Earlier this week, I was talking to a friend who's a full-time reporter at a respected newspaper. He commented that one of the stories recently appearing on this web site was too good to be published in most modern newspapers. He said he knew it the moment he saw it. You'll have to take my word that he wasn't flattering me, nor was I looking for flattery. I didn't write the thing anyway.

This is what came to mind when I read this piece on weblogs by Jeff Jarvis. I thought more about it when I read his story of the reaction by so-called "traditional" journalists to his piece. The whole thing reminded me, in fact, of this story about J-school written by Page Minder last year--which might hit a little close to home for Jarvis, even though he is in fact an exceptional journalist.

Which brings me to my point: without self-flattery I invite you to click here. Read all of it. It's not all all that much material, but tell me: can you pick up the Sunday edition of your local newspaper and find material that greatly exceeds it for quality, orginiality, or accuracy? I don't think you can.

Now contemplate that all of it was written, entirely, by independent citizens working for no reason at all except that they wanted to do so.

In fact, I'll ask this even riskier question: what would you rather read? Honestly, I mean?

Which is not to say that Dean's World provides better fare than most newspapers. It doesn't. We have neither the time nor the resources to produce a newspaper's worth of material on a daily or even weekly basis. Indeed, we are highly dependent on the traditional media for material. But:

Real journalism happens here in the blogosphere. Not just on this site, but on many others. Sooner or later, that's going to start mattering to the world abroad. Indeed, only a fool would think otherwise.

Syndicated news services are within a decade of going belly-up. At least, as we know them. Broadcast news services (ABC, CBS, NBC in North America) are already dead and don't even know it.

The news services that will matter most in the future will be supposed "dinosaurs" like the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times--not to mention upstarts like Fox News and CNN. Why? Because whatever their flaws, they're all smart enough to be offering (advertiser-sponsored) news for free on the internet right now, and creating content that matters.

They and weblogs are the future. Although weblogs will change, the basics of what they are and what they do won't change all that dramatically.

Sheila O'Malley is easily one of my favorite short essay writers. This is, in part, because we think much alike. But she also knows that restraint is part of effective phrasing. Most of all, she knows this: sincerity equals bombasity only occasionally. I'll bet she's devastating on stage.

Anyway, she says we should all read this piece by James Woolsey in The Guardian. Well I read it, and what do you know? She's right.

(Someday I'll write a piece on why I like The Guardian, even though it irritates me at times. Suffice it for now to say that, unlike certain other sources, I never question its honesty.)

The crew over at Winds of Change are featuring some very interesting information on Hong Kong today. There have been recent massive protests and government upheaval in that fabled city. Exciting, frightening, and hopeful all at once is how I feel watching it from afar.

Senator Diane Feinstein has come out in favor of vouchers. In D.C., anyway. It takes a small amount of courage on her part, obviously, but she's in a safe seat and it's becoming more apparent all the time that the ice is cracking on this issue.

Now, will Joe Lieberman find the stones to go back to supporting the idea? I'll never forget how he told the Waters wing of the party that the best way to get him to shut up on school choice was to get him elected as Vice President. I keep wondering if he'll do the same next year. So far he seems mum on the issue.

* Update * By the way, Blaster's got some good insights on this issue, too, including something I'd forgotten: special ed has always worked on vouchers in many parts of the country.

"The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the U.S. It is affiliated with the Socialist International. Fifty-four U.S. Congressmen are members of the DSA. Coincidentally (?), 34 of these "socialists" are among the most militant members of the pro-Castro lobby."

"To name just a few, on Capitol Hill we find in the pro-Castro gang Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-AL), Jesse Jackson (D-IL), Julian C. Dixon (D-CA), James A. McDermott (D-WA), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA)."

"New York’s Charles Rangel’s love affair with Castro dates back to 1959, when Castro stayed at Harlem’s Hotel Theresa and Rangel sat beside him at the dinner table. Ever since he has been the useful servant and he travels to Cuba often bringing members of the U.S. Congress’ Black Caucus and TransAfrica to marvel at the socialist "paradise," that his friend, Castro - probably the biggest slave master in the history of slavery - has created in Cuba."

"Rep. Waters travels to Cuba often, apparently for guidance or orders from her socialist comrades. She recently was in Havana cutting the ribbon at the opening ceremony of a Medical Convention with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)."

