Pejman Yousefzadeh makes a great point regarding myopic pettiness and the Iraqi elections:

Those who deride this expression of defiance and this irrevocable march towards freedom will themselves be derided by history--and rightfully so. No one thinks for a moment that Iraq's challenges have come to an end, but for all of the obstacles placed in the way of the Iraqis, this day represents a smashing triumph. In the meantime, let us have a laugh at our would-be President [John Effin Kerry], who showed himself today to be petty and unqualified to speak of and to our better selves as a nation--or of and to our values abroad.

My thoughts exactly.

Consanguinity defines the degree of relationship between persons who descend from a common ancestor. A parent and child are related by lineal consanguinity, aunts and uncles to nieces and nephews by collateral consanguinity.

Ginny, at the ChicagoBoyz website dwells on an interesting subject as it relates to Iraq: Consanguinity, anyone?

Mark Twain’s description of the Grangerford/Shepherdson feud and James Webb’s Born Fighting take different perspectives on a tough, independent strain central to American culture. The Grangerfords give honor to Pilgrim’s Progress and Henry Clay’s speeches; they decorate with Highland Marys and graveyard art. Their religion (predestination and brotherly love, while the guns are left at the door) echoes that hardy angularity Webb likes. But, of course, gone wrong, this can also produce a feud of honor over a pig. Gone wrong, it isn’t honor but tribalism. Faulkner, a writer of mythic and complex sensibility, appreciated the power of the passion that underlies such feuds, one he describes as “the old fierce pull of blood.” He counters it with the great ability western thought encourages: an ability to see the “other” as human, (as, indeed, burning with a spark of divinity). This leads us to transcend our blood loyalties, move from revenge to justice, from blood loyalty to national loyalty. Seeing all others as our brothers - ah, that is the great gift our tradition has given us. Webb sees the broader, more self-conscious and rational values that also permeate that tradition. But that primal urge, that fierce pull of blood, is always a part of us, a prioritizing we cannot help but feel.

The power of the tribal loyalty Twain captures was fresh on my mind when I happened upon “Cousin Marriage Conundrum". Steve Sailor argues that “the ancient practice [of consanguinty] discourages democratic nation-building.”

Maybe, maybe not. History is going to start answering that question.

On a related note, many folks that I know are absolutely shocked to learn that first cousins may legally marry in the state of Florida. But they can. Check out section 741.21, Florida Statutes.

Thanks to Ed Driscoll for linking to the Forbes slideshow on "The Bubble Bowl" that was Super Bowl 34.

Seems like a long time ago.

You have to check out these billboards that will soon go up in Southern California:

Billboard Number 1:

Billboard Number 2:

That’s what I call tweaking them where it hurts.

TMLutas gets it right about Peggy Noonan – garbage cans & pressure cookers, Peggy?

I think that Peggy Noonan almost gets things right in her current column on the President's 2nd inaugural. Unfortunately almost doesn't count and she errs seriously in how she views 3rd world dictatorships.

Here is an unhappy fact: Certain authoritarians and tyrants whose leadership is illegitimate and unjust have functioned in history as--ugly imagery coming--garbage-can lids on their societies. They keep freedom from entering, it is true. But when they are removed, the garbage--the freelance terrorists, the grievance merchants, the ethnic nationalists--pops out all over. Yes, freedom is good and to be strived for. But cleaning up the garbage is not pretty. And it sometimes leaves the neighborhood in an even bigger mess than it had been.

This is something of a mixed metaphor because garbage cans are not normally under pressure. You may get an increase in odor if you remove a lid, but not a messy explosion. The contents of the garbage can are generally inert.

 

This is not so in those dictatorships. The tyrants are more lids on pressure cookers than garbage can lids. This makes a big difference because in a pressure cooker, it is the lid that creates the danger.

He later on notes:

We can choose to help keep the lid on and get hurt by the shrapenel when we fail or we can help pop the lid off in a controlled way and expand our capability of cleaning up the inevitable little messes that result. In some cases, the cleanup crew will mostly be wearing a uniform. In many other cases, it will not.

 

I am hopeful that in a future speech, President Bush will make it clear that freedom is not a state that is limited to promotion by political action, that economic and social freedom are equal actors in the struggle to liberate the world. There was a bit of that in his speech but most seem to have missed commenting on it much. The assumption among the commentariat is that a political actor was talking about political freedom but Bush himself did not make any such distinction.

