A Few Good Links

Dunno how I missed this piece by James Lileks. Prolly because it wasn’t at James’ website, it's an op-ed at Statesman.com. And the fact I’m only an irregular reader at Real Clear Politics. The piece is a week old today, but it’s still timely and appropriate. Just to whet your appetite:

Outrage of the summer: The new "Superman" movie edited out "The American Way" from the Krypton immigrant's rally cry. The Daily Planet editor says Supe's now all about "Truth, Justice and all that stuff."

Makes perfect sense. Consider the foreign markets, where "The American Way" means Abu Ghraib and McDonald's. Don't remind them! They might burn the theater. (If that's their way.) Besides, it makes sense to have a newspaper editor treat the line with gruff dismissal, because hard-bitten editors don't get starry-eyed over patriotic hogwash. Except when discussing the people's right to know the GPS coordinates of Superman's fort.

As it turns out, however, the omission was intentional. "The American Way" sounds Krypto-fascist. The movie's authors are the usual moderns, serenely above rude jingo pride: "We were always hesitant to include the term 'American way' because the meaning of that today is somewhat uncertain," said co-writer Michael Dougherty. "I think when people say 'American way,' they're actually talking about what the 'American way' meant back in the '40s and '50s, which was something more noble and idealistic."

Ah. Well, in the '40s, the American Way included incinerating German cities, nuking Japan, installing occupying armies and imposing our form of government — all the while referring to the enemy with hurtful ethnic slurs. All this plus forced relocation. If these actions are deemed noble and idealistic now, it'll be a handy sentiment the next time the United States gears up for total war.

As I’m so fond of saying: it just gets better. (via Real Clear Politics)

And this is just too cool for school!

Ms. American Spy
(Sung to the tune of Don McLean's American Pie)

A short, short time ago
I can still remember
How the "Plame Game" used to make me smile
And as I read those D-Kos rants
I got a big bulge in my pants
And thought maybe we'd get "Chimpy" for awhile

But then June 12th made me shiver
Fate became an "Indian Giver"
Bad news on the Internet
Precisely what I had fret!

Oh, I remember how I cried
When I thought of Wilson's "outed" bride
Something deep within me fried
The day that Fitzmas died

So don't cry, Ms. American Spy
We'll get Libby for his fibby
And then Cheney will fry
And that smirking chimp will finally wave us goodbye
Singin', this'll be the day donkeys fly
This'll be the day donkeys fly

Without a doubt the BEST political parody I’ve read in many a moon. And you can sing along! Mr. Right gives Scrappleface and Iowahawk serious runs for their money. (h/t: Lex)

A few good reads on the Israel/Hamas/Hezbollah war. To begin, William Kristol at the Weekly Standard: “It’s Our War.” Key grafs:

WHY IS THIS ARAB-ISRAELI WAR different from all other Arab-Israeli wars? Because it's not an Arab-Israeli war. Most of Israel's traditional Arab enemies have checked out of the current conflict. The governments of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia are, to say the least, indifferent to the fate of Hamas and Hezbollah. The Palestine Liberation Organization (Fatah) isn't a player. The prime mover behind the terrorist groups who have started this war is a non-Arab state, Iran, which wasn't involved in any of Israel's previous wars.

What's happening in the Middle East, then, isn't just another chapter in the Arab-Israeli conflict. What's happening is an Islamist-Israeli war. You might even say this is part of the Islamist war on the West--but is India part of the West? Better to say that what's under attack is liberal democratic civilization, whose leading representative right now happens to be the United States.

[…]

For while Syria and Iran are enemies of Israel, they are also enemies of the United States. We have done a poor job of standing up to them and weakening them. They are now testing us more boldly than one would have thought possible a few years ago. Weakness is provocative. We have been too weak, and have allowed ourselves to be perceived as weak.

The right response is renewed strength--in supporting the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, in standing with Israel, and in pursuing regime change in Syria and Iran. For that matter, we might consider countering this act of Iranian aggression with a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Why wait? Does anyone think a nuclear Iran can be contained? That the current regime will negotiate in good faith? It would be easier to act sooner rather than later. Yes, there would be repercussions--and they would be healthy ones, showing a strong America that has rejected further appeasement.

Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey has interesting comment and links:

Lebanon asked for arab help, and the Arab League meeting is tomorrow. I can tell you what will happen right now: They will meet, drink tea, issue a resolution condeming Israel, then have lunch, then have a Press conference talking about the resolution condemening Israel, and then have dinner, and then they will go home and watch sitcoms or some shit. Lebanon, please, asking arabs to help is like asking Whitney to lay off Crack. I am sorry Doha, your fears are founded: Lebanon, unfortunately, is on its own.

And this is very interesting… From The CounterTerrorism Blog:

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated, as Hezbollah has conducted two sea strikes against an Israeli warship and an Egyptian civilian ship, possibly a cruise liner. While initial reports are stating an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was used to ram the ships, an anonymous intelligence official indicates the Egyptian ship was struck by a UAV launched antitank missile. According to the intelligence official, the Egyptian ship was hit with a Raad anti-tank missile (this is a different weapon than the Raad rockets fired against the city of Haifa.)

The two attacks occurred earlier today, as Hezbollah struck an Israeli Saar 5 navy gunship off the coast of Lebanon. Four Israeli seamen are missing and the ship has been damaged badly enough the Israeli Defense Force pulled it out of service. "It's the first time the terrorist group -- any terrorist group -- has used a drone in combat, as far as I know," said DefenseTech's Noah Schachtman. The current reports states an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle laden with explosives hit the Israeli warship.

Wretchard at The Belmont Club adds:

An attack at this distance, by night on a warship indicates a very high level of targeting skill. A capability beyond Hezbollah's own limited resources. This suggests that Iranian technical assistance to its client has been extensive and thorough. In some ways, this incident is reminiscent of the use of Saggers and integrated air defense by the Egyptian Army during the Yom Kippur War. Iran had anticipated what Israel would do and prepared for it. It is now not out of the question that Hezbollah may have MANPADs or very long range, perhaps even guided rockets. With what warheads we can only guess, but chemical is not out of the question. The stricken Israeli warship is major combatant on the scale of navies in the area. Although not sunk, it has been mission killed. This is a spectacular naval victory for Hezbollah.

But it also brings Israel and Iran closer to direct combat. With proof that advanced weapons are now in the hands of Hezbollah, it becomes absolutely impossible for Israel to consider Hezbollah in isolation from its armorers. The diplomatic efforts to date are now imperiled by this grave development.

Lefty comment on the situation, such as it is, is still very thin on the ground. I use the word “comment” loosely. Here’s a sample from Democrat Taylor Marsh:

Everyone needs to understand that the Middle East nightmare playing out before us has its roots in President Bush and his Administration not being able to make an honest case for war; cherrypicking what the Senate would have at their disposal, making sure the NIE was slapped together at the last minute, crafting whole new intelligence divisions so they could get the evidence they wanted, while systematically destroying the CIA, because the agents wouldn't give them the evidence they wanted; from Drumheller to Scheuer to Larry Johnson and far beyond, we now have the evidence.

There’s about a one-to-five relationship in Marsh’s discussion between Israel vs. Iran’s Proxies and the Lawsuit Pre-Ordained to Fail. But, hey. That’s how the Left works.

And finally…There’s this:

New York, New York (SatireNewsService) - In a stunning development that would appear to have broad implications for the independence of America's newspaper industry, New York Times Publisher, Edwin 'Pinch' Sulzberger today revealed that longtime President Bush advisor Karl Rove has been secretly running the Times' news and editorial operation for almost four years.

According to well-placed insiders on the Times' Board of Directors, a shaken Sulzberger made that announcement in a hastily convened meeting of the Board of the Times' parent company, The New York Times Corp. Sulzberger reportedly told the board that the discovery was made last week.

"During an internal investigation, we reached the regrettable conclusion that Karl Rove has been running this newspaper since at least August, 2002," Sulzberger reportedly stated. "His intention is clear - to ruin the reputation of the newspaper and the party that our editorial policy supports."

Hmmm. Makes sense to me! (via Real Clear Politics, where you can find all sorts of interesting reads!)

Interesting times.