Separated at Birth?

With all due respect to Roger Simon:

Nancy Pelosi and
Michael Jackson.

Eyeball bleach recommended.

Terri Schiavo

This will be my one and only post on the Terri Schiavo case.

(B'li neder!)

[UPDATE: B'li neder is a Hebrew expression, which in this context translates as, "Not!!!"]

I don't want to get too deeplly involved in the debate, only because I'm coming to it very late and I'm playing catch-up. I do believe this is an important issue and I don't feel I have anything worthwhile to contribute. So I'll just point you to some sites that have been following the case.

Cards on table: My own views on the issue are still evolving as I learn more. As I write this, I find myself leaning toward the pro-life side. I am not a pro-life absolutist, and I can envision any number of nightmare scenarios in which I would not wish to be kept alive, nor wish that for someone else. But I'm not convinced that this applies to Terri. And in general I've found the pro-life arguments more persuasive in this debate.

I should also point out that my views have been partly shaped by the debate on an e-mail group I belong to. (Thanks, Judith!)

And that's all I'm going to say on this. Here are some links to sites, pro and con, that I've found the most informative:

Pro-life:
Kesher Talk - "Save Terri" from a liberal Jewish perspective
Straight Up with Sherri - "Save Terri" from a conservative Christian perspective
Discarded Lies


Pro-release:
Respectful of Otters
Obsidian Wings
Thanks to reader Kai Jones for these links.

Ongoing debate:
The Corner

On federalism:
Ann Althouse

Also please see:
Code Blue - A radiologist analyzes Terri Schiavo's brain scan. Please read the comment thread as well.
Victory Soap enters the fray.

Morning Report: March 21, 2005

Federal judge to review Schiavo case. In an unusual move, the US Congress passed, and the President signed, a bill that would prolong the life of Terri Schiavo pending review of her case by a federal judge in Florida. MSNBC reports: Taking the Senate’s lead, the House early Monday passed a bill to let the woman’s parents ask a federal judge to prolong Schiavo’s life by reinserting her feeding tube. President Bush signed the measure less than an hour later, at 1:11 a.m. ET. A White House source said he was woken from his sleep for the signing. Until now, federal courts have turned the case back to state courts. The law gives the U.S. District Court in Tampa jurisdiction on a case that has been taken up by Republican leaders and galvanized activists on both sides of the emotional end-of-life issue. An attorney for her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, went to the federal district court in Tampa at 3 a.m. ET, filing a request for an emergency injunction to keep their daughter fed. It was not known when the judge, James Whittemore, would make a ruling.' Full details are available at Straight Up With Sherri. (MSNBC, Straight Up with Sherri)

Rice: "Other options" on North Korea. Speaking in Beijing, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cited "other options" if North Korea continues to refuse to cooperate with the US and other nations on halting its nuclear weapons program. Rice said her conversations with Chinese leaders stressed how the United States and China, "but especially China", could persuade Pyongyang to abandon its quest for nuclear weapons. This could be seen as a reference to economic sanctions, as the North Korean economy depends heavily on trade with China. Rice also discussed Taiwan relations, noting that the mainland regime's new anti-secsssion law had "raised tensions". (MSNBC)

Pakistan: Staging ground against Iran? Citing NetIndia, a recent itema at Regime Change Iran claims that Pakistan may agree to serve as a staging ground for US military action against Iran. 'According to a online report of Asia Times, Islamabad may have agreed to host US troops and intelligence assets near Pakistan's border with Iran in preparation for a possible attack on Iran and probably agreed to train American forces in Karachi in return for some kind of commitment on F-16 deliveries.' (NetIndia via RCI)

Morning Report: March 18, 2005

Ukraine sold missiles to Iran. Debka reports: 'Iran has at least 12 Kh-55 strategic cruise missiles with 3,000km range capable of carrying 200 kiloton nuclear warheads. Ukrainian prosecutor-General Piskun admitted in Kiev that this “missile technology” from former Soviet nuclear arsenal had “leaked” to Iran in 2001 – albeit without nuclear warheads. He could not explain how sales occurred. Six missiles also reached China. Read more about this in the News Box below Headlines. DEBKAfile’s Moscow sources add: Ukrainian shipment to Iran included radioactive materials for making “dirty bombs.” US embassy in Kiev is “closely monitoring” investigation and demands findings be made public.' (Debka)

Bush nominates Wolfowitz to head World Bank. President Bush has nominated Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank. Joe Gandelman has some thoughts and a round-up of reaction. Judith's is, perhaps, in a class by itself. (Command Post, Kesher Talk)

Iraq the model. Al-Sabah reports (March 17): 'Washington stressed its procedures imposed on Syria , demanding it implicitly  through several letters to stop backing terrorism from Syrian lands as these terrorist  activities hinder political process in Iraq, despite US administration welcome over  steps of Syrian forces quick withdrawal from Lebanese lands. Syrian affairs political analysts said that these economic and political procedures consider as a gesture for Syrian government to follow in step Iraqi democratic example and stop freedoms' suppressions inside Syria . Notably, demonstrations took to Syrian streets demanded dissolving Baath party there. Moreover, US Congress referred new more stressed proposal against Syria to its committees to be discussed as an initiation for liberating Syria .' (Sabah)

