See Shark. Jump Shark.

Richard Cohen appears to have done so. He has an opinion piece in the Washington Post that is, quite frankly, astonishing. After comparing the Attorney General of the United States to a ventriloquist's dummy, he goes on to say a lot of even sillier things.

It is the sheerest luck, I know, that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales looks (to me) a bit like Jerry Mahoney, because he fulfills the same function for the Bush administration that the dummy did for the ventriloquist Paul Winchell. At risk to his reputation and the mocking he must get when he comes home at night, Gonzales will call virtually anyone an al-Qaeda-type terrorist. He did that last week in announcing the arrest of seven inferred (it's the strongest word I can use) terrorists. I thought I saw Dick Cheney moving his lips.

The seven were indicted on charges that they wanted to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and the FBI bureau in Miami. The arrests came in the nick of time, since all that prevented mass murder, mayhem and an incessant crawl at the bottom of our TV screens was the lack of explosives, weapons or vehicles. The alleged conspirators did have boots, which were supplied by an FBI informant. Maybe the devil does wear Prada.

He protests that he isn't belittling efforts to act against terror with passages like this.

It is not now and never has been my intention to belittle terrorism. Clearly, if what the government alleges turns out to be the truth — look, that sometimes happens — then these guys deserve punishment. But theirs was such a preposterous, crackpot plot that the only reason it rose to the level of a televised news conference by the nation's chief law enforcement officer was the Bush administration's compulsive need to hype everything. For this, Gonzales, like a good Boy Scout, is always prepared.

Now why does that ring hollow? Oh - because he doesn't actually mean it!

Does it matter? Yes, it does. It matters because the Bush administration has already lost almost all credibility when it comes to terrorism. It said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and there were none.

Except for 500 or so artillery shells, right Mr. Cohen? When a columnist at a major newspaper has to resort to ad hominem and outright falsehood, there is a problem with credibility.

It's not Mr. Gonzales' credibility, either.

Big Buyout

About 47,600 employees have opted to take buyouts from General Motors and Delphi. Payments range from $35,000 to $140,000 to effected employees. The majority come from plants that the two companies have slated to be closed. It is the largest corporate buyout in history.

GM said 35,000 workers from the United Auto Workers and the IUE-CWA union took the offers of $35,000 to $140,000 to leave GM. Separately, Delphi said about 12,600 UAW-represented employees have taken early retirement. Delphi, which was also offering buyouts to workers who were not near retirement age, did not provide figures on how many have taken that option.

Many who chose to leave were employed at factories that the two companies have slated to close. GM is trying to regain its footing after losing $10.6 billion last year. Delphi is struggling to emerge from the protection of a bankruptcy court in New York.

GM chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner, in a news conference yesterday, said the acceptance rate was higher than the company expected. He said GM had the know-how to redirect workers into the empty slots. He also said that GM wouldn't rely heavily on temporary workers, who get no benefits and earn 70 percent of what traditional autoworkers earn, and that the company would take $3.8 billion in after-tax charges related to the buyouts, starting in the second quarter.

Wagoner cited the success of the program as another victory in his plan to reform GM. He said the campaign to cut labor expenses and other structural costs represents "a massive, tough move" for the company. Wagoner said GM has more work to do, though. "Everybody in the company is going to have to continue to hustle" to improve the company and fight competition, he said.

Robert Bruno, a labor and industrial affairs professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said he wasn't aware of a bigger, more expensive buyout package anywhere in modern capitalism. He said the buyout program will wipe out a big chunk of consumer-buying capacity in the U.S. economy and put more pressure on the American middle class.

"By the time all the severance money is spent, we've wiped out 47,000 middle-class union jobs with health benefits," Bruno said. "What is the calculated cost to communities?"

Dr. Bruno doesn't state the obvious thing here. What would the impact be if the plant's simply closed without asking for volunteers? I read that the average UAW worker is getting over $150 k annually in pay and benefits.

I hate to break this to the Democrats. But championing the rights of more illegal immigrants into the country will only make downward pressure on wages worse, not better.

US To Send Patriot Missiles To Japan

The US government and Japan appear to have reached agreement to deploy Patriot missile systems to Japan in response to North Korea's threat to launch a long range missile.

TOKYO, June 27 — The Pentagon is reportedly speeding up plans to deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on U.S. bases in Japan for the first time, a countermeasure seen as a response to the increasing threat of North Korean missiles.

