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Terrorists Unplugged
London isn't the only place this week where terrorists are getting caught before their bombs are doing damage:
A few more, and this might be called a trend. By Ed Moltzen · 31 July 2005
Good News, Bad News Dept.
The good news: you can stop worrying about any problems with Social Security. The bad news: Venomous Kate has the details. Don't get too worried, though. You can bet the boys at NASA will have it all figured out. By Ed Moltzen · 28 July 2005
Private Matters...For Some
Who cares about someone's personal, private sex life? Even if he's married and cheating, it's not a public issue, right? That's what we heard from the left and defenders of President Clinton during his impeachment trial. But now, going by Markos Moulitsas, that policy would seem to be inoperative: Jerome and I have just finished interviewing a long-time Texas political writer here in Austin who says that Rove is absolutely having an affair... Rove is married and has a teenaged son. According to this writer, Rove's wife is a hardcore liberal. "I don't know how he and his wife get along," he said. You can read the entire item for full context, if any is needed. Putting aside the obligatory references to hypocrisy, what's the obsession with the sex lives of people like Jeff Gannon and Karl Rove? Isn't that more than just a little, well, creepy? By Ed Moltzen · 27 July 2005
Plamegate: Where's the Template?
Cliff May offers up what he calls a few talking points in the Plame/Rove "scandal:"
That this is consuming as much time and discussion as it has is mind-boggling, considering everything that this story lacks. Including: 1) An insider/witness - any insider - who has obviously turned allegiance on the Bush Administration and is working hand-in-glove with prosecutors. Where's the John Dean? The Linda Tripp? The Monica Lewinsky? The Robert MacFarlane? Heck - where's the Fawn Hall in this scandal? Nobody, not a single person, has bucked the Bush Administration and turned state's witness in a manner that threatens any high-ranking officials; 2) Executive privilege claims. President Bush isn't using executive privilege to keep evidence from prosecutors, like Nixon did with the tapes. He's not exerting any privilege to prevent witnesses from testifying, like Clinton did with Secret Service agents. Not only that, but Bush Administration officials have done nothing but run around waiving privileges, including their source-reporter promises of confidentiality that, in the past, have been left alone under U.S. Justice Department rules. 3) Sacrificial lambs. G. Gordon Liddy did hard time to protect Nixon, as did many other members of the Watergate crowd. All Susan McDougal had to do is answer a couple of questions in front of the Whitewater Grand Jury, but she decided she would rather stay in the slammer than turn on President Clinton. The closest thing to a sacrificial lamb in the Plame kerfuffle is Judith Miller; and since Karl Rove and Scooter Libby have both signed statements releasing any journalist from promises of confidentiality, we know who she's not protecting. (Maybe Ahmed Chalabi was her source on Plame, too. Who knows?) 4) Complaints about a special prosecutor's overreach. Nixon fired Archibald Cox. The entire political left of America worked 24X7 to tar Kenneth Starr as the bad guy in the Whitewater/Lewinsky scandals. Up until now, it's been difficult to find even off-the-record criticism of Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in this case, floated by Bush loyalists. So where does this leave things? With a presidential administration that is answering every question for prosecutors, providing every piece of evidence for prosecutors, doing no complaining and getting on with the business of government. This doesn't mean nobody's guilty of anything. But nobody is acting guilty. So many of President Bush's opponents have tried to wedge so many administration actions into templates of the worst in American history, but the Plame case is template-free. That's not stopping them, but it does give one pause to think. By Ed Moltzen · 26 July 2005
NY Times Correction du Jour
An article on Saturday about a federal judge's order regarding photographs and videotapes related to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal misstated a deadline and the response by Defense Department lawyers. The government was given until Friday to black out some identifying details in the material, not to release it. Defense Department lawyers met that deadline, but asked the court to block the public release of the materials. They did not refuse to cooperate with an order for the materials' release. Actually, it seems like it was more than just a story that "misstated a deadline." From the original story, here's the lead paragraph: Lawyers for the Defense Department are refusing to cooperate with a federal judge's order to release secret photographs and videotapes related to the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. Well, that is a misstatement, among other things. By Ed Moltzen · 26 July 2005
"Whatever You Can Dream Up, I Can Make Happen."
