The Avoidance Of Any Responsibility

The Ace is positively livid over an interview that Bill Clinton has given to Fox News Sunday that will air on Sunday. Frankly, I can see why he is so angry when you look at the snippet of video that Hot Air has posted. Quite frankly, Clinton makes the case against himself for not trying to get bin Laden in even that brief snippet. He sounds like a spoiled child, saying he "tried to get bin Laden - once in eight years - while he says the Bush administration didn't even try at all in the eight whole freaking months of a new administration.

As the Ace says, wow.

The man simply lies. It is a breathtakingly stupid and mendacious claim that rightwingers, as he calls us, actually opposed his weak single effort to get bin Ladin. Throughout the late nineties, I was apopleptic we weren't doing anything at all about bin Ladin. We wanted more action. Not less.

The pretext for this lie is that rightwingers, myself included, did in fact "question the timing" of his one attempt to kill bin Ladin. It occurred, coindentally enough, during the Lewinsky furor. On the eve of some testimony; can't remember which, and it really doesn't matter.

Conservatives did not object to this attack. We were enraged, however, that the man refused to attack bin Ladin at all until he was motivated to action by a threat to his own political safety. We were not angry he'd attacked bin Ladin; we were angry he hadn't attacked bin Ladin before (or after, actually; anyone remember a subsequent attack?).

We were angry that the man had let bin Ladin attack us with impunity for years until he saw it as a good move politically to finally launch a poorly-timed cruise missile at bin Ladin. He was animated to action not to save American lives, but to save his own fucking political life.

We strongly suspected he had any number of chances to kill bin Ladin before this. It turns out we were one-hundred percent right:

I have disliked Clinton for a long, long time for a lot of things, including his failure to do anything substantive against the Islamist terrorists. What is almost funny, in a sickening way, is that we are literally seeing the man unravel. First the almost foaming at the mouth attacks on The Path to 9/11 and now this. It is falling apart around him; his legacy diminishes almost daily. More and more people are paying attention to his failures. He knows it, and he is melting down under the strain.

A Goodbye For An Icon

I had to link to this for all the members of the armed forces for whom this particular piece of American engineering is an icon. The US Navy has officially retired the F-14 Tomcat fighter. It never had to do what it was designed and built to do, thankfully. But it was the very embodiment of the US Navy to many people. It never went to war against the foe it was designed for, the Soviets, but it did every other task the Navy assigned it with flair and panache. It even survived Tom Cruise.

VIRGINIA BEACH — In a ceremony today that reminded guests of why it was retired, the Navy holstered the F-14 Tomcat, the top gun in its Cold War arsenal and one of the most recognizable warplanes in history.

Maintenance costs for the F-14 have soared, and its replacement, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, is more versatile and cheaper to maintain. The maintenance issue appeared again at the plane's retirement ceremony.

Pilot Lt. Cmdr. David Faehnle and radar intercept officer Lt. Cmdr. Robert Gentry gave a final salute from inside their cockpit before aircraft 102 taxied down the runway and out of sight at Oceana Naval Air Station. The plane that actually took off as thousands applauded and whistled, however, was aircraft 107, with Lt. Cmdr. Chris Richard at the controls and intercept officer Lt. Mike Petronis in the back seat.

The first jet had mechanical problems — "a common occurrence with the F-14," said Mike Maus, a Navy spokesman. The second jet had been on standby just in case.

The Super Hornet is unlikely to surpass the F-14's following. Furiously fast, deafeningly loud and lethal to enemy aircraft, the Tomcat had attained legendary status by the 1980s. The 1986 film Top Gun, in which Tom Cruise portrayed an F-14 pilot in training, cemented the supersonic warplane's reputation in the popular culture.

"There's something about the way an F-14 looks, something about the way it carries itself," says Adm. Michael Mullen, chief of naval operations, the Navy's top officer. "It screams toughness. Look down on a carrier flight deck and see one of them sitting there, and you just know, there's a fighter plane. I really believe the Tomcat will be remembered in much the same way as other legendary aircraft, like the Corsair, the Mustang and the Spitfire."

