Archive for September, 2004
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 29, 2004 at 11:31 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
That question requires the unique combination of self-delusion and chutzpah unique to Oh My News. It’s a long, rambling, illogical piece, full of shallow pretensions at understanding America (and for that matter, North Korea). In the process, it touches on everything from Survivor to South Park, without really ever addressing the perfectly good reasons that have united the most polarized American electorate ever in universal contempt for the Dear Leader.
By the end of Mr. Kang’s piece, you will be irrebuttably convinced that South Korea is an alternative universe.
Here is my response:
*******************************
If you believe evil exists, then surely North Korea epitomizes it by gassing entire families as a dry run for annihilating Seoul. Don’t take it from me. Watch this video by that (cue irony here) notorious U.S. puppet and neocon mouthpiece known as the BBC. Or perhaps it’s best embodied by using food as a weapon against starving people, forcing them to resort to cannibalism, and starving millions of them while the Dear Leader sips imported cognac, drives a Benz, and blows the national budget on MiGs and nukes. Or by smothering every atom of individual thought under an interlocking blanket of mutual suspicion, snitching, and terror–all enforcing the state’s necessary fictions. Evil? I’d say that pretty much encapsulates it.
Ah, but such direct language isn’t appropriate in the polite company of diplomats. We must avoid giving offence at all costs: “Excuse me, Mr. Ribbentrop, would you kindly ask Reichsfuhrer Himmler remove the Death’s Head Division from the boulevards of our capital city?” Of course, South Korea’s position is much less daring than even that. It would be too brazen to ask the Dear Leader to pretty please, stop the murder, or let a few inspectors have the run of Camp 22 or Camp 51 long enough to debunk those horrible rumors.
Mr. Kang argues (meekly) that he just isn’t sure if all the reports about the atrocities in North Korea are true–which is a substitute, of sorts, for dealing with the reports’ moral implications, while taking cover behind North Korea’s own refusal to allow the Red Cross or anyone else to inspect the camps. Would any of those who share his views be willing to watch that video and judge the evidence for themselves before dismissing it? I didn’t think so.
How very “progressive” of you.
Finally, I can’t let Mr. Kang’s utter misunderstanding of America’s concern about North Korea pass without comment. Perhaps he has woven himself into a cocoon of sorts by hanging out at too many of those progressive gatherings. Mr. Kang, you really ought to get out more. Fact is, plenty of ex-allies, including South Korea, have done far more to offend American sensibilities than the “sea of fire” and “human scum” blather we hear from the Rodong Sinmun. In the post-9/11 world, you have to do better than that. We’ve been Iran’s “Great Satan” for a quarter century now. The abuse and vituperation hit harder when they come from our “friends.” That’s probably why we are increasingly saying “you betcha” to those chants of “yankee go home.” Fine with us, and please move away from the doorway, Mr. Roh and Chancellor Schroeder. So much for the myth of America’s masses lusting for a Christian empire. Last one out of Yongsan, turn out the lights.
And what’s this whole Christian empire thing, by the way? I was on the receiving end of more entreaties of Christian salvation in the Seoul subway alone than in twenty-odd years as (damn near) the only Jewish kid in South Dakota. Sure, the persecution of North Korean Christians offends me, but this isn’t about making North Korea safe for Christianity. It’s about making North Korea safe for all forms of freedom of conscience.
Fury? Our fury is all currently occupied by the people who are beheading our reconstruction workers and journalists, flying our airplanes into our buildings, shooting Russian kids in the back, etc. What the “Team America” reference really proves is (1) for better or worse, we can’t take Kim Jong-Il and his ageing-drag-queen hairdo seriously enough to hate him, and (2) Mr. Kang has no sense of humor whatsoever, because the “Team America” treatment of the Dear Leader actually sounds pretty funny, no matter how serious the underlying issues.
In my two years of pestering various members of Congress to pass the NK Human Rights, none of my fellow travellers–young Korean-Americans, progressives, neocons, evangelical Christians, or Jews like myself with a lingering distaste for concentration camps–ever uttered one lone syllable of fury toward the people of North Korea. I hardly think fury or religious fanaticsm is motivating moderates like Senator Richard Lugar, needless to say non-Christians like Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Museum of Tolerance or Rep. Tom Lantos. What we all share is compassion for the suffering of the North Korean people, and an earnest desire to take up the moral responsibility that South Korea has shirked. That’s saying a lot for a country that’s probably never been so ideologically divided.