Here's the press release by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office on the payola settlement with Sony BMG. It includes the nugget of information that a Sony BMG executive, trying to get Audioslave on a Clear Channel station, wrote an email to a radio station programmer that said: "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET AUDIOSLAVE ON WKSS THIS WEEK?!!? Whatever you can dream up, I can make it happen." Somewhere, Alan Freed is smiling. Could it be that everybody was just operating in what they thought was a straightforward, honest method of business? Well, here's what Spitzer wrote in his statement and you can be the judge: The investigation revealed that SONY BMG employees took steps to conceal many of the payments to individuals and radio stations, by using fictitious "contest winners" to document the transactions and make it appear as though the payments and gifts were going to radio listeners instead of station employees. The big, terrestrial radio companies involved in this haven't yet made much, or anything, in the way of public statements. Yet. (Neither Sony BMG nor WKSS, for example, have any remarks about this posted in their web sites.) But it's not likely this story is going away. By Ed Moltzen · 25 July 2005
Teamsters Out
James P. Hoffa makes it official: The Teamsters are breaking apart from the AFL-CIO: I am here today to announce that the General Executive Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has unanimously voted to withdraw our membership from the AFL-CIO. This doesn't sound like the strongest of responses from AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney, either. By Ed Moltzen · 25 July 2005
Qaugmire Update
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Since the transfer of sovereignty, a total of 1,451 projects valued at $1.4 billion have been completed. Large-scale capital projects like power plants, water treatment plants and oil infrastructure facilities are being reconstructed and, in some cases, built anew. The fomenting of hatred continues... By Ed Moltzen · 25 July 2005
The Streets of San Francisco
Adam Curry took a late-night/early-morning stroll through the streets of San Francisco this morning (1:30 a.m., Pacific Time), and brought his audio recorder with him. The result is this edition of his Daily Source Code podcast. "You're my last hope," a homeless panhandler named "Will" tells him. "Some hard times, my brother." Curry threw him some money. "I was smart enough to come out and bring some singles," Curry said. "I could do this all night long...Every single street corner there is someone asking for cash." Sounds like Gavin Newsome may want to give Rudy Giuliani a call, and find out how to handle problems just like that. By Ed Moltzen · 25 July 2005
AFL-C-Ya-Later
The AFL-CIO is breaking up: CHICAGO, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The Change to Win Coalition unions announced the following plans today: Labor organizer and consultant Jonathan Tasini at the blog Working Life has some inside scoop: I caught up with two Executive Council members--AFSCME's Gerry McEntee and the UAW's Ron Gettelfinger--and got their reaction to the news. McEntee...: "I think if SEIU leaves and other unions join them, you know maybe three other unions, I think it's very devisive. I think it weakens the American labor movement when it's so necessary and needed in terms of solidarty at this particular time. But I would also say, on the other side of the coin, any union that leaves the Federation will also be weak. It's a no win except for the people in the White House and George Bush." The official AFL-CIO line is this: In the end, these unions acknowledged the real issue is not policy differences but rather control over the federation leadership—representing only 30 percent of union membership, they would not be able to gain through the AFL-CIO’s long-established democratic election process. "Only 30 percent?" It's not a majority, but it's no small group either. If "only 30 percent" of union members who voted for John Kerry in 2004 voted for George Bush instead, the president would have added 1.5 million votes to his 60 million and Kerry would have had 1.5 million fewer. A weaker federation, and weaker individual unions, sounds like not such a great bargain to the dues-paying union folks. Politically, this could be a disaster for the Democratic party and the left heading into the '06 mid-term elections. The long-term implications could be even more serious if a last-ditch, 11th-hour resolution isn't found to bring all these unions back under the same tent. And don't count on that happening, given current reports. By Ed Moltzen · 24 July 2005