About 3,000 guests — mainly former aviators, mechanics, suppliers and builders — were on hand for the jet's official retirement. The last F-14s will be mothballed in the Arizona desert or go to aviation museums.

The Tomcat was designed in the late 1960s with one enemy in mind: the Soviet Union. The jet was typically launched from an aircraft carrier, and its twin engines could propel it at twice the speed of sound. Its armaments deterred Soviet bombers designed to fire missiles at U.S. Navy ships.

It is a sad day for a lot of people, I suspect. People who have worked with, swatted over and fought in the various aircraft the US has deployed over the years become very attached to them, indeed. So it is that former B-17 flight crews volunteered so many man-years of work to restore and maintain those old warbirds. I'm sure there will be no shortage of volunteers to help out with the F-14s donated to various museums.

Gator Bait

We continue to try to warn people about the animal uprising in spite of the funny looks and the recent visit by the nice man from the county health service inquiring about our mental capacity. And again today, we have a tale of horror barely averted. We have told readers about the nasty trick the alligator legions have of laying traps for people using a newspaper as bait. But since we tipped people off to that little trick, the raging reptile horde has shifted tactics. Now they are laying in wait for unsuspecting homeowners.

Disguising themselves as doormats.

HOLIDAY, Fla. - Police lights and a phone call woke Kevin Jessup at 4 a.m. "Good morning, sir," a deputy told him in the pre-dawn call Wednesday. "I advise you not to step out your front door. There's an alligator right there. A large one."

46-year-old plumber looked out a window to his porch.

"That was a sight to see," he told the St. Petersburg Times. "Like a big lizard."

Jessup went back to bed. One of his neighbors suggested the wandering alligator might be the reason the neighborhood's stray cat population has declined.

He went back to bed? Talk about paying no attention to the dangers we all face. Beware, people. Make sure that doormat is really a doormat before you step on it. We prefer the "poke it with a stick" method before stepping on it. Which, come to think about it, may be what led to the visit by that nice man.

Do You Know What This Means?

It means the animal uprising is developing a powerful new weapon. One that could have far-reaching and devastating consequences. The four-legged attack chicken!

Farm-owner Mike Brendle was amazed by the discovery among his standard two-legged, egg-laying hens.

"It's as healthy as the rest," he said.

Brendle's 13-year-old daughter, Ashley, named the bird Henrietta after the discovery. It has two normal front legs and, behind those, two more feet. They are of a similar size to the chicken's front legs, but do not function. The chicken drags her extra feet behind her.

Brendle said he has never seen a chicken with four legs before. He moves 36,000 chickens through his farm three times a year and has been farming for 30 years.

There is no definitive reason behind such deformities, said Cliff Thompson, a retired professor of genetics at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. He said it could be an accident of development, akin to a sixth toe on a cat.

Oh sure, shrug it off. Dragging the legs behind her while people are watching is just a trick. Do you realize how fast one of these mutants is going to be? Just wait until the attacks start. On the plus side, there will be less fighting over who gets the drumsticks.

UPDATE: See! It's happening everywhere at once! Here's a picture of one of the hideous beasts from New Zealand! Oh no. What if they're already working on the next generation? We'll have chickens that look like caterpillars!

Punch And Judy It Ain’t

Welcome to the new floor show at the UN cafe! Presenting Mad Mahmoud and his pals!

Pope Calls Meeting With Muslims

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that he will hold a meeting with representatives of various Muslim countries and Muslim groups. Representatives of Turkey and Iran as well as Italian Muslim organizations have already announced that they will attend the meeting on Monday.

Benedict's attempt to talk through the controversy comes as Christian-Muslim tensions rose in Indonesia over the executions of three Roman Catholic militants. Benedict had appealed to the mostly Muslim nation to spare the men.

Thousands of Muslim worshippers staged marches against Benedict in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the Sudanese capital on Friday. The Palestinian protesters waved green Hamas banners and denounced the pontiff as a "coward" and an "agent of the Americans." But much of the Middle East was quiet.

