US Attorney Firings “Scandal”

I've stayed off this one. Today, however, the pinion Journal points out something that bears repeating. Yes, 8 US attorneys were removed by the administration of GW Bush.

The Clinton White House fired ALL 93 US attorneys. Every. single.One.

How does "World News with Charles Gibson" do it? For the fifth time in seven weeks, the ABC newscast the week before last drew the biggest audience on average (8.4 million) of the three network evening-news shows. Marveling at the newscast's ascendancy after two years of turmoil in ABC's anchor ranks, media observers tend to dwell on the unexpected old-shoe appeal of Mr. Gibson. But there may be another explanation. Facing up to the reality that, alas, many folks these days like to get their news from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," ABC News has added comedy to the mix.

How else to explain those hilarious skits when Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos reports on the brouhaha over the Justice Department's firing of eight U.S. attorneys while the proverbial elephant in the room is lurking just off-camera?

Mr. Stephanopoulos doesn't mention his own valuable expertise on the subject of fired federal prosecutors, the kind of expertise that might help place the current mess in context. Mr. Stephanopoulos was the Clinton White House communications director in 1993 when the Justice Department cleaned its slate of all 93 U.S. attorneys, and he was central to the administration's finessing of the episode–just the sort of insider experience, presumably, that prompted ABC News to hire Mr. Stephanopoulos fresh out of the White House in 1996.

And yet even when Mr. Gibson and Mr. Stephanopoulos engage in the sort of exploratory anchor-reporter chitchat that is a staple of network news nowadays, somehow the two manage not to crack up as they rake over the latest sinister developments in the fired-prosecutors "scandal" without acknowledging that one of the newsmen knows a good bit more than he lets on about how these things work.

Tough to keep a straight face on this latest "scandal", isn't it? I've seen a few left-wing bloggers try to explain why this action by Bush is different than the wholesale slaughter Clinton indulged it.

I Have…..

…….Some very insightful commenters. One of who, in comments about this post, dropped this tidbit. It seems that an "Animal Rights" group got interested in the story about the monkey and the man who owned - or if you'd rather, kept it - in Plano, Texas. They took an interest and promptly put a map to the man's house on their website.

This is, quite simply, thuggery masquerading as concern for animals. This says less about the love of the "activists" for animals and rather a lot more about their hate for humanity. There is no legitimate reason - whatsoever - for putting a map to the man's home on the web. Especially when there is no proven abuse, only allegations - some of the more lurid of which turn out to be completely fabricated. They are soliciting violence against the man, pure and simple. And they are playing with fire by doing so. One of these days they will send their true believers into a situation that they will find is very dangerous, indeed. Here are some screen captures in case the budding thugs "disappear" their posts. (Sorry - had to break it in two because of formatting issues.)

Getting Better

Ed Morrisey reports that his wife is recovering very well from her kidney transplant. Good news for both him and for his wife. He also has had some nice words from folks on the left, it really is nice that not everyone in the world has completely lost it and put their politics above their humanity.

Warning Signs

Here is a really - and I mean really - surprising sign that someone is giving Barack Obama some very good advice. Indirectly, it is a sign that some people in the Democratic party realize that they are seriously out on a limb if the situation in Iraq actually does stabilize with the surge. Obama is flat out backing off from a showdown with the White House if the president vetoes the Iraq pork-barrel fest - excuse me - supplemental spending bill with deadlines attached.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — If President Bush vetoes an Iraq war spending bill as promised, Congress quickly will provide the money without the withdrawal timeline the White House objects to because no lawmaker "wants to play chicken with our troops," Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday.

"My expectation is that we will continue to try to ratchet up the pressure on the president to change course," the Democratic presidential candidate said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't think that we will see a majority of the Senate vote to cut off funding at this stage."

Obama has made his opposition to the war a centerpiece of his campaign and has used it to differentiate himself from rival Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq…..

….."I think that nobody wants to play chicken with our troops on the ground," said Obama. "I do think a majority of the Senate has now expressed the belief that we need to change course in Iraq.

