South Dakota Politics

"Facts Are A Stubborn Thing"

SD Straight Talk:

Last year our Congresswoman was quite proud of herself when she took credit for supporting the deductibility of state and local sales taxes on the federal personal income tax. She should have been proud since in gave states like South Dakota parity with those states that have a personal income tax.

Yet last week she voted against extending the deductibility of those same taxes.

Facts are a stubborn thing. No matter how many artfully worded press releases her press agent sends out it just does not change the fact that she voted against thousands of South Dakota Families, mostly middle class with homes and mortgages costing them millions of dollars in added taxes.

The British Guardian agrees with Professor Schaff!

The Guardian, Britain's major left wing newspaper, has this to say about the recent election.

Opponents of the war in Iraq may be irritated at the triumphal notes emanating from Washington and London after Thursday's peaceful election. George Bush - who mentioned the word "victory" no less than 15 times in a recent speech - called the event "historic". Tony Blair went for "extraordinary and inspiring".

Now "opponents of the war" and "the left" are not exactly the same groups; but the overlap is probably pretty good.  And "being irritated at triumphal notes" is pretty close to "not wanting to hear that we are winning in Iraq."  So the Guardian, a left wing legend, basically agrees with the statement that brought Professor Schaff so much grief from our friends at CCK.  I thought that worthy of mention.

I note that I take no position on the truth or falsity of this claim.  Please direct your hate mail to the Guardian.

Dr. Schaff Speaks!

Coherently.  Professor Schaff won the outstanding faculty award at Northern this past Spring, and following the usual custom he delivered the winter commencement address at Northern, this morning. I am happy to report that the speech was very good (any speech that insults me has gotten at least one thing right), and was very well received. 

“What does Saddam and Iraq have to do with September 11th?”

California Conservative provides the answer.

Also, check out this video.

UPDATE:  Do Iraqi's want democracy?  David Adesnik looks at the polls.  Gateway Pundit has more.  And this news looks promising:

Although no official vote figures have been released, authorities estimate just under 70 per cent of Iraq's 15 million registered voters cast ballots Thursday.

The big turnout - particularly among the disaffected Sunni Arab minority that boycotted the election of a temporary legislature last January - have boosted hopes that increasing political participation may undermine the insurgency and allow U.S. troops to begin pulling out next year.

John Thune

US News & World Report:

Coming off a string of political victories, notably his bid to keep South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Force Base open, Republican Sen. John Thune has been tagged by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to play a broader role of pitching and selling GOP themes, according to Senate insiders.

The officials say it's the latest indication that Thune's star has continued to rise ever since he knocked off Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in the 2004 elections.

"I think we've got a pretty good story to tell," Thune said in an interview with U.S. News. Indications from Senate Republicans are that Thune will be urged next year to make a play for the chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, now headed by Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina.

Like Dole and several other Republican senators, Thune has been mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate. Thune appeared open to entering the leadership or higher office, but didn't sound eager.

"I want to contribute," he said. However, he compared the dominant fundraising role of the NRSC job to "chewing on tinfoil."

Todd Keller

SD War College is noting a very disturbing story surrounding Belle Fourche Mayor Todd Keller, who has been accused of domestic abuse.  Stephanie Herseth was quick to rightly disavow him.  I agree with PP:  Keller needs to resign right now.

UPDATE:  Keller has resigned.

Kranz

Yesturday, Tyler noted David Kranz's latest political column which discussed Dave Munson and Tim Johnson.  Abramoff was also discussed--and I'm taking issue with it.  He wrote:

A Washington Post article about lobbyist Jack Abramoff's ties to former Sen. Tom Daschle needed a response, says Steve Hildebrand, Daschle's former campaign manager. Abramoff is under federal investigation.
...
Abramoff oversaw a team of lobbyists and directed campaign contributions from Indian tribes to Democratic and Republican legislators, including Daschle, the Post reported. The newspaper said Daschle was familiar with Mike Smith, one of Abramoff's Democrat lobbyists.
...
Hildebrand said Abramoff is a partisan Republican "who wanted to defeat Daschle, not help him."
...
"While Republicans are panicking about their ties to indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, they are desperate to try to find connections to Democrats like Tom Daschle and are spreading lies," Hildebrand said.

First off, this blog has never told a single lie about the Daschle/Abramoff connection.  It is a fact that Daschle received over $40,000 from Abramoff and his associates.  Senator Dorgan has decided to return his money.  If North Dakota Democratic Senator and close Daschle ally Byron Dorgan is returning all his Abramoff cash, why isn't Daschle?  Neither the former Senator nor his permanent campaigners have given any good reason.

The funny thing is that this whole controversy started when the Democrats attacked Thune for having received $5,000 in Abramoff money.  They didn't realize how generous Abramoff had been with Daschle and Dorgan.  Which brings up another point: if Abramoff was out to defeat Daschle, as Hildebrand charges, then why did Daschle receive more money that Thune?  Because they wanted access to Daschle.  Furthermore, if Abramoff is just "a partisan Republican," why did he donate so much to the Democratic Party?  The National Democratic Party affiliated committees received over $1.2 million from Indian tribe clients and lobbying associates of Jack Abramoff.  Incumbent Senate Democrat-affiliated campaign and leadership committees received over $729,000.

David Kranz and the Argus Leader continue to provide unstinting support for Tom Daschle.  It appears that the only politicians that need to be held accountable are Republicans.  But it's nice to know that some things don't change--Daschle's old college buddy Kranz will give half his column to Steve Hildebrand when he needs it to defend Daschle.

"The Democrats Punt"

So says John Hinderacker.  Here's some bold leadership by the Democrats.  From the Washington Post:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said yesterday that Democrats should not seek a unified position on an exit strategy in Iraq, calling the war a matter of individual conscience and saying differing positions within the caucus are a source of strength for the party.

Pelosi said Democrats will produce an issue agenda for the 2006 elections but it will not include a position on Iraq. There is consensus within the party that President Bush has mismanaged the war and that a new course is needed, but House Democrats should be free to take individual positions, she said.

