tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34462382011-04-21T22:40:51.750-04:00Sterling Silver<font size=6>Not <i>too</i> sure that I'm right<font size>Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comBlogger731100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1133394880128122322005-11-30T18:52:00.000-05:002005-11-30T18:59:56.033-05:00Support the Leukemia and Lymphoma SocietyIt's been ages since I've posted, so this may be a tree falling in an empty forest, but it can't hurt:Next April, I will be running in the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee, as part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training (depending on how the training goes (so far I'm up to 5 miles), I may run the whole 26. As this is my Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1107541287475138522005-02-04T13:04:00.000-05:002005-02-04T13:36:39.326-05:00Jesus Told Me So
Gregg Easterbrook suggests that in order to avoid civil libertarian objections to government-sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments, the Roy Moores of the world should simply display "the Six Commandments, enunciated by Jesus himself." In Easterbrook's view, this avoids any objection from the ACLU, because Jesus' abridgment of the Decalogue omits all Commandments having Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1074816363666157072004-01-22T19:06:00.000-05:002004-01-23T15:34:18.046-05:00Why Don't You Then, DearieThere seems to be no end of people who think Israel the root of all evil. This time, it's Jenny Tonge, MP of the British House of Commons. Seems Jenny would consider being a suicide bomber herself:I think if I had to live in that situation - and I say that advisedly - I might just consider becoming one myself." Thankfully, her remarks have been pretty roundly condemnedJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1074036205890746092004-01-13T18:23:00.000-05:002004-01-13T20:44:45.340-05:00A Rooting Interest in DeathAmish Tech Support runs an annual "dead pool," in which blogger-participants attempt to guess 15 famous people who will not be with us at year-end. I heard of the pool on Meryl Yourish's site. I didn't participate, because I felt uncomfortable having a rooting interest in death. Meryl added an interesting twist: A Dead Arab Dictator's matching fund. She would Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1073595053979423532004-01-13T17:27:00.000-05:002004-01-13T17:27:28.326-05:00On Jewish JusticesWhen I served as a law clerk, I attended a luncheon program at the court where the featured speaker, a reform rabbi and lawyer, was to speak on the topic of the Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court. The Jewish Justices, including the current two, are on the whole a group in whom the American Jewish community can justifiably take great pride, but I nonetheless listened to the Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1072279226932856812003-12-24T10:20:00.000-05:002004-01-08T17:46:06.343-05:00I'll Say This for Strom ThurmondHe was no hypocrite. Most commentators on the revelation of Strom's illegitimate child, like Anna Quindlen, are criticizing the late racist for hypocrisy -- advocating segregation and fighting "miscegenation" on the one hand, while fathering a child with a black woman on the other. I think calling him a hypocrite lets him off the hook too easily. Hypocrisy, to Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1072211508256245432003-12-23T15:31:00.000-05:002004-01-08T17:40:49.576-05:00Their Names Both Use the Letter "Q"At least in transliteration. [I don't know Arabic, and so don't know whether the "q" in Iraq and the "q" in Qaeda are in fact the same letter (in Hebrew, the sound /k/ can be rendered with two different letters, and in English with three, after all).] My good friend Chris has asked me whether I find this piece from the Weekly Standard convincing on the alleged Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1071868515234977242003-12-19T16:15:00.000-05:002003-12-23T15:08:46.700-05:00Well, we had to invade somebodyDennis Miller, former comedian (as his angry white man persona has come to the fore, he's gotten distinctly less funny), former sportscaster, and soon to be talking head, offered perhaps the most inane justification I've yet heard for the war: "I wish there was a country called al-Qaedia that we could have invaded, but there wasn't. (Saddam was) the only one who Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1071771756644101662003-12-18T13:22:00.000-05:002003-12-18T13:27:26.496-05:00A Tale of Two PostsAndrew Sullivan objects on Monday that Joe Wilson lacked class for calling members of the adminstration "f***ing a**holes and thugs". A fair critique, actually. While I'm guilty of some ad hominem invective myself in this blog, it's not effective argument, and I won't