MSNBC will have coverage throughout the night.  Also check out my site, the Roth Report for news as well.

UPDATE: Roger L. Simon is LIVE BLOGGING the election.  (Hat tip to my brother, Ryan). 

Bush interview on C-SPAN

C-SPAN has posted the transcript and video of Brian Lamb's interview with President Bush.  It will air tomorrow night at 8 pm EST.

At least something caught fire . . .

Here is a tasty bit off of the Daily Kos.

Former V.P. Al Gore is
apparently thinking hard about
making a comeback in '08.
Jan 28, 2005
Despite frigid temperatures in Washington on
Thursday, the Mayflower Hotel in there was
hot. Literally. Just hours before John Kerry
ended his post-election hibernation and came
out swinging on health care, the hotel's lobby
filled with smoke; apparently a planter in the
lobby had caught fire.

http://www.electgore2008.com

Diaries :: ElectGore2008's diary ::

OOOOkay.  Check out the Electgore 2008 Website.  It looks more like a groopy site than a political site.  Must be gratifying to the Gollum from Tennessee.  At any rate I find it hard to believe that a dense cloud of smoke would still be visible so soon after a Kerry speech. 

But I have another explanation to offer.  Maybe John and Al were up in the Loser's Suite reminiscing about the 60's and not inhaling.  After starring at the paisley pattern on their hotel chairs for maybe an hour one of them turned to the other and said "Dude!  Lets go talk to the Press!"  They opened the door to their room and the hall smoke detectors, which, unlike the ones in their room, didn't have plastic hair nets rubber banned on them, all went off.  That's my version of the story and I'm sticking to it.
   

More Palestian Infighting

Powerline links to a story about Hamas and Fatah fighting it out, literally.  See my comments below on this rivalry.

Democratic Strategy

Fred Barnes:

Democrats misunderstand their situation. Their view is that Republicans have been mean and bruising while they’ve been too nice and forgiving. That’s right. They think former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, who was plainly obsessed with obstructing Bush at every turn, was too kindly. The lesson of the 2004 election for Democrats, then, is that they need to play rough. The real lesson, of course, is that blatant obstructionism is a failed strategy. It’s what caused Daschle to lose his seat.

Howard Dean will probably turned things around for the Democrats, however.

Fat Teddy

Yesterday's (yes, I just got to it today) Best of the Web from the WSJ contains a vicious, by which I don't mean undeserved, attack on Ted Kennedy.  I suggest readers pick up a copy of the late Michael Kelly's Things Worth Fighting For and read the essay on Sen. Kennedy.  It will be hard not to have contempt for him after completing that essay.  Here's what Best of the Web had to say:

A Degenerate Dynasty
Ted Kennedy's latest rant got us to thinking about the contrast between the two greatest American political dynasties of the past half century, the Bushes and the Kennedys. Look at the two most prominent members of each dynasty, and in both cases you will see a study in contrasts.

The first President Bush was a decent man but decidedly not a visionary. His most famous rhetorical moments are anodyne tributes to American goodness ("a kinder, gentler nation," "a thousand points of light"), a blustery promise destined to be broken ("Read my lips"), and a promise that was kept, but only just ("This will not stand," referring to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Indeed it didn't, but Saddam kept standing for more than a decade).

George W. Bush, on the other hand, was called by history to do bold things, and answered with possibly more boldness than history had expected--more, certainly, than some of his supporters are comfortable with.

Now look at the Kennedys. John F. Kennedy's presidency is hard to evaluate because it was so brief, but he is best known for the soaring rhetoric of his 1961 Inaugural Address:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge--and more.

Kennedy's brother Ted, whose 15,423 days of service make him the second most senior U.S. senator, is best known for driving off a bridge and leaving a young woman to drown. His attitude toward America's role in the world is the opposite of his brother's; it's best summed up as an inversion of FDR: We have nothing to offer but fear itself.

Here he is yesterday at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies:

The war in Iraq has become a war against the American occupation. . . . The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution. . . . The first step is to confront our own mistakes. . . . No matter how many times the Administration denies it, there is no question they misled the nation and led us into a quagmire in Iraq. . . . As in Vietnam, truth was the first casualty of this war. . . . As a result of our actions in Iraq, our respect and credibility around the world have reached all-time lows. . . . Never in our history has there been a more powerful, more painful example of the saying that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. . . . The nations in the Middle East are independent, except for Iraq, which began the 20th century under Ottoman occupation and is now beginning the 21st century under American occupation.

And on and on and on. That last sentence we quoted is really something when you realize that the 21st century began more than four years ago, when Iraq was under Baathist occupation.

And the idea that "the nations in the Middle East are independent" really sums up the EMK worldview. Terror-sponsoring tyrannies are just peachy, suggests brother Ted, so long as America does not have to pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe.