Here we're faced with the biggest issue facing the nation, the Iraq War, and the Democrats want nothing to do with it.  It's with a touch of irony and humor that I note the Democrat's use to claim that President Bush didn't have a plan for Iraq.  Now, three years later, they're telling the American people that they'll figure out their position soon enough.  Hinderacker notes:

Hey, that's the bold and courageous leadership we've come to expect from the Democrats. The reality is that the split among Democrats on Iraq goes beyond different views of policy and tactics. Some Democrats, to their credit, want the U.S. to win the war and want democracy in Iraq to succeed. Others do not. That's a pretty tough gap to bridge.

Typepad

As many of you may have noticed, our blog was in on the fritz earlier.  Our blog service provider, Typepad, was having technical difficulties and was displaying a backup copy of our blog.  However, we're back online now.  From Typepad:

During routine maintenance of our network and storage systems last night, we experienced an issue with our primary disk system where data from published blogs are stored. We are currently running diagnostics on the device, and working to restore your data as soon as possible. Verifying data can be a slow process and will take time.

In the meantime we are currently deploying backup copies of your weblogs from approximately 2 days ago. This is what will be displayed for your blog. The TypePad application is currently unavailable, which means that users will not be able to log in, and visitors to weblogs will not be able to post comments. We are working to bring TypePad back online as soon as possible.

2006 SF Mayors Race

Seems like Todd Epp doesn't like Dave Munson

Democratic Celebration in Iraq II

In last night's pre-election guide, I laid down some criteria by which to judge the success of Iraq's third free election.  By those criteria, the election came out very well.

1.    Security for Polling Places.  The British Telegraph reports that this election was the least violent yet. 

Despite a series of isolated violent incidents across Iraq, voters have turned out in large numbers for what looked set to be the country's most peaceful election so far.  The relative calm surrounding today's poll contrasted sharply with the January 30 vote for an interim assembly, during which about 40 people were killed.

The New York Times agrees.

The day was strikingly peaceful, even in areas normally beset by violence. With more than 375,000 American and Iraqi troops and police officers fanned out across the country, the American command here reported only 35 armed attacks, about half the daily average, with only 14 against polling centers. On Jan. 30, when Iraqis elected a transitional government, insurgents attacked nearly 300 times.

2.    Overall Turnout.  Did the turnout beat the previous election?  Again, the NYT:

Iraqi officials said initial indications were that as many as 11 million people cast ballots, which, if the estimate holds true, would put the overall turnout at more than 70 percent. With Iraqis still lining up to vote in front of ballot centers as the sun went down, Iraqi officials ordered the polls to stay open an extra hour.

The Los Angeles Times adds this important note:

Election officials estimated that between 10 million and 11 million of Iraq's 15.5 million registered voters turned out, equal to or more than the turnout during the October constitutional referendum.

3.  Turnout in Sunni Regions.  Here, as predicted, the indications are very good.  From the Washington Post:

More than two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Sunni Arabs belatedly turned out in force to build a new Iraq, walking to polls by the hundreds of thousands Thursday for national elections that generated robust participation across the country's sectarian and ethnic divides.

The NYT:

The day's most dramatic events unfolded in the country's Sunni Arab neighborhoods, where hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who had boycotted the election in January came out this time to vote. Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad, like Adamiya, and in Kirkuk and Western Mosul, ordinarily tense and bereft of security, were filled with Iraqis walking to polling centers and lining up to cast their ballots.

Even in Anbar Province, where concerns about violence kept about a quarter of the province's 207 polling sites closed, American Marine officers said the voting far exceeded their expectations.

4.  Turnout in Ramadi and Fallujah.     Again from the WaPo:

In Ramadi, a provincial capital reduced to cratered buildings and empty streets by two years of warfare between insurgents and U.S. forces, fighting on the day of Iraq's Oct. 15 constitutional referendum kept turnout below 2 percent. More than 80 percent turned out Thursday in Ramadi and other insurgent strongholds in far western Iraq's Upper Euphrates valley, estimated a Ramadi election official, Yaseen Nouri. . . .

Long lines formed outside voting centers in Ramadi on Thursday despite an insurgent bombing at 7 a.m., when polls opened nationwide. Masked guerrillas of the anti-U.S. Iraqi Islamic Army movement, wearing tracksuits and toting AK-47 assault rifles, went out among houses to encourage people to vote. Witnesses said the guerrillas told them: Do not be afraid, we will protect you.

As for Fallujah, the London Times delivers this report:

"I've just been for a walk - you can't drive anywhere because of the risk of suicide bombs - to a couple of polling stations near my hotel in Baghdad, and voting is brisk. There are lots of people turning up: old ladies being driven in by police, young couples and so on. 

"Somebody described it to me as being like a wedding party, which is over the top, but there is a very relaxed mood. People were extremely optimistic that they were taking part in something that would really change the country.

"We've got staff in three areas of Baghdad and in other parts of the country, where the story seems to be the same. In Fallujah the voting is so intense and the lines so long that they've actually run out of ballot papers.

What is most significant about the image that appears at the beginning of this post is that the man is waving an Iraqi flag.  This was apparently a common sight in Babylon just yesterday.  It indicates that for people of the many factions that make Iraq, the nation itself is recognized as something valuable, something to cherish.  Even the most selfish partisan passions may now serve the common good, for every group wants a part of the nation.  Niccolo Machiavelli observed that every state is either a principality or a republic.  In the former, the state is the possession of one person, or one family bloodline.  In the latter, the state is public property, belonging to its citizens.  Neither Niccolo nor I have any doubt that the republic is the greater institution.  We will not know for a long time whether Iraq has truly made the transition from the one to the other.  But just right now, the indications are good.

Herseth: Bush team will listen

That's the headline in today's American News. 

''It was very helpful to get the briefing about what is happening in the short-term because of how important the political situation is there,'' Herseth said after the meeting.

She said the discussion was led by California Rep. Jane Harman, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Herseth said the Democrats questioned the president and Rice on what kind of role the State Department would have after the elections.

There was also a ''healthy degree of skepticism'' among Democrats about actual preparedness levels of Iraqi soldiers, she said.

Bush appeared to acknowledge some flaws in his war strategy, Herseth said.

