Robble-Robble

Oh wait, that's the other burglar.

According to the Associated Press, Former Clinton national security advisor Sandy Burglar, uh, Berger, will take a misdemeanor plea deal for taking top secret documents from the national archives.

It's nice to know one can steal top secret documents, plead it was an "accident," and get away with a slap on the wrist instead of significant jail time.

Chinese spies in Los Alamos will assuredly sleep better tonight.

Note: This could have alternately been titled, "Stuffing Berger, Hidden Sentence."

Update: Added pre-sentencing pic.

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Rest in Peace

Terri Shiavo's torturous starvation is over. She passed within the past hour. If you are a religious person, please say a prayer for Mrs. Shiavo and her surviving family members.

Update: According to David Gibbs, the Shindler attorney, Terri Shiavo died at 9:05 AM. Bob Shindler, her father, will make a statement this afternoon. Members of her family were with her until ten minutes before her death, when they were asked to leave for an assessment of her condition prior to Michael Shiavo's entrance to her room.

At this time, it is not known who was with her at her time of death.

I'll update this thread (live-blogging, as I originally thoughtlessly mentioned, is just the wrong word) as information becomes available.

Update: Fox News television is reporting that President Bush will make a statement sometime around noon regarding Mrs. Shiavo's death... 11:40 AM Eastern.

Update: I'm flipping back and forth between CNN and Fox News, and perhaps not surprisingly, each seems to be taking highly partisan viewpoints. CNN is using recent pictures of a hospice-bound Shiavo and reiterating that they want to get out the Shiavo viewpoint when it becomes available (Neither Michael Schiavo or his lawyer have released a statement).

Fox is showing old pictures of a healthy, active, much younger Terri Shiavo, and focusing their attention on the viewpoints of the Shindler family and pro-life clergy and medical experts, making much of the fact that Michael Shiavo did not want the Shindler family in the room at the time of death.

Update: Florida Governor Jeb Bush is making a statement on CNN saying that the issue transcends politics, and that he wishes he could have done more. He also said that we need to examine these issues and come up with solutions so that we don't have to go through situations like this again. Jesse Jackson was on next, pushing healthcare reform...

A white van with a police motorcycle escort has pulled away from the hospice, presumably with Terri Shiavo inside. Media helicopters (shown on CNN, Fox) are following it like O.J. Simpson's infamous Bronco chase. I'm nauseated with the tastelessness of the pursuit.

Update: Bush: (roughly) on Shiavo, "the essense of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak." He also said we need to promote a culture of life. The bulk of Bush's press conference was on the U.S. intelligence report.

Update: Michael Shiavo was with his wife when she died. CNN is interviewing the brother of Michael Shiavo's girlfriend, and he says Michael is taking this very hard. He (the girlfriend's brother) offers up some perspectives I haven't heard about Michael's side of the story. Terri was his wife, and if Michael honestly thinks he was doing what Terri would have wanted, he deserves sympathy as well, doesn't he?

Update: Terri Shiavo's body has been delivered to the medical examiner's office for autopsy. According to experts, her autopsy will likely start today and be completed tomorrow.

Update: George Felos, attorney for Michael Shiavo, is supposed to make an announcement this afternoon, 2:30 Eastern.

Update: Randall Terry is on Fox News saying their will be a memorial services in local churchs this afternoon, and the Shindler family will make a statement at 4:30 Eastern.

Despite the wishes of the Shiavo family for a Florida burial, Terri will be cremated and her remains interred in a Shiavo family plot in Pennsylvania. Thankfully, this disagreement is fairly clear-cut legally, and should not mean another 15 years of lawsuits.

Update: County coroner to speak at 3:30 PM Eastern.

Barring any major announcements, I am done with this topic for the day.

Update: I thought I was done, but I just saw George Felos speak of how "cruel" this process was for Michael Shiavo, and how it was "disquieting" it was for a pro-life priest to speak against his client's position. He came back to this several times. He then complimented the hospice staff for their compassion and professionalism, calling them "angels of mercy." Felos said that Michael Shiavo was cradling Terri as she died.