The Vatican announced the pope's invitations Friday, saying they were extended to ambassadors to the Holy See from largely Muslim countries for a meeting at the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.

Leaders of the Muslim community in Italy, who have advised the Italian government on politically delicate issues of Muslim integration in the largely Catholic country, also were invited.

Benedict's chief aide on inter-religious dialogue, French Cardinal Paul Poupard, also will participate.

Because of the Muslim holy day Friday, many diplomatic officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Turkey said its ambassador would attend, and Iran said its charge d'affaires would participate.

Pope Benedict is obviously a courageous man and not at all afraid to face up the controversy his words were used to stir up. At the same time, the absolute worst thing he can do is issue an abject apology. One hopes he understands that. His words were originally meant to start a dialog. They have done that and more. But bowing to the thuggish behavior of some of the bad actors in the Islamist world would only encourage further and more outrageous behavior.

UPDATE: For example, it's kind of hard to reason with someone who demands that the Pope be crucified. Literally.

Lessons

Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the dark days of the American Civil War. Woodrow Wilson Outlawed criticism of the government during the First World War. Franklin Roosevelt had Japanese Americans interned during the Second World War as well as ordering the massive bombing campaigns against Germany and Japan. Harry Truman ordered the atomic bombing of Japan, knowing full well that Roosevelt would have done the same had he lived to give the order.

And America survived all these things and did not go about embarking on a campaign to crush the rest of the world and conquer it. Steve Huntley, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, reminds us of what we must not forget in time of war.

The administration had argued the Geneva Conventions are vague and could open U.S. interrogators to legal trouble. Critics said the White House was treading into dangerous territory by seeming to want to rewrite the conventions. The advice of the military — not to allow anything even approaching torture — should guide Congress in crafting this measure.

During this debate, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism." McCain characterized his position by observing, "The United States has always been better than our enemies." Those sentiments have been echoed by others who worry that in fighting the war against Islamic extremism we face the danger of sinking to the point of becoming indistinguishable from our enemies. That's always a possibility in war, but let us recall that America has passed this test before.

In World War II, Allied bombing in response to the Nazi blitz against England destroyed German cities and killed civilians, but America did not emerge as a fascist nation bent on world conquest and genocide. In the brutal Pacific theater fighting, U.S. planes poured tons of explosives and two nuclear bombs on Japan without our nation becoming a fanatical state sponsoring Rape of Nanking-like atrocities and suicide bombers. In fact, for defeating fascist totalitarianism the American warriors of the 1940s are, with good reason, recalled as "our greatest generation."

We, reading history books in the comfort of our easy chairs, fault Abraham Lincoln for suspending habeas corpus during the Civil War and Franklin Roosevelt for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Indeed, the treatment of Japanese Americans was especially reprehensible and without justification.

Perceiving an inevitability in history (which may not always be there), we see that neither suspension of habeas corpus nor internment was necessary to winning either of the wars. Yet, the point is that in the midst of those conflagrations, neither Lincoln nor Roosevelt knew just what it would take to win. They knew only the catastrophic consequences of losing and were determined — ruthlessly determined — not to let that happen, to do what it took to win their wars. And they are justifiably honored as among our greatest presidents.

What will it take to safeguard American lives today?

None of the American Presidents who led the nation through these titanic struggles knew what it would take to win. So they chose to relentlessly prosecute the wars to their ends. They also took what steps they believed necessary to reach the goal of winning. I think they made those choices in spite of how they knew those choices would come to be seen after the war was won. None of these were easy choices. But they were necessary ones. They made these choices knowing that America would undo the changes after the war was won.

But winning the war, protecting the nation always came first. Every, single time.

Go read the whole thing. Huntley did an outstanding job with this piece.

No Joy In Mudville

The Real Clear Politics Blog has an interesting take on the compromise reached by the White House and the hold-out Senators led by John McCain. This may, John McIntyre says, have painted the Democrats into a real corner. (It is something I touched on yesterday as well).

