Getting on Colin Powell's nerves

Boy are the American media getting bored with Iraq. A massive attack on the Kurdish leadership, killing several quite high-ups, then an assassination attempt on Ayatollah Sistani, yawn yawn.

(Later): except the latter may not have happened. I don’t get it.

More muddle-headed thinking on gay marriage, a subject that inspires muddle-headed thinking, from Mass. Governor Mitt Romney, calling for “defense” of marriage acts everywhere: “The institution of marriage was not created by government, and it should not be redefined by government.”

Reading the headline in today’s NYT, “Rumsfeld in Germany to Meet With Allies,” I had the obvious thought: they won’t be allies much longer if Rumsfeld meets with them. Sure enough, Rummy described the German media’s coverage of Iraq as “even more biased than al-Jazeera.”

If Bush keeps calling Saddam a “madman,” isn’t he suggesting an insanity defense?

Jimmy Carter has a blog. It’s very exciting. He is visiting African countries to investigate eradication of the Guinea worm.

Billmon has a bit from John McCain’s questioning, if that’s the word for it, of David Kay, and suggests that McCain on the commission will be less independent-minded than some might expect, as does his denial today or yesterday that Bush could possibly have distorted intelligence, even before hearing any evidence. And everything you need to know about Laurence Silberman is that as a judge he kept Ollie North out of prison, but everything else about his career (smears against Anita Hill, helping Kenneth Starr go after Clinton, saying that Clinton had declared war on the United States, etc) makes him the perfect candidate to spear a whitewash. And Chuck Robb, holy shit, that’s the Democrat? And there’s no subpoena power and the mission is too narrow to be helpful, etc etc etc.

Of course Sharon wants to evacuate Jews from Gaza--and put them in the West Bank. Of course he does.

America being America, a woman has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the 80 million Americans who saw Janet Jackson’s breast. And for the rest of us: “(B)ecause defendants knew that the Super Bowl and Super Bowl halftime show would have a worldwide audience and knew that for much of the world, these events would reflect the standards and reputations of Americans abroad, plaintiff and the members of the plaintiff class have been defamed by the defendants and have suffered injuries and damages to their reputations as Americans.” The lead attorney is a former member of the Tennessee legislature.

What are our reputations as Americans worth? Answers on a postcard, please.

And what makes you think that flashing Janet Jackson’s breast did not in fact perfectly reflect the standards and reputations of Americans?

It’s an ill wind that doesn’t make some bucks for Halliburton.

Colin Powell says that people criticizing the failure to find WMD-RPAs in Iraq is getting on his nerves.

The US plans to let Musharaf get away with his remarkably transparent coverup. The LA Times article notes that some of the stuff Libya had was not stuff Dr. KHAAAAAAN! had access to. Just in case you were taking his lone gunman confession seriously. “Musharraf also incensed international critics Thursday by chastising Libya and Iran for cooperating with the IAEA, thus exposing Pakistan as their crucial nuclear supplier.”