defend it as such. But then Tuesday, Sully's hawking t-shirts with a similar expletive. Granted, the Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1071713263071890662003-12-17T21:07:00.000-05:002003-12-17T21:13:00.310-05:00Self-Defense and Probable CauseLast week, Volokh posited that where a homicide is committed in self-defense, there is no probable cause to arrest. I responded here that self-defense being an affirmative defense, it ought not to figure in the probable cause determination. Volokh responded to that assertion, hewing to his original premise. He brought one case from the Northern District of Ohio Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1071696322967127282003-12-17T16:25:00.000-05:002003-12-17T16:26:15.466-05:00Please pass the crowLast week, I accused Dubya of being dense in his handling of the Iraqi debt forgiveness/reconstruction contracts issues. Comes yesterday's announcement that France and Germany have agreed, in principle, to a Paris Club restructuring of Iraqi debt, and he's looking not quite as dense. Of course, there's a quid pro quo, as the article reveals that the decision on Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1071256511371910442003-12-12T14:15:00.000-05:002003-12-12T14:18:56.280-05:00Volokh Channeling McKinnon/Dworkin?Professor Volokh points to this article about a woman in Texas arrested after shooting to death her estranged husband. It appears to have been an act of self-defense, as the dead guy had broken into the woman's home the night before she was to go to court and seek a restraining order against him. Volokh thinks that this arrest violated the Fourth Amendment, Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1071163872820911712003-12-11T12:31:00.000-05:002003-12-11T12:34:05.340-05:00Either he's really stupid. . . or he thinks everyone else in the world is. How else to explain announcing in the same news cycle that you're barring the anti-war nations of Europe from participating in the reconstruction, while asking them to forgive Iraq's debts? This is what Bush said:If these countries want to participate in helping the world become more secure, by enabling Iraq to emerge asJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1071089384200629092003-12-10T15:29:00.000-05:002003-12-10T18:14:47.013-05:00298 Pages, Signifying Nothing?McCain-Feingold is, in the main, constitutional. That summary should save you some reading. If you're still inclined to read the opinion, finish this post first.The various opinions run to over 250 pages. The syllabus alone will consume 19 printed pages in the United States Reports. I’d be willing to wager this sets a record.But don’t mistake the opinions’ heft Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1069447075190320762003-11-21T15:37:00.000-05:002003-11-21T16:12:27.763-05:00Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend John?He was my childhood idol (I came to baseball later than normal children), and thirty years of revisionist history have done little to lessen either my admiration or my sense of loss for a man I know only from books and television. Today, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of his murder, I remember him by quoting from his speech in Houston during the 1960 Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1069436966695319392003-11-21T12:49:00.000-05:002003-11-21T12:49:52.936-05:00Amor Vincet OmniaGregg Easterbrook demolishes "Christian" arguments against gay marriage. He speaks the truth, with a capital "T".Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1067899710579528902003-11-05T16:11:00.000-05:002003-11-05T16:11:22.263-05:00Now What?Gregg Easterbrook thinks that we must leave Iraq immediately, having discovered that there are, in fact, none of the banned weapons that furnished our justification for invading in the first place:Why are we in Iraq? If the reason really, truly was that we really, truly believed Saddam Hussein possessed banned weapons, then our assault on Iraq was justified, but now we must leave Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1066660538299739692003-10-20T10:35:00.000-04:002003-10-21T14:24:31.200-04:00Sign This PetitionThere's an online petition to save Gregg Easterbrook's job at ESPN. I've signed it. So should you. Click here