In a May accord signed in Washington, the United States and Japan agreed in principle to put the interceptor system known as PAC-3 on U.S. bases here. But Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported that the Pentagon made a proposal this month to deploy the system in Okinawa by year's end amid concerns that Pyongyang may be preparing to test-fire a long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile.

Frankly, this seems a sensible plan since North Korea has not followed normally accepted protocols for missile launches (notification of flight plan, missile payload, etc.). It's acknowledging the threat without aggressive escalation. Defensive preparations are prudent.

Yuck

This is, quite frankly, disgusting. A report that Rush Limbaugh was detained - briefly as it turns out - at an airport for having Viagra in his luggage is being dogpiled by the left.

(CBS4 News) WEST PALM BEACH Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh was detained at Palm Beach International Airport for the possible possession of illegal prescription drugs Monday evening.

Limbaugh was returning on a flight from the Dominican Republic when customs officials found a Viagra prescription that did not bear his name. Instead, the bottle of pills had the names of two doctors on it according to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents examined the 55-year-old’s luggage after his private plane landed at the airport from the Dominican Republic. The matter was then turned over to the Sheriff’s Office. Investigators seized the drugs - used to treat erectile dysfunction - from Limbaugh.

….

Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, issued the following statement:

"While going through routine Customs inspection of luggage at Palm Beach International Airport upon his return from an international trip, Rush Limbaugh was detained by customs agents after they noticed a non-narcotic prescription drug, which had been prescribed by Mr. Limbaugh's treating physician but labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh. After a brief interview, Mr. Limbaugh was permitted to continue on his journey."

You know what? I didn't see the left dogpiling on Patrick Kennedy like this. The more right people who commented on Kennedy (that I read, anyway) were more upset at his apparent favorable treatment than gloating over his problem. Not so the left. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that revealing?

UPDATE: James Joyner has a good post up on this subject.

UPDATE: The Anchoress at her finest.

In Case You Were Wondering

Someone has been searching - repeatedly - for the Latin epigram by the Roman poet Martial that is the motto of this blog. Roughly, it means: " Neither wish for , nor fear your last day". Courtesy of the blog pro linguae Latinae magistris and it's proprietor, Mark A. Keith here is a translation of the entire stanza. (Mr. Keith is a high school Latin teacher in Fredericksburg, Virginia).

Martial X.47: "Living the Happy Life"

Vitam quae faciant beatiorem,
Iucundissime Martialis, haec sunt:
Res non parta labore, sed relicta;
Non ingratus ager, focus perennis;
Lis numquam, toga rara, mens quieta;
Vires ingenuae, salubre corpus;
Prudens simplicitas, pares amici;
Convictus facilis, sine arte mensa;
Nox non ebria, sed soluta curis;
Non tristis torus, et tamen pudicus;
Somnus, qui faciat breves tenebras:
Quod sis, esse velis nihilque malis;
Summum nec metuas diem nec optes.

Translation:

Martial, my good man, these things make for a happier life:
stuff not gotten from work, but left to you;
a happy garden, always a fire in the stove;
never being called to court, a little-used suit, a mind at peace;
free-born strength, a healthy body;
straight-talking wisdom and friends who feel the same way;
modest entertainment, simple food;
not partying all night, but free from cares;
not sleeping alone, but not around either;
dreams which make the night pass quickly:
may you want to be who you are and long for nothing;
may you neither dread your final day nor look forward to it.

My thanks to Mr. Keith for posting that.

101st Blog Of The Day

Today, my ongoing mission to visit one member of the fighting 101st each day led me over to Gawfer. There's a letter from John Snow, the Secretary of the Treasury to Bill "Leak n' Print" Keller. Let's just say Mr. Snow writes a better letter than Keller, shall we? As Gawfer puts it:

The problem is that somewhere along the line, the MSM have decided that it is their responsibility to oversee the Federal Government of the United States on behalf of the American people, thus displacing Congress and the Senate.

In doing so, rather than reporting the news as it occurs in an unbiased manner, they themselves have become the news, which creates a huge conflict of interest in that they can no longer provide clear and concise unbiased reporting. Sadly, Mr. Keller is not an isolated individual. This thought processes runs throughout the Mainstream Media.

Not Exactly

The USA Today headline: "Poll: Majority of Americans want withdrawal plan for Iraq."

WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a resolution that outlines a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday. Half of those surveyed would like all U.S. forces out within 12 months.

The poll finds support for the ideas behind Democratic proposals that were soundly defeated in the Senate last week. An uptick in optimism toward the war after the killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi earlier this month seems to have evaporated.

And it goes on from there. The problem with the statements is in the data USA Today Provides. It actually shows the people who want the US out of Iraq has actually declined a bit over time. (Oh, and the question asked does NOT say what the headline does, either). Sample demographics are not included, so it is impossible to tell how badly skewed the poll sample was.

And it goes on from there. The problem with the statements is in the data USA Today Provides. It actually shows the people who want the US out of Iraq has actually declined a bit over time. (Oh, and the question asked does NOT say what the headline does, either). Sample demographics are not included, so it is impossible to tell how badly skewed the poll sample was.

And it goes on from there. The problem with the statements is in the data USA Today Provides. It actually shows the people who want the US out of Iraq has actually declined a bit over time. (Oh, and the question asked does NOT say what the headline does, either). Sample demographics are not included, so it is impossible to tell how badly skewed the poll sample was.

(I could not out the data on the page - too many formatting issues - follow the link.

Ward Churchill To Be Fired

The University of Colorado at Boulder will terminate Ward Churchill's employment.

BOULDER, Colo. — The University of Colorado announced Monday that it will dismiss controversial professor Ward Churchill.

"Today, I issued to Professor Churchill a notice of intent to dismiss him from his faculty position at the University of Colorado Boulder," CU Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano said Monday afternoon.

Churchill has 10 days to appeal, which entails making a request to have the university president or chancellor forward the recommendation to the faculty senate Committee on Privilege and Tenure. A special panel will then conduct hearings on the matter and make a recommendation to the president on whether grounds for dismissal are supported.

Another committee found Churchill guilty of research misconduct and another panel recommended that he be fired because of "repeated and deliberate" infractions of scholarship rules.

Churchill's lawyer already announced that he will appeal  and is also shopping for a court to take the issue to. Good luck on all that.

Getting Nervous Yet?

Oh sure, we know there are people who think we're a bit over the top on our warnings about the animal uprising that's going on. We'll keep trying to warn you all, though. Because it's very important. Further proof of the conspiracy comes today from North Dakota. A woman on a casual fishing trip pulled out an unusual fish. She was suspicious and turned it over to officials who confirmed what she had thought. It wasn't a harmless trout.

It was a piranha. In North Dakota.

The small fish with big, sharp teeth is native to the Amazon River in South America.

Knapp said the catch was confirmed by biologists. The state Game and Fish Department believes the four-inch-long red-bellied piranha probably came from someone's aquarium.

"It had to have been somebody's pet," said Greg Power, the state fisheries chief.

Introducing a foreign species to North Dakota waterways is illegal, but officials said they have no idea who put the piranha in the reservoir, which Power said is a small fishery on an unnamed creek that has been dammed. Knapp said the warm-water fish would not have survived the winter, anyway.

Power said the piranha likely was too small to have done any damage to other fish in the reservoir, which has trout, panfish and other species.

He said he has heard of piranha being caught in other states, but that this might be a first for North Dakota.

"We have had goldfish that were put in (lakes) … but never a piranha," Power said

The other day we warned you that the reptilian horde of alligators was heading for Minnesota. Now there are piranha in North Dakota. Pretty soon there will be a brand new expression for water skiing in the Northern United States.

It will be known as "trolling".

The Battle Of The Somme

The Independent has a fascinating story about movie footage shot in 1916 at the Battle of the Somme. Long thought to be reenacted and filmed later for propaganda purposes, it turns out that much of the film footage is genuine. In many cases experts have actually managed to identify the individuals captured on film at that moment in history.

Sheltering in a sunken road near the French village of Beaumont Hamel on 1 July 1916, Captain Edmond McNaghten "Pongo" Dawson believed the first British thrust during the Battle of the Somme would be swift and decisive.

The German lines had been subjected to heavy bombardment for an entire week, and the Allies had the advantage of vastly superior numbers.

As the order came just after dawn to send the troops over the top, Captain Dawson was captured on film ushering his men, of the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, along the trench. As commander of the company, he was one of the first on to the parapet. A few seconds later, he was also one of the first to be cut down by German machine-gun fire.