I will restate what ought to be obvious to all but the clinically paranoid: hardly anyone across America’s political spectrum has the slightest desire to invade North Korea with anything but the same information that you and I consider it our God-given right to exchange. If that informs the North Korean people of the extent to which they have been been used and lied to, so much the better. If the North Korean people then opt to withdraw from Kim Jong Il what Thomas Jefferson called “the consent of the governed,” I’d be happy for them. I’d even offer to help light their torches and sharpen their pitchforks. I’m all for regime change, in fact, if it’s done by North Koreans (and I’m willing to predict here that it will be). As for the effect on the KOSPI or KOSDAQ, I’m not having nightmares about it.
My nightmares are about this and this (from those other neocon mouthpieces, the Guardian and the International Herald Tribune).
Giving the North Koreans back the freedom to think, listen, speak, and eat seems a damn sight more compassionate than the Uri vision for North Korea, which seems to consist of sewing Samsung logos onto the prison garb in the North Korean gulags. Do I hear another bid from LG on the contents of Camp 51? North Koreans deserve better than being sentenced to lives of corporate slavery in places like the Kaesong Industrial Park. Never have capitalism, globalism, or nationalism stooped lower. Is this how brothers treat each other–by conspiring to keep them ignorant, suffering, and exploited?
May God and the North Korean people forgive you, Mr. Kang.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 29, 2004 at 11:27 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The North Korean Human Rights Act has passed the Senate without opposition. It must now go to a joint conference committee to iron out minor differences with the House version. Expect President Bush to sign it shortly thereafter.
Thanks to all who wrote letters to the Senate (you too, Mom).
Thanks also to the kind comments, E-mails, and prayers after the birth of our daughter. One more post, and I’m off to babysit kids and try to let the wife rest.
Posted by joshua on September 29, 2004 at 6:31 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
That question requires the unique combination of self-delusion and chutzpah unique to Oh My News. It’s a long, rambling, illogical piece, full of shallow pretensions at understanding America (and for that matter, North Korea). In the process, it touches on everything from Survivor to South Park, without really ever addressing the perfectly good reasons that have united the most polarized American electorate ever in universal contempt for the Dear Leader.
By the end of Mr. Kang’s piece, you will be irrebuttably convinced that South Korea is an alternative universe.
Here is my response:
*******************************
If you believe evil exists, then surely North Korea epitomizes it by gassing entire families as a dry run for annihilating Seoul. Don’t take it from me. Watch this video by that (cue irony here) notorious U.S. puppet and neocon mouthpiece known as the BBC. Or perhaps it’s best embodied by using food as a weapon against starving people, forcing them to resort to cannibalism, and starving millions of them while the Dear Leader sips imported cognac, drives a Benz, and blows the national budget on MiGs and nukes. Or by smothering every atom of individual thought under an interlocking blanket of mutual suspicion, snitching, and terror–all enforcing the state’s necessary fictions. Evil? I’d say that pretty much encapsulates it.
Ah, but such direct language isn’t appropriate in the polite company of diplomats. We must avoid giving offence at all costs: “Excuse me, Mr. Ribbentrop, would you kindly ask Reichsfuhrer Himmler remove the Death’s Head Division from the boulevards of our capital city?” Of course, South Korea’s position is much less daring than even that. It would be too brazen to ask the Dear Leader to pretty please, stop the murder, or let a few inspectors have the run of Camp 22 or Camp 51 long enough to debunk those horrible rumors.
Mr. Kang argues (meekly) that he just isn’t sure if all the reports about the atrocities in North Korea are true–which is a substitute, of sorts, for dealing with the reports’ moral implications, while taking cover behind North Korea’s own refusal to allow the Red Cross or anyone else to inspect the camps. Would any of those who share his views be willing to watch that video and judge the evidence for themselves before dismissing it? I didn’t think so.
How very “progressive” of you.