When questioned by an obviously partisan (pro-life) reporter as to how this could have been "a death with dignity" when she was starved to death, Felos denied that she starved to death. Please tell me I heard that wrong. He then went on to say that they were only carrying out Terri's wishes.

Theresa Shiavo, Rest in Peace.

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American Journalist Kidnapped? Don't ask CNN

Two independent foreign media services have reported that three Romanian journalists and a naturalized American journalist have been kidnapped in Iraq. But don't try to find the story in the major media. The Jawa Report the leading American authority on this one. Also previously covered by Jawa here and here.

No wonder Google News dropped The Jawa Report.

They're competent.

Update: CNN has now caught on.

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From Hero to Whore

I'm getting more than a little confused.

When black senator Barack Obama endorses former Klansman Robert Byrd, a man who denounced the Rev. Martin Luther King as a "self-seeking rabble rouser," Democrats trumpet this as an example of their diversity and inclusiveness.

When Rev. Jesse Jackson (surely another "self-seeking rabble rouser") reaches out to conservative Christians over the Shiavo case in Florida, on just one issue on a near spotless record as a Democrat, he is immediately denounced as an Uncle Tom and a whore.

I don't think you can still refer to Democrats as the "big tent" party, but at least they are resourceful enough to find other uses for their sheets.

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Strange Bedfellows

More than a few people are reveling in the fact that Rev. Jerry Falwell is in a Lynchburg, VA hospital in critical condition with his second case of viral pneumonia in just over a month.

Falwell, the outspoken, often boorish founder of the Moral Majority, is blamed for claiming AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuality and societies who tolerate them, and was the butt of many jokes (look, there goes one now!) for his odd crusade against Tinky Winky, a children's show character that Falwell blasted for being a gay role model. Among his most controversial statements was this one assigning blame just days after 9/11:

"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say: you helped this happen."

Not surprisingly, Falwell has made plenty of enemies who would like to see him out of the picture. What is surprising is that liberal gay activists who have long been his greatest enemies are now using oppressive tactics the Rev. Falwell would doubtlessly approve of to silence their own critics.

Despite his laundry list of homophobic comments over the years, Falwell was apparently unable to turn the other cheek (hey, another one!) himself when someone else made comments at his expense, leading to charges of libel, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt in what led to a First Amendment Supreme Court case immortalized in the movie, The People vs. Larry Flynt.

Now, a prominent politically liberal gay activist named Michael Rogers is using Falwellesque claims of defamation and intimidation to stifle free speech on conservative blogs GayPatriot and LimeShurbert because these blogs claimed that Rogers and fellow liberal activist John Aravosis were "gay terrorists" for their practice of "outing" campaigns targeting closeted gay Republicans. LimeShurburt went so far as to create a poster from GayPatriot's comments, which is being picked up and promoted by free speech advocates around the web.

Jerry Falwell and Michael Rogers both use their political influence to attack gays, and both have tried to stifle the First Amendment rights of those who disagree with their radical views.

Blind fanatical hate makes strange bedfellows indeed.

Notes: I first heard of this issue from this Instapundit post, and also found this followup on Instapundit as well. An impressive list of bloggers right and left is developing that are supporting AlphaPatriot and LimeShurburt, including: Classical Values, Gay Orbit, Haight Speech, The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Yippe-Ki-Yay!, The Jawa Report, and many more.

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Shiavo Thought of the Day

Every time I hear how Terri Shiavo's death by starvation and dehydration is "what she would have wanted," the more I wonder how those sentiments would have sounded in the original German.

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Right Up There With Pickle Stem Research

They're LIBERAL? You don't say...

College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined, a new study says.

By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative, says the study being published this week. The imbalance is almost as striking in partisan terms, with 50 percent of the faculty members surveyed identifying themselves as Democrats and 11 percent as Republicans.

The disparity is even more pronounced at the most elite schools, where, according to the study, 87 percent of faculty are liberal and 13 percent are conservative.

