Another Air Force Disgrace

First multiple rapes alleged at the Air Force Academy, now this:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Four members of a Kirtland Air Force Base security squadron are accused of burning a cross in the back yard of a southeast Albuquerque home.

The men, who are on paid leave, also are accused of participating in supremacist activities.

Kirtland's public relations director, Ralph Francis, said the men had Ku Klux Klan literature and Nazi swastikas.

Holy Carp ... Or, I Am The Lord, Thy Cod

Many people here believe that it was God revealing himself that day to two fish cutters in the fish market, Zalmen Rosen, a 57-year-old Hasid with 11 children, and his co-worker Luis Nivelo, a 30-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant.

...

Here then is the story, according to the two men, the only witnesses. Mr. Rosen, whose family owns the store, and Mr. Nivelo, who has worked at the shop for seven years, say that on Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. they were carving up carp.

Mr. Nivelo, who is not Jewish, lifted a live carp out of a box of iced-down fish and was about to club it in the head.

But the fish began speaking in Hebrew, according to the two men. Mr. Nivelo does not understand Hebrew, but the shock of a fish speaking any language, he said, forced him against the wall and down to the slimy wooden packing crates that cover the floor.

He looked around to see if the voice had come from the slop sink, the other room or the shop's cat. Then he ran into the front of the store screaming, "The fish is talking!" and pulled Mr. Rosen away from the phone.

"I screamed, `It's the devil! The devil is here!' " he recalled. "But Zalmen said to me, `You crazy, you a meshugeneh.' "

But Mr. Rosen said that when he approached the fish he heard it uttering warnings and commands in Hebrew.

"It said `Tzaruch shemirah' and `Hasof bah,' " he said, "which essentially means that everyone needs to account for themselves because the end is near."

...

Mr. Rosen panicked and tried to kill the fish with a machete-size knife. But the fish bucked so wildly that Mr. Rosen wound up cutting his own thumb and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The fish flopped off the counter and back into the carp box and was butchered by Mr. Nivelo and sold. -- The New York Times. No, Seriously. The New York Times

Oddly enough, the fish sounded like Peggy Noonan.

Wingnut economist and columnist Bruce Bartlett argues that "Taxing Smoke Doesn't Work." In support of this thesis, he cites a report from the Small Business Survival Committee which claims that New York City had expected $250 million in new revenue by increasing its tax on cigarettes, but ended up with only a $43 million dollar gain. Hardly a failure.

Bartlett also argues that

The record is clear that cigarette smokers are not sheep. They do not sit back passively and just pay exorbitant taxes. They take actions to minimize their burden, which have the effect of reducing revenues without reducing consumption.

But the report he cites states that "22% [of smokers surveyed] say they do smoke less because of the higher cost." Bartlett also overlooks the fact that most people who no longer buy their butts in the city just buy them elsewhere, which is hardly a net loss for "small businesses" as a whole.

Most significantly, however, Bartlett omits to mention that "[f]unding for the study was provided by Philip Morris, USA." Put down the crack pipe, Bruce, and get a job you're qualified to hold.

Wesley's Friends

Wes Pruden once again waxes nostalgic about a simpler time, when Jesus was on the side of the slavers:

Southerners are often evangelical Christians (a capital crime in the circles of the elites) who know all the words to "Amazing Grace" and have to stifle the urge to stand up and holler when they hear the blood-stirring strains of "Dixie." A lot of them even root for the Confederates when they watch "Gone With the Wind" in the wee hours of the night, with the shades drawn.

The Devil's Advocate

When last we visited Pat Robertson's Regent University School of Law, a third-year student and Republican activist was being charged with attempted solicitation of sex with a minor.

Now, from Democraticunderground.com comes the slightly stale story of a former second-year student who sued Regent, claiming he was kicked off campus after his classmates accused him of being possessed by demons:

Chadbourne, a Persian Gulf War veteran who served as an Army Delta reconnaissance scout, was a second-year Regent Law School student in the fall of 1999. He had developed a facial tic that he said may have been the result of exposure to chemical or biological agents during the war.