Benedict and the War on Terror
Could Pope Benedict be pursuing a role in fighting terrorism that is similar to the role played by Pope John Paul II in fighting communism? That's probably too great a leap - at this point - but it looks like he's going to meet the issue head on: LES COMBES, Italy (AP) - Pope Benedict prayed Sunday for God to stop the "murderous hand" of terrorists, stepping up his condemnation of the recent attacks in Europe and the Middle East blamed on Islamic extremists. For the second Sunday in a row, the pope offered a public prayer (Italian version) for victims of terrorist acts and the topic is seeing more frequency in his remarks. He's clearly not ignoring Islamist terrorism. Meeting with Muslim leaders in Germany - where al Qaeda has located some of its most bloodthirsty cells, including Mohammed Atta's once - has potential to open backchannels that could be invaluable in the War on Terror. This story is worth keeping an eye on. By Ed Moltzen · 24 July 2005
NY Times Correction du Jour
This is, literally, one of the most regretable errors you can make about a person: A Critic's Notebook article in Weekend yesterday about podcasts referred incorrectly to Dan Klass, creator of "The Bitterest Pill." While he has indeed called himself an addict, he said that the description was intended as a humorous reference likening himself to fans of his podcast who call themselves addicts, and that he is not really an addict. Ouch. By Ed Moltzen · 23 July 2005
The Greatest Baseball Movies Ever
The big entertainment story this weekend is the release of the remake , Bad News Bears with Billy Bob Thornton taking the role of Morris Buttermaker, played to perfection in 1976 by Walter Matthau. Reviews have been mixed on the remake. But it offers a great opportunity to think about the best baseball movies ever - plucked from a sea of awful, awful baseball movies produced over the years by Hollywood. Here are, without question, the best baseball movies ever. In reverse order: 10. Major League. "Juuu-uuust a bit outside." This movie could have easily been Number 2 or Number 3 on the list. It's probably the most realistic movie ever made about Major League Baseball, and is an automatic channel-surfing stopper whenever it's on cable. 9. Eight Men Out. Well-done movie, with a truly tragic plot. John Cusack was memorable but, in all honesty, the movie made a team full of Pete Roses look just a little too sympathetic. 8. Bull Durham. Even though it was pretty over-the-top, the movie was great because its true star wasn't Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins or Susan Sarandon. The star of the movie was the game itself. Quotes like this also helped it out: "Yeah, I was in the show. I was in the show for 21 days once - the 21 greatest days of my life. You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags." 7. Field of Dreams. Yes, it was hokie. Very hokie. But it was still very good. Best line of the movie: "Ty Cobb wanted to come, too. But we told him to stick it." 6. Damn Yankees Ray Walston as the devil. 'Nuff said. 5. 61*. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was made for HBO, not the cinema. But Billy Crystal did a very good job at re-creating a modern-day drama and portraying true-to-life heroes who are still alive. The scene with Roger Maris' hair falling out was truly chilling. 4. Fear Strikes out. Seeing Anthony Perkins as Jimmy Piersall, climbing the backstop, was absolutely frightening. 3. Cobb. How could one of the greatest players in the history of the greatest sport be such a despicable person? Watch Tommy Lee Jones as an aging, retired Ty Cobb and you'll find out. 2. Pride of the Yankees. Any feature movie with credits that include, "Babe Ruth as Himself," has to be considered for the Top 10. But Gary Cooper pulled off the chore of playing Lou Gehrig from his Columbia University days until his last days as a Yankee as only Gary Cooper could. Sure, the movie left out the great Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig feud, but that's a minor point. 1. The Bad News Bears. "Don't jump in the pool, Englebert. You'll flood the valley." No number of bad sequels, TV series attempts or remakes can stain the greatness of the original. If the original "The Bad News Bears" was released today - with its complete shock value - both liberal political-correctness types and conservative family values groups would lock arms in brotherhood and protest it together. That's saying something. To this day, it has no equal. MORE: Roy in the comments below makes a good point about "Bang The Drum Slowly." However, the baseball movie that was missed from the list, that really should be on it, is "The Rookie" with Dennis Quaid. It's a great movie that ties the father-son bond to the multi-generational sharing of such a great sport. Consider it "1A" on the list, just below the Bears. By Ed Moltzen · 22 July 2005
