Christmas Vacation 2005

• 12/23/05 - Flight at 9:00am with a nice 3 hour layover in Washington Reagan airport, long enough to grab a pint (Old Dominion ale, quite nice) and a burger and people-watch as the other travelers rushed around. Got into Knoxville, TN around 3:30pm and met Jon. We took a side-trip to his workplace (Toyota) where he showed me his office and the gigantic warehouse where he coordinates the supply of car-parts from Japan and Vietnam to various manufacturers in the state. We hung out at his place for a bit and then hit the town, first the Downtown Grill & Brewery (so-so fajitas, decent beer, great wings) followed by Patrick Sullivan's (founded in 1888), where I proceeded to leave behind a very special (sentimental) Pop Will Eat Itself hat from their '94 tour and my semester in England. Argh!

• 12/24/05 Woke up and drove to Hickory, NC where we arrived concurrently with Renata and Nathan, fresh back from his Naval tour of the Middle East. In traditional Blosser fashion we presented beloved dad with a fifth of liquor, a six pack and some nice wine for the missus. We got a nice buzz on and spent some time male-bonding on the back porch, target-practice with Nathan's old BB gun.

  Amy's parents came over for dinner -- cheese fondu and a honey-baked ham courtesy of Jon's employers, with some delicious cake for dessert.

  Best of all, I got to see my baby sister Hannah Cabrini for the first time; she's a real cutie, and when she's not screaming she's got an impish grin on her face and a tendency to put anything and everything in her mouth.

  After dinner we opened our Christmas presents -- a set of Iraq's "Most Wanted" Poker Cards from Pa; new fleece sweater from Amy's parents; a blue baseball cap embroidered with J.R.R. Tolkien's "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" from Amy (way cool).

  We played several rounds of poker before/after dinner -- Jon taught me "Texas Hold 'Em" and Nathan a game called "Spit In The Ocean." I don't play all that often, but managed to win $20 in dimes and quarters over the course of the evening, with the loser doing mini-shots of Jim Beam. Unfortunately, Jon did most of the losing and passed out face-first on his old bunkbed in the garage (he slept on the bottom, myself on top) and we had to take off his shoes.

  I had a fitful sleep, partly because I was on the top bunk and from Jon kicking me whenever I started snoring. We learned from Renata that ALL THREE of us were snoring away, poor girl.

• 12/25/05 . . . and then Pa started blaring Handel's Messiah at six o'clock in the morning. I don't recall this being a Christmas tradition, at least not at such an early hour. Amy's mom had prepared a delicious casserole of eggs, sausage and cheese -- I was tempted to get the recipe but I don't think soy sausage would suffice as an ingredient. We bundled up and went to Mass at St. Aloysius', Hickory where I was confirmed. Saw a lot of familiar faces. The choir was sparse due to the holidays but -- how shall we put this graciously? -- they tried very hard. Afterwards we went to lunch at Amy's parents, where "Grandpa" John showed us his (very impressive) collection of firearms (including World War II era), followed by more presents for Pa and Amy. Christmas evening was pretty low-key as we were all recovering from the night before; we saw The Big Lebowski (a personal favorite of Jon and I). Pa and I got into a minor dispute over the merits of The New Oxford Review, particularly editor Dale Vree's latest hatchet-piece on the neocons (Pa's a longtime fan, I'm really not). I went to bed in the guest room so as to spare Jon and Nathan my snoring.

• 12/26/05 -- Pa & Amy packed up and left early morning bound for Iowa to see Grandpa & Grandma Blosser. We went out to El Chapala Mexican restaurant (a tried-and-true source of authentic Mexican cuisine -- great margeritas, too) with Nathan and Renata, after which they left for home and Jon and I went shopping for supplies for our camping trip. We cleaned up the house and spent the evening at McGuire's Pub, another Blosser favorite and preferable to the rather pretentious Taproom. We talked politics, relationships and music and I did my best to persuade Jon on the merits of Elvis Presley, the Misfits and (classic) country & western. He'll

• 12/27/05 - After a brief stop at Outdoor Supply and the old Army-Navy store, Jon and I drove to the Wilson's Creek Wilderness Area, which is known for its many waterfalls. It was cold and the roads were a little icy. The main road leading to our trail was closed, so we were forced to pick an alternative route. We hiked in for .8 of a mile to a campground, where the trail veered off to the right and seemed to fade out -- nobody had been down there in a while, so we thrashed around in the brush a bit before finding out way onto another, longer trail and hiked along the creek a bit to a nice spot where we pitched camp and got a good, roaring fire going. Beef stew (canned) and beer (cheap six pack) for dinner; hot chocolate for dessert. The evening sky was cold, crisp and absolutely clear, making for perfect stargazing before bed. Jon brought a deck of cards and taught me Rummy.

• 12/28/05 Jon and I woke up around ten o'clock the next morning and after a breakfast of sausage and eggs broke camp and hiked out -- quite the workout for me, as New Yorker that I was, I hadn't been hiking (much less camping) in five years: going in was tough on the knees, coming out hell on the calves . . . all the more incentive to start exercising in the new year. We reached the end around noon, feasted on some fresh tangerines and made our way to Asheville, NC.

  We showered and rested at Mom's apartment for a bit, spent an hour solving a five-star difficulty game of Sudoku that she had printed out for us, and then met her as she got off work at Earth Fare. Had a great Chipotle Chicken Burrito at Mamacita's Mexican Grill washed down with a good pint at Ed Boudreaux's BBQ. Walking around Asheville we ran into old and good friends Lisa Miller and Carrie, both of whom still reside in Hickory and had fled to Asheville for a change of scenery. (If you've ever lived in Hickory, you'll understand that fleeing to Asheville is a frequent and -- for the sake of preserving one's sanity -- necessary pasttime).

• 12/29/05 Spent the day in Asheville with my mom; breakfast, then laundry, a few used music and book stores, lunch of spicy Thai chicken curry and Basil Noodles at Doc Chey's and a pint of Chocolate Stout at Jack O' The Wood (where I picked up a t-shirt per wife's request).

• 12/30/05 Quick brunch of pulled pork, sweet fries and macaroni & cheese at Ed Boudreaux's BBQ (had to get in one last good BBQ meal while in the South); then off to Asheville airport for a 2:00pm flight to La Guardia, NYC.

All in all, an excellent vacation. (More photos from Pa here).

P.S. Jon swung by Sullivan's on the way back home and picked up my PWEI hat, so all is well and good in the land of Blosser.

Maintaining my Status as a Warblogger: The Mother of All Roundups

Various critics (friend and foe alike) have referred to me as a "warblogger" -- a label I find rather curious, since my actual blogging on the war is rather minimal compared to my other interests, and when I do blog, my meager efforts in this regard pale in comparison to the likes of, say, Little Green Footballs or Winds of Change.

When I think of "war blogs," I think of the reporting of combat journalist Michal Yon or blogger Bill Roggio, currently touring Anbar Province, Iraq by invitation of the 2nd Marine Division, or the real 'milbloggers' posting from the trenches.

However, Wikipedia defines a "warblog" as

"A warblog is a weblog devoted mostly or wholly to covering news events concerning an ongoing war. Sometimes the use of the term "warblog" implies that the blog concerned has a pro-war slant."

So on that note perhaps I'd qualify.

It has been quite a while since I did any significant posting on this subject . . . so in the interest of bolstering my reputation, here's a roundup of recommended links on the subject culled from the past few months.

• From Bill Roggio's The Fourth Rail, An Interview with Colonel Davis Oct. 30, 2005, "Commander of Marine Regimental Combat Team - 2, who is responsible for fighting in western Anbar province, also known as AO Denver" -- who, among other things, summarizes his regiment's mission in Iraq:

  . . . I don't like to talk in terms of winning and losing when it comes to the issues in the Middle East. Americans have a very Western way of thinking: you identify the problem; you analyze the problem and then fix it and move onto the next problem. Out here you need to be vigilant and do a lot of continuous maintenance work, which pays off over time.

  Saddam never controlled this region of Iraq. It is very tribal and fiercely independent. He sent in the army to kill and intimidate the population. He established two tribes in the region: the Salmanis and the Karabilah tribes, to further his goals and counter balance existing dominating tribes. The Iraqis out west, particularly in Haditha are well educated and are able to provide for their own needs. They have operated this way for centuries and can do so again with the proper security environment. We have a simple equation we use out here:

  Presence = Security = Stability = the environment for self governance.

  Our goal is to enfranchise the Iraqi security forces and allow them to provide for the security in the region and improve the lives of the Iraqi people. We will continue to conduct civil/military affairs operations to improve the lives of the Iraqi people. In Haditha, we are rebuilding the hospital the jihadis attacked with a car bomb and then used as a base of operation. We are working to enhance schools and other services vital to the people. We will continue to maintain a presence until the Iraqi Army is capable of standing on its own.

  Thanks to Chris Burgwald, who introduced me to the blog. See also this piece on Iran's sponsorship of international terrorism including Al Qaeda.

  Update: The Fourth Rail is now closed, as Bill Roggio is currently blogging from Iraq (Anbar Province) by special invitation from senior Marine officers with the Regimental Combat Team - 2, 2nd Marine Division. You can now read him at ThreatsWatch.org.

• Purple-Ink & Other Underreported Successes, by W. Thomas Smith, Jr. National Review Oct. 31, 2005:

  Lance Corporal Tara Pryor has been in Iraq for only three weeks. Already, she has learned that what readers glean from newspapers and television broadcasts back home are not as things really are.

  “I am surprised,” says the 21-year-old Strongsville, Ohio, native who currently serves with the Marine’s 6th Civil Affairs Group in Fallujah. “The majority of the [Iraqi] people appreciate what we are trying to do.”

  Pryor’s revelation is no surprise to those who have been there. Back home, military servicemen and women contend the daily fare from the various media ranges from disturbing to false to downright manipulative. . . .

• A War to be Proud Of, by Christopher Hitchens. The Weekly Standard 09/05/2005, Volume 010, Issue 47. The former Nation journalist turned neocon poses some difficult questions that beg for answers:

  The balance sheet of the Iraq war, if it is to be seriously drawn up, must also involve a confrontation with at least this much of recent history. Was the Bush administration right to leave--actually to confirm--Saddam Hussein in power after his eviction from Kuwait in 1991? Was James Baker correct to say, in his delightfully folksy manner, that the United States did not "have a dog in the fight" that involved ethnic cleansing for the mad dream of a Greater Serbia? Was the Clinton administration prudent in its retreat from Somalia, or wise in its opposition to the U.N. resolution that called for a preemptive strengthening of the U.N. forces in Rwanda?

• Our Troops Must Stay: "America can't abandon 27 million Iraqis to 10,000 terrorists", by Senator Joe Lieberman. Wall Street Journal Nov. 29, 2005. In case you missed it, a gutsy article from the Democratic senator from Connecticut, who returned from my fourth trip to Iraq in the past 17 months, and has good things to report.

• Over at Mudville Gazette, Greyhawk questions John P Murtha's citation that "Over 15,500 have been seriously injured" in Iraq:

  There have indeed been over 15,500 wounded. But of those, 8375 returned to duty within 72 hours - so although those wounds weren't funny perhaps those wounds weren't quite serious either. Still, 7347 troops have been wounded severely enough to require over 72 hours recuperation. Furthermore, 2,791 Soldiers were wounded seriously enough to require evacuation to Stateside Army Medical facilities. And 280 amputees have been treated in Army facilities as a result of the war. A lot of unscrupulous types who just want to pretend to "support the troops" ignore these facts in favor of the less correct (and more impressive) claim that 15,500 troops have been seriously wounded, or maimed, or mutilated. The real numbers are big enough - I just can't understand why some feel the need to pad them

• Here's yet another reason to love Hollywood action-hero Bruce Willis (besides Die Hard):

  Unlike many Hollywood stars Willis supports the war and recently offered a $1m (about £583,000) bounty for the capture of any of Al-Qaeda’s most wanted leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, its commander in Iraq. Willis visited the war zone with his rock and blues band, the Accelerators, in 2003.

  “I am baffled to understand why the things I saw happening in Iraq are not being reported,” he told MSNBC, the American news channel.

  Source: Sunday Times Nov. 27, 2005. Willis is planning on making a film on Deuce Four, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, "which has spent the past year battling insurgents in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul."

  The film will be based on the reporting of blogger Michael Yon, "a former special forces green beret who was embedded with Deuce Four and sent regular dispatches about their heroics." (P.S. Due recognition to Charlie Daniels as well, who raised thousands of dollars in donated musical instruments for troops in Iraq.)

• Rerum-Novarum: Miscellaneous Threads Worth Reviewing Nov. 19, 2005. In case you haven't had enough, another roundup with commentary from I. Shawn McElhinney, with notes on Able Danger, the question of missing WMD's and . . . Kurt Vonnegut.

History Lesson(s)

• A Brief History of a Long War (1990-2003), by Greyhawk (Mudville Gazette), providing a necessary corrective to those who quickly forget the history of this conflict:

  . . . One of the most blatant - and most effective - examples [of revisionism] has been the highly successful propagation of the idea that the war in Iraq began as a misguided result of the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11th 2001. To achieve this feat of near-universal denial requires the dismissing of over a decade of real history - years in which a handful of Americans drew a line in the sand on distant shores - a line crossed repeatedly and re-drawn too frequently by too many hands to be forgotten so swiftly.

  And it's nearly forgotten they are, those warriors of just a few short years ago. But not just yet, at least not completely. This work in progress is dedicated to my fellow members of the US military, those who stand the "line in the sand" now and those have done so for so many years past.

  Look, here is what happened. Listen, here's what they said when it did. . . .

• The New York Times and Iraq: 1993-2005. The blogger at American Future embarks on an ambitious project to "employ the New York Times’ editorials to trace and analyze the evolution of the newspaper’s stance on Iraq":

  A war can be lost because public opinion turns against its continued prosecution. The New York Times – the self-described “newspaper of record” – is among the world’s most influential opinion leaders. As shown by the cited quotations, the newspaper’s stance on Iraq underwent a complete transformation during the decade separating 1993 and 2003. While its editors never lost their fear of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their prescription for countering the threat posed by the weapons was altered beyond recognition. In 1993, by arguing that cease-fire violations nullified U.N. protection, the Times affirmed the right of a victorious party to resume hostilities at its sole discretion if the party it defeated did not abide by the terms of the agreement to which it affixed its signature. Ten years later, the Times reversed its stance, asserting that the United States should not go to war without the approval of the United Nations. In so doing, the Times implicitly argued that going to war with the approval of a multilateral institution took precedence over the use of military force to expeditiously eliminate the threat posed by Iraq’s WMD.

  The New York Times and Iraq (1993-2005): Part I covers the eight years of the Clinton administration, is the first of three that employ the Times’ editorials to trace and analyze the evolution of the newspaper’s position on Iraq. Part II covers the Bush administration until the invasion of Iraq. Part III covers the Invasion of Iraq to Abu Ghraib (March 2003 - April 2004).

• Where the WMDs Went, by Jamie Glazov. FrontPageMagazine.com | November 16, 2005. Interview with Bill Tierney, a former military intelligence officer and Arabic speaker "who worked at Guantanamo Bay in 2002 and as a counter-infiltration operator in Baghdad in 2004. He was also an inspector (1996-1998) for the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) for overseeing the elimination of WMD's and ballistic missiles in Iraq. He worked on the most intrusive inspections during this period and either participated in or planned inspections that led to four of the seventeen resolutions against Iraq."

Torture

• Junkyard blogger B. Preston "would love it if Mark Shea simply defined torture -- What it is and what it isn’t. He's right, in that this post is a typically brilliant snark-fest but never actually addresses what the McCain Amendment will and will not do. . . . It’s seriously snarky and seriously angry, but doesn’t approach the issue with any genuine seriousness. In the end, it’s lazy." Much as I enjoy Mark's blog, I do think his snarkiness sometimes gets the better of him, together with his practice of labeling the opposition. Then again, perhaps that's part of his appeal. On his behalf, he did author the rather more serious appraisal of the issue in: Toying with Evil: May a Catholic Advocate Torture? Crisis March 9, 2005.

• Military historian Victor Davis Hanson, meanwhile, joins others in backing the McCain amendment: On torture, U.S. must take the high road Chicago Tribune Dec. 2, 2005:

  So we might as well admit that by foreswearing the use of torture, we will probably be at a disadvantage in obtaining key information and perhaps endanger American lives here at home. (And, ironically, those who now allege that we are too rough will no doubt decry "faulty intelligence" and "incompetence" should there be another terrorist attack on an American city.) Our restraint will not ensure any better treatment for our own captured soldiers. Nor will our allies or the UN appreciate American forbearance. The terrorists themselves will probably treat our magnanimity with disdain, as if we were weak rather than good.

  But all that is precisely the risk we must take in supporting the McCain amendment--because it is a public reaffirmation of our country's ideals. The United States can win this global war without employing torture. That we will not resort to what comes so naturally to Islamic terrorists also defines the nobility of our cause, reminding us that we need not and will not become anything like our enemies.

Iraq & Al Qaeda

• Night of the Living "Known Fact", by Leon H @ RedState.Org July 10, 2005:

  One of the most persistent Known Facts in the lexicon of Known Fact users is the Known Fact that Iraq had no ties to Al-Qaeda. None whatsoever. This, of course, was the justification the New York Times (one of the great all-time users of Known Facts) used for their shrieking denunciation of Bush's June 28th speech. How could he even mention Iraq and 9/11 in the same speech? Doesn't he know that it's a Known Fact that there was no relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda?

  Much of the evidence behind this Known Fact lies behind the findings of the 9/11 commission, which stated that it could find "no evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States." This, to the liberal mindset, was the same as saying, "We have proved conclusively that no such evidence exists, nor ever will exist, so let this henceforth be known as a Known Fact." The reality is that the commission said something very different, and the emergence of actual facts in the year since then has repeatedly put this Known Fact to death, only to see it rise up from the grave, more horrible and foul-smelling than ever before.

• Case Not Dismissed: Ahmed Hikmat Shakir & the 9/11 Commission, by Andrew C. McCarthy. National Review Online. July 1, 2005.

• Body of Evidence, by Stephen F. Hayes. Weekly Standard June 30, 2005:

  "THERE IS NO EVIDENCE that Saddam Hussein was connected in any way to al Qaeda."

  So declared CNN Anchor Carol Costello in an interview yesterday with Representative Robin Hayes (no relation) from North Carolina.

  Hayes politely challenged her claim. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. There's evidence everywhere. We get access to it. Unfortunately, others don't."

  CNN played the exchange throughout the day. At one point, anchor Daryn Kagan even seemed to correct Rep. Hayes after replaying the clip. "And according to the record, the 9/11 Commission in its final report found no connection between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein."

  The CNN claims are wrong. Not a matter of nuance. Not a matter of interpretation. Just plain incorrect. They are so mistaken, in fact, that viewers should demand an on-air correction.

  If you want to investigate the alleged ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, there's no better place to start than Stephen Hayes' The Connection : How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America, which provides a good compilation of his investigation into this issue as it appeared in The Weekly Standard.

• It's ALL about Al Qaeda, by Andrew McCarthy. National Review Online. June 29, 2005.