Robert Lichter, a professor at George Mason University and a co-author of the study, will next author a study determining the political leanings of radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

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Diplomats to Bolton: I Said I Loved You But I Lied

Fifty-nine former American diplomats have sent a letter to the Senate challenging President Bush's nomination of John Bolton to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

After considering the resumes of these esteemed diplomats and their expansive foreign service records, I can only come to the conclusion that the condemnation of retired bureaucrats from stagnant posts decades old should largely be ignored.

With the possible exception of Arthur A. Hartman, the four other minor luminaries cited by CNN's coverage held assignments that seem more like purgatory than public service, and some of these assignments happens so far in the past as to have little relevance in today's rapidly-evolving political climate.

Quite frankly, does the former deputy ambassador to the United Nations under Ford and Carter have an opinion relevant in today's global political environment? Do we really need the opinion of an Arms Control Agency leftover from the Carter Administration, or Clinton's ambassador to Nigeria?

Bolton's nomination is controversial, to put it mildly, but it would be a refreshing change to have someone in the United Nations who would freely speak his mind without first needing to secure immunity from investigators.

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Yet Another Reason to Close the Mexican Border

Tom Elia at The New Editor brings us this delightful news.

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An Angry God, a Stupid Liberal

One day after Easter, Sumatra has experienced another major earthquake today, a shallow (19 miles deep) 8.2 (update: 8.7) magnitude event roughly in the same area hit by the December 26 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that killed 150,000 and left another 100,000 missing.

Perhaps not surprisingly, liberals at the Democratic Underground have wasted no time blaming President Bush.

Note: Hello to all my visitors from Ace of Spades HQ, Michelle Malkin, Outside the Beltway, Say Anything, and Grapevine's Ramblings. Please be sure to visit the main page.

Update: Democratic Underground change the link, and so it is now updated. In case they decide to disable or remove the post at a later time, I have a screen capture.

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The Record Skips Again

Once again, I find myself in the situation of having to illuminate a Times Herald-Record article, though at least this time the subject was at least a wayward opinion article instead of biased hard news.

Without any further adieu, let's look at yesterday's Record editorial, "Faking the News."

Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Democrat from Hawaii, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to do what some TV stations are apparently unable or unwilling to do for themselves. That is, be upfront with viewers about the source of government-produced videos masquerading as "news."

Nice use of scare quotes. The Record fails to disclose that this practice was perfected while Bill Clinton was president, and is not a new development. I guess that tiny detail didn't qualify as "news" to the Record, or rather, it got in the way.

The more disturbing element of this equation is not the attempt by the Bush administration to plant "stories" with positive spins in local TV news reports.

Actually, that would be a storyÂ… if it were true. But as the Justice Department holds that as there is "no advocacy of a particular viewpoint, and therefore it does not apply to the legitimate provision of information concerning the programs administered by an agency." In other words, as long as these federal agencies are producing video containing nonpartisan facts, there is no violation. Could it be that non-partisan factual reporting from federal agencies threatens existing media bias?

The truth is that this administration has been shameless in its efforts to convince Americans that black is white, or vice versa.

You know, that explains some laundry problems I've been having lately. Nice ad hominem.

This ranges from its varying stories about why war with Iraq was necessary and, later, why it was going so well to the hiring of syndicated columnists to write pro-administration opinions.

I must admit I am unfamiliar with government attempts to provide justifications for why the war is necessary. I must have missed it under the deluge of Record articles explaining why the war liberating 25 million Iraqis was wrong, and why we don't care about our soldiers anymore.

So when the White House instructed various government departments to ignore a report from the Government Accountability Office that declares some of these reports to be "covert propaganda," it was just doing its thing.

Just as the Record editorial ignored memos from Joshua B. Bolton, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Steven G. Bradbury, principal deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, saying that the GAO was not only wrong, but that it was overstepping its bounds in issuing their opinion.

It is frustrating and annoying and the practice may be illegal, but Americans by now have come to expect this kind of disregard for their intelligence by Bush and Co. Lowered expectations.

