Crosblog

Rest in peace, UGA VI.

Israel has made a deal for a "prisoner swap" with Hezbollah. I put "prisoner swap" in quotation marks because the Israelis being held prisoner are dead, and probably have been for some time. Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev probably died from wounds sustained in the battle for their capture. Hezbollah has been holding on to their bodies because they believe that Israel is comprised of better, more decent people than Hezbollah is.

The chief prize for Hezbollah is Samir Kuntar, previously written about here. If Hezbollah were an organization worth respecting, and if people they claim to represent had concerns worth taking seriously, they would not want Samir Kuntar around. Kuntar was serving four consecutive life sentences for an attack where, among other things, he crushed the skull of four-year old Einat Haran with a rifle butt. Personally, I think that needs to be mentioned in the headline of any story written about Kuntar's return. "Hezbollah celebrates return of murderer of four-year old girl," puts things in proper perspective, I think.

Einat Haran's mother put it best:

"You tell me your hero, and I'll tell you what your morals and values are,"

Israelis all sympathize with the families of Regev, but wonder - will this encourage Hezbollah to attack and try and capture more Israelis? And if they do, why go to the trouble of keeping them alive, when a dead Israeli is much easier to hold on to, and will net you the same result?

One could presume that Hezbollah would not do such a thing, because decent human beings would never stoop so low. We tried to get reassurances from Hezbollah, but they were too busy planning a celebration for a man who murdered a four-year old girl.

Who, by the way, plans to go back to his old job once he's out.

Detroit Tiger suffers injury moving pillow.

He pulled a muscle in his side.

And maybe suffered a run in his pantyhose.

...meets the world's dumbest goalie.



Tip - Sully.

The Supreme Court's ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana saves Patrick Kennedy from being executed for the rape of his then 8-year old stepdaughter. Justice Kennedy found, among other things, that there exists a national consensus against executing a criminal who did not kill or intend to kill his victim, no matter how heinous his act.

Justice Kennedy cites the relatively small number of states who treat the rape of a child as a capital offense as evidence of a national consensus against. In the process, he has to deal with few complications. One - the number of states classifying child rape as a capital offense is going up, not down. Compared to their decision in Roper v. Simmons, where the Supreme Court found that states repealing statutes permitting execution of murderers who were under 18 at the time of their crime helped to prove that America was moving away from the death penalty in those situation. This isn't happening with child rapists - while six states isn't a lot, it's six more than existed prior to 1995, when Louisiana passed its law - and more states were considering laws.

There is, of course, one simple argument against the idea of a national consensus against executing child rapists. There isn't one - at least not if you ask Americans at large. Jim Lindgren at the Volokh Conspiracy cites polls showing that more Americans support allowing the death penalty for child rapists than oppose it. And besides, even Kennedy has to admit that this particular crime was shocking in its brutality - as I suggested when the case was up for oral argument - read what he did to that little girl and tell me the nation possesses a national consensus against executing the man who did that. In light of the outrage displayed by various state officials in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling, I can't help but wonder - if several states went ahead and passed laws categorizing child rape as a capital crime - could the liberal wing of the Supreme Court still claim the nation had a consensus against execution?

Kennedy also devotes some space at the end of his opinion to his idea that permitting execution of child rapists will either deter reporting of the crime (if the rapist is a family member, for instance), or will encourage the rapist to kill his victim. Which puts Kennedy & Friends on record as concluding that the death penalty does have a deterrent effect - if it deters a victim from reporting and deters a rapist from letting his victim live - I think it's pretty hard to argue that it might not, at least a few times, deter the crime itself.

Further analysis of the decision at Ace of Spades. As far as political fallout goes, I think Barack Obama might be in trouble, despite his stated opposition to this decision. Throw in the 5-4 decision affirming an individual right to own handguns, and John McCain can very easily argue that the justices Obama would nominate are just like the ones that spared Patrick Kennedy and believe individuals don't have a right to own handguns. I don't think Obama is going to be pledging that his judicial nominations will be ones who believe in an individual right to bear arms, or that states should have the right to execute child rapists, since judges who believe those things are also likely to be judges who believe states should have some latitude on restricting abortion, and if there's one thing you can take to the bank in this election, is that Obama will impose an abortion rights litmus test for his judicial nominees. Also worth noting is that the handgun ruling may face review sooner than you think - the city of Chicago has a law similar in its restrictiveness to the D.C. law, but Chicago officials are claiming the Heller decision doesn't apply to them, and are vowing to defend their law - arguably a challenge to gun rights is more likely to be an issue in the near future than any new challenges to abortion rights, and I think voters are more on the side of the conservative justices where Heller and Kennedy are concerned, and while Obama may laud Heller and condemn Kennedy, the fact is the judges he admires, and who resemble the ones he would appoint, voted the opposite way.