It's In The Bag
Remember the days before Sept. 11, 2001, when people complained endlessly about delays at airport security lines? Well, that good, old-time Sept. 10 carping and complaining may be ready for a comeback. New York City authorities are instituting a random bag-check policy inside its public transit systems; here's the initial response from Jen Chung at Gothamist: Dude, this is opening up about a thousand incidents where people freak out when they see their train coming in and the NYPD is checking is a bag. New Yorkers have coped with National Guardsmen holding automatic weapons and standing watch over Penn Station. They've coped with major changes to city traffic patterns because of security reasons. Heck - they've coped with all porno being taken out of Times Square. Not only that, but Yankee and Met fans have been subject to random bag searches for years as they enter Yankee Stadium or Shea Stadium. And the freakouts have been pretty much kept to a minimum. The big question isn't why city officials are choosing to randomly check bags, but why it's taken so long. By Ed Moltzen · 21 July 2005
Spitzing Into The Wind
Eliot Spitzer has a big lead over Gov. George Pataki going into next year's New York governor's race, according to the latest Siena poll. According to Joe Caruso of the Siena poll, this is actually good news for Pataki: "Freshly back from basking in the glow of Iowa's influential Republican presidential caucus voters, George Pataki is doing better with New York voters than he has all year as he prepares to announce a decision on whether to seek a fourth term as governor," said Joe Caruso, Director of Polling for the Siena Research Institute (SRI). "His 12 point loss margin against Spitzer (37-49 percent) is the lowest it has been all year, and his favorability rating (52-40 percent) is the best it's been in six months. Still, given the New York Republicans' pathetic track record in big races of late, Democrats in New York could be forgiven for wide grins these days. By Ed Moltzen · 20 July 2005
Presidential Podcast
Not only does President Bush use an iPod to listen to music, but the White House now posts presidential statements - including last night's announcement of the nomination of Judge Roberts to the Supreme Court - to the iTunes podcast aggregator. By Ed Moltzen · 20 July 2005
First To Have It
RedState.Org beat the Associated Press in reporting that President Bush has tapped Judge John Roberts for the Supreme Court. By two full minutes. By Ed Moltzen · 19 July 2005
Not Bad For A Dead Format
Classic Rock lives in New York Radio. Quote from Bob Buchmann, who runs WAXQ, a classic rock station in NYC that saw its ratings jump in the last Arbitron records book (Via the Daily News): "Not bad for a dead format." The more things change... By Ed Moltzen · 19 July 2005
Social Promotion Might Get Left Back
New York City Mayor Bloomberg wants to end social promotion of 7th graders: Now, in order to give more of our middle school students the same opportunity to succeed, I will ask our hardworking and thoughtful Panel for Educational Policy to enact at its August meeting a policy ending social promotion in the 7th grade. One of Bloomberg's potential Democratic opponents for mayor, Gifford Miller, doesn't seem too happy with the idea of ending social promotion for seventh-graders, according to NY1: “Test preparation and bureaucratic re-shuffling are not a positive plan,” said Miller, a Democrat. “A positive plan is lower class size and getting teachers a competitive contract that puts the best teachers in every classroom." One can see that Miller is seeking the support of the city's teachers. But which ones: the ones who aren't the best teachers, who are in the classrooms now? If you fight attempts to end true social promotion, which constituency are you really representing? By Ed Moltzen · 19 July 2005
Under Interrogation
Egyptian authorities have arrested a biochemist in connection with the London bombings last week. Here's a phrase in the MSNBC wire compilation that jumps out: El-Nashar, who studied at North Carolina State and Leeds University, was being interrogated by Egyptian authorities, the official said Human rights advocates will no doubt be gadflying the Egyptian government to make sure the suspect is properly cared for while they ask him questions. Right? Right? By Ed Moltzen · 15 July 2005
File It Under "Say What?"
