The Stump - All Comments

Jim Jones's Weird Mash Note to Rumsfeld

The Plank — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:34:11 GMT

A surprising passage from the WashPost magazine's story about the last days of Donald Rumsfeld: Even

re: Check Out Noam Scheiber's New Blog, THE STASH

johnalthousecohen — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:25:21 GMT

Why is THE STUMP still here, in the sidebar?

Why no link to THE STASH, or for that matter John McWhorter's excellent blog?

There are links to those blogs on the homepage, but not on "inside" pages.

You could easily get more readership for these blogs if you fixed the quirks with TNR's website.

re: Check Out Noam Scheiber's New Blog, THE STASH

Wandreycer1 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:22:30 GMT

Noam -

Your posts have already been the best place on the web already for information and commentary on the economy.

The comments section alone on your posts is exactly what Obama seems to have had in mind with his odd notion of bold, creative idea sharing between patriots - but we also have the realistic addition of destruction, flying objects and appropriate mayhem in there as well. Civilzed discourse is sometimes just not enough to get from A to B,

Great idea, great blog.

re: Check Out TNR's New Health Care Blog, THE TREATMENT

dubyadoubte — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:17:21 GMT

"The Treatment"? Not a snazzy one syllable name like the rest of the blogs? The Pill? The Cure?

re: Check Out Noam Scheiber's New Blog, THE STASH

JEFF FREY — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:22:34 GMT

Clever move, guys.

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

basman — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:44:16 GMT

basmanroselaw.blogspot.com

re: Farewell to The Stump

purcellneil — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:22:08 GMT

Terrific blog during an incredible campaign. Thanks.

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

citizenghost — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 11:10:13 GMT

Bulbman,

The election is over. This sort of rhetorical tripe (" the American left has made common cause with Islamo-fascism') doesn't work. Or do you actually believe it?

It's simple enough to see how this sort of self-delusion occurs. Here's how it works:

1) Regard any expression of empathy for Palestinian suffering as a statement of support for terrorism and for Islamist goals.

2) Regard any anti-American or anti-Israel statement (whether appearing in academia, the blogosphere or from within tin-foil hate circles) as being representative of something called "The Democratic Party Base."

And with that simple formula, Republicans have the makings of another loser campaign strategy for the next election.

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

Bulbman1066 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:54:54 GMT

rebml is right. What worries me is that the Democratic Party base, which is for the most part anti-American, anti-Israeli, and anti-Western, will exercise an inordinate influence on the Obama administration. The amazing and terrifying fact is that American left has made common cause with Islamo-fascism.

The question is why. Why do "liberals” side with a political movement that is every bit as vicious as were Communism and Nazism? For that matter why did so many liberals (kinda sorta) side with Communism?

re: Farewell to The Stump

AaronBBrown — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:19:46 GMT

Not a bad job overall guys and gals, boosted you're standing a bit I think.

And Mikey, those commenters were rather accurate in their assessment, you went from being in the tank for Hilary, to being maybe not a Hilary hater but certainly in the tank for Obama, I watched your metamorphosis quite clearly. :-) And you did cut loose a few times I believe, scared us all a bit. Gods man, don't start acting like Marty now. :-)

The Drinky Crow Show

www.adultswim.com/.../indexpage.html

Why Caroline Profiles Are So Annoying

The Plank — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:16:57 GMT

I was going to lay off today given the historical occasion, but there are just too many targets in today's

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

rebml — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:10:49 GMT

To Ah Yup: You are missing the point of this current war. It is not a war for territory; there is no territorial dispute here, after all, Israel did what no other country--including Egypt which controlled Gaza from 1948-1967-- has ever done before: it returned the Gaza Strip to Palestinians with the hope that they would begin to build a state that would live in peace. Sadly, they turned their energies toward war. Do you have the gall to dispute this fact? Do you have the gall to dispute that Hamas has fired more than 6,000 missiles at innocent civilians during the past 3 years? Do you have the gall to dispute that Israel restrain itself in the face of such unprovoked aggression? Do you have the gall to claim that Israel's right of retorsion -- closing it's border to an enemy -- is illegal and not warranted?

This war is being waged by religious fanatics who are intent on destroying not only Israel, but other moderate Arab countries--and America also. They don't give a damn about Palestine or Palestinians, so get off your leftist high horse. See comments Muhammad 'Ali Ibrahim, editor of the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhouriyya and an Egyptian MP: "Hamas's [statements] and actions are [characteristics of a group that is] trying to bring destruction upon its people… Egypt is concerned about the Palestinians, while Hamas is not - not one bit. Hamas is holding the entire Palestinian people hostage, saying: 'We will live together, or die together.' Hamas is imposing suicide [ideology] on the Palestinians, because it sees itself as their legitimate ruler." (Read the entire transcript at www.memri.org

Finally, Hamas proudly tells the world what their goals are: www.memritv.org/video.html

If you still feel that there is moral ambiguity here, then perhaps you can't tell the difference between right and wrong.