Subpoena to save Terri Schiavo's life. In a last-ditch bid to give Terri Schiavo a new lease on life, House leaders issued a subpoena to prevent Florida doctors from removing the feeding tube that is keeping brain-damaged patient Terri Schiavo alive. 'n a last-ditch attempt to stop the court-ordered removal, a House committee on Capitol Hill here decided early Friday morning to start an investigation into Schiavo's case and issue subpoenas ordering doctors and hospice administrators not to remove her feeding tubes and to keep her alive until that investigation was complete.' (AP via Fox)

UN to report on rapist peacekeepers. The United Nations will issue a report on how to hold accountable peacekeepers accused of crimes against women and children in war-torn areas. 'The report's release later this month is the culmination of months of investigative work by Prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein of Jordan. Its release is supposed to help the United Nations regain an even keel after being rocked by reports of the rape of women and children by peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Peacekeepers have also been linked in the past to sex crimes in East Timor and prostitution in Cambodia and Kosovo. The allegations are not the only problem facing the United Nations. They come as several investigations probe what happened to the U.N. Oil-for-Food program, a multi-billion dollar scandal that has led some to question the very legitimacy of the organization.' (Fox)

No, it isn't green.

But I did tweak the blog template just a little bit; I suppose I was overcome with the festive spirit of St. Paddy's day. I had fun with those lavender links. (You like?)

There's a very helpful book called "Publishing a Blog with Blogger" by Elizabeth Castro that tells you all kinds of stuff about the Blogger template. She also has books on HTML and other internet-related stuff.

Changing the color scheme really isn't rocket science. Colors are represented by a 6-digit hexcode (a base-16 number) giving the RGB brightness: the first two digits represent red, the next two green, and the last two blue. Just in case you weren't one of those total geeks who learned base 16 (or hexadecimal) numbers in third grade, it's a system that goes in cycles of 16 instead of ten. The "units" column represents values from zero to 15 (written with the letters a-f for 10 thru 15), and the next column represents groups of 16 (instead of ten like with normal numbers). So 00 represents the lowest value and FF the highest (255) for a two-character hex number. In RGB code, black is 000000 (no colors at all) and white is FFFFFF. Pure red would be 110000, or 880000, or FF0000, depending on how bright you want it. Elizabeth Castro's HTML book gives examples of some common colors.

Normal blogging wlll resume tomorrow. Have a great St. Patrick's Day, and party safely.

Morning Report: March 14, 2005

Debka: Washington's grand design. Israeli-based analysis site Debka offers its report on US plans for the Middle East. Debka sees parallels between the Bush Administration's uncompromising stance on Syria and its firm demands on Israel: 'Administration leaders seem to be treating Israel’s pull-back from the Gaza Strip and West Bank in the same spirit as their insistence on complete Syrian military withdrawal from Lebanon. It is possible to conjure up a grand design charted by the Bush administration to simultaneously squeeze Israel and Syria into sharply constricted molds sized by its perception of the two nations’ true dimensions.' The report details a quiet, multilateral agreement among the US, UK, Egypt, and Jordan to jointly administer the West Bank (US/Jordan) and Gaza Stip (UK/Egypt). It also explores the ramifications of Bush's "Road Map" plan, which demands the removal of illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, and which much of the Israeli Right - including Debka's editors - have adamently opposed. Read the full article at the link. (Debka)

Debka: Washington vs. Iran regime. Also at Debka, a report on US actions against the IRI regime in Iran. The report (also posted at Regime Change Iran) indicates that joint US/Israeli missile-defense exercises - a biennial operation codenamed Juniper Cobra - will, this year, reflect a perception of 'possibility of an Iranian Shehab-3 missile reaching Israel in the near future armed with a nuclear warhead.' Debka notes that the US actions are not only defensive, concluding: 'The United States, according to our military sources, is pressing ahead with its development of infrastructure for an Iranian underground opposition. A Revolutionary Guard unit in Hur al-Azim, near the Iraqi border, recently captured a band smuggling thousands of handguns into Iran. In recent months, thousands of rifles and masses of ammunition have got through to Iranian tribes near the Iraqi frontier. These tribes have a long history of rebellion against central government in Tehran and are practiced in guerrilla tactics.' (Debka via RCI)

Talks between United Iraqi Coalition and Kurdish Alliance collapse. Iraq the Model reports that negotiations between the Kurdish Alliance and the United Iraqi Coalition have collapsed, with UIC leader Ahmed Chalabi finding KA's demands "unrealistic". (ITM)

Meeting Michael Totten

I met Michael Totten this afternoon - for the first, and, I hope, not the last time. Judith at Kesher Talk had invited me to join the NYC LiberalHawks mailing list, and (with disarming naivete) suggested I start a similar group here in Portland, perhaps beginning with MJT. I promised her I would see what I could do, not having the heart to inform her that Portland is not quite, exactly, precisely, New York City.