• That was then, this is now, by John @ Powerline July 15, 2005:

  This ABC News video from five years ago, courtesy of Media Research Center, is a classic. Before Democrats had a partisan motive to claim, contrary to all the evidence, that there was no relationship between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and bin Laden's al Qaeda, their close and dangerous relationship was common knowledge. That common knowledge is reflected in this ABC news report, as it was in the Clinton administration's indictment of bin Laden in 1998 for, among other things, collaborating with Saddam on weapons of mass destruction.

  It really is a fascinating question: in this era of digital media, can the news media and the Democrats get away with trying to flush what they said as recently as 1998 and 2000 down the memory hole?

Supporting Our Troops" - Images of the Opposition

• From the Rhode Island blog Anchor Rising ("The Right Side of Hope in Rhode Island") comes a substantial roundup of informative commentary on Cindy Sheehan, mother of fallen soldier turned icon of the pacifist opposition to the "Iraqi occupation."

• The Peace Movement's Moderate Face, by Amy Widenour (National Center, Nov. 27, 2005):

  As Cindy Sheehan is once again protesting in Crawford, Texas, I thought it a good time to share some pictures that show -- as the mainstream media often does not -- the message of the anti-war protesters. These photos, of another anti-war rally in which Cindy Sheehan participated, were taken by Joe Roche. . . ."

• "Supporting Our Troops" @ AmericanFuture.Net: "Chad Drake, a resident of Garland, Texas, was somehow identified as the 1,000th victim of the Iraq war. The Drake family attended a vigil at the Dallas City Hall, having been assured by a member of the Dallas Peace Center that the event would be non-political. . . ."

• Sox or Soldiers? Which photos are White Sox World Series celebrations, and which ones are solemn memorials for 2000 dead soldiers and certainly not parties? (Pop quiz at Everlasting Phelps).

• Academic freedom has its limits. When John Daly, adjunct English professor at Warren County Community College advocated the murder of American military officers, the public outcry (largely instigated by the Young America Foundation and the patriotic blogging community) forced him to resign. I say good riddance.

• Anti-war protestors recently expressed their "support for the troops" by throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers, attempting to set fire to buildings, "fighting capitalism" and equating Hurricane Katrina with "genocide." Michelle Malkin has the roundup.

  (Note: Don't get me wrong. I understand one can make a principled case against the war. But if this is the public face of the anti-war movement, as it seems to be, it's high time y'all hired a new public relations department).

Cheney: “Look, just tell him that you couldn’t find anyone, but that you think you could probably just do it yourself.”

Miers: “There’s no way I can pull that off.”

Cheney: “He’ll go for it, I swear!”

Katrina.

• 100 Hours after Stormfall - a useful summary of events from The Anchoress.

• Coverage - Austin Bay recommends the New Orleans Times-Picayune for its outstanding coverage, including this article on the devastating loss of legal documents -- real estate records dating back to the early 1800s, and the loss of offices, files and other documents critical to civil and criminal legal cases, making for a beaurocratic nightmare as New Orleans' citizens struggle to rebuild.

• Disaster Relief - Katrina Help WIKI [mirror-site] has a lot of resources; the bloggers at Little Green Footballs provide an extensive list of charities; Mark Shea recommends the Mercy Corps; Amy Welborn has another good list explaining what you can do to help (see her blog for ongoing updates as usual).

• If you live in the SouthEast and approximately 300 miles of the disaster area, HurricanHousing.org is coordinating offers of free housing to hurricane evacuees. (One of the few organizing projects by MoveOn.org that I'll support). Operation: Share Your Home is a similar project, run by "concerned Louisiana citizens who have joined together to provide an immediate response to the tragedy that has struck our beloved state."

• The Knights of Columbus has pledged a minimum of $2.5 million in financial assistance and will match any funds beyond that donated to the Knights of Columbus Katrina Relief Fund over the next 60 days.

• Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart, America's largest retailer, pledged $15 million to relief efforts, along with the promise to establish "mini-Wal-Mart stores in areas impacted by the hurricane. Items such as clothing, diapers, baby wipes, food, formula, toothbrushes, bedding and water will be given out free of charge to those with a demonstrated need." This display of generosity even while its stores in New Orleans were being looted and ransacked -- one wonders if this might earn a nod of grudging approval from the radical left? (Via Cries in the Night).

• Karen W. Woods, Director for the Center for Effective Compassion at the Acton Institute, reminds us that when it comes to relief "It's in the details":

  The first thing to remember is the principle of subsidiarity. The idea is common sense: Nothing should be done by larger and more complex organizations which can be done as well by smaller, simpler organizations closer to the need. In other words, leave the complex problems to the complex organizations; let the simpler groups take care of the more basic needs. . . . Local charities have been meeting local needs for decades. The ABC Pregnancy Resource Center in Lake Charles, La., delivered baby formula and baby clothes from their own program to a community center that is housing 2,500 Katrina refugees, with as many as 4,000 more expected this week. This community charity had the resources on hand and simply transferred them to the place of need. "I don't even have to ask my board," said director Nete Mire.

  But the ABC Pregnancy Center in Lake Charles (email: abcpregnancycenter@copper.net, 866-434-2797) needs more formula, diapers, baby wipes, and baby bath products. They are trying to help serve 116 children under age 2 at the com munity center. The nonprofit Tutwiler Clinic in Tutwiler, Miss. would immediately use financial donations for prescription drugs for refugees. Dr. Anne Brooks says such donations would also help them replace household items for those in their community who lost homes. Both these programs are listed in the Samaritan Guide, www.samaritanguide.com, a reporting site for privately funded charities that serve individuals.

  The Lake Charles Catholic Diocese is accepting donations for Katrina refugee assistance specifically in that community.

  The principle of subsidiarity not only offers a more efficient means for relief of basic needs, it offers a component that no bureaucracy could provide, one that only individuals can provide: a human connection. Only an individual can provide the hope and encouragement that is as necessary to the well being of these refugees.

• A strange place to build a city. Kevin Miller (Heart, Mind & Strength) posts a good geographical representation of NOLA's location with respect to Lake Ponchartrain and the Gulf.

• Will New Orleans Recover?, by Nicole Gelinas. City Journal Vol. 15, No. 3, Summer 2005:

  The truth is that even on a normal day, New Orleans is a sad city. Sure, tourists think New Orleans is fun: you can drink and hop from strip club to strip club all night on Bourbon Street, and gamble all your money away at Harrah’s. But the city’s decline over the past three decades has left it impoverished and lacking the resources to build its economy from within. New Orleans can’t take care of itself even when it is not 80 percent underwater; what is it going to do now, as waters continue to cripple it, and thousands of looters systematically destroy what Katrina left unscathed? . . .

  Nicole describes NO as a city having "long suffered from incompetence and corruption", illustrating the necessity of moral renewal of local government, concurrent with economic and social rehabilitation.

• Oswald Sobrino (Catholic Analysis) takes issue with the "Hurricane Finger-Pointers", the Bush-haters who lay the blame for the chaos in NO at the feet of the President. Sobrino, a native New Orleanian, describes his hometown as "the city that did not evacuate in the face of a Category 5 hurricane", and concurs with Gelinas' report:

  The scandalous ineptness and stupidity shown by local and state officials in failing to enforce and implement a true evacuation of the most vulnerable is, unfortunately, a continuation of the long history of misrule that has marked my native city for decades. Remember that fact when you see local and state officials lashing out at the federal response. Their lashing out is an attempt at distracting from their own obvious responsibility for a self-magnified disaster.

• Peter Sean Bradley (Lex Communis also has questions about New Orleans and its tradition of local governance, noting "hundreds of school buses in dirty contaminated water. School buses which were not sent to the Superdome on Saturday to evacuate those without transportation." What happened?

• From Captain's Quarters and related bloggers, several good posts on the failure of local government, pointing out that 1) New Orleans had the opportunity to address the issues concerning emergency evacuation of a city nearly one year ago, in the advance of Hurrican Ivan in the Gulf; 2) that New Orleans' city government actually possessed a detailed hurricane disaster plan that it neglected to follow. Likewise, Americans for Freedom provides "a documented list of state and local failures" demonstrating why one cannot lay the blame for this on the federal government and the President.

• Michael Novak finds that a look at the 2000 census data on New Orleans provides A Fuller Picture to the troubling images we're seeing on television.

• From Arthur Chrenkoff:

  Arguably not as stupid and inane as some of the quotes following the Asian tsunami (see here and here), one of the biggest natural disasters in American history has nevertheless provided many with a delicious opportunity to bash President Bush and the right side of the politics and the country generally. Here's the selection of some of the choiciest commentary . . .

  (More quotes here).

• Genevieve Kineke (Feminine Genius) relays a story of order amidst the chaos, which she describes as : "heart-rending because of the effort to create order as a sign of civility, which seems not to have mattered in the Big Picture. Of course, it does matter -- to those in this small place, to those struggling with despair, and to God." Pray that they get help.

• 64-year old African American "social justice advocate" Randall Robinson claims that "black hurricane victims in New Orleans have begun eating corpses to survive". As opposed to, say, white hurricane victims, who possessing average human metabolisms can average 30 days without eating.

• Fr. Jim Tucker admonishes those who foolishly ask What Did They Do to Deserve a Hurricane? -- meanwhile, Senior Kuwaiti Official did exactly that, proclaiming: "Katrina is a Wind of Torment and Evil from Allah Sent to This American Empire."

• "This journal has become the Survival of New Orleans blog," says the author. "In less perilous times it was simply a blog for me to talk smack and chat with friends. Now this journal exists to share firsthand experience of the disaster and its aftermath with anyone interested."

• Jimmy Akin brings his moral analysis to bear on a number of issues involving "disaster ethics" that have arisen in the past week. In part 1, he discusses "price gouging" and "the possibility, in situations of urgent necessity, of taking another's property without it being the sin of stealing"; in part two, moral situations which might justify the taking of another's property; in part three, what things you are allowed to take in such situations and what other rules there are concerning taking them".