HR179 BILL TITLE: Stating the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the systematic human rights violations in Cuba committed by the Castro regime; calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners and supporting free elections for Cuba.

Vote passed 414-0 with 10 abstaining Democrats and 1 abstaining Republican. They are:
Ballance
Conyers
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jackson (IL)
Johnson
Kilpatrick
Lee
E. B. Rush
Waters
Wynn

Paul (R)

· Cuba interferes with US-based television programs broadcast by satellite to Iran, announced the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a federal agency that is responsible for non-military US broadcasts. The jamming was first detected on July 6th. "The act is illegal; a serious threat to satellite communications and it needs to be stopped," said BBG President Kenneth J. Tomilson. (BBG, Washington, July 15)

· Three men were killed and a 10-year-old boy critically injured in the port of La Coloma, when they tried to seize a boat to flee the island. Authorities said the shootings occurred without the intervention of surrounding forces. (EFE, Havana, July 18)

· The US Coast Guard detained 15 Cubans that fled in a ferryboat from Cuba. Havana accused them of "hijacking the boat." Cuban-American members of Congress warned about the "possibility of execution" if they are returned. (Reuters, July 18)

· Six members of Congress (including Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen) asked US Attorney General John Ashcroft what actions the Justice Department is conducting regarding the murder of US citizens in international airspace by Castro’s MIG-29 fighter jets in 1996. ( Press Release and Letter to Attorney General Ashcroft, July 11, 2003)

...there's more! »

[Sniff] They were such fun boys. So full of promise. Where's my hanky?

* Update * Kills confirmed. Iraqis celebrate in the streets, cheering and shooting off guns into the air. (The last one via Tim Blair, who notes that yet another dire prediction turns out to have been false.)

In the following essay, Don Pesci writes that Walter Duranty, The New York Times' notorious and late Moscow correspondent, should have his Pulitzer Prize rescinded.

-- Tim Machesney

FAMINE, LIES AND JUSTICE

by Don Pesci

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I was contacted by a Ukrainian in New Britain, Connecticut who wanted to send me a film on the 1932-33 famine in that country. He asked me to view the film and let him know if I could think of any reason why it should not be shown in the United States. The film, Harvest of Despair, had been widely shown in Canada. That was my first exposure to the greatest man made disaster ever recorded, and the first time in history that famine on such a scale was used as an instrument of war and oppression.

I was stunned by Harvest of Despair. It contained footage of both the famine in 1932-33 and an earlier famine that was stopped in its tracks by Lenin, who imported food into the stricken areas. The 32-33 famine -- the Ukrainians call it the Holodomor, roughly translated as "famine-genocide," the "H" intentionally capitalized to emphasize a parallel with the Holocaust -- was caused by Joseph Stalin, who used the famine to break the resistance of Ukrainians to Soviet rule. The terror-famine, as historian Robert Conquest called it, was caused by Stalin's first Five Year Plan. This was a program designed, its Communist proponents claimed, to modernize an antiquated agricultural community, particularly in Ukraine. Between 6 and 10 million people died.

...there's more! »

So. It appears that Yasser Arafat's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades kidnapped and beat the crap out of the mayor of Jennin, accusing him of being "an Israeli collaborator."

The people who are really oppressing the Palestinians are the thugs running the joint. Sure is good to know that Arafat has that Nobel Peace Prize, isn't it?

(Via James Taranto.)

Mac Swift has a rather disturbing (and fairly well documented) article on the link between brutal thug Charles Taylor of Liberia, Jesse Jackson, and Pat Robertson. Rather astonishing. He also asserts an Al Qaeda link.

What's worse, when a movie's just plain bad, or when it's almost-good and clearly could have been great? Ben Kepple has some thoughts on the matter.

My friend Ed Wagner recently helped me remember my favorite urban legend: Resurrection Mary, from my old stomping grounds on the south side of Chicago.

Here's a good writeup of the story of Resurrection Mary. There are several versions of her story, just like all urban legends. I heard more than one growing up as a good. Wonderful stuff, though, and as a bonus, that page has plenty of links to related legends.

By the way, yes, I've been by that graveyard and seen those bars.