''There have been changed tactics, there has been an articulation of that by the president,'' Herseth said.

At the risk of dooming Rep. Herseth in her own party, this all sounds very reasonable to me. 

Sen. Johnson also gets a mention:

South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson was one of 40 Democratic senators who sent a letter to Bush on Wednesday calling on him ''to make 2006 a year of transition in Iraq.''

The months following today's elections will be critical in Iraq's effort to form a stable government, the senators wrote. They also asked the president to lay out a more detailed plan for the war.

Apparently refusing to sign the Senate Democrat's letter to the president were moderates Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Kent Conrad (D-ND).  It is interesting that all four are up for re-election next year. 

A Democratic Celebration in Iraq

And they're off.  This by Ellen Knickmeyer from the Washington Post:

BAGHDAD, Dec. 15 -- Explosions in Baghdad and Ramadi marked the opening of polls Thursday but failed to discourage early voters, including many Sunni Arabs in western insurgent strongholds taking part in national elections for the first time.

Dozens lined up outside Ramadi polling places before they opened, freed to vote by promises from some insurgent groups to refrain from election day attacks and by Sunni clerics' lifting of a boycott call that had suppressed Sunni turnout in January's national elections.

And this in a later post by Knickmeyer and Jonathan Finer:

BAGHDAD, Dec. 15 -- Iraqi voters turned out in force countrywide Thursday to elect a parliament to remake their troubled nation, with Sunni-led Iraqi insurgent movements suspending attacks for a day so that Sunni Arabs could vote en masse for the first time.

The voting appeared to split along sectarian lines as expected, with many Sunni voters in the Sunni-dominated far west saying they were voting for Sunni candidates. Long lines were reported among Sunnis, most of whom boycotted elections earlier this year or were frightened away by threats.

There were no boycotts this time and insurgents were providing security at some polling places. In Ramadi, for example, guerrillas of the Iraqi Islamic Army movement took up positions in some neighborhoods, promising to protect voters from any attacks by foreign fighters.

This time, Sunni clerics not only lifted a boycott call that had suppressed Sunni turnout in January's national elections but actively encouraged voting.

"Right now the city is experiencing a democratic celebration," Mayor Dari Abdul Hadi Zubaie said in Fallujah, where voters streamed to the polls. "It's an election wedding."

Local elections

Dave Kranz has an interesting column this morning in the Argus Leader.

He says that Sioux Falls Mayor Dave Munson will shortly be announcing his intent to seek re-election next year, but with no officially declared challengers yet. Will City Councilman Darrin Smith decide to officially challenge him?

Also, he writes that Senator Tim Johnson has apparently decided that he will run for re-election in 2008, with no official challengers yet at this early date. But will Governor Mike Rounds possibly make a run for the Senate office?

Read the whole column here

Now It's Bing vs. Sinatra

I promise that this is the last music post for a while.  Reader Joe from Pierre opines:

Guys I suggest you go up one notch in your singer pecking order, as it were, to the top. Sinatra is the most important and influential entertainer of the 20th century. May I suggest
"Why Sinatra Matters" by Pete Hammel, as a good place to start.

I share Joe's high opinion of Sinatra.  One thing Sinatra had over Crosby is better taste.  Sinatra simply recorded better songs.  He had his own stable of great writers (e.g. Sammy Cahn) who consistently turned out great material for Sinatra to record.  But before we crown him the real king, I do want to point out that Crosby influenced a whole generation of singers, including Sinatra himself, and others like Dean Martin and Perry Como who self-consciously mimicked Crosby's smooth delivery.  Crosby was the first singer to appreciate that the new technology of the microphone meant that the singer could, and should, sing more softly.  Indeed, he must learn to croon.  But I don't want to claim too much.  After all is said and done, Sinatra is likely Crosby's superior.  Sinatra and Sextet Live In Paris is a revelation.  I highly recommend it. 

One more point and I swear I'll let this string of music posts go for a while.  If I were going to pick the best singer of that era (1930s-1950s) I would go with Ella Fitzgerald.  While often associated with jazz, Fitzgerald herself rejected the notion that she was a "jazz singer" in favor of the appellation "popular singer."  There are few recordings better than her series of "Songbooks" of the great American songwriters (e.g. Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hart).  The three CD collection of Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George And Ira Gershwin Songbook is perhaps the finest set of recordings I own.  She takes my favorite songwriters, the Gershwins, and interprets them beautifully.  I recommend this and the other "Songbooks" as well as this breathtaking recording.   I see that, horror of horrors, according to Amazon the complete Gershwin Songbook is not available new (you can get it used). You now can only get a "Best of the Gershwin Songbook."  Someone shame Verve records into re-releasing this best of recordings.

Iraq Election

In honor of the event now unfolding, I submit this column that was published in the Aberdeen American News. It was written in honor of my next door neighbor.  I note something he told me.  When he went to Iraq he thought that the war had been a mistake.  When he saw the reaction of Iraqi children to American troops, he thought otherwise.  Here is the column I wrote for Ryan.

It was an altogether happy day when my neighbor, a South Dakota National Guardsman, returned safely from Iraq. Whatever worries I had while he was away surely can’t compare with those of his wife and family. But I did worry about him, almost every day. My wife and I gave him some heavy duty backpacking socks for Christmas, and he later reported that they made his military boots comfortable for the first time. That was one small gesture of gratitude. This column is another.

The success of the recent elections in Iraq put critics of the war in an uncomfortable position. The Minneapolis Star Tribune put it this way: the Iraqis should be congratulated for their election; nonetheless, “American troops should be called upon to lay down their lives for the defense of the nation, not to bring democracy to anyone.”

This is a reasonable opinion, to be sure, but I believe it does our servicemen and women a disservice. My father served in the Pacific during WWII, and my Uncle Bud was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Okinawa. They did not sail west in order to revenge the drowned sailors on the Arizona, or because the Japanese had any designs on northeast Arkansas. The Japanese attacked us because they thought it necessary to preserve their Pacific Rim Empire. My uncle and my Dad went to war in Asia because that empire ultimately threatened everyone, everywhere.