Supreme Court overturns DC's gun ban, apparently finding the 2nd amendment protects an individual right to own firearms.

Decision isn't online yet, but it will be here when it is.

UPDATE - Here it is.

It used to be Christopher Dell, then the U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, who was clearly a strong voice for decency during Mugabe's slide into tyranny.

Dell's tour of duty ended in 2007. As a reward for all his hard work, he got to go to Afghanistan. (I'd think he earned at least a one-year stint in the Caribbean, but I'm not in charge. Yet.)

Fortunately, the new ambassador, James McGee, appears to be more than up to the task. In a country currently cracking down on independant and international journalists, McGee has been doing his own reporting, taking fact finding tours throughout the countryside and reporting his findings to the world.

You can see some of what Ambassador McGee saw here. Warning - this isn't pretty.

So it would seem that Shaquille O'Neal wrote a little rap in which he asks Kobe to tell him how his ass tastes.

On the one hand, Shaq rapping again is arguably a crime in and of itself. On the other hand, at least he didn't make another movie.

Still, there must be consequences, and for Shaq, he has lost his status as a special sheriff's deputy in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Also, Shaq calls what he did "freestyling."

...

...

Oh, what the hell.



"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

He loses a sheriff's badge, but gains a Montoya Award.

Not a bad trade, I think.

South Africa's ruling party rejects outside interference in Zimbabwe's "election."

Nelson Mandela's heirs continue to do him proud. The statement, in part, reads:

“It has always been and continues to be the view of our movement that the challenges facing Zimbabwe can only be solved by the Zimbabweans themselves,” the statement said. “Nothing has happened in the recent months has persuaded us to revise that view.”

How can I put this tactfully? When Zimbabweans try to solve the challenges facing Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe and his thugs have them killed, you blithering idiots.

Was that tactful? Online, it's kind of hard to tell sometimes.

The U.N. has declared the runoff to be illegitimate. Mugabe has declared he doesn't give a crap.

An interesting defense is being suggested in an obscenity trial scheduled to take place in Pensacola, Florida. The defense attorney is planning to try and submit evidence concerning how frequently people there search Google for terms such as "orgy."

Community standards play a role in obscenity prosecutions, and the defense is attempting to show that maybe the community is a bit more open to new ideas than perhaps they let on. A novel tactic, although I don't know how successful it's going to be to tell a jury that they're just as perverted as the defendant.

Of course, as Talk Left points out, NASCAR was even more popular as a search term than orgy, so maybe the community does have its priorities in order.

Tip - Washington Monthly

When the truce between Israel and Hamas was signed, I figured the over/under on how long it lasted was 30 days.

Should have taken the under.

Israel is considering its response, keeping in mind, I suspect, that any forceful response will be considered "collective punishment," "disproportionate," or just generally "not helpful to the peace process," or some combination of the above.

Tip - Alarming News.

Duke University signs an agreement to play four football games against the University of Louisville. Duke ultimately withdraws from the agreement with three games to go. Louisville sues for breach of contract.

Duke argues that Duke football sucks so badly that not getting to play a team of their laughable stature really doesn't harm Louisville.

The judge buys it.

Louisville should have argued that playing Duke did provide a real value, in that it offers 1.) A guaranteed win, and 2.) The opportunity to let your bench players get some playing time - probably the entire second half.

Tip - Volokh.

Morgan Tsvangirai pulls out of Zimbabwe's so-called run-off election, saying he couldn't ask his supporters to risk their lives by voting for him. His quote:

"We can't ask the people to cast their vote on June 27 when that vote will cost their lives. We will no longer participate in this violent sham of an election," Tsvangirai said.

For weeks now, Robert Mugabe has been telling anyone who would listen that there would be no real election, in the sense of actually letting the people make a decision and then abiding by that decision. Generally speaking, the world has put a lot on this election. Not on Mugabe actually losing and stepping down, which would give Zimbabwe the only chance it has to recover as a nation, but on the fraud and intimidation being minimal and deniable enough to allow the U.N. and Zimbabwe's neighbors to throw up their hands, say "we tried," and pretend the hell that Zimbabwe has become is somebody else's fault, preferably somebody Western.

Mugabe is placing a very simple bet. He is betting that nowhere in the UN or the African Union is there enough of a commitment to democracy, human rights, or anything decent that would compel them to do the hard work necessary to drive Mugabe from power. Thabo Mbeki doesn't want to get involved, and at the UN, China and Russia will claim that doing anything would violate Zimbabwe's "sovreignty."