Josh Marshall's TPM Cafe has been getting quite a bit of attention and traffic as the Wilson-Plame-Rove kerfuffle moves on. The liberal political discussion there includes nuggets like the following, from novelist Annie Lamott: (via Howard Kurtz) Back to the paranoia: I am able to believe, about half the time, that Bush and Rove would be capable of orchestrating a second terrorist attack on America, if and when they deem it necessary to instill martial law, which they will. This is one of those remarks that will likely get placed in the "Jewish Americans Were Warned In Advance of 9/11" file. By Ed Moltzen · 13 July 2005
Iraq
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is finding it difficult to retain his top employees. But is this enough? Last night Jim Lehrer responded to that report in his interview with Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, with a "so what" and Myers responded: JIM LEHRER: But would you understand, General, why people would be a little skeptical? And, in other words, the process of beating that insurgency is moving ahead. By Ed Moltzen · 13 July 2005
The Rove Story
If past performance is any indication of future outcome, Karl Rove should feel pretty safe about his job. John Kerry is stepping up his call for President Bush to fire him. By Ed Moltzen · 12 July 2005
NY Times Correction du Jour
But, but, but....Blogs don't have editors: Because of editing errors, a headline on Monday about a mathematician at Cornell University who crochets objects to illustrate hyperbolic space, an advanced geometric shape, misstated her title, and a picture caption misspelled her given name and the surname of her husband. She is Daina Taimina, not Diana; she is a researcher who teaches classes, not a professor; and her husband is David Henderson, not Anderson. By Ed Moltzen · 12 July 2005
Homeland Security Update
This morning, Suffolk County, N.Y. police were walking up and down the platforms of LIRR stations (at least the one in Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) with bomb-sniffing dogs. At least one dog was panting and had its head down, apparently not detecting anything suspicious. By Ed Moltzen · 11 July 2005
The Fly Paper Is Still Sticky
Via Centcom: OPERATION SCIMITAR CONTINUES Twenty-two fewer terrorists coming to America. And the count continues. By Ed Moltzen · 11 July 2005
They Can Almost Taste It
For those who have been pushing the credibility of Ambassador Joseph Wilson and pushing for Karl Rove's takedown over the Plame kerfuffle, the events of the past couple of weeks have offered them new life. Josh Marshall, the 60 Minutes consultant and liberal blogger, has been front and center and today offers this: If they can plausibly claim that they thought she was simply a paper-pusher, then the statute would not apply to them. For Marshall, the phrase "careful review" must exclude the verb "Google." Because here are some Novak quotes that you find when you Google Novak+operative+site:www.townhall.com: Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's campaign scored a political victory, with the help of his newly named labor operative, by stopping the AFL-CIO's immediate endorsement of Rep. Richard Gephardt for the Democratic presidential nomination. And: Old Republican hands Bob Dole and John Engler thought they had seen it all in politics, but that was before they watched votes being "counted" in south Florida. They were stunned ("radicalized, " said one GOP operative) as Bush campaign observers experiencing a Democratic recount. And: The official Bush position is neutrality. But one Republican state chairman from a Midwestern state who had supported the Delaware Plan told me of receiving information by this circuitous route: he had been advised by his governor that he was told by a senior Bush operative in Austin that the campaign would like to see this decision put off beyond the Philadelphia convention. And: Trippi had not been engaged in such an effort since 1988, but he is a rare political operative today who always appreciated the potential of New Hampshire and Iowa. (Emphasis added in each case.) And if that's not enough, Novak explained himself his use of the word "operative" in his Plame column: I regret that I referred to her in my column as an "operative," a word I have lavished on hack politicians for more than 40 years. Yes, Novak only ever uses the word "operative" to talk about covert operations, except when he uses it to describe something else. You can sense that they can almost taste it, but a reach is still a reach. And Marshall's "operative" point is a reach. By Ed Moltzen · 10 July 2005
Newsweek Anonymous Source Watch
Newsweek continues using anonymous sources week after week, including this week's story on Karl Rove and the Plame controversy: (The e-mail was authenticated by a source intimately familiar with Time's editorial handling of the Wilson story, but who has asked not to be identified because of the magazine's corporate decision not to disclose its contents.) And: A source close to Rove, who declined to be identified because he did not wish to run afoul of the prosecutor or government investigators, added that there was "absolutely no inconsistency" between Cooper's e-mail and what Rove has testified to during his three grand-jury appearances in the case.The magazine provides more detail on the anonymous sources than simply "sources said," but continues to use anonymous sources in covering a story about anonymous sources, after promising it would be more judicious about its use of anonymous sources. By Ed Moltzen · 10 July 2005
Another "Watch What You Blog" Story
AP writes another variation on the "watch what you blog" story:
People are getting fired for blogging the wrong thing, students are getting suspended for blogging the wrong thing, and political candidates are losing elections after their kids blog the wrong thing. (Although, in all honesty, Keyes didn't exactly need any help from his daughter to lose his election.) But at least if you blog something bad about your boss, and get caught, it's not likely to get caught on videotape. By Ed Moltzen · 10 July 2005
Apologies
Late Final was hit this week by a blog spam attack - the first since upgrading to the latest version of Movable Type and a new host. In purging hundreds and hundreds of gambling and porn comments from the database, a few good comments from good people were inadvertently spiked. They can't be retrieved, so please accept this apology... By Ed Moltzen · 9 July 2005
Bush Is Up, Clinton Is Down
Rasmussen Reports has the latest approval numbers for both President Bush and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Bush is now at 51 percent approval, 48-percent disapproval - a swing of as much as five points since prior to his nationally televised address and update on the Iraq war. Fourty-six percent, for now, is his low-water mark. With the economy slowly improving month by month and an Iraqi constitution moving to completion in the next few months, it looks like both war and butter issues have taken whatever bite out of his approval that they will. Clinton, Rasmussen finds, is now at 40 percent approval, 40 percent disapproval. By Ed Moltzen · 9 July 2005
Give Me An Orange, Julius
One of the twisted, sick and wonderful parts of Sirius Satellite Radio service is its '70s and '80s channels, which not only play commercial-free music from those individual decades, but snippets of nostalgia in between songs. On the '80s channel, they sometimes play a snippet of "mall sounds" from the '80s, including a male voice over a public address system saying, "Attention, shoppers. There is a lost child in front of Orange Julius." But wait...Orange Julius isn't just an '80s relic. It thrives to this day! Here's the Orange Julius web site, complete with a company history. Cheers. By Ed Moltzen · 9 July 2005
Are We Safe?
Gallup asked this question last night, after the London bombings: How safe do you think you and your immediate family are from attacks similar to the ones that occurred in London today -- very safe, somewhat safe, not very safe, or not safe at all? Eigthy-three percent of those responding said they felt "very safe" or "somewhat safe." It's not clear whether that's because the people polled have changed their behavior to avoid crowded trains, to drive instead of fly on their vacation, or to move to some undisclosed location. Gallup also asked this question: Would you favor or oppose requiring every American to go through a metal detector when using public transportation, including trains, buses, or subways? Predictably, 69 percent answered "favor." Given that until yesterday a lot of people had long gone back to carping and complaining and tcching over security lines at airports, it's doubtful that number will last more than a few days. By Ed Moltzen · 8 July 2005
Iraqis Protecting Iraqis
FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, Iraq - Based on information from an Iraqi civilian, Soldiers from Company B, 3rd Battalion, 116th Armor Regiment, Task Force Liberty discovered an unexploded ordnance cache in the Kirkuk Province June 29. "By far, this is the biggest weapons cache the 116th has found," said 1st Lt. John Thew, Company B, 3rd Battalion 116th Brigade Armor Regiment from Cove, Ore. "We have found in one day, what usually takes four months." Every little bit helps. But this sounds like more than a little bit. By Ed Moltzen · 8 July 2005
Sinn Fein
Sinn Fein is condemning today's terrorist attacks in London. Gerry Adams issued this statement: Mr. Adams said: Enlightened Westerners, including Adams and his organization, realize that terrorism now is a losing proposition when seeking political gain. There's just no leverage to be gained in launching acts of terror, except the full, complete and utter ire of people who can destroy you. By Ed Moltzen · 7 July 2005
Howard Stern's Replacement
The buzz has it that David Lee Roth is set to replace Howard Stern on Infinity Broadcasting. The real question is whether Sammy Hagar will eventually wind up replacing Diamond Dave... By Ed Moltzen · 7 July 2005
London Explosions
(Updating) BBC (Via ABC News Now) is reporting "well over 100 casualties" in this morning's London subway and bus bombings. Here are the details so far, from Scotland Yard: At approx 08:50 on 7.7.05 we were called to Aldgate LT stn to assist the City of London police and British Transport Police regarding an incident on the underground system. Tony Blair:
BBC just described Blair as "visibly shocked." Jeff Jarvis has lots of links and observations. Here's an update from Scotland Yard:
It may be worth noting that the bombing outside the U.K. embassy in New York two months ago still hasn't been solved. But the London attacks this morning are another ballgame entirely. Here's what seems like a pretty thorough timeline. CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour just asked some expert whether there is anything that can be done to prevent such attacks. Rain is starting to fall in London: Via a Trafalgar Square Web Cam. According to ABC News Now, AP is reporting at least 40 fatalities. By Ed Moltzen · 7 July 2005
Observational Skills
Dear Sen. Schumer, Next time, please understand that the guy next to you on the train wearing the big fedora, craning his neck and writing into a little notebook is Matt Drudge. By Ed Moltzen · 6 July 2005
Close Call
For New Yorkers dreading the potential of a international takeover in 2012, this news bulletin just emailed from Fox News Channel is good news: NEW YORK ELIMINATED IN VOTING FOR 2012 SUMMER OLYMPICS HOST CITY It's now down to London By Ed Moltzen · 6 July 2005
The Writing Was on The Wall
All terrorists are bad, but not all are smart: BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd U.S. Infantry Division, found a large weapons and ammunition cache July 4. The Soldiers also detained five terrorist suspects in the Al Rashid District. According to Centcom, here's what terrorists were hiding inside that house: one U.S. body armor vest, two load-bearing vests for AK-47 rifles, eight rocket-propelled grenade triggers, one RPG pouch, one detonator, four AK-47s, two improvised RPG/rocket launchers, two 82mm mortars, two 82mm mortar tripods, 20 rocket primers, 11 RPG propellants, three RPGs, 17 grenade fuses, 12 AK-47 magazines, four AK-47 stocks, an expended 1,000-round RPK belt, more than 1,000 RPK rounds (both expended and live), 300 rounds of 9mm ammunition, a large amount of propaganda materials, various improvised explosive device-making materials, welding supplies, two 60mm mortars, one 60mm mortar tripod, 10 grenades, one modified ammo box, three new Iraqi Police uniforms, three bullet-proof windows and one rifle scope. They were smart enough to capture an American body armour vest and Iraqi police uniforms, but not smart enough to keep the "Kill The American Infidels" writing off the side of the house. It does look like the war on terrorists in Iraq is moving into a new stage. By Ed Moltzen · 6 July 2005
NY Times Correction du Jour
We were told there would be no math: Because of an editing error, an obituary on Saturday about Obie Benson, an original member of the Motown singing group the Four Tops, misstated the number of fellow high school students with whom he formed the group. It was three, not four. By Ed Moltzen · 6 July 2005
Next Up: A Missing Person Case at Club Med
Greta Van Sustern's ratings have been climbing past everybody else on Cable TV, so criticism might be a little ill-timed right now. But would she, and Fox News Channel, and the rest of the cable talking heads be spending so much time on the Natalee Holloway case if she went missing in, say, Newark? Or Jackson, Miss.? Or El Segundo? Or Iceland? This is from Greta's blog: As the story heated up during the week, and as I continued to have good fortune in getting information about Natalee Holloway's (search) disappearance, we decided to keep the show anchored there Friday night. That also allowed me two more days — Thursday and Friday — to keep scouring the island for bits of information. The story "heated up?" How? Did they find her? Nope. There was a lot of maneuvering in a Dutch legal system. No confession. No DNA discovery. No new eyewitness. So the real question isn't for Aruba legal authorities, or suspects in the case. The real question is for the 2.7 million people who watched Greta Van Sustern's show every night last week: Why? By Ed Moltzen · 5 July 2005
Insert Leader's Name Here
Ride a popular, anti-American tide, rebuff the U.S. in the effort to topple Saddam Hussein, and reap big political rewards, right? Wrong: By Ed Moltzen · 4 July 2005
Boom
Deep Impact hit its target, alight. These guys must have paid attention during math: After 172 days and 431 million kilometers (268 million miles) of deep space stalking, Deep Impact successfully reached out and touched comet Tempel 1. The collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT... By Ed Moltzen · 4 July 2005
Rich People, Poor Fashion
New York Social Diary provides a glimpse at how a lot of reach people have partied lately in both Manhattan and the Hamptons. What does it say when the only person pictured who is not wearing embarrassingly bad clothes is Uncle Junior? By Ed Moltzen · 3 July 2005
There Is Supposed To Be An Earth-Shattering Kaboom
The Deep Impact show looks like it's going to be worth watching (and, unlike other fireworks, little risk of losing fingers.) NASA is webcasting just about everything associated with the collision, and has a fairly ominous countdown clock on its site. By Ed Moltzen · 3 July 2005
Newsweek Goes Anonymous
Michael Isikoff's story in Newsweek, pointing a finger a Karl Rove as the source of the Valerie Plame-CIA leak, includes this attribution: The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper's sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House. While more descriptive than "sources said," Newsweek is using anonymous sources in a story about anonymous sources after promising it would go a lot easier on the use of anonymous sources. And all of this stems from criticism about the Bush Administration's use of intelligence...er...sources. By Ed Moltzen · 2 July 2005
Long Island
Yeah. We have the Double Gulp. By Ed Moltzen · 2 July 2005
Random, Running Live8 Observations
Annie Lennox (London) has defeated Bon Jovi (Philly), on points, during their simultaneous performances at Live8. Everybody looked remarkably good for '80s/'90s pop artists, but Lennox looked less forced during her rendition of "Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This" than Bon Jovi did during "Livin' On A Prayer." But, really, everybody's a winner. MORE: Destiny's Child just took the stage in Philadelphia, singing, "Survivor." (Maybe not the best of choices for a benefit for starvation and poverty in Africa.) MORE: Brian Wilson is singing to the crowd in Berlin, and the crowd looks slightly confused. The band is not quite The Beach Boys, but sounds kinda sorta like The Beach Boys, and the crowd looks like it is politely trying to process this, without dancing or cheering. MORE: Hyde Park will never be the same: Snoop Dogg has just taken the stage in London, and he doesn't appear to be holding back. MORE: An "instant download" of the McCartney-Bono "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" rendition from this morning is now available for purchase online. Oddly, Will Smith's rendition of "Gettin' Jiggy With It" is not yet available. Go figure. MORE: Madonna: "Are you ready London? Are you ready to start a revolution? Are you ready to change history? I said, are you read-d-d-y?" And then, with a choir in the background, she launches into "Like a Prayer." She's singing, on stage, to a very uncomfortable-looking African woman who Bob Geldof introduced earlier. Dance interlude - Madonna: "I said put you-ah hands togeth-ah." By Ed Moltzen · 2 July 2005
Rasmussen Reports on American attitudes toward the war in Iraq: Forty-seven percent (47%) of Americans now say it is somewhat or very likely that "Iraq will become a peaceful nation enjoying freedom and democracy." That's up from 41% a year ago. Rasmussen also found that more Americans believe the war in Iraq is part and parcel of the overall war on terror than don't believe it. This and other polling data don't seem to be getting as much attention as the more negative polling data, though. By Ed Moltzen · 2 July 2005
Sirius Attitude?
Sirius: Great Radio, bad manners? (The entire thread provides more detail as you read.) By Ed Moltzen · 2 July 2005
NY Times Correction du Jour
Is the Times trying to doom Sen. Biden's candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination before it starts? A front-page article on June 21 about the failure of Senate Republicans to end debate on the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations gave an incorrect number in some copies for senators who did not vote. It was eight, not six. Because of an editing error, the article also misstated the initial of the Democratic senator from Delaware who refused to strike a deal on Mr. Bolton's nomination. He is Joseph R. Biden Jr., not Joseph I. There's only one Joseph I. in the U.S. Senate, and Democrats haven't exactly shown the warm fuzzies for him over the past few years. By Ed Moltzen · 2 July 2005
Where is Everyone?
Nobody is on the road now, when this highway is usually a parking lot. This is because: A) Gas prices are so high; |