Our fighting men in WWII deserve honor not only because they were defending American interests, which surely they were. They are also to be honored precisely because they brought democracy back to Western Europe, and introduced it to Japan. They liberated millions of human beings from the most brutal despotisms. They laid the foundations of postwar peace and prosperity because they fought for something nobler than the mere national interest that is all the Trib will allow. 

The U.S. is much stronger today than in 1941, and Saddam Hussein was, at worst, a small scale replica of Hitler. Nonetheless I insist that my friend next door deserves the same measure of honor and gratitude as Dad and Uncle Bud.

The Iraqi election stands as the most promising event in the Middle East since Jimmy Carter brokered peace between Egypt and Israel. Al Jezeera and Al Arabiya, the most important Arab news services, faced a choice on January 30^th.  Should they concentrate coverage on the long lines of Iraqis waiting to vote, or on the various attempts to kill them? They recognized early in the day that the courage rather than the carnage was the real story. A sense of wonder and optimism was consequently palpable in coffee houses on both sides of the Fertile Crescent.

Critics are wrong to say that this election was only a step towards democracy. Democracy is not a goal, it is a process. Eight million people queuing up to vote is as much democracy as you will ever see, anywhere. Whether the Iraqis will achieve a stable republic remains to be seen. But they have already achieved a remarkably balanced government, in which the Shiite majority must negotiate with Kurdish and Sunni representatives to build a new constitution. That is exactly what a republic looks like.

The most durable symbols of Iraqi self-government are the many images of veiled women holding up ink-stained fingers, in defiance of the insurgents who promised to murder them if they voted. And then there’s Abdul Amir. This Iraqi policeman was blown to bits when he wrestled a suicide bomber to the ground, preventing the man from reaching a line of voters. 

Many sensible people will still insist that the 2003 invasion was a mistake, and whoever thinks so should say so. They may yet be proven correct. But just right now siding with the veiled women and Abdul Amir against their murderous enemies is in the interest of the United States, the region, and the world. It is also a noble thing in itself. Our men and women at arms deserve the full measure of honor for it.

Iraqi Election Guide.

Allow me to interupt the string of light-hearted posts that preceed this one, and note that the Iraqis are going to the polls for the third time this year.  What should we look for to judge the success of the election?  As in the previous cases, it is people voting with their feet, by walking to the polls to vote, that is crucial. See the Washington Post graphic on the election.  Here's what I would look for.

1. Security for polling places.  The two previous elections were astonishingly free from carnage.  Let us fondly hope and fervently pray that this trend continues.
2. Overall Turnout.  It would be good to see the turnout beat both of the previous elections, especially since this one will actually produce the first democratic government in the Arab world. 
3. Turnout in Sunni regions.  While the Sunnis participated in impressive numbers in the last election, it will important to see increased turnout in this one.  Incorporating the Sunni Arab population into the new government is probably the single most important step in establishing an Iraqi republic.
4. Turnout in Rahmadi and Fallujah.  This will indicate that the breeding grounds of the indigenous insurgency have decided to join the new Iraq.

Elvis vs. Bing, Arbitration.

Todd Epp and Professor Schaff have a difference of opinion on "who was the more successful entertainer, the King or the Crooner?  Someone with shrewder judgment and a cooler head now needs to step in and settle the matter.  Until that person shows up, I'll have to do.

1.  In spite of preferring Bing to the King, Professor Schaff is not 94 years old, as Epp alleges.  Even if he does dress like Ralphy in A Christmas Story, intentionally, he is too young to have come by his affection for Crosby honestly.  I suspect the cause may be radiation from his glow in the dark golf sweaters.

2.  As for who made better music, the answer is almost certainly Bing.  I say this only because his generation of entertainers took their craft much more seriously than did Elvis and those who followed him.  Moreover Bing has a sense of propriety about his whole persona that Elvis, to put it delicately, never possessed about anything.  I take no position on their relative body of songs.

3.  As for who was the more successful entertainer, here one needs a standard.  Epp's is this: "Women desired him.  Men wanted to be him". This strikes me as a flawed standard.  It means that to be successful, you not only have to be preeminent in your art, you also have to be sexy. 

4.  The proper standard is who had the greatest impact on the culture of the nation and the world?  Here I think the matter clearly favors Elvis, but for no fault of his own.  Elvis was clearly a powerful entertainer, but his greatness was supplied by a unique historical context.  The US changed profoundly after and largely as a result of the Second World War.  When I was a teenager I didn't like any of the music my father liked.  By contrast, I like a lot of the music my daughter likes, and my teenage son is now listening to the Rolling Stones and the soundtrack to Easy Rider.  The fifties through the seventies represent a fault line in the history of the American soul.

Elvis more than anyone else personified the first wave of cultural change, as did James Dean, for example, in film.  Likewise Bob Dylan and the Beatles personified the second wave (the one on acid).  Both of the latter wrote and produced bodies of music that were wonderful in their own right, but their unique power came from the moment.  Bing just didn't have such a moment to work with. 

One final note about Elvis.  I see no reason women shouldn't have desired him, at least before the drug and processed sugar stage of his career.  But if men wanted to be him, that's just a sign that men have no idea what to want.  I visited Graceland with my daughter this last summer.  In spite of growing up a mere hour away, I had never been there.  The place was appalling.  Gaudy to a degree that would make a lawn gnome look like a Donnatello, it was a monument to an utterly empty soul.  Elvis had the bad fortune to get everything he wanted early in life.  He spent the rest of his life looking vainly for something that might keep his interest.  Karate?  Golf car pollo on his lawn?  No wonder he ended up chasing Twinkies with sedatives.  I know nothing about Bing Crosby's personal life, which is more than I want to know, but sure it can't have been half that bad.

Epp Update

It just occurred to me that Todd Epp is right about something, namely fantasy football.  He certainly kicked my butt this year.  I had no running backs.  None.  My running backs were so slow their time in the 40 could be kept with a sun dial.  My running backs were so bad that the defense let them get to the line of scrimmage out of pity.  My running backs were so bad...well, you get the point.  And Epp wins. 

