... they have all experienced tensions in their personal lives, or were faced with deep and sustained crises of identity ...

... [they] frequently experience a tension between traditional [culture] ... and ... [contemporary] society. Extremism gives them an identity that allows them to rebel against both.

The op-ed author is right when he says, "None of this will be of much help ..."

Jihad is the new punk

The Scooter Libby case has triggered some very weird commentary around the blogosphere; perhaps the weirdest claim is that the case against Libby was "purely political."

I find this argument seriously bizarre. As I understand it, Bush political appointee James Comey named Bush political appointee and career prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the Plame leak. Bush political appointee and career prosecutor Fitzgerald filed an indictment and went to trial before Bush political appointee Reggie Walton. A jury convicted Libby, and Bush political appointee Walton sentenced him. At sentencing, Bush political appointee Judge Walton described the evidence against Libby as "overwhelming" and concluded that a 30-month sentence was appropriate. And yet the claim, as I understand it, is that the Libby prosecution was the work of political enemies who were just trying to hurt the Bush Administration.

In the end, frankly, I have no idea what happened, and I have nearly everyone screaming partisan talking points at me and absolutely none of it is credible. There is no simple summary of facts and I do not know who to beleive. Everyone is equally insistent that they understand the truth and their version of events must be believed and they are the ones who should be trusted and its the other guys who are the crooks. Perhaps if I devoted months to reading all of the court filings and press reports I could come to an understanding that I was comfortable with, but I don't have time for it. Basically, as far as issues upon which to form political views, I'll stick to things that are a lot more clear than this.

The Volokh Conspiracy - Was the Libby case political?

A message appeared on one of the most widely used jihadist Internet forums, saying: "Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed."

CBS News found the posting, which went on for nearly 300 words, on the "al Hesbah" chat room. It was left by a person who goes by the name abu Osama al-Hazeen, who appears regularly on the forum.

Was London Bomb Plot Heralded On Web?

Venezuela shut down an opposition television channel on Monday and replaced it with one promoting President Hugo Chavez's self-proclaimed socialist revolution in a move widely criticized as a threat to democracy.

"This has exposed the abusive, arbitrary and autocratic nature of Chavez's government, a government that fears free thought, that fears opinion and fears criticism," said Marcel Granier, chief of RCTV, the country's oldest broadcaster.

Reality check time for leftie contrarians who think Chavez is cool for sticking it to the man, whats going on down there is actually fucked up.

Of course, the rationalizations have already begun. Apparently when thousands of people hit the streets to protest and end up in clashes with police over views we support, its because the people are being denied a voice and the police are involved in a conspiracy with the evil men who control the world, but when thousands of people hit the streets to protest and end up in clashes with police over views we don't support, its because they've been manipulated by millionaires and the police were forced to respond because the protestors were violent.

Venezuela replaces opposition TV with state network| Reuters

The Bush administration is developing plans to "internationalise" the Iraq crisis, including an expanded role for the United Nations, as a way of reducing overall US responsibility for Iraq's future and limiting domestic political fallout from the war as the 2008 election season approaches.

The move comes amid rising concern in Washington that President George Bush's controversial Baghdad security surge, led by the US commander, General David Petraeus, is not working and that Iran is winning the clandestine battle for control of Iraq.

This is an interesting report. The problem I see here is that they are called peace keepers and not peace makers, and when misapplied they will not work. The problem remains Iran.

Bush may turn to UN in search for Iraq solution

For the second time in a week, southeast winds brought smoke from the wildfires near the Georgia-Florida line as far north as Atlanta early Tuesday.A smoky haze _ along with the smell of burning wood _ hung over the area, causing slowdowns on crowded interstates and roads leading into Atlanta as motorists drove through the heavy cloud of smoke during morning rush hour.

I walked outside this morning and the air was unusually hazy and it smelled funny. It seemed like smoke, but it was everywhere... Turns out, it WAS smoke, from a fire about 250 miles away!

It WAS smoke in Atlanta this morning

Two local artists whose guerrilla marketing stunt caused a day of bomb scares in the Boston region -- and then fueled public outrage by appearing to make light of the incident -- apologized in court yesterday as prosecutors dropped the criminal charges against them.

Fueled public outrage?

Michael Flanagan, president of the MBTA Police Association, said he was angry with the settlement.

"I'm upset we had to use so many resources and dedicated so much time and energy to these kids who were just playing around and obviously amused by their actions," he said.

Whose fault is that?

Criminal charges dropped in marketing stunt - The Boston Globe

Catonic wrote:
Succinct and to the point.

Ok, I'll bite. This "illegal is illegal" talk on the part of the anti-illegal immigration movement, far from being "succinct and to the point," represents 3 basic logical fallacies, its a straw man argument, its an over simplification, and it represents circular reasoning.

1. The Straw Man Argument: "My opponent argues that illegal immigration isn't illegal. Clearly that position is wrong, as evidenced by the fact that illegal immigration is, by definition, illegal. Therefore, my opponent is wrong and my views on the issue are correct."

No one is, in fact, arguing that illegal immigration isn't illegal. Demonstrating this rather obvious point does not collapse the debate, but rather, it avoids the debate. There are some who suggest that some kinds of illegal immigration shouldn't be illegal. As laws are a matter of policy, discussing what they should and should not be is, in fact, the purpose of political dialog in a Democracy.

2. The Over Simplification: All crimes are not equal. Both murder and jay walking are illegal, but they are not similarly serious crimes. Saying that "illegal is illegal" is precisely the same thing as saying that "jay walking is just like murder."

Most of the debate regarding illegal immigration concerns the perception on the right that illegal immigration is a crime like murder, and we should devote huge amounts of resources to stopping it and severly punish those who commit it, and the perception on the left that illegal immigration is a crime like jay walking, which while illegal does not warrant severe punishments or huge investments in policing. The statement that "illegal is illegal" contributes nothing to understanding where in the spectrum between these two positions our policy should lie, other than to argue that the United States should treat all crimes exactly the same way and should hand out exactly the same punishments for all crimes, which is ridiculous on it's face.

3. Circular Reasoning: Many people in the anti-illegal immigration movement start their argument by claiming that they are upset by illegal immigration because it is illegal. A good litmus test is to ask whether they would support creating a legal process for short term immigration by manual laborers. The answer is consistently no. Which means the REAL problem isn't that its illegal, as we get to decide whether or not its illegal (see point one). The real problem is something else, and by focusing on the legality rather than on the something else that actually motivates them, they fail, again, to contribute to the discussion in a useful way.

Now I'll be the first to agree with the general statement that "we have a problem with illegal immigration in this country." There simply should not be 12 million people living here illegally. It does not follow directly from that observation that the right answer is a "crackdown." There ar... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

RE: wde_IllegalsDontGetIt-520x414.jpg (JPEG Image, 520x414 pixels)

Billy and Jill got married on Sunday. The wedding was wonderful and several of us had the honor of witnessing the beautiful event.

Billy and Jill tie the knot

Jack Valenti, the urbane Washington lobbyist who served as Hollywood's public face for nearly four decades and was best known for creating the film rating system, died this afternoon, according to Warren Cowan, his longtime friend and publicist for the MPAA. He was 85.

I disagreed with Jack Valenti on many levels, but he was a great American nonetheless.

Jack Valenti, 85; former Hollywood lobbyist pioneered film ratings system - Los Angeles Times