Slate has a great piece on why we should all stop worrying so much about the Federal deficit. When you read it, you may smack your forehead and go "D'oh!" like I did. (Warning: Obligatory Bush-bash at end of article. Still worth reading, though.)

A secret provision in the U.S. Constitution says that black people lose their civil rights in the year 2005. Bush is planning to enforce it once he declares himself dictator.

Except, it may not be 2005. The year tends to change, depending on who's telling the story.

Oh, uh, just so you know my friends? That ain't so.

While I'm on this subject, though, I'll mention that Tommy Hilfiger was never on Oprah Winfrey's show, and was never asked to leave for racial comments. He was never on Larry King Live, either. He is utterly delighted that anyone of any race likes to wear his clothes.

Also, Osama bin Laden never threatened to kill Oliver North, and Al Gore never questioned him about it. There was never such a thing as Fornication Under Consent of the King, either.

Furthermore, neither Lionel Richie, nor Michael Jackson, nor Eddie Murphy, ever told a white lady to "hit the floor."

If you believed any of the above stories, do not feel stupid. I think that everyone (I am no exception) has heard and passed on stories that they thought were true but were not. The phenomenon is known as an "urban legend." Sometimes they abbreviate it as UL. While some urban legends are spooky, some are fun, or just funny. Once you get into the subject, it's endlessly fascinating.

Go on, I dare ya: click here and read a while. Then come back and tell me you have never heard or passed on one of those stories. I'll bet you can't do it.

We will have a downright fantastic essay for you all on Tuesday, in which writer Don Pesci takes a very hard look at Walter Duranty, the infamous and late Moscow correspondent for The New York Times.

We think Mr. Pesci has made quite a compelling case as to why Duranty's Pulitzer Prize should be stripped. There are plenty of reasons why that should come about, but we can list three quite quickly: famine, lies and justice.

How is it that this guy isn't as revered as Bob Dylan?

I am definitely now part of the cult.

There is something very weird about meeting and introducing webloggers. "Hey everybody, this is Erica of Swirlspice. Erica, meet Ara of E Pluribus Unum, Chris of Signifying Nothing, and Moe of Occam's Toothbrush. Oh, and this is Rose, who you may remember from Dean's World." Let's just face it: that sounds extraordinarily geeky and silly. You want to hide your face in your hands.

Once you get past all that, however, webloggers are fun people. At the party, while drinking the beer Arnold Harris sent us, I learned a few other neat things:

Kevin Brehmer loves to chat. I love chatting with him. I wish he'd come by more often.

Paul Fallon has recently taken up drinking non-alcoholic beer. I think I may have to join him in that, as I've been drinking too much lately. But he still hasn't finished the Desi Arnaz article he tells me he's writing. Damn him!

Speaking of that, while Val Prieto did not actually come to the party, he was there in spirit. He sent some CDs of some wonderful Cuban music, which we listened to all night. Nosotros bailar, mi amigo!

At the party, I also learned that, aside from my beautiful wife, Erica is just about the prettiest damned thing I ever did see. She's also smart as hell, and funny as hell. Oh and by the way, the new hair suits you Boo. Seriously.

It also turns out that Charles Hill drives cross-country every year, just for fun, so his coming to the party was no big deal. He's been in every state east of the Missippi except Maine. He also said the smartest thing anyone said all night: "If you weren't opinionated, why would anyone bother reading you?" Classic.

Jerry Kaufman really likes people, and it shows. Unfortunately, he left just before the party really got swinging. Too bad, because he's very interesting and lots of fun to talk to. (Or should that be "lots of fun with whom to talk?")

For some bizarre reason, I spent four hours completely unable to remember Chris Lawrence's name. Despite that, he was all kinds of fun to talk to. Aside from Charles, he holds the record for being the person who travelled the longest distance just to make the party. I'm glad he made the effort!

My girl Dawn is much too shy, but very cool. She also has exceptionally good taste in music, and I can't believe she bought me that CD. It's Sunday night, and I've already listened to it three times. What a great lady. I hope to hook up with her again!

My man Lysander is a little shy in a crowd it seems. He's also another one of those damned teatoalers. Yet somehow, he's fun anyway. He also likes the Allman Brothers, which automatically makes him cool in my book. He also bought me this freaking cool DVD.

Steve Duane is a funny guy. For a guy who doesn't drink, he sure knows how to party.

