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January 26, 2005

Fighting freedom

: John Podhoretz looks at the election in Iraq through the evil eyes of our enemy -- yes, the enemy -- there:

...once a legitimately elected Iraqi assembly is seated, the insurgents will have no argument left with which to advance their cause — except for the open hatred of liberty.serial edonkey pro 1.4

The latest tape from Iraq's terrorist master, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, made that point crystal clear. "We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," Zarkawi says. "Anyone who tries to help set up this system is part of it."serial edonkey pro 1.4

Note that Zarqawi doesn't say he's fighting imperialism, or foreign invaders on Iraqi soil, or any other (and far more seductive) argument. He is waging war on democracy inside Iraq — on the right of Iraqis to choose their own leaders and structure their own governments.serial edonkey pro 1.4

Zarqawi is a very frightening and very evil man, a destructive force with hundreds of gallons of American and Iraqi blood on his hands. Iraqis and Americans alike have reason to be concerned about his declaration of war. But calling democracy "evil" is a self-defeating exercise. By doing so, he is including among the evildoers all Iraqis who go to the polls.serial edonkey pro 1.4

His fight will no longer be with Western devils, but with Iraqi patriots. There is a very real likelihood that under such conditions, his insurgency will collapse from the inside or will merely transition into becoming a brutal gang of parasites who use kidnapping and the threat of terrorism to extort money, pure and simple.

serial edonkey pro 1.4

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Numbers

: The toll from the tsunami has now passed 228,000. serial edonkey pro 1.4

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Numbers

: 37 Americans died in Iraq today, 31 of them in an accidental helicopter crash. We pay more attention when more people die. That's ridiculous, even offensive. Others died yesterday and the day before. Some died in accidents, some at the hand of insurgents/terrorists/murderers. None of them should have died, of course. Some try to blame the president for these deaths; too few blame the murderers with blood on their hands. Blame won't bring them back, nothing will. But it is important that we at least remember them and their tragic sacrifice as we reach an important milestone this Sunday with the first election in Iraq. I don't know that I believe that death can be given meaning but if it can, bringing democracy to a nation is a noble cause. It is also important that we remember all the innocent civilians who have died at the hands of Saddam and now the terrorists in Iraq and as a result of war. The people of Iraq will be risking their lives this Sunday to bring democracy to their nation; the soldiers there will be risking their lives to protect them. Democracy is that precious. serial edonkey pro 1.4

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Evil cartoon bunnies strike again

: Hoo-boy. Washington, big media, and, of course, those wacky religious folks keep thinking that cartoon characters can ruin our morals. The latest silliness:

The nation’s new education secretary denounced PBS on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles.serial edonkey pro 1.4

The not-yet-aired episode of “Postcards From Buster” shows the title character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont — a state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring.serial edonkey pro 1.4

A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network has decided not to distribute the episode, called “Sugartime!,” to its 349 stations. She said the Education Department’s objections were not a factor in that decision.

WGBH will air the episode. It's as if people think that even mentioning that there are gay people is going to cause an explosion of gay people: the Teletubbie gambit. serial edonkey pro 1.4

You'll remember that Fox pixilated a cartoon character's butt and the so-called Parents Television Council complained about another cartoon characters naked butt -- but at least the FCC, in a moment of sanity, decided that would not ruin the nation's morals. serial edonkey pro 1.4

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On MSBNC

: I'll be on MSNBC with Ron Reagan, Monica Crowley, and Eric Alterman today at 12:30p ET (delayed by Condi) to talk about the Iraqi elections and blogs. serial edonkey pro 1.4

: LATER: Alterman spewed tin-hat insinuations about pro-American blogs in Iraq with absolutely no basis in fact, no journalistic justification whatsoever . I said he was being irresponsible. That's the light version. serial edonkey pro 1.4

: MORE: As of now, I'll be back on MSNBC this Sunday, covering blogs' coverage of the Iraqi election from 6a-noon and again from 5-6p ET. serial edonkey pro 1.4

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Policy or palaver?
:
: I applauded what George Bush said about supporting democratic movements and setting a goal and a mission of spreading freedom in the world. serial edonkey pro 1.4

I said so on Air America's Morning Sedition yesterday -- though I also quoted Zephyr Teachout when she told me that she liked what Bush said but wasn't sure he was the president to do it. serial edonkey pro 1.4

Still, this seemed to be a speech with vision, a doctrine with courage. I was eager to see how he carried it out with North Korea, Saudi Arabia... you name the undemocratic nation. serial edonkey pro 1.4

Yet already, there's spin from the White House -- the kind of spin you see when somebody tries to pedal backwards. Howard Kurtz captures it:

You might think that calling on the United States to spread freedom around the globe and stand against tyranny might have consequences.serial edonkey pro 1.4

It was a statement of ideals.serial edonkey pro 1.4

But what does the president plan to do to carry out those ideals?serial edonkey pro 1.4

There will be no change in administration policy.serial edonkey pro 1.4

But how can Bush call for action against regimes that oppress their people and still do business with the dictators of China, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan?serial edonkey pro 1.4

The goals the president set forth can only be met over a generation, not in a year or two.serial edonkey pro 1.4

Then was the speech just meaningless rhetoric?serial edonkey pro 1.4

It was an attempt to lay out his strategic vision about moral choices.serial edonkey pro 1.4

So we shouldn't take his words seriously?serial edonkey pro 1.4

The president believes in bold action to advance the cause of freedom.serial edonkey pro 1.4

But if he doesn't take any practical steps, won't he have failed to clear the bar he set for himself?serial edonkey pro 1.4

It was a statement of ideals.