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

AhYup — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:00:06 GMT

"There is NO MORAL AMBIGUITY HERE FOLKS."

The fact that there is ambiguity moral and/or otherwise.

I'm continually asked how I would be if rockets were coming in my neighborhood and I imagine the answer is freaked out.

On the other hand, when I think of what I would be like had I grown up in the Gaza strip in those deplorable conditions watching Jewiish is settlements continually expand as well as the arrogance of the settlers and hamfisted military action I know that I would be very angry and desperate feeling. I think I'd probably want to kill and drive what I perceived to be the oppressor away.

Now I suppose if you made up your mind in the first place that one side's cause is just and the others is not then none of those things matter. But I don't think that either sides cause is particularly just.

So I see ambiguity galore.

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

rebml — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:38:07 GMT

harriscrl13: If Israel were to follow the strategy you propose, they would be rendered defenseless.

Finally, the issue isn't that Hamas terrorists ONLY fired a mortar at the Israeli troops, and therefore, they should ignore the danger...it's a fucking war. The goal is to eliminate the enemy who wants to destroy you. Sadly, the enemy doesn't give a damn about civilian casualties. There is NO MORAL AMBIGUITY HERE FOLKS. What prevents people from seeing this? Read Ephraim Karsh's article on JCPA.org.

"Barack the Magic Negro": Surprisingly Unhelpful

The Plank — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:59:53 GMT

This site tracking public commitments to the six candidates for RNC chairman suggests that, contrary

re: Farewell to The Stump

Rusty McGuns — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:48:34 GMT

Thanks for the fantastic work on what was my favorite blog during the 2008 presidential season. Looking forward to your contributions on the Plank. Yaaarrgghhh.

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

Rhubarbs — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:06:50 GMT

Aluf Benn in Haaretz: "[the Obama administration] will support Israel, but will oppose any harming of Palestinian civilians. This means that Israel will find it difficult to close the crossings into the Gaza Strip at will."

I just don't understand how one gets from the statement of the first sentence to the conclusion of the second sentence. So what if official Washington is less rhetorically supportive of any given Israeli policy? Will President Obama's mild disapproval cause the gates at Raffah to rust in the "open" position? No. I know life feels better on days when you know your friends like you than on days when you suspect that your friends disapprove of something you're doing. But very little that a President Obama could conceivably do would actually make it more or less "difficult" for the government of Israel to do or not do anything it damn well pleases.

I sometimes wonder if we need to remind people on both sides of the Atlantic that Israel is not, in fact, one of the several United States of America. Israel is its own country, with its own interests, and its own government perfectly capable of looking after those interests.

(And really, an Israeli government that continues to enable settlement growth in the West Bank is going to find it "more difficult" to close Gaza border crossings against suicide bombers due to the American president using slightly different adjectives when he expresses his support for Israeli security? Puh-lease.)

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

Wandreycer1 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:41:01 GMT

Firing mortars? I don't want IDF members killed, but mortar fire doesn't strike me as a huge menace they cannot deal with in other ways, I'm sorry. I don't think they do either. This is one of the most sophisticated armies on earth.

They bombed the whole building, knowing there were small children by the dozens inside. Someone had a frigging cell phone in the building, it was a UN school. They could have called them last week. Told them to cancel school until further notice. Frankly, this is not nuclear physics and the IDF is too effing smart for me to belive they couldn't have avoided this.

There is no justification. I know the IDF soldiers have consciences, but someone in that command structure does not. We knew a long time ago Hamas does not and I'm certainly not in the business of defending those indefensible people.

I have a hard time envisioning the IDF not knowing every target by heart, every person going in and out, every nook and cranny of the damn place. They are renown for their military intelligence. I simply do not believe it was unavoidable. The UN truck too, its just too much.

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

FBC — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:34:16 GMT

Here's an article saying that the IDF was responding to mortar fire from within the school.

www.haaretz.com/.../1053418.html

Where does the story that it was a weapons store come from?

re: Obama's "Warning" to Israel?

FBC — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:27:17 GMT

Hadn't heard that the school was said to be a weapon store. I'd heard that there were Hamas gunmen actually firing mortars from the midst of the civilians there. In that case, there's not much opportunity to phone the school and urge them to evacuate the civilians.

The UNRWA man on the spot denies there were militants actually in the school, but hints that they were adjacent. Counter-battery fire isn't like a laser beam, and explosions do damage widely.

In any case, many Gazans have kvetched that the well-known IDF phone calls and leaflets don't do them any good.

Here's an interesting link

www.nytimes.com/.../09fighter.html

One thing to remember is that IDF soldiers generally have consciences. Most are reservists. Most would be concerned about whether a strike is militarily justified, and about the "collateral damage," that well-known phrase. Of course I'm not talking about Dan Halutz.

Part of the reason so many of the controversial incidents, like British journalists taking risks and getting shot, have involved Israeli Arab soldiers.