The Politics of Parsing

Pundits are calling it the best political advertisement on the Web.

It's not, but it is certainly one of the best so far, and only the first of what are certain to be hundreds of similar videos if the current front runner remains so.

Best or not, it is a devastatingly accurate portrayal of reality.

It is an incredibly viral tool, which describes the largest real political effect of the Internet. It's an effect that most of the media still regards as only potential. The reality, however, is here now.

TIME Decapitated

The current issue of TIME magazine is on the streets with a major analysis of the situation in Iraq, "Has The Surge Reached Its Limits?" Reporter Mark Kukis spends 630 words supporting his conclusion that

"(t)he prognosis for Iraq, barring a dynamic transformation on the part of the Iraqi government very soon, is grimly apparent. As U.S. forces lessen their presence in the coming months, killings of the kind seen Monday in Diyala will persist there and most likely spread to areas calmed by the increase of U.S. forces."

Unfortunately, the news hook on which Mr. Kukis based his story and pegged his analysis is… completely and utterly false. His lead paragraph:

The horrible discovery in Diyala Province Monday was disturbing even by the standards of Iraq's running sectarian violence. Iraqi police said they found 20 decapitated bodies dumped near a police station west of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province. That same day a suicide bomber on a bicycle careened into a Baquba police station, killing 29.

His second paragraph leveraged the untruth as far as he could possibly take it

The violence was of course nothing new, especially for the Baquba area, which remains the most troubled region in Iraq outside Baghdad. But the bloodshed showed how the success of the surge of U.S. forces in Baghdad and Anbar Province nine months on has perhaps gone as far as it can toward controlling Iraq's violence.

The only problem? There were no 20 decapitated bodies dumped near a police station. There were no bodies of any sort. None. Nada. Not a one. The Iraqi police deny ever reporting otherwise. There are no bodies at hospitals or in morgues. There are no photos. There are no witnesses. There are no supporting statements from anyone.

The story was made up out of whole cloth. The question remaining open, which TIME needs to answer, hopefully more swiftly than has The New Republic with its false-story reporting by Scott Thomas Beauchamp, is who made up the story?

Was it Mr. Kukis, who is allegedly stationed in Baghdad? Or is he just an additional victim of his negligent reporting?

Are our schools of journalism now offering majors in fabulism for folks who wish to go on to major news organizations as reporters? Do they teach classes in making up news for slow days?


Who is TIME using for fact-checking these days, Mrs. Beauchamp from The New Republic?

Barack Doesn't Do Symbols

It was just a few weeks ago that presidential candidate Barack Obama explained his decision to no longer wear an American flag on his lapel as part of his opposition to what he believes has become a substitute for "true patriotism."

This view, courtesy of TIME magazine, shows the respect that Obama affords the National Anthem at a recent outdoor BBQ for Iowa's Senator Harkin. It appears that Senator Obama may have earlier understated his position on either symbolism or patriotism.

There's no word as to how a President Obama would respond at military parades or formal services to honor America's fallen.

"No dearest, I don't do kisses anymore. They're just a substitute for true love."

Taliban Meet Grim "Reaper"

The newest of America's high tech unmanned but heavily armed drone aircraft has for the first time fired its weapons in anger, using a laser-guided Hellfire missile against the bad guys in Deh Rawod, 70 miles north of Kandahar. The mission is described as successful.

The MQ-9A Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was remotely piloted by a team of two specialists from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

The Reaper is an evolutionary development from its famous predecessor, the Predator, which was the first UAV to launch a weapon in wartime.

In the less than five years since its creation "on spec" by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., the Predator racked up an impressive record. In just one year it flew nearly 250 sorties totaling 33,000 flight hours, fired 59 missiles and took a look at 18,000 potential targets.

Where the Predator is first and foremost a surveillance vehicle, though one with a real sting, the Reaper's role is more… direct. The Reaper is designed to find and kill targets, the first real hunter-killer, officially described as useful for "close air support, interdiction and special operations."

The Reaper can carry more than twice the armament of the Predator, and has an on-station endurance of more than 24 hours. The Department of Defense has ordered a total of 60 of the aircraft.