Very, very smart advice there. If one single American soldier is even wounded, much less killed, because there was not enough ammunition or supplies, the Democrats are in desperate condition at once. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Someone with good sense is advising Obama. That would not be Kos (no link, go wade in there yourself if you want).

Instead of threatening Bush with even more restrictions and daring him to veto funding for the troops out of pique, Barack just surrendered to him.

Let me repeat that — Obama just surrendered to Bush.

So, in honor of the pronouncement by Kos, it seems fitting to present the pride of Rockford, Illinois and an aptly named anthem from the '70's.

Opening Salvo

Intel has announced plans to make an all-in-one microprocessor that will not only act as the brain of a personal computer, but will also have video and memory controller functions built right in. For the non-technical, this is a huge departure from the current architecture of personal computers. Up until now, video (and for Intel chips) memory control has been done on separate chipsets (AMD began integrating memory control onto its processors a while ago). Experts are saying that there will still be demand for high-end video cards for gaming and such, but I kind of think they are missing the point, here.

Their market is about to go away.

The No. 1 chipmaker's new processors, or computer "brains," may contain two features that are usually separate parts. One is a graphics processor, needed to view high-quality images on a PC screen. The other is a memory controller, which controls the flow of data to and from the processor.

Intel hasn't yet announced model details of the processors, expected next year. But the all-in-one capability will likely allow Intel to make extremely efficient, low-powered chips, says Senior Vice President Pat Gelsinger. That may lead to increasingly smaller laptops.

It might also allow Intel to steal business from rivals. Intel already makes graphics components. So do several other companies, including Nvidia, ATI Technologies and VIA Technologies. When graphics are a separate part, it's possible to combine an Intel processor with an Nvidia chip. That's not an option with an all-in-one processor, giving Intel a bigger chunk of the money that PC makers spend on components.

If Intel and AMD (they also have plans for an all-in-one) make the video function part of the core, there will not be any way to turn those capabilities off. And there will not be a market for the stand alone graphics cards for all that much longer. Sure, the initial chips will be fairly low-end on graphics. But that will change very, very rapidly. (Intel "Extreme" graphics, used in a lot of onboard the motherboard video is actually not bad in handling mid-level graphics demands right now. They are not up to the current crop of computer games, but handle older ones rather reliably). Consider: if the video no longer has to be sent out of the microprocessor to be handled, all the external data transfers will be done away with. The result will be faster, better graphics in one place. Combine that with fewer data handles to and from the core and things are about to become very interesting for the current video chipset makers.  

How To Discredit Yourself

This story is downright bizarre. A newspaper in Plano, Texas is running the following story with the screaming headline:

Confiscated monkey sent sexually explicit audio tapes by Plano owner

A Plano resident allegedly sent his male monkey a sexually explicit audio tape while the animal was in custody at the Living Materials Center (LMC), according to LMC staff.

Darwin, a Rhesus Macaque Monkey, was confiscated by animal services on Feb. 21 after police found illegal animals in owner Bobby Denton Crawford Jr.’s home.

Darwin was released back to Crawford Friday afternoon after being transported from the LMC, where the monkey stayed the past month.

Sherry Smith, a spokesperson for Plano Animal Services, said Darwin was given back to Crawford because he agreed to move out of the city.

“Where he is going to be moving, they don’t prohibit them there,” Smith said. “He is complying with city ordinances by removing Darwin from the city.”

Smith declined to comment on where Crawford had moved to. Crawford made at least three visits to the LMC and a handful of tear-filled phone calls requesting Darwin be returned to his custody, according to Jim Dunlap, curator at the LMC.

On one such visit, Dunlap said Crawford handed him a box of Darwin’s toys. Among those toys was an audio tape player with a recorded message from Crawford addressed to Darwin that was of a sexual nature, Dunlap said.

Go read the story for the exact nature of the allegation made in the story. It's thoroughly sick. It is also false. Not that the paper got it wrong, it appears that Dunlap made the allegations, but that he now admits he was completely wrong in his interpretation of the recording. That clarification will be found in another newspaper, however, not in the Plano Star Courier.