If anyone wanted to prove him wrong, now would be the time. Personally, I think this is the sort of thing that calls for Stone Cold John Bolton, but the multinationalists are convinced that quiet, less confrontational diplomacy is the way to go.

Fine. Mugabe needs to go. Prove it.

This article in the Atlantic about the effect of housing reform on crime. There have been benefits to breaking up heavy concentrations of low-income housing, but there have been costs as well - and according to the article, city leaders are less than enthused about facing the downsides.

Tip - Corner

Let's say you're a marginally talented actor who has been caught leaving a repugnant, profanity filled tirade on the voicemail of one of your ex-wives. To whom do you apologize?

If you said the best man at your first two weddings, you're ready for fame.

If nominated, Barack Obama promised to accept public financing (and all the restrictions that went with it) if his Republican opponent did.

John McCain is accepting public financing.

Barack Obama will not be using public funding. But hey, at least he was honest about why, right? He said something like - "Look, I think I'm going to be able to raise a boatload more money than John McCain, which would make that whole "level playing field" idea contemplated by the public financing system kind of stupid, from my end."

Well, he either said that or some weasel comment about how the evil Republicans made him do it.

Still, this isn't really that big a deal. Candidates who think they have a fundraising advantage have pressed the hell out of it for years now. And since Obama is running for President claiming to be the a better kind of the same politicians we've always had, instead of anything transcendant or nation-altering, this really isn't any kind of deviation from his original message.

I mean, if his big motivating force was some kind of change-oriented thing, that'd be different. But it's not, so there you go.

I'm sure this makes people smarter, but I'm not sure how.

Tip - Dawn Summers.

A story about what life after the wrestling has been like for Lex Luger. Years of physical punishment pushed him to the point that he basically woke up paralyzed one day in a California hotel room, and is slowly trying to regain the ability to stand on his own. Spiritually and mentally, however, he's holding up impressively well.

A list of political contributions to the Presidential candidates by various occupations. It's a fun read.

Professional golfers are more likely to contribute to McCain, while golf pros contribute more to Obama. People in the media go more than 4 to 1 for Obama.

I know. I was stunned too.

Cops largely prefer McCain, teachers largely prefer Obama. And 100% of people who identified themselves as a "wizard" or "sex slave" contributed to Ron Paul.

Again. Stunned.

Tip - Sully.

Would you guys hurry up and settle this already?

UPDATE - KTHXBYE

Republican Congressman works hard to alleviate the U.S. critically short supply of supermodels. Tip - WotP.

Crazy Venezuelan Bastard/Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen's new lineup card revealed. (Note - foul language). Tip - Steve Silver.

UPDATE - Per Dawn Summers - the babe-importing Congressman is a Democrat. He's probably trying to replace the young, attractive women who no longer find living in New York economically viable now that Eliot Spitzer has stepped down.

Now available for purchase - condoms featuring Barack Obama and John McCain.

Killing the mood is a kind of safe sex, I suppose...

For probably the first time in his decades of ruling Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe and his supporters are facing a very real fear of not only being rejected by his country's voters, but being rejected so strongly that they would be incapable of stealing the election with any degree of plausibility.

This prospect has Mugabe & company getting increasingly antsy, and they are reacting in a predictable fashion - Mugabe has ordered international aid organizations to cease operations in a country already facing starvation - allowing him to use the hunger he created as a weapon - vote for me and my party, or starve. On a more personal note, his supporters are getting more brutal as well - the wife of a prominent opposition leader was beaten, mutilated, and burned alive.

African icon Bishop Desmond Tutu is now calling for Mugabe's resignation. As Christopher Hitchens points out, perhaps the largest voice in Africa, that of Nelson Mandela, is remaining inexplicably silent. When Westerners speak out, Mugabe and his supporters reflexively toss out accusations of colonialism, but someone like Mandela or Tutu would be almost impossible to tar with this brush. Still, the maxim remains:

If the dictator is willing to paint the streets with blood, democracy is coming from outside, or it's not coming at all.

That being said, there is, or perhaps more accurately, possibly going to be, one Westerner who might be able to have an impact on Zimbabwe just by giving a speech.

President Barack Obama.