According to Jane's, the Department of Homeland Security has one Reaper, used for border patrol. So far it has detected 1,900 targets and assisted in 1,200 arrests.

The Reaper has the ability to loiter on the battlefield for extended periods, looking for and killing targets, while it's own crews keep to normal work schedules and return home from "the office" after each shift. That ability will create a true tipping point, even in asymmetrical warfare.

History Disses Hillary, Chooses Cristina

It's a footnote that Hillary thought she would earn, the first First Lady elected to follow her husband as national leader, but it is not to be. Instead that history was made in Argentina this morning as Cristina Kirchner developed a winning lead, with 44% of the vote against eleven opponents.

Mrs. Kirchner will replace her husband, Nestor Kirchner, as president and become Argentina's first elected female president and the first spouse in history to be elected to succeed a spouse. Eva Peron's succession in Argentina 50 years ago was extra-constitutional in that no vote gave her the office.

President Nestor Kirchner announced last summer that he would not seek re-election.

Modern democracies have chosen women as leaders fairly frequently, the most memorable being Lady Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain, who led her country in a war against… Argentina.

UPDATE and CORRECTION: Mrs. Peron wished to run for the office of Vice President, but didn't in spite of widespread support. She did not succeed her husband.

Hillary Clinton is expected to continue her campaign in spite of the disappointment.

When Hillary's Right, She's Right!

In September, when the Clinton Campaign committed to return all contributions bundled by con-man Norman Hsu, many pundits wondered where the $800,000 would go once returned.

In a conference call shortly after Hsu made news, Mrs. Clinton announced her intention to accept more donations from the same contributors.

We're not asking that that be done. But I believe that the vast majority of those 200-plus donors are perfectly capable of making up their own minds about what they will or won't do going forward.

Well, they certainly did make up their own minds.

Faced with the opportunity of donating back to Mrs. Clinton the funds they had already donated to her once, an impressive 96% decided not to do so again. According to The Wall Street Journal (paper edition October 17, 2007, A12, Hsu Donors Keep Refunds), of the 248 original donors only 10 made up their minds along the lines that Mrs. Clinton had in her mind.

Wow, with that kind of commitment level, one wonders how Hsu got the money from them in the first place?

A Tale of Two Men: Harry Reid and Peter Pace

On his last day in office as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after the speeches, the parades and the honors, Marine General Peter Pace paid a visit to the Vietnam War Memorial.

It was in the rice paddies of Vietnam that 2nd Lieutenant Peter Pace first commanded men. Some of the marines under his command died there, forever young, men of lives unlived, timeless memories to lessons learned. The Wall commemorates those men amongst the more than 50,000 similar stories, memories, losses.

So it was on the first of October that Peter Pace, newly a retired Marine, left handwritten notes to three of his soldiers whose names shine on the Wall, including Lance Corporal Guido Farinaro, the first soldier Peter Pace lost in combat, killed by a sniper in 1968. To those notes he attached the sign of his rank, a token of his 40 year effort to serve his nation and to serve those who serve his nation. He left them his general's stars with his message

For Guido Farinaro, USMC
These are yours–not mine!
With love and respect,
Your Platoon Leader
Peter Pace

Contrast this with the leadership style of Majority Leader Harry Reid, who publicly described General Pace, just before the start of the Baghdad surge, as incompetent. This is the same Harry Reid whose best known remembrance for those who've served under him was $3,300 he passed out in tips to the doormen at his home, Washington's five star Ritz Carlton, money he illegally took from supporters' campaign donations.
Recent polls show Harry Reid to be unpopular in Nevada, the state that elects him, but he could probably buy a pretty good turnout at the Ritz.

Finally! Harry Reid Supports Our Troops, With a Little Help from Rush Limbaugh

After a year of missteps, misstatements and misspeaking, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Ritz Carlton) has finally found a way to truly and honestly help the American troops he has repeatedly voted to put in harm's way.

Earlier this year, Reid described the surge as failed, months before it began. He told us that General Petraeus was "out of touch" with what is going on in Iraq and called Petraeus and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Pace "incompetent." For frosting on his cake of snivel, he also called Petraeus a liar just 60 days after voting to confirm him, and then declared the war "lost" in April, even as his political sidekick gloated about the number of Senate seats that Democrats would win as a consequence.