• Pope/St. Gregory the Great on Tribulation, Grieving the Dead, and Caring for the Living, from Teresa Polk (Blog By The Sea).

• Finally, if I may be permitted to close with a bit of humor and advice -- Sean Penn, STAY OUT OF NEW ORLEANS. Go back to Hollywood, and let the real (i.e, trained) rescue crews do their job.

What kind of community does the Internet build?

. . . perhaps the Internet does build "community," but what kind of community does it build?

It seems to me that, even in "community," the Internet is inherently isolating, depending as it does on corrupt notions of freedom and selfhood. The Internet may be the greatest tool of the modern age, but it comes with all the problematic dualities that this age and its products have had--both for good and bad, for weal and woe, for liberation and enslavement. Yet many today are unable to understand both the boon and the bane of the Internet, that it can, even while creating community, radically undermine community, and thus foster isolation.

The Internet is isolating because it subtly convinces people that fellowship and community can be had with only as much commitment as a click of a button. If I get bored, or frustrated, or angry, or hurt online, I can just log off, or connect to a different forum. The Internet is the ultimate voluntary society. And the voluntaristic impulse embedded in online interactions is destructive of real community. It erodes trust, and renders impossible the collective building of a shared history and a shared set of ideals.

The church, as a community, must do more than simply bless such an idea of community with tacit acceptance. Rather, the church ought to challenge it by living an authentic alternative. In preaching, worship, catechesis, and mission, the church has the opportunity to subvert the voluntaristic model of community many people learn from modern life, and from its most effective pedagogue, the Internet. The church can preach the good news that God in Christ established a community transcending our voluntarism. The church can teach about the meaning of the Gospel to an information-saturated people. And in mission with and among these same people the church can live out a constancy and patience that will not "log off" when times are difficult and relationships are strained.

Daniel M. Griswold - "Beyond the Hype: The Internet and the Church" Perspectives: Journal of Reformed Christian Thought January 2003.

Never had a problem with tap water, anyway.

. . . Ounce for ounce, it costs more than gasoline, even at today's high gasoline prices; depending on the brand, it costs 250 to 10,000 times more than tap water. Globally, bottled water is now a $46 billion industry. Why has it become so popular?

It cannot be the taste, since most people cannot tell the difference in a blind tasting. Much bottled water is, in any case, derived from municipal water supplies, though it is sometimes filtered, or has additional minerals added to it.

Nor is there any health or nutritional benefit to drinking bottled water over tap water. In one study, published in The Archives of Family Medicine, researchers compared bottled water with tap water from Cleveland, and found that nearly a quarter of the samples of bottled water had significantly higher levels of bacteria. The scientists concluded that "use of bottled water on the assumption of purity can be misguided." Another study carried out at the University of Geneva found that bottled water was no better from a nutritional point of view than ordinary tap water.

. . . Bottled water is undeniably more fashionable and portable than tap water. The practice of carrying a small bottle, pioneered by supermodels, has become commonplace. But despite its association with purity and cleanliness, bottled water is bad for the environment. It is shipped at vast expense from one part of the world to another, is then kept refrigerated before sale, and causes huge numbers of plastic bottles to go into landfills.

Of course, tap water is not so abundant in the developing world. And that is ultimately why I find the illogical enthusiasm for bottled water not simply peculiar, but distasteful. For those of us in the developed world, safe water is now so abundant that we can afford to shun the tap water under our noses, and drink bottled water instead: our choice of water has become a lifestyle option. For many people in the developing world, however, access to water remains a matter of life or death.

"Bad to the Last Drop", by Tom Standage. New York Times August 1, 2005.

Pope Benedict and Harry Potter

Pope Benedict and Harry Potter @ The Ratzinger Fan Club.

A roundup of the relevant posts and articles for those interested in this truly momentous and controversial issue of international, nay, universal proportions.

Michael Foucault and Militant Islam

Heidegger had his infatuation with National Socialism. Sartre with Communism; and Focoult with . . . Radical Islam? -- Alas, according to Kevin Anderson and Janet Afary's Foucault and the Iranian Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 2005). The Boston Globe has the story:

When Foucault went to Tehran, he was France's dominant public intellectual, famous for a critique of modernity carried out through unsparing dissections of modern institutions that reversed the conventional wisdom about prisons, madness, and sexuality. In his most famous work, "Discipline and Punish," Foucault argued that liberal democracy was in fact a "disciplinary society" that punished with less physical severity in order to punish with greater efficiency. More broadly, his counternarrative of the Enlightenment suggested that the modern institutions we imagined were freeing us were in fact enslaving us in insidious ways. . . .

Foucault was virtually alone among Western observers, Anderson and Afary argue, in embracing the specifically Islamist wing of the revolution. Indeed, Foucault pokes fun at the secular leftists who thought they could use the Islamists as a weapon for their own purposes; the Islamists alone, he believed, reflected the "perfectly unified collective will" of the people.

The Iranian Revolution, Anderson and Afary write, appealed to certain of Foucault's characteristic preoccupations — with the spontaneous eruption of resistance to established power, the exploration of the limits of rationality, and the creativity unleashed by people willing to risk death. It also tied into his burgeoning interest in a "political spirituality" (by which he meant the return of religion into politics, a suspicious phenomenon in rigorously secular France) whose rise was then still obscured by the Cold War. These preoccupations made Foucault both more sensitive to the power of political religion, but also more prone to soft-pedal its dangers. In his articles, Foucault compared the Islamists to Savonarola, the Anabaptists, and Cromwell's militant Puritans. The comparisons were intended to flatter. . . .

There is a long tradition of Western intellectuals going abroad to sing the praises of revolutionaries in distant lands and finding in them the realization of their own intellectual hopes. But the irony of Foucault's embrace of the Iranian Revolution was that the earlier intellectuals who had sung hymns to tyrants tended to share a set of beliefs in the kind of absolutes — Marxism, humanism, rationality — that Foucault had made it his life's work to overturn. Rather than pronounce from on high, Foucault sought to listen to what he took to be the authentic voice of marginal people in revolt and let it speak through him. In practice, this turned out to be a distinction without a difference.

The philosopher and the ayatollah, by Wesley Yang. The Boston Globe June 12, 2005.

Herbert on Heideggar

Did you know Franklin Herbert -- most popular for his SF novel/series Dune -- wrote a novel loosely-based on the philosophy of Martin Heideggar? It's called The Santaroga Barrier.

The Heideggerian philosophy blog Enowning relays the story and a brief critical review. For those who aren't amused and/or impressed by Herbert's literary exercise, try browsing a copy of Heidegger's 1927 Sein und Zeit ["Being and Time"] next time you're at a bookstore, and imagine rendering it as fiction.

Sudoku.

Sudoku Clarification - Eamon Fitzgerald provides some background on a logic-game that's captured my interest as of late. It was introduced to me by a friend who plays it every morning. "Better than coffee," she says. I'm not sure I'd make the same comparison, but it is enjoyable and -- warning! -- potentially addictive.

Memorial Day - May 30, 2005

Their service came not as a burden but as a duty. The Daily Demarche on the origins of Memorial Day:

In 1918 Moina Michael penned "We Shall Keep the Faith" in response to John McCrae’s "In Flanders Field" (both poems can be found at the end of this post) launching the idea of wearing a poppy on the 30th of May in remembrance of our fallen warriors. While Memorial Day has existed as a federal holiday since only 1966, the practice of honoring America’s war dead dates to at least the Civil War . . .

Also in the post, details on the petition to move Memorial Day back to the 30th of May. (Seems like a good idea to me) .

Via Michelle Malkin):

Legacy.com has set up a moving tribute page to honor service members who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company set up the site free of charge and launched it in March. The Guest Book sections are must read. Well over 19,000 Guest Book entries from readers have been posted since the site opened.

God & Man on the Frontlines, Kathryn Jean Lopez interviews Stephen Mansfield, author of The Faith of the American Soldier, on religion in the military and the necessity for a 'faith-based warrior code':

NRO: What does honor mean for the American on the battlefield?

Mansfield: Honor on the battlefield results from living by a code that rescues the warrior from barbarism and elevates the profession of arms. It means understanding soldiering as a spiritual service as much as a martial role. Honorable soldiers are devoted to the moral objectives of their nation in war, are willing to lay their lives on an altar of sacrifice, are courageous in subduing the enemy yet compassionate to civilians and prisoners, are devoted to a godly esprit de corps, and are eager to master the art of arms by way of fulfilling a calling.

NRO: How important was it that the Iraq war be addressed in theological just-war terms?

Mansfield: It is vital for a government to establish the morality of a war before sending soldiers into battle. The traditional just-war concept has to be satisfied. Soldiers don’t want to fight simply to defend a nation’s vanity or to support a corrupt vision. They want to know they are doing good. This is essential for them and for the nation that is going to welcome them home again. I have talked to hundreds of soldiers during the research of this book. Almost every one of them mentioned his or her need to believe in the goodness of their nation’s purposes in war.

And this interesting background to the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal:

NRO: Is Abu Ghraib a symptom of a non-faith-based warrior code?

Mansfield: The Abu Ghraib scandal has a faith backstory. The chaplain who was at Abu Ghraib during the scandals was told not to be in the way but to let the soldiers come to her. There was no moral presence and little spiritual influence during the time of the scandals. Chapel attendance was low and many soldiers later said they did not even know who the chaplain was. When that unit was replaced, the chaplains of the new unit were told to be present at prisoner interrogations, at shift changes and in the daily lives of the soldiers. The entire atmosphere changed. Chapel attendance reached into the hundreds and the prison became a model operation. This makes the case for continuous moral influence upon soldiers at war and for a faith based warrior code as a hedge against future abuses.

