Although he wishes he were wrong, Gerard says that Easongate is effectively over. The MSM is stonewalling on the Davos video and there is nothing we poor bloggers can do. Gerard is such a good writer at first he convinced me. Now I am not so sure. Austin, also a fine writer, is calling for the video to be released. And now someone very important in the MSM itself, meaning Brit Hume, is kicking the ball down the field on his Special Report tonight. And, yes, Brit may be our natural ally on this but he is more mainstream than CNN these days, at least in the US, to the tune of many millions of viewers. Also, Hume, in my estimation the best television journalist working, is widely respected. Everyone knows he's smart and he's not a liar, which you can't say for Jordan after his admissions regarding Saddam.
No, this thing ain't over -- and it shouldn't be. As I wrote below, this is no small matter. We are in an asymmetrical war, which we can only lose by giving up. If CNN, at its policy heart, wants us to do that, they are contributing to the defeat of democracy in Iraq and are the conscious/unconscious allies of the fascist forces they persist in callling "insurgents." That's their privilege but they must acknowledge it and take the economic consequences from the American public. And to ever be regarded as an honest man again, Eason Jordan must produce the video.
UPDATE: By the way, the story of CNN in this country at least is pretty pathetic. They are barely staying ahead of that other group of tedious losers at MSNBC. It's also good to see the public is finally getting bored with that zombie Larry King.
FNC O'REILLY 2,652,000 [VIEWERS]
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,904,000
FNC GRETA 1,568,000
FNC HUME 1,446,000
FNC SHEP SMITH 1,327,000
CNN LARRY KING 891,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 755,000
CNN ZAHN 550,000
CNN AARON BROWN 528,000
CNN ANDERSON COOPER 445,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 416,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 411,000
MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 360,000
MORE: Of course, Iowahawk... who has the transcripts... has made this all irrelevant.
As a supporter of gay marriage who voted for Bush, I found the first installment of Gay Patriot's interview of Patrick Guerriero, Executive Director of the Log Cabin Republicans, interesting and look forward to the rest. (Disclaimer: Gay Patriot is an advertiser here. Still, it's worth reading.)
According to this Hardblogger post, Paul "What Me Reified?" Krugman gave a big thumbs down on Hardball to the Anheuser-Busch patriotic Super Bowl ad, which has been a popular favorite:
KRUGMAN: We all support the troops. But this is exploitation. And it's part of the basic lack of seriousness about a lot of what's going on in this country.
Really? I don't believe Krugman at all. I don't think in his heart-of-hearts he supports the troops even one jot. I've never seen any evidence of it. He's just paying lip service to a conventional piety. But, hey, that's my opinion, just as it's Paul's that Anheuser-Busch was just trying to sell beer. Krugman's real problem is that he can't face that he may have been on the wrong side of history -- the reactionary side. The emotion that ad engendered in so many viewers is indication of that.
UPDATE: Nelson synthesizes brilliantly here. This is one of the most interesting essays I have read in some time and really should have its own post. A must read!
If you follow technorati, you could conclude there's a new one every few seconds. But frequent commenter here John Lynch has earned his chops and his Post-Modern News has a promising first post on, you guessed it, blogs. (And Post-Modern News has got to be better than post-modern architecture!)
... well maybe a scootch more... Alan Dershowitz tells it like it is at Columbia:
"This is the most unbalanced university that I have come across when it comes to all sides of the Middle East conflict being presented," Mr. Dershowitz told hundreds of students and a smattering of Columbia faculty members.
"I have never seen a university with as much faculty silence," he said.
At a campus already divided by a controversy that has flared for months - one that pits a handful of Jewish students against some professors in the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department - the appearance of Mr. Dershowitz was the latest indication that the most serious crisis of President Lee Bollinger's tenure is far from over.
MEANWHILE: Jonah G. is going after that other font of Middle East integrity, the factually-challenged Juan Cole. Scroll down from here.
The Big Step has been taken in the Holy Land. You can be as cynical as you want, but I'm choosing to hope. It has to start somewhere.
Sharm El-Sheik - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared on Tuesday they would stop all military or violent activity against each other, a pledge crucial to getting Mideast peace talks that stalled four years ago back on track.
With their flags whipping in the wind, Sharon and Abbas met face-to-face at a Mideast summit on Tuesday. Afterward, Abbas said: "We have agreed on halting all violent actions against Palestinians and Israelis wherever they are."
Sharon made a similar pledge: "Today, in my meeting with chairman Abbas, we agreed that all Palestinians will stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere, and, at the same time, Israel will cease all its military activity against all Palestinians everywhere."
Breaking a curious ten-day silence on the most important recent story on his beat, WaPo media analyst Howard Kurtz has written a carefully crafted, linguistically bland semi-defense of CNN News chief Eason Jordan against charges he accused US troops of "targeting" 12 journalists. Kurtz seems to accept the extremely debateable assertion that Jordan's remarks were "off the record" and relies in great degree on excerpted statements made to him (or someone) by David Gergen that seem to track somewhat differently from what Gergen told Michelle Malkin. He also characterizes Jordan's critics as "conservative" bloggers, by which I take it Kurtz means those who supported the war in Iraq, a journalistically sloppy generalization. Kurtz does not acknowledge his own professional ties to CNN in the article, nor does he dwell on the uncomfortable fact that, as of now, the World Economic Forum is not releasing video tape of these proceedings. Until they do, this controversy will not be resolved. It will remain a he said/she said with most choosing to reference the witnesses that support their side. Kurtz, of course, omits testimony from several of the bloggers who were there, emphasizing instead some equivocal (when was he otherwise?) statements by Gergen. All in all, this is not an article, more of a place holder, with very little real digging done, despite another writer, Lisa de Moraes, being credited as a contributor at the end.
