Overnight open thread. Capitulation Edition. (genghis)
— Open Blog

Over at Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria has penned a piece titled Learning to Live With Radical Islam. The subheading is “We don’t have to accept the stoning of criminals. But it’s time to stop treating all Islamists as potential terrorists.”

Ok Fareed, letÂ’s air out your argument.

”Pakistan’s Swat valley is quiet once again. Often compared to Switzerland for its stunning landscape of mountains and meadows, Swat became a war zone over the past two years as Taliban fighters waged fierce battles against Army troops. No longer, but only because the Pakistani government has agreed to some of the militants' key demands, chiefly that Islamic courts be established in the region. Fears abound that this means women's schools will be destroyed, movies will be banned and public beheadings will become a regular occurrence.

Ummmkay. So the Pakistani government has learned to live with radical Islam in the Swat Valley and itÂ’s now returned to its pastoral, Switzerlandish condition (Minus the St. Bernards who roam its Alpine-like mountains with a small keg of brandy, rescuing stranded climbers. Dogs and alcohol are a no-no. Also Ricola.) Obviously the denizens of the valley have learned to live with Radical Islam as well, as itÂ’s otherwise hard to do when youÂ’re headless.

Zakaria decries how unpleasant these radical Islamists are but lists some of their recent evangelical successes:

”It is not just in the Swat valley that Islamists are on the rise. In Afghanistan the Taliban have been gaining ground for the past two years as well. In Somalia last week, Al-Shabab, a local group of Islamic militants, captured yet another town from government forces. Reports from Nigeria to Bosnia to Indonesia show that Islamic fundamentalists are finding support within their communities for their agenda, which usually involves the introduction of some form of Sharia—Islamic law—reflecting a puritanical interpretation of Islam. No music, no liquor, no smoking, no female emancipation.”

So it’s like community outreach. ACORN, but with AK-47s. Remember, the point of the article is “Learning to Live With Radical Islam.” Here Zakaria puts us some knowledge about the Taliban:

”The groups that advocate these policies are ugly, reactionary forces that will stunt their countries and bring dishonor to their religion. But not all these Islamists advocate global jihad, host terrorists or launch operations against the outside world—in fact, most do not. Consider, for example, the most difficult example, the Taliban. The Taliban have done all kinds of terrible things in Afghanistan. But so far, no Afghan Taliban has participated at any significant level in a global terrorist attack over the past 10 years—including 9/11. There are certainly elements of the Taliban that are closely associated with Al Qaeda. But the Taliban is large, and many factions have little connection to Osama bin Laden. Most Taliban want Islamic rule locally, not violent jihad globally.

Well, that is exept for hosting Al Qaeda and all that, but let’s let bygones be bygones. How could they have known that Al Qaeda might try to pull some mischevious prank in the outside world, such as Manhattan, Bali, Madrid or London. No, they’re all about enslaving providing salvation to the local populace. Problem is, when the Taliban were in charge of Afghanistan, “local” meant the entire nation. The article goes on and on forever, but the comments under it are hilarious. My favorite one is below the fold.
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Posted by: Open Blog at 09:18 PM | Comments (116)
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T4 Trailer
— Ace

Get a load of a movie shot by someone who has no idea how to work with actors because he has no professionalism, man.

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Posted by: Ace at 04:10 PM | Comments (97)
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Limbaugh v. Steele, an alternate viewpoint
— Russ from Winterset

UPDATE: I started writing this post before the "Steele Apologizes" post went up, and had to step away from the computer for over an hour to attend to some real life issues. I hit "save" before I realized that the circle was closed, but I still think that my observations need to be made.

Far be it for me to criticize The Boss, but I'd just like to get my $0.02 in on the whole Limbaugh/Steele kerfluffle. Yes, Michael Steele needs to maintain contact with the moderates on issues, because his job is to see to the success of the Republican Party, not just conservatism. I agree that he's in an unenviable position, mainly because of the uncorrected criticism of Rush being laid out there by all the Olbermanns of the world.

With all that said, what Michael Steele DOES NOT need to do here is cede the high ground to his opponents. He's the one who used phrases like "incendiary" and "ugly" in his description of Rush's rhetoric. In my opinion, this isn't a case of Rush starting a fight; it's just Rush jumping into a fight that Mr. Steele started himself. Mr. Steele could have distanced himself from Rush without going as far as he did in that interview. Hell, I probably would have supported him doing that, for all the reasons that Ace already laid out; but what I cannot do here is support Steele when he's so obviously, stupidly and politically wrong.

These pissing matches have two sides. Yes, Rush might have laid into Mr. Steele just a little too much in today's show, but Mr. Steele set the tone by treating Rush as a clown. Think about how that plays with a significant portion of the Republican Party base. The base that works the phone banks leading up to elections. The base that knocks on doors. The base that gives money to the Party. Yeah, pissing all over that base really seems like a good idea, doesn't it? And Rush had a good point about loyalty. Rush Limbaugh went to the mat for Michael Steele when he was running for the Senate in Maryland. He was nothing but supportive of Mr. Steele's candidacy, and this is how Mr. Steele repays that debt? If this is how Michael Steele treats the man who spoke up for him to a weekly audience of millions of people, how do you think he'll treat Joe Conservative, the ham & egger who can't do any favors for him? Yeah, that worries me too. Lord knows that Michael Steele already has a couple strikes against him with the "God Squad", he really didn't need to fight this battle.

Michael Steele has an unenviable job. He's got to placate the true believers in the party while simultaneously convincing enough moderates to swing towards the GOP to win elections. After all, all the principles in the world don't add up to a cup of warm piss if you don't win enough seats to have a say in the legislation. But he's ignoring one undeniable fact of life: "Me Too" Republicanism and squishy moderation don't attract enough voters to the booths to make up for losing the base. Besides, it's my impression that moderates will respond to principled partisanship, just so long as you sell it with conviction and explain it with logical arguments. Reagan didn't beat Carter and Mondale because he didn't have any core principles, and the Republican Revolution of 1994 didn't happen because Newt Gingrich said "Whatever the Democrats are giving you, we'll give you 10% more!" No, these wins happened because the Republicans made their case and sold their principles to the majority of the voters.

You think that Reagan & the '94 Congressional class are relics of the past? Shit, military historians still study the campaigns of Julius Ceasar and Alexander the Great. Philosophers still read Plato and Socrates. These two old relics happened during MY LIFETIME. Besides, do you really want our politicians to emulate the strategies of 2006 and 2008? Reaganism is only dead if WE finish it off.

This isn't a social con/fiscal con issue. Ever read the Powerline blog? You know, the guys who thought that Pawlenty would have been a better choice for McCain's VP than Palin? Not exactly conservative bombthrowers, right? Well, they're calling out Michael Steele for his stupidity.

And while I'm here, let's talk about the "Nazi Rally" comment in Steele's interview. Yes, I know that he didn't say it. What pisses me off is that he didn't go full on hissy fit in an attempt to defend HIS OWN PEOPLE from a goddamn low-blow Nazi comparison. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the vast majority of CPAC attendees are Republicans, right? While I may think that Ron Paul and his strongest supporters are a little too friendly with the Stormfront crowd for my comfort, I sure as HELL wouldn't let some assclown comedian tar the whole crowd at CPAC as one big Nuremberg rally. Michael Steele is the chairman of the Republican Party. When he sits there nodding while some moron is comparing conservatives to The Vilest Political Movement of the mid-20th Century, he's legitimizing the comparison.

When your political opponents unjustly call members of your party Nazis, you get in their goddamn faces and let them have it. It's not too much to ask. Unless you're Michael Steele, I guess.

Summary: Ace is right, in that Michael Steele should somewhat distance himself from some of Rush Limbaugh's more strident remarks in order to preserve his influence with the middle of the roaders. What needs to be said is that Michael Steele seems to have that familiar Republican disease: He's more willing to attack conservatives than he is to go after liberals. I thought that Candidate Maverick taught us all that attacking conservatives is a loser strategy, but apparently we need to have another vicious beating administered to our party before the lesson sinks in with the Beltway Crowd.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 03:43 PM | Comments (580)
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Obama Releases Bush Admin. Memo from Just After 9/11 Justifying Warrantless Arrests of Terror Suspects
— Ace

I'm not sure there's any danger here. However, what we have here is the release of a top-secret memo, after no more than a month's review by the Obama Administration (and probably shorter than that), with little other purpose than to appease the netroots and attempt to embarrass Bush.

Attempt to embarrass, note. I don't think the public is quite on board with Obama's Let a Smile and Chiseled Pecs Be Your Umbrella school of national security.

The Justice Department on Monday released a long-secret legal document from 2001 in which the Bush administration claimed the military could search and seize terror suspects in the United States without warrants.

The legal memo was written about a month after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It says constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure would not apply to terror suspects in the U.S., as long as the president or another high official authorized the action.

Even after the Bush administration rescinded that legal analysis, the Justice Department refused to release its contents, prompting a standoff with congressional Democrats.

The memo was one of nine released Monday by the Obama administration.
Another memo showed that, within two weeks of Sept. 11, the administration was contemplating ways to use wiretaps without getting warrants.

Posted by: Ace at 03:27 PM | Comments (63)
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Finally: Wash That Gray Right Out of Your Pubic Hair
— Ace

Women still have pubic hair? I'd think that would be the first thing to go if you want that youthful look.

That's what I do, at least.

Thanks to AQ.

Posted by: Ace at 03:02 PM | Comments (71)
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Melting Down? Ukrainian Banks Won't Permit Withdrawals
— Ace

Wonderful:

Olexander Pavlenko, a young computer programmer, is one of tens of thousands of Ukrainians who cannot get their money out of the bank.

He stood in line in Kiev at Nadra Bank and Ukrprombank, two big troubled banks, planning to withdraw more than $10,000 (€7,950, £7,125). But like many others, he was told the cash was not available.