Such harangues are to be expected from the malignantly magniloquent Massachusettsan, but why now? "It's remarkable that Sen. Kennedy would deliver such an overtly pessimistic message only days before the Iraqi election," said Republican spokesman Brian Jones in a statement. "Kennedy's partisan political attack stands in stark contrast to President Bush's vision of spreading freedom around the world."

But that's exactly the point. A successful election in Iraq will be a triumph for the Bush doctrine and the strongest rebuke yet to those Democrats who learned from Vietnam that America is a force for ill in the world. Ted Kennedy is, as The Wall Street Journal puts it today, "cheerleading for America to fail" because his ideology leaves him unfit to cope with American success. If he has his way, democracy in Iraq will suffer the same fate as Mary Jo Kopechne.

One last tax post

How many states have bills with this title: An Act to exempt swine and cattle semen from sales and use tax.

More Cigarettes

It just keeps coming.  The South Dakota Legislature also wants to raise the cigarette tax by a dollar a pack.  The bill is here. 

My thoughts concerning whether smoking is a public or private vice are aired below, so I won't rehash. Suffice it to say I think smoking is largely a private vice which requires minimal government regulation. Be that as it may, there are other objections to this bill. First, if this bill is intended to discourage folks from smoking, why not tax cigarettes at $100 a pack? I guarantee you no one in SoDak will smoke then. But I suspect this is not the intention of the bill. A tax of $100 would stop everyone from smoking, which means the tax would generate zero revenue, and that's not what the government wants. They want most people to not smoke, but they need some people to smoke so they can raise revenue from an unpopular minority (smokers) instead of from a popular majority (property owners, for example). Which leads to another objection. Cigarette taxes, like all sales taxes, are regressive. The poor pay a higher percentage of their income on the tax than do the rich. This is especially true with cigarette taxes because low income people make up a disproportionate percentage of smokers. Cigarette taxes, like lotteries, are simply clever ways to tax those who are least able to pay.

Be that as it may, if we are going to have this tax, why is most of the money going to property tax relief? The tax will raise an extra $45 million, according to Rep. Frost at the cracker-barrel this morning. Five million dollars goes to smoking cessation programs, while the other $40 million goes to property tax relief. Many this morning were upset about the reduced rate of increase (what some speciously call a cut) of state education spending this year. It was suggested by our representatives to come up with some ideas as to where the revenue for education might be found. Well, how about $5 million for smoking cessation, $30 million in property tax relief, and $10 million for education? We have to find someway to pay Prof. Blanchard's bloated salary.

Taxing political speech

I was interested to hear at our local cracker-barrel session with local legislators today that there is a proposal in the South Dakota legislature to tax political advertising. Interested parties may read the bill here. 

This bill strikes me as ill conceived. Professor Lauck might be able to speak to this, but there are certainly First Amendment issues raised by this proposal. It has often been said that the power to tax is the power to destroy, which is one reason why we exempt religious institutions from most taxation. The idea that one would have to pay the government to engage in political speech strikes me as odd, to say the least. This will also have the unintended (I assume) consequence of driving up the cost of campaigns. It is expensive enough to run a campaign, and political candidates spend enough time raising funds, I don't think we need any extra burden.

I suspect this bill is motivated by the constant barrage of advertisement we get here in South Dakota when there is a high profile race, as in our last two Senatorial races. Yes, it becomes annoying to see these ads over and over again. Isn't democracy a pain in the rear end? If only we were like Cuba or North Korea, then we wouldn't have to see political ads at election time.

Huh?

It's still January, but I think I can still safely nominate the Cheney parka story as the dumbest news item of the year.  More nominees to follow, no doubt. 

Fun on the Internet Superhighway

Google Fighting.  Found this at NRO. Jon Lauck kicks my butt. 

"Meal from Hell"

Well...what did you expect when you put high ranking officials from the United States and Iran in a room together for dinner at Davos? Reuters reports on the "Meal from Hell".  Here are some tidbits, (but read the whole thing):

Call it the meal from hell.

A World Economic Forum dinner designed to promote dialogue between Iran and the United States on Friday night began with a comic strip series of diplomatic and gastronomic blunders, and ended with a sharp exchange over nuclear weapons.

The star guest, U.S. Senator Joe Biden, ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, was missing. The organizers kept saying he was on his way [he went to the wrong hotel, the article later notes].

Moderator David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist, apologized for the fact that wine had been served, upsetting the Muslim guests. Waiters cleared the offending glasses.

They also removed the menus since the hotel had planned to serve non-hallal meat, breaching Islamic dietary rules. Even the soup spoons were withdrawn -- erroneously, it transpired.