Actually, thanks to the CBS News fake documents scandal, the thwarted NY Times "October Surprise," the near-treason of CNN's Eason Jordan, the lies of Guiliana Sgrena and the developing fake talking points memo scandal, along with some reality-challenged episodes at the Record itself, I'd suggest that most Americans have come to expect lowered expectations from an increasingly exposed news media.

What especially troubles us with this phony news caper is that some TV stations have actually gone along with it. They have simply taken the government-produced reports, which cost taxpayers millions but TV stations nothing, and aired them as news items. This, even though the reports use government employees or actors to portray reporters and sometimes contain political messages inside the straight "news" report.

What troubles them is that some television stations, which became used to broadcasting these apparently factual reports during the Clinton years, still have the audacity to continue to do so while Bush is in office, even when some of these facts threaten to prove that some of President Bush's policy ideas were correct. The charge that the Record makes here that some of these reports contain political messages is not supported by facts from the Record's editorial board, perhaps because the lack of facts proving their contention didn't qualify as "news." I can use scare quotes, too.

There is no identification of the source of the reports and, to be sure, no hint of critical analysis, contrary opinion or questioning of the information presented, as with legitimate news stories.

Identification of the source, of course, does not apply to "anonymous government officials" or simply "congressional staffers" or other non-visible sources that the media uses to support its opinion under the guise of reporting. As we are increasingly aware, "legitimate" news stories, very often are not.

That's the rub here. If viewers know that the report they are watching was produced by the Agriculture Department or the State Department or the Pentagon, they can at least insert their own questions where a legitimate reporter might. But without such critical reporting, these items unfailingly come across as positive for the government, which is, of course, the administration's goal in producing and distributing them.

There isno barrier in place that prevents viewers from asking questions, and indeed, these government broadcasts would appear to be great leads, or springboards to deeper investigation of a topic by intrepid truth-seeking reporters. Perhaps the real problem here is that the factual presentation of information that these broadcasts provide acutely conflicts with the "critical reporting" of the existing news media.

That's propagandizing, and for TV stations to be part of it, either for political reasons (to support President Bush) or because they do not have the resources to fill out a daily news report, is plain wrong.

However, to do it for political reasons (to undermine President Bush) is apparently acceptable.

In fact, the Radio-Television News Directors Association's code of ethics urges members to "clearly disclose the origin of information and label all material provided by outsiders." This allows viewers some perspective.

This is sound advice. A broken clock...

But there is no requirement that TV stations follow this basic code of conduct, and some have unfortunately chosen not to do so, some for less than noble reasons.

Nor apparently is there any requirement that for the dead-tree media, or I am certain that the Record would use it to show its unblemished impartiality.

That's why Inouye wants the FCC to find a remedy. The obvious one would be to require radio and TV news directors to abide by their own code of ethics. That means telling viewers the source of the story.

Don't look for this idea to find too much traction among Congressional Democrats, the three broadcast networks, or CNN. Accountability would certainly shut down their steady flow of anonymous sources. Fox News, however, would probably prove an unlikely ally for a lonely Inouye in this effort.

As for the White House, with the president's credibility already in question with millions of Americans and his job rating falling, it might consider the (for it) unusual step of leveling with Americans.

This would of course be the same president who the rest of the world, including a begrudging European press, is being forced to admit, may have been correct all along. It would be interesting for the American media, however, to admit that they were wrong, but I won't wait for that to occur.

If it won't, members of Congress who don't appreciate Americans being fed propaganda paid for by their own taxes should insist that the government properly label all its news releases.

I would assume that this also would apply to rambling missives from those same members of Congress (Boxer, Kennedy, and our own beloved Hinchey, Shumer, and Clinton) that always seem to garner so much acclaim without much scrutiny.

And it should insist the FCC discipline any radio or TV stations that intentionally participate in these sham news reports.

Funny how quickly the Record editors dropped their earlier objection to the use of syndicated columnists from the second paragraph of this editorial. One would almost think they want print journalist to exist under their own special set of rules.

But that couldn't be true... could it?

