baldilocks

Pretty Much What I Like And Dislike About TED In One Go

The TED conference--started as one Big Deal, and snarled the traffic in Monterey when I was studying there, and infiltrated my mailbox and now there are TEDs everywhere--has some great lectures.  This one right here (via Instapundit) is a pretty neat lecture.  Creative ideas about creative stuff presented, uh, creatively.

But notice the language the guy is using here.  He's speaking to one political party, one political tradition, about another political tradition or two.  The entering argument is that everyone at TED, each of those well-off fancy schmancy hoi polloi types, is assumed to be of one political persuasion.

I think that's a real shame.

Associated Press: US is Winning the Iraq War

You don't say!

Despite the occasional bursts of violence, Iraq has reached the point where the insurgents, who once controlled whole cities, no longer have the clout to threaten the viability of the central government.

That does not mean the war has ended or that U.S. troops have no role in Iraq. It means the combat phase finally is ending, years past the time when President Bush optimistically declared it had. The new phase focuses on training the Iraqi army and police, restraining the flow of illicit weaponry from Iran, supporting closer links between Baghdad and local governments, pushing the integration of former insurgents into legitimate government jobs and assisting in rebuilding the economy.

Notice that the authors still couldn't resist taking a shot at the president.

The following gentlemen asked and answered the question about possible victory in Iraq long before AP woke up:

• Michael Yon

• Michael Totten

• Greyhawk

One wonders why AP is admitting the truth now.

(Thanks to the other AP)

A Parent Appearing Apparent

I love this:

With the swearing in of the new Cabinet – as [Kenya's Daily Nation] put it – the Kibaki-Odinga unity “...appeared apparent...” I was girding my loins to attack it immediately on the spot, but other more urgent issues came up.

In addition, moreover, it happened to occur to my mind that, perhaps maybe, I duly owed the writer some more thoughtful consideration. It was probably likely that, if I tried to make an effort to enter the young juvenile’s mind, I might understand him adequately enough.

But it seems evident that repeated reiteration is an incorrigibly permanent feature of our newsrooms. It seems apparent that, as writers, our scribes simply cannot be able to see that appearances are not what they look like.

It's from my father's weekly grammar column, in which he sometimes injects politics, but is primarily used to lambaste instruct his colleagues in the art of wielding English: definitions, word usage and sentence construction. Redundancies are the topic today (yes, that statement may be redundant, but someone will ask). I don't doubt that I may have committed some of the same sorts of errors, but I still find this op-ed particularly funny.

My diplomatic abilities appear to be genetically acquired.

The politics:

The Kibaki-Odinga unity is a phenomenon of such material objects. Nobody else can see it exactly for what it is. For outsiders, it only appears or seems. Some think of it as mere make-believe. They do not accept it as a reality.

But the Nation reporter was two-minded about it. On the one hand, it was apparent because it was real.

But, on the other, its “apparentness” seemed like that of the will-o’-the-wisp – which was why it appeared apparent.

Kenya Crisis

Kenya: The Basics

Moral Equivalence Illustrated (UPDATE: Video at Newsbusters)

This is what happens when they just don't get it.

(Thanks to Hot Air)

UPDATE: The reason why from TIME managing editor Rick Stengel: "We're experts in what we do." The interviewer, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, doesn't even ask about the World War II imagery or the sacredness of Iwo Jima. "Experts" indeed.

Tear it Down

Yesterday, Barack Obama addressed the Associate Press Annual Meeting; a speech which Power Line’s John Hinderacker characterized thusly:

That's sort of like the Virgin Mary talking to a Knights of Columbus convention.

(I guess Catholic metaphors are to be expected today.)

Other reports of the meeting pointed a perennial and amusing gaffe made by AP chairman Dean Singleton—one which happens all too often when people try to wrap their tongues around the junior Illinois senator’s Luo last name.

SINGLETON: Can you imagine shifting a substantial number of Afghanistan -- a substantial number to Afghanistan where the Taliban has been gaining strength and Obama bin Laden is still at large?

