You Made Me Love You!

You made me love you
I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to do it
You made me love you
and all the time you knew it
I guess you always knew it.
You made me happy sometimes, you made me glad
But there were times, Dear, you made me feel so bad
(McCarthy/Monaco, You Made Me Love You)

Hey! Let's all get on the anti-Wal-Mart bus and bash Hell out of that big evil big box retailer! I wanna be president! Of the US of A! Really, I have chops for it. I ran as the vice presidential candidate once before. So I can hop on this bus, right?

Well, that worked for John Edwards up until now. Right up until he asked Wal-Mart to get him a PlayStation 3.

I just got a hilarious Wal-Mart press release. Looks like the handsomest Senator has fallen victim to the siren song of low, low prices. Heaven forfend (emphasis mine)!

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Nov. 16, 2006 – Just like the millions of Americans who turn to their neighborhood Wal-Mart for their holiday shopping needs, Wal-Mart announced today that former Sen. John Edwards is seeking to be one of the first to get a Sony PlayStation3, one of the most coveted holiday gift items this Christmas season.

Yesterday, a staff person for former Sen. Edwards contacted a Wal-Mart electronics manager in Raleigh, North Carolina to obtain a Sony PlayStation3 on behalf of the Senator's family. Later that night, Sen. Edwards reportedly re-told a homespun story to participants of a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union-sponsored call about how his son had chided a fellow student for purchasing shoes at Wal-Mart.

Surely you can't mean this John Edwards, who was "on the campaign trail again, this time against Wal-Mart?"

Make no mistake here. Edwards is a lightweight and has zero chance of getting the nomination. But more importantly, you are seeing a concerted effort from Camp Hillary to take out all the opposition real early. Hence this release from (Arkansas-based) Wal-Mart. You know, Billary's old haunts. And the concerted effort to neuter Obama's run before it even gets started. This is part of a campaign already in gear.

Not that Edwards didn't walk right into it. Face first. Because he loves those low prices when he isn't railing against them.

Not Good

An American citizen of Ethiopian descent was arrested at the Detroit airport after arriving from Amsterdam. He had a very large amount of money ($78,000) and a laptop computer. But no power source for the computer. What really caught the inspector's eyes was the material on the computer.

Information on nuclear materials and cyanide.

Sisayehiticha Dinssa was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after he was flagged for secondary inspection on entry to the U.S. at the Detroit Airport and was found to be carrying more than $78,000 in cash. Customs officials became suspicious of Dinssa when a narcotics dog signaled the scent of drugs on the money in his possession.

Customs officers also discovered that Dinssa was in possession of a laptop computer for which he had no power source. During an initial look at the computer, "Inspectors discovered some files that had been downloaded with information about cyanide and nuclear materials," an affidavit from an ICE agent filed in the U.S. District Court in Detroit noted.

According to two senior U.S. government officials briefed on the matter, the files appear to be beyond what someone would normally download from the Internet. According to U.S. officials, Dinssa may have been researching the materials extensively.

Dinssa had claimed he was only carrying $18,000. It is undetermined if this is an alleged smuggling

This would be a less than wonderful development.

Eulogy

Time and experience gives perspective on many things. What seemed to be the very end of the world when you are 14-years of age becomes laughable when you are 18. It is hard to even remember when you are 40. But when you do recall something from back then, very often it is now a small thing and is interpreted in a new light. And you may cringe at the memory, then move on. Or you may laugh at yourself for not being able to see then that the event was, really, not all that big a deal. Certainly not worth all the agony you put yourself through all those years ago.

But so many old slights and indignities from so long ago that you thought at the time were world-changing events, are really not much when you look back after a few years. There are, of course, some things that are not softened with time, nor should be. But your perspective changes after you have a few years under your belt. And the more petty things fall away. Conversely, some things you dismissed back then become more important later when you realize how much they really meant. Those are actually the things that can make you cringe when you come to understand them. Those are the memories that come to you and are like biting on tinfoil.