Elvis vs. Bing

Bing=Quality 

I have been remiss in commenting on this.  Todd Epp takes me to task for preferring Bing Crosby to Elvis Presley.  Todd, do you ever get tired of being wrong all the time?  Let's take it point by point.  First, as I pointed out before, this website shows that by record sales and box office receipts Crosby was more successful than Presley.  Second, Crosby's movies are more memorable than Presley's.  First, Holiday Inn and White Christmas are seasonal favorites.  Second, films like Going My Way, Bells of St. Mary's and Country Girl stand up far better than any of the shlock Presley was in.  I want to point out that the Road movies with Bob Hope were on cable just this weekend, along with Presley movies on another channel.  I own five of the Road movies (Singapore, Morocco, Rio, Zanzibar and Utopia) and I think these movies are still funny 60 years later.  Presley movies are just embarrassing. 

True, Crosby's music, outside of the Christmas music, is not heard much anymore.  But he did record classics like Pistol Packing Mamma and Accentuate the Positive with the Andrews Sisters, along with songs like Moonlight Becomes You, Where The Blue Of the Night, I've Got A Pocket Full Of Dreams, Swinging On A Star, and Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral that still hold up.  And he sang Blue Hawaii thirty years before Elvis. 

The fact that there is no Cult of Bing only shows his quality.  Crosby fans are far to well adjusted to let their lives be defined by someone who, let's face it, isn't exactly reciting Keats.  The Elvis Culters are pathetic losers, not people to be admired. 

Bing was status quo?  Crosby recorded popular music, country music, Hawiian music, jazz music, religious/gospel music.  Todd's objection here is that in his persona Crosby was not a "rebel."  Sure, but was Elvis?  Not really.  Just phony mass marketed rebellion made to order for an easy audience, teenagers.  Elvis pursued "cool" as opposed to "good."  See Nation of Rebels for a take on this phenomena. Elvis started a sad and lamentable trend: the idea that there is music for kids and music for adults.  And the kids began defining was it means to make "good" music.  Only those caught up in a different cult, a cult of youth, would see that as a good thing.   Let's face it.  That's a key difference in their music and personas.  Elvis is for kids, Crosby for adults. This is a modern perversion that obsesses on youth as an ideal with nary a concern of growing up and acting like a grown up.  Let me alter something George Will once said about baseball.  Bing Crosby is boring to boring people.  So there! 

And by the way, I dress like Crosby's era, too. It's all argyle for me!! 

I have run down Elvis more than I like, but the facts are the facts.  I like rock music and Elvis rocks.  But Crosby rules. 

I listen to just about everything, but these days I am listening to this and this.  And if I am listening to 50s rock, I am going to listen to the best, which is Mr. Holly.

Quotable Dr. B.

All the following statements have been attributed to me.  They were recorded over the course of the last semester by a student in Phil 100, Introduction to Philosophy.  Let the reader decide for himself what the context may have been.

1. “Lick someone’s brain and you won’t taste chocolate.”
2. “A mosquito is just a flying syringe, isn’t it?”
3. “It’s very hard to scratch an imaginary foot.”
4. “. . . the whole flippin’ cosmos . . . ”
5. “There’s an itch on my butt.”
6. “People got their pee wees whacked for that.”
7. “I hate to keep using this lettuce analogy, but it’s working like gangbusters.”
8. “If God stopped thinking of us, maybe we’d cease to exist.”
9. “I hope when I get to Heaven, Jesus isn’t watching Trading Spaces.”

Having A Tough Day?

Visit here for a pick me up. 

Hildebrand v. Alito

Steve Hildebrand, Tom Daschle's former campaign manager, has entered the foray of liberal groups opposing the nomination of Judge Sam Alito.  From the 12/8 Roll Call:

According to several aides on Capitol Hill and strategists off the Hill, the main coordinator of the growing roster of consultants is Ricki Seidman, now a public relations executive but who worked for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) during the nomination battle of Robert Bork and eventually became a deputy attorney general in the Clinton Justice Department. Seidman has been a PFAW [People For the American Way] consultant in the past.

Jenny Backus, a former communications director for the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Jim Jordan, former executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, are advising the coalition. Steve Hildebrand of Hildebrand and Tewes and several of his staff also are working to defeat the nomination.

The field operation for the coalition has been bolstered by Kim Molstre, who was most recently in charge of grass-roots activities for Americans United to Protect Social Security, the group that led opposition in the states to Bush’s Social Security plans.

The Truth On the Ground

 The Washington Post published this op-ed piece by Marine Major Ben Connable, who is about to head back to Iraq:

The Truth On the Ground

When I told people that I was getting ready to head back to Iraq for my third tour, the usual response was a frown, a somber head shake and even the occasional "I'm sorry." When I told them that I was glad to be going back, the response was awkward disbelief, a fake smile and a change of subject. The common wisdom seems to be that Iraq is an unwinnable war and a quagmire and that the only thing left to decide is how quickly we withdraw. Depending on which poll you believe, about 60 percent of Americans think it's time to pull out of Iraq.

How is it, then, that 64 percent of U.S. military officers think we will succeed if we are allowed to continue our work? Why is there such a dramatic divergence between American public opinion and the upbeat assessment of the men and women doing the fighting?
...

We can fail only if the false imagery of quagmire takes hold and our national political will is broken. In that event, both the Iraqi people and the American troops will pay a long-term price for our shortsighted delusion.

Read the whole thing.

Dorgan Returning Abramoff Funds

New York Times:

The ranking Democrat on the Senate committee investigating the Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff announced on Tuesday that he was returning $67,000 in political contributions from Mr. Abramoff's former partners and Indian tribe clients.

The lawmaker, Senator Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, has been accused of hypocrisy by Republicans for having not acknowledged the contributions from Mr. Abramoff's clients while at the same time sharply criticizing him in hearings of the Senate panel, the Indian Affairs Committee.

"Even though those contributions were legal and fully reported as required by law, I will not knowingly keep even one dollar in contributions if there is even a remote possibility that they could have been the result of any action Mr. Abramoff might have taken," Mr. Dorgan said in a statement emphasizing that he had never received a direct contribution from Mr. Abramoff himself.

Taking Back North Dakota has more here.  Will Tom Daschle, one of the largest beneficiaries, return his money?