Where sticks wouldn't work, Reid switched to stones, repeatedly holding up funding for the troops on the ground.

But, the winds change.

Thanks to Rush Limbaugh's auction of a letter calling for Limbaugh's head, a letter drafted and signed by Reid and then circulated for signature among 41 like minded Democratic senators, Reid will provide a major helping hand to Rush's favorite charity.

Rush was given the original letter by the recipient, the chairman of Clear Channel, the syndicator of Rush's radio show. Rush is auctioning the letter on eBay and has promised to donate 100% of the proceeds to The Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, a charity which helps provide scholarships to children of Marines who fall in the line of duty. Rush serves on its Board of Directors, along with a galaxy of other constellations of stars who support our military. Interestingly, at least a couple of those serving share the honor of denigration by Harry Reid.

This is easily Harry Reid's finest moment. Finally, real, honest support.

I expect the auction to go well into six figures before it closes.

Good going, Rush! Who tends to do well while doing good.

Al Who? Nobel What?

On average, the Nobel peace recipients are not leaders that one would feel comfortable following, and for the most part they've come and gone again quietly, a politically correct herdlet passing quietly into the past.

Some of the Laureates of the past are illustrative of higher standards than are apparent today: Norman Borlaug (1970), credited as the father of the green revolution in agriculture, who helped save a billion people from starvation; Lech Walesa (1983), an electrician who led his people to freedom, with a little help from his friendes; Mother Teresa (1979), who led others to peace through her example of care and self-sacrifice; George C. Marshall (1953), who helped reconcile a war-torn Europe; and a dozen others over the past 107 years. What stands out, though, from a review of recipients is how poorly the list has stood up over time.

Listed below are the recipients from the last 20 years. Missing are Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, who combined to free a quarter of the world's population while keeping the peace; and, the U. S. Armed Forces, which have freed more people and bred more peace than any other organization in the past century.

A few are consequential: Doctors Without Borders and the ICBL have labored and been effective. Some of the others are politically correct fadists who flash for a moment then fade like a single-hit musical group.

Too many are hacks, thugs and dictators: Kofi Annan, The U.N. (twice!), the IAE and el-Baradei, Mikhail Gorbachev (a dictator who at least knew the moment to surrender), Le Duc Tho, of North Vietnam, and then in a class all by himself, Yasser Arafat.

How can a group of politicians who have so self-consciously hugged the tragic Jimmy Carter and kissed the evil Dr. Arafat be taken the least bit seriously? How can an honor they bestow for efforts based on a lie, as are Gore's, do other than degrade those recipients truly deserving of the honor?

2007

INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) and ALBERT ARNOLD ( AL) GORE JR. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

2006

MUHAMMAD YUNUS and GRAMEEN BANK for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.

2005

INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY and MOHAMED ELBARADEI for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.

2004

WANGARI MAATHAI

for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace

2003

SHIRIN EBADI

for her efforts for democracy and human rights

2002

JIMMY CARTER JR., former President of the United States of America,

for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development

2001

UNITED NATIONS, New York, NY, USA

KOFI ANNAN, United Nations Secretary General

2000

KIM DAE JUNG for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular.

1999

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES), Brussels, Belgium.

1998

The prize was awarded jointly to:

JOHN HUME and DAVID TRIMBLE for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

1997

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES (ICBL) and JODY WILLIAMS for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.

1996

CARLOS FELIPE XIMENES BELO and JOSE RAMOS-HORTA for their work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor.

1995

JOSEPH ROTBLAT and to the PUGWASH CONFERENCES ON SCIENCE AND WORLD AFFAIRS for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and in the longer run to eliminate such arms.

1994

YASSER ARAFAT , Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, President of the Palestinian National Authority.

SHIMON PERES , Foreign Minister of Israel.

YITZHAK RABIN , Prime Minister of Israel.

for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East.

1993

NELSON MANDELA Leader of the ANC.