UPDATE: A good friend pointed out to me that perhaps the petition goes too far, in that it calls on prospective employers not to consider negatively Easterbrook's anti-Semitic rant. Indeed, that formulation does go too far (as my own post below implies). Of courseJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1066593522737344542003-10-19T15:58:00.000-04:002003-10-19T15:59:09.006-04:00Higher Standards, Chosen-ness, and All That JazzOne blogger, the aptly named Isntapundit defended Gregg Easterbrook’s anti-semitic raving last week on the grounds that “he wants to hold Jews to a higher moral standard, which any rational person would take as a compliment.” Well, we don’t view it as a compliment, and we’re not irrational. The higher standard is a form of a hatred, plain and Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1066588398152572142003-10-19T14:33:00.000-04:002003-10-19T14:55:25.540-04:00Evil Simple-minded Pandering NitwitsI bet Gregg Easterbrook never imagined the tempest he'd whip up when he penned his pan of Kill Bill. I've got a few thoughts on the matter. First, Sullivan and InstaPundit both minimize what Easterbrook did in posts this weekend by linking to the text of the Malaysian Prime Minister's hate-filled diatribe at the OIC this past week, and calling that "real Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1066138551806312802003-10-14T09:35:00.000-04:002003-10-14T09:58:30.470-04:00Sic Semper Tyrannis?Sully, InstaPundit, and the rest of the Bush propaganda machine (no, I'm not asserting they're in the administration's employ) have been busy, ever since it became obvious that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, trying to spin the war in a way that shows it was justified after all. The tactic that seems to have had the most traction for them is "thus always toJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1065725689399401622003-10-09T14:54:00.000-04:002003-10-09T15:00:17.893-04:00Arafat's DemiseYesterday, Meryl Yourish channeled Janis Joplin on the subject of Arafat's death:Oh Lord, won't you give us an Arafat death?
We've waited for decades, so please stop his breath
Prayed hard for this deed, and fasted, no less
So Lord, won't you kill him, and settle this mess?I have two problems with the ditty. I raised one of them directly with Meryl, and she published my view and aJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1065655744157293602003-10-09T13:40:00.000-04:002003-10-09T15:15:41.786-04:00Limited ImaginationSusan Ager, a columnist for the Detroit Free Press, "can't imagine who would disagree" with her assertion that Jack Kevorkian should be released from prison.Well, I do, for one. And I doubt I'm alone. Ager submits that incarcerating Kevorkian any longer serves no purpose because (1) he's been punished enough and (2) he poses no danger to anyone. Wrong on both counts. Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1064550375312344692003-09-26T00:26:00.000-04:002003-09-26T00:26:58.646-04:00Hey, Teleparasites: Don’t Call MeWhen the Oklahoma judge struck down the national Do Not Call List on Tuesday, I didn’t much care. He ruled on narrow grounds of statutory construction, and whether he was right or wrong, the remedies were quick and relatively painless as Congress showed today.Today’s decision from Denver, however, is another matter entirely. The Denver judge bought the Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1063834398231960882003-09-17T18:40:00.000-04:002003-09-17T17:40:33.190-04:00Mooses on Beaches & Tuesday Morning TwistLord knows, the ease of blogging, lack of editors, and press of time can lead to errors in posts. Lord knows I've made a few. But Gregg Easterbrook, over at Yet-to-Be-Named has a couple of glaring ones this week. First, his assault on Chief Moose, late of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department. Apparently, Moose settled with Marriott on a claim Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1063379660409099262003-09-12T11:14:00.000-04:002003-09-12T11:14:20.466-04:00If Rupert Murdoch Owned Mastercardthen Josh Marshall might be defending a law suit today. Hilarious. Trenchant. Tragic.Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1063328005561989552003-09-12T10:25:00.000-04:002003-09-12T10:25:45.473-04:00Silvio, Arnold. Arnold, SilvioAlready met? Great, then you'll have lots to talk about . . .Seems that Berlusconi, like Schwarzenegger, has something of a fetish for fascists. Now to be fair to Berlusconi (and Mussolini) Il Duce, as early 20th century fascist dictators go, wasn't the worst of the lot. (Indeed, Italy's Jewish community suffered the third-lowest percentage of murders in all of Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1063062975449575312003-09-08T19:16:00.000-04:002003-09-08T19:16:15.506-04:00Harvard Made Him Do ItHow else to explain Al Franken's apology to John Ashcroft?. In his fabulous new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, Franken lampoons the hypocrisy of the right's "just say no" approach to teen sex. In writing the book, Franken sent a letter to Ashcroft (on Harvard stationery, as Franken was then a Harvard fellow), claiming Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1063057981608734002003-09-08T17:53:00.000-04:002003-09-08T17:53:13.100-04:00Methods of MadnessEugene Volokh points to this article about the Utah Sentencing Commission's solicitation of the Mormon Church’s