My good friend Ara has the ability to make comments so funny that beer goes up my nose. This is a truly evil power, and I hope the government registers and regulates it soon. He also bought me a cool book, as a part of some nefarious scheme I'm sure. I also discovered that he has good taste in women. (Hope that works out for ya, buddy, I really do.)

Finally, I learned a couple of interesting things from Moe and his buddy Glen. First, that a good merlot is kosher. Second, that he understands the Gospel better than any Jew I've ever met. Third, that hip young Orthodox Jews wear baseball caps instead of the traditional yarmulkes. Fabulous.

Overall, it was the most fun night I've had in some time. I'm glad that everyone who made it was there, and am sorry that the rest of you didn't. I hope you can all make it next time!

I publish stuff that I think will interest you. But only because it interests me first.

"Interests" does not necessarily mean "agrees with." Even I don't agree with everything published here. I just want you to be enlightened, aggravated, titillated, annoyed, or amused by whatever you find here.

I am also glad you came by. Even if I think you're wrong about everything.

Seriously.

Considering how foul-mouthed I've been recently, I'm not the one to say this, but you shouldn't click on the following unless you can tolerate a lot of salt with your langage: Michele is funny.

God, I love that girl.

I plead "drunk at the time," but I recently made the mistake of misidentifying Arnold Harris as a jarhead. Which is a hanging offense in at least five states, last I heard. As well it should be. So in loving contrition, I give you:

...there's more! »

So the wife tells me to go to Merchant's Fine Wine in Dearborn. As it happens, despite the name they also have the largest selection of beers in Michigan. Literally hundreds of varieties, from all over the nation and world. We often go there for party supplies.

The wife tells me there's a surprise for me. A gift from a friend. Just go to the counter and ask for me. I hate when women get all mysterious like that. So I go to the counter, and give the clerk my name. She looks me like I'm from Mars, but gets her manager. The manager comes out, gets my name, and says, "Right, be right back." He comes back with two items:

1) A case of Rolling Rock, which is a fine light American lager: crisp, not too sweet, perfect on a summer's day. A good solid American brew that's a cut above your typical Budweiser/Miller/Coors fare, and a sign of excellent taste.

2) Even more surprising, a case of my very favorite American beer, Anchor Steam. A special brainchild of appliance heir Fritz Maytag and some fine German brewers, it is a uniquely American beer, made only in San Francisco. It is rich, flavorful, and complex, and easily the rival of any high quality English Bitter or German Bock. Yet in certain ways it's completely unlike any other beer made in the world. It's also bloody expensive stuff: a case will run you thirty bucks, easy.

Who does the manager say is the donor of this bonanza of zymurgic bliss? "Some guy named Arnold Harris from Wisconsin."

Well I'll be damned. This is gonna be a fun party, and the first toast will be:

To Arnold Harris, crusty bastard, shameless heathen, and one hell of a great guy. Semper Fi, my friend!

The other day, I quoted a phrase I'd seen floating around a bunch of places online. It turned out to have been originated by John Derbyshire. I should have done my homework and checked that for an original source. I was lazy, but that was wrong of me.

Still, several self-described liberals found themselves shocked and disappointed in me for posting it. Now why is that do you suppose? The phrase was this:

Wherever there is a jackboot stepping on a human face, there will be a well-heeled Western liberal there to assure us that the face enjoys free health care and a high degree of literacy.

I started trying to explain, to reconcile, to apologize a little, even.

Then I realized this morning: The phrase could be "liberal" or "leftist," and I can understand someone's confusion over that. That's no big deal. But the fundamental truth of the statement? Let's not kid ourselves, shall we? The phrasing is not partisan, is not "one note" or "bashing," and while it may be "disappointing," what's disappointing is not that I said it. What's offensive is that it's the truth.

Indeed, let me be very clear about this: That statement is self-evident, and it is, furthermore, undeniably true exactly as written. Why the hell would I apologize, or even try to defend it? If you find it offensive, you damn well should, because it is indeed offensive. It's offensive that it's the truth.

Nor can you mealy-mouth your way into excusing its truth by pointing out that some conservatives are also guilty of this. It's liberals who spend their time prating about human rights and helping the poor and the innocent, and yet they are appallingly guilty in too many cases of absolute hypocricy here. It's shameful and disgusting that it is true, not shameful and disgusting that I should point out the truth. The other side isn't innocent? SO FUCKING WHAT? That is not a defense.

