Remarkable, isn't it? Give the left a purely humanitarian mission, untainted by any possibility of the US advancing its own security interests, and they're ready to expend all the blood and treasure in the world in a unilateral war of choice.

There's no doubt that we have the moral right to invade Burma. There's little doubt that, given enough soldiers (and deaths), we could do some good there.

But isn't it awfully funny the left is forever undermining the wars we're actually fighting and agitating to start wars which are not in our clear national interest and hence almost certainly won't fight?

If the left wants a humanitarian crusade -- how about getting on board with the two wars we're already engaged in and have very nearly won entirely?

Or does the fact that America might actually be benefited from such victories make them too costly to even contemplate?

Thanks to LCDR Joe. (Last name omitted.)

Posted by: Ace at 10:15 AM | Comments (79)
Post contains 170 words, total size 1 kb.

Thanks to CJ, via the Corner.

Posted by: Ace at 07:05 AM | Comments (29)
Post contains 22 words, total size 1 kb.

I've been taking some flak from commenters for insisting that McCain must win in November. As I've said before, it's not because McCain is going to make a great president or achieve much for Republicans. It's because the alternative is so very much worse.

That's what crossed my mind when I saw the following. What follows is the type of thinking that you will see in the White House should the Democrats win in November. WARNING: it is a concentrated example of the half-truths, distortions, and outright lies that passes for foreign policy discussion on the Left. And if you're anything like me, it's really going to make you mad.

So let's recap the scene: the US military and its Iraqi "allies" are laying siege to a sprawling neighborhood in Baghdad housing roughly 2.5 million Iraqis, launching air strikes, artillery attacks, tank shells and other assorted ordnance, shutting down hospitals and bombing others, cutting off the supply of food and walling off entire sectors of the embattled region, causing a refugee crisis by their actions - and now actually pursuing a policy with the intent of creating a larger refugee crisis!

Witness the liar's casual blend of truth and falsity, used to imply malicious intent that doesn't exist. It's true that U.S. and Iraqi forces are fighting to take and keep control of portions of Sadr City and that one hospital was shut down and another damaged in a bombing. It is also true that the U.S. is building a concrete barrier through the city.

It is absolutely false that the hospital was bombed intentionally--as the liar implies--or that the U.S. has cut off food to the city. In fact, the article he links to (which we will, for now, assume is accurate) notes that the U.S. military is distributing food and medical supplies. This is curiously omitted from the liar's post, given how concerned he is about the residents of Sadr City. According to the article, the Red Crescent estimates that only 6% of the city's population have experienced food, water, or medical shortages during the weeks of fighting. More than that, it also notes that the "refugee crisis" which he blames on the U.S. and Iraqi forces hasn't actually materialized.

It is also manifestly untrue that the intent of the U.S./Iraqi operation is to create a "larger refugee crisis." In fact, the idea is to put an end to mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone, U.S. military bases, and civilian areas which are coming out of parts of Sadr City.

Confusion about the difference between purposeful goals and regrettable, unintended, but unavoidable consequences is not unusual on the Left. The twisted morality that disregards intent makes claims of moral equivalence so much easier.

The liar's most pernicious distortion comes next:

For what reason: because a majority of residents in these regions support a political movement, and militia, that oppose our presence. Can't have that. Because we have to keep 150,000 troops in Iraq to safeguard the Iraqi people. After all, whose gonna set up the tents in the refugee catch basins we so magnanimously helped set up to receive the overflow from our relentless assault on political movements that would make it harder for us to stay in Iraq. To safeguard the Iraqi people.

He thinks that the U.S. is targeting Sadr City merely because a "political movement, a militia" that opposes the U.S. hides in its slums. He makes no mention of the roadside, car, and market bombings, and rocket and mortar attacks that the Mahdi Army has committed. He ignores the Mahdi Army's attacks on Sunni mosques and attempts to "cleanse" a portion of the city of Sunni Arabs. Conveniently forgotten is journalist Steven Vincent who was killed almost certainly by members of that "political movement."

This distortion, wherein the Left imputes political animus to the U.S. government, is shameful, dreadful stuff. It is a mild flavor of conspiracy theory. The obvious purpose--American and Iraqi authorities want the Madhi Army to stop killing people--is disregarded in favor of a dubious, but oh-so-satisfyingly nefarious one: the Americans and their Iraqi stooges are "relentlessly attacking political groups." Another Leftist recently in the news, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, would no doubt agree. He's also fond of malicious government conspiracies.

This is the type of person you are inviting to enter the center ring when you say "we can wait 'til 2012." Democratic voters, Democratic thinkers, Obama's staff and advisers--these are the people you are flirting with when you say "McCain will do so much damage to the Republican Party." Consider for a minute how much damage these people will do to the United States.

This is why the Left must lose in November. I'm not asking you to vote for John McCain. I'm asking you to vote against having a Leftist in the White House.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 01:14 AM | Comments (313)
Post contains 825 words, total size 5 kb.

When even the pollsters think it's time to stop caring, you're toast.

[W]hile Senator Clinton has remained close and competitive in every meaningful measure, she is a close second and the race is over. It has become clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee.

At the moment, Senator ClintonÂ’s team is busily trying to convince Superdelegates and pundits that she is more electable than Barack Obama. For reasons discussed in a separate article, it doesnÂ’t matter. Even if every single Superdelegate was convinced that the former First Lady is somewhat more electable than Obama, that is not enough of a reason to deny him the nomination.