I linked to this last night. It is, I think, a tinfoil memory for Pat Conroy. Here is Pat Conroy's eulogy to his father, Don Conroy, from 1998. I wonder if Pat would change it any now. (I would not, personally. There is a wonderful picture there to be interpreted by each reader. I'd not change a word).

Are You Really Sure You Want This Job?

I posted about Segolene Royal winning the Socialist party nomination for president of France. Now comes this item from American Thinker. Thomas Lifson takes a look at the financial destruction that the Airbus A-380 debacle is causing in the French and European economy. One has to wonder after reading this: are you really sure you want to win this office when this kind of economic ruin is facing you?

French economic growth is slumping and the problems at Airbus are getting blamed for it. The two year delay in delivery of the A380 super jumbo is reverberating throughout the French and EU economies. Politics, always a factor at the mammoth “social enterprise,” continues to intrude, as fear of unemployment and fear of failure motivate politicians to take measures dumping yet more tax money into Airbus.

The aerospace business, at the level occupied by Airbus and Boeing, is mind-bogglingly complex, technologically sophisticated, and extremely large in scale. Inevitably, the national interests of great nations are at stake in the fate of companies and even products. The business generates and perfects new technology consistently, literally living on the leading edge of innovation. Its products are a key part of the driving force of globalization.

This business really matters in terms of its leverage on the way the world grows and changes. That is why I have devoted an extraordinary amount of time and space to coverage of Airbus since the A380 began having its public troubles.

The two year delivery delay (announced in steps) is having consequences for many other companies with their own employees, cash flow worries, and futures to navigate. They, too, have suppliers, employees, and communities. The food chain is very large and long.

The scale is so great that it is starting to affect France and the EU. The full effect will be felt some time in the future.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the UK Telegraph writes,

The French economy slumped in the third quarter as the Airbus crisis began to exact its toll, dousing hopes that Europe would take over as world’s growth engine as America slows. [....]

Jean Michel-Six, an economist of Standard & Poor’s, said French exports were suffering a loss of global market share due to high labour costs and the strong euro. “I am afraid that loss of exports is the major factor behind this bad surprise, and Airbus may be starting to play a role. Airbus deliveries generate $1.5bn (£1.01bn) a month for French exports and this is now in question. There had originally been plans to deliver 25 of the A380 jumbos in 2007 and instead there will be just one.”

Prime minister Dominique de Villepin was caught flat-footed by the data after playing up the French recovery “miracle” earlier this year. “Sadly we’re seeing a pause in growth but this should inspire us to yet more grit and determination,” he said yesterday.

There is almost no chance of France meeting the growth rate of 2.5pc predicted by the European Commission for 2007. The European Central Bank is expected to press ahead next month with a quarter point rise in interest rates to 3.5pc, arguing excess credit has swamped the system with excess liquidity.

There is a lot more. But Airbus, French politics and the European union are all taking a bad, bad hit from this. It is very likely to lead to a crisis with the WTO somewhere down the line as more and more money is pumped into Airbus to keep it afloat. It will be seen, rightfully, as a government subsidy. This is a real mess for Europe in general.

Wecome To The Super-Ate Motel

Every room equipped with cable television, vibrating bed, hot showers and cold-blooded reptiles.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Authorities trying to serve an arrest warrant at a motel instead found some sharp-toothed guests. U.S. marshals and High Point police found a 3-foot alligator and a 3-foot caiman — similar to an alligator — in a fish tank at a Red Roof Inn in Greensboro. They didn't, however, find the suspect they had sought.

The man who had the animals in his room was arrested on charges unrelated to the animals, U.S. Marshals Service officials said.

The alligator and caiman were taken to the Guilford County Animal Shelter.

"We've had exotic animals before, but nothing like this," shelter director Marsha Williams said, adding that the reptiles were in good condition.

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard note with grave concern this latest development in the Animal Uprising™. We have a strong suspicion as to why the police were unable to locate their suspect. Did they check inside the reptiles? Hit men that can self-dispose of the evidence. A very bad sign, indeed.