OBAMA: I think that was Osama bin Laden.

John says that the entire transcript should be read for laughs, but I sure wish that Osama-Obama mix-up hadn’t happened—simply because I want to know what Obama has planned for Afghanistan.

See, I’ve been contending for some time that the anti-war Left is building up to the point at which it can characterize Afghanistan in the same manner as it has done with Iraq—as a lost cause. I’ve seen the rhetorical beginnings of it here and there (and I think Singleton's aborted question was part of that) but no one prominent is ready to say it straight out. The foundation hasn’t been sufficiently laid yet.

I say that the overt denigration of our efforts in Afghanistan is on the way (and, no, it won’t have to make sense). Why? Because every Bush effort must be demonized and scrapped--every single one, even the so-called righteous War.

The Bush edifice must be torn down. Feel free to tell me that I'm wrong.

(Thanks to Instapundit)

Grave Digging

The Right has been musing about Obama's late father--a dyed-in-the-wool commie and from a Muslim family--for some time now, with most of the musing being irrelevant since the junior Obama was abandoned by his father. Now it's the Left's turn.

At Politico, Ben Smith features an article written by the senior Obama, in which the latter discusses the Kenyan president's economic positions; Senior is basically asking whether the president should impose hardcore Communism on his country or go with baby steps. The president in question? The Kenyan Republic's first, Jomo Kenyatta. The year? 1965.

You know what? I am really less than impressed with the ability of all too many "professionals" to separate what matters from what does not--the ability to analyze information.

A bit of assistance: if a person has only had contact with his/her father twice in a lifetime, it's pretty much impossible for that father to have any meaningful influence on that person's political ideology. (Do I have to repeat myself about my own father and our divergent politics?)

Yeah, I'm helping the Left but...call it charity.

Now another decision looms--do I want to read some sixties-era economic tome written by some African dude who just received his undergrad?

(Thanks to Ed Morrissey)

More Citizenship Games

The question of whether John McCain is a "natural-born" citizen of the United States will go up before a federal judge here in California today--presumably, since the article doesn't specify when. To recap, McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 while his father, a Navy officer, was stationed there (along with his mother, of course). At the time, the PCZ was owned by the US until President Jimmy Carter gave it away during his one seventies term--a done-deal in 1999.

A two-page complaint filed March 6 in U.S. District Court in Riverside, Calif., argues that a judge should step in because the constitutional language is not precise, opening questions about the Arizona senator's standing.

The complaint was filed by Andrew Aames, 52, a Riverside lawyer who has dabbled in local politics, including volunteering for a Democratic congressional campaign. He said he is a registered Republican but previously was a Democrat. [SNIP]

Columbia University Law School professor Richard Briffault said he saw little room for debate over McCain's status — he qualifies.

"I find it hard to believe it's really an issue," Briffault said. The Canal Zone "was a territory when he was born there. Why is it any different from the District of Columbia?"

Former Solicitor General Ted Olson will be examining the case for the McCain campaign. Readers already know what I think about the situation, but here's a more learned take on it from the Volokh Conspiracy--one which reminds us that our laws are based on precedent and not on the whims of definition.

If the drafters of the Constitution had wanted to require that presidents be born in the United States, they could have done so. Instead, they invoked the then-standard idea of natural citizenship as reflecting natural allegiance to the king or the state.

(Emphasis mine.)

You know, of course, that taking this nonsense further will cause the usual suspects to make things up about whether Barack Obama is a citizen or not, right? Because when it comes to politics, even the idiotic can be used as a weapon and even the childish excuse that "they did it first" can be uttered without shame.

This election year is so much fun.

Not Shocked (UPDATED)

Bob Owens publicizes the written statements made during the military investigation related to Scott Beauchamp's "Shock Troops" series.

Observation: these guys have the worst handwriting! Casualty of the keyboard.

UPDATE (January 22, 2008): Bob now has two of Scott Beauchamp's written statements posted.