FREDRIK WILLEM DE KLERK President of the Republic of South Africa.

1992

RIGOBERTA MENCHU TUM, Guatemala. Campaigner for human rights, especially for indigenous peoples.

1991

AUNG SAN SUU KYI, Burma. Oppositional leader, human rights advocate.

1990

MIKHAIL SERGEYEVICH GORBACHEV , President of the USSR, helped to bring the Cold War to an end.

1989

THE 14TH DALAI LAMA (TENZIN GYATSO) , Tibet. Religious and political leader of the Tibetan people.

1988

THE UNITED NATIONS PEACE-KEEPING FORCES New York, NY, U.S.A.

1987

OSCAR ARIAS SANCHEZ , Costa Rica, President of Costa Rica, initiator of peace negotiations in Central America.

RELATED LINKS: Judge Finds Nine Untruths in "Political" and "Partisan" Gore Movie
Drinking Al Gore's Kool-Aid Will Kill Millions
Where Was Al Gore When Greenland Got Its Name, III?


In earlier years the selection committee would withhold selection of a nominee when none were sufficiently worthy. It has been 40 years since that occurred, far too long.

Judge Finds Nine Untruths in "Political" and "Partisan" Gore Movie

After a three day trial, British High Court Judge Mr. Justice Michael Burton has found nine serious factual errors in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, a film which the judge describes as attempting to support Gore's thesis on global warming through "alarmism and exaggeration."

By far the largest and most troubling of the nine "errors" is Gore's false claim of a match—an exact fit, according to Gore—in the rise of carbon dioxide against an increase in global temperatures. The judge ruled that "the two graphs do not establish what Mr. Gore asserts." To the contrary. Gore has built his case on the falsity that increases in CO2 cause a greenhouse effect, thereby warming the planet. He extends that position to argue that man-made CO2 will cause, increase or accelerate further warming, creating a climate crisis.

The reality is antithetical to Mr. Gore's position. All currently available scientific data confirms that over the past 650,000 years increases in CO2 have followed increases in global temperatures, not preceded them. It is more likely, though still unproven, that rising temperatures cause increases in CO2 than the reverse.

The other eight inconvenient untruths are that global warming is causing

• Ice melting on Greenland that will cause oceans to rise 20 feet in the near future
• Low-lying Pacific atolls to flood
• The Gulf Stream to shut down, bringing on a new ice age
• Reduced snow on Mt. Kilimanjaro
• Lake Chad to dry up
• Polar bears to drown as ice floes shrink
• Coral reefs to bleach

• and that it caused Hurricane Katrina

And so the judge ruled that if the film is going to be distributed to public schools it would need an accompanying text explaining that it is partisan and political rather than scientifically truthful.

The Judge also awarded the plaintiff, a truck driving father of two, almost $200,000 in legal expenses.

RELATED LINKS: Drinking Al Gore's Kool-Aid Will Kill Millions
Global Warming, or Just Cooking the Books?
Where Was Al Gore When Greenland Got Its Name, III?

Nine untruths in support of a larger truth? Now, that's inconvenient!

The Truth, D.C. Style

The old joke has a comedian seated next to a politician for a short flight. They exchange pleasantries and occupations, after which the politician says, "So, you being a comedian, will you tell me a joke?" The comic returns with, "I'll be delighted, but how 'bout you start us off? You're a politician, so tell me a lie."

Once or twice a generation our very best politicians unintentionally speak a real truth, such as this a few years ago from a mayor of Washington, D. C. speaking in front of the Washington Press Club,

“Except for the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.”

Priceless.

David Freddoso, a relatively new staff reporter for National Review Online and a resident of the District, has penned a superb and scathing review of the District's briefing to the Supreme Court in the Parker case, including the lawyers' bizarre decision to cite the District's legal right to idly stand by while its citizens are victimized by crime.

RELATED LINKS: What on Earth Are D.C. City Politicians Smoking? Hallucinating About Gun Control in Parker
Ten Years Later, It's True: After Guns Have Been Outlawed, Only Outlaws Have Guns

Ben Franklin pointed out the shortsightedness of those who would trade their liberty for security.