A Socialist Named Royal

Kind of an ironic combination, isn't it? Segolene Royal has won the Socialist party's nomination for president of France. She rather handily beat out two challengers, apparently and will stand in the next election. Interestingly, her win was based on bucking the traditional system of French politics where candidates are decided on in Gauloise smoke-filled rooms. She made an appeal directly to the voters and won when the votes got counted.

The win means Royal will avoid a possibly divisive second round ballot against former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and former Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn — two members of the party's old guard who had challenged her.

"The results show rather clearly the fact that there will only be one round, and we can say that Segolene Royal is already the candidate for the Socialist Party," said Stephane Le Foll, chief of staff to the party's general secretary.

He said he was basing those comments on official results from 64 regions, representing more than a third of the 219,000 Socialist party members who were eligible to cast ballots in the so-called "primary."

Royal, speaking confidently shortly before her victory was announced, said she "recognized the honor I have been given," and "the momentum I've received to be chosen this way."

She may have done well in the primary based on her performance in the six debates. Or the win may have had more than a bit to do with a bikini raising her name recognition. But whatever. At least she's easier on the eyes than Jacques Chirac who, on a good day, looks rather a lot like our founder. (On a bad day, he also looks like our founder, only from the reverse angle.)

Off To A Very Bad Start

So says none other than Stuart Rothenberg guesting at Taegan Goddard's Political Wire in discussing the first harsh loss by Nancy Pelosi. It is a pretty devastating assessment by someone who knows a bit about politics.

Yes, I know. Leadership fights on Capitol Hill are the ultimate political insider contests. Voters don’t care about them, and once they are over, they are quickly forgotten.

Having said that, Nancy Pelosi’s decision to pick a public fight with her second in command, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, is so incomprehensible, so politically stupid that it has raised eyebrows among political journalists and insiders of all type.

For weeks, I have been suggesting that Pelosi will be a lot smarter and more subtle that her conservative critics warned, and that she won’t drive the Democratic bus off the cliff. But now I’m not so sure.

Pelosi’s political antennae appear much less sensitive than I assumed, and if you are a Republican looking for a quick reason to think that you may be able to take back the House in 2008, the incoming Speaker’s intervention in the majority leader race – a race that her candidate lost rather decisively – has to give you some reason for optimism.

Instead of generating front page stories about the Democrats’ agenda, Pelosi has made herself and divisions within her party the story du jour.

Here's the problem as I see it. Pelosi simply did not have to pick this fight but she did, then she lost it. On top of that, what is normally an insider's fight has become national news and turned the unnecessary loss into a public debacle. I really think she lost control of her troops over this for no good reason whatsoever. This was not the move of a really sharp politician and she has made it look that way to the public. (The media is doing its bit to spread this perception, too).

Houdini Hound

A greyhound, aptly named Harry, is the Animal Uprising's new secret weapon. Because Harry is no ordinary dog, no, siree. He's done the unthinkable and mastered the only thing that has kept dogs from taking over up until now.

Harry can work a doorknob.

A cheeky rescue dog has been dubbed Harry the Houdini Hound after he discovered how to open the door of his pen and escape.

Astonished staff at a rehoming centre in Darlington could barely believe it when they realised that Harold the greyhound could escape using his nose and paws.

They had been so baffled by a series of escapes by the two-year-old that they took to spying on his pen.

Sarah Shreeve, from Darlington Dog's Trust, said: "He was literally just looking around to make sure that no one was watching, then used his nose first of all to slide the bolt across, then put his two front paws to grip on the wire mesh and pulled it."

We're doomed. Now that we can't lock them in or out, there's no hope. Unless they can put him in chains, suspended upside down in a straight jacket in a barrel of water. Let's see him Houdini that! (There's video at the link. It's pretty funny, especially the way he looks around first to make sure nobody is watching him before he opens the door.)

Good News! More Seals!

The United States Geological Survey has released a report that indicates that there are fewer polar bear cubs surviving in the Southern Beaufort Sea area of Alaska. Not only that, but those that are surviving have smaller skull sizes. Alaskan seals are cheering wildly and walruses are heaving sighs of relief! Fewer and stupider predators is a good thing for them.