"It was the sudden onset of this disability that caused at least one, if not several, of the plaintiff's religiously fervent classmates to inform the plaintiff that he 'had a demon and had therefore been cursed by God for being sinful,' '' Chadbourne said in court papers.

The unfortunate student, having only the benefit of a Regent education, wasn't able to squeeze much of a settlement out of Robertson's law school-with-ashtrays.

Now there's a case I would've loved to see go to trial.

By ordeal or drowning.

A Criminal War Correspondent

Among some of the media accompanying military units, there is a palpable gung-ho attitude. Many reporters have decked themselves out in uniforms virtually indistinguishable from those of the soldiers they will be covering, some even going so far as to have their names and the word "Correspondent" embroidered on their breast pockets. At least one reporter marched to the front with a large American flag clipped to his backpack.

The Fox News Network dispatched former Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a conservative commentator, to a Marine unit to cover the war. -- Newsday

Grand Old Police Blotter: Like Father, Like Scum Edition

A Washington Times Maryland statehouse reporter, S. A. (Steve)Miller, caused an ugly scene in downtown Annapolis last week during a Thursday night party hosted by the Baltimore Sun. According to witnesses, Miller drunkenly groped a female former legislator and asked her to "take off [her] shirt." Then, when other partygoers grabbed his car keys, he threatened to "trash" the large luxury house rented by the Sun's capital bureau.

That was enough for Sun statehouse reporter Mike Dresser to call the Annapolis Police Department at 12:37 a.m. Friday, according to the resulting "event report." It states that an "extremely" intoxicated Miller was taken away by officers and dropped off at a local hotel around 1 a.m. No charges were filed against Miller, who joined the Times last fall after working at the Frederick Post.

Witnesses told us that when the 41-year-old former legislator arrived at the Sun's annual mid-session party and gave hugs to old friends from the press corps, Miller also demanded a hug. Though the two had never met in person, she reluctantly complied. Then, one witness told us, "to everyone's shock, he grabbed her butt, told her she was beautiful, spit out some lewd comments then asked her to 'take off [her] shirt.'"

The victim is fortunate it wasn't Wes Pruden or Rbt. S. McCain with a jug of moonshine and a rope. Mr. Miller will remain employed by the Moonie Times, of course.

Whore Is Hell

"Those medals I threw over the wall? Oh, those weren't my medals! They were some other guys' medals! Why'd you think I threw my medals?"

My combat service in Vietnam? Oh, that wasn't my service! That was some other guys' service, but they're dead now. Why'd you think I served in Vietnam?

The Chickenhawk Went Down to Georgia

The heroic words of Chickenhawk Charlie Daniels, who was too busy fiddling with himself to proudly wear the uniform of the United States of America:

"One thing about it Mr. Penn, you will be remembered for a whole lot more than your acting. There will be hundreds of thousands of men and women who proudly wear the uniform of the United States of America who will remember you for a long time. ..."

"They will remember your words, criticizing the country they love enough to die for."

"I wouldn't be going to any Veterans of Foreign War meetings if I were you, Mr. Penn."

Media Research Center Smackdown!

If there is anyone who still believes the "Liberal Media" canard, a quick read of this week's Media Research Center's Cyberalert will bring him or her back to reality. It's an incredible display of intellectual dishonesty, posing as a list of . We have:

Two instances when questions are misrepresented as statements of the questioner's opinion;

One instance where a reporter is criticized for accurately quoting an Iraqi citizen;

One instance where a pro-Saddam quote -- by Saddam -- is characterized as an anchor's personal opinion;

One instance where an answer to a host's question is represented, without proof, as something the host "didn't want to hear;"

One instance where a reporter questions an unsupported claim, and proposes an equally valid alternative explanation;

One instance where a network "hides" poll results by posting them on its website;

One instance where MRC misrepresents what someone said about MRC;

And Brit Hume bashing Helen Thomas.

Nine items and not a single valid claim of liberal media bias. In fact, the only valid example of media bias in the whole list is the wingnut bile of crazy, hateful Uncle Brit.

Talk Left also reports on an upcoming New Yorker piece (not online) on Lindh and his plea bargain.