The Commanders - National Review Online May 27, 2005. Jim Lacy profiles General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other officers in our Armed Forces, countering the stereotype of "cold, unfeeling officers who callously send young soldiers out to die while sitting safely in the rear":

Those with no familiarity with America’s warriors might say they just like fighting and killing. Those people have never spoken to an officer who has been in a hard fight. They have never heard the cracking voice as he relates the difficulty of looking at people, whether enemy or ally, killed as a result of his orders. They have never heard the anguish of a leader replaying for the thousandth time the loss of one of his own. They did not hear an armored company commander answer a question about how he felt about having his soldiers rebuild schools after fighting to seize Baghdad literally days before. He said, "I cannot tell you how great it feels to be able to stop killing and start helping people." Such is the overwhelming compassion of those who fight our wars.

Lexington Green (ChicagoBoyz) would like us to become acquainted with Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith -- "the first and only Medal of Honor recipient in this war, so far. He died on 4 April 2003. His sixteen men were attacked by over 100 Iraqi troops . . ."

Smith not only died heroically, but lived and led with intense professionalism. He trained his men hard, caring only for their lives and not whether he was popular. His life was an example self-sacrificing leadership which everyone in America should know about.

The news media would prefer to treat such men and their lives and sacrifices as "not news" -- or as mere numbers in a body count which can be publicized to defeat the cause they died for.

To them, a lie about a Koran in a toilet is news.

A Medal of Honor for a heroic American soldier, husband and father, leader and warrior, is not news.

What is important is not what is reported in the MSM. What is reported is not all the news there is. Seek it out. Be aware. The Internet has destroyed their monopoly.

Never trust these people. They lie by commission, and even worse by omission. What they choose not to talk about is where the real news is.

You can read more about him here.

Opening the Gates of Heaven - blogger Blackfive explains the meaning of TAPS:

When Taps is played at dusk, it has a completely different meaning than when Taps is played during the day. No soldier really wants to hear it played during daylight. For when the bugle plays Taps in the daylight...that means a soldier has fallen . . . There is a belief among some that Taps is the clarion call to open the gates of heaven for the fallen warrior and letting them know to "Safely Rest" . . .

For those who wish to convey their appreciation for those in service to our country, Blackfive also provides a list of organizations who "work dilligently to support our military personnel in many different and positive ways."

Hugo Schwyzer, "a progressive, consistent-life ethic Anabaptist/Episcopalian Democrat" learning to love the uniform after encountering a young soldier at a gas station:

. . . it brought back memories of the mid-1980s, when I was a freshman at Cal and participating in often-violent anti-ROTC demonstrations. (The ROTC building was actually burned down at one point, and no, I had nothing to do with that!) But years ago, I heaped my share of terrible verbal abuse at many a young cadet. I sprayed more than one young man with spittle as I railed on about whatever the issue was at the time (I think it was opposition to the Contra war in Nicaragua.) I overturned tables, ran from campus police, and took part in a variety of small acts of criminal destruction of ROTC property that seemed (at the time) to be enormously brave and today seem to me to be colossally juvenile. Trust me, folks, if I seem gentle today, it's an act of will and a gift of grace that have made me so. I could be a vicious hothead when I was younger and filled with more testosterone.

I wonder if I owe some sort of collective amends to the military. I don't know how the young men at whom I yelled and whom I called names (unprintable here) reacted to what I did some twenty years ago when I was a teenager. I can't imagine it was easy for them to remain stone-faced while I -- and my fellow upper middle-class self-righteous radicals -- directed apoplectic rage their way. Today, I think what I did back then was wrong and pointless. Alas, at eighteen I was at an age when I was indeed "often in error, and never in doubt." I'm ashamed of my past behavior, even though I haven't hurled profane opprobrium at any one in uniform since my last protest, which was fourteen years ago at the start of the first Gulf War in January 1991. . . .

In my early years (teens/20's) I shared a similar conception of our military as Hugo, and while never having gone so far as to verbally abuse a ROTC cadet, I confess there are things I've said in print in those days that I'm certainly not proud of. So I would like to extend my thanks to Hugo for his courage and honesty, and if I may second his words of remorse.

Today's roundup goes out to all of our brave men and women serving our nation in all branches of our Armed Forces. And especially to my young brother Nathan, US Navy, currently serving aboard the U.S.S. Kearsearge. We miss you, God bless!

Re-Thinking Iraq . . .

There is a part of me that still is and will always be against the Iraq war. However noble the ends, the means will always be wrapped in a cloud of moral ambiguity. I remain, in every sense of the word, conflicted. I remember in the early spring of 2003, empowered by the heady idealism of a young activist, I committed myself to the cause in which I so emphatically believed in. Feverishly, we organized against a war we felt was unjust, immoral, illegal, and destructive. Those were times of a bygone age, times when we could still afford to believe in a world free of hatred, violence, and – yes – war.

Not quite even realizing it, it seemed as if we had become perennial protestors, angry at the world but helpless to change it. By opposing and resisting the “system” at every turn, we thought we could change it. Looking back, I think we were wrong.

Our goal, naturally, was to stop the war before it started (or perhaps we were just being naïve). As millions throughout the world flooded the streets in solidarity, it seemed – if only for a brief instant – that we might succeed.

On January 30, 2005, I saw something which would shatter any remaining illusions that opposing war in Iraq was the only moral position to take. Checking the news headlines online in my apartment in Jordan, I saw heart-wrenching pictures of thousands of Iraqis lining up, braving terrorist threats, to vote for the first time in their lives. These days, it is truly rare to be overwhelmed by hope but overwhelmed I was. In a hundred years, I expect – and I pray – that future generations will look back at January 30th as a historic moment, a moment that would forge the identity and aspirations of a people. For more than five decades, the Arab people have been denied their freedom by their own leaders as well as by Western powers, the latter fearing that free elections would lead to hostile bands of nationalists, leftists, or, now, Islamists coming to power.

The very thought of Iraqis voting after the unceremonious toppling of a most brutal dictator was both subversive and revolutionary. Millions of Arabs throughout the region, saw the same images on their television screens via satellite channels such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiyya. For those who dared comprehend the moment, the wall of Arab autocracy was being broken down before their eyes. . . . READ MORE

Rethinking Iraq: Time for American Muslims to Support Iraqi Democracy, by Shadi Hamid. Muslim Wakeup! May 28, 2005.

Goodbye, Papa.

So, "Christ has opened the doors" to Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II. Curiously, I find myself moved by the experience of watching the passing of our Holy Father, but not particularly saddened or distraught. He has run the good race, fought the good fight, lived a full life of great service to Christ and his Church -- and he himself seems content to go when the Lord calls him.

Of course I will miss him, like all those faithful Catholics (and other Christians as well) who consider themselves blessed to live under his pontificate, but I know as well that he will be going to his eternal reward. Fr. Fessio, via Insight Scoop, offers some good advice on this matter:

The Pope, like all of us, is mortal. And like all of us he was created for eternal joy in heaven. If this is the moment God calls him to himself, we should all rejoice and pray that he will be rewarded for his heroic labors for Christ, the Church, human dignity, and the world. The achievements of his long and fruitful pontificate are too numerous and varied even to make a selection. But he certainly fulfilled the prophetic role of the Vicar of Christ and of every bishop and priest: to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in season and out of season.   His successor? It will be a surprise. The Holy Spirit will guide the choice. Speculation is a harmless indoor sport; but it is not a good use of one’s time.

According to the New York Post the Pope was able, with the help of his secretary, to write a note:

"I am happy. You should be as well. Let us pray."

EWTN has an excellent special feature on The Pontificate of Pope John Paul II.

Also, for those who are intrigued by this whole process, Catholic blogger Domenico Bettinelli Jr. has a post on Papal Election and Succession - What happens when a pope dies?

Pat Buchanan Doused With Salad Dressing

"Stop the bigotry!" the demonstrator shouted as he hurled the liquid Thursday night during the program at Western Michigan University. The incident came just two days after another noted conservative, William Kristol, was struck by a pie during an appearance at a college in Indiana.

After he was hit, Buchanan cut short his question-and-answer session with the audience, saying, "Thank you all for coming, but I'm going to have to get my hair washed."

The demonstrator, identified by authorities as a 24-year-old student at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, was arrested and faces a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace. He was released on a $100 cash bond, pending his April 14 arraignment.

"He could have faced a felony assault charge, but Pat Buchanan decided to not press that charge," university spokesman Matt Kurz said.

Source: Associated Press April 1, 2005.

Seems to be a trend . . .

Earlham student hits Neocon Pundit with Pie

RICHMOND, Ind. -- A pie in the face didn't silence conservative pundit William Kristol during a speech at Earlham College.

A man who later was identified as a student at the private Quaker college jumped onto the stage and splattered Kristol with the pie Tuesday night about 30 minutes into a speech about U.S. foreign policy.

Members of the audience jeered the student as he walked off the stage, then applauded as Kristol wiped the goo off his face with a paper towel and said, "Just let me finish this point," the Palladium-Item reported.

The student was suspended and could face expulsion following a disciplinary review, Earlham Provost Len Clark said today. . . . Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard in Washington who was chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle, finished his speech after he was hit by the pie and then took questions from the audience before spending 30 minutes talking with students and others who gathered at the edge of the stage.

Earlham is a liberal arts college of about 1,200 students that is well-known for its peace studies program.

Source: Associated Press March 30, 2005.

Attempting to disrupt a speech in such a manner is usually a good indication that you lack the knowledge and ability to best your opponent in a debate. Had Kristol's liberal critic to engage him during the Q&A session, he might have actually accomplished something.

Congrats to Bill, for finishing his speech with dignity, thus depriving the prankster of his goal and winning the respect of the audience. Not an easy task for a neocon speaking at a Quaker institution!