“I stood in line a couple times with other bank clients who were protesting, crying and screaming. But the bank told me: ‘Sorry, we simply don’t have the money now and can’t help you.’”

With about nine banks now under the central bankÂ’s special control, Ukrainians are increasingly worried.

Even those with their money in apparently solid banks, including those controlled by west European banking groups, are concerned because the central bank has banned the early redemption of term deposits, the most popular form of saving in Ukraine.

It gets worse. A lot of the nascent liberal-democratic capitalist nations of New Europe and South America are seeing capitalism discredited. We may, unfortunately, see a major communist retrenchment before this is over.

Thanks to JackStraw.

Meanwhile... Economic crisis threatens Europe's single currency, which is no big loss, but it does underscore how bad things are.

The leaders of the European Union gathered Sunday in Brussels for an emergency summit meeting designed to tamp down the centrifugal forces unleashed by the global economic crisis that threaten to spin the bloc - and its single currency - apart.

In a statement afterward, the leaders tried to reassure their publics, promising to hold to the single market, promote growth and reject protectionism.

A call from Hungary for a large bailout for newer, eastern members of the union was rejected by Germany, the richest EU nation, and received little support from other countries.

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany of Hungary warned of "a new Iron Curtain" dividing Europe, even if the metal today was gold. He called for a special EU fund of up to €190 billion, or $241 billion, to protect the bloc's weakest members.

Posted by: Ace at 02:59 PM | Comments (59)
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Steele Apologizes
— Ace

Our long national nightmare is over. I hope.

“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Steele said in a telephone interview. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”

...

“I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking,” Steele said. "It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people … want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he’s not."

...

“He brings a very important message to the American people to wake up and pay attention to what the administration is doing," Steele said. "Number two, there are those out there who want to look at what he’s saying as incendiary and divisive and ugly. That’s what I was trying to say. It didn’t come out that way. … He does what he does best, which is provoke: He provokes thought, he provokes the left. And they’re clearly the ones who are most excited about him.”

Asked if he planned to apologize, Steele said: “I wasn’t trying to offend anybody. So, yeah, if he’s offended, I’d say: Look, I’m not in the business of hurting people’s feelings here. … My job is to try to bring us all together.”

Thanks to this moron.

Posted by: Ace at 02:45 PM | Comments (93)
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Terrific: Russian Report Says Obama Has Offered Quid Pro Quo, Swapping Nixing of European Missile Defense System for Russian "Diplomatic" Help on Iranian Nukes
— Ace

Um, among other problems:

1) Iran wants its nukes as pretty much its highest national priority and "diplomacy" in such a context is entirely futile. It's like someone offering Israelis some really nice water-processing plants if only they'll give up on the state of Israel.

2) Because Obama is determined to let Iran have its nukes, it will have its nukes, and hence he just gave away a critical part of defending against its nukes.

The Obama Administration, I'm sure, sees this as win-win.

Posted by: Ace at 02:43 PM | Comments (56)
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Confirmed: Gaia Hates Global Warming Lunatics
— DrewM

I had this in the headlines but this last little detail was too much fun.

Today's Global Warming protest was short one very high profile protester...the Speaker of the House.

Global warming activists stormed Washington Monday for what was billed as the nation's largest act of civil disobedience to fight climate change -- only to see the nation's capital virtually shut down by a major winter storm.

Schools and businesses were shuttered, lawmakers cancelled numerous appearances and the city came to a virtual standstill as Washington was blasted with its heaviest snowfall of the winter.

It spelled about six inches of trouble for global warming activists who had hoped to swarm the Capitol by the thousands in an effort to force the government to close the Capitol Power Plant, which heats and cools a number of government buildings, including the Supreme Court and the Capitol.

...House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called on the architect of the Capitol to stop burning coal at the power plant last week, cancelled her appearance at the rally because of the weather.

How predictable is snow during a Global Warming protest? You can practically make book on it.

Posted by: DrewM at 02:36 PM | Comments (43)
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Amazing...Another Obama Appointee Owes Back Taxes
— DrewM

Do any Democrats actually pay their taxes?

Ron Kirk, nominated as U.S. Trade Representative in the Obama administration, owes an estimated $10,000 in back taxes from earlier in the decade and has agreed to make his payments, the Senate Finance Committee said Monday.

The committee said the taxes arise from Kirk's handling of speaking fees that he donated to his alma mater, and for his deduction of the full cost of season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team.

The disclosure made the former Dallas mayor the latest in a string of top-level Obama administration appointees found to have underpaid their taxes, following Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle, who withdrew as candidate for Health and Human Services secretary. Nancy Killefer, Obama's pick for chief performance officer, also bowed out amid tax problems.

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said Kirk was working to clear up "a few minor issues" uncovered by the committee and expressed confidence he would be confirmed.

Look, I doubt most people could survive this kind of scrutiny of their taxes but Republican nominees did for 8 years (or they never made the cut once the issues were discovered) so what the hell is the problem here?

No word yet on if Joe Biden has questioned this guys patriotism yet.

(h/t The Page)

Posted by: DrewM at 01:59 PM | Comments (57)
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