In D. C., they made the trade, only to be shortchanged.

Apple's Mac Market Share: Up, Up and Away

With all the hoopla surrounding the iPhone and the newest iPods it's sometimes too easy to forget that the greatest share of Apple's revenues and profits is generated by the Mac computer.

Recent developments from the halls of higher education are a harbinger of consumer news to follow, as student consumers are leading-edge indicators of coming mass-market cycles.

At Princeton, The Daily Princetonian reports that Apple's share of faculty and students is at 40%, up from 10% four years ago, and that sales this year are at 60%, easily surpassing all of the Wintel alternatives combined.

What effect Vista, Microsoft's touted new operating system? Well,

After four years of skyrocketing Mac ownership, however, the advent of Windows Vista sparked speculation that Microsoft could reclaim its former dominance on campus.

But the operating system's debut was not all that PC users had hoped for. Vista requires a much more powerful computer to run properly, and unfortunately, some of the Dells found in computer clusters and science labs don't measure up.

"Some of the machines are three years old and are not beefy enough to run Vista optimally," said Leila Shahbender, manager of customer support at OIT.

Vista's sleek new interface — touted as sexy by Microsoft advocates — is almost useless and is so taxing that the system should be sold with additional memory. I mean, why hassle your customers?

The report continues

Princeton is not the only campus where Mac use is on the rise. At a recent college technology conference, Shahbender found that Mac sales also had significantly increased at MIT, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn, Duke, Stanford, Cornell and Brown over the past few years.

Apple's offerings are experiencing similar receptions at other schools. According to Roberta Lembke, director of information and instructional technologies at St. Olaf's in Northfield, MN, as reported in the Pioneer Press, Macintosh

"pricing has come down, and the products are extremely functional, (and Apple) "support is excellent, its quality is excellent (at a time when some) PC makers have seen a nosedive in the quality of their products, (causing) consumers to lose confidence.

"The iPod is what brought people to at least consider the Mac again," Lembke added.

The Mac has a 25% share at St. Olaf's, double that of five years ago, where

Students who switch from Windows PCs to Macs are commonplace, Lembke said, but "I never hear students who have switched to a Mac saying they are going back to Windows."

The Missouri School of Journalism reports that fully 99.5% of its entering students choose Macs over the competition.

Part of the answer may be contained in the lengthy report in The Wall Street Journal describing how many users regard Vista as part of the problem, not the solution. According to Jason Fry's Readers Endorse Switch to Apple

Vista was the final straw for a number of Windows users. Microsoft has a problem on its hands there.

UPDATE: eWeek's Microsoft Watch reports an amazing new statistic. Joe Wilcox writes that 20% of the current retail sales of Microsoft Office are for the Mac platform. The most likely purchasers? Switchers, computer purchasers who once used Wintel machines but who are now purchasing Macs.

Imagine, five years in development, hyped beyond all reason, and Vista has lost the college kids and the professionals.

Vista, the Edsel of the 21st Century.

Drinking Al Gore's Kool-Aid Will Kill Millions

Almost 30 years ago, cult leader Jim Jones convinced more than 900 of his People's Temple followers that death by drinking Flavor Aid was better than life. Today, Al Gore continues in Reverend Jones' footsteps and and is picking up the pace substantially.

First it was his willingness to trade for a few miles per gallon increased fuel efficiency at the cost of hundreds or thousands of lives each year in unnecessary deaths caused by collisions in lighter cars. The science, the numbers, the facts are unassailable, but without effect. To Reverend Al, agnostics are heretics and no questions are acceptable.

Today, the environmental messiah is willing to trade more than one million lives a year for his chance at tightening the screws on the world economy.

Bjorn Lomborg, writing in today's Washington Post, makes a convincing argument that the most compelling issue to consider when weighing Senator Gore's draconian demands is the number of deaths his remedy would cause.

According to Lomborg,

But though this fact gets much less billing, rising temperatures will also reduce the number of cold spells. This is important because research shows that the cold is a much bigger killer than the heat. According to the first complete peer-reviewed survey of climate change's health effects, global warming will actually save lives. It's estimated that by 2050, global warming will cause almost 400,000 more heat-related deaths each year. But at the same time, 1.8 million fewer people will die from cold.