* * *

Further Commentary from Ruth Holladay ("Pie Hit Conservative Speaker but Missed Mark" IndyStar April 3, 2005)

Medlin and his small band of student supporters, meanwhile, are left with egg on their face. They've come off looking like spoiled and yes, silly, babies unwilling to tolerate a perspective different from theirs -- and this at a Quaker school founded on the Friends' tradition of inclusiveness and "respect for the consciousness of others."

The circumstances behind Kristol's presence at the eastern Indiana liberal arts school make this incident worthy of reflection. Kristol wears several hats, but the one that upsets Medlin, according to a statement he released Friday -- "Why I Threw the Pie" -- is Kristol's role as co-founder and chairman of the Project for the New American Century. The nonprofit promotes America's role as a world leader backed with a strong military. . . .

According to the account, Newell Pledger-Shinn, 24, an Earlham College graduate and assistant to Earlham President Doug Bennett, had proposed the idea of inviting Kristol with the hope that "On campus, where our mission is committed to truth wherever that will lead, I wanted us to model serious, respectful, challenging dialogue about things that matter." The pie-throwing incident seems to have subverted any impression that liberals are capable of intelligent debate:

Pledger-Shinn was "shocked and horrified" by the pie-throwing. "We had invited Kristol, hoping that Earlham students, being passionate, idealistic and articulate as they are, would give him a run for his money." But not a physical attack.

The college leadership concurs. Earlham issued a statement condemning the pie-throwing, although some faculty have asked for tolerance for Medlin -- who has been suspended indefinitely. Others on the faculty questioned why a pacifist school would welcome Kristol.

Still, a noon pro-pie-throwing rally Friday drew only a half-dozen or so of Medlin's supporters from among the 1,200 students. Despite Medlin's statement, saying he wanted to answer questions, he did not return phone calls Friday from his home in Lynn.

But the fact that another student at a Michigan college Thursday smeared conservative Pat Buchanan with salad oil, and cited Earlham, shows Medlin has had an impact. Sadly, it's about as substantial as cream pie.

One of my readers -- wow, I actually have readers? -- disputes the account, claiming:

Uhh..dude? Not only does the AP account NOT say that other students jeered the pietosser, but they didn't. They LAUGHED, because it was funny. Earlham students throw pies and fruit and all sorts of stuff at Ann Coulter, Bill Kristol, or whatever chickenshit neocon comes to speak. Ann Coulter was so scared her knees were shaking. I ahppen to know, as I was THERE.

Several observations:

1. The quote was directly lifted from the AP Press. I see the original link no longer works, so so here's another: "Members of the audience jeered the student, then applauded as Kristol wiped the pie from his face and said, "Just let me finish this point," the Palladium-Item reported. Of course, I wasn't there either, so we'll leave this as a case of "he said, she said."

2. More importantly, nice going, assaulting a woman. Regardless of whether she's Ann Coulter -- and I'm no more a fan of her than I assume you are -- your crude and immature behavior toward her is a real credit to the liberal cause.

3. I'm amused the by the subsequent salad-dressing dousing of Pat Buchanan at Western Michigan University. Pat Buchanan is a paleoconservative -- and as such, happens to be a bitter critic of the Bush Administration AND William Kristol, in short, the furthest thing from a neocon. The pranksters should have given him a hero's welcome for his unwavering criticism of the war.

Nat Hentoff: "Judicial Murder"

Via I. Shawn McElhinney of Rerum Novarum, Nat Hentoff weighs in on the murder of Terri Schiavo, calling it for what it is:

For all the world to see, a 41-year-old woman, who has committed no crime, will die of dehydration and starvation in the longest public execution in American history.

She is not brain-dead or comatose, and breathes naturally on her own. Although brain-damaged, she is not in a persistent vegetative state, according to an increasing number of radiologists and neurologists.

Among many other violations of her due process rights, Terri Schiavo has never been allowed by the primary judge in her case -- Florida Circuit Judge George Greer, whose conclusions have been robotically upheld by all the courts above him -- to have her own lawyer represent her. . . . READ MORE

Terri Schiavo: Judicial Murder Village Voice March 29, 2005.

Net Hentoff, who was a friend and biographer of Cardinal John O'Connor, describes himself as a "Jewish, atheist, civil libertarian, left-wing pro-lifer" and is heralded by others as "the last honest liberal". As such, he is something of a curiousity on the usually militantly pro-abortion Village Voice. You can find a collection of his other articles here.

So much for the defense of Terri Schiavo being a sole manifestation of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

Warnin' the Moolahs

Warnin' the Moolahs - Bush-haters often make fun of his Texan drawl and pronounciations, branding him an ignoramus. Alec Rawls (Error Theory) has a different take on the President.

New York Public Library's Image Collection Now Online

The New York Public Library's collection of prints, maps, posters, photographs, illuminated manuscripts, sheet-music covers, dust jackets, menus and cigarette cards is now online (digitalgallery.nypl.org). If you dive in today without knowing why, you might not surface for a long, long time. The Public Library's digital gallery is lovely, dark and deep. Quite eccentric, too.

So far, about 275,000 items are online, and you can browse by subject, by collection, by name or by keyword. The images first appear in thumbnail pictures, a dozen to a page. Some include verso views. You can collect 'em, enlarge 'em, download 'em, print 'em and hang 'em on your wall at home. All are free, unless, of course, you plan to make money on them yourself. (Permission is required.)

Source: The Public Library Opens a Web Gallery of Images, by Sarah Boxer. New York Times March 3, 2005.

Save the . . . Gay Penguins?!?

Gay outrage over penguin sex test BBC News. Feb. 14, 2005.

Radek Sikorski interviews Paul Wolfowitz

Interview with Paul Wolfowitz, by Radek Sikorski, former deputy minister of defence for Poland and director of the New Atlantic Initiative at the American Enterprise Institute. Prospect Magazine | November 23, 2004. A good discussion of U.S.-Iraqi affairs and the broader context of the war on terrorism.

Fight Club: The Return of Hobbes "Hobbes is reborn as Tyler to save "Jack" (a grown-up Calvin) from the slough of un-comic despair." From Metaphilm.com, which "absorb, filter, review, and interpret cinema for your entertainment and enlightenment." (For treatment of other films (including Spider Man II) click here).

Tim Blair on "Karl Rove's Evil Plan"

Democrat congressman Maurice Hinchey, speaking on CNN, persists with the idea that Karl Rove devised the fake Rathergate memos.

"Using contemporaneous reports and several eye-witness sources", Tim Blair claimes to have "reconstructed the events of last August at Evil Rove Headquarters, located many miles beneath the earth’s surface . . ."

Hunter S. Thompson 1937-2005

Hunter S. Thompson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Woody Creek on Sunday night. He was 67.

Regarded as one of the most legendary writers of the 20th century, Thompson is best known for the 1972 classic "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." He is also credited with pioneering gonzo journalism - a style of writing that breaks tradition rules of news reporting and is purposefully slanted.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, who is a close personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death. His son, Juan, found him Sunday evening.

Hunter Thompson commits suicide Denver Post Feb. 21, 2005.

• Obituary The Economist Feb. 24, 2005.
• The Thompson Style: A Sense of Self, and Outrage, by David Carr. New York Times Feb. 22, 2005.
• So, farewell then, Duke, by Eamonn Fitzgerald. Feb. 26, 2005.

I Pod Playa.

Oliver Stone's "Alexander the Great" - Apology for Neo-Conservativism?

. . . Alexander understands that while an uneasy peace exists at the moment, Persia has to be pre-emptively attacked and defeated once and for all, if it's to never threaten the Greek world again. But there is another aspect to Alexander's military adventure - the desire to liberate the peoples of the East from under the Oriental despotism and tyranny [as discussed extensively throughout the movie by Alexander and his pal Hephaistion. The dialogue sounded so contemporary that my jaw, if didn't exactly drop, it certainly descended slightly. What the hell was Stone thinking?]. For this ambition, Alexander faces constant criticism from those (the realists) who think his vision too utopian; the Easterners, after all, are barbarians only accustomed to slavery, they don't know what freedom is and certainly wouldn't know how to handle it.

But despite such disdainful Macedonian criticisms as well as continuing rebellious grumblings from the Greeks, Alexander presses ahead and with a well-disciplined and well-trained military force, considered by many to be far too small for the task, he conquers the Persian empire in a series of land engagements in Mesopotamia and after a guerilla campaign in Afghanistan. At the height of his victories he is accused by many of his own of engaging in a never-ending war with no "exit strategy" that would allow his overstretched and exhausted military machine to return to civilian life and enjoy the spoils of victory.

"Alexander" - an ode to neo-conservatism, by Arthur Chrenkoff.

Judge Hamood Al-Hitar: Dialogue as antidote to fanaticism

(Via Reason mag's HitandRun)

"If you can convince us that your ideas are justified by the Koran, then we will join you in your struggle," Judge al-Hitar tells militants. "But if we succeed in convincing you of our ideas, then you must agree to renounce violence." According to the story, Al-Hitar "invites militants to use the Koran to justify attacks on innocent civilians and when they cannot, he shows them numerous passages commanding Muslims not to attack civilians, to respect other religions, and fight only in self-defense." The exchanges may last for weeks. If prisoners renounce their Islamist views, they are released.

The judge himself notes that, "Since December 2002, when the first round of the dialogues ended, there have been no terrorist attacks here, even though many people thought that Yemen would become terror's capital. Three hundred and sixty-four young men have been released after going through the dialogues and none of these have left Yemen to fight anywhere else." . . .

Koranic duels ease terror, by James Brandon. Christian Science MonitorFeb. 4, 2005.

The soft-spoken Hitar, who quotes liberally from the Koran, said his team had so far held two dialogue sessions for almost 200 militants, mostly detainees and radicals who surrendered.

A third session, with some 250 suspects, is under way.