Of course, the reason this issue is of paramount importance is that we are in the midst of asymmetrical war. In such a situation, where propaganda determines victory, the power and significance of journalistic bias increases exponentially.
UPDATE: A much more rigorous account of this controversy here by Roderick Boyd of the NY Sun. Gergen, interestingly, did not return Mr. Boyd's call.
MEANWHILE: The stonewall from Davos is formalized - no video of the session will be revealed to the public. The hoi-polloi on the outside is locked out. Think about that -- the World Economic Forum has decreed that if the murder of journalists by US Troops was discussed at one of their conferences, we the citizens are not mature enough (or something) to hear about it.
UPDATE: An excellent point by frequent commenter Thibaud: "Jordan and the [the BBC's] Sambrook are playing the Arafat game," that is talking one way to one side and then preaching the real truth to the choir.
MORE: From Soxblog, an interesting comparison between Chris Dodd and Barney Frank.
UPDATE: It has been noted in the comments that Kurtz did acknowledge his association with CNN at the bottom of the article. I did not notice. I apologize for over-looking that and retract that part of my post above.
Mickey gets email from Howard Kurtz that the WaPo's head media critic is finally... after ten days... breaking radio, video and text silence on the Eason Jordan Affair. But what will Kurtz say? We will know very soon.
By Dawn's Early Light has been covering Rice's Middle East tour more thoroughly the MSM and certainly more thoroughly than I. Scroll down from the entry on her visit to the Holocaust Museum. Good links too.
UPDATE: Condi evidently snubbed Arafat, according to USA Today, driving by his glass-enclosed tomb without stopping on her way to meet with Mahmoud Abbas at the Mukata. No word on the little red notebook.
This interesting article in Israel21c is at once predictable, sad and hopeful. Real peace would be a great thing for these people, eventually. (ht: AKS)
... goes to Michelle Malkin for pulling off what Power Line calls a "trifecta" by getting Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd (through a spokesman) and even the usually gnomic David Gergen to talk about the Eason Jordan scandal in Davos. Well, maybe not a whole Pulitzer because all she did was make three phone calls. Still, that was seemingly more than anybody in the mainstream media could do. Interestingly enough, Michelle reports Gergen as saying the Washington Post was planning a story last week, but then pulled back. Wonder why... Well, I can guess and so can you. It wasn't in their interest to report on such things. Might open up an unpleasant cans of worms. Well, guess what? It's open already. More to come.
UPDATE: Austin Bay has already been pushing this Blog Pulitzer idea here and here. Maybe its time has come.
I have been thinking a bit about Gerard Van Der Leun's post of yesterday analyzing the mainstream media's silence over the Eason Jordan Affair. Hugh Hewitt is skeptical of Gerard's reasoning. I am not, but I would phrase it differently.
Although they will not readily admit it, much of mainstream media is terrified of the blogosphere. They have cause. Two of their crown jewels, the New York Times and CBS News, have been badly wounded by blogs, the latter with a seriousness that may have inflicted permanent damage. Their most prominent house organs like the Columbia Journalism Review have been shown to be almost absurdly unprofessional in their defense.
Now we have the Jordan Affair which on the face of it has the potential to be even more damaging. The news director of CNN is accused of making false statements which border on the seditious in an international public forum. If it can proven that he actually made these statements and that he is unable to prove their veracity, the results could be catastrophic for CNN, at least domestically. (I am not going to speculate here on the workings of Jordan's unconscious, but he is indeed a strange man.)
The blogosphere is effectively being stonewalled, because, so far, the blogosphere has won its duels with mainstream media. They have accused us of being fast and loose with the facts, but it is they who have had to back down. What is at stake here is great - money, jobs, power - and they know it.
UPDATE: The BBC's Richard Sambrook, also a panelist at Davos, has replied to Jay Rosen on this question. Unfortunately, however, the BBC's reputation is now so tarnished that it is difficult to take his comments at face value. Meanwhile, Barney Frank is sticking to his guns.
MORE: Continued indication of a "stonewall" posture here.
AND: Gerard amplifies his post of yesterday. But perhaps more importantly, he offers valuable suggestions on the discussion immediately below this.
We are living at a time when transitions are so swift sometimes we can barely see them happening. One interesting new one, reported in this Financial Times article (ht: Catherine), is that representatives of Fatah, Yasir Arafat's own organization, are looking for the late Caudillo's stolen fortune in aid money in order to fight off the Islamist challenge in their territories. The FT is going through this in detail. Good for them.
In a two-part investigation starting on Monday, the Financial Times describes murky financial dealings by Arafat over more than 25 years, designed to give him sole control of resources raised by the various organisations he led. Information about this money was scattered so no one person knew the whole story.
Palestinian officials trying to unravel the mystery are seeking the many notebooks in which Arafat, who died in November, is known to have recorded important details of his political and financial life.