Finally, I can’t let Mr. Kang’s utter misunderstanding of America’s concern about North Korea pass without comment. Perhaps he has woven himself into a cocoon of sorts by hanging out at too many of those progressive gatherings. Mr. Kang, you really ought to get out more. Fact is, plenty of ex-allies, including South Korea, have done far more to offend American sensibilities than the “sea of fire” and “human scum” blather we hear from the Rodong Sinmun. In the post-9/11 world, you have to do better than that. We’ve been Iran’s “Great Satan” for a quarter century now. The abuse and vituperation hit harder when they come from our “friends.” That’s probably why we are increasingly saying “you betcha” to those chants of “yankee go home.” Fine with us, and please move away from the doorway, Mr. Roh and Chancellor Schroeder. So much for the myth of America’s masses lusting for a Christian empire. Last one out of Yongsan, turn out the lights.
And what’s this whole Christian empire thing, by the way? I was on the receiving end of more entreaties of Christian salvation in the Seoul subway alone than in twenty-odd years as (damn near) the only Jewish kid in South Dakota. Sure, the persecution of North Korean Christians offends me, but this isn’t about making North Korea safe for Christianity. It’s about making North Korea safe for all forms of freedom of conscience.
Fury? Our fury is all currently occupied by the people who are beheading our reconstruction workers and journalists, flying our airplanes into our buildings, shooting Russian kids in the back, etc. What the “Team America” reference really proves is (1) for better or worse, we can’t take Kim Jong-Il and his ageing-drag-queen hairdo seriously enough to hate him, and (2) Mr. Kang has no sense of humor whatsoever, because the “Team America” treatment of the Dear Leader actually sounds pretty funny, no matter how serious the underlying issues.
In my two years of pestering various members of Congress to pass the NK Human Rights, none of my fellow travellers–young Korean-Americans, progressives, neocons, evangelical Christians, or Jews like myself with a lingering distaste for concentration camps–ever uttered one lone syllable of fury toward the people of North Korea. I hardly think fury or religious fanaticsm is motivating moderates like Senator Richard Lugar, needless to say non-Christians like Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Museum of Tolerance or Rep. Tom Lantos. What we all share is compassion for the suffering of the North Korean people, and an earnest desire to take up the moral responsibility that South Korea has shirked. That’s saying a lot for a country that’s probably never been so ideologically divided.
I will restate what ought to be obvious to all but the clinically paranoid: hardly anyone across America’s political spectrum has the slightest desire to invade North Korea with anything but the same information that you and I consider it our God-given right to exchange. If that informs the North Korean people of the extent to which they have been been used and lied to, so much the better. If the North Korean people then opt to withdraw from Kim Jong Il what Thomas Jefferson called “the consent of the governed,” I’d be happy for them. I’d even offer to help light their torches and sharpen their pitchforks. I’m all for regime change, in fact, if it’s done by North Koreans (and I’m willing to predict here that it will be). As for the effect on the KOSPI or KOSDAQ, I’m not having nightmares about it.
My nightmares are about this and this (from those other neocon mouthpieces, the Guardian and the International Herald Tribune).
Giving the North Koreans back the freedom to think, listen, speak, and eat seems a damn sight more compassionate than the Uri vision for North Korea, which seems to consist of sewing Samsung logos onto the prison garb in the North Korean gulags. Do I hear another bid from LG on the contents of Camp 51? North Koreans deserve better than being sentenced to lives of corporate slavery in places like the Kaesong Industrial Park. Never have capitalism, globalism, or nationalism stooped lower. Is this how brothers treat each other–by conspiring to keep them ignorant, suffering, and exploited?
May God and the North Korean people forgive you, Mr. Kang.
Posted by joshua on September 29, 2004 at 6:27 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The North Korean Human Rights Act has passed the Senate without opposition. It must now go to a joint conference committee to iron out minor differences with the House version. Expect President Bush to sign it shortly thereafter.
Thanks to all who wrote letters to the Senate (you too, Mom).
Thanks also to the kind comments, E-mails, and prayers after the birth of our daughter. One more post, and I’m off to babysit kids and try to let the wife rest.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 16, 2004 at 4:04 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Kaitlyn Margaret, 6 pounds, 15 ounces. Mother and baby are doing well. I’ll be back in a few days.
Posted by joshua on September 16, 2004 at 11:04 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Kaitlyn Margaret, 6 pounds, 15 ounces. Mother and baby are doing well. I’ll be back in a few days.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 12, 2004 at 8:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
My comments are on NKZone, along with new developments on the North Korean Human Rights Act. It’s coming up for a vote in the Senate next week, with the help of Senator Lugar.
You may also want to read this article on the Hong Kong elections, where observers are predicting a high turnout. If the pro-democratic forces win, how would China react? If the Chinese cheat, how would the people react? Both sides seem to be on a collision course.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 12, 2004 at 4:07 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
It’s still hard to believe so much time has passed.
Three years ago yesterday, I was in the Trial Defense Office in Seoul, folding my uniforms and packing my suitcase, preparing to fly to Japan to litigate about a dozen motions I had filed in a court-martial case there. The TV was on, and I was watching Diane Sawyer talk about J-Lo or “Survivor” or Robert Blake whatever non-story circus was preoccupying us that day. When they cut to the footage of the fire in the first tower, it honestly didn’t occur to me that it was anything but an accident. After all, hadn’t a B-25 hit the Empire State Building during World War II? But then, as I watched the screen, and that plane flew past the second tower–but didn’t–something hit me,too. I stopped packing and started making phone calls.
After four years overseas, I returned to a post-9/11 America had become perceptably less selfish, less self-absorbed, less superficial than it had been. Yet such trends are often fleeting, and certainly that’s true when you concentrate naturally superficial and self-indulgent people into a single sphere, as parts of this country are. You even have a few compulsive self-haters, who will always find ways to blame the object of their enmity–and the country onto which they project it–in defiance of all of the available facts. My theory of the week is that they were picked on mercilessly as kids and hate themselves for not fighting back, but hey, I’m no shrink. The overall feeling in this country–even among those who for sound intellectual reasons opposed the war in Iraq–is the one I share: anger and defiance.
Yesterday, my mom flew in from South Dakota to help us with the new baby. Empty plane. Empty parking lots. No traffic in D.C. Just flags everywhere–flags at half staff, flags on car antennas, flags hanging over every overpass on the road from Dulles into the city. Now try to tell me that we’re over 9/11. For a hundred years, when you ask Americans what they think of Islam, and they will think of children hurled into skyscrapers, of bodies falling from burning buildings, of mothers telling children about the fathers they never knew, of dogs gassed as test subjects for human beings, of childen shot in the back, of a rows of Nepalese slaughtered just for leaving their families behind in an attempt to keep them fed, of beheading videos, and of the depraved people who danced in the streets and on charred vehicles to celebrate acts of that kind. Yes, there will be those who see scenes like this and immediately ask “why do they hate us?” But I’m pretty confident that the majority of us thought, “if only I were there . . . with a friggin’ flamethrower, I’d show ‘em how we make kebabs!” And then we tell ourselves that we don’t mean it, even as our emotions tell us that in the darkest pits of our souls, if we are honest, we really do. And if Islam continues to descend further into depravity, more and more of us–and more Russians, British, Australians, and Nepalese, maybe even French, South Koreans, and Chinese, will. The world is learning that it is of no use being loved in the Muslim world. Lacking that, it will opt to be feared.
For me, the image that lasts may always be the obituary of a woman in her 40s who lost her husband in the Pentagon. In her picture in the Post, she smiled beautifully. Just a year after he husband died, she was gone, too. Who knows why? What could cause a young, healthy woman to suddenly become unhealthy and leave this world? Who will take care of the two little boys she left behind?
And finally, just what did 9/11 accomplish for those who planned, executed, and celebrated it? The answer may well be the degrinolade for Islam as it exists today. Islam must either adapt–as Christianity has since the Dark Ages and its European nadir–into a philosophy that advances civilization. The alternative is that it will continue to show itself to the world as a death cult, descending to ever greater levels of moral perversion, and thus uniting the world in a common disgust toward those who are permitted to represent it.
Posted by joshua on September 12, 2004 at 3:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
My comments are on NKZone, along with new developments on the North Korean Human Rights Act. It’s coming up for a vote in the Senate next week, with the help of Senator Lugar.
You may also want to read this article on the Hong Kong elections, where observers are predicting a high turnout. If the pro-democratic forces win, how would China react? If the Chinese cheat, how would the people react? Both sides seem to be on a collision course.
Posted by joshua on September 12, 2004 at 11:07 am · Filed under Uncategorized
It’s still hard to believe so much time has passed.
Three years ago yesterday, I was in the Trial Defense Office in Seoul, folding my uniforms and packing my suitcase, preparing to fly to Japan to litigate about a dozen motions I had filed in a court-martial case there. The TV was on, and I was watching Diane Sawyer talk about J-Lo or “Survivor” or Robert Blake whatever non-story circus was preoccupying us that day. When they cut to the footage of the fire in the first tower, it honestly didn’t occur to me that it was anything but an accident. After all, hadn’t a B-25 hit the Empire State Building during World War II? But then, as I watched the screen, and that plane flew past the second tower–but didn’t–something hit me,too. I stopped packing and started making phone calls.
After four years overseas, I returned to a post-9/11 America had become perceptably less selfish, less self-absorbed, less superficial than it had been. Yet such trends are often fleeting, and certainly that’s true when you concentrate naturally superficial and self-indulgent people into a single sphere, as parts of this country are. You even have a few compulsive self-haters, who will always find ways to blame the object of their enmity–and the country onto which they project it–in defiance of all of the available facts. My theory of the week is that they were picked on mercilessly as kids and hate themselves for not fighting back, but hey, I’m no shrink. The overall feeling in this country–even among those who for sound intellectual reasons opposed the war in Iraq–is the one I share: anger and defiance.
Yesterday, my mom flew in from South Dakota to help us with the new baby. Empty plane. Empty parking lots. No traffic in D.C. Just flags everywhere–flags at half staff, flags on car antennas, flags hanging over every overpass on the road from Dulles into the city. Now try to tell me that we’re over 9/11. For a hundred years, when you ask Americans what they think of Islam, and they will think of children hurled into skyscrapers, of bodies falling from burning buildings, of mothers telling children about the fathers they never knew, of dogs gassed as test subjects for human beings, of childen shot in the back, of a rows of Nepalese slaughtered just for leaving their families behind in an attempt to keep them fed, of beheading videos, and of the depraved people who danced in the streets and on charred vehicles to celebrate acts of that kind. Yes, there will be those who see scenes like this and immediately ask “why do they hate us?” But I’m pretty confident that the majority of us thought, “if only I were there . . . with a friggin’ flamethrower, I’d show ‘em how we make kebabs!” And then we tell ourselves that we don’t mean it, even as our emotions tell us that in the darkest pits of our souls, if we are honest, we really do. And if Islam continues to descend further into depravity, more and more of us–and more Russians, British, Australians, and Nepalese, maybe even French, South Koreans, and Chinese, will. The world is learning that it is of no use being loved in the Muslim world. Lacking that, it will opt to be feared.
For me, the image that lasts may always be the obituary of a woman in her 40s who lost her husband in the Pentagon. In her picture in the Post, she smiled beautifully. Just a year after he husband died, she was gone, too. Who knows why? What could cause a young, healthy woman to suddenly become unhealthy and leave this world? Who will take care of the two little boys she left behind?
And finally, just what did 9/11 accomplish for those who planned, executed, and celebrated it? The answer may well be the degrinolade for Islam as it exists today. Islam must either adapt–as Christianity has since the Dark Ages and its European nadir–into a philosophy that advances civilization. The alternative is that it will continue to show itself to the world as a death cult, descending to ever greater levels of moral perversion, and thus uniting the world in a common disgust toward those who are permitted to represent it.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 9, 2004 at 9:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The Sixty Minutes “exclusive” on Bush’s National Guard service (yawn) is the mirror image of the Swift Boat story–not terribly relevant to this, this, this, or even this, but a great indicator of how bad our news media have become. It’s a reminder of how tempting it is to believe something, if you want to believe it badly enough.
The Sixty Minutes story appears to be based on a collection of fourth-rate forgeries. Look at the documents here, here, here, and here. Now look at this superimposed comparison between a version made on a PC in ten minutes and the documents CBS posted. They’re a perfect match. Now compare the signature on the CBS documents with an authenticated signature. Finally, look at what one of the world’s foremost experts on typefaces in questioned documents says. Of course, the autocorrected small-type superscript “th,” the distinctive Times New Roman font, the curly apostrophes, and the general lack of understanding of military writing formats are all nearly instant dead giveaways. And as of this moment, nearly every single major media source still has this “expose” posted. Bottom line: the media wanted to believe this so much they ran with it, without doing some fairly obvious fact-checking.
Even more here. And then, of course, don’t miss Scrappleface’s take (1972 E-mail Proves Bush Was AWOL!).
And how are the same media handling the Swift Boat allegations? By not even reporting them unless they meet a stringent initial burden of proof:
Dear Mr. Stanton,
I raised your concern with senior editors at The Times who explained that
the staff is working hard on this issue, and when there’s anything reliable to
say, as opposed to rumors and suspicions, they intend to report it fully.
Sincerely,
Arthur Bovino
Office of the Public Editor
The New York Times
I cannot emphasize enough how little I care about the comparative military records of the candidates from 30 years ago. None of that tells me anything about their solutions to today’s problems. But when a candidate tries to base his qualifications for office on his past service–which is like basing bridge pilings on chocolate pudding–then I gain the right to examine whether he’s botoxed up the facts asserted. (Now picture this: “I’m George Bush, and I’ll lead this country like I led my F-102 over Nagadoches! Yearrrrrrrrgh! What? You didn’t hear that? Well, neither did I.).
But here is a short list of genuine questions that had been raised about Kerry by the time Mr. Bovino sent me his E-mail, and before the most recent full rectal examination of Bush’s guard records: Kerry claims to have won a medal that doesn’t exist; his own diary disputes his eligibility for his first purple heart; one of the “Band of Brothers” who spoke about his leadership at the Dem convention barely knew him; and his campaign had to admit that he didn’t spend Christmas 1968 in Cambodia after all (even though he had stated on the Senate floor that this was “seared–seared” into his memory).
Don’t expect to read that in the Times.
Some objectivity, please?
More on Kerry’s position(s) on North Korea here and here (via MTV and e-deity James Lileks . . . scroll, baby!). Somewhat more detail in this WaPo interview: keep the six-party talks, also begin bilateral talks (!), and put every issue (except for human rights, apparently) on the table for discussion. Bush has given some lip service that is cause for restrained optimism, as have some of his political allies.
I’m voting for Bush because he will prosecute the war with determination and oppose abortion. I’m voting for him despite the fact that I have no problem with gay marriage, hate his runaway spending, don’t trust his immigration amnesty, and see little promise in his North Korea policies at present. At least I know what he believes. What’s more, I’m fairly certain that the media have fully informed me of his personal and professional limitations. Can’t say that about Kerry, now can ya?
UPDATE: Allow me to add another good question for the big media guys: In this C-SPAN transcript of John Kerry testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971, he admits to flying to Paris to meet with both the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegations to the peace talks. At the time, the VC and NVA were shooting at our troops and torturing American POWs (in all fairness, Kerry may not have known about the torture part). This official service record from Kerry’s own Web site proves that he was still a commissioned U.S. Navy officer at the time. Unless Kerry was a registered representative of North Vietnam or the Viet Cong, wouldn’t that violate 18 U.S.C. sec. 953?
And to me, that one IS a legit issue for 2004.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 9, 2004 at 8:59 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Iran will commemorate 9/11 . . . by showing Fahrenheit 9/11. Hezbollah wasn’t enough, I guess. Nope, no question whose side he’s on. At this point, the only Michael Moore movie I’d ever agree to watch would co-star Abu Musab Zarkawi. Give my regards to Fallujah, fat boy.
Remember this next time the Council on Foreign Relations pines about “if we’d only talk to the Iranians, we could understand each other.”
As for me, I think I understand them just fine.
Moore shuns corporations to partner up with terrorist sociopaths. He would write volumes to free a cop-killer who was duly tried and placed on death row, but would not click one finger to help the millions of innocents who suffer at the hands of governments that share his hatred of America. His mind as ossified as a coastal casement. Like the heavy guns of Aqaba; he faces one way, and cannot be swiveled around to aim elsewhere.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 9, 2004 at 8:27 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Soon Ok-Lee has a new Web site up. This one is a must-see. Beautifully presented, tasteful, moving. Check it out.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 9, 2004 at 8:25 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Ha!
Yankee, go home . . . when I turn 30!
Posted by joshua on September 9, 2004 at 4:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The Sixty Minutes “exclusive” on Bush’s National Guard service (yawn) is the mirror image of the Swift Boat story–not terribly relevant to this, this, this, or even this, but a great indicator of how bad our news media have become. It’s a reminder of how tempting it is to believe something, if you want to believe it badly enough.
The Sixty Minutes story appears to be based on a collection of fourth-rate forgeries. Look at the documents here, here, here, and here. Now look at this superimposed comparison between a version made on a PC in ten minutes and the documents CBS posted. They’re a perfect match. Now compare the signature on the CBS documents with an authenticated signature. Finally, look at what one of the world’s foremost experts on typefaces in questioned documents says. Of course, the autocorrected small-type superscript “th,” the distinctive Times New Roman font, the curly apostrophes, and the general lack of understanding of military writing formats are all nearly instant dead giveaways. And as of this moment, nearly every single major media source still has this “expose” posted. Bottom line: the media wanted to believe this so much they ran with it, without doing some fairly obvious fact-checking.
Even more here. And then, of course, don’t miss Scrappleface’s take (1972 E-mail Proves Bush Was AWOL!).
And how are the same media handling the Swift Boat allegations? By not even reporting them unless they meet a stringent initial burden of proof:
Dear Mr. Stanton,
I raised your concern with senior editors at The Times who explained that
the staff is working hard on this issue, and when there’s anything reliable to
say, as opposed to rumors and suspicions, they intend to report it fully.
Sincerely,
Arthur Bovino
Office of the Public Editor
The New York Times
I cannot emphasize enough how little I care about the comparative military records of the candidates from 30 years ago. None of that tells me anything about their solutions to today’s problems. But when a candidate tries to base his qualifications for office on his past service–which is like basing bridge pilings on chocolate pudding–then I gain the right to examine whether he’s botoxed up the facts asserted. (Now picture this: “I’m George Bush, and I’ll lead this country like I led my F-102 over Nagadoches! Yearrrrrrrrgh! What? You didn’t hear that? Well, neither did I.).
But here is a short list of genuine questions that had been raised about Kerry by the time Mr. Bovino sent me his E-mail, and before the most recent full rectal examination of Bush’s guard records: Kerry claims to have won a medal that doesn’t exist; his own diary disputes his eligibility for his first purple heart; one of the “Band of Brothers” who spoke about his leadership at the Dem convention barely knew him; and his campaign had to admit that he didn’t spend Christmas 1968 in Cambodia after all (even though he had stated on the Senate floor that this was “seared–seared” into his memory).
Don’t expect to read that in the Times.
Some objectivity, please?
More on Kerry’s position(s) on North Korea here and here (via MTV and e-deity James Lileks . . . scroll, baby!). Somewhat more detail in this WaPo interview: keep the six-party talks, also begin bilateral talks (!), and put every issue (except for human rights, apparently) on the table for discussion. Bush has given some lip service that is cause for restrained optimism, as have some of his political allies.
I’m voting for Bush because he will prosecute the war with determination and oppose abortion. I’m voting for him despite the fact that I have no problem with gay marriage, hate his runaway spending, don’t trust his immigration amnesty, and see little promise in his North Korea policies at present. At least I know what he believes. What’s more, I’m fairly certain that the media have fully informed me of his personal and professional limitations. Can’t say that about Kerry, now can ya?
UPDATE: Allow me to add another good question for the big media guys: In this C-SPAN transcript of John Kerry testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971, he admits to flying to Paris to meet with both the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegations to the peace talks. At the time, the VC and NVA were shooting at our troops and torturing American POWs (in all fairness, Kerry may not have known about the torture part). This official service record from Kerry’s own Web site proves that he was still a commissioned U.S. Navy officer at the time. Unless Kerry was a registered representative of North Vietnam or the Viet Cong, wouldn’t that violate 18 U.S.C. sec. 953?
And to me, that one IS a legit issue for 2004.
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