In short, the Reverend Al is willing to spend trillions and potentially kill millions, but is unwilling to consider that other alternatives may be better solutions for the problems he sees or that he may be wrong entirely.

The biggest differences between Jim Jones and Al Gore are the amount of Flavor Aid (it wasn't Kool-Aid at Jonestown) the media is willing to carry for the guy and the number of casualties we can expect amongst the true believers… and innocent bystanders.

RELATED LINKS: Global Warming or Just Cooking the Books?
Where Was Al Gore When Greenland Got It's Name, III?

Make no mistake, Al Gore is building and leading a cult of true believers.

Some think the election in 2000 tipped him over. I think he was gone long before that.

Brady Campaign Nervous; Admits Effort to Get DC to Modify Gun Ban Rather Than Risk Trip To Supreme Court

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, confirmed today that the group attempted to convince the District of Columbia to change its law banning guns rather than risk an appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. They were unsuccessful.

The District, which this summer suffered a landmark defeat in a ruling by the Second District Court of Appeals that its 1976 ban on private possession of handguns violates the Second Amendment to the Constitution, chose to appeal rather than change.

According to Mr. Helmke, explaining his strategy to retreat rather than fight

It will be the biggest ruling on the Second Amendment ever. You get nervous when you see something with far-reaching implications.

The District's homicide rate ranks among the highest in the nation and last year police seized more than 2,600 illegal guns in spite of the nearly-absolute ban.

Presumably all of the guns were seized from criminals as all the lawful citizens were standing around with their hands in the air, surrendering to the murderers, rapists, robbers and muggers.

The District's attorney general offered the rubric that the homicide rate would be even higher without the ban, saying

More guns leads to more gun violence. (sic)

Her statement would be more credibility if she could point to a city with more guns and a higher crime rate, but unfortunately for her argument each of the cities with more guns has a lower crime rate than the city that known as "the murder capital of the country."

According to the Associated Press

Some cities and states with tough gun laws are getting nervous about D.C.'s appeal. During the lower court proceedings, Washington had the backing of several jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, Maryland and Chicago. But fearing they could lose - and lose big - at the Supreme Court, few have publicly backed the city or filed briefs in support of its appeal.

Of course, every one of those listed have serious crime issues and victims with no recourse. Since 1986, state after state has allowed their citizens more handgun latitude and their crime rates have fallen, significantly. England and Australia, once poster children for the Brady campaign, have suffered the consequences of greater restriction and seen their crime rates increase dramatically.

The facts are in, the good faith arguments are over. There can no longer be any rational justification for blaming the gun, for taking the position that otherwise law abiding Glocks, Sigs, Colts, Rugers and HKs are magically teleporting across the beltway in order to wreck wanton havoc on the peaceable and innocent residents of our fair capital.

Again, according to the AP

Helmke, of the Brady Campaign, said the group suggested to Washington that it rework its gun laws rather than press on with an appeal. A broad Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment could jeopardize a variety of laws, including waiting periods for handgun sales and California's machine gun ban, he said. (sic)

UPDATE: It's news to the NRA

RELATED LINKS: What on Earth Are D.C. CIty Politicians Smoking? Hallucinating About Gun Control in Parker
Ten Years Later, It's True: After Guns Have Been Outlawed, Only Outlaws Have Guns
The Most Important Gun Rights Court Decision… Ever!

First, the constitutional scholars, now the Brady Campaign. The winds are blowing, and sails are triming.

Supreme Court Rules Politicians Have Right to Lie

It shouldn't surprise, given the state of the law, our courts and our politicians, and, in fact, it actually makes sense, but still, it's a bit… disconcerting.

The Supreme Court of the State of Washington ruled today in a 5-4 decision that candidates for political office have a constitutionally protected right to be free from prosecution for lying in their pursuit of office.

It is sobering to consider the responsibilities that courts have taken from the shoulders of common men and women and to contrast them with those that remain, including the duty on the part of each individual to provide protection against politicians who lie, given that government cannot be charged with that duty.

