Charles has some interesting information on how the Travis County Democratic Party could be directly linked to Rathergate.
Robin [Rather] also just so happens to be the next door neighbor of David Van Os, candidate for the Texas Supreme Court and until this week Bill Burkett’s lawyer.
We’ve got some real detectives in Homespun Bloggers.
I’ve read and heard all the autopsies for the Ryder Cup Matches, and the conventional wisdom is that the European team kicks American butt regularly because they want the win more than do the Americans.
Bull.
The American team may be driven by a desire not to be embarrassed, but that is just as much incentive as any other. One loony reporter asked if it had to do with the Americans being involved in the President’s Cup alternate years. Perhaps it was tedious doing this kind of thing every year. Sergio quashed that.
The European team just enjoy playing golf more than do the American players. Golf is such a mental game. Blocking out extraneous thoughts during play is important. But the Americans seem to be all wrapped up in strategy and swing thoughts. Where do I place this shot? What will the wind do to my ball? How many things can go wrong? I certainly don’t want to hit this ball into that bunker….
The Europeans just seem to be out there on a weekend outing, knowing there will be beer in the clubhouse when they finish, win or lose. They may have many of the same anxieties on the first tee box, but those butterflies quickly float away. They all seem to look at their lie, check the distance, decide what to hit, and hit. Americans have been Nicklausified. And that’s why John Daly could have helped. He is the Retro-Golfer.
Maybe it’s time to bring back some of the old guys, too. Hale, Fuzzy, Jake. They might not win, but they would be fun to watch.
Last night O’Reilly had an interview with Kerry that was taped in December 2001. I didn’t pay close attention, but Kerry sounded then like he sounds now–he would do something, although he can’t quite put his finger on it. This segment was a prequel to O’Reilly’s interview with Dubya, which will air next week.
I understand I’m going to take some heat from all sides. In fact, I got a letter today that told me the interview was dumb, even though nobody’s seen it yet.
You can be sure that O’Reilly will have a tough talk. He is determined to not be perceived as partisan. But he will also be respectful. That respect will be viewed by some as fawning.
He still hasn’t received a commitment from Kerry. Kerry will wait to see how Bush does. Don’t expect to see him enter the No-Spin Zone any time soon.
I went to the bookstore in search of the new P. J. O’Rourke book I wrote about yesterday. Not in, but on order. Maybe I’ll get it this weekend.
So, as I always do, I browsed. Only for an hour or two, though.
I found Intellectual Morons by Daniel J. Flynn and began reading it last night.
The act of abandoning an idea when contrary evidence disproves it is hardly unusual in the hard sciences. Contrary evidence in the social sciences and the humanities often has the opposite effect: devotees tighten their embrace of the theory. As a result, their grip on reality loosens. When you tether yourself to ideology, you necessarily liberate yourself from facts. You become an intellectual moron.
I try very hard to make myself focus on facts, especially facts which contradict my beliefs. It is called “learning.” Like everyone, I get disturbed when something upsets the balance of those beliefs. But knowledge rides an edge, and new information can tilt you one way or the other if you are willing to learn. Intellectual Morons have jumped off that edge into the abyss called ideology which lies on either side, and they are virtually unrecoverable.
A simple, current example is the absolute surety with which some people insist Dubya got favorable treatment in the TANG, and skipped out on his commitment. Facts show that isn’t true. Rather than back off, they become even more convinced. They simply can’t bring themselves to even try and climb back up on that edge.
I am diligent in trying not to become an Intellectual Moron. Reading others’ blogs certainly helps.
Yet another opportunity has come and gone. Mr. Allawi spoke to a joint session of Congress yesterday and offered the chance to meet and speak with the man who will continue to lead his country until at least January when elections are held. John Kerry couldn’t be bothered.
At first, I was disturbed that he felt being in Ohio was more important. Then I heard a report on the radio driving home that most of the Democrats in Congress played hookey. I’ve not been able to confirm that this morning.
Are they at all serious about any kind of international relations except donating money to fight a particular trendy “Disease of the Week” or propping up Kofi Annan and his ilk?
We can only hope that Les Moonves takes Hugh Hewitt’s advice. I think this would be the start of a good thing for television news.
I am not firing Andrew Heyward, Dan Rather, or Mary Mapes, though Heyward is no longer CBS News president and Dan’s not our anchor anymore. These three, and a few others involved in this meltdown, have been given an assignment to produce a one-hour special detailing what happened. It is scheduled to run in two weeks. I will review it before it airs. If it doesn’t answer every question, then that will be the end of some fine CBS careers. I am not interested in retribution. I am interested in reputation. Ours is toast, and it deserves to be. Dan’s in charge of the first step in the rebuilding process. I have confidence in him.
Can Moonves bring himself to admit that bringing in [Someone Else] is the smart thing to do?
Will hiring [NAME] turn us into Fox News? Fox News is a fine news organization, and if you haven’t figured that out yet, you are in denial. They owned the Swift Boat story because we were sniffing about the fact that this or that didn’t seem appropriate to us. They owned the Republican convention because people trust Hume. I’d hire him tomorrow to anchor but he won’t come. So get over this “Fox News is a right-wing carnival” crap.
This morning after my segment, Jim Lago had on the GM for the local CBS affiliate. (HINT: They are not to blame for the problems. But it is affecting them.) And affiliates are not real pleased about the whole thing. They are loyal, however. It was clear that the fake documents do carry legitimate questions in the minds of many. Looking at facts, I don’t know why.
I check my Aussie friends’ blogs each morning, and am always treated to outstanding commentary. They get an early jump on us Yanks, so have had time to sift through many things out on the web while we sleep. This morning, Slatts had a pointer to something excerpted from a new book by P J O’Rourke:
Frankly, nothing concerning foreign policy ever occurred to me until the middle of the last decade. I’d been writing about foreign countries and foreign affairs and foreigners for years. But you can own dogs all your life and not have “dog policy”.
You have rules, yes – Get off the couch! – and training, sure. We want the dumb creatures to be well behaved and friendly. So we feed foreigners, take care of them, give them treats, and, when absolutely necessary, whack them with a rolled-up newspaper.
That was as far as my foreign policy thinking went until the middle 1990s, when I realised America’s foreign policy thinking hadn’t gone that far.
I think that’s the point Dubya was trying to make. He has a different approach.
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