Organisations controlled by Arafat raised billions of dollars over recent decades, but much was spent or squandered in corruption and bad investments. Nonetheless, some officials in these organisations think assets worth several hundred million dollars may not be accounted for.
They could ask Suha, of course, but that piece of work is so greedy she wouldn't part with a Euro she could use on room service at the Hotel Bristol. I have another suggestion. Why don't some of those Swiss bankers or whoever is holding this blood money cough some of it up voluntarily? It would be an amazing gesture--imagine... aid money going to the people for whom it was originally intended.
We have had a few controversies on this blog that have engendered debates that almost brought down the server [Please, no more discussion of The Passion...Please... No... -ed.], so I hesitate to broach anything as controversial as sushi... especially to residents of Central Los Angeles... but in honor of frequent commenter Mongai -- who generously has offered to buy sushi for readers of this blog visiting his hometown of Kyoto -- I am going to venture forth with my recommendations for sushi in that other great mecca of raw fish... Studio City CA. (No, I'm not treating. I still have to put a six-year old through school.) For some obscure reason known only to a certain Zen Master in the mountains of Hokkaido, a roughly one-mile strip of Ventura Blvd. in that small subsection of the San Fernando Valley has become the location of more good sushi bars than any place East of Guam.
My picks: As of this writing, Sheryl and I have a new favorite - Kazu (11440 Ventura)- very quiet, discrete, excellent omikase (chef's choice sushi dinner)for a fair price and without the lines of the more famous and less comfortable Nozawa nearby. [Okay, you just ruined it.-ed. You don't have to come.]
Also great, though more pricey, are the very chic and rock and roll Asanebo (11941 Ventura) and the family friendly Zagat favorite Katsu-ya (11680). There are more, but I have to take Madeleine to school. (Her lunch: miso soup in a thermos... Is this a Jewish or a Japanese family?)
What do Cuba, Zimbabwe and Saudi Arabia Have in Common?
Give up? Well, unfortunately it's not that surprising. They are three of the five members of the panel to decide which complaints shall be heard this Spring by the UN Human Rights Commission! Cliff May says this is UN self-parody, which indeed it would be if there were anything left to parody. (hat tip: SJ)
Gerard Van Der Leun, who has labored in the fields of the Mainstream Media more than most of us, explains the silence around the Eason Jordan Affair:
To take on an Eason Jordan and expose him would be a noble thing for a major journalist to do, but it would also put a large check mark against his name on the Unwritten Blacklist as a traitor. Even if Jordan were brought down, especially if Jordan were brought down, the journalists behind it would find their chances for other lucrative job offers, for advancement, and for invitations to all the right parties in New York, Washinton, and the Hamptons severely curtailed. Their actions against an Eason Jordan would be quietly noted by those in hiring and assignment positions higher up the media food chain. After all, to take on one is to take on all.
It used to be the case that if you "struck at a prince" you had to be sure to kill him. Things are not that simple in the upper realms of the unelected powerbrokers of MSM. Now if you strike at a prince you have to kill all the others around them. Unless, of course, you don't care about appearing on cable news shows to sooth your vanity and pump your book, or care about landing that book deal to begin with, or care about someday having a show of your own, or care about advancing at your institution or receiving a better offer from another newspaper, magazine, television network. Strike at someone like Eason Jordon and all these things will, somehow, just not be offered to you.
Mickey has scored again in his analysis of Frank Rich's supposedly-liberal-but-actually-massively-old-fashioned tut-tutting on "important" cultural issues (Janet Jackson's breast) in today's Times. (via Instapundit).... But, LaDowd, of all people, usually just sneering or merely incomprehensible, is spot on in her column deriding critics of Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" who read the film as some kind of pro-euthanasia tract. The Michael Medveds of the world have a very limited... and limiting... view of art.
It may have something to do with it being Super Sunday and all, but I just took CNET's bandwidth speed test for my Earthlink DSL and came in at a surprisingly fast (to me) 2072.1 kbps. That's faster than predicted for a T1 connection. Is this an anomaly? Adelphia has been running a big ad campaign in the Southern California market for their cable Internet service, claiming their speeds top DSL, but I'm inclined to doubt it.
Investigators probing alleged corruption at the United Nations' Iraq oil-for-food program are scrutinizing thousands of pages of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's documents, including e-mail and phone records, to determine whether he exerted influence in securing a contract for a Swiss company that employed his son.
Paul Volcker, the head of the independent investigation, confirmed the document search and told The Associated Press that new information had led investigators to delay publishing their findings about Annan's son Kojo, whose activities have embroiled the U.N. chief in the growing scandal.
"There were things that came along that threw us back," Volcker said in an AP interview.
If something real surfaces here, the end of Don Kofi is nigh. Here's more from that AP report:
Dr. Mohammed al-Jibouri, Iraq's trade minister, told Associated Press Television News on Saturday that more has yet to be revealed on specific individuals' roles in the scandal.
"There are a lot of names, and I hope there will be some fairness on that -- not to shut out the light and put this in the dark, under the carpet," al-Jibouri said.
As Volcker issued an interim investigative report Thursday, he said he had planned to include the findings about Kojo Annan's employment with Cotecna Inspection SA. The company had a U.N. contract to certify deals for humanitarian supplies imported by Iraq under the oil-for-food program.
But Volcker's committee decided to issue that part of the report along with other conclusions later this winter to give investigators time to review the new information. About 10 investigators have focused solely on the Annan files.