Pres. Daschle?

From the front page of the Argus Leader today:

Despite his noncommittal stance, Daschle clearly appears to be putting his toe in the presidential sweepstakes, said Bill Richardson, a political science professor at the University of South Dakota.

"Apart from Sen. (Hillary) Clinton, there isn't an obvious person who is a front-runner," Richardson said. "I don't see why he couldn't be a serious candidate."

Once one of the most powerful politicians in Washington, Daschle seemed just as comfortable recently addressing a group of college students as he had been on the Senate floor.
...
"I think he would be a good president," McGovern said. "He has a good background, he has got a good, even temperament. If he decides to do it, I will support him. But I don't have the slightest indication he will do it."

Critics say the former senator has not let go of the past, pointing to Daschle sympathizers who continue to bash Thune in political blogs. Republicans also argue Thune has become an effective voice for South Dakota - a sign the state is fine without Daschle in office.

It is a pretty good article.  Check it out.

Herseth

Rapid City Journal:

Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., will have a rare opportunity to offer her opinion to President Bush this week.

Bush invited Herseth and other House Democrats to a White House briefing on Iraq this morning. Along with Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, are scheduled to attend.

"I am pleased that the president is reaching out to me and other members of Congress," Herseth said. "We owe it to the American people and especially to the troops to have an honest and bipartisan discussion about our goals and progress in Iraq."

Herseth said last month that she shares the president's view that training of Iraqi troops is paramount before U.S. troops withdraw from the war-torn country.

Also, the RCJ has an interesting article about a rift in the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners.

Congratulations!

Congratulations Ken!

Johnson, Alito and the bloggers on the Left

Looks like South Dakota Progressive and the other Dakota bloggers on the left don't exactly want Senator Johnson to vote for Judge Alito

Mixed Messages from Mahmoud Abbas

Captain's Quarters has the news that the Palestinian Authority, under its new leader Mahmoud Abbas, has been arresting  members of Islamic Jihad in response to attacks against Israelis.  Is this a sign that the Palestinian leader is not only interested in but capable of moving his people toward peace?  The Captain is doubtful, and the Yahoo News article he links to doesn't encourage the reader. 

The biggest crackdown on militants since Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas took office a year ago has netted only low-level operatives, and some suspect the goal is to appease the United States and Israel rather than crush the militant group.

At the same time, analysts and Israeli security officials said the arrests have sent an important message to the Palestinians — and Israelis — that militant groups can no longer operate with impunity.

The latter looks like State Department Speak: when someone doesn't really do anything promising, he is always nonetheless sending promising messages.  Except in this case its coming from the Israelis. 

Further evidence that Abbas is unserious, or what amounts to the same thing, that his hands are tied by political realities, comes from this piece in Little Green Footballs.  LGF links to Arutz Sheva, which has the story:

The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has approved a new law, providing monetary grants to the families of suicide bombers. Abbas gave his approval just six days ago, a day before a suicide bomber struck the HaSharon Mall in Netanya, killing five Israelis and wounding scores of others.

The legislation refers to the suicide terrorists as shahids (martyrs), a term generally applied to a person who dies in an operation fighting against Israel. Under the new law, the terrorist’s family will be paid a base sum of $250 per month. The law takes into account extended family arrangements commonplace in Arab societies. The families of married terrorists are entitled to an additional $50 per month, and $15 are added for each child, $25 for each parent, and $15 for each brother who lived with the terrorist prior to his death.

Exactly what kind of message does that send?  And then there is this from the Washington Post:

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Palestinian central election commission shut its doors Tuesday in protest after masked gunmen burst into its West Bank and Gaza offices, firing in the air and hauling off computers _ jeopardizing next month's parliamentary election, the first in a decade.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered his security forces to protect election workers, but officials privately conceded that violence could endanger the Jan. 25 vote _ seen as a key to establishing a credible government that could conduct peace talks with Israel.

The sad truth of the matter is that the Palestinian leadership at all levels is so thoroughly corrupt that almost nothing good can be expected from it.  It has been corrupted most of all by decades of Arafat's gangsterism.  But that gangsterism would scarcely have been possible without the millions constantly poured into PLO coffers from the concerned nations of the world.  When you keep giving these folks dough in spite of the worst kinds of behavior, well that sends a pretty clear message too.  Only if we were willing to cut off all the money would there be a real chance for peace.  But the international community would be horrified by the very suggestion.   

Abortion Follies

Jason notes the AP story on the Abortion Task Force (forgive my parochialism, but let me link to the Aberdeen American News version).  I want to note the rhetoric of Sen. Adelstein, who seems to have missed a biology class or two when in school. Here is what the AP says about Sen. Adelstein.

In addition, [Sen. Adelstein claimed] the report is mistaken when it asserts that it cannot be doubted that an unborn child is a whole human being from the time of conception, Adelstein said. He tried unsuccessfully to amend that statement to reflect that the idea is held only by those of some religious beliefs.

''That's a religious belief,'' Adelstein said. ''I said on the record that as a Jew, I not only doubt but I do not believe it to be true. This is a religious belief and nothing more.''

If it is not human life, pray what is it, Senator?  Is the belief that it is human life merely a religious belief?  First, one could look to the NRO postings of Robert George here, here, and here in which the discussion turns on what biologically happens at conception. The context of the postings are regarding an argument with John Pohoretz over the origins of human life.  In the first post, George asks the question of where we should go to answer the question of "When does the life of a human begin?" The answer is not to religous texts, but:

[W]e go to the standard texts of modern human embryology and developmental biology---for example, the texts by Keith Moore and T.V.N. Persaud; Bruce M. Carlson; Ronan O'Rahilly and Fabiola Mueller; and William J. Larsen. When we consult these works, we find little or nothing in the way of scientific mystery or dispute. The texts tell the same story and answer the key question in the same way. Anyone who wishes to know when he or she as a distinct living member of the species Homo sapiens came into existence need only open any of these books and look up the answer.