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Perhaps Dr. Jack was Right

I think reading some of the comments attacking Rev. Donald Sensing finally woke me up from my holier-than-thou, Shiavo-based stupor. Sadly, we've reached a point where Terri Shiavo the symbol has far overshadowed Terri Shiavo the person.

I'm backing away, and hopefully recapturing some perspective in the process.

One thing I'm taking away from this sad affair is that Dr. Jack Kevorkian was likely correct in some of his theories regarding the right to die, a stance that has led to his incarceration in a Michigan prison. He was sentenced on March 26, 1999 for second-degree murder by administering a video-taped lethal injection of ALS sufferer Thomas Youk and will not be eligible for parole until 2007.

I'm not going to try to guess what Terri Shiavo would have wanted--far too many people are involved in that already--but if we take away something from her over week-long death process it should be that we must, as a society, revisit end of life issues head-on and acknowledge that their must be far more palatable ways to die than by slow starvation.

To borrow from Rev. Sensing, who has far more experience with such issues than I shall ever want:

...the idea that the only truly Christian position is to keep someone alive by artificial means against his/her will when every medical opinion is that there is no hope for recovery is repugnant...

...At bottom, all these cases in all their sorrows come to be matters of faith - faith that the doctors are skilled and truthful, faith that there is a hope for the stricken even if death comes, and faith that for those who love the dying that life will continue worthwhile come what may.

We should find a more palatable way to transition between this world and what lies beyond. I hope we can at least find some agreement on that.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ka-Blooey!

The small consulting firm I worked for just broke the bad news that they aren't doing too well financially, so I'm one of the recipients of the dreaded "last on, first off" Friday afternoon speech.

I figure it's God's way of telling me I need to branch out with my writing skills, so if you know of anyone looking for a technical writer, columnist, or pro blogging gig, let me know, will you?

That's "confederateyankee-at-hotmail-dot-com"

I'm currently in the NY Metro area, but I'd willing to consider a relocation back to the Old North State.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Camp Bucca Redemption

CAMP BUCCA, IRAQ -- U.S. military police Friday thwarted a massive escape attempt by suspected insurgents and terrorists from this southern Iraq Army base that houses more than 6,000 detainees when they uncovered a 600-foot tunnel the detainees had dug under their compound.

"We were very close to a very bad thing," Major Gen. William Brandenburg said Friday after troops under his command discovered the tunnel that prisoners had painstakingly dug with the help of makeshift tools.

Within hours of the discovery on the first tunnel, a second tunnel of about 300 feet was detected under an adjoining compound in the camp, which holds 6,049 detainees. The elaborate escape is reminiscent of the 1994 movie, "The Shawshank Redemption," where a prisoner burrows his way out of prison.

See what happens when you don't keep an eye on Tim Robbins?

(hat tip Drudge)

Update: Added the quote from the article for context.

Update 2: Added to the Beltway Traffic Jam.

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Right to Carry Trumps Right to Life

If I have made one observation in my life worth passing along, it is that the owner of a gun store is the last person you should ever be stupid enough to ever try to rob.

I guess we can add to the cliches, "Never bring a knife to a gun show."

(hat tip Drudge)

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In the Shiavo Case, Even the Doctors Are Having Cerebral Issues

Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan states:

"While we at American Council on Science and Health have been determined to remain on the sidelines of the raging national debate about the fate of Terri Schiavo (this is largely a legal and ethical issue, not a scientific one), we cannot remain silent about the outrageous misrepresentation of scientific facts about this case that has been occurring in the past ten days.

"The medical reality of Ms. Schiavo's case is this: She has been in what is medically referred to as a "permanent vegetative state" for the past 15 years, ever since her heart temporarily stopped (probably due to the severe effects of an eating disorder), depriving her brain of oxygen. Brain scans indicate that her cerebral cortex ceased functioning -- probably just after she experienced cardiac arrest in 1990. Ms. Schiavo's CAT scan shows massive shrinking of the brain, and her EEG is flat. Physicians confirm that there is no electrical activity coming from her brain. While the family video repeatedly shown on television suggests otherwise, her non-functioning cortex precludes cognition, including any ability to interact or communicate with people or show any signs of awareness. Dozens of experts over the years who have examined Ms. Schiavo agree that there is no hope of her recovering -- even though her body, face and eyes (if she is given food and hydration) might continue to move for decades to come.

