Things you shouldn't bother saying

Idaho Senator Says He Regrets Guilty Plea in Restroom Incident - New York Times: "BOISE, Idaho, Aug. 28 — Senator Larry E. Craig said Tuesday that he regretted his guilty plea in connection with an airport restroom incident, and he accused an Idaho newspaper of hounding him in recent months."

There are some phrases that carry a meaning well beyond the combination of words. One of those phrases is "I'm in charge here." Generally, if you have to say that something has happened that shows you're not in charge and you're trying to gain or regain control. "I'm not gay" is another of those phrases. If Senator Craig hadn't just recently entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor disorderly conduct he'd be holding a press conference on the importance of traditional family values instead proclaiming his heterosexuality.

The article quotes Senate Republican leadership as saying it's "a serious matter." I beg to differ. Iraq is a serious matter. The deficit is a serious matter. The public shaming of a hypocrite is not a serious matter. The public shaming of a hypocrite is more like an entertaining diversion before getting back to business.

Moral gymnastics

Bush Rationale on Libby Stirs Legal Debate - New York Times: "In commuting I. Lewis Libby Jr.’s 30-month prison sentence on Monday, President Bush drew on the same array of arguments about the federal sentencing system often made by defense lawyers — and routinely and strenuously opposed by his own Justice Department."

I'm personally upset about two facets of this case. The first is the failure to indict Carl Rove. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was actually convicted of interfering with the leak investigation. Mr. Libby was not the source of the leak. There is credible evidence that Carl Rove was the source of the leak. Somehow, Carl Rove hasn't been indicted.

The second upsetting facet is the government's schizophrenia on sentencing guidelines. Victor A. Rita, a veteran of two wars, obstructed a federal investigation into the possible violation of gun registration laws. Mr. Rita was sentenced under the same guidelines as Mr. Libby. While Mr. Rita did commit a crime, his crime pales in comparison to ending the career of a CIA officer who hunted weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Rita appealed his sentence all the way to the Supreme Court saying it was unnecessarily harsh. The Justice Department filed a friend of the court brief defending the federal sentencing guidelines. Those would be the guidelines that president Bush said were excessive in the case of Mr. Libby.

For those of you who have lost track of the Valerie Plame case, I recommend going to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The one statement that isn't there is the president's press secretary, Scott McClellan's statement that: "... if someone commits a crime, they're not going to be working any longer in this administration." Those are good words. That's an appropriate standard for government service at the highest levels. Sadly, I think they're just words. I think Carl Rove endangered Valerie Plame, her sources and our country for political ends and I think he's gotten away with it.

House Elf has Delusions of Grandeur

‘I’m a pure and absolute democrat. It’s a tragedy that I’m the only one’ News World Europe TimesOnline: "“Of course, I am a pure and absolute democrat,” he said. “But you know what the problem is – not a problem, a real tragedy – that I am alone. There are no such pure democrats in the world. Since Mahatma Gandhi, there has been no one.”"

I was going to say that President Putin has more in common with Dobby the House Elf than Mahatma Ghandi, but Dobby had good intentions and Vladimir Putin does not.

Russia is not obliged to be a Jeffersonian democracy. There's no single perfect system of government that all countries must adopt. But Russia's government, in whatever form it takes, must be responsive to the needs of the people and take care that the people possess the means to assert those needs.

I would think that freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and some form of an elected government would be the standard for any first world country.

Vladimir Putin disagrees.

Vladimir Putin is the guy who closed an opposition newspaper. [here]

Vladimir Putin is the guy who closed the last independent television station in Russia. [here]

Vladimir Putin is the guy who had an opposition leader arrested before a political rally. [here]

Vladimir Putin is the guy who banned direct election of governors as a "counter-terrorism" measure. [here]

If one standard is good then two standards must be better

BBC NEWS | Europe | Putin warns Europe in missile row: "Moscow may target weapons at Europe if the US builds planned missile defence facilities in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said."

I like to pretend I know everything, but I don't. One of the things that I don't know is how missiles attained their special status. We have tanks, and we have anti-tank weapons. We have combat aircraft and we have anti-aircraft weapons. We have ballistic missiles and somehow anti-missile technologies are destabilizing.

Russia is upset about anti-missile technology because the Strategic Rocket Forces are the only remaining component of Russian armed forces that anyone respects. Anything that reduces the threat of their ICBMs directly reduces Russia's perceived military might.

There are two countries with deployed Anti-Ballistic Missile systems. The United States is one, and Russia is the other. That's the same Russia that goes nuts anytime anybody else tries to field a defensive system. Apparently Russia is the only country that has the right to defend their soil.

The Bay Area Reporter Online | Defender of abstinence resigns amid allegations of prostitution

The Bay Area Reporter Online | Defender of abstinence resigns amid allegations of prostitution: "One of the primary defenders of the Bush administration's international abstinence only until marriage HIV prevention program has resigned after his personal cell phone number turned up on the list of a high class escort service.

Randall L. Tobias, 65, was the former head of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and was named to lead the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief initiative in July 2003. He was put in charge of all international assistance programs for the U.S. government in January 2006."

Tobias has actually enforced a policy requiring contractors and grantees to condemn prostitution. This has quite naturally hampered the ability of these organizations to reach out to prostitutes. Prostitutes like the people he himself patronized.