Sessions can last up to a year and involve lengthy discussions aimed at proving Islam preaches peace. Many of the participants fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and then joined Al Qaeda.

Participants who espouse this "right" thinking sign an oath to revoke violence. They are then released and, to ensure the programme's success, put under surveillance for several months.

Hitar admits most participants are not the die-hard Al Qaeda militants which Yemen is hunting down. But he points out the sessions have helped to reduce the number of smaller attacks, especially against security forces.

"Yemen judge wields Holy Koran to battle Al Qaeda", by Miral Fahmy. Jordan Times, Reuters, Monday, January 12, 2004

See Also: Judge Hamoud al-Hitar praised, Peter Willems. Yemen Times Feb. 8, 2005.

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I saw an interesting film last month -- The Hamburg Cell. It is probably one of the more intelligent movies I've seen in the genre of 9/11 films (Review by Jamie Russell, Channel4.com):

"When the world talks about the men who carried out this holy operation they will be talking about the men who changed the course of history," exclaims a senior Al Qaeda member in this fictional docu-drama from director Antonia Bird. Charting the planning and execution of the World Trade Center attacks by a handful of Muslim fundamentalists led by Mohamed Atta (Kamel), The Hamburg Cell is a devastatingly powerful work that puts faces and personalities to the men who carried out the attacks against the US on the fateful morning of September 11th.

Based on a wide range of documentary evidence, from court transcriptions to video footage, this simmering yet understated little movie focuses on Lebanese student Ziad Jarrah (Saleh) as he's transformed from rich-boy student at the University of Applied Science in Hamburg to jihadist hijacker of United Airlines flight 93 (which crashed en route to the White House shortly after simultaneous attacks struck the Twin Towers and the Pentagon).

The movie was highly controversial because it bestowed a human face on the 9/11 attackers -- it does not condone their actions, but neither does it demonize them. One of the chief lessons that The Hamburg Cell tried to convey was that militant Islamic terrorists aren't made overnight. There is usually a gradual psychological process of recruitment and philosophical indoctrination, an internal engagement of conflicting ideas. Unfortunately, it is all too easy for those already disillusioned by the false promises of secular culture to develop an appreciation for the potent arguments of Islamic fundamentalism. And it is precisely at this stage of recruitment that the war on terror could use more people like Judge al-Hitar. To echo Paul Berman's challenge in "The Philosopher of Islamic Terror" New York Times March 23, 2003):

It would be nice to think that, in the war against terror, our side, too, speaks of deep philosophical ideas -- it would be nice to think that someone is arguing with the terrorists and with the readers of Sayyid Qutb. But here I have my worries. The followers of Qutb speak, in their wild fashion, of enormous human problems, and they urge one another to death and to murder. But the enemies of these people speak of what? The political leaders speak of United Nations resolutions, of unilateralism, of multilateralism, of weapons inspectors, of coercion and noncoercion. This is no answer to the terrorists. The terrorists speak insanely of deep things. The antiterrorists had better speak sanely of equally deep things. Presidents will not do this. Presidents will dispatch armies, or decline to dispatch armies, for better and for worse.

But who will speak of the sacred and the secular, of the physical world and the spiritual world? Who will defend liberal ideas against the enemies of liberal ideas? Who will defend liberal principles in spite of liberal society's every failure? . . . Philosophers and religious leaders will have to do this on their own. Are they doing so? Armies are in motion, but are the philosophers and religious leaders, the liberal thinkers, likewise in motion? There is something to worry about here, an aspect of the war that liberal society seems to have trouble understanding -- one more worry, on top of all the others, and possibly the greatest worry of all.

There will always be those who are well beyond the reach of "dialogue" and disputation, and circumstances will certainly merit a justified use of military force, but alongside the force of arms we had better pay attention to the philosophers and religious leaders who -- like al-Hitar -- are winning the intellectual battles.

Punk Cover Bands -- a good roundup of quirky punk and bluegrass cover bands via BoingBoing.

Iraqi Elections - A Roundup of Blogs & Commentary

Iraqi Election Watch provides inside information from Iraq on the historic Jan. 30 elections compiled by FDD staff and fellows. Iraqi Media Excerpts from Iraqi news sources on developments related to the election. Iraqi Blogs - Highlights from Arabic and English-language blogs that provide new or interesting information on what's actually happening inside Iraq. Democracy Activists - Reports from Iraqi democracy activists on the ground. FDD Analysis - Commentary and analysis on the campaign, voting, and final results. From the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).

• From Oswald Sobrino (Catholic Analysis):
  The AP photo by Adam Butler records an 83-year-old Iraqi preparing to vote in London. The AP reports that "[t]his is the first time she has participated in an Iraqi election" (see other AP report). The faces and smiles tell the story of freedom. All eyes are on the Iraqi elections this weekend. We pray that God will protect the brave who dare to go and vote for a decent and dignified future for themselves and their families (see London Timesonline report, "Voting fever takes hold of a people finally free to choose"). Thanks to President Bush and our military for making this future possible. Since the picture speaks for itself, no further commentary is needed today.

• John Schultz (Catholic Light) passes along an email from Battalion Chaplain Lyle Shackelford delivering the voting machines and the ballots to villages and cities throughout Iraq, who asks for prayers on behalf of all who read:
  . . . There is unlimited potential for God's presence in this process but if we do not pray, then our enemy will prevail (See Ephesians 6:10-17). A prayer vigil prior to the end of the month may be an innovative opportunity for those within your sphere of influence to pray. This is a political battle that needs spiritual intervention. A powerful story about God's intervention in the lives of David's mighty men is recorded in 2 Samuel 23:8-33. David and his warriors were victorious because of God's intervention. We want to overcome those who would stand in the way of freedom. David's mighty men triumphed over incredible odds and stood their ground and were victorious over the enemies of Israel. (Iraqi insurgents' vs God's praying people). They don't stand a chance.

  I will pray with my soldiers before they leave on their convoys and move outside our installation gates here at Tallil. My soldiers are at the nerve center of the logistic operation to deliver the voting machines and election ballots. They will be driving to and entering the arena of the enemy.

  This is not a game for them. It is an historic mission that is extremely dangerous. No voting machines or ballots, No elections. Your prayer support and God's intervention are needed to give democracy a chance in this war torn country. Thank you for your prayer support for me and my family. Stand firm in your battles.

• Lane Core Jr. (Blog from the Core explains why our future hangs in the balance on January 30-31, 2005:
  If we do not succesfully plant the seeds of democratic government in the Middle East — beginning with Iraq, and expanding thence over the years & decades & generations -- our children and grandchildren will be condemned to live in a world where freedom of religion and conscience -- where the rule of law and respect for individual dignity -- won't even be memories because they will have been obliterated.

  The power of the United States of America — military, financial, diplomatic, and cultural — to project its force around the world, to remove despotic regimes and enforce the beginnings of freedom amongst peoples who have never known it, or have no living memory of it, is what stands between us and the Dark Ages of the Future.

  That, and the courage of Iraqi citizens — those who stand for office, and those who vote. Please keep them, and our soldiers in Iraq, in your prayers these days.

• Senator "No Blood for Oil" Kennedy took the opportunity to raise the spectre of Vietnam, calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops following the election. Belmont Club responds, marshalling the witness of Chaldean Bishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk.

• The Daily Demarche has a special request
  For all the Bush haters out there, for all the pundits who think it is clever to spell Republican with a triple "k", I have a challenge for all of you. For one day, less probably by the time you hear of this, devote some of that energy to wishing success to the people of Iraq in this election. Forget for one day your raging anger and calls for us to abandon Iraq. It’s not going to happen, and for this single day we could use your support. You can resume your attacks on the Administration on Monday - because you live in a free land.

• Ali -- an Iraqi blogger in Baghdad:

  All my life like all Iraqis, I was not in control of my life. I started looking to myself as a humanist many years ago. Maybe it's because I lost belief in my government and even sometimes in my country and my people. My country was just a stupid large piece of dirt that meant nothing and offered nothing to me but suffering and humiliation. . . .

  Now, and thanks to other humans, not from my area, religion and who don't even speak my language, I and all Iraqis have the real chance to make the change. Now I OWN my home and I can decide who's going to run things in it and how and I won't waste that chance. Tomorrow as I cast my vote, I'll regain my home. I'll regain my humanity and my dignity, as I stand and fulfill part of my responsibilities to this part of the large brotherhood of humanity. Tomorrow I'll say I'M IRAQI AND I'M PROUD, as being Iraqi this time bears a different meaning in my mind. It's being an active and good part of humanity. Tomorrow I and the Iraqis that are going to vote will rule, not the politicians we're going to vote for, as it's our decision and they'll work for us this time and if we don't like them we'll kick them out! Tomorrow my heart will race my hand to the box. Tomorrow I'll race even the sun to the voting centre, my Ka'aba and my Mecca. I'm so excited and so happy that I can't even feel the fear I though I would have at this time. I can't wait until tomorrow.

Joyful Iraqi Exiles Vote in Landmark Election by Suleiman al-Khalidi. Reuters. Jan. 28, 2005. Man drives to Calgary to vote in Iraqi election (14 hours!) - CBC News. Jan. 28, 2005. Iraqis in Australia cast first votes in election, by Michael Perry. Reuters. Jan. 28, 2005.

• Jeff Jarvis (BuzzMachine has a roundup of quotes from Iraqi bloggers' as they anticipate the vote. "They all should be an inspiration -- and perhaps a shame -- to those of us who have become blase about democracy and freedom, who growl over our choices and don't even bother showing up at the polls. Democracy is fragile and precious; we forget that. These people don't." Here's a Iraqi bloggers covering the election, also courtesy of Jeff.
• FriendsofDemocracy.Org, another organization bringing you "ground-level election news from the Iraqi people."