view on proposed legislation that would eliminate the firing squad as a permitted method of execution in that state. Somewhat fuller discussions can be found in Utah’s Deseret Morning News and Salt Lake Tribune.Volokh’s view, which I think is correct, is that the Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1062798783789708792003-09-05T17:53:00.000-04:002003-09-05T22:59:52.043-04:00A Little KnowledgeEugene Volokh has a pet peeve . . . Jews who claim that "Jews for Jesus" is an oxymoron. Eugene brings the precept that birth to a Jewish mother confers on one the status of a Jew, and even grave sin does not remove that status. And Eugene is accurate, as far as he goes. A Jew for Jesus remains a Jew, but at best only in the same sense that Karen Anne Quinlan, while connectedJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1062700671457261252003-09-04T14:37:00.000-04:002003-09-04T14:37:51.546-04:00Sweet Reason!McDonald's has prevailed in the latest round of the absurd and repulsive law suits blaming it for America's obesity. 3 cheers for U.S. district Judge Robert Sweet.Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1062695623880120422003-09-04T13:13:00.000-04:002003-09-04T13:15:08.893-04:00Don't Let the Door Hit Your AssDr. Laura's now an ex-Jew. Delightful news, on so many levels. Of course, having validly converted to the faith, she remains a Jew, from the point of view of halakha. That though, is a subtlety that will be lost on most of her admirers. (Hat tip to David Bernstein over at the Volokh Conspiracy). Bernstein thinks that Schlesinger's reputation for gay-bashing is Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1062595989386905052003-09-03T09:33:00.000-04:002003-09-03T19:48:53.183-04:00LGF Goes Too FarThe weblog Little Green Footballs performs an invaluable service by tracking the hypocrisy of Arab/Islamic terrorists and their western apologists. But at times, I sense in Charles' tone that he has become so overcome with anger and frustration (and I empathize, believe me) that his commentary slides over into a knee-jerk bashing of anything connected to Islam. Today's post on Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1062080342163432852003-08-28T10:19:00.000-04:002003-08-28T10:19:02.196-04:00First they came for sadists . . .If a statue showing a naked breast is too much for Ashcroft, then it stands to reason that films depicting actual breasts are are an outrage worthy of jail time. He's actually instructed the 94 US Attorneys to make the anti-porn crusade a priority.To be fair, it seems from the reports that little Johnny has gone out of his way to find films that are difficult to Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-106192861353501822003-08-26T16:10:00.000-04:002003-08-26T16:10:35.200-04:00Coming AttractionsI've just finished reading Jon Krakauer's new book, Under the Banner of Heaven. Krakauer's a great story teller (his Everest account, Into Thin Air and his earlier book, Into the Wild are both must reads), but this latest work is problematic. Because he raises a number of questions in the book that I've always found intriguing (faith vs. reason, church vs. state, and the like)Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1061917977111143312003-08-26T13:12:00.000-04:002003-08-26T15:47:30.830-04:00Lies, and the Lying Lawyers Who Tell ThemIn denying Fox's request for a preliminary injunction against Al Franken's book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, US District Judge Denny Chin stated: "There are hard cases and there are easy cases. This is an easy case. This case is wholly without merit, both factually and legally."Rule 11 of the Federal Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1061252428977417522003-08-18T20:20:00.000-04:002003-08-18T20:22:56.073-04:00Fucking MoronDubya, that is. After last week's blackout, he stopped spreading his legs for the wealthy republicans of Orange County long enough to go on the air and reassure us all. Trouble is, he's so fucking stupid that no one with half a brain winds up reassured. On Thursday, in his first comments, he repeatedly referred to the blackout as a "rolling blackout." Then he did it again the Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1060889959914853062003-08-14T15:39:00.000-04:002003-08-19T12:51:59.646-04:00 11. Thou shalt not force thy religiondown the throats of thy fellow citizens. And yet, in the proud tradition of Missibamiana government officials, Chief Justice Roy Moore has announced his intention to defy a federal court order, and force his religion down the throats of his fellow Missibamianans. To be fair, Moore has announced only that he will take his case to the Supreme Court, after Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1060884594974118832003-08-14T14:09:00.000-04:002003-08-14T14:19:26.036-04:00Everybody's doing it . . .
Fair and Balanced . . . It's the new black. Not only are Lord Voldemort's minions smug and nasty, they're also humorless.Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1060810746474970792003-08-13T17:39:00.000-04:002003-08-13T17:48:28.783-04:00Passion Fruit
I haven’t seen the film. But I’ve read enough of the frothing criticism to know that the Anti-Defamation League has gone seriously, seriously wrong by calling for Gibson to modify his film before releasing it.To demonstrate, let’s assume that every factual allegation Abe Foxman has made is true. That is, let’s assume for the sake of argument that Gibson’s film:(1) ”portrays JewishJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1060218078316425752003-08-06T21:01:00.000-04:002003-08-06T23:26:17.340-04:00Legal TenderThis isn't an earth shattering topic (or even, truth be told, a particularly interesting one), but there's just enough of the would-be law professor in me to offer a gloss on Volokh's post today about people miffed because they can't use a c-note to pay for their $4 latte. Volokh thinks that once the merchant gives you the goods (e.g., you pump your gas, then go to pay), the merchantJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1060043317623817132003-08-04T20:28:00.000-04:002003-08-05T12:38:06.150-04:00President HatredJosh Marshall over at Talking Points posits that the dynamics of the Bush-hating and Clinton-hating phenomena are remarkably similar. Drezner's given him partial props, agreeing that the animus is parallel.Marshall and Drezner are a lot smarter than I, but I have to disagree. Bush-hatred and Clinton-hatred differ fundamentally in their genesis and their manifestations. The Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-1058217810367579422003-07-14T17:23:00.000-04:002003-07-14T17:23:30.430-04:00I'll Be Back SoonMay, June and July were busy months: getting married, moving, starting a new job, euthanizing a beloved pet (I'm still in heavy-duty denial on that one). We're temporarily at my wife's in-laws' place while we wait for our apartment to be ready, and my home computer is in storage, so it'll likely be late in July before my first new post -- which will no doubt be a mea culpa for Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-935515102003-04-30T16:23:00.000-04:002003-04-30T16:37:05.000-04:00More Depravity from the PressAnother day, another Palestinian murders innocents. The Guardian (as well as the Austin American Statesman and other papers that didn't bother to edit the AP's vicious headline) presents the news in this way: Bomb Mars Historic Day for Palestinians. Seems to me (and I'm just spitballing here) that the dead and injured Israelis and their families perhaps had their Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-902526682003-03-06T14:07:00.000-05:002003-03-06T14:07:13.186-05:00So Long, NeighborWhat with all the turmoil in the world, I forgot to mention this. Saddest news in a quite a while. The themes were obvious, and they get a little repetitive, but I doubt you can read through all six pages of cartoonists' Tributes to Mr. Rogers on Slate without a lump in your throat. I know I couldn't. May his soul be bound up in the bond of life.Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-902465062003-03-06T12:04:00.000-05:002003-03-06T14:44:30.000-05:00Jingo Bells, Jingo BellsI'm in favor of a war to depose Saddam and bring to an end Iraq's quest to achieve regional hegemony. And I'm no friend of the Arab world. But when pro war bloggers cross the line into jingoistic ad hominem attack, I have to call bullshit on them. In the linked item on Little Green Footballs, Charles Johnson cites the insulting remark of the Iraqi delegate to an Arab Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-901843642003-03-05T12:06:00.000-05:002003-03-05T16:13:03.000-05:00Bye bye, JudgeshipOh well, my chances of ever being nominated or elected to the bench were pretty slim anyway, so I'll just call this one as I see it. John Ashcroft is out of his mind. Not just content with depriving suspects of lawyers, or covering up naked breasts on statues, he's now focusing on another "peril": pot smokers. (thanks to Instapundit for the link). Ashcroft is hardly the firstJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-901255982003-03-04T13:52:00.000-05:002003-03-06T09:20:35.000-05:00Ashcroft Running Amok?The war on terrorism is being used as an excuse for eroding the right to counsel. I'm no fan of Matt Hale, the white supremacist at issue in the news story. And the crime of which he's accused -- conspiring to murder a federal judge -- is one that strikes at the very heart of our system of justice. But if we, on the flimsiest of grounds, restrict the right to counsel, Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-900557542003-03-03T11:24:00.000-05:002003-03-03T12:45:59.000-05:00This Ain't VietnamInstapundit links to this column by Gerald Posner, a supporter of the war against Iraq, who is now embarrassed by his participation in protests against the Vietnam War. His embarrassment reflects the same misunderstanding of history demonstrated by the AWIBs, who see themselves as the proud heirs of the anti-Vietnam War movement. So I'll say it again: This Ain't Vietnam. Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-900058992003-03-02T13:16:00.000-05:002003-03-02T13:52:50.000-05:00Be Not Idle Spectators"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." Barbara Jordan, of blessed memory, said that nearly thirty years ago at the House Judiciary Committee hearings on the impeachment of Richard Nixon. That is what each and every oneJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-899013242003-02-28T09:16:00.000-05:002003-03-02T13:58:08.000-05:00When We Build It, They Will ComeThis post is not as timely as a blog should be, but I'm posting it anyway. So it's Libeskind for Lower Manhattan. I think that's the wiser choice from the two finalists, and an inspiring vision, although I was rooting for Norman Foster and crew. I thought it crucial that the design chosen incorporate a twin towers element, and that those twin towers be as Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-898066272003-02-26T19:58:00.000-05:002003-02-26T20:30:55.000-05:00Don’t know much about history . . . I think we need a corollary to the old Santayana aphorism about remembering the past, because the parade of commentators twisting history in the service of Saddam Hussein is astounding. Molly Ivins’s insipid, name-dropping love letter to the French (see the post immediately below) is hardly alone. So today, I’ll hit two more. First up is Russell Martin’s Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-894526232003-02-20T15:35:00.000-05:002003-03-02T14:07:58.000-05:00Just What Kind of Champignons Have You Eaten, Molly?
I'm a Francophile from way back, and I have a soft spot for Molly Ivins, too. But her latest column, defending French policy on Iraq, is so devoid of logic, and so littered with factual inaccuracy, that I must give it the blogger once-over. Molly writes:George Will saw fit to include in his latest Newsweek column this joke: "How many Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-885985302003-02-05T12:25:00.000-05:002003-02-05T12:46:50.000-05:00A Glaring OmissionThe Russian delegate offered his condolences to the United States for the loss of the Columbia and its crew. Earth to Russia: An Israeli died too. Even the French had the decency to extend condolences to Israel, even though France daily and enthusiastically gives aid and comfort to Israel's enemies.UPDATE: I was only listening with one ear. Hearing French, I thought it was Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-885984052003-02-05T12:22:00.000-05:002003-02-05T12:23:19.000-05:00Completely Justified and Absolutely NecessaryI've been listening this morning to the Security Council's meeting. I think Powell's case was irrefutable. Yet the Chinese and Russian delegates have just expressed their opposition to any meaningful response to Iraq's arrogant pursuit of regional hegemony. The Russian delegate was painfully honest: Russia views a political solution as the only Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-882107092003-01-29T11:19:00.000-05:002003-01-29T12:24:16.000-05:00Why Israel Deserves SupportThis point can't be made often enough.Pictures from yesterday's election make the point pretty well. Turnout -- at 68.5%! -- was the lowest in Israeli history. The highest turnout here, in the last 42 years, was 42 years ago, when we got a whopping 63.1% in the Kennedy-Nixon election. In recent years, 1996 and 2000, we got 49.1% and 51.3%, respectively. Pathetic.Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-881774992003-01-28T16:54:00.000-05:002003-01-28T17:07:33.000-05:00A Historic Opportunity in IsraelThe exit polls I've seen predict Likud 35 seats, Avodah (Labor) 18, and Shinui 17. That's 70 total, a commanding majority in Israel's 120-seat unicameral Knesset. The real key is Shinui, an avowedly secular party, doubling its mandate in the Knesset. It presents the first opportunity in a generation to destroy the perverse influence of the ultra-Orthodox in Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-881132562003-01-27T15:16:00.000-05:002003-01-27T15:16:40.693-05:00Day JobYes, I have one. And this week will, like last week, be particularly busy. So I'll be out of touch until the weekend. Unless our fearless (and, I fear, clueless) leader provokes me too much tomorrow night. I'm on board for the war, but that doesn't mean I sign up for what's going at John Ashcroft's place (although now the INS is under Tom Ridge at the ominously named department of Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-877271932003-01-20T08:58:00.000-05:002003-01-20T09:05:38.000-05:00April Fool's Already?I woke up this morning to this headline: Libya has been elected to chair the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Here is just a sample of what the State Department's 2001 Human Rights Report had to say about the new champion of human rights: Libya maintains an extensive security apparatus, consisting of several elite military units, including Qadhafi's personal Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-875060152003-01-15T20:07:00.000-05:002003-01-15T20:07:19.000-05:00and About SchmidtI made a passing reference to this flick in my clemency post Saturday evening. It was very enjoyable. When is Jack Nicholson not. Despite not having lived a life of quiet desperation, he does an outstanding job of portraying a guy who has, comb-over and all. There's one place in the film, and it lasts all of about 5 seconds, where it seems like he broke character and was just Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-874373152003-01-14T16:40:00.000-05:002003-01-15T19:55:06.000-05:00More on ClemencyA law school classmate asked me whether the courage shown by Governor Ryan was political courage, given that he is leaving office and will never again have to face the voters. The point is well taken because there are, indeed, no future political consequences to Governor Ryan. But the Governor's acts of grace this past weekend were the culmination of a long process beginning Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-872816712003-01-11T18:48:00.000-05:002003-01-11T18:48:19.810-05:00Gloria, Gloria, in Excelsis DeoThis afternoon, I was privileged to be in attendance when, in perhaps the single greatest act of political courage in my 40 (plus a teensy bit) years on this planet, George H. Ryan, Governor of the State of Illinois, emptied the state's condemned unit. In a sure that sign that he was acting in God's name, the incoming governor, the State's Attorney for Cook County Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-871777732003-01-09T14:17:00.000-05:002003-01-11T09:28:36.000-05:00More Evidence of Europe's DiseaseWorth a thousand words. (The link, to a Yahoo! news photo, will expire within a couple weeks. It shows Gretta Duisenberg, wife of the head of the European Central Bank, with one arm around Arafat and her other hand grasping his, in a show not just, I think of political solidarity -- grotesque enough -- but of personal warmth). Well, at least Fallaci still livesJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-871760952003-01-09T13:38:00.000-05:002003-01-09T15:39:25.000-05:00Suffer the ChildrenWho would proudly send his child to near certain death or grievous bodily harm? What to make of the society that institutionalizes this practice? What to make of the overlap between those ultra-lefties, in our society, who rightly say that a civilization is best judged by how it treats its most vulnerable -- including its elderly and its young -- and at the same time lionize Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-871359802003-01-08T18:39:00.000-05:002003-01-09T15:47:50.000-05:00In the Highest Degree OdiousThe United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit today decided that American citizens captured and detained by the American military in a foreign war zone may be detained indefinitely by the government, without charges or access to counsel. Here's Churchill's view of such power, whence comes the title for this post (and for the excellent book by my teacher Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-871202532003-01-08T12:28:00.000-05:002003-01-08T15:13:57.000-05:00More Palestinian DoublespeakMeryl Yourish brings this beaut: Apparently, Abu Abbas, hijacker of the Achille Lauro and murderer of Leon Klinghofer, feels he should be lauded for not murdering everyone else aboard. Meryl does a great service in highlighting the terrorists' depravity. Pity her misguided views on bread.permalinkJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-870684102003-01-07T12:50:00.000-05:002003-01-08T15:15:18.000-05:00A Whisper in the Madding CrowdAndrew Sullivan and Meryl Yourish (among others, I'm sure) have done yeoman's work these past two years documenting Europeans' weakening inhibitions in expressing their undiminished hatred for Jews. Every once in a while, though, a glimmer of reason shines through. The London Times' lead this morning criticizes Israel's decision not to let Palestinian delegates Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-870645642003-01-07T11:18:00.000-05:002003-01-08T15:16:25.000-05:00Compassion for (wealthy) ConservativesWiser heads than I have chimed in on the Bush tax cut. Paul Krugman hits the nail on the head in the New York Times. The Washington Post cites the views of two economists that the plan will do little to stimulate the economy. (Sullivan points out, for what it's worth, that both economists cited by the Post are democrats, one even having contributed to the Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-870171492003-01-06T13:42:00.000-05:002003-01-08T15:17:23.000-05:00There He Goes AgainPresident Bush wants to eliminate income tax on dividends, at a cost to the fisc of $300 billion over 10 years. Guess what this is, folks: that's right, a sop to the wealthy. Most working stiffs don't have much in the way of dividend income,and most of what they do have in the way of dividends accumulates tax-free in IRAs, 401(k)s, and other tax-deferred savings plans. On Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-868927002003-01-03T16:32:00.000-05:002003-01-08T15:06:54.000-05:00Sullivan Award Andrew Sullivan's various "award" entries are usually on the mark and often amusing. He also tends to gore everyone's ox equally. But he misses badly with his "Begala Award Winner 2002 (for excessive liberal rhetoric)." Part of the problem, of course, is the term "excessive." One man's excess (whether in liberal rhetoric or tales of beagles) is another man's bliss. Beyond theJeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-867149572002-12-30T17:44:00.000-05:002002-12-30T17:47:35.000-05:00What she saidArianna mouths off about a big pet peeve of mine: the ubiquitous apostrophe. What really gets Arianna going is the use of apostrophes to render the plural of acronyms or abbreviations ("C.E.O.'s", for example). The sin that drives me crazy is "it's." I see this in briefs and even in judicial opinions all the time. Not only is it unprofessional for people who write for a living (Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-867055952002-12-30T13:19:00.000-05:002002-12-30T17:46:12.000-05:00Another Brick in the WallThe lead editorial in this morning's New York Times finally takes President Bush to task for Executive Order 13279, disingenuously styled Equal Protection of the Laws for Faith-Based and Community Organizations. The courts and law reviews will be busy with this insidious ukase (and the larger crusade of which it is but a part), for quite a while (and yours truly will, I Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3446238.post-865939292002-12-27T12:48:00.000-05:002002-12-30T12:20:51.000-05:00Tortured LogicThe Washington Post reported yesterday that the U.S. may be torturing detainees in the war on terrorism. That is a serious allegation, and there should be a serious debate about whether and in what circumstances torture is justifiable. Human Rights Watch predictably takes the position in a letter to President Bush that "[t]orture is never permissible against anyone, whether in Jeff Silvernoreply@blogger.com