I'm tired of being such a fucking pussy. You don't like hearing the truth? Great. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, you goddamned hypocrite motherfuckers.

But as you leave, you ought to read New Republic piece written by some real liberals who are willing to admit to the embarassing truth about this issue.

So now stick that in your pipe and smoke it. I have a party to go to.

(Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday To Me....)

"...Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division found the grave on the side of a dry riverbed in Hatra, 200 miles north of Baghdad. An assessment team was sent to the site.

"Some 25 sets of remains all women and children have been pulled from the grave, each with a bullet hole in the skull. The military said the size of the area leads them to believe the site contains between 200 and 400 bodies.

"Since the end of the Iraq war, at least 60 mass graves, some with hundreds of corpses, have been discovered. The United Nations is investigating the killing or disappearance of at least 300,000 Iraqis believed murdered during Saddam's regime."

(Complete story here. Via Henry.)

Okay, I've obviously been missing something.

For the longest time, I've wondered about people who rant about cell phones. I never get annoyed when I see someone chatting on a cell phone. I don't feel any more distracted by their conversations than I do by conversations between two strangers on the street. I don't even care about cell phone drivers, because I think that concern is horribly blown out of proportion. The "bash cell phone users" trend has always seemed like some sort of obsessive / luddite / reactionary / authoritarian hangup, and I've never related to it.

Then I read this piece by Moira and I thought, "Hmm. Maybe I've just been lucky not to see this sort of thing."

It's a pretty amusing story. Scott Chaffin's response is pretty funny too, though.

CNN reports on nanotech Dockers. This appears to be an important innovation.

(Via Dawn.)

It's pretty unbelievable where medical technology is heading. They're increasingly able to fix deafness with implants, and now curing blindness the same way is on the horizon.

And so the concept of the cyborg increasingly comes closer to reality, doesn't it?

(Via James.)

Hey. All I can say is bring it on. Bring it on!

James at Outside the Beltway recently asked a perfectly reasonable question:

The main problem I have is that I don't know what an anti-Semite is anymore. Even more than the term "racist," it has been so misused as to be virtually meaningless. Obviously, Hitler was an anti-Semite. Beyond that, what does it mean? Does it simply mean "one who hates Jews"? Or does anyone who disagrees with the Likud party and the most extreme Zionism qualify?

I'm not Jewish, so maybe someone who is can chime in, but I know how I would answer this.

Being a critic of the Israeli government is not anti-semitism. But the pattern over in that region is depressingly familiar: terrorists intentionally target Israeli women and children and old men. Israel responds by finding terrorists in Palestine and attempting to capture or kill them, and sometimes innocents are hurt in the process.

80% of Israelis support giving the Palestinians their own state. The Palestinian Authority, however, has never given up its stated goal of reclaiming ALL the land of Israel. Regularly, Israel is slandered with accusations that it conducts wholesale slaughter of innocents, of committing "genocide" against the Palestinians. These are invariably shown to be lies.

Which is not to say there are never excesses, that anything the Israelis do is beyond reproach. But to suggest that there is an equivalence between the Israeli government and the terrorist thugs who rule Palestine is, at best, morally shallow. Ditto suggesting that there is no difference between the Israeli government's anti-terrorist activity and the terrorists. Or that the Israelis are "just as bad" as the terrorists. That's close enough to anti-semitism in my book. Even if a few self-hating Jews join in on the slander.

I've been meaning to write more on this theme. You should start by reading this Slate column by Chris Suellentrop. It's a very good article, but it makes one huge mistake: the first Presidential campaign to run in a very loose, decentralized way by making extensive use of the internet isn't the Dean campaign. It was the Buchanan campaign, back in 1996.

The World Wide Web was newer back then, and the self-styled "Buchanan Brigades" did use it. But what they used even more was email. Specifically, they ran a number of listservs to disseminate information: columns by Buchanan, position papers, campaign event notifications, news, etc. Some of the lists were discussion oriented, some were strictly for announcements. A standing order issued regularly from the campaign, though, was "don't wait for orders from headquarters!" They urged spontaneous gatherings and get-togethers and promotions by anyone who felt like doing it--and anyone often did.

