|link| Posted 6:42 AM by Brian Linse

Dicking Around With Saddam


Kristof in the NYT:

The fact is that neither Tim Johnson nor any lily-livered columnist ever bolstered Saddam's government the way Vice President Cheney did — perfectly legitimately — in 1998-99.

Before we prepare to go to war, we need to take a deep breath and make sure we are doing so to overcome a threat that is real and enduring, not one that we are conjuring in part out of our trauma of 9/11.

Old monsters like Libya, North Korea and Iran have proved — well, not ephemeral, but at least changeable, less terrifying today than they used to be. And the Iraqi threat, for which we're now prepared to sacrifice hundreds or thousands of American casualties, just a few years ago was simply another tinhorn dictatorship where C.E.O. Cheney was earning his bonus.

|link| Posted 5:16 AM by Brian Linse

Carter Wins Nobel Peace Prize

The New York Times article is here, and... I wonder if InstantMan has started linking to snarky posts by the usual pricks... well, yes, of course he has.

Glenn tosses in an unbelievably ignorant comment/link of his own, unfortunately, since the links to inferior hacks would have sufficed.

Critics will no doubt point out that Kofi Annan and the U.N. won last year, as if that makes Carter's honor less significant. But I would recommend that they look to Carter's record since Camp David in '78, and look to the long list of past winners before getting too worked up.

And in case they still don't get it, here's a cute bit from the NYT:

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were nominated, but their chances for winning seemed doubtful at a time when they are poised to launch a military strike against Iraq.

ANBD congratulates president Carter on this honor. He was perhaps not the best American president, but is, surely, a great man of peace.

UPDATE: Glenn has updated his post with a couple of substantive links, but don't worry, the snarky stuff is still there!

MO' UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg (genius) and Co. are raising the bar on snarky over at the NRO. Presidents who've won the prize: T. Roosevelt, Wilson, and Carter. Oooh, they gotta be hating this...

|link| Posted 5:02 AM by Brian Linse

Here We Go

Congress Backs Use of Force Against Iraq

|link| Posted 2:18 AM by Brian Linse

Shocked! Shocked!

Yuval Rubenstein has imported a block from TAPPED for his latest post at Horowitzwatch.

I failed math twice, but even I could see through Horowitz's "statistics." Are the readers of Frontpage not offended by transparent shit like this?

|link| Posted 7:13 AM by Brian Linse

Fourscore and Seven... Oh Really?

CalPundit's Kevin Drum demonstrates the reason that you never see any "fisking" here at ANBD. This is one for the "Best Of" files.

|link| Posted 6:56 AM by Brian Linse

More Thoughts On Empire

Jay Bookman is back with more thoughts on "Pax Americana" and all your favorite neocons.

|link| Posted 5:41 PM by Brian Linse

O-Dub Has A Candidate For Senate




Check out her platform... shoes.

|link| Posted 4:19 PM by Brian Linse

P-Wiz AWOL

WTF happened to Jeff Goldstein and Protein Wisdom? I don't know if it's an issue of jail time or a secret mission for the Trilateral Commission, but he's been gone too long and must be lured back to his public.

There's not too many places in the blogosphere where you can find stuff like this, so lets track the brother down, hose him off, and prop him back up at his computer.

|link| Posted 2:51 PM by Brian Linse

Who Needs Ann Coulter?

Though it was clear that Ann Coulter had "jumped the shark" with her Timothy McVeigh comment, she has now been rendered obsolete by the emergence of the fierce, tell-it-like-it-is pundit, R. Robot.

Robot has been taking on a few bloggers as a warm up before going after the big dogs. Here's what Robot had to say about me:

Taking Brian Linse To Task
by R. Robot

It's this kind of Jazzercized deception that made me quit The Nation. However, in the end the case for the moral duty is the strongest one. The Chomsky-like hatred of America of the hot-tubbers and their handwringing National Public Radio set is cheap. To oppose tough democracy is to hate America. At some point, when you look around and realize that your co-workers are calculated and depraved, you have to break rank and become a Republican, if only for the sake of a candid truth and good hygiene, morally speaking. Internecine pundits like Michael Moore and others apparently believe the best way to confront Saddam Hussein is to give him a big, sloppy kiss.

"This whole thing is bullshit," says Brian Linse. Really? Oh? Are there limits to this anti-Americanism? For the love of Christ, do the libs know no shame? This is why I could no longer write for Z Magazine, not with a clear conscience.

