Blogworthies XVI

Because The Blog from the Core simply can't cover everything.

Noteworthy entries @ Belmont Club, Mere Comments, Catholic Analysis, Discriminations, Mere Comments (again), Cor ad cor loquitur, Dust in the Light, Blackfive, Fenster Moop, GetReligion, Right Wing News, and The Command Post.

The Wedding Party @ Belmont Club:

It's an imaginary scene from World War 2, though it could have happened. Battalion headquarters gets a report over the phone from a front line sector. 'Armor moving to our front, 300 yards out bearing 75 degrees.' The information is plotted in grease pencil on a 1:10,000 map with an an acetate overlay. The position of the platoon reporting is known on the map. A protractor marks out the bearing and ruler paces of the distance. A symbol for enemy armor is drawn on the acetate. Ten minutes later, more details come in. 'Armor is three tanks'. A number is written in beside the enemy armor symbol. Battalion asks the platoon commander if someone can get a better look at the armor. Twenty minutes later, another update is phoned in. 'Sir, I don't know what they are doing there, but the armor is ours.' The map plot is amended, and the symbol for enemy armor is changed to reflect friendly armor.

Sixty years later a reader browsing internet news stories gets breaking news that an American helicopter has killed forty persons at a wedding. But story goes on after he closes the browser....

The War at Home @ Mere Comments:

Last night on the local news in Chicago there was (another) story about someone gunned down in an alley. This time it was two men, one about 40 and the other in his 20s. Sad to say, one gets used to such “news.” ....

The Paralysis of Fearing Risk @ Catholic Analysis:

Today, N.Y. Times columnist William Safire has a must-read column capturing the "Four Noes" of defeatists on the Iraq War, as summarized below: ....

The Brown Dog That Didn't Bark @ Discriminations:

I can't let all the "legacy of Brown" celebration / lamentation fade away without noting a point....

Steyn on the Latest @ Mere Comments:

Recommended: Mark Steyn's Massachusetts' Marriage. He is one of my favorite writers. He’s not only insightful, he writes very well, and not just well but entertainingly....

Dialogue With a Homosexual @ Cor ad cor loquitur:

Some highlights from a paper of the same name, from April 1999....

Slandering the Troops in Order to Defeat Them @ Dust in the Light:

In the presence of an embedded reporter, in March 2003, Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey, of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Weapons Company, mocked an Iraqi civilian who was trying to communicate with Marines: ....

"Judge Us By Our Actions" @ Blackfive:

The following is an email from a Marine Colonel in Iraq. The Colonel discusses the effect that Abu Ghraib has had in the Middle East. You will be surprised....

The False Consciousness of the Postwar American Housewife @ Fenster Moop:

Victor Davis Hanson recently wrote, in response to calls for Rumsfeld's resignation:

"What would we think now if George Marshall had been forced out on news that 3,000 miles away George S. Patton's men had shot some Italian prisoners, or Gen. Hodges's soldiers summarily executed German commandoes out of uniform, or drivers of the Red Ball express had raped French women?"

That got me thinking about the different mindsets on the homefront in America's different wars, and reminded me of an interesting feature of my own home that may be germane to the point. Don't take this little story as browbeating, please, but do consider it as a possibly fair way of contrasting the present with the past....

Preparing for the future of the Kerry and communion story @ GetReligion:

Here are some dates to mark on the God-beat calendar. On June 17, Sen. John "What would JFK do?" Kerry is planning a fundraising event in posh Aspen, followed by several events in Denver....

If Lincoln Was Treated The Way Bush Is Today By Garnet Girl @ Right Wing News (emphasis and ellipses in original):

.... The media’s selective coverage has been outrageous (have you watched the debate between Jonah Goldberg and Howie Kurtz?). I like your take on this. It reminds me of a similarly structured editorial by William Katz that was in the NY Sun last week:

Mr. Ben-Gorelick: Good evening, President Lincoln. The Select Commission on Gettysburg thanks you for taking time out from the Civil War to appear.

Lincoln: You’re welcome, sir. I respect the commission.

Mr. Ben-Gorelick: Before I get to the blunders at Gettysburg, sir, I must ask about the speech you just gave there dedicating the cemetery. This “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth…” Do you have the…

Lincoln: I know it....

If The Media Treated Basketball Like They Treat The War On Terror @ The Command Post (emphasis and ellipses in original):

Dan Koppel: I'm your announcer Dan Koppel here with my co-hosts Peter Brokaw and Laurie Malkin. It's late in the third quarter and the Damascus Jihadis have the LA Lakers on the ropes. It has been a dominating performance by the Jihadis...

Peter Brokaw: You said it Dan! Nothing has gone right for the Lakers tonight and coach Phil Jackson's gameplan is the likely culprit. Do you agree Dan?

Dan Koppel: Absolutely! This whole game has just been an embarrassing travesty for Laker fans...

Laurie Malkin: Guys, I hate to disagree but the Lakers are leading 108-24...

Dan Koppel: Come on Laurie, show some professionalism and stop your mindless cheerleading for the Lakers....

See also Blogworthies XV.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 05/22/04 01:29:10 PM
Categorized as Blogworthies.

Slippery Slope and Sodomite "Marriage"

James Taranto has a good discussion of slippery-slope arguments, the federal constitution and courts, and the current marriage crisis, at Best of the Web Today, yesterday (brackets in original):

.... Last year, Sen. Rick Santorum made a similar argument about Lawrence v. Texas, a then-pending case challenging state sodomy laws: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything."