On the lists, there'd often be quarrelling, and information that had little or nothing to do with the campaign often got disseminated by volunteers who did not work for the campaign in any formal capacity. There was fearmongering over the UN, black helicopters, supposed plans to call a Constitutional Convention and eliminate the Bill of Rights, and more. Some of the most paranoid stuff I'd ever seen in politics appeared on those lists.

It was all so interesting, especially because, over time, it became pretty clear that Buchanan wasn't really in control of his so-called "Buchanan Brigades." He would often wind up being associated with people and positions he would normally have had little to do with. This is part of why the charge of anti-semitism got stuck to him. Although some of his own statements in that regard certainly didn't help, he had plenty of Jewish friends and supporters who tried to defend him. But what Buchanan had obviously done was to tap into the most paranoid and seethingly furious element of the American Right, and it included some of those fringe holocaust-denier lunatics.

For the record, I was not a Buchanan supporter. I just found his campaign fascinating. I also bought into at least some of the fearmongering, and I thought it was significant that so many people felt so disenfranchised and vulnerable. Somehow, I suspect that this is what some are now saying about the most paranoid elements among Dean's supporters.

I now get email on a semi-regular basis from Dean supporters telling me that Bush wants to turn America into a military dictatorship. They also often suggest that Bush plans to declare a national emergency and suspend elections next November. As the old song goes: "Paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep."

Dean is now taking exactly the same gamble as Buchanan, and running exactly the same risks. His spontaneously self-organizing supporters have taken a lot of their pet issues and put them onto him, as other fringers did to Buchanan. By tapping into the seethingly angry, paranoid energies of America's radical left, he's making a name for himself. But long term I'm not sure it's the name he'll want.

* Update * It does appear that my suggestion that some of Dean's supporters are tinged with anti-semitism may have been a bit premature. A look over at what some of the folks at Nazimedia are saying suggests that the Jew-haters of the Left are becoming disillusioned with Dean. So the only question is, will all the Israel-haters walk out of his campaign, or only some of them?

Amir Taheri is an interesting fellow. He's an Iranian who's been involved in various aspects of journalism for decades, and is currently a CNN commentator. His most recent column on Iraq is must-reading, and does much to dispel the gloom and doom being spread about in the West.

His column on the new Iraqi governing authority is also pretty good.

I continue to suspect that, ten years hence, not only will Iraq be a functional democracy at least as stable as Turkey, but that other Arab nations will start talking about a "brain drain" as young talented people in the region start heading to Baghdad to seek their fortunes. Let's hope so, anyway.

* Update * You should also read this. Certain people want us to believe that Iraq is coming apart at the seams. Do we have to accept that? I think not.

I have seen messages saying that the articles here on Dean's World have been "weird" or "bizarre" lately. Which had me scratching my head. Not that my feelings were hurt, I just couldn't figure out the cause of this perception. I'm not doing anything different these days. Not that I'm aware of anyway.

Then I realized: it's Dean's World, baby. You're just living in it. :-)

Dean mentioned prejudice earlier this week and it got us both talking.

I have the opposite effect on people than he does. I am 5'7, I wear a size 12, I refuse to give my weight on the grounds that I'm a woman. Anyway, Dean said that I have a Shirley Temple quality. I immediately thought that was a bogus thing to say, then he clarified it. I have a girl next door look - I am (shuddering uncontrollably) CUTE. I appear very approachable. Strangers always feel compelled to talk to me wherever I am. I just look like a nice gal.

Then I open my mouth. I say what I think no matter what. Often times people think I'm joking because I just look too nice to say the things that I say. I am as I appear on this blog. I just don't look like Bela Abzug

I am a hellcat not a pussycat. Nobody would guess that to look at me though.

Andrew has some observations about the IRA that you really should read.

I also hope you'll keep it in mind next time you're in some Irish pub here in the states, and someone passes the hat for "the cause."

Jonathan makes a good point: when I used the term "well-heeled liberal" below, I should have said "well-heeled leftist." Jackboot apologists don't deserve the designation "liberal."

But by the way, I was not using the term "liberal" disparagingly, nor was I suggesting that all liberals are jackboot apologists.

And yes, I do still consider myself a liberal.