Irish Trojan in Tennessee

What about Zimbabwe?

By Brendan Loy

TNR's James Kirchick asks an intriguing question: "Will the Candidates Recognize Morgan Tsvangirai as President of Zimbabwe?"

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, is the legitimately elected president of Zimbabwe. Or at least he should be. He won that country's presidential election (and his party won its parliamentary election) on March 29th, a victory that has been denied to him and his colleagues over the past three months as Robert Mugabe has murdered nearly 100 opposition supporters, tortured many more, and driven thousands from their homes. A week after the election, the Zimbabwean junta announced that Tsvangirai did not win an outright majority, thus forcing a runoff scheduled for this Friday. On Sunday, however, Tsvangirai announced that he was dropping out of the election, stating that "we cannot stand there and watch people being killed for the sake of power."

So here's a question for Senators Obama and McCain. Back in April, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer declared Tsvangirai the winner of the March 29th election, and certified that he won over 50% of the vote. Recognition of him as the duly elected president of Zimbabwe -- with all of the diplomatic measures that would imply, specifically spelled out today in a New York Sun editorial -- should have been forthcoming, yet the State Department has been reluctant to go that far. With Tsvangirai hiding in the Dutch Embassy for fear of his life, will either of you call upon the United States to recognize him as the elected president of Zimbabwe?

Sounds good to me. But wouldn't that constitute "regime change"?

AP: Panic!!!

By Brendan Loy

The Associated Press says everything seemingly is spinning out of control.

I blame George Bush the media global warming Al Gore the Clintons illegal immigrants Barack Hussein Obama teh gays the Jews Karl Rove Halliburton Canada.

Large fire, possible explosion at Universal Studios

By Brendan Loy

Yikes:

More than 100 Los Angeles-area firefighters are battling a large fire on a back lot at Universal Studios, fire authorities said.

There were also reports of an explosion in the Southern California amusement park, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Frank Reynoso.

The three-alarm blaze began about 4:45 a.m. PT (7:45 a.m. ET) Sunday and reportedly damaged two "prop" buildings, including a chapel, and a popular ride called the "Cyclone," Reynoso said.

"It will be awhile before we have it under control," he said.

Television footage showed the blaze burning through the roofs of structures at the park and large plumes of smoke.

Firefighters were dropping water on the blaze from helicopters.

"We don't know what the cause of this is," Reynoso said.

Reynoso said he heard reports that filming may have been going on when the fire broke out.

CNN TV said something about the "film vault" burning.

Invade Burma?

By Brendan Loy

Last weekend, there was an interesting discussion in comments here on the blog about the merits of forcably bringing humanitarian aid to the people of Burma/Myanmar, the junta be damned. Now the New Yorker's George Packer ponders the same question, asking, "Should Burma Be Saved from Itself?" He writes:

Forcing the regime to let the rest of the world save its people would have a devastating effect on morale. Burma’s leaders are so isolated and irrational that they actually believe their own propaganda about being the only group that can hold the country together. It’s possible that the junta would collapse out of sheer humiliation. It’s also possible, though it seems unlikely to me, that Burmese military units would be ordered to engage the foreigners. Shots might be fired, people might be killed. No one knows what will happen if British sailors and American airmen arrive on soggy Burmese soil. Hanging over the question is, of course, Iraq. No one expects an intervention to go smoothly anymore; now we expect it to go terribly wrong. I doubt the American, British, French, Australian, and other governments, with or without U.N. consent, will decide to invade Burma with boxes of oral rehydration kits and high-energy biscuits. But if the fear of Baghdad and Falluja is what keeps foreign powers from saving huge numbers of Burmese from their own government’s callousness, that will be one more tragic consequence of the Iraq war.

On the other hand, if it’s going to be done, it should be done quickly. I know all the arguments why we shouldn’t. But there are at least a million counterarguments why we should.

Andrew Sullivan links to Packer's piece, and explicitly jumps on the bandwagon with the title, "Invade Burma, Please." He writes: "A brief, decisive international effort to reach the starving and sick seems important to me. If it helps demystify this vile regime, great. But in its demonstration of humanity, it is also a great way for the US to enhance its soft power in the developing world."

Discuss.

P.S. Meanwhile, Dr. Jeff Masters notes that the seasonal monsoon rains are rapidly approaching the Irrawaddy Delta.

So, you think YOU had a lousy day?

By Jay Johnson

I'd say that this guy has had it just a bit worse than you likely have.