 

In Peggy Noonan's "garbage can" world, her solution makes a very adult sort of sense. We do not actually live in that world but a more complicated one where the clock is running on a problem that she does not seem to recognize. I too, hope for a "Return to Planet Earth" headline soon but the character who is returning is somewhat different.

Yeah, I find her apparent inability to recognize that we don’t actually live in that world she presupposes curious as well. So it goes.

TMLutas also gets it right about the Boston Globe’s proper take on the Shia slate of candidates in Iraq. Check that out, too.

The struggle for the Democratic Party in the South continues. Here is the North Carolina example:

In one corner, the establishment:

ED TURLINGTON
RESIDENCE: Grew up in Sampson County. Lives in Raleigh.

AGE: 47

OCCUPATION: Attorney with Tharrington Smith. Law partner of former state party Chairman Wade Smith and former law partner with former Sen. John Edwards. Also works as a lobbyist. Among his clients last year were the N.C. Association of Broadcasters, the N.C. Association of Convenience Store Owners, Lucent Technologies Inc., Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association and Time Warner.

POLITICAL RESUME: State director for the Mondale-Ferraro campaign in 1984; executive director of state Democratic Party, 1985-86; special assistant to U.S. Sen. Terry Sanford, 1986-87; chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Bob Jordan, 1987-89; aide on Sen. Joe Biden's 1988 presidential campaign; Gov. Jim Hunt's chief of staff, 1993-96; Hunt's campaign manager, 1996; aide to former Sen. Bill Bradley, 1997-99; deputy campaign manager for Bradley's presidential campaign, 1999-2000; general chairman of Edwards' presidential campaign, 2003-2004, state co-chairman of the Kerry-Edwards campaign, 2004.

In another corner, the insurgency:

JERRY MEEK
RESIDENCE: Grew up in Fayetteville, recently moved to Raleigh.

AGE: 34

OCCUPATION: Plaintiffs attorney who works with Wade Byrd of Fayetteville, one of the state's best-known trial lawyers.

POLITICAL RESUME: At age 17 was the youngest delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988. Was Cumberland County Democratic chairman at age 25. Elected the state party's first vice chairman in 2003.

Bet on the insurgent. Democrats have lost their minds and will follow the trial lawyers right over the cliff. Although John Edwards is a trial lawyer, he’s clearly an establishment guy and something of an anomaly. If the Democrats in North Carolina are having this kind of monumental battle, with folks loyal to Howard Dean fairing well, the Democrats are in deep, deep trouble. And have yet to hit rock bottom.

From the Mail & Guardian in South Africa:

  Zanzibar  No more jail time for Zanzibar’s young mothers

  Burundi  SA deputy president’s advice to Burundi’s president

  Côte d’Ivoire  Ivorian opposition wants UN to organise elections

  Swaziland  Poor turnout for Swaziland strike

  Zimbabwe   ‘Zimbabwe is not a banana republic’

  Uganda  Regional drought sparks energy shortage in Uganda

  Zimbabwe  Zimbabwe sculptors struggle with sales

  Somalia  Gunmen want mosque at desecrated cemetery

  Burundi  Burundi’s neighbours oppose constitutional change

  Zimbabwe  MDC: ‘Damned if we do ...’

  Burundi  Burundi to hold referendum in February

  Côte d’Ivoire  Mbeki meets rebel leader from Côte d’Ivoire

  Ethiopia  Ethiopia to provide free anti-retrovirals

  Democratic Republic of Congo  New bid to set DRC election date

  Swaziland  Swaziland’s Aids orphans still a contentious issue

  Democratic Republic of Congo  Little optimism over DRC peace process

  Malawi  Malawi judges go on strike for 4x4s

  Kenya  Kenya wildlife deal ‘against all ethics of welfare’

  Rwanda  Genocide film premieres in Kigali

  Côte d’Ivoire  Côte d’Ivoire’s air force flies again

  Africa  Scourge of polio returns to Africa

  Ivory Coast  Mbeki holds talks in Ivory Coast

  Zimbabwe  MDC worried about Zimbabwe’s election body

And here’s an item from the HAVE WE HEARD THIS STORY BEFORE department.

‘All they ever do is make promises to Africa’

While the world’s richest and most powerful meet in the snowcapped mountains of Switzerland to lament Africa’s dead and starving, the people here advise them to save their breath -- they’ve heard it all before. "It should not be just talk, talk, but do, do something," said Charles Davies, a newspaper editor in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Yes, we’ve heard this before. From both sides.