Michael was kind enough to respond to my invitation, saying that he didn't know of anyone else besides himself and his friend Sean LaFreniere, but would I like to get together for coffee some time? So we met this afternoon, for some two and a half hours, at World Cup Coffee on 18th and Glisan.

Michael is an energetic, articulate speaker. He talked about his awakening to the sickness of leftism in the wake of 9/11 - "it took me one week". Recalling the thrill of his college protest days, he grinned - "I was a moonbat!" We talked about how intoxicating the college experience or the youth counterculture can be for a young person escaping the confines of an upbringing in small-town Oregon, suburban Connecticut, or anyplace else. He pointed out how important it is for young adults to have that kind of intellectual and cultural stimulation.

Both of us share a certain sense of social alienation in being pro-Bush liberals in an anti-Bush environment. I guess I'm fortunate here because I've only been living in Portland five years and I don't have a lifetime of ties to the Northwest; so it's a little easier for me to decide I can do as I damn well please. (In a particularly defiant period last fall, I took to wearing my BUSH/CHENEY '04 sweatshirt to places like Whole Foods and Powell's Books.) And after comparing experiences, we found that the reactions from our friends to our "coming out" as Bush supporters were generally much less hostile than the worries conjured up by our imaginations would have had us believe. (Now, you have to understand that Michael is no lightweight.) To this day, the only overtly hostile reaction I've gotten was from the woman (an anthropology professor, no less!) who walked out on a date, flinging twenty dollars on the table and proclaiming, "I don't eat with people who vote for Bush!"

The internet is great, but it's no subsitute for meeting people in real life and having face-to-face conversations. I think it's especially important for pro-freedom folks to be assertive about their beliefs in social circles whenever possible - remember, whatever inconveniences you or I might face, it's nothing compared to what the brave dissidents in the Middle East are risking by speaking out. And, as I said to Michael, we base a lot of our judgments on the cues we pick up in face-to-face interaction; so expressing our views in person is often more effective than writing them electronically. And as the protesters in Lebanon have shown, there's power in numbers. So I'm looking forward to that meeting with Portland's pro-freedom, pro-Bush liberals.

All three of us.

Guns don't shoot people. Cats do.

Just your typical cat-shoots-man story.

Boom!

I am reliably informed that Mount Saint Helens has erupted. I'll keep you posted with the latest from Herculaneum.

UPDATE: KIRO-TV News reports: 'A large plume of steam is being emitted this afternoon from the crater of Mount Saint Helens. The plume was accompanied by an earthquake of about 2-point-zero magnitude. ...' Read the story at the link.

UPDATE 2: Photos here. Hat tip: LGF.

Judith Attends Columbia Conference on Anti-Semitism

Judith of Kesher talk attended a conference on anti-Semitism held at Columbia University. She blogs about it here. Check out her links, too.

Sgrena's car, riddled with 300 to 400 bullets.

Photos at Little Green Footballs.

Morning Report: March 8, 2005

Bush stands firm on democracy. President Bush reiterated his support for democracy at the National Defense University in Washington, DC, saying "We are confident that the desire for freedom, even when repressed for generations, is present in every human heart, and that desire can emerge with sudden power to change the course of history." A full transcript of the President's speech may be found here. Bush specifically mentioned the regimes in Iran and Syria. (CNN)

Pakistani women demonstrate against tribal rape. 'Thousands of women rallied in eastern Pakistan on Monday to demand justice and protection for a woman who said she was gang-raped at the direction of a village council, after a court ordered the release of her alleged attackers. The victim, Mukhtar Mai, also attended the rally in Multan, a major city in the eastern province of Punjab,' according to this AP story by Khalid Tanveer. 'In June 2002, Mai said she was raped by four men on the orders of a village council that wanted to punish her family. Mai's brother was accused of having sex with a woman from a more prominent family, though Mai's family says the allegations were fabricated to cover up a sexual assault against the boy by several men. Mai, a 33-year-old school teacher, went public about her ordeal, drawing international media attention to widespread crimes against women in ultraconservative Pakistan. The government also pledged to track down her attackers. A court later sentenced six men to death for Mai's rape. An appeals court overturned the convictions of five of the men last week, citing lack of evidence, and reduced the other man's sentence to life in prison.' Read the full story at the link. (AP/Yahoo via LGF)

Questions surround McCain, Cablevision. CNN reports: 'A senator promotes a government policy sought by a corporation while a tax-exempt group closely tied to him solicits and gets $200,000 from the same company. Campaign finance watchdogs say that creates the appearance of a conflict of interest. To their surprise, the senator is Arizona Republican John McCain, whom they usually praise for advocating campaign finance restrictions. McCain's help to Cablevision Systems Corp. included letting its CEO testify before his Senate committee, writing a letter of support to the Federal Communication Commission and asking other cable companies to support so-called a la carte pricing.' Kent Cooper of Political Money Line said: "Senator McCain derives a clear benefit by using The Reform Institute to help the debate on campaign finance reform. His McCain-Feingold bill helped break the connection between members of Congress and large contributions. Here is an example of a large contribution going to the foundation connected with a member of Congress. I don't see a difference." (CNN)