The head of a Plano school district facility that houses exotic animals said Monday he fears for his professional future there after saying he believed that a local pet owner was having sexual relations with his rhesus macaque monkey.

The Plano Star Courier in Saturday's edition quoted Plano ISD's Jim Dunlap as saying a man was having relations with the monkey seized last month by authorities. The head of PISD's Living Materials Center said the pet owner, Bobby Crawford Jr., sent a box of toys for Darwin the monkey to play with while he was kept there. In that box was an audiotape.

"After listening to the tape, Dunlap said Crawford made references to Darwin and himself engaging in mutual stimulation," the story read.

In an interview Monday with The Dallas Morning News, Mr. Dunlap said that he made a "gross error" and that his interpretation of the tape was just that – his and no one else's.

He also said he had been going through "holy hell" over the story. He said the Star Courier reported information that was "off the record and not to be printed."

So you have two ways to look at this: Mr. Dunlap was attempting an off-the-record character assassination with the reporter, or the newspaper is engaging in character assassination for another reason. But whatever the reason, Crawford is being ruined over a false allegation. My guess is that Mr. Crawford is already being inundated with offers of representation by lawyers and will come out of this with a very large amount of money in court. Because someone sure as heck is getting sued here. Rightfully so. (Oh, and I expect Dunlap will be cleaning out his desk by this time tomorrow at the latest.)

So you have two ways to look at this: Mr. Dunlap was attempting an off-the-record character assassination with the reporter, or the newspaper is engaging in character assassination for another reason. But whatever the reason, Crawford is being ruined over a false allegation. My guess is that Mr. Crawford is already being inundated with offers of representation by lawyers and will come out of this with a very large amount of money in court. Because someone sure as heck is getting sued here. Rightfully so. (Oh, and I expect Dunlap will be cleaning out his desk by this time tomorrow at the latest.)

Duties

I just got back from working my afternoon at the gun club I belong to. Part of being a member means you get assigned to a work crew (there are currently 12 of them) and work a Sunday every three months or so. You get to operate the skeet and trap machines, fill them with clay birds and do general gopher work and cleanup at the end of the day. But at least the storms are past and it was a clear and sunny - if very windy - day. My wife and daughter were out of town for a 4-H competition that my daughter got dragged into when their team was short (she isn't a 4-H member or anything, just helping out a friend). So we didn't go down there as a family today. One of the people on my team brings their spouse, all of their kids AND food enough to feed an army. I'm on a pretty good team, I think. The brats were great.

Heavy On The Graves

Mark Steyn looks at the act of piracy on the high seas that Iran committed  against British sailors and marines operating under UN auspices. He concludes that the incident exposes the foolishness of the transnationalists and their complete impotence in the face of real aggression. As he puts it, statements expressing "grave concern" end up heavy on the graves.

But this is a season of anniversaries. A few days ago, the European Union was celebrating its 50th birthday with the usual lame-o Euro-boosterism. I said up above that the 15 hostages are "British subjects." But, as a point of law, they are also "citizens of the European Union." Even Oxford and Hoover's Timothy Garton Ash, one of the most indefatigable of those Euro-boosters, seemed to recognize the Iranian action was a challenge to Europe's pretensions. "Fifteen Europeans were kidnapped from Iraqi territorial waters by Iranian Revolutionary Guards," he wrote. "Those 14 European men and one European woman have been held at an undisclosed location for nearly a week, interrogated, denied consular access, but shown on Iranian television, with one of them making a staged 'confession,' clearly under duress. So if Europe is as it claims to be, what's it going to do about it?''

Short answer: Nothing.

Slightly longer answer: The 15 "European" hostages aren't making that much news in "Europe." And, insofar as they have, other "Europeans" — i.e., Belgians, Germans and whatnot — don't look on the 15 hostages as "Europeans" but as Brits. Europe has more economic leverage on Iran than America has. The European Union is the Islamic Republic's biggest trading partner, accounting for 40 percent of Iranian exports. They are in a position to inflict serious pain on Tehran. But not for 15 British servicemen. There may be "European citizens," but there is no European polity.