For decades, historians have argued over the veracity of the film shot that morning, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Certainly, some scenes were re-enacted and filmed for propaganda purposes. But now, using a series of new scientific techniques, analysts have proved for the first time that most of the images are genuine, enabling them to identify many of the combatants and trace their surviving relatives.

One descendant who got to "meet" her grandfather, Captain Dawson, thanks to the documentary-makers was Anne Dawson.

The young captain, so fearlessly preparing to lead the advance - filmed that morning by the celebrated cinematographer Geoffrey Malins - miraculously survived the multiple gunshot wounds he sustained in the assault and was invalided back to Britain. He died in the mid-1960s, when Ms Dawson was still a small child.

Amazing what technology is able to accomplish these days. Many cutting edge techniques were used.

Now, on the eve of the 90th anniversary of the Somme, a team of documentary-makers and historical experts, including specialists from the Imperial War Museum, National Army Museum and Scotland Yard, has for the first time subjected the film to critical scientific analysis.

The team used techniques ranging from satellite analysis of trench locations to professional lip-reading and the latest facial-recognition software to prove the genuine nature of nearly all the battle scenes in the film. They also identified at least one "fake" attack, edited together with the original footage, filmed in a shallow trench with soldiers wearing incorrect uniforms and equipment.

The investigators, whose work will be aired in a documentary on Five this coming Saturday, also managed to identify for the first time some of the British soldiers fighting and dying in the combat footage, the earliest example of such scenes being captured on film.

A documentary will be shown on the BBC.

Bush Slams Times

President Bush slammed the New York Times and the other media outlets that revealed the money transfer monitoring. Indications are that the program will probably continue. There is no way to tell how effective it will be anymore, though since it has been compromised.

"For people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America," Bush said, jabbing his finger for emphasis. He said the disclosure of the program "makes it harder to win this war on terror."

The program has been going on since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. It was disclosed last week by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.

Using broad government subpoenas, the program allows U.S. counterterrorism analysts to obtain financial information from a vast database maintained by a company based in Belgium. It routes about 11 million financial transactions daily among 7,800 banks and other financial institutions in 200 countries.

"Congress was briefed and what we did was fully authorized under the law," Bush said, talking with reporters in the Roosevelt Room after meeting with groups that support U.S. troops in Iraq.

Officials are not saying they will try to prosecute the Times at the moment, but they did issue a pretty clearly worded warning to them:

Later, White House spokesman Tony Snow said it was up to the Justice Department to determine whether there would be a formal investigation of the news leak.

"Certainly nobody is going to deny First Amendment rights. But the New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public's right to know in some cases might override somebody's right to live," Snow said. "And whether, in fact, the publication…could place in jeopardy the safety of fellow Americans."

That hits the right note I think.

Partay!

The African nation of Namibia was "lucky" enough to have Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have their first child there. Now, the happy couple, plus baby, have moved along, so Namibia is going to celebrate! They are going to have the worlds largest sausage cookout to mark the occasion of the star's departure. Almost five miles worth of sausage. Well, ok, officially they say this is just a publicity stunt, but the timing is certainly fortuitous, isn't it?

The southwest African country was caught up in a media furore when the Hollywood stars chose to have their first baby there last month.

It is hoping the 9 tonnes of sausages with which it plans to feed some 45,000 people in September at a Windhoek football stadium will keep up the interest.

"The Namibian record will be set with 9 tonnes of boerewors (sausages) which, if stretched, will be 7.5 kilometres (4.6 miles) long," said Uschi Ramakhutla, a spokeswoman for the Meat Company of Namibia, which is organising the event.

Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba is expected to be the 44,159th person in the food line — pushing Namibia ahead of the current Guinness Book of World Records title holder for world's biggest barbecue, Australia, which hosted 44,158 people at a one-day cook-out in 1993.

That's a lot of people! Heck, that's a lot of sausage.

Feathered Fiends

We keep trying to warn people. These birds and animals are out to get all of us. Whether it's a Bambi burglar breaking into a house to stomp the owner or alligators baiting traps with newspapers, they are out to get you. And now, from Texas, more proof. Attack of the killer peacocks! There has been a sudden rash of peacock attacks on humans in Arlington, Texas. Apologists say it's just because there are more males than females, but we know better, don't we? 