And in his Lawrence dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote: "State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers' validation of laws based on moral choices. Every single one of these laws is called into question by today's decision."

These comments drew howls from gay-rights advocates, most of whom, we suspect, were objecting to the implication that homosexuality was comparable to practices like incest and bestiality, which most everyone still agrees are deviant. But Lithwick thinks the slippery-slope argument itself is fundamentally flawed: "The problem with the slippery slope argument is that it depends on inexact, and sometimes hysterical, comparisons," she writes. Also: "Slippery slopes are only metaphors. They are not intrinsic principles of law."

Yet the way American constitutional law works, slippery slopes are almost inevitable — a point that is more easily understood if we think of same-sex marriage as coming at the end of such a slope rather than the beginning....

P.S. Recall, Faithful Reader, that AP added the word "gay" (in parentheses or brackets) to Santorum's remarks.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 05/22/04 10:25:59 AM
Categorized as Political.

"Almost Beside the Point"

Fr. Joseph Wilson writes at CruxNews yesterday:

Long after his death, Father Leo Trese proved to be quite a conversation-stopper.

I’m sure I haven’t thought of this story for over twenty years, but recently it popped, unavoidably, into my head. I was in a discussion group with some of my fellow seminarians, in one of those progressive postconciliar seminaries which specialized in updating the Faith. Precisely what was the discussion topic, I can’t recall. But I remember referring to a point made by Father Trese, in one of his pre-conciliar books for priests, where he said, "Of course, we all realize that the Priest who ascends the altar in a state of mortal sin does not offer a sacrifice. He commits a murder." ....

See also Zowee!

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 05/22/04 10:14:51 AM
Categorized as Religious.

Johnny Got His Mind Straightened

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CCCI

An article at the New York Post yesterday (brackets in original).

Flip-flop-flip.

Democrat John Kerry yesterday did a backward somersault and retreated from his suggestion just one day earlier that he might appoint right-to-life justices to the Supreme Court as long as the majority stayed pro-choice.

"I want to make myself clear," said a Kerry statement issued by his campaign. "I believe that a woman's right to choose is a constitutional right. I will not appoint anyone to the Supreme Court who will undo that right."

On Wednesday, Kerry sparked a brouhaha by telling the Associated Press he might appoint an anti-abortion judge to the Supreme Court, but not if it had just a narrow 5-4 pro-choice majority.

"That doesn't mean that if that's not the balance of the court, I wouldn't be prepared ultimately to appoint somebody to some court who has a different point of view. I've already voted for people like that. I voted for [right-to-life] Judge [Antonin] Scalia," Kerry said.

In the Democratic primaries, Kerry vowed to have an absolute abortion litmus test and only back pro-choice justices. He also pledged to filibuster to block any Bush nominees to the high court who weren't pro-choice.

Many pro-choice activists accepted Kerry's clarification. "This is not a time when we're going to pounce on John Kerry," said Elizabeth Cavendish of the abortion-rights group NARAL, which backs Kerry.

But Gloria Feldt, head of the pro-Kerry Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said: "I'd like to hear him use language that is stronger."

Kerry's latest flip-flop played right into what polls show as a key weakness: Voters think he tries to straddle both sides of an issue, a point underscored in Bush campaign attacks on the "Boston Fog" of Kerry's views.

President Bush opposes abortion and signed a ban on "partial-birth" abortions. Kerry voted against that ban, which passed the Senate by 64-34.

The flap comes as new polls show the 2004 race very close — and surprisingly close in New Jersey, where Kerry leads Bush by just 3 points. In 2000, Al Gore romped to a 14-point win in the Garden State.

In New Jersey, Kerry had 46 percent, Bush 43 and independent Ralph Nader 5 in a new Quinnipiac poll. Kerry also led by 3 in a Nader-free race.

Why so close? New Jersey is a very tax-sensitive state with higher-than-average incomes, where voters could suspect Kerry's vow to tax the "rich" targets them, said GOP pollster Jim McLaughlin.

A new Fox News national poll found a dead heat and a growing undecided vote. Bush and Kerry had 40 percent each, Nader 3 percent, and 17 percent were undecided. But the poll gave Bush a 6-point lead in "battleground" states.

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Flip-flop-flip. That's an editorial comment, no? But isn't this supposed to be a news story? It's not labelled "analysis" or "commentary".

Anyway, Gloria Feldt, head of the pro-Kerry Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said: "I'd like to hear him use language that is stronger." I guess that answers the question of who Kerry takes his marching orders from.

Some folks are confused by Kerry's move on Wednesday. Actually, he was being quite consistent. He likes, if possible, to straddle an issue, so he can tell one group that he was for something and another group that he was against it. Like, he'll talk up an issue, then vote against it; or vote for a bill, then bad mouth it. This time, he tried to appease pro-lifers by saying he would consider nominating a pro-lifer, while simulataneously trying to placate pro-abortionists by saying he wouldn't nominate a pro-lifer if it would actually make a difference. Very clumsy.

By the way, what does this sound like to you? "I want to make myself clear," said a Kerry statement issued by his campaign. "I believe that a woman's right to choose is a constitutional right. I will not appoint anyone to the Supreme Court who will undo that right." Does that sound like "I'm personally opposed to abortion, but...."?

That's not what it sounds like to me.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 05/22/04 09:42:01 AM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & John Kerry.