War is Hell

Recently, the New York Times ran a misleading, much-bashed and discredited series on the " widespread violent actions" perpetrated by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans subsequent to their return home.

Iowahawk, however, documents the widespread violent actions rampantly committed by veterans of another sort.

These people could snap at any minute!

...claims one expert. I'm scared!

(Thanks to Blackfive)

Kenya: Covering the Coverage And More

Daily Nation (Kenya): Foreign Media’s Harsh Verdict of Disputed Election

In one span of a week, Kenya has made the dubious journey from a prospering democracy to a tribal battleground, said the [Financial] Times online. [SNIP]

Jeevan Vesaga of The Guardian described Kenya as an African exception and a role model.

“Kenya’s economy is one of Africa’s best. Its highlands are blessed with the ideal blend of sunshine and cool altitude for growing tea, coffee and flowers — it’s the world’s biggest exporter of tea and supplies Britain with many of its Valentine’s Day roses. It has a hardworking, educated workforce, many of whom speak good English. Mombasa is one of Africa’s finest harbours and Nairobi is an air transport hub for the continent.”

The two journalists warned that if Kenya descends into anarchy, one of the continent’s brightest lights would have flickered out.

Guardian (UK): Condescension and Ignorance are No Help to Kenya

Africans played no part in the creation of their nation states. Their boundaries were drawn on maps in Europe by Europeans who had never even been to Africa and with no regard for existing political systems and boundaries. Half a century later, Africans were given flags and national anthems, airlines and armies and told they were now independent; Kenyans, Nigerians or Chadians. [SNIP]

So while tribalism is an issue in Africa, it is not some weird atavistic African sentiment but a logical result of Africa's imposed history. Most Africans I have met speak three or four languages, intermarriage is common and there is, in normal times, little personal conflict between people of different ethnicity. What always astounds me in Africa is how well people of completely different cultures, customs and languages get along with one another.

Al Jazeera (Qatar): Odinga Changes His Mind, Cancels Rally Scheduled for Tuesday, Toll Climbs

Speaking to Al Jazeera's Africa bureau chief Andrew Simmons after his meeting with Frazer, Odinga said: "There has been a major breakthrough ... I have talked to [African Union chairman and Ghana] President [John] Kufour, who has confirmed to me that he is on his way and that he will arrive [in Nairobi] tomorrow evening. [SNIP]

Amid the nascent signs of political reconciliation, Kenya's government said that more than 480 people have been killed and 255,000 displaced by the post-election violence.

But aid workers say the toll could go much higher.

And so it does continue to climb…

AFP: Kenyan opposition cancels protests, unrest toll soars to 600

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga on Monday called off protests over disputed presidential elections, as mediation efforts accelerated and the death toll from post-poll violence surged to at least 600.

The opposition announcement came ahead of the arrival Wednesday of the chairman of the African Union, Ghanaian President John Kufuor, who is expected to push for a compromise between re-elected President Mwai Kibaki and Odinga, his defeated challenger.

All Africa: Kenya Crisis Hobbling Uganda

Landlocked to the west of Kenya, Uganda suffered the biggest shock of countries that rely on the Mombasa sea route for imports and exports. [SNIP]

Traders in Kampala's trading hub of Kikuubo told this news paper that, "We are suffering, business is not good, we do not have fuel." One trader who preferred not to be named also posed the tricky question: "they are talking about fuel coming, but will our goods come?"

This was in reaction to reports that the Uganda government has negotiated with the Kenyans to provide armed escort to fuel tankers through the volatile western Kenya so as to replenish stocks in Uganda.

You know, of course, that there will be updates.

(Thanks to Charlie Beckett)

PREVIOUSLY:

As If This Changes Anything
Is Odinga a Muslim?
No Rest for the Wicked
Ganging Up
Uhuru Park Up Close
Six Degrees
Slaughter Postponed
Dreading Tomorrow
Kenya: Up in Smoke
Winds of Kenyan War
Kenyan Tribal Violence