"Those are the harsh facts."

Some more "harsh facts" seem to indicate that Dr. Whelan might need a refresher course at the closest available medical school. The part of Dr. Whelan's statement above in bold(my bold, not the author's) simply isn't true.

EEGs--electroencephalograms--measure electrical activity on the surface of the brain only. She cannot categorically state there is no deeper brain function because of EEG results, as EEGs do not measure such.

In addition, without any electrical activity coming from any part of her brain, Terri Shaivo's body would not have a heartbeat, or know to breathe. In layman's terms, she'd be brain dead. The very fact that Terri Shaivo has been breathing without the aid of a ventilator for the past 15 years proves that she has some electrical activity in her brain, even if the amount or quality of activity is debatable.

If Dr. Whelan is going to throw around charges of misrepresentations, perhaps she should start by correcting her own.

Update: As Ed noted in the comments, Dr. Whelan is a Sc.D... a Doctor of Science. She isn't a medical doctor. he Evangelical Outpost adds that Dr. Whelan is quite a dubious character in her own right.

Note: Posted at the Blogger News Network

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Eviscerated: The Betrayal of Our Southern Border

In general, I've been a strong supporter of the current administration's foreign policy initiatives, particularly the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as I understood and accepted the arguments of the threats each of these counties posed.

Afghanistan was the unabashed and de facto home of al Qaeda and its Taliban supporters, and Iraq, though a harder sell to the American people, made sense on a number of levels for our national security.

And so I'm stunned that President Bush has taken the extraordinary step of weakening our nation's security by advocating a loosening of immigration restrictions, a move that makes sense neither from the perspectives of commerce or security.

Our porous borders are this nation's single greatest national security threat, particularly our southern border with Mexico. 2 million of the estimated 3 million people that cross the border illegally each year do so without getting caught. We're not talking just a handful of illegals, but the equivalent of 160 12,500-man military divisions, larger than Saddam's Army at the height of full mobilization. Red Dawn, anyone?

Even when peaceful in intent, these huge numbers are over-burdening parts of our country's infrastructure, particularly our social services. In California alone the cost of treating illegals has shut down 60 emergency rooms, and in New Jersey, the state estimates it hemorrhages $200 million each year treating illegals. With astronomical health costs and the re-importation of previously vanquished and newly emerging diseases, the cost of supporting 10-25 million illegal aliens far outweighs any "cheap labor" arguments.

In addition to illegal aliens, terrorist groups are thought to be using the poorly guarded southern border as an entry point, and Central and South American street gangs are using the border to smuggle in gang members for violent drug operations, such as MS13, which has rapidly expanded to 31 states.

I've supported President Bush and much of the Republican Party platform, but by enabling and even encouraging the exposure of our southern border, he is preparing the United States to be eviscerated by forces both accidental and intentional.

Note: Cross-posted to the Blogger News Network.

Home

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 01:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Agreed

Rusty sums it up perfectly for me:

"...federalism is an abstraction. Life is not."

Home

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Screwtape Revisited

I've always heard of The Screwtape Letters from C.S. Lewis and so far have never gotten the proverbial "round tuit." Amazon's editorial review describes the book as:

"... the instructional correspondence between a senior demon, Screwtape, and his wannabe diabolical nephew Wormwood. As mentor, Screwtape coaches Wormwood in the finer points, tempting his "patient" away from God.

"Each letter is a masterpiece of reverse theology, giving the reader an inside look at the thinking and means of temptation. Tempters, according to Lewis, have two motives: the first is fear of punishment, the second a hunger to consume or dominate other beings."

Meghan Cox Gurdon has an excellent adaptation of this story in National Review Online called Screwtape Revisited that reminds us that the powerful aren't always right.

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Payback

When did Greenpeace form an alliance with the Dutch? I guess this evens the score.

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