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh, for whom I have enormous respect, comes to a different conclusion and sides with the minority. He also thinks that a case such as this will eventually make it to the U. S. Supreme Court, but, like me, doubts this will be the one.

So, let's see. You can be prosecuted for lying on an application for a pilot's license. You can go to jail for lying when buying a gun, or filling out the form needed to arrange a post office box. You can be fired for lying on your resume, but if politics is your career choice, it's "Get Out of Jail Free."

Fred Thompson, Barn Burner!

Every day is a fresh new day of Legacy Media reporting Fred Thompson is merely coasting along the campaign trail, seemingly barely able to keep up with the other candidates, and then… shazzam!

The most tangible evidence of support, voluntary contributions, have been announced for the quarter just ended and the real world is different than what's been reported.

Funds raised by the campaigns during the quarter for use in the primaries:

Giuliani $10.5 million
Romney $10 million
Thompson $9.3 million

Of course, Thompson's 3rd quarter was a bit shorter than the others, only 24 days after his September 5th announcement, compared to 90 days for the others.

On a daily rate, Fred's fundraising results are instructive and impossible for anyone but The New York Times to ignore

Thompson $387,500 per day
Giuliani $116,667 per day
Romney $111,111 per day

Among Democrats, Clinton reported she raised $22 million for the primaries, a daily rate of about $250,000.

UPDATE: The Thompson campaign said this morning that $6 million of the $9.3 million was raised during the month of September, creating a $200,000 per day raise rate for the Senator since his announcement. Thanks to FreeSpirited for the pointer.

Interestingly, Fred retains in cash a much greater percentage of the funds he has raised than do the others, more than 80%.

Jonathan Turley Reads Constitution, Is Shocked to Find 2nd Amendment

Jonathan Turley, a very high profile constitutional scholar and dedicated liberal, this morning confessed to reading the Constitution and finding within its black letters a previously undiscovered 2nd Amendment. To Turley's chagrin and credit, he acknowledges his discovery in USA Today's A Liberal's Lament: The NRA Might Be Right After All

This term, the Supreme Court may finally take up the Voldemort Amendment, the part of the Bill of Rights that shall not be named by liberals. For more than 200 years, progressives and polite people have avoided acknowledging that following the rights of free speech, free exercise of religion and free assembly, there is "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." Of course, the very idea of finding a new individual right after more than two centuries is like discovering an eighth continent in constitutional law, but it is hardly the cause of celebration among civil liberties groups.

Like many academics, I was happy to blissfully ignore the Second Amendment. It did not fit neatly into my socially liberal agenda. Yet, two related cases could now force liberals into a crisis of conscience. The Supreme Court is expected to accept review of District of Columbia v. Heller and Parker v. District of Columbia, involving constitutional challenges to the gun-control laws in Washington.

The D.C. law effectively bars the ownership of handguns for most citizens and places restrictions on other firearms. The District's decision to file these appeals after losing in the D.C. appellate court was driven more by political than legal priorities. By taking the appeal, D.C. politicians have put gun-control laws across the country at risk with a court more likely to uphold the rulings than to reverse them. It has also put the rest of us in the uncomfortable position of giving the right to gun ownership the same fair reading as more favored rights of free press or free speech.

The Framers' intent

Principle is a terrible thing, because it demands not what is convenient but what is right. It is hard to read the Second Amendment and not honestly conclude that the Framers intended gun ownership to be an individual right. It is true that the amendment begins with a reference to militias: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Accordingly, it is argued, this amendment protects the right of the militia to bear arms, not the individual.

Yet, if true, the Second Amendment would be effectively declared a defunct provision. The National Guard is not a true militia in the sense of the Second Amendment and, since the District and others believe governments can ban guns entirely, the Second Amendment would be read out of existence.

Another individual right

More important, the mere reference to a purpose of the Second Amendment does not alter the fact that an individual right is created. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is stated in the same way as the right to free speech or free press. The statement of a purpose was intended to reaffirm the power of the states and the people against the central government. At the time, many feared the federal government and its national army. Gun ownership was viewed as a deterrent against abuse by the government, which would be less likely to mess with a well-armed populace.