(Story referred by Mac Diva.)

It's much overdue, but I'm adding Talk Left to the Enemies List. Talk Left is not just a blog, it's an invaluable resource for criminal law and related public policy news and opinion.

And I'm adding a newcomer, Hegemoney. The spirit of the site is revealed in the author's introduction, "I hope that you will not allow anger and cynicism to discourage you from believing that something can be done about the way in which big money controls our government." Surrender is not an option!

Reality Check

Tina Brown is at it again. She has nothing to say about the geopolitical realities we face in the world today. But, she does argue that it's all the fault of men. Here's her take on Saddam: "Macho is even more central to Saddam than to George Bush. When [Dan] Rather asked Saddam if he felt competitive with Osama bin Laden's owning the Arab street, Saddam replied, 'Jealousy is for women.' It's the kind of line W likes to come up with. ('And peace is for [expletive],' Dick Cheney would growl in assent.)" Huh? The truth, of course, is that the president has never said anything remotely that misogynistic, and anyone who knows him even vaguely will recognize that she simply doesn't have a clue about the current White House. And Cheney simply doesn't use words like that either. Ever. - Andrew Sullivan, Washington Times

Reality:

Though he's done a decent job of hiding it in this election cycle, Bush has been known to use salty language. At the Republican National Convention in 1988, he was asked by a Hartford Courant reporter about what he and his father talked about when they weren't talking about politics.

"Pussy," Bush replied. -- Jake Tapper, Salon.com

...

It was a decision about which George W. Bush, among others, apparently felt less than enthusiastic. According to a recent account in Salon, he told an interviewer in 1994 that Yale "went downhill since they admitted women." -- Carter Wiseman, Yale Alumni Magazine

But it's nice to know Sully hears Dick Cheney's voice in his head 24/7.

Who You Gonna Call?

There is a Specter haunting Pennsylvania. But the Keystone State has a man with all the talents of Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore combined.

Roger Ailes wholeheartedly endorses the Capozzola for Senate 2004 campaign. Not just as an "anybody but Specter" candidate but as a candidate -- and a person -- who advocates the principles of progressivism, enlightenment and inclusiveness and who, with those principles, would well serve the citizens of any state.

I won't be able to vote for Jim Capozzola, but I hope he runs. And if he runs, I hope he wins.

TexPundit?

I have the utmost respect for Kevin Drum, but I'm beginning to suspect he's really from El Paso or Corpus Christi. Like one of those imposter chickens that really isn't from California. What's my proof? Well, Kevin said this:

But I'm not so sure. Maybe I should call Arlen Specter's office and see what he's offering? After all, like they say in Texas, if you can't drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against 'em anyway, you don't belong in politics.

I know that quote is most often attributed to House Speaker Sam Rayburn, but many, including the very California-politics savvy Harry Shearer, credit California State Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh with the quote. (See also here and here.)

Why would a loyal son of the Golden State credit Texans (of all things) with this vulgar but amusing quote? A true Californian knows that Sacramento is the source of all things vulgar and amusing.

My position is simple. Violence -- which includes physical and psychological torture -- should never be used against a person who has been captured and therefore poses no immediate threat to anyone. It is a punishment without a conviction (not that torture should be used as punishment after conviction). To condone the use of torture is to say that there is no act which cannot be justified by claiming a proper motive.

For more perspectives, see Tim Henley and Kevin Drum on their reasons for opposing torture.

The First Commandment of Mel Gibson's Church

Do NOT talk about Mel Gibson's Church.

"When I called the church elder who was Holy Family's representative at the county meetings, he agreed to an interview and accepted my request to attend a service, on the conditions that I not identify him or any member of the congregation beyond Mel Gibson, and that I withhold details that might invite the interest of fans or paparazzi. He also asked that I refrain from speaking to the priest, the congregants or anyone else during my visit. He told me that anyone seen speaking to me ''will not be welcome back at our church again.'''

Well, at least they're not harassing people in the street or door to door. But I wouldn't want to drink their Kool-Aid.

p.s. Mel's dad is a real prince.