OK, well, how about the United Nations? Those student demonstrators want the execution of "British aggressors." In fact, they're U.N. aggressors. HMS Cornwall is the base for multinational marine security patrols in the Gulf: a mission authorized by the United Nations. So what's the U.N. doing about this affront to its authority and (in the public humiliation of the captives) of the Geneva Conventions?

Short answer: Nothing.

Slightly longer answer: The British ambassador to the U.N. had wanted the Security Council to pass a resolution ''deploring'' Iran's conduct. But the Russians objected to all this hotheaded inflammatory lingo about ''deploring,'' and so the Security Council instead expressed its ''grave concern'' about the situation. That and $4.95 will get you a decaf latte. Ask the folks in Darfur what they've got to show for years of the U.N.'s "grave concerns" — heavy on the graves, less so on the concern.

Yet, like the Americans, the British persist in trying to resolve real crises through pseudo-institutions. A bunch of unelected multinational technocrats can designate an entire continent as "citizens of Europe" but, as Pat Buchanan wrote the other day, "dry documents, no matter how eloquent, abstract ideas, no matter how beautiful, do not a nation make." Similarly, the West's transnational romantics can fantasize about "one-world government," but, given the constituent parts, it's likely to be a lot more like Syria writ large than Sweden. In fact, it already is.

I posted about Europe expressing support for Britain the other day. I hoped that they were waking up. I see today that they refuse to use the one and only lever, however weak it is, that they have on Iran. Europe will not back economic sanctions against a gang of outright pirates. This is not a good thing for Europe or for the world. They have just demonstrated how hollow and useless their transnational fairy tales are, once and for all. If the West will not clamp down on state-sponsored piracy on the high seas, which is exactly what Iran pulled - then we are rapidly approaching the real war that the Utopians profess to abhor. And they are the ones who will be to blame for it - and for all the deaths that accompany it.

Pet Food Recall Expands

Here are the latest updates in the ongoing problems with pet foods. Purina has recalled a limited number of dog food products. This affects their "Prime Cuts in Gravy" brand only and only with certain dates codes. The other news is that the culprit appears not to be pesticide on Chinese wheat, but rather a plastic used as a fertilizer in foreign countries - but not licensed for use in the US.

Nestle Purina PetCare Co., which manufactures the 71-year-old brand, announced Friday that it was voluntarily recalling all sizes and varieties of Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food that are marked with specific date codes. The company acted after learning that wheat gluten containing melamine — a toxin suspected of causing the pet illnesses — had contaminated cans at one of Purina's 17 pet-food manufacturing facilities.

Company officials emphasized that the contaminant affected a "limited production quantity" and that Alpo products are safe. "We're very confident that we've isolated this problem," said Keith Schopp, a spokesman for Nestle Purina. "This is just one canned variety of Alpo, and it's one of many varieties of Alpo canned products. No dry products are involved. No cat products are involved."

Washington area animal hospitals said the announcement added to anxiety over the recalls that have transfixed pet owners nationwide the past two weeks. The Food and Drug Administration has received more than 8,000 calls about ill pets, although it hasn't confirmed more than 14 or 15 deaths. Pet owners and veterinarians in the United States and Canada are reporting higher numbers………

…….Federal officials initially suspected a chemical used in rat poison as the culprit but said Friday that melamine had been found in pet food samples, in imported wheat gluten and in the urine and tissue of ill pets. Melamine is used in fertilizer in Asia and in plastic products but is not registered as a fertilizer in the United States.

The recalled 13.2-ounce and 22-ounce Alpo Prime Cuts cans and 6-, 8-, 12- and 24-can Alpo Prime Cuts Variety Packs have four-digit code dates of 7037 through 7053, followed by the plant code 1159, Nestle Purina said. The company said the code information should be checked on the bottom of the can and the top or side of the multi-pack cartons.

Melamine (in this country) is used to produce particle board and kitchen utensils. Apparently it is being used as a fertilizer, although I have no idea why. Or maybe that's just the excuse for them dumping it in places.