Phoenix UFOs were elaborate prank

By Brendan Loy

Heh:

A Phoenix man says he caused the red light display that mystified thousands of people as it floated across the north Phoenix sky Monday night.

The man, who did not want to be identified, said he used fishing line to attach road flares to helium-filled balloons, then lit the flares and launched them a minute apart from his back yard. He said he believed turbulence created by a passing jet caused the balloons to move around.

Best! Prank! Ever!

P.S. But what about the Florida UFOs? Was this a coordinated, two-state prank?

UPDATE: Apparently the Florida lights were caused by sky lanterns released from an Asian wedding.

Or, you know, aliens. One or the other.

UFOs attack Arizona, Florida

By Brendan Loy

I, for one, welcome our new unexplained light formation overlords. (See also here.)

As does Matt Drudge, apparently:

Heh. EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

P.S. Suggested new Hillary Clinton attack ad: "Is Barack Obama READY to protect us from UFOs???"

Quote of the day

By Brendan Loy

"Freedom of expression is absolutely a human right but there are small limitations." --Jacques Rogge, International Olympic Committee president, explaining the IOC's rule against "propaganda" at the Olympics, which may limit athletes' ability to express opinions about the raging controversy over Tibet and related protests.

(Sorry, Doc. Hey, at least I wanted until March Madness was over.)

Mexico conquers U.S. ... in vodka ad

By Brendan Loy

I guess this means Lou Dobbs will be switching to Stoli:

Obligatory outrage here, here and here. And more links here.

My reaction? It's a vodka ad, people.

War in South America?

By Brendan Loy

The Colombia-Venezuela War of 2008? Oh, great.

UPDATE: Make that the Colombia-Venezuela-Ecuador War of 2008. More here, here and here.

Military snubs American plane maker

By David K.

The Air Force announced today that it has chosen Northrup Grumman, which is partnering with European airplane manufacturer Airbus -- rather than Boeing -- for its new fleet of mid-air refueling planes.

We're heading into an economic recession -- oh I'm sorry, I mean slowdown -- our ballooning national debt is being financed predominantly by Chinese banks, and now the Air Force is going to be sending billions of our tax dollars to Airbus.  I'm all for international trade and cooperation, but there'd better be some significant advantages to the Grumman/Airbus offering over the Boeing offering to justify this.

CNN Breaking News

By CNN

Massive power outage hits Central and South Florida.

UPDATE BY BRENDAN: The outage was apparently caused by a nuclear power plant shutting down -- or possibly vice versa. Quoth the AP:

Florida's largest electric company shut down a nuclear reactor south of Miami for safety reasons Tuesday, causing sporadic power outages covering large portions of the state that could last well into the night. More than 3 million people are affected, the state says.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that the two Florida Power & Light nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point power point 30 miles south of Miami automatically shut down. ...

"We don't know whether the grid disturbance caused the units to shut down or that their shut down caused the grid disturbance," said Kenneth Clark, a spokesman at the NRC regional office in Atlanta. He said the two reactors were automatically shut down and in safe standby.

"There are no safety concerns. The reactors shut down as designed," said Clark in a telephone interview.

Federal officials say there's no indication terrorism is involved.

The Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, Palm Beach Post and St. Petersburg Times have more.

UPDATE 2: Lending credence to the "vice versa" theory (i.e., that "the grid disturbance caused the [nuclear] units to shut down" rather than "their shut down caused the grid disturbance"), the Palm Beach Post says "a 'massive equipment failure' just after 1 p.m. at an FPL substation in Miami-Dade County caused the massive power outages that affected parts of the state today, an FPL spokesman said." FPL stands for Florida Power & Light.

"There has been a major equipment failure at the FPL transmission substation in South Florida that has caused major transmission imbalances throughout the state," Public Service Commission spokeswoman Bev Demello said today.

Something caused the protective tripping mechanisms of some generating units to activate, which has caused rotating blackouts, she said.

I don't think "FPL transmission substation" and "nuclear power plant" are synonymous, so it appears we have conflicting explanations here. Lending further credence to this interpretation: the Post's website has a separate headline stating, "Nuclear plant affected." Cause and effect are different, so I assume they're saying the plant didn't cause it, but was merely affected by it.

Personally, I blame some combination of butterfly ballots, Raul Castro, and Hillary Clinton, not necessarily in that order.

P.S. Oh, and Canada. Always Blame Canada.

The Honorable Tom Lantos, z"l

By Joe Loy

The only Shoah survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Tom Lantos of California, has died at the age of 80.

A passionate fighter for human rights ~ from age 16 when he escaped the deathcamp and joined the underground Resistance, until the day he died ~ this irreplaceable man will be sorely missed by all who love freedom.

Zichrono Livracha: May his memory be a blessing.

Fire on the Vegas strip

By Brendan Loy

Whoa! Not sure where the CNN Breaking News alert is on this, but Las Vegas's iconic Monte Carlo casino/hotel is on fire. "The fire, which was reported around [2 p.m. EST], was spreading from the center section of the hotel across the roof. Flaming embers fell to the street below." Live video here.

UPDATE: The fire is reportedly contained.

Sir Edmund Hillary: 1919-2008

By David K.

Renowned explorer and perhaps the world's most famous New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary, has passed away after suffering a heart attack. He was 88 years old.

Hillary -- along with his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay -- were the first two men known to have reached the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest peak on Earth. They achieved this feat on May 29, 1953. Hillary was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II shortly after completing the climb and continued to explore, climbing a number of other mountains as well as traveling to both the North and South poles.

He continued to have a strong friendship with the Sherpa people throughout his life, at one point being given an honorary Nepalese citizenship. He participated in philanthropic work in the region as well helping raise money to build hospitals and schools.

Flags in New Zealand are being flown at half staff in his honor, as well as at Scott Base, a New Zealand-operated Antarctic research station Hillary was involved in. A state funeral is being planned in his honor as well.

Morality research

By Mike Wiser

Time has a very interesting poll about morality at the moment.  Please go look at it first; it will take you less than 5 minutes to answer it.

(waiting for you to go answer the poll questions)

(no, really, go do so)

(Please?)

I'd heard about this poll before, but this time I get to see the exact scenarios laid out.  My answers, for those who are interested, are: yes, yes, yes, no, no.

In the first scenario, the baby's crying will lead to not only my death, but also to the deaths of others, including itself.  Obviously, you try other means to quiet the baby first: give it something to suck on, rock it, change its diaper, whatever.  But the scenario states that the baby can't be quieted in any other way.  If that baby continues to scream, it's going to die very soon no matter what.  Better that it be just the baby that dies, and not take me and the other refugees with it.  I'm smothering the baby.

In the second scenario, if someone isn't kicked off the lifeboat we're going to capsize and all die.  If one individual is already grievously injured and bound to die soon anyways, and killing him just a little bit sooner preserves my life and those of others, I'm pushing him out of the boat.  I've got a strong survival instinct.

In the third scenario, we have a group of 5 idiots on one train track not paying attention to oncoming vehicles, and 1 individual on another doing the same.  They're all equally stupid, and none of them are guaranteed to die soon if I don't send the train at them.  I therefore bow to the notion that 1 death is better than 5 deaths, and send the train at the lone individual.

In the fourth scenario, we have the same 5 idiots unaware of an oncoming train, but I'm on a bridge over the track with a stranger, and if I push him off the train will stop before it hits the 5 clueless.  In this case, the idiots on the track are more culpable than the guy on the bridge with me, who is entirely blameless.  I'm not going to make him pay the consequences of the idiots being idiots.  I'll yell for them to get out of the way and maybe throw rocks at them if I think I have a chance of getting their attention, but I'm not going to kill an innocent bystander to save them.

In the 5th case, the guy in the catapult is just as innocent as the guy on the bridge.  So, I won't kill him to save 5 idiots.  I'm assuming he's not been sentenced to sit in the catapult as payment for a crime, nor is he being an idiot and playing in a catapult which has obviously been constructed to fling people at oncoming trains.

Of the people who had responded when I wrote this, 70% agreed with me in the first case, 56% in the second, 79% in the 3rd, 60% in the 4th, and 52% in the 5th.  I'm surprised more people are OK with killing the baby than the presumably adult lifeboat passenger, but maybe they care that the baby probably won't really understand its coming death while the lifeboat passenger will.

What are your answers?

The answer to the questions about West Virginians

By JLR

Now I understand what's going on with those folks in West Virginia.  Residents of Maryland, take note: we now know what our neighbors to the west are doing to make themselves the constant butt of our jokes:

WV mommas smoke while they're pregnant.

And I was approached by a sheep the other day.  It told me that it was seeking asylum, because it had been the victim of sexual harrassment in Morgantown.

Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake!

By Brendan Loy

In case you hadn't heard, Southern California is on fire.

Much more here.

UPDATE: Gahrie's blog has photos from his back yard.

Thousands murdered in Burma

By Brendan Loy

Here's a roundup of the government atrocities in Myanmar/Burma. Reportedly, thousands are dead, including many monks. (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

Pope-pourri

By JLR

Though unofficial, it looks like Pope Benedict XVI will likely visit Washington, DC when he visits the US in April.  Also likely on the schedule: Mass in Central Park plus a visit to Ground Zero and a trip to Boston.

Maybe the message of peace he delivers to the UN will resonate with some of those folks in our nation's capital.

Kids say the darndest things!

By David K.

Daddy stabbed mommy in the back!

Erwin and Larry

By Brendan Loy

Now listen here, lads and lassies, for this be a good article:

The saga of controversial liberal law professor Erwin Chemerinsky's on-again, off-again deanship at the new UC Irvine law school was highly unusual in two ways. First, the pressure to enforce political orthodoxy at Chemerinsky's expense came from the right, not the left, and second, academic freedom and 1st Amendment values won a resounding victory when Chemerinsky was ultimately rehired. ...

The Chemerinsky episode, disturbing though it was, should not distract us from the primary challenge facing academic freedom in American universities: the rise of an academic far-left establishment that seeks to use universities as a base for political activism, and is perfectly willing to violate accepted standards of academic freedom to achieve that goal. Anyone concerned with the future of American higher education has the duty to defend the values of scholarship and open debate against authoritarian political correctness.

Read the whole thing, me hearties. (Tip o' the hat: InstaPundit.)

Guy declared dead on the scene, lives

By JLR

In Venezuela, a man was in a car wreck and declared dead on the scene.

He woke up in the morgue while they were performing the autopsy.  Hmm, inside the chest cavity we find... HIS STILL-BEATING HEART?!?!

Apparently, the man woke up screaming from the pain on the autopsy table.

And his wife showed up to identify the body.  Hi, Honey!  Yes, that's my husband.

This says two things.

1.  Don't go to the hospital in Venezuela, you might be declared dead.

2.  Someone feels like a moron.

Chemerinsky re-hired

By Brendan Loy

He's back, baby!

UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake and Erwin Chemerinsky have reached an agreement that will return the liberal legal scholar to the dean's post at the university's new law school, the university announced this morning.

With the deal, they hope to end the controversy that erupted when Chemerinsky was dropped as the first dean of the Donald Bren School of Law.

Drake traveled over the weekend to Durham, N.C., where Chemerinsky is a professor at Duke University, and the two reached an agreement about midnight Sunday, sources told The Times.

In a statement, Drake and Chemerinsky said: "Many issues were addressed in depth, including several areas of miscommunication and misunderstanding. All issues were resolved to our mutual satisfaction."

Drake's decision to dump Chemerinsky last week set off a national debate about academic freedom and sparked a revolt by faculty at UCI against Drake.

Cool.  Now Chemerinsky needs to do something really outrageous, so he can get himself re-fired. C'mon Erwin, you know you want to be the Billy Martin of academia!

Anyway, about that whole "end the controversy" thing... well, as Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend!" (Suddenly I have this mental picture of Corso, sitting on the GameDay set with a crowd of cheering UC Irvine students behind him, putting on a larger-than-life replica of Chemerinsky's head after "picking" him to win the showdown with Drake... heh. Someone needs to Photoshop this!) An anonymous tipster sends along this e-mail from the chair of the UC Irvine Academic Senate, sent out at 10:59 AM PDT today:

Dear colleagues,

Recent events related to the appointment of the Dean of the Law School have raised concerns about academic freedom and the Chancellor's leadership of the campus. We are encouraged by the joint announcement of Chancellor Drake and Professor Erwin Chemerinsky that Professor Chemerinsky has been offered and has accepted the position of Dean of the UCI School of Law. However, it is important that the UCI faculty discuss the issues and concerns raised by recent events.

The Senate Cabinet has called an emergency meeting of the Divisional Senate Assembly for Thursday, September 20, 2007, 2:00-5:00 p.m. in 1100 Bren Hall (Bldg 314 on the UCI map). All faculty are invited to attend this meeting.

The agenda for the meeting is the Chancellor's leadership of the campus and our commitment to academic freedom.

Tim Bradley, Chair, UCI Academic Senate

This could be ugly, folks. You know what they say about academic feuds.

More here. (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

O.J. Simpson arrested

By Brendan Loy

Let the search for the real armed robbers begin!

What should I auction off to raise money for the environment?

By JLR

How about a Hummer H2?  Nothing says "environmentally-conscious" like a gas guzzler that gets 2 miles to the gallon!

Richard Jewell dies

By Brendan Loy

Richard Jewell, the hero-turned-villain-turned-media-martyr of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing, is dead.