Liberals will hate the analogy to "24," but at the end of the day large portions of the public see this debate as between those trying to give the America's Jack Bauers the legal protection to do what is necessary to keep Americans safe, while opponents play the role of bureaucratic suits and elitists more concerned about what the rest of the world might think. It is a straw man thrown out by critics of the President to say that this is about the "rule of law," because the entire process the White House has engaged in has been all about the "rule of law" and getting the people's representatives in the House and the Senate to pass a bill the President can sign into law.

And now with McCain and Bush on the same page, Democrats are in a very uncomfortable position politically, given there is an election in a little over a month. Do they side with the President or with the New York Times and the Washington Post? It is a classic lose-lose situation.

Democrats would have been better off having McCain and Warner side with the President immediately and just allowed this bill to pass without much of a fight and move on.

Politics as a popular television show. He's actually got a good point. This puts the Dems into a corner and they know it. Although there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the left blogosphere, I am not hearing a lot out of the Democratic politicians at this point. Interesting, isn't it?

Nasrallah: Hezbollah Will Not Disarm

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has publicly stated today that not only will Hezbollah not disarm, but that the Lebanese government is weak and ineffective. So much for obeying the ceasefire resolution.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told supporters Friday that his guerrillas will not surrender their weapons until a stronger Lebanese government is in place — including 20,000 rockets his group claims to still have after its 34-day war with Israel.

In his first public appearance since Israel launched its massive offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas on July 12, Nasrallah repeatedly attacked the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, which he called weak and unable to protect Lebanon from Israel.

Speaking to hundreds of thousands of flag-waving supporters in bombed-out southern Beirut, he said giving up Hezbollah's weapons now "under this government … means leaving Lebanon exposed before Israel to kill and detain and bomb whoever they want, and clearly we will not accept that."

"When we build a strong and just state that is capable of protecting the nation and the citizens, we will easily find an honorable solution to the resistance issue and its weapons," the black-turbaned cleric said.

"Tears don't protect anyone," he said in a jab at Saniora, who wept several times in speeches during the Israeli offensive as he described the destruction and pleaded for international support.

Nasrallah also vowed not to allow U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops to disarm Hezbollah militants in the south.

"No army in the world will be able to make us drop the weapons from our hands," he said.

Israel is rightfully quite angry about all this. This is just another jab by Iran at the UN, with Nasrallah simply aping his master, Mad Mahmoud. The situation in the Middle East is reaching a crisis, and the West is letting it happen by failing to stand up to Iran and its puppets.

That Doesn’t Mean It’s Legal In The Real World

That would be my answer to John R. Koza's statement about his plan to try an end run around the United States Constitution with a plan to go around the Electoral College. He said: "When people complain that it’s an end run,” Dr. Koza said, “I just tell them, ‘Hey, an end run is a legal play in football.’ ’’. This isn't football. This is circumventing the rules this nation is founded on and it is an extraordinarily bad idea for everyone in this country.

Now, a 63-year-old eminence among computer scientists who teaches genetic programming at Stanford, Dr. Koza has decided to top off things with an end run on the Constitution. He has concocted a plan for states to skirt the Electoral College system legally to insure the election of whichever presidential candidate receives the most votes nationwide.

“When people complain that it’s an end run,” Dr. Koza said, “I just tell them, ‘Hey, an end run is a legal play in football.’ ’’

The first fruit of his effort, a bill approved by the California legislature that would allocate the state’s 55 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, sits on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk. The governor has to decide by Sept. 30 whether to sign it, a decision that may well determine whether Dr. Koza’s scheme takes flight or becomes another relic in the history of efforts to kill the Electoral College.

“It would be a major development if California enacts this thing,” said Tim Storey, an analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “It will definitely transform it from a smoldering thing into a fire.’’

