Kudos again to Drudge in searching through the AP news photo database to find this picture of Arafat. Israel now considers him "irrelevant" to their actions or the future of either Israel or Palestine. I wonder who's going to step in and lead the Palestinian separatist group now.


- posted by levinson @ 12/13/2001 06:53:00 AM

 
No doubt other sites like this will be discovered. Omar is appearing increasingly like nothing more than a power-hungry, opportunistic, moderately skilled pawn. First of the Pakistani ISI and then of bin Laden. Perhaps his standard of living was one of the reasons why he was so reclusive. Who would want his people to see him living in such grandeur while they share outhouses and holes in the ground?
- posted by levinson @ 12/12/2001 08:15:00 AM

 
Let's see. I didn't make the varisty hockey team at my elementary school when I was in sixth grade. I think I'm going to sue.
- posted by levinson @ 12/12/2001 07:04:00 AM

 
Had a good laugh reading this story. In the great tradition of political protests like the Boston Tea Party, boxes with uncounted ballots in them were thrown in the bay only to be fished out later by the coast guard. Looks like someone was paid off for something as there were also 400 blank ballots found at one board member's house. Got to love local corruption.
- posted by levinson @ 12/11/2001 11:37:00 AM

 
I didn't see it or hear it, but according to Salon, yesterday's questioning of Ashcroft seems to have been a complete disgrace on all sides. Democrats asked too many questions on gun control. Republicans lapped at Ashcroft's feet like a dog and the man himself, when asked poignant questions, was disturbingly evasive. Indeed his unwillingness as seen his comments:

• "'In some areas, I cannot and will not consult you,' he said, beginning a Dr. Seussian cadence. He 'cannot and will not divulge the contents, the context, or even the existence of advice' he gives to the president, and 'cannot and will not divulge information ... that will damage the national security of the United States.'"

In the words of an attorney I work for, "this is disingenuous twaddle". Such arrogance in the face of direct congressional questioning on the constitutionality of the executive co-opting all the powers of government is inexcusable. The democrats simply weren't prepared for his obfuscating stance and shame on them. After his previous performances, especially in his confirmation hearings, they should have known they were facing a squirmy foe who will have problem contradicting himself or calling questioners un-patriotic in order not to answer a question. Disgraceful all around. Someone on the hill needs to get on the stick and explain the true powers W has taken for himself in this order. Until then, Ashcroft will be able to maintain his stance to the peril of us all. For, as we have seen, as long as the polls support him, he will act as recklessly as possible in the name of security.
- posted by levinson @ 12/07/2001 07:13:00 AM

 
Reading about baseball's financial woes from their site. The testimony of Selig just doesn't pass the smell or any other test. Scroll to the bottom of this page and check out the table of how much was paid for each team. Since 1998, 8 teams have been bought. Prices range from $75MM to $353 MM for teams (Montreal and LA respectively). Significantly, LA was bought for $353 MM by the multinations media emprie News Corp. According to Selig, since 1994, the league has lost almost $1.4 Billion. This year alone, Selig points out, cosolidated losses were $519 MM. Taking all those things as bona fide, I have one question. Why would News Corp. invest $353 MM in order to lose money? News Corp. bought the team last year. I don't have their figures for last year, but this year, they lost $69MM on operations alone (20% further loss on top of the original investment). News Corp. is now down a minimum $422 MM. I may not know a lot of things, but Rupert Murdoch isn't going to let a division that he spent $353MM to acquire lose a further 20% with (again according to Selig) nothing to look forward to but further, and growing, crippling losses. I could go on, but it would just be more of the same. Sorry Bud, just doesn't pass the smell test.
- posted by levinson @ 12/06/2001 02:41:00 PM

 
Debka declaring that, "in the eyes of the Arab world and his own people, [Arafat] is a goner." Accolades for W in his handling of this matter. To date, he has handled the Israeli situation well. Praise also for Sharon who may be the man to truly bring peace to his country through war. Both have recognized Arafat for what he is, and have acted accordingly. Here's hoping there can be a lasting peace in Israel after all.
- posted by levinson @ 12/06/2001 09:26:00 AM

 
Understatement of the past 40 years.
- posted by levinson @ 12/05/2001 02:53:00 PM

 
I haven't been watching the actual hearings, but in reading the Times, it certainly appears that no one is addressing the truly disturbing issues raised by W's military tribunals. Everyone seems to be "pussyfooting" around the fact that we've tried many terrorists in this country without the entire country being beseiged. I'm waiting for someone to recognize that the issue here is not the enemies we capture in Afghanistan or the illegal immigrants we capture here.
- posted by levinson @ 12/05/2001 07:09:00 AM

 
Story on how much Bloomberg spent winning the NYC Mayoral election. It's fairly interesting, and I found section that quotes his thoughts on how much one would spend to win such a campaign really amusing. File this under "Did I Say That?":

1. "Last spring New York magazine reported that Mr. Bloomberg had said that he would not spend as much as $30 million on the race, quoting him as saying, 'At some point, you start to look obscene.'
   In the summer, when it became clear that he would probably spend more than $30 million, Mr. Bloomberg told The New York Post that he did not remember saying it would be obscene to spend that much. 'My recollection is that I said you could not spend on New York City's race what was spent on the last Senate race here or the Senate race in New Jersey,' he was quoted as saying."

Outdoing his own expectations, Mayor Mike spent more than Corzine and fell only $200,000 shy of the combined spending of Corzine and Clinton in their race.

On a side note, I didn't know or have forgotten that Lazio spent $10.7 million more than Clinton on that campaign. Would have thought it was more even given the press around the race. Wonder if any of that cash went for the polls that kept telling us the race was a dead heat from June to September. The election told a significantly different story from the polls.
- posted by levinson @ 12/04/2001 10:58:00 AM

 
Signs that your past sympathizers are abandoning you:

• You have to ask for international outrage.

One can but wonder how Arafat is feeling these days. Once again we are told by the middle-east "establishment" that violence will only make things worse. This is what we were told before Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and now Israel. When will they tire of being wrong. I respect one standing by one's opinion, but when you're so far off base so often, it become foolish. See the TNR book review for Robert Kagan's analysis of the Foreign Policy establishment's thinking as it has evolved from the early 60's to now in his review of David Halberstam's War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton and the Generals.
- posted by levinson @ 12/04/2001 09:18:00 AM

 
Arafat does not want peace. He will negotiate for but always reject any lasting efforts to stop violence. Why we continue to humor him in any way is beyond me. Moreover, why the US has not come out and condemned these actions for what they are also escapes my perception. Significantly, Bush called the bombing, "acts of murder." This is significant because he did not call the bombings terrorism. One can but assume that he and his cabinet do not take this situation seriously or want it to go away. They do not want to seriously confront it. Zinni is there to broker a ceasefire, and yet since he's touched down, the violence has done nothing but escalate. This is deliberate on the side of the Palestinians. All of their successes from the creation of the PLO have come from violence. It is violence that brought them to the world stage, and with the west's refusal to condemn them, they continue their campaign of violence. It is time for the US to act on this matter in a serious and definitive way. No peace can be brokered with a group that is formed for and knows only violence. Peace would cause them to cease to exist. Self-destruction, while one of the weapons used by their soldiers, is not their goal.
- posted by levinson @ 12/01/2001 08:59:00 PM