The study does not directly blame the changes on a decline in sea ice. However, fewer cubs and smaller males are consistent with other observations that suggest changes in sea ice may be adversely affecting polar bears, the study said.

The study warns that the decline in cub survival and the smaller adult males are the same conditions that preceded a decline in the polar bears of western Hudson Bay, Canada, where the population dropped 22 percent in 17 years.

Advocates seeking protections for U.S. polar bears say the report proves their point.

"It's just another example of seeing all of the impacts that scientists have previously predicted coming to pass," said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity in Joshua Tree, Calif. Siegal is the lead author of the petition seeking to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

"The Grim Reaper of global warming is now clearly killing polar bear cubs," said Deborah Williams, president of Alaska Conservation Solutions, an Anchorage-based group aimed at halting climate change. "This study should be interpreted as a cry from the North to reduce greenhouse gases."

The "grim reaper of global warming"! Wow, what a soundbite. So, let's put this in perspective, shall we? If all man-made CO2 emissions stopped completely starting tomorrow, how long would it take for cooling to start? If it did. This is one of those sensationalized stories meant to make people feel vaguely threatened and then support questionable efforts to do something right now. But the story can just as easily be spun the other way. Fewer polar bears, more baby seals. And this study appears to only have looked at the population of bears. Were there other changes besides the ice?

Murtha Fallout

Oh, man. This is already being spun by the media as a major black eye for Pelosi. This article came out so fast, one suspects it was already pre-written and just waiting for the vote.

Hoyer was elected on a vote of 149-86.

The balloting marked a personal triumph for him, but also a snub to Pelosi, moments after the rank and file selected her unanimously to become speaker when the House convenes in January.

"We made history and now we will make progress for the American people," Pelosi told the party caucus moments after her selection.

She vowed that after 12 years in the minority, "we will not be dazzled by money and special interests."

Pelosi also called for unity in the party, but within moments she put her prestige on the line by nominating Murtha for majority leader.

She hasn't even taken the gavel and she's been damaged politically. She is going to have very limited effectiveness at curbing her committee chairs. In fact, they are probably pretty much going to do their own thing as soon as they take their seats.

UPDATE: Arianna Huffington calls this a victory for Pelosi, a "big win". Arianna being the one who gave the expert advice telling Ned Lamont to give his concession speech during the campaign. Right as always. I imagine the folks in DC will be putting her right on the payroll anyday. For the other side.

UPDATE: Confederate Yankee: Priceless.

UPDATE: Tom Bevan over at RCP Blog notes one thing about Arianna's post that, on reflection, should have been obvious. He notes this passage from Arianna:

Because that's what real leaders do, they take stands. They listen to their hearts and follow their gut. If you only jump into the fights you're sure you can win — notches in the W column that will look good on your political resume — you're a hack, not someone who can move the party and the country forward. It's not about trying to have a spotless record; it's about knowing which battles are worth fighting, whatever the outcome.

Then he reaches this conclusion about Arianna's lemonade-flavored koolaid:

Real leaders take stands. They follow their guts. Hmm, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, it's how people typically describe George W. Bush. Of course, to Arianna, when George W. Bush "takes a stand" and "follows his gut" he's a stubborn moron.

Here's one difference, though. After the votes have been counted, even George Bush can acknowledge when there's been a "thumpin.'" That's more than you can say about Arianna.

Ouch.

Murtha Defeated

I think that's the more accurate post title than "Hoyer wins". Nancy Pelosi's first battle as speaker has ended in her defeat.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, has been elected to the House majority leader position.

Hoyer beat out Rep. Jack Murtha for the No. 2 leadership post in a race that became increasingly divisive in its final days.

The vote was 149-86.

Not only did he lose, but he lost very, very badly. Pelosi has given herself a self-inflicted wound that will severely limit her ability to control her members. Stunningly bad decision, judging by the vote count.

Dead Get Benefits!

In a stunning victory for dead people everywhere, Hong Kong has awarded welfare benefits to the dead. Expect this pioneering social engineering to come here to the United States soon!

For more than six years after his death in December 1990, the man was sent disability payments by the social welfare department.

