Flit

OH COME ON QUICK, LIGHTEN

OH COME ON QUICK, LIGHTEN UP

I think this actually might have been the funniest Bill Cosby has been in decades.

OUR ANDREW HAS GOOD DAYS,

OUR ANDREW HAS GOOD DAYS, AND BAD DAYS

Ayman Zuwahiri, the alleged mastermind behind Al Qaeda and Bin Laden's right hand, was in California? Twice? Since 1995? Now THAT would be a story. But to believe it without comment just shows Andy Sullivan's gullibility.

On the other hand, he did come up with the interesting factoid today that anti-Semitic British professor Mona Baker is actually an Egyptian emigre. Didn't know THAT before...

THIS IS AN AWFUL COLUMN

THIS IS AN AWFUL COLUMN

The Star's American "expert" Stephen Handelman writes about the ICC dispute, and tries to be so even-handed he's incoherent. He's spinning around on the issue so fast, it's a wonder he didn't drill his little bald head into the ground:

There's no argument with those who say the Bush administration's attempt this month to sabotage the court before it even gets off the ground is simply wrongheaded, if not dangerous.

but...

It's bad enough when Washington fails to use its power for good aims, such as stopping the Rwandan genocide. How much worse might it be if Washington considers itself paralyzed by threat of prosecution?

but on the other hand...

Perhaps Washington does need to be curbed by moral, judicial and political opinion outside its borders -- in its anticipated war with Iraq, for instance -- but any hint the ICC will be used for that purpose is a deal-breaker. It would also make the world a less safe place.

Translation: the Americans are bad people. The international court could make them better people, or maybe worse people. But they're still bad people to oppose it. In conclusion...

In an imperfect world, neither Washington nor its critics have much choice [but to work with the ICC].

Washington has no choice? Why? Will the space aliens come down and force them to accept the ICC? Seems Washington has all the choice in the world on this issue.

PS: Why put quote marks around the "world" in "world court"? It reminded me of Dr. Evil putting air-quotes around "laser" and "time machine" in The Spy Who Shagged Me.

HAS ARIEL SHARON FINALLY LOST

HAS ARIEL SHARON FINALLY LOST HIS MIND?

First, supporting legislation to close off 90 per cent of Israeli land to Arab ownership on Monday was... look, I don't want to say it but there's really no other word for it... Naziesque (link). Now we hear from the Times (via Marshall) that his government has evicted the leading Palestinian moderate from Jerusalem for... what, exactly? Not advocating complete capitulation? I'm afraid it all only confirms my belief that the current Israeli leader and his followers are just as much an obstacle to any kind of progress as the Palestinian ones.

GOOD PIECE ON CANADIAN SNIPERS

GOOD PIECE ON CANADIAN SNIPERS IN AFGHANISTAN

In a separate incident, Bill and James found themselves looking up at a large dark object screaming out of the sky directly above them.

It was a 220-kilogram American bomb.

"We hit the deck and covered our heads with our hands," said James.

The bomb landed 30 metres away, nose in, and never went off.

Bill and James looked at each other in disbelief.

"By the grace of God, it was a dud," said Bill. "It landed 15 metres from the B company (U.S. 101st Airborne Division) trenches. A guy got up, walked out of the trench and kicked the thing."

From the Globe and Mail (link)

UM, NORMALLY WHEN YOU GET

UM, NORMALLY WHEN YOU GET A CONFESSION, DON'T YOU STOP LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE?

Slate's Jack Shafer was praised by Eric Alterman today for stating that there was still no forensic evidence that Palestinian terror bombers had put rat poison in their bombs (Alterman, in perhaps an unfortunate turn of phrase for an article whose subject recalls shredded human flesh, says Shafer "makes mincemeat" of the idea):

We so want to believe that the Palestinians are stinking up their bombs with rat poison that we won't even ask for evidence.

Earlier in the article, however, Shafer does write:

AP reported that Hamas had taken credit for planting poisonous bombs, including the rat poison bomb.

Okay, so either Hamas is using rat poison, or wishes they world thinks they did. Exactly how are we defaming the terrorists, again? By believing them?

I WISH I love Matt

I WISH

I love Matt Welch AND his hat, but he's dead wrong here:

It remains to be seen how Bush's once-reassuring tagline as America's "first MBA president" will sound after more and more of his CEO pals are dragged off in shackles for the mammoth accounting cover-ups that have been battering the stock market almost every day.

In shackles? Name one. None of the obvious suspects, from Jane Garvey and Louis Freeh on down lost a day's pay for their errors leading up to Sept. 11... what possible reason does anyone have to believe any CEO's going to do time on a stock swindle? In America? Not a chance. No, add this to my list of Nostradamite predictions:

1) Yasir Arafat will die in bed;
2) The Americans will never invade Iraq; and now
3) Not a single senior executive from Enron, WorldCom, or Arthur Andersen will ever see a day in jail.

In a perfect world, the likes of Matt Welch would be running things in the States. But he's not, and odds are no one with his integrity ever will.