There have been many efforts over the decades to kill the Electoral College, the little-known and widely misunderstood body that actually elects the president based on the individual states that a candidate wins. Most recently, former Representative John B. Anderson of Illinois and former Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana spearheaded a drive, Fair Vote, for a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College.

The brainstorm behind Dr. Koza’s effort, led by a seven-month-old group, National Popular Vote, was to abandon that approach and focus on creating interstate compacts. Those are contracts that bind states over issues like nuclear waste and port authorities.

Dr. Koza’s compact, if approved by enough legislatures, would commit a state’s electors to vote for the candidate who wins the most national votes, even if the candidate loses in that state.

Robert Hardaway, a professor of law at the University of Denver who wrote “The Electoral College and the Constitution: The Case for Preserving Federalism” (1994), has counted 704 efforts to change or abolish the Electoral College. Most, he said, were ill advised, including this one.

“It’s legal, but it would be a terrible idea,” Professor Hardaway said. “Look at the trauma the country went through having a recount in Florida. Suppose what would happen, in the face of a close national election, if we had to have a recount in every little hamlet.”

This is not the first time I have posted about this "innovation". I did so here and here. Again, despite the approving tone of the NYT article and the disinformation Koza and his group are spreading, there is a valid reason for the electoral college. Without it, small states would no longer be represented fairly in the presidential vote. Contrary to what Koza says, campaigns would only focus in the "compact states". There would be no way the smaller, less populous states would matter any longer. I am not at all sure this would pass constitutional muster because of the "no compact" wording in the constitution. But am quite certain this is an appallingly bad, partisan attempt to meddle with the system.

UPDATE: Ron Chusid at Liberal Values sees the extreme danger in using an "end around" to the Constitution. He's right. Either change it the way that is provided in the Constitution or drop this. This is a bad idea.

With distrust at such a great level already, we cannot afford to create even more controversy over the results. If this system passes in enough states, the first time it results in a different winner than under the current system this will be yet one more reason people will not accept the results. We must have nation wide and bipartisan agreement as to the rules, and the rules must be in accordance with the Constitution so nobody can question their legitimacy. It would be much safer if any change in how elections are decided was accomplished by a mechanism accepted by all as legitimate, such as a Constitutional amendment.

The fact of the matter is that the United States is not, and has never been under the Constitution, a "democracy". It is a democratic republic - there is a huge difference. The founders specifically did not want mob rule. They wanted checks and balances and they did not want the tyranny of larger states ruling over smaller states. They fought, bled and died to break away from that system. Which is exactly the system that Koza would impose. The Electoral College was meant as a check on mob rule. Do it within the Constitution if you can, otherwise drop this.

Lethal Sea Lions!

For a moment we thought our warnings about the animal uprising had finally begun to penetrate the thick heads of the bureaucrats. The headline to the article reads: "States seek lethal sea lion removal". We thought that they have finally realized that these creatures are savage killers just waiting for an opportunity to use a swimmer as a beach ball. But nooooo. It's just another bad AP headline writer. All the states want is the OK to shoot a couple of the beasts.

 PORTLAND, Ore. - Oregon and Washington are drafting a proposal for "limited selected lethal removal" of protected California sea lions in the Columbia River to ease pressure on the spring chinook salmon run.

The proposal could be ready for the federal government next month, said Charles Corralino, who heads the conservation and recovery program for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

He said the states are working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Columbia River tribes.

A salmon fisherman said the sea lions are affecting both salmon and sturgeon and need to go, but an official of the Humane Society of the United States said removal would only make it look like something is being done while ignoring the more serious issues.

It could be two to four years before federal approval is given.

If it is, it could be a grim-gram for C404, probably the smartest and easily the most famous of the sea lions who gather at the base of Bonneville Dam each spring looking for an easy snack.

C404 got famous by foiling every effort to keep him and his buddies out of the fish ladders the salmon use to get past the dam on their way upriver to spawn.

His name reflects the brand fishery officials gave him for identification. Since 2003, he has been showing up almost on a timetable for the spring chinook run.