The answer these texts give is that we all became biologically distinct human beings at conception.  A breathtaking approach to this topic is by Walker Percy, trained as a medical doctor and who later became a National Book Award winning novelist.  In 1981 he penned this definitive piece about the denial of the "pro-choice" movement of an obvious fact: human life begins at conception (take note, by the way, of his pointed and mostly accurate jabs at the religious right).  Here is Percy:

I further submit that it is a commonplace of modern biology, known to every high school student and no doubt to you the reader as well, that the life of every individual organism, human or not, begins when the chromosomes of the sperm fuse with the chromosomes of the ovum to form a new DNA complex that thenceforth directs the ontogenesis of the organism.

Such vexed subjects as the soul, God, and the nature of man are not at issue.  What we are talking about and what nobody I know would deny is the clear continuum that exists in the life of every individual from the moment of fertilization of a single cell.

There is a wonderful irony here.  It is this:  The onset of individual life is not a dogma of the church but a fact of science.  How much more convenient if we lived in the 13th century, when no one knew anything about microbiology and arguments about the onset of life were legitimate.  Compared to a modern textbook of embryology, Thomas Aquinas sounds like an American Civil Liberties Union member.  Nowadays it is not some misguided ecclesiastics who are trying to suppress an embarrassing scientific fact.  It is the secular juridical-journalistic establishment.

It is not, Sen. Adelstein, a holding of "some religions" that life begins at conception; it is a holding of science to which some religions happen concur. Perhaps Sen. Adelstein can retreat to the John Kerry position that it is not humans who have rights, but "persons," and not every human is a person.  That has the virtue of being consistent, although it has the vice of attacking the idea of human dignity that is at the heart of natural rights thinking. 

There is another point to be made here.  Sen. Adelstein contends that as a Jew he does not believe that life begins at conception.  Fine, although as I have just indicated this means that if anyone is imposing non-scientific religiousity on the people it is Sen. Adelstein.  But this is beside the point.  Let's imagine the question of when life begins is still at issue as a matter of medical science and the question can only be answered based on religious belief.  Why does Sen. Adelstein's religious belief that life does not begin at conception get to trump the religious belief of others that life does begin at conception?  Why do skeptics automatically trump believers?  Given the immense import of what is at stake, namely the definition of human life, why should the public have to remain silent simply because the question is not totally settled?  I have said it before and I bet I will say it again: the origins of life are at the heart of the natural rights thinking of the Declaration of Independence (which by the way, bases some of it's important conclusions on religious notions).  As such, the question of when human life begins is justly a public question.  It would be narrow minded to say that religious answers to this all important question are automatically ruled out of order.  Must I point out again that the movements against slavery, for worker's rights, and for civil rights were religiously motivated?  Perhaps Sen. Adelstein thinks those religious people should have shut up.  Or is it that only religious people with whom he disagrees should shut up? If so, how illiberal of him. 

Sen. Adelstein simply argues that religious arguments to which he assents (life does not begin at conception) are legitimate, while religious arguments from which he dissents (life does begin at conception) are not.  I think the shallowness of his argument is transparent, even though it took me multiple paragraphs to make the point. 

Abortion Task Force

The Rapid City Journal is reporting that the abortion task force has recommended a legal ban on abortion to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that legalized the practice:

PIERRE - After a contentious final meeting, a state task force has recommended that the Legislature take further steps to restrict abortions in South Dakota.

The majority of the task force supported a report that says the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld a woman's right to an abortion was flawed because scientific and other advances have since demonstrated that life begins at conception.

The 72-page draft report calls for a ban on abortion by overturning the Roe v. Wade ruling. In the meantime, it recommends that South Dakota should put further restrictions on abortion, such as requiring that women get additional information and counseling before having abortions.

But several task force members, including those who support abortion rights, walked out of a meeting Friday before the final vote. They said the majority, who oppose abortion, rejected proposals that would have helped reduce the number of abortions by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies in South Dakota.

This whole deal is a big event.  I think you can expect this to become a national story soon.

The Kranz/McCarthy Connection

As Dr. Schaff reported a few days ago, Eugene McCarthy has died.  Strangely enough, the Argus's main political reporter, David Kranz, failed to note his death in his column today.  A strange occurrence since Kranz had worked with McCarthy in the past.  From the South Dakota Politics archives:

Kranz’s December 13, 1987 Argus column is completely dedicated to reviewing how he worked for the McCarthy campaign in the crucial presidential primary in Wisconsin 20 years before:

It was the McCarthy campaign that pushed my “politically active” button for the first time. … By March of 1968, we, the residents of 1107 4^th St., decided to go into action. … So five of us gathered one morning in March to make our contribution—a few days in Wisconsin ringing doorbells and making phone calls—spreading the word. … I didn’t get a grade for that mission in Marshfield[where the McCarthy campaign sent Kranz], but the Sunday night we arrive back in Brookings, President Johnson went on National television. At the close of his address he told the world: “I shall not seek, nor will I accept the nomination of my party for president of the United States.” We five cheered this announcement, hoping this would mean the end of the war. We gave ourselves A’s for forcing the hand of this powerful man.

Well, good for Kranz. He was part of the historic McCarthy insurgency of 1968. But bad for Beck, who maintained in his recent column attacking blogs for making up “facts” that Kranz had nothing to do with the McCarthy campaign.

Read the whole thing.

Hildebrand / Americans United

More funding for Hildebrand's group.  From the 12/13/2005 Roll Call:

A coalition of labor leaders, progressive activists and top Congressional Democrats have reached a final agreement on transforming the nonprofit group that helped lead the fight against President Bush’s Social Security overhaul into a permanent, multimillion-dollar entity pushing a broader liberal agenda in the 2006 midterms.

The new group, a 501(c)(4), will shorten its name to Americans United and is expected to get an immediate cash infusion of $1 million in the coming weeks to ensure it will be fully operational by early next year, according to labor leaders and Congressional aides.

While the group will not have to disclose any of its donors because of its nonprofit status, the primary funders for Americans United will include MoveOn.org and a host of big unions, particularly the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Americans United will be run on a day-to-day basis by a pair of aides with strong ties to Senate and House Democrats: Karen Olick, the outgoing chief of staff for Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.), and Kim Molstre, who worked for both Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) and former Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (Mo.). Most recently, Molstre has been running field operations for the group’s precursor, Americans United to Protect Social Security.

