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Liberty and Power

  • May 7, 2004

    Bush, Rumsfeld, et al.: Men for No Seasons

    by Liberty and Power

    In light of the Bush's administration's glaring lack of respect for the rule of law, these immortal words from Robert Bolt's"A Man for All Seasons" are particularly apt:

    Roper: So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!

    [Sir Thomas] More: Yes. What would you do: Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

    Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

    More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you -- where would you hide, R

  • May 7, 2004

    How Convenient

    by Liberty and Power

    It’s amusing to see conservatives, whenever it’s convenient, reach for explanations that they routinely condemn when others employ them. Case in point: Yesterday Rush Limbaugh suggested that the soldiers who posed Iraqi prisoners in sexually humiliating positions may have been influenced by what they’ve seen over the years on pornographic websites. He cites this "great piece" in National Review Online that makes this case
  • May 7, 2004

    Beginning of the Endgame at USM

    by Liberty and Power

    It's getting near checkmate for the ruthless, tyrannical administration of Shelby F. Thames, President of the University of Southern Mississippi.

    A written order to deans to violate the Mississippi Public Records law, or be fired, was a step over the cliff for Thames' carefully selected Chief Hatchet Man (er, Director of Risk Management), Jack Hanbury. As of 3:30 this afternoon, Central time, newspapers were confirming that Hanbury ha

  • May 6, 2004

    Oppressive Paternalism

    by Liberty and Power

    When I read my e-mail today two items, both very profound in their own way, came to my attention. The first one, I believe, can be seen as a comment on the characteristic of government that is rapidly developing into its most oppressive aspect, its paternalism. It is a short (1:46) film titled Bitch in the Kitchen. I cannot help it, this little movie makes me think of Senator Clinton and federalized airport
  • May 6, 2004

    The Tragedy of Colin Powell

    by Liberty and Power

    I used to think pretty highly of Colin Powell. Sure, he annoyed me with his self-righteous speechifying at the 2000 G.O.P. convention. But I always admired him as a military man who knew the cost of war and fought against cocktail-party Churchills of left and right. I loved the story about him reacting with horror when Madeline Albright demanded “What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about, if we can’t use it?”

    But his career is winding down on a note of

  • May 6, 2004

    Going All Wobbly

    by Liberty and Power

    Andrew Sullivan writes:

    BE AFRAID: Bio-chemical warfare from Islamist terrorists is, to my mind, inevitable.

    and links this article from the Washington Post.

    The article, about a sad-sack jihadi living with his Mom in France, and cooking up castor-bean poison in a coffee maker, is a good deal more pathetic than frightening:

    Benchellali's mother, Hafsa, told police she became concerned a

  • May 6, 2004

    Is Government the Source of Outsourcing?

    by Liberty and Power

    People like CNN’s Lou Dobbs who lose sleep over the “exporting” of jobs typically want the government to stop, or at least discourage, firms from seeking the lowest-cost labor consistent with their objectives. The protectionists never wonder if existing government interference in the marketplace is the very reason some so-called “outsourcing” is occurring in the first place. Jude Blanchette at the Foundation for Economic Education shows that this is indeed the ca
  • May 6, 2004

    "Our" Falluja General Says Yankees Go Home!

    by Liberty and Power

    FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - The Iraqi former general entrusted with pacifying volatile Falluja said on Thursday U.S. Marines must withdraw quickly from around the troubled town and go home so stability can be restored.

    "I want the American soldier to return to his camp. What I want more is that he returns to the United States," General Muhammad Latif told Reuters in an interview.

    Read the rest

  • May 6, 2004

    Michael Moore and Disney

    by Liberty and Power

    You would think that if someone made the same mistake twice, with disastrous results both times, they would be hesitant to do it a third time, but not our President. He keeps attempting to silence those who criticize him, however, in each case he only amplifies and energizes their attacks.

    First, he uses intimidation by the FCC and his cronies at Clear Channel Inc. to partially remove Howard Stern from the airwaves. Yet now, each and every weekday Stern spends a considerable amount of his

  • May 5, 2004

    At USM It Never Lets Up

    by Liberty and Power

    Shelby Thames, the President of the University of Southern Mississippi, is losing no chance to keep his institution in crisis, or guarantee close media attention to its troubles.

    On Monday, May 3, Thames called a breakfast meeting with the 5 academic deans and the dean of the library. The announced agenda was to"improve communication" with faculty, staff, and students, in the wake of 2 years of conflict and the crisis that Thames igni

  • May 5, 2004

    Laissez Faire in Iran

    by Liberty and Power

    Last May, I wrote:
    The lunacy of nation-building and of imposed political settlements—which have been tried over and over again in the Middle East with no long-term success—does not mean that there is no hope for the Arab world. Former Reagan administration advisor Michael Ledeen speaks of a rising revolt against theocracy in Iran, for example, among a younger
  • May 5, 2004

    The War of Ideas

    by Liberty and Power

    Walter Shapiro offers an unusually revealing account of the disparity between the stated goals of the plan to"transform the Middle East" and the realities of postwar Iraq:

    Few administration insiders rival Douglas Feith as a passionate believer in America's ability to transform Iraq into a beacon of democracy in the Middle East. Feith, the undersecretary of Defense for policy and a protég
  • May 4, 2004

    USM Administration Keeps an Embarrassing Issue Alive

    by Liberty and Power

    During the crisis at the University of Southern Mississippi, President Shelby Thames and his cronies have done an excellent job of keeping an a major source of embarrassment alive.

    When a university administrator, or anyone who enjoys the sponsorship of administrators, is caught misrepresenting his or her background or accomplishments, the top administrators normally work feverishly to ensure that the charges of misrepresentation do not get press coverage. They do not bring the

  • May 4, 2004

    HISTORICAL PARALLELS

    by Liberty and Power

    It is not surprising that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and the continuing resistance that American forces are encountering has prompted comparisons with the British in Mesopotamia (Iraq) after the First World War, the French in Algeria after the Second World War, the Americans in Vietnam, and the Israelis in the Occupied Territories. It seems to me that there is some merit in each of these historical parallels but perhaps the most telling one for American readers is the U.S. invasio
  • May 4, 2004

    Credibility Coming Home to Roost

    by Liberty and Power

    Many of us who were openly critical of the war did so not only because of our general pre-dispostion against power, but also because we knew what the practical consequences of putting American troops into an Arab country under questionable pretenses meant. In the past few days the Bush administration has certainly felt the powerful consequences of that choice.

    Iraqi prisoners being abused certainly has consequences in settling that dispute, but what impact does it have world-wide? Especi

  • May 4, 2004

    Sodomy and Sadism in Occupied Iraq

    by Liberty and Power

    Sugamo Prison, in Tokyo, was the site where Japanese war criminals, like Tojo, were held -- some for as long as the Occupation continued, until 1952.

    As part of a project, I examined the prison records and interviewed surviving American guards and their Japanese prisoners. Not one incident of cruelty to prisoners was reported. On the contrary, prison life was amazingly courteous, and both sides expressed a warmth and admiration for each other that is clearly the reverse of what we now fi

  • May 4, 2004

    Good George Will Column

    by Liberty and Power

    “Being steadfast in defense of carefully considered convictions is a virtue. Being blankly incapable of distinguishing cherished hopes from disappointing facts, or of reassessing comforting doctrines in face of contrary evidence, is a crippling political vice.”

    This is one of the killer lines from George Will’s excellent column about George Bush today in the Washington Post. I recommend it.