With this in mind, Rasmussen Reports will soon end our daily tracking of the Democratic race and focus exclusively on the general election competition between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Barring something totally unforeseen, that is the choice American voters will have before them in November. While we have not firmly decided upon a final day for tracking the Democratic race, it is coming soon.

That sounds an awful lot like a value judgment.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:44 PM | Comments (46)
Post contains 206 words, total size 1 kb.

Had to correct that "graduate," as we'll have to see what his grades are, huh? Mr. Hand said something about "owing him some time."

Give him a congratulations.

I think the end of law school was just about the happiest day of my life. I didn't like high school much, endured college just for the rare chance of sex, and by the time I was through a semester in law school... I realized I had always hated school and had a new appreciation for drop-outs everywhere.

Thanks Very Much [Gabe]: I'm pleased, but also a little stunned that it's all over. I also would have seen this post much earlier, except that I pretty much took the whole day off for some guilt-free recreation.

I have a few weeks before I have to get ready for the Californina Bar Quiz (I've decided to take its power by demoting it to mere "quiz" status). I'll be staying here in L.A. My job (thanks in small part to the excellent advice of morons) doesn't start until the end of September or so, which means I will have plenty of time for blogging and travel. I plan to visit home and see the fam in August. I'm also considering a little side trip to Minneapolis at the beginning of September if I can wangle a blogger credential out of the RNC and if it doesn't look too expensive.

Thanks for the support, everyone. Ace, if my grades are low, I'm blaming you and the HQ. I think we can all agree that we are not actually responsible for the amount of time we waste spend here.

Posted by: Ace at 04:42 PM | Comments (82)
Post contains 289 words, total size 2 kb.

The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Spoiler Policy: Anything from the miniseries and the show up to and including tonight's episode is fair game; no need to warn or in some way obscure text for anything that comes from that material. However, anything you may have heard about future episodes should be kept to yourself. Thanks.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:23 PM | Comments (56)
Post contains 72 words, total size 1 kb.

The Black Knight always triumphs!

Followers of rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr agreed late Friday to allow Iraqi security forces to enter all of Baghdad's Sadr City and to arrest anyone found with heavy weapons in a surprising capitulation that seemed likely to be hailed as a major victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

In return, Sadr's Mahdi Army supporters won the Iraqi government's agreement not to arrest Mahdi Army members without warrants, unless they were in possession of "medium and heavy weaponry."

The agreement would end six weeks of fighting in the vast Shiite Muslim area that's home to more than 2 million residents and would mark the first time that the area would be under government control since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. On Friday, 15 people were killed and 112 were injured in fighting, officials at the neighborhoods two major hospitals said.

It also would be a startling turnaround in fortunes for Maliki, who'd been widely criticized for picking a fight with Sadr's forces, first in the southern port city of Basra and then in Sadr City.

Members of Maliki's Dawa Party and the powerful Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq met with Sadr officials on Thursday and Friday to come up with a 14-point agreement to end the weeks of fighting, which has hindered the flow of food and water into Sadr City. The agreement was then passed to Sadr and Maliki for final approval, said Baha al Araji, a Sadrist legislator.

Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds have been wounded in the fighting, which included frequent U.S. airstrikes. At least 8,500 people have been driven from their homes, and thousands of others have been forced to stay inside, too frightened to flee.

A government supporter said the Sadrists were brought to the table by the anger of Sadr City residents. On Thursday, the Iraqi military ordered Sadr City residents to evacuate in apparent preparation for a major offensive push.

"It is not the government who pressured the Sadrists into entering this agreement," said Ali al Adeeb, a leading member of the Dawa party. "It is the pressure from the people inside Sadr City and from their own people that will make them act more responsibly."

In related news, the New York Times Magazine will feature an eight-page photo spread of this year's Kentucky Derby champion, Eight Belles.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 03:41 PM | Comments (14)
Post contains 441 words, total size 3 kb.

Once again, a woman. Once again, do not want...

...but who are we kidding, if you're fourteen, that's hittable. Hell, if you're forty that's hittable. Sorta.

By the way, I'm pretty sure this story is basically old. It's just getting new play because transcripts of phone calls have been leaked to the media.

Documents obtained by FOX 13 in the case of a Hillsborough County middle school teacher accused of having sex with underage students reveal a number of new details, and investigators say there are at least four underage victims involved.

...

In a police report included with the documents, one of Ragusa's seventh grade students told investigators that he and Ragusa parked in her Lexus SUV near Gant Road.

He said Ragusa performed oral sex on him and then they had intercourse.

I don't know -- the kid held out for the oral sex and then had intercourse? I'm not buying it. I need more evidence.

The teen said Rugusa had several tattoos, including a flower and a butterfly tattoo on her front below her panty line, and a tattoo of a gecko lizard on her back.

Guilty.

If convicted, she'll have to register as both a sexual predator and World's Greatest Teacher.

Posted by: Ace at 03:08 PM | Comments (72)
Post contains 221 words, total size 2 kb.

I believe the band is called Major Label Interest.

Okay, so it is a punking. I guess I'm relieved.

Here's his video, by the way: more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:04 PM | Comments (10)
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.

"Truth to power."

Posted by: Ace at 01:42 PM | Comments (10)
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.