Considering the Framers and their own traditions of hunting and self-defense, it is clear that they would have viewed such ownership as an individual right — consistent with the plain meaning of the amendment.

None of this is easy for someone raised to believe that the Second Amendment was the dividing line between the enlightenment and the dark ages of American culture. Yet, it is time to honestly reconsider this amendment and admit that ... here's the really hard part ... the NRA may have been right. This does not mean that Charlton Heston is the new Rosa Parks or that no restrictions can be placed on gun ownership. But it does appear that gun ownership was made a protected right by the Framers and, while we might not celebrate it, it is time that we recognize it.

Turley's search for meaning was undoubtedly made more difficult by the lack of penumbras surrounding the enumerated right and by the excess of political agendas clouding the amendment.

His most compelling lines form the strongest argument in favor of the Second Amendment meaning exactly what it says:

More important, the mere reference to a purpose of the Second Amendment does not alter the fact that an individual right is created. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is stated in the same way as the right to free speech or free press.

Can it be any more clear?

Jonathan Turley' late conversion is as welcome as Saul's and we can look forward to many more to come during this year of Supreme Court decisions.

RELATED LINKS: What on Earth Are D. C. Politicians Smoking? Hallucinating About Gun Control in Parker
The Most Important Gun Rights Court Decision… Ever!

The Musical Notes That Are Illegal to Play

You won't be hearing these notes played at Henry M. Jackson High School in Everett, Washington.

According to Federal Court Judge Robert Lasnik, Chief Judge of the Western District of Washington, students setting their fingers to keyboard while following these notes are breaking the law, and he has ordered them to stop.

Judge Lasnik, appointed to the bench by President Clinton in 1998, found these particular notes—without any lyrics—are so offensive that he upheld the order by the school district's associate superintendent that the school's wind ensemble not be allowed to perform the music.

"(A)ll of us just picked the piece because we liked how it sounded," according to ensemble member and graduating senior Kathryn Nurre. "We had pretty much mastered it. It was just a piece of music."

Traditionally members of the school's wind ensemble, its top instrumental group, have been allowed to choose music from their repertoire to play at graduation. Not so, now.

So, be careful. Merely humming a few notes in the wrong circumstances could land you in Judge Lasnik's pokey.

School officials have determined that musical selections for graduation must be "entirely secular," a high standard that Franz Biebl's classic instrumental Ave Maria apparently couldn't meet.

Sadly, America falls short, too.

Rolling Up the Carpet

You won't see it in The New York Times, but American military successes in Iraq continue to accelerate in what amounts to a graveyard spiral for the terrorists.

Here is a graphic illustration of just the significant al Qaeda leaders killed or captured during the month of September.

Recent communications amongst al Qaeda leadership speak in terms of their "desperation" in Iraq.

Perhaps Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Ritz Carlton) should reconsider the disdain he's shown American troops and their leadership since he declared the surge a failure and the leaders incompetent.

We're past questioning their patriotism and to the point of asking their definition of the term.

"Kill the Terrorists, Secure the Borders, and Give Me Back My Freedom"

Fred Thompson knows what the future holds, is willing to face it directly and, most importantly, is comfortable talking about it with the American people.

Kill the Terrorists

It's not going to end, this war we fight, until we surrender or they die. It really is that simple and yet only one candidate faces up to the simplicity… and its ramifications.

Secure the Borders

Can there be any doubt about the need? Why do we even hesitate to discuss it? In a world where armageddon can be carried in a backpack it's critically important to know exactly who's coming to visit and to keep out those who are not invited.

Period.

Give Me Back My Freedom

Freedom has eroded under the constant trickle of regulatory expansion since the end of the Reagan administration. Whether one is a doctor, pilot, accountant, infant or senior citizen, consumer or producer, the scrutiny of 1.9 million federal employees and more than 10 million contract workers has only increased.

Professional candidates will promise almost anything that can be imagined—$5 thousand stipends for babies!—but our Presidents are there to lead and to protect, not to change diapers.


It should be impossible to trust a candidate who has always wanted to be president, as to act on that want illuminates a real flaw of character, one that should be disqualifying.