The Washington Post has an interesting review of Essie Mae Washington-Williams and her new book, Dear Senator. Written by an academic, it is (of course) negative:

This is all pretty gauzy stuff. "Dear Senator" shows no concern about Thurmond's inappropriate, abusive appropriation of a vulnerable young household servant; instead, it offers only the hearts-and-flowers version of the story. (The corner of each page is adorned with a curlicued ribbon, lest readers have any doubt that this memoir should be read as a romance novel.)

Okay, the woman has affection for her father. I’m not shocked by that. In fact, I’m quite sympathetic to the woman.

What I’m sure, however, will be more problematic for black people is this review from the capital of South Carolina in The State:

“Dear Senator” is intimate, historic, gripping and gossipy.

The memoir by Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the long-secret biracial daughter of the late Strom Thurmond, also is a good read for the classroom or the beach.

The new 223-page book is, first of all, the universal story of a castoff child. Youthful rejects — Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Shakespeare’s Cordelia, even J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter — make for page turners.

Most readers, however, will view “Dear Senator” as a lifelong journey into a Southern Gothic netherworld, with dueling white-black mind-sets.

That, per se, isn’t the problematic part. The Washington Post piece seems to be from a stereotypically black perspective [black female professor at D.C. university], The State piece seems to be from a stereotypically white perspective – that’s just my personal bias.

Here, however, is the problematic part (not for me but I’m sure for others) of the review in South Carolina and it is (especially) the very last sentence in the review that will truly get the gums to bumping and phone lines humming:

Washington-Williams writes her children persuaded her to write her memoirs to tell the truth about her life. She also acknowledges plans to contest Thurmond’s will played a role in her going public. She hired a high-powered lawyer to fight the Thurmond family if they denied her relation.

Old Strom would have understood. He was a fighter, too.

Despite a long life in the Thurmond family closet, Washington-Williams is not bitter. Instead, she claims her dual heritage with gusto.

“I am every bit as white as I am black, and it is my full intention to drink the nectar of both goblets.”

Well.

Well, well, well. I’m with you Essie Mae – I really am. But you can bet your bottom dollar that last line ain’t going to go down well with black people. Not. At. All.

What a fantastic take-down of the self-evident bias of the New York Times editorial pages from Captain's Quarters today.

The Times gave me its answer today, and quite frankly, I don't see how Mr. Rosenthal thinks that this is any kind of defense. In fact, when looking further into their editorial, it loses even more credibility and looks more like shabby ankle-biting all the time.

I agree. In fact, it looks like a textbook case demonstrating that the supposed “paper of record” is anything but.

If you read nothing else today regarding the War in Iraq, read Austin Bay's post from yesterday.

This week’s column is available at StrategyPage. The column expands on a couple of points I made in a recent post about the Iraqi elections, Bush’s “democracy on the offensive” strategy, and “technological compression.” Bill Buckley’s and Peggy Noonan’s tepid responses to Bush’s speech have troubled many readers. Buckley and Noonan have either missed or ignored the political challenges of instant global communications, rapid intercontinental transportation, and weapons of mass destruction. (They aren’t the only ones.) The consequence of transportation and communication: we all live next door to one another. The consequence of advanced mass destruction weaponry: a small group can kill millions of innocents. How do we craft a strategy, an integrative, implementable political vision, that accomodates this technology but protects the freedom of expression, the freedom of movement, all of the freedoms Americans cherish and demand? My column lays out the strategic case.

Technology, Liberty and Terror. That man is on to something. And I love Peggy Noonan but I do think he nails it regarding her column last summer and her response to the inaugural address. I also think some Reaganites (subconsciously) are responding to Bush possibly superceding Reagan.

This post by Austin Bay also demonstrates one of the beauty of blogs – reader interaction. One of his commenters talked about the Bush Honeypot Doctrine and linked to this column from the McDonough Heritage Group.

Bin Laden’s vision of luring the Americans into the mountains of Afghanistan where he hoped to relive the glory days of the mujahadeen defeat of the Russians has been utterly dashed by President Bush. Of course the Americans could have set up their jihadi honeypot in Afghanistan but they took notes during the 1980s while the Russians got pranged in the mountains and Pentagon planners knew that repeating the experience would not be very clever.

Oh, the Americans came to Afghanistan alright, but then they did something that bin Laden and all his 7th century “masterminds” couldn’t imagine: after swabbing the deck with the Taliban, the Yanks marched into the heart of the dar al-Islam, planted the Stars & Stripes, poked the jihadis in the eye with a sharp stick, and announced that they are here to stay awhile. This doctrine is straight out of Clausewitz and Sun Tzu.

