Focusing on the air in the balls, or lack thereof

In supporting the Republican refusal to allow a debate on Iraq, Joe Lieberman played his usual “not in front of the children” card: “We are being heard by our men and women in uniform, who will be interested to know whether we support the plan they have begun to carry out. We are being heard by the leaders of the thuggish regimes in Iran and Syria, and by Al Qaeda terrorists, eager for evidence that Americas will is breaking.” If the leaders of the thuggish regimes in Iran and Syria are hearing Joe Lieberman’s annoying droning voice, it jolly well serves them right, I say.

Al Kamen points out an LA Times correction to its review of the PBS series on the Supreme Court. The review “said there was a justice named Hamburger. There was a chief justice named Warren Burger.” Clearly they were mistaking him for Perry Mason’s perennial courtroom opponent Hamilton Burger.

Cute Salon story about a 2004 US army effort to win Iraqi hearts and minds by handing out flat soccer balls to children. They weren’t supposed to be flat, but the army was supplied with uninflated balls and no pumps or needles with which to inflate them, so that’s what they gave out. A spokesmodel for the division said, “To focus on the air in the balls, or lack thereof, undermines the American spirit of generosity and completely misses the point of giving.” What was that point again?