• Radioblogger has a photo-blog of proud Iraqis voting in El Toro, California. Lots of smiling faces and an interesting story -- two Iraqis men "came to vote today, with their families, and recognized each other. They started talking and realized that they hadn't seen each other in fifty years. They were about ten years old in Iraq the last time they saw each other." What a reunion!

• How do you begin to contain the emotion of contributing to freedom for the very first time in over 50 years. And for many - the first time ever in their life?" -- Kevin McCullough captures the emotions of many Iraqis with another series of photos.

• Michelle Malkin shares a relevant question from a reader: "Why don't we see the human shields at the polls in Iraq? They were willing to protect Iraq from bombs before the war started. Why aren't they protecting Iraq now?"

• From BlogsofWar:

  Atheer Almudhafer, from Falls Church, Va., gives the Iraqi sign of victory after casting his absentee ballot at the New Carrollton, Md., voting station, Jan. 28, 2005. His finger is marked with indelible blue ink, intended to prevent double voting. "I give the sign of peace and voting. Together it is victory." [Defense LINK]
  

• A history lesson from Arthur Herman ("Sic Temper Tyrannis: 1649 and now" NRO, January 28, 2004):
  This election, which many hope will spark a democratic revolution for the Middle East, falls on the same day -- January 30 -- as the event which set in motion the modern West's first democratic revolution more than 365 years ago. It was on that day in 1649 that King Charles I of England was beheaded after his formal trial for treason and tyranny, an epoch-shattering event that destroyed the notion of divine right of kings forever, and gave birth to the principle that reverberates down to today, from President Bush's inaugural address last week to the Iraqi election this Sunday: that all political authority requires the consent of the people. Although few like to admit it now, it was Charles's execution, along with the civil war that preceded it and the political turmoil that followed, that established our modern notions of democracy, liberty, and freedom of speech. When Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the tree of liberty must sometimes be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," he was thinking primarily of the legacy of the English civil war.

• Captain's Quarters relays this report from FoxNews
  Thousands of people are now walking a 13-mile stretch between Abu Ghraib and Gazaliyah to cast votes in the elections, military sources tell Fox News. The mass march has been caught by unmanned drones, and Fox says they will soon have pictures of the subtle demonstration of the Iraqi desire for liberty.

  More as it develops. Fox also reports long lines in most polling stations, with some even calling for more ballot materials as they run out of ballots faster than they anticipated.

• Arthur Chrenkoff has more reactions of Iraqi voters (E-Day & E-Day, Part II, including this from sometime Chrenkof correspondent:
  Haider Ajina: "I just called my father in Baghdad to see if he and the rest of my Iraqi family over there have voted yet. He said we were all just heading out the door, but we will wait and talk to you (chuckling). I heard a strength and joy in his voice and could hear the rest of my relatives in the back ground. It sounded like a family reunion. My 84 year old Iraqi Grandmother will be voting for the first time in her life. My father (a naturalized U.S. Citizen) said we are all getting ready to go vote in a school near by. This school was just being built when I left Iraq in the late 70's. I know where it is and I can picture my father, uncles aunties and cousins along with the rest of the family walking through my old neighborhood to that school and vote. My father said 'For the first time in my life I voted in the U.S. and now I can vote in Iraq. We want our voices to count, we want to decide our future and we want the world to know we have a voice in our future and in our government, this will give the Iraqi government true legitimacy, just like in America'.

  "I can now dream of the day when I can take my family to meet my extended family and the places were I played and grew up. They will also see what our men and women in our military fought for.

  "To all the men and women who have served and serving in Iraq, to all the families of those who have paid the ultimate price to all those who have suffered during their service in Iraq, my family’s and my deepest thanks, gratitude and pride both from the U.S. and Iraq for all the sacrifices, endurance and service for our great country and Iraq and the Iraqis. God bless all of you and keep you safe."

• Voices from the Revolution - Friends of Democracy interviews with citizens from the Zy Qar province and reports that the Election Goes Smoothly in Kirkuk ("During the elections the kids have nothing to do as everyone is busy voting").

• More photoblogging the election from Ryan in Baghdad ("Farmer by genetics, Lawyer by training, currently "vacationing" in Iraq and advising the Iraqi government on border security issue"). Ryan cites a pertinent quote from Natan Sharansky's The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror:
  Any time ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police."

BREAKING NEWS! - Iraqi Voting Disrupts News Reports of Bombings, by Scott Ott [Scrappleface.com] (2005-01-30) -- News reports of terrorist bombings in Iraq were marred Sunday by shocking graphic images of Iraqi "insurgents" voting by the millions in their first free democratic election. Despite reporters' hopes that a well-orchestrated barrage of mortar attacks and suicide bombings would put down the so-called 'freedom insurgency', hastily-formed battalions of rebels swarmed polling places to cast their ballots -- shattering the status quo and striking fear into the hearts of the leaders of the existing terror regime. Hopes for a return to the stability of tyranny waned as rank upon rank of Iraqi men and women filed out of precinct stations, each armed with the distinctive mark of the new freedom guerrillas -- an ink-stained index finger, which one former Ba'athist called "the evidence of their betrayal of 50 years of Iraqi tradition." Journalists struggled to put a positive spin on the day's events, but the video images of tyranny's traitors choosing a future of freedom overwhelmed the official story of bloodshed and mayhem.

• Belmont Club asks: "Did we win?", comparing a number of MSM (mainstream media) reports on Iraqi voter turnout. Speaking to Reuters, University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole called the elections "a joke," and reinforces his prediction in a gloomy post to his own blog; however, eyewitness reports of an incredible voter turnout from BBC News Reporter's Log beg to differ.

• Jeff Jarvis (Buzzmachine) believes this is "Not an election, a revolution" and provides an additional roundup of news headlines. Jeff asks a question which every American should think about:
  This morning, I asked myself whether I would go to vote if I thought I could be bombed at the polling place or shot because of my blue finger. I don't think I'd have that courage. Most Americans would not (hell, most of us don't vote even in the lap of safety). Remember that every single Iraqi who came to vote today is a victory for democracy.

• Another roundup of Iraqi bloggers, also courtesy of Jeff.

• Captain's Quarters is reporting impressive turnout numbers by region; a change of heart at Reuters, and a welcome suprise from the Queen of Pessimistic Journalism: The New York Times acknowledges victory!

• More analysis of the MSM's change in temperament from Instapundit, along with a great picture of Iraqis displaying "the ink-stained finger of democracy."

Amid Attacks, a Party Atmosphere on Baghdad's Closed Streets, by Dexter Filkins. New York Times January 30, 2005. Iraqis Express Pride, Hope at Election, by Ellen Knickmeyer. Associated Press. January 30, 2005. Iraq election declared 'success' BBC News. January 30, 2005.

• Iraqi bloggers Mohammed and Omar @ Iraq The Model conclude: "The People have won"
  The first thing we saw this morning on our way to the voting center was a convoy of the Iraqi army vehicles patrolling the street, the soldiers were cheering the people marching towards their voting centers then one of the soldiers chanted "vote for Allawi" less than a hundred meters, the convoy stopped and the captain in charge yelled at the soldier who did that and said:< p>"You're a member of the military institution and you have absolutely no right to support any political entity or interfere with the people's choice. This is Iraq's army, not Allawi's".

  This was a good sign indeed and the young officer's statement was met by applause from the people on the street. The streets were completely empty except for the Iraqi and the coalition forces ' patrols, and of course kids seizing the chance to play soccer! . . .

  I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.

  I put the paper in the box and with it, there were tears that I couldn't hold; I was trembling with joy and I felt like I wanted to hug the box but the supervisor smiled at me and said "brother, would you please move ahead, the people are waiting for their turn".

• Iraqis fight a lonely battle for democracy, The Guardian January 30, 2005. Michael Ignatieff explains why "whatever your view of the war, you should embrace today's election":
  Just as depressing as the violence in Iraq is the indifference to it abroad. Americans and Europeans who have never lifted a finger to defend their own right to vote seem not to care that Iraqis are dying for the right to choose their own leaders. . . .

  The Bush administration has managed the nearly impossible: to turn democracy into a disreputable slogan.

  Liberals can't bring themselves to support freedom in Iraq lest they seem to collude with neo-conservative bombast. Anti-war ideologues can't support the Iraqis because that would require admitting that positive outcomes can result from bad policies. And then there are the ideological fools in the Arab world, and even a few in the West, who think the 'insurgents' are fighting a just war against US imperialism. This makes you wonder when the left forgot the proper name for people who bomb polling stations, kill election workers and assassinate candidates - fascists.

• Liberty Marches Forward - Citizen Smash, aka. "Indepundit", has a another roundup of photos and stirring quotes:
  We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of Liberty." -- John F. Kennedy

  "The battle is now joined on many fronts. We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail." – George W. Bush

• Via Little Green Footballs, an email from Mike, a major stationed in the Sunni Triangle:
  The polls closed at 1700 (5PM) our time and 8AM CST but the initial reports are that 72% of the Iraqis voted. Folks we should be ashamed. We can’t get that many people to vote in the US and no one is trying to kill us.

• Via Michelle Malkin, a child's display of solidarity with Iraqi voters:
  10-year-old Billings girl, Shelby Dangerfield won't be going to the polls. But she will be will be showing her support by wearing ink on her finger - just like those Iraqis who have voted.

  "It will symbolize our support if we wear ink on our fingers," Shelby said. "We're not forcing them to vote, but they have a chance to do it and they should take that chance."

  "10-year-old supports vote of Iraqi people" Billings Gazette January 30, 2005 .

• President Congratulates Iraqis on Election The White House. January 30, 2005.

* * *

So that's the roundup for the weekend . . . stay tuned to the various blogs mentioned above for the results and the aftermath, and please keep the people of Iraq, together with our troops, in your prayers.