Sen. Obama is a superstar in Africa, and should he become President, his popularity in Africa will continue to skyrocket, and his first official visit to the continent will be huge. I wonder what effect it would have if he, while speaking to a stadium full of thousands of people, in a speech broadcast worldwide, called out dictators like Mugabe, Omar Al-Bashir of the Sudan, and lesser known but nearly as bad apples such as Eritrea's Isayas Afewerki or Equitorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and told them, and more importantly, told Africans and African leaders in no uncertain terms that they were hurting their nations and their continent, and that it was past time for them to go. Obama's used strong words when speaking about Mugabe before, but speaking as the President would go a lot farther than speaking as a Senator from Illinois.

What could such a speech provoke? Could it provoke open revolt? Maybe in Zimbabwe, which is getting close to that already, less likely in a place like Eritrea where the government has more of a stranglehold on the media. Hopefully it would first provoke leaders to finally tell Mugabe that the game was up, and his best option would be to hightail it out of Zimbabwe as fast as possible.

Whether or not Obama would make such a bold statement is, of course, an open question. As President, he might just use his first trip to Africa to offer praise to reformists and promise bucketloads of foreign aid - less controversial stances that wouldn't jeopardize his popularity. It is apparently asking a lot of a President to take such a stance - after all, nobody believes President Bush is terribly shy about confronting dictators, and he, despite being fairly well-liked in Africa, hasn't confronted Mugabe and his ilk the way one might expect. But regardless of how you feel about his stance on any other issue, the truth is Obama would start his Presidency with influence in Africa that John McCain (or even Bush, for that matter) will never be able to match.

And if you thought he'd really do it, you'd have to think a little harder about just maybe even voting for him.

Some links via Word of the People.

I know jury duty can be tedious. But if you could try to avoid playing Sudoku while the trial is going on, that would be swell.

Thanks again.

Now that Obama and McCain have both clinched their party's nominations, the next question is who gets to spend the next four years attending funerals and giving interviews where they swear they do more than just sit around and wait for the big guy to croak? In other words, who's the Veep?

I'm willing to say it. I think Obama picks Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. While Obama's claim to the nomination is no longer in any legitimate doubt, the one "cloud" hanging over him is the the prospect of losing women voters who got really attached to the idea of President Hillary Clinton. I also think that regardless of whether or not Clinton wants the #2 spot, Obama would rather drink one gallon of unleaded gasoline than pick her. Gov. Sebelius is a relatively liberal governor who won a statewide election in a red state, and has had to run Kansas with a Republican legislature, which gives her some of that "reaching out" cred that Obama seems so big on, and that, frankly, McCain will have an advantage with.

A note on this point - I've read hilzoy's post touting Obama's bipartisan credentials, and while it's not nothing, it reads frankly a lot more like Obama has been able to procure Republican co-sponsors for liberal and Democratic agenda items. Which is all well and good, but I agree with Sully that McCain has demonstrated the far more painful kind of bipartisanship, the kind where you tick off your own party's base to do something major with the other side. Obama had a good moment pairing with Tom Coburn on earmarks, but on this point, McCain is well ahead. But I digress - my point is, Sebelius would be a net plus for Obama's message, and she's a qualified female candidate who's not Hillary Clinton. I think these two things put her over the top.

My wife has long said Sen. Joe Biden would be his best choice, as Biden would add "gravitas." (Latin for "nothing of consequence.") Seriously, Biden has spent years in the Senate and has built a reputation as a foreign policy specialist, and could blunt the experience angle that McCain is coming from. The downside is that Obama has been using his inexperience as a weapon, basically arguing that the current class of leaders is experienced primarily at fouling things up. Still, if Obama gets a hint that voters would prefer a more experienced hand at Obama's side, Biden is probably his best choice.

The electoral vote issue is the only wild-card here. Obama will win Delaware and lose Kansas if he chooses Biden, Sebelius, or Larry the Cable Guy as his running mate. Obama's "electoral vote" veep would probably be Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. (Key achievement - being from Ohio.) Strickland's 56% approval rating may be high enough to make someone think that simply adding him could flip Ohio, which would almost guarantee an Obama victory. I don't think this works, generally, but someone in Obama's camp might. Still, if asked to pick a name in the poll, I'm going with Sebelius.

It's no secret that I think the best GOP #2 is Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. And I swear it's not just because she's 1) female, and 2) hot, although neither of those is a drawback. The narrative Palin brings would be compelling if she were an ugly dude. She ran as a Republican against a corrupt Republican establishment in Alaska, and is the best spokesperson to argue for continued Republican leadership while acknowledging and addressing the problems that started happening once the GOP got used to being in power. She is so popular in Alaska that if she had the approval ratings of Strickland or Sebelius, she'd resign in disgrace. And it bears repeating that she is the only potential candidate who could "out-hot" Obama.