It's fascinating to watch Condoleeza Rice hit the ground running on the world diplomatic stage. This woman is no shirking violet [Three clichés in two sentences. Not bad, Simon. -ed. But wait. There's more.] and has more intellectual horsepower [See!] than any US Sec'y of State since Henry the K. The extent to which she is micromanaging the forthcoming Sharon-Abbas summit we may never know, but she is smart enough to know that the more the two parties seem to be working things out for themselves, the more likely a successful result.
Meanwhile, I was amused to read that some are floating a Russ Feingold/Rice presidential election in '08. Nice thought. But I imagine if Ms. Rice, by some minor miracle, pulls off something even faintly resembling a permanent resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during her four years at State, it's going to be "Russ who?" [Isn't it already?-ed. I guess.]
UPATE: Some, undoubtedly, will be opposing Rice in '08.
The front page of this morning's New York Times "Week in Review" has two (!) articles that are more or less sympathetic to democracy in Iraq -- "Suddenly It's 'America Who?'" by Dexter Filkins and "Democracy Has to Start Somewhere" by Michael Wines. The paper hasn't exactly morphed into the Weekly Standard, but movement is occurring. How long this will continue I don't know, but the fear of humiliation is a powerful motivator. And the MSM, especially its crown jewel the NYT, has been humiliated and the reason is clear. They, like so many others, abandoned their anti-fascist principles in favor of anti-Bush.
The following is a letter (open, I assume) to President Bush from an Iranian citizen in Teheran that has been circulating via email to a list of people interested in a free Iran. I am posting it here in the hopes that Teddy Kennedy might see it. (Just kidding. A lot of surprising people drop by this blog from time-to-time but I don't think he's one of them.) I'm really posting it because it moved me and I thought you might find it interesting. It is unedited, obviously.
Dear Mr President;
I heard your wonderful world loving speech ; it brought tears to my eyes ; you couldn't imagine how you made me feel!!!
Your policy is right about Iran ; please don't let anyone get in your way specially the Europian Union ; all they care for , are their benefits (black gold , multi million dollar contracts and etc... )
for price of what ???World humen lives!!! (Terrorism and atomic bombs)!!!
We are behind you %100 ; we would love to have good relations with you ; our nations have mixed with each other ; my son is half American and so lots of others like me.
Our country is in the hands of terrorists who have been brain washing our people for 26 years to hate ; to die ; to kill etc...
On walls of streets they write death to America ; also on the roads!!!
They are anti American and overall western world!!!
We are just like prisoners here in our own country ; no freedom of speech ; no freedom of press ; no freedom of thoughts ; no freedom of religion ; no freedom of pre marriage relationship ; no freedom of social activity (music) , no social freedom ; no political freedom ; no ecconomical freedom and on and on and on!!!!!
Your prisons in U.S have much better living condition than here!!!
Do not trust them for a second ; they are the biggest liers world has ever seen , they might say ok what ever you say in the last minute ; to buy time and when your presidntial term is over ; no doubt they would start again!!!
I am cofident that %99 of our people want regime change!!! Please support us by not negotiating (any talks) and don't let any other country do it either.
Put pressure on our opposition leaders to becaome united ; also our media.
Make sure that people inside hears the leadership by radio station that can't be disturbed by any parasites or noise.
Our movement must be organized to work.
I have a lot more things to say to you but knowing that you are very busy ; I cut it short.
If it's possible for your adminstration ; please reply my email by your comments ; Thank you so much
Babak from Iran --- Tehran
Babak -- sos214(Member of sosiran )
Please support www.sosiran.com
UPDATE: Regarding the provenance of this letter, I have the full name and email address of the sender and the full list of addressees, almost all Iranian names. This does not mean it is authentic, of course, but I suspect some of these dozens of addressees know the sender and can check.
... they said the most efficient way to learn a foreign language was to find a "friend" to teach you. Well nowadays, as Normblog points out, there's a new Berlitz and its not nearly as sexy. It's called hate.
UPDATE: Just noticed more about Norm here. He's hot! [Is The Manolo next?-ed. Well, he's not that hot.]
The Diplomad resigns. Anyone with the linguistic chops to describe Canada as "an anti-American sharia-besotted Botswana with snow" will be sorely missed. (My only question: Were these US Foreign Service Officer-bloggers under pressure from the State Department to shut down?)
After years of struggle in books, in movies and in the blogosphere...
I finally feel as if I have the arrived. And my wife... she will be the impressed... I have been linked... no, cited for the sartorial excellence itself by... The Manolo.
(The fedora, btw, is a Borsalino Traveler. I have one each in brown and dark grey for different occasions, as I am sure The Manolo himself would deem advisable.)
UPDATE... or should I say Hat Tip?: As Glenn notes, Amazon, although good for almost anything else, is no place to buy a hat online. This is a risky endeavor anyway (The Manolo would no doubt the disapprove, although he sells more the shoes online than the anyone -- oh, shut up. -ed.) but the place to look is Miller Hats. I'm eyeing one of those Borsalino Straws for Spring.
MORE: Of course now I'm feeling slighted that I wasn't invited.
DEPT. OF HAT-UPSMANSHIP: Michael Ledeen has emailed he owns "a custom-made Italian fedora, made by Fellini's hatter, Remo Argenti." How can you top that?