"What happens sometimes is the peacock male will see its reflection in the car's paint and think it's another male peacock, then move to protect his territory," said Mike Bass, the department's assistant director.

Residents of the Fannin Farm neighborhood, which is bisected by a 106-acre greenbelt, said the peacocks have been there for at least seven years.

One woman said her daughter was scratched on the stomach by one of the peacocks. Other neighbors complained about the birds' feeding on gardens.

"There are neighbors who will not visit my home any more because of the peacocks," resident Elfreda Makil said. "Not everyone's going to love them."

Sandy Vaughn, a flock defender, has placed mirrors in her yard to attract the attention of the alpha male, which some neighbors call "Big Daddy."

"He pecks at the mirrors, but he's not broken one yet," Vaughn said.

Neighborhood residents decided at the Thursday meeting to place more mirrors in the neighborhood to try to hold the peacocks' attention and keep them away from people and vehicles.

They also agreed to reassess the situation after mating season, with thinning the flock remaining an option.

Several residents opposed the idea of trapping and relocating the flock's alpha male. Resident Charlotte Shaw said people have come to associate the neighborhood with peacocks.

"It isn't just us that enjoys these birds, it's all of Arlington that enjoys these birds," Shaw said. "These birds belong to everyone."

Wrong, Charlotte. They don't "belong" to everyone. They are out to eat your children! Beware the preening peacocks of peril.

Huffin’ And A Puffin’

The New York Times writes about a blogger who got banned from the Huffington Post.

The Huffington Post, the popular news and blogging Web site, again found itself the subject of commentary last week when one of its bloggers was fired after accusing a site staff member of posting negative comments on his blog entries.

In March, the site began carrying the blog of Dr. Peter Rost, a former Pfizer executive who filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the drug company. Dr. Rost recently noticed that some prominently placed negative comments on his blog entries had been written by a user named "yacomink." In a June 20 post, Dr. Rost revealed that the person making sarcastic comments was Andy Yaco-Mink, the Huffington Post's technology manager. Dr. Rost's entry included Mr. Yaco-Mink's Internet protocol address and photos.

On June 22, Arianna Huffington, the site's editor, announced that she was withdrawing Dr. Rost's password, effectively firing him. (Mr. Yaco-Mink kept his job because the site had not had a policy forbidding employees from posting, although that policy was instituted on Friday.)

Not in and of itself any big deal, but the Times brings up the Huffington fabricated George Clooney blog entry. Which gives us a chance to link to this!

Watching The Machine Operate

W. Thomas Smith, Jr. has a column at Townhall that shows the way the media machine operates. He recounts being interviewed by an ABC news reporter about Haditha. The bias and the agenda are right up front:

The reporter’s referencing of my own comments are somewhat paraphrased, but his following questions are clearly etched in my mind verbatim:

“Don’t you think the killings at Haditha [November 19, 2005] are the result of a wrong war and a failed policy?” he asks. “Much like the tragedy of My Lai [the killings of unarmed civilians by U.S. soldiers in the village of My Lai, Vietnam in 1968] was the result of a wrong war and a failed policy?”

I was taken aback for about as long as it takes to silently mouth the words, “This is going to be too easy.” After all, it’s one thing to read and listen to politicized versions of news stories spun by the various national news organizations. But to actually experience the machine as it begins to process what they plan to feed the masses is quite another. It wasn’t a first for me, nor will it be the last I’m sure. But I was temporarily surprised by the reporter’s lack of perspective, his obvious agenda, and his attempt to put words in my mouth. And by the way, this was no recent J-school grad. This guy was seasoned.

With his story already written in his own mind, the reporter is obviously trying not to get to the truth, but to reinforce his own preconceptions. To feed his own needs, not the needs of the public.

And why do the actions at Haditha have to be a result of a “wrong war” or “failed policy” as the reporter who phoned me suggested? The answer lies in either a total lack of understanding of military conflict, or a rush by so many to politicize the as-yet unverified information as Murtha himself has so shamelessly done.

People – like the reporter who phoned me, Mr. Murtha, and others – will believe what they want to believe (with “want” being the optimum word here) then they will go to great lengths to attempt to justify those beliefs, even when the verdict is still out and some evidence begins to suggest otherwise. And when politics are at stake, people will sell their very souls to justify what they want to be true.

That is, indeed, the problem, isn't it? Read the whole thing.