What? He's a good-looking guy.

Much as I like her, though, I don't think she wants it, at least not now. In April she gave birth to a son with Down's Syndrome, and I'd be surprised if she was willing to embark on a national campaign so soon after his birth. Given McCain's age, people are probably going to want to know his VP is ready to step in at a moment's notice, and Palin, who's relatively new to politics, would have trouble on this front. Also, picking her would make it harder for McCain to argue that Obama is too inexperienced. The same problem also exists for fellow rising star Gov. Bobby Jindal. Also, I've heard more than once that this election is likely to be a loser for the GOP anyway, and they shouldn't waste talent like Palin and Jindal in a losing effort when they can lead a GOP resurgence in 2012 or 2016. (And honestly, if Jindal can put "straightened out Louisiana" on his resume, I pretty much don't care who the other options are, make that man President.)

Mitt Romney and recent hero Mike Huckabee are options, I suppose. Neither adds anything important, although each might help with a segment of the GOP base that is uncomfortable with McCain's well-publicized straying from the herd. (This is one element where a liberal media helps McCain. His breaks from the GOP got so much favorable press that the idea that "McCain is independant and moderate" is ingrained in the public consciousness too deeply for the Democrats to crack easily. This allows McCain a little leeway to reach out to the right.) I think with Palin out of the running, McCain will go with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty won election in 2006, not exactly a banner year for Republicans nationwide, and he's been fairly conservative in a not-terribly conservative state. Minnesota went narrowly for Kerry in 2004, and flipping Minnesota would be a big help in a close election. (Although Pawlenty's 52% approval rankings suggest he might not have the stroke to flip the state.) Still, he has enough experience not to blunt McCain's message on that point, he's conservative enough to help McCain assuage uneasy right-wingers, but not so notoriously right-wing as to pierce the moderate veil that was built for McCain.

In short, two midwestern governors. Sebelius and Pawlenty, will be your Vice-Presidential nominees.

Or not. What the hell do I know?

Irish chemical plant accident creates a large cloud of laughing gas.

In other news, Pauly Shore was last seen racing to Ireland, trying to put on a show before it was too late.

Three-day academic conference to focus on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

'Among the papers: "Buffy and Feminism," "Buffy and Identity," "Gender Stereotypes and the Image of Domesticity in `Firefly,'" "`Firefly:' The Illusive Safety of Big Damn Heroes" and a Durand favorite by a British scholar, "Hero's Journey, Heroine's Return: Buffy, Eurydice and the Orpheus Myth."'

"Respected scholars" or "Excessively Eggheaded Fan Fiction Authors?" You be the judge.

Hey, there could be a scholarly paper there...

One year ago today, I did pretty much the hardest thing I've ever had to do - nod my head when the vet asked if I was ready, and say goodbye to Mishka.



We still miss you, big guy. And thinking of you still makes us smile.

But life, as it usually does, goes on...



Koshka is now actually willing to consider allowing Smutyan to be near her for brief periods of time.

Stress "consider." She also considers disembowling him, but with Koshka, that's pretty much always on the table.

(Force is never off the table with Koshka. She would so not vote for Barack Obama.)



Otchki, of course, would be happy to vote for Barack Obama. And John McCain. And pretty much anyone who stops by the house.

Which is why Koshka remains our house's Chief of Security.

Tiananmen Square will look very different for the Olympics than it did in 1989.

Somewhere between 50 and 200 people still remain in prisons in China for the crime of trying to make their government accountable to their people.

China really hasn't learned anything yet.

Young vandals who trashed a house sentenced to read and study poetry. I'd almost be willing to ask, "exactly how much time would I have to spend in jail to get you to stop talking about poetry?"

Of course, the fact that it was Robert Frost's house they were trashing may have had something to do with it.

Here's something I didn't know - three of the top contenders to be the Republican nominee to succeed Governor Sonny Perdue don't have college degrees.

Lt. Governor Casey Cagle (generally believed to be the front-runner, with Johnny Isakson planning to seek re-election to the Senate), Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, and Secretary of State Karen Handel all went ahead and got jobs after high school and worked their way to their current positions from there. Cagle was planning to play football at Georgia Southern until an injury ended his college hopes, but all were successful at business prior to entering politics. Despite the lack of formal education, all three are respected as intelligent and competent politicians. (Well, Cagle and Handel are, at any rate. Westmoreland's had his off days...)

The Democrats will presumably nominate a lawyer of some kind. It would be interesting to see if the education gap were made an issue, especially since Cagle appears to be doing just fine as Lt. Governor without a degree.