The questioning quickly focused on Iran's disputed nuclear program and the risk of a U.S. or Israeli military strike on its atomic facilities.

Kharrazi swore anew the program was purely for peaceful, civilian purposes, contrary to U.S. and Israeli charges that it is a front for a secret drive to build nuclear weapons. 

Perhaps feeling the atmosphere was becoming too heated, hotel staff opened the windows, sending a blast of icy alpine air (outdoor temperature -15 C) through the room.

[Senator Joseph] Biden finally arrived an hour and 20 minutes late, having gone to the wrong hotel. His wife's figure-hugging leather pants and a top that left her arms bare from the shoulders [hmm...I can't find any pictures on the AP wire] were in stark contrast to Vice-President Masoumeh Ebtekar's all-enveloping chador, although both wore black.  [Flashback to the "outrage" over Vice President's clothing choice at Auschwitz...but my friend Matt at Blogs for Bush explains and offers his opinion].

Biden, who had a long private meeting with Kharrazi at Davos last year, said Washington should join three major European nations in trying to negotiate a deal under which Iran would end nuclear enrichment in return for security and economic benefits.

He cast doubt on Kharrazi's assurances, saying he could understand why there could be consensus in Iran on the need for nuclear arms because it lived in a dangerous neighborhood.

Both Iran and the U.S. administration must "grow up" and talk to each other to get off "the course of unintended consequences," Biden said.

WOW...what I wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall in that room....

Drought

This is one of the most interesting Argus Leader pieces I've read in a long time.  The science involved is based on samples from Devil's Lake, North Dakota (a great ice fishing lake).  Excerpt:

If the past 2,000 years are any guide, the Upper Midwest is due for the worst drought since European settlement, worse than the "dirty '30s" or any other in modern memory, a new study says.

The study of microscopic creatures at the bottom of Devils Lake in North Dakota shows a reliable wet-dry cycle of about 95 years that goes back 1,000 years. That puts North Dakota, and probably an area from South Dakota to Kansas, on schedule for a crippling water shortage in the next few decades, say researchers from the Energy and Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks, N.D.

***
The scientists were able to reconstruct history using microscopic lake creatures called diatoms, whose bodies are made mostly of silica. When they die, they settle to the bottom and remain in the sediment indefinitely.

Different species of diatoms prefer different water conditions, so researchers can discover how those conditions changed by looking at what kinds of diatoms are in the different sediment layers. In this case, they reconstructed the salinity of Devils Lake, which closely reflects how wet or dry the region was, Solc said.

For the past 1,000 years, they found an average of 95 years between droughts and wet periods. That diatom history agrees with other studies and even the oral history of the Crow Indian Tribe.

***
The implications for the future are dire. Cities, power plants and farms could run out of water stored in underground aquifers, stunting the economy.

The Limits of Free Speech in Sweden

Americans take freedom of speech for granted, and imagine that it is a bedrock principle of a free society.  Most of us probably don't realize how rare this is, even among the liberal democracies.  Consider this from Sweden:

One Sunday in the summer of 2003, the Rev. Ake Green, a Pentecostal pastor, stepped into the pulpit of his small church in the southern Swedish village of Borgholm. There, the 63-year-old clergyman delivered a sermon denouncing homosexuality as "a deep cancerous tumor in the entire society" and condemning Sweden's plan to allow gays to form legally recognized partnerships.

"Our country is facing a disaster of great proportions," he told the 75 parishioners at the service. "Sexually twisted people will rape animals," Green declared, and homosexuals "open the door to forbidden areas," such as pedophilia.

With these words, which the local newspaper published at his request, Green ran afoul of Sweden's strict laws against hate speech. He was indicted, convicted and sentenced to 30 days in jail. He remains free pending appeal.

I do not think much of Pastor Green's sermon, so far as it is here quoted.  Whatever homosexuality is, it isn't a cancer.  And I would agree with those who argue that such words may well encourage individual acts of violence against homosexuals, or even collective acts if he should gain a sufficiently large constituency. 

But dragging a preacher out of the pulpit (metaphorically speaking)  for something he said there is a violation of sanctuary in the most basic sense, and such an act has been regarded as both religiously and political impious since the time of the ancient Greeks.  If he cannot announce the principles of his faith as he understands them from that location, there is neither freedom of speech nor freedom of religion.

The American distinction between speech and action has proved to be a pretty secure bulwark against invasions of liberty, and it is a wonder that the Swedes could not come up with something like it.  But perhaps they know better than I how much danger the regimes of Europe face from their most illiberal elements.  In the U.S. freedom of speech has always rested on a faith that the voice of pernicious faction will be always be contained by the multiplicity of interests and faiths that constitutes the regime.  Maybe we are naive.  Or maybe Europe is just a more dangerous place than is commonly recognized.