So now when bin Laden calls out to his ummah to take up arms and join the jihad to meet the Infidel army head-on, instead of traveling to the Afghani mountains, they are obligated to seek their destiny in Iraq. The terrain in Iraq, whether it be the hard-pan desert or the primitive mud and cinderblock urban settings, is an American general’s dreamscape.

That truly sums it up.

Collin May has a provocative point of view on what the recent Tsunami proves regarding future American policy (Hat tip to Instapundit):

The first was the now notorious comment by Jan Egeland, responsible for coordinating United Nations humanitarian efforts, to the effect that the developed world was “stingy.” Whatever his intention by making these remarks, they certainly reflect the old UN's heavily bureaucratic attitude which assumes that the UN alone, as a pseudo-government, can deal with “global problems.” And of course, in the UN’s eyes, every problem requires a “global” response.

 

Egeland’s comment also reflects a certain European view that contends that the state, and in this case a universal state, should be responsible for the welfare of humanity. Not surprisingly, this view is not shared by the United States, which looks far more to private and community-based actions to resolve social problems. Given this context, Egeland’s complaint was seen as most directly attacking the United States. And if you’ve worked in the UN/NGO community you’d know that this sort of assumption would not be wholly off the mark.

 

This leads us to the second event. While American diplomats derided Egeland’s slip of the tongue, the US engaged in an activity that said far more than any words could regarding the new international order. Without any concern for the UN, the US proceeded to set up a core group of nations to deal with the disaster. Partners in the group were Australia, Japan and India. It is this alliance that will matter most to the US in the future. The four big Pacific democracies, three with strong Anglo-Saxon histories, will most likely develop into the central alliance of the twenty-first century.

May concludes with an acknowledgment that the United States (under the leadership of President Bush – although this is unstated, it is understood) has delivered a quite firm message:

The United Nations, which has long been a forum for anti-American, as well as anti-Israeli rhetoric, was being told to shape up or it would simply become as irrelevant in humanitarian affairs as it was in military ones. Apparently this is a message that was communicated to Annan by some high-profile friends of the UN, who have been warning him that the UN without American goodwill is nothing, and that the UN had better make some changes to get that good will back. So even this organization, one the French thought they might be able to use against the US during the Iraq war, was now finding itself having to adapt to the new realities of international affairs.

 

And, as if to reinforce the point that the formation of the core group was intended more as a political lesson than an actual working proposal on the aid front, the group quickly turned over authority for the humanitarian operation to a now chastened United Nations when international donors met in Jakarta. It is unlikely that comments about the “stingy” developed world will be heard again soon. But look for the core group, the big four alliance, with its strong British heritage, to pop up again, as it will most likely be the key political alliance of this century, presenting a sharp contrast to the European approach to democracy.

So much for counterproductive American unilateralism. Thank you, Mr. President.

The Orlando Sentinel has the news:

In producing a television movie of her favorite love story, Oprah Winfrey lined up good friend Halle Berry to star, entrusted the script to a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and lavished attention on the project.

Yet the talk-show queen has a long-term hope for Their Eyes Were Watching God, the film of the 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston, Eatonville's most celebrated resident.

"My goal is to get as many people to see it as possible and to elevate Zora Neale Hurston," Winfrey says. "If two weeks after the film Zora Neale Hurston's name is on the best-seller list, we would have won."

Oscar-winner Berry takes the central role of Janie Crawford, whose search for fulfillment takes place in Central Florida. The film will air from 9 to 11:30 p.m. March 6 on ABC.

Way to go, Oprah.

Finally, some Democrats are fed up in this state:

Pro-guns, pro-business, pro-family and patriotic — sound like the GOP?

Nope, it's the Mainstream Democrats, a group of Florida lawmakers touting personal responsibility, morals, patriotism and efficient government to woo back voters in a state where Republicans dominate politics on all but the local levels.

Good luck to you but I’m afraid it’s too little, too late to reverse their well-earned status as the minority party in Florida. Still, we need a responsible party on the other side that’s willing to say to its’ constituents certain hard facts that they need to hear.

Get on with it. And for a start, start staking out positions that allow you to deal with this mess in Orange County.

Arthur Chrenkoff has a great, informative post on the upcoming Iraqi elections and lists the leading political parties (and their formation, in and of itself, is a great American success story) and provides this list of links for further perspectives:

BBC: “Iraq election: Likely candidates”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: “Analysis: Campaign Season Under Way In Iraq”

The Daily Star: “New political landscape emerges in Iraq”

Live from Dallas: “Announced Iraqi political coalitions”

Healing Iraq blog: