Click here for the cost of the war so far from costofwar.comCatalystBlogging from "The City of Evil", Ithaca, NY "Radical Activist U", Oberlin, OH

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Posts starting October 20 2005:

Ben Regenspan 4:48PM EST Wednesday, 10/26/2005 [link to this item]

Over at TPMCafe, Representative George Miller (D-CA) notes that the White House has finally decided to overturn its suspension of prevailing wage rules in the Gulf Coast, and credits "pressure from Democrats and labor and religious leaders" as the key factor behind this decision. While it is a great comfort to imagine a White House directly responsive to organized labor, this explanation seems a bit incomplete if you trust National Journal's sources, who point to a meeting earlier today between GOP lawmakers, who threatened to support Democratic legislation overturning the WH decision, and Andrew Card.

-Ben | Comments | Topic:

Ben Regenspan 2:51AM EST Wednesday, 10/26/2005 [link to this item]

I'm late to the game on this, but Brooks' wankery was particularly potent on Sunday: "For Brooks, "middle class" apparently means middle-class whites"

-Ben | Comments | Topics: ,

Ben Regenspan 2:20AM EST Wednesday, 10/26/2005 [link to this item]

Jane Hamsher has an impressive round-up of fire-and- brimstone statements by prominent Republicans calling for indictment of Clinton on perjury charges. Expect those of them that haven't already characterized Rove or Libby's perjuries as innocent little non-crimes to do so soon.

Update: In only listing actual politicians, Jane's list leaves out dear old Hinderaker, whose hypocrisy on this matter is an inspiration to hypocrites everywhere.

-Ben | Comments | Topics: ,

Ben Regenspan Do n't wish upon a Feinstein: Senator potentially showing responsiveness to human rights concerns 12:28AM EST Wednesday, 10/26/2005 [link to this item]

Via Howard Gantman, Senator Dianne Feinstein's communications director, I have recently learned that the Senator is effectively withdrawing the Alien Tort Statute Reform Act (S. 1874), which I blogged about several posts back, as it exists in its present form. As her letter to (Senate Judiciary Chairman) Arlen Specter on this subject makes clear, Senator Feinstein is trying to delay hearings on the legislation until human rights concerns can be addressed. Obviously, I think this is a great move on her part and would encourage Catalyst readers (whether or not they do, in fact, exist), particularly those who live in California, to contact the office of Senator Feinstein, to express thanks and to urge the Senator to work closely with human rights advocates to give the Act the massive overhaul it needs in order to become a positive piece of legislation. Given the dreadful nature of the original bill, the honus is now on Senator Feinstein to unambiguously demonstrate her concern for human rights; it may be difficult to work with groups that have characterized the original legislation as a "Bill to Protect Perpetrators of Human Rights Abuses" but she will need to do so in order to counteract the powerful stench of donor-dictated-policy left by the bill's present incarnation.

Personally, I don't find any reason to object on principle to carefully-formulated clarifications of the Alien Tort Claims Act; it is without question worded ambiguously (full text: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.") It would only be reasonable to, for example, implement a statute of limitations consistent with that for torts brought by citizens; also, to ensure that a business that has no conceivable way of knowing of a partner's involvement in human rights abuse is not forced to pay damages. Both goals that can, of course, be accomplished without gutting alien tort claims altogether.

-Ben | Comments | Topics: , ,

Ben Regenspan 2:17AM EST Tuesday, 10/25/2005 [link to this item]

RIP Rosa Parks.
"Each person must live their life as a model for others."

-Ben | Comments | Topics: , ,

Ben Regenspan Explosion? Must be one a' them Islamics 7:29PM EST Monday, 10/24/2005 [link to this item]

Ben Regenspan 1:36AM EST Monday, 10/24/2005 [link to this item]


My blog is worth $9,999,999.95.
How much is your blog worth?

I can assure you that it hasn't been tampered with in any way.

-Ben | Comments | Topic:

Ben Regenspan 12:43AM EST Monday, 10/24/2005 [link to this item]

It was always pretty clear that Novak snitched on his administration buddies, simply because he wrote his "Mission to Niger" column without ending up in jail alongside Miller. But now there's evidence.

-Ben | Comments | Topic:

Ben Regenspan Synergy. Synchronicity. Jarvis. 11:52PM EST Sunday, 10/23/2005 [link to this item]

Jeff Jarvis has some suggestions for The New York Times:
If the paper is having trouble reporting on itself — and it is — then invite others in to report on it: even competitors, even bloggers, those you most dread if you think you own the pedestal. So let Howard Kurtz and Jay Rosen and, yes, Arianna Huffington in the door or welcome them in when they come knocking (whom else do you nominate?). Don’t create a selected, stuffed-shirt, spineless commission, as CBS did. Don’t just dissect the past but the present and the future and why we think like we think and how we can and should change that. Tell everyone on the paper that they may not hide behind anonymity and are expected to speak to these people because they represent the public and you must not hide from them. Make it clear that no one will suffer for this. Breed openness. Value honesty.
The idea of "dissecting the future" is pretty stellar, but I particularly like the last part: "Openness". "Honesty". The Times should Overturn The Dominant Paradigm. Have an Ongoing Dialogue. Instead of continuing to link to bloggers writing in their own medium, bring in a non-"selected" crowd of them to commentate. Hell, bring in these guys. Require reporters to blog (it's not like it could take them all that much time already to do that ridiculous old-fashioned dead-tree reporting thing, with sources and interviews and all that). When a high-traffic blogger speculates about Judy getting it on with Scooter Libby, print their post in full, with the accompanying poorly-Photoshopped graphic.

Or how about this: The Times could fire Judith Miller. If absolutely neccessary, they could breed an atmosphere conducive to the firing of Judith Miller beforehand, and then value the actual act of booting Judith Miller out the door. After this, they could get back to being the national paper marginally better than all the others, and leave bloggers to what they do best: make fun of Jeff Jarvis in terms unfit for print, comment on first-order sources (blog = web+log) such as the Times, and compete with pornographic Harry Potter fanfiction for hits.

-Ben | Comments | Topics: , ,

Ben Regenspan I don't roll on Shabbos. 3:44PM EST Sunday, 10/23/2005 [link to this item]

Everybody's been talking about The New York Times facing a crisis of credibility lately, usually in reference to the Judith Miller debacle. Which is perfectly fine if they want to distract from the real issue here, namely: The Times' list of The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made. Conspicuous in their absence: The Big Lebowski; Blues Brothers; Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Killer Condom.

-Ben | Comments | Topic:

Ben Regenspan Byron: for a firin'? 1:15AM EST Sunday, 10/23/2005 [link to this item]

The New York Times public editor's blog has to be the most dramatic public editor's blog I've read lately. Byron's got Keller's recent-ish "OK, armchair critics, I admit it, we really fucked up and that Judith Miller broad is bad news" statement up, along with Judy's predictably indignant response, in which she feels the need to state:
As for your reference to my "entanglement" with Mr. Libby, I had no personal, social, or other relationship with him except as a source
This, of course, is highly debatable, but it's interesting that she'd read "entanglement" to imply close personal friendship or, um... "Scooting the Libby", rather than "using as a source way too much, despite clear indications of dishonesty", the seemingly more intuitive definition.

-Ben | Comments | Topic:

Ben Regenspan Straight wankaism 3:02PM EST Saturday, 10/22/2005 [link to this item]

Tierney's latest: What Democrats Can Learn From Howard Stern. If you don't have TimesSelect, well, all you need is that headline. Howard Stern's move to pay-per-view and satellite, you see, greatly illustrates the need to counteract runaway statism. Through school vouchers, of course.

-Ben | Comments | Topics: ,

Ben Regenspan Fighting in the pajamahadeen ranks 12:02AM EST Saturday, 10/22/2005 [link to this item]

New media venture run by bigot/failed musican, bigot/failed screenwriter duo not going all that well.

Funny, but the people who might end up killing off the blog triumphalism thing once and for all are the triumphalist wankers themselves.

-Ben | Comments | Topics: , ,

Ben Regenspan 1:52PM EST Friday, 10/21/2005 [link to this item]

Not sure if it's really nifty that the Times has started linking to blog posts on the Miller case, or if it's just sad that they need to rely on outside commentators for discussion of some of the most basic questions on the case that the paper has failed to address or even directly acknowledge. Either way, they do have the "blogs in review" format down way better than anybody else, linking only to some of the better posts and not sticking in whatever bullshit the Powerline idiots happen to be spewing on a given day for the sake of ideological affirmative action.

Though sites that stick together a bunch of blog posts without remote regard for intellectual merit can be pretty amusing; over at the right-hand column of Daou Report one can find the argument made that the Democrats are the party of the elite (evidenced, apparently, by Ben & Jerry's ice cream, trial lawyers, and something about Merlot), right above posts by a silver-spoon attorney and a wine-blogging corporate law professor.

-Ben | Comments | Topics: , ,

Ben Regenspan Don't wish upon a Feinstein 2:04AM EST Thursday, 10/20/2005 [link to this item]

Update: Due entirely, no doubt, to the efforts of Catalyst, Senator Feinstein is withdrawing the bill in question. See this post for more details. Note that the Senator's press release, linked below,...
 [Click here for the rest of this post] 
-Ben | Comments | Topics: , ,

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