perfidy

John Derbyshire of the National Review has some interesting points on the ultimate fate of the artifacts that were looted from the museum in Baghdad. The gist of his argument is that those who stole the Sumerian thingies were in all likelihood museum employees, and will in all likelihhod sell the loot to western collectors, who will eventually die and leave the stuff to a museum in their will. This is a reassuring thought - the artifacts will be dispersed rather than destroyed. It won't be like the burning of the Library, or the Cultural Revolution in China.

Apparently, the French government had to beg the US to allow Chirac to have his 20 minute "business-like" conversation with Bush. Instead of enhancing their world status, France's behavior over the last several months has gotten them ostracized. They are frozen out in Washington and London, and soon, TotalFinaElf will be completely out of Iraq. Frankly, it couldn't happen to a better country.

At least, now that we have eliminated the prior regime, Iraqis now can have different opinions without being shot.

Apparently, some Iraqis are giving U.S. forces the thumbs up in the Middle Eastern cultural context, figuratively speaking. This story from the NYT describes protests against the current U.S. occupation. It also discusses Shi'ite demands for an Islamic fundamentalist government.

Huh. I recall saying many times in the past that the U.S. could open the door to just such a state. It's still unlikely, but nothing is impossible. Moreover, it seems that Iraqi opinion is quite divided on the American campaign and occupation. Some in favor, some against, some just trying to stay alive. Go figure. Some Americans protested the war, some supported it, most probably didn't care since war coverage didn't interrupt March Madness coverage, or their favorite sitcom, or what have you.

Fun Facts About Syria: 

• In a fight between Syria and Aquaman, Aquaman would win since Superman couldn't just sit there and watch Aquaman get his ass kicked.
• Military estimates say that the conquering of Syria would take months... unless, of course, you don't care about all that collateral damage crap. Then it would only take a couple hours and a few beers.
• The Syrians, unlike the Romulans, cannot turn invisible.
• Syria is not in South America. and,
• Once, while everyone was distracted with an anti-Israel rally, a bunch of monkeys staged a bloodless coup. At first, people found it funny seeing the monkeys playing around in the government's capital - that was until the monkeys started ordering mass executions of dissidents. 
   

Okay. Clarification noted.

I'm going to write a looong essay on exactly why I hate Oliver Stone.

Mike, in my post, the only editorial comment I offered was, "The quote from the station manager seems to indicate that public radio has serious problems with traditional American values like free speech." I said this because the quote from the station manager included the words, "We have a policy that eliminates or restricts the expression of personal opinion on issues of controversy." 

I did not say that NPR had no right to fire him. However, for an institution that receives substantial tax support (in addition to contributions from viewers like you) this attitude is problematical. Especially since it is hypocritical, because any number of other programs on NPR are rather, well, outspokenly liberal. 

As for Oliver Stone, I did not comment editorially on HBO's removal of the program from its schedule. I merely stated, quite clearly, that Stone should be thrown out of a window. 

I spoke most precisely. 
 

Buckethead, WELL SAID. Very, very nice. 

Speechifying 

Mike (and Bucket), both NPR and HBO are within their rights to do what they did, no matter how odius either action may be. The airing of an Oliver Stone documentary is not a free speech issue-- Stone is perfectly free to take his insane ravings to the corner of Hollywood and Vine, if he so chooses. HBO, like NPR, made an editorial decision. The First Amendment only comes in to play when someone is being barred from expressing their views in a public forum. NPR, supported as they may be by donations, still don't make the grade. I wish they hadn't fired the guy, but what more do you expect from NPR? Private companies are very different from public spaces, and the First Amendment does not apply in the same way-- just look at ol' Hootie Johnson and his Constitutionally protected right to yammer like a jackass about how the women-folk would ruin his eighteen-hole old folks' home forever. 
 

Of course one of the reasons that we no longer worry about things like faction, and other concerns of the writers of the Federalist papers (and the anti-federalists, and other founding fathers) is that their solutions to these problems rendered them moot. The Federalist Papers (arguably the most insightful discussion of politics, ever) explains why certain things were included in the new constitution, and why others were not - and reveals the depth of thought that went into the creation of our system of government. These short term solutions are the things that operate in the background, things that are so obvious that to mention them seems almost banal. But at the time, they were revolutionary, in every sense of that word. So, in a very real way, they are very long term - they are so embedded in our conception of how governments should work, that we cannot imagine a legitimate government not having them. 

The Constitution, the condensed political wisdom of the founding fathers, banished (for us) an entire array of political problems that had vexed humanity for all of history. We no longer have to worry over these things. Instead, we began to worry over the details that hovered at the fringes. Naturally, some of these were still very important. For example, once you decide that all people, in principle, are created equal, and deserve all the protection of Constitution and Bill of Rights, you are bound to have the arguments that led to the Civil War. But the essential declaration had already been made, and the Civil War, and then the Civil Rights movement merely (heh) brought the reality in line with the principle. If anything, the original Federalists rendered us silly; as we move toward (slowly, staggering drunkenly) that more perfect union, many of the things we argue about seem increasingly, well, trivial. And this is good, because it means that many of the harder issues have already been solved.