AintNoBadDude and Saddam Hussein, K-I-S-S-I-N-G
by R. Robot

"Could you be a little more vague about why we're doing this?" says AintNoBadDude. Really? Are there limits to this hatred of America? Beyond Germany, it's difficult to identify any country where anti-Americanism is on the upswing. However, in the end the case for the proud legacies is the strongest one.

We must share common sense prosperity.

Isn't it clear by now that the world is menaced by a putrescent evil-doer who has already gassed his own people?

I suppose some notice should be paid to the performance that the bleating AintNoBadDude delivered Monday in a special appearance on The Simpsons. "Don't hurt me," he said. Isn't it clear by now that a monster has already thwarted weapons inspectors? AintNoBadDude, cunningly, is a formerly important loser.

This is one tough hombre. [via: Unqualified Offerings]

|link| Posted 1:01 PM by Brian Linse

Dylan Honors Zevon

Brian Doherty of Reason and surrender #6 e-mails a nice bit of news:

I'm a fanatical Bob Dylan fan, following all the setlist news, and thought you might be interested to know that in the first two shows of his new tour, he's covered FOUR of Warren's songs---"Accidentally Like A Martyr" and "Mutineer" (both nights) and "Boom Boom Mancini" and "Lawyers Guns and Money"

High praise, indeed.

"Accidently Like A Martyr" was the tune that converted me to a Zevon fan. I had only heard the "hits" until a friend hipped me to the album. The 7/4 piano interlude grabbed my amatuer musician ear and made me realize that there was a lot going on with this guy. One close listen to the whole record and I was hooked.

Doherty has a nice post about Warren here.

|link| Posted 12:13 PM by Brian Linse

An Individual Liberty

There's a good thread on the Second Amendment working over at the blogs of InstantMan, Mark Kleiman and Dwight Meredith. In a must-read post, Meredith makes the point that an individual rights interpretation of the Second may well prove advantageous to gun control advocates. It's a good point, and one which I made some time ago when Glenn and I were going at it. I link again to a great Reason Online piece by Daniel Polsby that serves as a good primer on the individual rights interpretation. Lots of good links in these posts if you are interested in this topic.

UPDATE: Also on the topic of gun regulation, check out this piece in today's NYT about technology that could fingerprint guns.

|link| Posted 11:19 AM by Brian Linse

Playing It Smart

The New York Times website is posting a news alert that says the US Supreme Court will not hear the NJ Senate case. Watching the wires...

Here's the first AP report.

And now it's time for grasping at straws as the GOP seeks to prevent the Torch's 5mil in campaign funds from being used for Lautenberg. Not likely to succeed.

|link| Posted 5:19 PM by Brian Linse

Sniper Update

Jim Henley has the latest.

|link| Posted 4:29 PM by Brian Linse

A New Wave?

Chris Bertram of Junius links to an Economist review of the Judis/Teixiera book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, that finds it a compelling argument. Bertram seems to agree, though he reminds us that a successful stacking of the US Supreme Court by Bush could render that new majority somewhat less useful.

Patio Pundit's Martin Devon is not as convinced as Bertram, and adds his own warning that it would be wise for the Dems not to get too cocky.

If you want to buy the book, please go over to Eschaton and order it from Amazon through Brother Atrios' blog. I just did, and I got it for $16.80. Save over seven bucks and help support Eschaton!

|link| Posted 5:35 AM by Brian Linse

Steven Pinker Interview

Ronald Bailey and Nick Gillespie have an interview with evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker over at Reason Online.

|link| Posted 4:57 AM by Brian Linse

BadDude and Joe

Joe Conason has a piece up at the New York Observer that calls for the Torch to resign now. This is the position I took last Wednesday in this post. Conventional wisdom seems to be that the SCOTUS gang won't risk stepping in the poop again, but I'm still not sure. Scalia will always be a wild card in a case like this, and if he can get three to join for cert, then it's "game on" once again.

Torch should do the right thing and resign.

|link| Posted 4:23 AM by Brian Linse

We Want Frank! We Want Frank!

Looks like Forrester has already managed to loose the first "debate" with Lautenberg.

The New York Times is reporting on a chance encounter between the two candidates in Old Bridge, NJ. For some reason, Forrester challenged Lautenberg to 21 debates between now and the election, yet had no answer for Lautenberg when asked if this meant he was acknowledging him as the Democratic candidate!

Doh!!!

Does this mean that the Forrester team know that their court challenge will fail? Or did he not get a memo or something...

"Dear Doug. Try not to do anything stupid that will make Lautenberg look like a legit candidate before our pal Scalia gets a crack at this. Your pal, Bill Frist"

Something tells me this is gonna get fun...