Power Line

Scott Johnson over at Power Line is writing about Jim Boyd, the Star Tribune's version of David Kranz.

UPDATE:  Scott has more.

Historical Musings

The American Thinker:  What would President Lincoln do today?

Narnia

I've been down with a stomach bug the last two days, too bloated to blog.  But just before I got sick I went to see the Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  Its definitely a kid's movie, unlike Lord of the Rings or even Harry Potter.  But its a good one.  Here's an interesting note from the New York Times.

Rounds flight plans

SD Dem legislators are still keeping up their fight to see what Governor Rounds was doing with the state plane

Chris Muir

See my post below.

SD Legislature Preview

SD War College and The Rapid City Journal have a good preview of this year's issues that will most likely be facing the SD Legislature when it convenes early next year, such as:

Education funding
Sex offenders
GFP & Open Fields laws
Drunk driving/implied consent
Uninsured drivers
Crime victim notification
Eminent domain

SF Events Center

Jonathan Ellis, a new reporter at the Argus Leader, is noting a lot of politics surrounding the proposed Sioux Falls rec center:

[W]ith voters thoroughly stomping a proposed recreation center Tuesday, the events center might remain a dream.

The rec center's defeat could signal an erosion of public trust in such projects, political analysts say.

And that, observers say, could turn dreams of an events center and other large-scale city projects toward a new reality: Gaining support from distrustful voters could be a daunting task.
...
Political analyst Jim Meader said the rec center outcome will probably force city officials to mothball the event center.

"I don't see it in the near future," he said.

City Councilor Bob Jamison said that city leaders must address public skepticism before moving forward with a big project like the event center.

He believes the city has too many other issues to deal with - including storm drains and water supplies.

Brown said he believes the rec center failed in part because residents are concerned by overspending, flooding and the long-term availability of water.

It's a pretty interesting article.  Read the whole thing.

SD & the Power of Blogs

Robert Crowley wrote this piece about the influence of conservative v. liberal blogs for the NY Times Magazine (Michelle Malkin wasn't impressed with Crowley's assertions.)  What's notable is his conclusion:

Earlier this year, John Thune, the newly elected South Dakota senator, briefed his Republican colleagues on the role of blogs in his victory over Tom Daschle, the former Democratic minority leader. The message seems to be catching on. In Arkansas, the campaign manager for the gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson sent a mass e-mail message to supporters in May promoting the establishment of blogs ''to comment on Arkansas politics as a counter to liberal media.'' With the 2006 elections coming, Democrats have begun trying to use blogs more strategically. But given their head start, Stoller says, conservatives ''will certainly have an upper hand.'' Again.

Worst Analogies Ever

HT to MM.  I'm not sure if this is real, but they're so bad they're good:

He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like   a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without   one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the   country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at   a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.  
Joseph Romm, Washington

She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that   used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you   banged the door open again.
Rich Murphy, Fairfax Station

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a   bowling ball wouldn't.
Russell Beland, Springfield

McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag   filled with vegetable soup.
Paul Sabourin, Silver Spring

From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an   eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another   city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.
Roy   Ashley, Washington

Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.  
Chuck Smith, Woodbridge

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
Russell Beland, Springfield

This reminds me of this book.  My personal favorites:

The Parthenonon was Pericles' greatest erection.

World War I broke out around 1912-1914.  The deception of countries to have war and those who didn't want one led the countries of Europe and the world to an unthinkable war which became thinkable.

[In World War II] Germany invaded Poland, France invaded Belgium, and Russia invaded everybody.

The Germans took the by-pass around France's Marginal Line.  This was known as the "Blintz Krieg."  The French huddled up and threw sneers at the Germans.  Japan boomed Pearl Harbor, the main U.S. base in southern California.  American sailors watched in shock as the sky filled with Japanese zebras.

Hitler's attack on Russia was secretly called "Operation Barbarella."  The German invaders were popular for a while in Russia, but their habit of slaughtering innocent civilians tended to give them an image problem.  The Russians defended Stalingrad feercely, as the city was named after Lenin.

The Berlin Wall was built somewhere in Europe.  President Kennedy soothed the masses, however, with his story about "Itch Ben the Berliner."

Mentally speaking, Russia had to reinvent itself.  After Stalin died there was an interogation that lasted three years as Krushev criticized Stalin for indiscretions like slaughtering the kulaks.  This introduced many western policies to Russia, such as the use of strippers at clubs.

It is now the age of now.  This concept grinds our critical, seething minds to a halt.

And there you have it.

Average Americans

Just one quick addition to Prof. Blanchard's fine exegesis on economics below. I have made this point several times, so one more won't hurt.  Anyone who has a pension, and that's a lot of average Americans, should care about business investment.  Those pensions are invested in the stock market, which, as Prof. Blanchard notes, is a measure of business investment.  If you want a healthy pension, pray for a growing stock market.  Also, half of all Americans have some direct investment in stock, either in buying stock or through mutual funds or their like.  The evidence that the average Joe cares about the stock market is that you don't see ads for investment companies just on golf programs anymore; they are also shown during NFL football games. 

Where do people think business investment comes from anyway?  Elves who live in trees and in their spare time bake delicious cookies?

By the way, I share Prof. Blanchard's assessment of the Clinton/Bush economies, but I would just add that Bill Clinton was a fortunate beneficiary of a revolution in technology, which, I might add, produced profits that in many cases just existed on paper, and when (metaphor alert) chickens came home to roost in 2000-2001, those profits were gone with the wind.  Still, Clinton obeyed the first rule of economics: first, do no harm. 

More Steyn Wisdom

Today Mark Steyn instructs us on the foolishness of treating abominable regimes as if they are just like huggable Kiwis.   

There has always been a slightly post-modern quality to sovereignty in the transnational age: We pretend the Syrian foreign minister is no different from the New Zealand foreign minister, and in so doing we vastly inflate the status of the former at the expense of the latter. But with [Iranian president] Ahmadinejad we're going way beyond that. If a genocidal fantasist is acceptable in polite society, we'll soon find ourselves dealing with a genocidal realist.

As they say, read the whole thing.