This and thousands of other cases of negligence and overpayment by the department — costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year — were listed in the report, discovered by the city's ombudsman in a survey conducted in October last year.

We're not sure, but we suspect this is a measure to secure votes. Therefore, it will be popular with certain activists here in the US. Now this item may or may not be related to the lucrative death benefits issue:

HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong is considering designating areas of its shoreline as sea cemeteries where cremated ashes can be laid to rest, the government said as the city runs out of burial spaces.

The proposal comes in response to growing demand for burials at sea, which have been refused as the government has no set procedure for such services.

"We are exploring with the relevant government departments to designate suitable areas in Hong Kong waters for sea burials and put in place a well devised application mechanism with clear approval criteria and conditions," health chief York Chow told legislators.

Not only welfare for the dead, but beachfront property as well! This is an idea who's time has come. Expect ACORN to jump on this one, post haste.

Vandal Humor

We reported in October about the bonobo with a vandal's sense of humor. It seems the female bonobo pulled a fire alarm just to watch the silly humans scurry around. The staff at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa had a "discussion" with her afterward and said that she had promised never to do it again. Which, of course, proves the relative intelligence of the staff members of the Great Ape Trust of Iowa.

Because Panbanisha the bonobo just did it again.

The trouble started at about 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, when Panbanisha wanted to go outside but the staff was too busy to let her out, trust officials said. Panbanisha then apparently lost her temper and pulled the alarm, officials said.

It's a trick Panbanisha initially learned in October when she saw a welder start the alarm. It took her less than a day to learn how to duplicate the excitement.

When the alarm sounded again the next morning, "I went to check on Pan, and she was sitting there next to it with a smile on her face," said lead scientist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh last month.

Savage-Rumbaugh said she explained the danger of such mischief and Panbanisha promised not to do it again.

Panbanisha is one of seven bonobos at the Great Ape Trust and was among the first group to arrive in April 2005. Bonobos are one of the most human-like of the great apes and have sophisticated language skills.

Ahem. We predicted this exact outcome, did we not?

Regional Disaster

It's funny, in a not amusing way, how immediately after the election, the drumbeat begins to change tempo in the media. Now after all the cheerleading for giving up and withdrawing in failure from Iraq, the media notices that it would be a disaster not for George Bush alone, but for the United States and for the entire world. A few articles like the one in the Washington Post today would have at least presented that scenario. But the media did its level best (successfully) to drag the Democrats across the finish line.

Now they have to set about undoing some of the damage they wreaked in the process.

"We're not talking about just a full-scale civil war. This would be a failed-state situation with fighting among various groups," growing into regional conflict, Joost Hiltermann, Middle East project director for the International Crisis Group, said by telephone from Amman, Jordan.

"The war will be over Iraq, over its dead body," Hiltermann said.

"All indications point to a current state of civil war and the disintegration of the Iraqi state," Nawaf Obaid, an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and an adviser to the Saudi government, said last week at a conference in Washington on U.S.-Arab relations.

As Iraq's neighbors grapple with the various ideas put forward for solving the country's problems, they uniformly shudder at one proposal: dividing Iraq into separate regions for Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, and then speeding the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

"To envision that you can divide Iraq into three parts is to envision ethnic cleansing on a massive scale, sectarian killing on a massive scale," Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, said Oct. 30 at a conference in Washington. "Since America came into Iraq uninvited, it should not leave Iraq uninvited."

"When the ethnic-religious break occurs in one country, it will not fail to occur elsewhere, too," Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Germany's Der Spiegel newsweekly recently. "It would be as it was at the end of the Soviet Union, only much worse. Large wars, small wars — no one will be able to get a grip on the consequences."

In an analysis published last month by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Obaid said sectarian conflicts could make Iraq a battleground for the region.

Obaid described widespread interference by Iranian security forces within Iraq. He urged Saudi Arabia, which is building a 560-mile wall on its border with Iraq, to warn Iran "that if these activities are not checked," Saudi Arabia "will be forced to consider a similar overt and covert program of its own."

In Damascus, a Syrian analyst close to the Assad government warned that other countries would intervene if Iraq descended into full-scale civil war. "Iran will get involved, Turkey will get involved, Saudi Arabia, Syria," said the analyst, who spoke on condition he not be identified further.

"Regional war is very much a possibility," said Hiltermann, the analyst for the International Crisis Group. Iraq's neighbors "are hysterical about Iranian strategic advances in the region," he said.

Which is, of course, what a lot of people have been trying to get across for quite some time now. This is not just a disaster for the president. It is a disaster for every country in that region. It is time and past time to get them to face up to that and actually do something other than cheer for Washington to fail. Or the war will come to them instead of being on the other side of the border. The reality is that Iran under Ahmadinejad is attempting to reforge an empire and the other countries in the region better stand against that while they still can. Or accept a role as a province in the new Persian Empire.

Meanwhile In The Senate

One thing that can be taken as a good general rule is that it is much easier to be in opposition than it is to be in control, politically speaking. One only needs to look at the past two years in the Senate to see how that worked. Harry Reid was able to effectively block many things while keeping up a continuous litany of shrill partisan attacks. David Broder points out that the shoe is now on the other foot and that Reid has a very tough time ahead trying to exercise power while balancing a razor thin majority.

The 51-49 Senate is a very different proposition. As Republicans learned to their chagrin in the past few years, it takes 60 votes to accomplish almost anything controversial or substantive in the Senate — the number needed to bring debate to a close and force an up-or-down vote. That means persuading or pressuring at least nine Republicans to go along. Otherwise, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the crafty Kentuckian elected to be the Republican minority leader, will have veto power over legislation — before it goes to the White House, where President Bush will wield a veto pen of his own.

That reality puts an enormous strain on Harry Reid, the Nevadan who has struggled these past two years to master the less arduous duties of Senate minority leader. The risk for Democrats is that Reid may not be up to the challenge.

We saw how weakness in the majority leader could hurt a party in the recent example of Sen. Bill Frist. More than once Frist was unable to hold his own troops together on big issues or to thwart Reid and the Democrats when they built roadblocks to administration bills. Now the situation is reversed, and it is Reid who will be tested.

The modern Senate is a haven for freelancers, for senators who play to national constituencies outside the Capitol and whose energies are focused on their personal ambitions. That is especially true during the presidential campaign season, which unfortunately is already upon us.

Broder points out, rightly, that there are a lot of people in the Senate with personal agendas. One only has to look at Chuckles Schumer and the New York Observer article from yesterday to see that. That is going to present a serious problem for Reid. As majority leader, Reid will have to marshal his own unruly collection of egos while siphoning off enough Republican votes to make it work. Broder makes it quite clear that he is very leery of Reid's ability to pull it off.

In addition to those egos and ambitions, Reid will have to contend with a few real mavericks and independent spirits in his caucus. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, elected last week as an independent Democrat after losing his party's primary to Ned Lamont, has reiterated his intention to follow his own path rather than accept party discipline. He has staked out a position on Iraq — opposing any timetable for withdrawal — that is at odds with the prevailing inclination of the new majority.

And Webb, the man who gave the Democrats that majority, will now give their leadership anxious moments. A newcomer to elective politics and resentful of the conventions and demands of the political game, Webb is also a newcomer to the Democratic Party. His previous government experience was as Navy secretary in the Reagan administration. His campaign showed him to be a populist on economic issues and a sharp critic of U.S. involvement in Iraq — but often unpredictable or uncertain about other questions. Most of all, he resisted being managed or directed, so Reid will have to handle him with kid gloves.

As minority leader, Reid was remarkably effective in keeping the Democratic caucus united but far less successful as a public spokesman for his party. His partisan comments were often too sharp, his television appearances less than commanding. In his new role, he will be far more exposed, and his flaws more conspicuous.

I know that I am a bit of an outlier on the issue of Trent Lott having been chosen as minority whip. But given Broder's analysis here, it may well be that McConnell needs Lott's ability to line up votes to effectively stymie Reid. And Reid has a very, very tough road already. That road may have become impossibly difficult with the Republican's choice of a leadership team.