So this C404 (not to be confused with C-3PO) is eating a lot of salmon. At least that got them riled up enough to want to do something about him and his pals. But we do wish people would pay attention to our warnings instead of edging away from us at parties….

Ghosts Alive!

Well, actually, by definition, ghosts are dead. But nonetheless, they are big business in the city of Norwich, England. The city, by all reports, is positively knee deep in the supernatural manifestations. They claim there is even an entire army of ghosts wandering about the place.

NORWICH, England, September 20 (Reuters Life!) - They say that on a January night you can still hear the hooves of Oliver Cromwell's slaughtered cavalry echoing under the cobbles of Tombland — the most haunted part of the ancient east English city of Norwich.

And they are not the only ones who stalk the streets of this Fenland city 100 miles north east of London — there are ghostly monks, strangled girls, soldiers, rebels and even a girl who choked to death eating her own parents to stay alive.

For most people who take part in Dave Chisnell's twice-weekly ghost tours of the city not far from where 700,000-year-old evidence of human habitation was discovered last year, it is pure theatre.

But for long-time Norwich resident Lee Goldin, 63, this is no joke.

"I have seen two ghosts in my life. I used to live in a haunted house in this city. I had to steel myself to come along tonight. I want to see one more. I want to be sure I am not imagining things," she told Reuters on a muggy September night tour.

Her ghost tour addict son Carl Paston, 43, is equally adamant. He has seen eight ghosts in his life — including the executed second wife of King Henry 8 and mother of Gloriana, Elizabeth I — Anne Boleyn.

They are among some 50 people following caped tour leader Chisnell as he leads his group from Norwich's oldest pub — the 750-year-old Adam and Eve — on a winding route through the back streets of the city whose first Cathedral dates back to the Norman conquest in 1066.

We here at at Blue Crab Boulevard are justifiably famous for our investigative skills and all-around paranormality (which some people keep mispronouncing as 'abnormality'. Language challenged, we presume.). So we unleashed the accomplished paranormal sleuths from Professor Gaius' Paranormality Research Academy and Coffee Shop® once again and managed to get photographic evidence that the Adam and Eve pub in Norwich is itself haunted! We are just that good.

New, Foolproof Anti-Burglary Tool!

A dental researcher has unwittingly discovered the perfect, foolproof tool to rid your home of pesky burglars before they can steal anything! It is devastatingly effective at repelling thieves!

Severed human heads!

A dentist had stored the mummified heads, which he used for research, in a chest in the basement. Burglars stumbled upon the collection when they broke in, police said.

"The burglars were looking for loot when they discovered the heads," said a spokeswoman for Austrian police. "From what it looks like, they just left them lying and bolted away."

Austrian authorities said they were investigating whether there had been a breach of the regulations for storing research materials.

One wonders what else they left lying around. But seriously, if you do plan on installing some of these burglar repellent devices, do remember to use properly mummified ones. Fresh ones are prone to leaks.

Spend Your Money Elsewhere

Ed Morrisey points out that Citgo is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil industry. Money spent there goes directly to the pocket of Hugo "Mini Me" Chavez. I have no desire to fund the antics of a nasty little man like Chavez. I will not buy any gas from Citgo as a result. Feel free to join in.

Put Out An APB!

New Zealand in the news again! Thieves have reached a new low there. Three masked men armed with a hammer  and chisel whacked off the tallywhacker of a tiki that guarded the entrance to the public library in the city of Whangarei. Worst of all, it was the tiniest tallywhacker of the lot, apparently.

Security cameras captured pictures of three masked men using the chisel to remove the tiki's penis early on Sunday morning. The figurine is one of two indigenous Maori designs that stand on "pou" or posts astride the entrance to the library in Whangarei.

Carver Kerry Strongman said the theft had damaged the "mana" or pride of the city.

Strongman said he would begin work immediately on a carving that would restore the tiki to its original state.

Police said they were at a loss to explain the theft, particularly as a nearby statue of Tangaroa, the Maori god of the sea, was better endowed.

We report, you just shake your head.