And what are you going to do about it?serial edonkey pro 1.4

: UPDATE: Zephyr clarifies/amplifies in the comments:

I wasn't nearly as optimistic as you. More precisely, I said I agreed with the spirit and goals and content of most of the speech, the kind of international, civic democratic focus that I'd like to see our country do more of -- but Bush was EXACTLY the wrong person to give it. Postmodern the way CLEAR SKIES is postmodern -- and then these postmodern responses reinforce it. Uggh.

serial edonkey pro 1.4

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Homeless

: The New York Post and The New York Times editorial pages almost agree that the homless should not be making the New York subway their home after a fire apparently started by one of them caused damage and disruption that will take months or even years to fix. The Post started it in an editorial:

Let's face it: Some subway-station bum starts a fire, probably to warm his tootsies, and subway riders suffer for years.serial edonkey pro 1.4

He's culpable, of course, even if he is crazy as a loon.serial edonkey pro 1.4

But blame for this fiasco also must accrue to those who have made the notion that "homelessness" is just an "alternative lifestyle" into public policy — which insanely grants vagrants the right to take up residence anywhere they damn please....serial edonkey pro 1.4

Was the perp just crazy? Was it deliberate arson? Or just carelessness or recklessness, a street-dweller trying to stay warm in sub-freezing temperatures? Or smoking a cigarette (or something else)?serial edonkey pro 1.4

Does it really matter?serial edonkey pro 1.4

New York City spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year to feed, clothe, shelter and provide all manner of services to needy street folk.serial edonkey pro 1.4

When they resist help, their self-appointed "advocates" rise to defend their "rights" to do so.serial edonkey pro 1.4

What do these "advocates" say now, when millions will have to suffer, likely for years, so that the "rights" of a single lunatic could be preserved?serial edonkey pro 1.4

For years, responsible New Yorkers (including us) have argued that these people are a danger to themselves and others (not to mention, a daily blight).serial edonkey pro 1.4

If they refuse good-faith help, they need to be hauled off to Rikers Island.serial edonkey pro 1.4

For the benefit of law-abiding New Yorkers, if not for their own sake.serial edonkey pro 1.4

Cruel? Hardly.serial edonkey pro 1.4

After all, there's a lot more heat and food at Rikers than on the streets.serial edonkey pro 1.4

Living in the city's nooks and crannies — on a subway platform near a signal station, for example — must be a crime.serial edonkey pro 1.4

New Yorkers should be boiling at the thought that one man could be allowed to cause pain for millions, so he can exercise his right maybe to freeze to death.

And The Times editorializes today:

The subway is also no place for the homeless, and it's a sign of the system's shaky state that hundreds of people have been allowed to live in its grapevine of tunnels and passageways. It is not safe for them and, as Sunday's fire makes clear, it is not safe for the millions who ride through those tunnels every single day. The city's police and homeless outreach programs need to be mobilized right away.

Well, The Times isn't going for that Rikers Island solution but it is at least agreeing that the homeless shouldn't be living in the subway. serial edonkey pro 1.4

Rudy Guliani was the first politician in New York to have the guts to deal with this issue; other cities (I'm thinking of you, San Francisco) haven't. serial edonkey pro 1.4

And the real issue isn't homelessness. It's insanity. The laws in this country make it impossible to commit and help even the obvioulsy and often the dangerously insane. serial edonkey pro 1.4

I say that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is as much at fault as any politician, for it made the institution frightening and the people who run it bad guys. serial edonkey pro 1.4

Guliani saw that because of the fear of the rubber room, we ended up with a doctrine that said it's a right to lose your mind but he said it's not a right to interfere with the lives of people around you. serial edonkey pro 1.4

He got rid of the squeegee men years ago -- and personally, I was relieved, for a bunch of them attacked my car one night and tried to drag me out of it, sending my wife into premature labor. It is a danger. serial edonkey pro 1.4

The fact that people are living in the subways of New York is, in the end, a dereliction of our duty to these people. The Post and The Times are both right. Now let's do something about it. serial edonkey pro 1.4

: UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds and Helen Reynolds have much more here. serial edonkey pro 1.4

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Damned ice dam

: I just spent the last two nights on a roof banging at ice-filled gutters on the roof above because ice is backing up under the roof and melting and dripping and driving us crazy: Jersey water torture. I hate heights. So I feared falling; I feared huge hunks of ice and gutter falling on my head; and because I fear looking like a dork, I refused my wife's suggestion that I wear a bike helmet. And now it's snowing again. Call me when winter's over. serial edonkey pro 1.4

Should I consider a metal roof?serial edonkey pro 1.4

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