SharedThought

This is how I and 55,000 others spent Independence Day at the Peachtree Road Race. Somewhere between the start and finish of the race, I developed a case of tendinitis in my right ankle. I limped from the finish line to the medical tent only to be told that they couldn’t tape my ankle because they didn’t have any athletic tape! After a little badgering they gave me an aircast that allowed me to hobble away and collect my t-shirt. Despite everything, I had fun and I’ll be back next year.

Today’s Birthdays

1951 Joey Ramone
1949 Archie Manning
1946 Andre the Giant
1945 Pete Townshend
1941 Nora Ephron
1934 Jim Lehrer
1925 Malcolm X
1897 Frank Capra
1892 Ho Chi-Minh

Today in History

1897 Oscar Wilde is released from jail

On this day in 1897, writer Oscar Wilde is released from jail after two years of hard labor. His experiences in prison were the basis for his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol(1898).

In 1891, the Marquess of Queensbury denounced Wilde as a homosexual. Wilde, who was involved with the marquess’ son, sued the Marquess for libel but lost the case when evidence supported the marquess’ allegations. Because homosexuality was still considered a crime in England, Wilde was arrested. Although his first trial resulted in a hung jury, a second jury sentenced him to two years of hard labor. After his release, Wilde fled to Paris and began writing again. He died of acute meningitis just three years after his release.

Paul Wolfowitz outlined how the United States will wrap things up in Iraq in congressional testimony on Tuesday. Responding to questions regarding how long U.S. troops would be required in Iraq after the turnover of sovereignty in June:

“The course of war is simply not something one can determine,” Wolfowitz told a Democratic questioner in the Lugar committee, but “very substantial” Iraqi security forces would be trained and ready by year’s end.

The administration appears to be setting the stage for a near-term withdrawal from Iraq. Coupled with Powell’s recent comments (“were this interim government to say to us, `We really think we can handle this on our own; it would be better if you were to leave,’ we would leave.”), Wolfowitz’s statement makes it apparent that the administration is formulating an exit strategy. In short: 1) hand over sovereignty to unknown, unprepared, phantom government; 2) quickly reformulate and train an Iraqi military; 3) declare Mission Accomplished (again); 4) leave Iraq quickly.

The latest invocation of September 11 by the Bush administration is a doozy. According to Karen Hughes if you believe in a woman’s right to have an abortion, you are in the same camp as those who support radical Islamic terrorists. Before the backtracking spin started, here is what she said on CNN:

I think after September 11th the American people are valuing life more and realizing that we need policies to value the dignity and worth of every life.

Will she please go back to Texas and stay there?

The Washington Post recalculated Bush’s Vacation days last week. In an earlier post I missed the item buried in a story about Colin Powell’s reaction to incidents in Iraq. Here’s what they said:

This is Bush’s 33rd visit to his ranch since becoming president. He has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency.

If the number 233 seems familiar: it’s the number of days that Bush was in office when the September 11th attack occurred. Thanks to the Democratic Underground for making this connection. As Bob Graham points out:

“‘They should explain why, with such a glaring neon light at the top of the page, somebody didn’t get the message that, ‘Hey, we ought stop a vacation-like attitude and get to work.’”

President Bush’s lackadaisical attitude toward work has been an issue since before 9/11. Doesn’t America deserve a full time president?

According to Daily Kos, Kerry made the following jab at Bush for his latest vacation in Crawford:

“I notice President Bush is taking some days off down at Crawford, Texas, and I’m told that when he takes days off, you know, he totally relaxes: He doesn’t watch television, he doesn’t read the newspapers, he doesn’t make long-term plans, doesn’t worry about the economy. I thought about that for a moment. I said, sounds to me like it’s just like life in Washington, doesn’t it?”

I thought it was pretty funny, even if the punchline is pretty close to the same as Letterman’s from a Top Ten list in August 2003.

All joking aside, however, Atrios points out that the now famous PDB given to Bush on August 6, 2001, was followed the next day by a month long vacation to Crawford. According to the Washington Post (as of August 2003), Bush had been on vacation for 250 days, and had made 26 trips to Crawford, Texas. How about we all agree to send him back for an even longer vacation this coming November.

Justice Scalia is in the news again. In the latest dust-up, a federal marshal forced reporters to erase tape recordings of a Scalia speech discussing the Constitution. It appears that the speech in question took place at a private high school, but was open to the media. Apparently Scalia is of the belief that he can control who records his appearances:

Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said it was up to Scalia and his staff to set guidelines for coverage of his events and added, “It’s standard that his speeches are not televised.”

The federal marshal in question may have been acting on Scalia’s orders, but as an employee of the federal government, may be liable for any constitutional injury suffered by the reporters. If the reporters wanted to force the issue, they could allege that their free-speech rights were abridged by the marshal’s actions. Now, I can understand Scalia not wanting the Supreme Court’s private deliberations to be televised. However, extending this ban to every utterance made by a justice borders on paranoia, and is probably unconstitutional.

I just came across a new tool that makes including RSS feeds on your website a snap. The program is called CaRP. It’s a nice little PHP-based program that actually works. I’ve added news from both the Bush-Cheney and Kerry campaigns using it.

I came across an interesting article by William Saletan in Slate today. Discussing the Bush administration’s tactics in attempting to discredit former supporters (i.e. Paul O’Neill, Richard Clarke, John DiIulio), Saletan observed:

Once you vote with Bush, serve in his cabinet, or spin for him in a classified briefing, you’re trapped. If you change your mind, he’ll dredge up your friendly vote or testimony and use it to discredit you. That’s what he’s doing now to all the politicians at home and abroad who fell for his exaggerations about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. “In Iraq, my administration looked at the intelligence information, and we saw a threat,” he tells audiences. “Members of Congress looked at the intelligence information, and they saw a threat. The United Nations Security Council looked at the intelligence information, and it saw a threat.” It’s too late to admit that Bush is wrong and that you were fooled. You’re on record agreeing with him. He doesn’t even look dishonest when he rebukes you, because, unlike the people who run his administration’s scams, he can’t tell the difference between what he promised and what he delivered.

This approach to dissent is eerily reminiscent of Richard Nixon and his “enemies list.” Check out this Salon article making further comparisons between the Bush and Nixon administrations.

This is ridiculous. Karl Rove may be a legitimate target for political discourse. He’s a public figure, and therefore should expect to be the subject of more offensive speech than his next door neighbors. But this absolutely ridiculous. The weekend protest by National People’s Action, a group supporting an immigrant education bill, carried things into the next realm of political unbelievabilty. The group protested at Karl Rove’s house, which even if they had stayed on the sidewalk seems extreme. Not content with run-of-the-mill extremism, however, the group swarmed over Rove’s yard, pounded on his home’s windows, and demanded a private audience with him. Here’s how the Washington Post described it:

Protesters poured out of one school bus after another, piercing an otherwise quiet, peaceful Sunday in Rove’s Palisades neighborhood in Northwest, chanting, “Karl, Karl, come on out! See what the DREAM Act is all about!”

According to the Post, Rove’s son and a friend were reduced to tears by the group’s actions. This is not the way to win friends and influence people.