... but I think this new blog is going to have something special to tell us. It may be that the true multi-culturalism is in the blogosphere. Which reminded me to check in on one of my favorite blogs the Big Pharoah in Cairo to see how he was reacting to the tsunami of democracy heading his way. Interesting, as always.
Best one I have seen so far is on Debka, whose sources are probably better and more sophisticated about the Middle East than our media. Interesting note, Allawi (who did well) is already negotiating a coalition with the Kurds (who did amazingly well for their numbers).
... the United Nations "bent over backwards" to please Saddam Hussein said Iraq's new ambassador to that organization, according to this Bloomberg report.
"The memorandum of understanding was negotiated in a way to accommodate the regime's requirements, which laid the basis for what went wrong later," Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie said today at a news conference following the release yesterday of former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker's preliminary report on the UN-administered oil-for-food program." (there's more - read on)
MEANWHILE, major media are maintaining silence around Saddam's other enabler, CNN's Eason Jordan who seemed more willing to make accusations of homicidal behavior toward US servicemen than he ever was toward the dictator. I join with Mickey in wondering where Howard Kurtz is in all this. Will he maintain silence or break "the old boys' club" on this issue? If this isn't an important media story, what is?
UPDATE: Evidently we will all be seeing video tape of the Jordan WEF discussion shortly. I'm certainly curious.
Frequent commenter Peter Argus sent this inspiring collage of ink-stained Iraqi voters.
Some, perhaps less mature, observers did not share his enthusiasm. Of course, it is important not to get cocky when you are ahead.
Dear Mr. Simon,
The overnight change in the tone of the German media has been
noteworthy. Between the positive comments about the State of the Union address and the breathless reports about Dr. Rice's visit in Berlin today, you would think the good old days of the Cold War have returned. The Germans are nothing if not realists. In light of a successful Iraqi election Germany has come to the conclusion that the effort to bring democracy to Iraq will work and they are scrambling to be on the right side of history. Nothing succeeds like success. Regards from Heidelberg,
David A. Lange
UPDATE: Other email exchanges are not as encouraging. (hat tip: Rick Ballard)
ANOTHER GERMAN CORRESPONDENT, Thomas Schroder, also is downbeat:
I absolutely don't agree with the judgment of your German correspondent. True, the anti-Bush tone isn't as belligerent as it was before the election. (Hard to beat anyway!) But I can't see that much has changed.
Iraq is now routinely called the "Iraq adventure" instead of the "Iraq disaster". But most journalists are still very negative and prefer to write and talk about all possible (and impossible) problems. We're even reading about the good, old "conflagration" in the whole Middle East" again, this time due to the possible spread of democratic desires, which of course is probably not in our interest - or so they say.
... Gerard Baker in the London Times. To be read in its entirety, but here's a choice excerpt (hate the term "money graph"):
Sometimes moments of truly historic significance are almost instantly recognisable for what they are. The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 proclaimed its universal importance right from the start. No one needed to be told that the fall of the Berlin Wall was going to change history. With others the consequences creep up on us slowly, even surreptitiously. Some wise heads see the significance; others resist it or are blind to it. It was not immediately necessarily evident that Hitler's ascent to power in 1933 would lead to the unrelenting tragedy that unfolded for Europe and the world over the next decade. We all know better now.
Last Sunday I think will quickly fall into the first category. There is an unstoppable momentum for change in the Middle East now. In just two years tyrannies have been felled in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Palestine, the inexorable clock of human mortality has ended another. But the crucial element was always going to be the voluntary and courageous act of self-assertion that democratic and free elections represent - a message heard around the region and the world.
"Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has expressly said that regime change in Iran is not the U.S. goal. But... ," as Anne Gearan of the AP continued in her very next sentence, "...[Secretary of State Condoleeza] Rice would not say whether the United States supports a change of government.
Speaking to reporters on the plane as she began her weeklong trip, Rice said Iran's approach to human rights and its treatment of its own citizens were loathsome.
"I don't think anybody thinks that the unelected mullahs who run that regime are a good thing for the Iranian people and for the region," she said Thursday. On Friday, she referred to Iran's leaders as "an unelected few.""
Somebody's not ib the same page with Rice (who, to be clear, is not advocating military intervention). I have a suggestion for Lord Armitage, a seeming State Department lifer. He should go live in Iran for a while, see what it's like to be a citizen of a mullocracy. He might develop a little empathy.
MEANWHILE: Some extremely disappointing news from Power Line. "Say it ain't so, Condi" indeed.
I agree with Belmont Club that the Ward Churchill kerfuffle is small beer, to say the least. The spectacle of some desperate nitwit pretending to be an Indian in order to get a job in an Ethnic Studies Department is right out of an Italian comedy of the seventies (Pietro Germi or maybe Lina Wertmuller). The "gulled" gentlemen and ladies in the various academic departments (not to mention the bozos over at "prestigious" Hamilton College) would be marvelous foils for, say, Giancarlo Giannini at his height. Not even the great Gogol himself could make such delicious mockery of boneheaded "political correctness."
The Eason Jordan Affair is the exact opposite, something far more important than it appears. The Washington Times this morning has an editorial detailing how Jordan has made his disputed (or semi-disputed) allegations more than once about US servicemen deliberately "targeting" journalists, although the numbers have shifted, first ten deaths, now twelve, sort of "grade inflation," to use a Ward Churchillian analogy.
But kidding aside, there are three possibilities, my dear Watson: 1. Jordan is right. 2. he is delusional. 3. he is lying. 1. is the least likely since we can assume that if Jordan had some proof, he would have long ago produced it. This would have been the scoop of scoops, even capable of getting many a hawk to reconsider his or her stand. No, 2. and 3., separately or in combination (there are myriads), are more likely.
Whatever the case, what does that say about the editorial decisions of CNN for whose judgments he is largely responsible? What does that say about the accuracy of the information we--and the rest of the world--have been receiving? CNN has a prominent position on nearly everyone's cable and satellite feed. For a great many years it was the sole 24-hour news outlet. Free speech is absolutely necessary to society, but to what extent do they owe us an allegiance to the facts? How do we penalize them when what they present veers toward propaganda (as it did when CNN played footsie with Saddam)?
This has no easy solution. Eugene Volokh, who has far greater knowledge than I in this area, thinks Ward Churchill should not be fired. He's probably right (although I wouldn't blame a rump group of parents who paid tens of thousands of dollars in tuition for their children to be "educated" by this clown for taking matters in their own hands), but what about Eason Jordan-- in terms of influence a Tyrannosaurus Rex to Churchill's ant? For now, Jordan seems to be under the protection of his colleagues in and out of CNN. I wonder how long that will last.
Internal Investigations - What Blogs Can and Can't Do So Far or "All the Gates Come Together"
What little we have seen so far of the Volcker investigation of the UN Oil-for-Food Scandal confirms what we already learned from the Thornburgh investigation of CBS Rathergate. Internal investigations are inherently flawed, at the very least by perception, but usually by a lot more. It is hard to believe that men like Thornburgh and Volcker risk their reputations to sign on for them, but money and ego are powerful motivators.
The question is who can investigate organizations of such power and complexity as the United Nations and CBS (and now CNN) if not themselves. Years ago the mainstream media - particularly the New York Times and the Washington Post - performed this function to some extent. But these days they seem almost chary about doing any serious digging that might yield results in conflict with their core ideologies, only publishing about Oil-for-Food, for one example, long after it was "a story." (The Times, to its credit, however, seems the one organization to have performed an internal investigation with any teeth in it - the Jayson Blair affair.) Of course, there are also Congressional Investigations, but, although sometimes useful, they are almost always the slave of electoral politics.
So finally there are us - the blogosphere. But although we are many in number, and growing, we have one gaping weakness - money. We can't afford to do that digging. Even something as simple as getting a hold of video tape of Eason Jordan's statements at Davos seems beyond our reach. We rely on others to do our footwork. If our approach to the news is to grow and prosper (in the figurative sense) some new methods (meaning more cash) must be developed. I would like to see that happen soon, not just for myself but for all of us. I see what we are engaged together as a positive movement in history leading to a more honest media.
UPDATE: Regarding the "Affair Jordan" (will it get it's "gate" suffix soon?) Austin Bay properly reminds us that we don't live in a perfect world and news organizations often have to make a "compact with the Devil," as Jordan admitted CNN did with Saddam in the pages of the NYT, just to get some semblance of the story out. But Austin continues:
As far I can tell, the CNN Baghdad situation wasn't based on these real-world caveats. The network's deal with the devil lasted a dozen years. The deal brought the network a commercial advantage over more tough-minded competitors. Moreover, CNN's depiction of Saddam's regime often differed, oh, a hundred degrees from the critical reporting of the NY Times' John Burns. (Saddam jailed Burns at least twice-underlining my point about the risk correspondents face.) Sure, CNN portrayed Saddam as a strong man - but by the way, Iraqi children were dying. Though Saddam had invaded Kuwait and had a meanish streak, in CNN's Iraq children died because of UN sanctions enforced by the US military. CNN played a "he's bad, but-" game. I'll wager the journalistic excuse was "balance"--a balance Saddam and Baghdad Bob certainly appreciated. CNN's "balance" was of course anything but balance -- over the long haul I believe the network put a finger on the scale that gave Saddam undeserved moral and political weight. We now know the reason Iraqi children were dying: Saddam had corrupted the UN's Oil For Food program and was skimming money that was supposed to buy medicine and food.
So all these investigations come together in some odd way. Far out, as we used to say.
ONE OTHER THING: We seem to be at an epiphanic moment in history that we all got to witness over the day and night of the Iraqi election. Watching CNN, as I did closely over those hours, their reporters and commentators began with a derisive attitude as if they expected, and yes even wanted, everything to fail. Then as it began to seem that it wouldn't, their attitudes changed in front of our eyes. At the end, they seemed downright celebratory -- but simultaneously confused -- as if their entire world view was turning upside down in front of their eyes. It was a fascinating thing to watch -- and their confusion is only beginning as some will start to defect from their side.
By sending their rather opaque email yesterday it is evident that CNN is a bit nervous about the blogs, as well they should be -- Congratulations, Charles! None of us will be satisfied until we see a transcript and/or a video tape of the session. The fact that it has not been produced as yet is highly suspicious. It is almost incomprehensible that verbatim records of events at the World Economic Forum are not readily available to CNN. Eason Jordan's admitted previous behavior cozying up to the Saddam Hussein regime for news access means that he is an admitted liar of a sort and not to be trusted. Full disclosure, please. That means transcripts and video to understand the context which is under debate.
UPDATE: Some psychoanalysis of Mr. Jordan from Posse Incitatus.
... were all called out by Bush in his speech last night with varying degrees of delicacy. I was glad to hear Egypt and Saudi Arabia finally on the list, as they should be. Does this mean we are headed for another conflagration? I doubt it. I think the dominos are starting to fall by themselves, a much better way, and agree with Gary Metz at Regime Change Iran about what our administration has in mind for the mullahs. Only the Syrians have much to worry about from direct military action and I have a suspicion the eye doctor is already walking into walls.
Conspicuously missing last night, unless I missed it, was much mention of North Korea. Are all those rumors true? Has it already imploded?
As anyone who pays the slightest attention to this blog knows, I am a supporter of gay marriage, so I groaned when Bush brought up "that amendment" again. But otherwise, I have to say the speech was great, especially the ending. The vision of those two women embracing each other -- Mrs. Norwood (the mother of the Marine killed in Fallujah) and the Iraqi woman whose father was murdered by Saddam is something that I will never forget. I started sobbing. It made me proud to be an American and to have stood on the right side of history. Like him or not, George Bush has done something never before done in human history by anyone I can think of -- bring democracy to a faraway country that didn't have it by force of his own will (because there's no way this would have happened had he not been elected). No one, not even Roosevelt, can say as much.
I just received the following email from Public.Information@turner.com, which I assume to be an official response from CNN:
Many blogs have taken Mr. Jordan's remarks out of context. Eason Jordan does not believe the U.S. military is trying to kill journalists. Mr. Jordan simply pointed out the facts: While the majority of journalists killed in Iraq have been slain at the hands of insurgents, the Pentagon has also noted that the U.S. military on occasion has killed people who turned out to be journalists. The Pentagon has apologized for those actions.
Mr. Jordan was responding to an assertion by Cong. Frank that all 63
journalist victims had been the result of "collateral damage."
I don't know what kind of "assertion" Barney Frank made, but evidently a number of people at the conference, including Cong. Frank, were confused by Mr. Jordan's original remarks. Although I appreciate the effort, this statement by a public relations arm of CNN seems like boiler-plate to me. A full and direct explanation from Mr. Jordan himself is needed here, not corporate spin, especially given the rather different accounts from eyewitnesses.
More disturbing material about CNN News Chief Eason Jordan has appeared on Captain's Quarters (keep scrolling). (Among other things, Jordan appeared to accuse US troops of targetin journalists in Irag... and, yes, there's more...) A blog swarm seems to be forming and, even though such swarms, in and of themselves, do not appeal to me (I prefer to lay out), this story is deeply troubling. Outside the United States, CNN is the face of American television news and what they broadcast is taken (incorrectly, of course) as the view of our country in foreign places. Special responsibility would appear to devolve from that. Even if Mr. Jordan is merely loose-lipped (not infrequently, if one believes the reports on CQ,), he is not the kind of personality who should be managing an international news network. CNN, which has lost many viewers recently here in their home country, should pay attention.
Citing health concerns, Rudy Tomjanovich, one of the nice guys as the cliché goes, bowed out today as the Lakers' coach in an emotional press conference. He didn't need the stress. Few of us do.
I was born in Da Nang, South Vietnam, in August 1965. My father was a soldier in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). My mother had a small business. When the North Vietnamese Communists took over South Vietnam in April 1975, my father, like hundreds of thousands of other South Vietnamese, was sent to a "re-education" camp, where he suffered horrendously from hard labor, malnutrition, torture, and solitary confinement, for 12 years. (His father had been killed years earlier by the Communists). My mother's business was confiscated, and we had to do everything we could to scrape by. I have no idea how we survived those years.
From 1979 to 1981, I made many unsuccessful attempts to escape Vietnam, and was caught twice. Each time I spent only about a month in jail, and my mother bribed me out. In jail, I was beat up, but I wouldn't call it torture. Compared to what my father went through, my treatment was kid stuff. Finally, in August of 1981, at the age of 16, I managed to successfully escape on a small boat...
I guess this gives this new blogger something to say and then some. Not surprisingly he calls himself VietPundit. Welcome, big time.
Although I attended Dartmouth several years after the Big Trunk [Wrong!--ed.], I too am supporting the petition candidacy of Peter Robinson ('79) for the Dartmouth Board of Trustees, not just because I think Peter's a good writer (which I do) or because I agree with him on every issue (I have no clue), but because I favor this new opening up of the College Trustee nominating process via the Internet. For once alumni can actually have a real say. That's why I am also supporting Todd Zywicki (clearly a smart guy too).
A Marine emails his father. (Caveat: This is posted on a Marine site and feels a little "perfect" to me, but still... very interesting)
UPDATE: My apologies to the Marine who is apparently legit in every way (see comments below). I was probably imputing the imperfections of my own emails to him.
The following paragraph appeared in this Reuters dispatch on statements made by Condoleeza Rice before her first trip to the Middle East as Secretary of State:
Rice suggested Washington could also help the Palestinians develop democratic institutions and, eventually, support reconstruction if Israel carries through with its plan to close all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank.
Did Rice put it that way? I sincerely doubt it, just as I doubt the shooting of the Palestinian girl in Gaza is any longer "disputed," as is indicated in the article (the Palestinians did it themselves). The selective quoting in this piece by Arshad Mohammed is quite remarkable for its elegance of propagandistic selection. I commend Mr. Mohammed, but I also wonder if those paying for the Reuters New Service have any idea what they are actually buying. Choosing Reuters may be a goold old habit, but then so was smoking.
According to this article in this morning's Washington Post, the real problem is global aging. [It is for me.-ed. For once we agree.]
No challenge "is as certain as global aging," said the Center for Strategic & International Studies in another recent study, "and none is as likely to have as large and enduring an effect -- on the size and shape of government budgets, on the future growth in living standards, and on the stability of the global economy and even the world order."
Geezer war? Okay, let the jokes fly, but the good news is that once again we dastardly 'Murricans will be at an advantage (some anyway):
As it begins to confront the costs of an aging population, the United States is in far better shape than most of the developed world. By 2040, 26 percent of the U.S. population will be at least 60 years old, up from 16.3 percent in 2000, according to CSIS. But that will make the population relatively spry. At least 45 percent of the populations of Japan, Spain and Italy will be 60 or older by then. In each of those countries, there will be one retiree for every worker.
But chauvinism aside, let's hope cooler (read: less partisan) heads prevail when Bush puts Social Security on the table in the SOTU tonight. As the WaPo article indicates, this relatively small pension program (compared to the real cost of retirement) is but the tiny tip of a rather large iceberg headed our way. The excellent WaPo piece gives a good overview of the various potential calamities confronting our aging and diminishing brain cells. (hat tip: Knucklehead)
"Roger L. Simon is a
gifted writer. I think the most brilliant new writer of private
detective fiction who has emerged in some years. His vision of
Los Angeles--fresh, new, kaleidoscopic--gives up perhaps the best
recent portrait we have had of the great multi-cultured city where
the future is continually being born--halfway between a love-lyric
and an earthquake. The Big Fix, like The Big Sleep, should become
something of a landmark in its field." --Ross Macdonald
"Moses Wine is back with all his wit and
wisdom exposing crime and
the movie industry to the respect it deserves and proving that Roger
Simon is better than ever.”
-- Tony Hillerman
"A terrific read! What a pleasure
to have Moses Wine walking
down these
mean streets again."
-- Sue Grafton, author of Q is for Quarry
"As irresistible as movie popcorn. Moses Wine is the slyest, most entertaining
gumshoe anywhere."
-- Martin Cruz Smith
"Where was Moses when the lights went
out? Up to his schnoz in an anthrax bath--but as might be expected from
Roger Simon, the tawdry Tinseltown toxins
pour like
vintage Wine."
-- Tom Robbins
"Mordantly funny... Simon's satiric humor thrives on absurdity; and once Moses is
in the director's chair, trying to salvage a project that will eventually (by hook and by crook) make it to Sundance,
this sendup of Hollywood greed and bad taste wins the jury prize."
-- Marilyn Stasio, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"…realistic and amusing. I read the whole thing in two sittings and enjoyed it very much. He
offers insight into the world of filmmaking that readers will find hilarious."
-- Glenn Reynolds, MSNBC.com
"The initial boos from the left—for whom Wine has been a hero since his first appearance
as the one radical detective in the 1973 The Big Fix—and tentative cheers from the right will have faded by the end of the
book, when both are laughing too hard to care. Moses hasn't changed his political stripes all that much, and the main target
of his creator's satire is one everybody enjoys ridiculing: the motion picture industry."
-- Jon L. Breen, THE WEEKLY STANDARD
"On his first day as head of security for a movie being shot in Prague, Moses
Wine (making believe he's a Variety reporter for reasons too complicated to summarize here) meets the city's Grand Rabbi, who
asks him, 'Perhaps you would like an exclusive interview with the only screenwriter in Eastern Europe who gives kabala
classes to foreigners on a riverboat cruise ship with catered kosher dinners in the style of the Vilna ghetto?' That lovely
snatch of tossed cultural salad sums up the wacky pleasures of Roger L. Simon's eighth book about Wine -- the Berkeley
radical who literally changed the face of mystery fiction in 1978's 'The Big Fix.'"
--Dick Adler, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"'Director's Cut,' with its footloose plot and its wisecracking lead, is about
as serious as a Marx Brothers movie--which means that Moses Wine gets to do his patriotic bit after all. In the darkest
days, they also serve who make us laugh."
-- Tom Nolan, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
"A particularly relevant plot, then, filled with action and suspense and
set against arresting Czech backgrounds. Recommended."
-- Library Journal
"Simon's savvy Hollywood satire raises troubling questions about our B-grade
domestic preparedness efforts."
-- Booklist
"Director's Cut is a timely thriller, loaded with absorbing insider snippets about
the film industry, humorous jabs at governmental bureaucracy and a general disregard for icons of any sort."
-- Bruce Tierney, BookPage
"Roger L. Simon is a talented writer who can always be counted on to deliver
a chilling thriller."
-- Harriet Klausner, Allreaders.com
"Like a fine wine, Moses just keeps getting better and better. It's one heck of a surreal roller coaster
ride full of the sophisticated satire and wry wit Roger L. Simon is famous for."
-- Anne Barringer, Old Book Barn Gazette
"A quarter of a century after he first appeared in the
now-classic The Big Fix, Moses Wine remains a private investigator par excellence."
-- In Other Words, Mystery
February 08, 2005
