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31. oktober 2005
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Those who love sick morbid humour will want to check out and vote for the nominees to the 2005 Darwin Awards.
Via A Welsh View, as always a great place for fun and weird stories.
11:34:24 PM 
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After the Miers fiasco, George Bush moved swiftly to nominate a new Supreme Court justice, Samuel Alito.
President Bush today named appeals court Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court. Alito, 55, serves on the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, where his record on abortion rights and church-state issues has been widely applauded by conservatives and criticized by liberals.
Alito, very much unlike Miers, has a massive and impressive resume. Not many will be attacking him over his qualifications. But Alito's positions (if not his style) has earned him the nickname "Scalito" after Antonin Scalia. He is a solid social conservative (read: opposed to abortion rights), and Bush has succeeded in framing the struggle for this nomination into a classical Republican-Democrat confrontation. That could give the president some much needed reprieve after some bad weeks.
There appears to be a political law that second-term presidents are eventually pummeled into lame ducks. Bush's solid reelection gave him, he argued, political capital to cash in on social security reform. It appears that programme went over like a lead balloon. Far from being on the offensive, Bush has spent the past months in decline, with key team members under special counsel scrutiny, Congress allies in corruption probes and a steadily declining job approval record as Americans' patience over Iraq wears very thin. The Miers controversy taught him that his conservative "base" aren't merely cheerleaders. And centrist-conservatives aren't exactly thrilled about Bush's record on budget balance (ie. absense of), homeland defence, pork, and immigration.
It's not as if this is unprecedented. It may be easy to forget now given his long-term legacy, but Reagan was badly hurt by the Iran-Contra scandal in his second term. Clinton's Whitewater-scandal (which wasn't that much) and Lewinisky-scandal (which very much was, especially in tabloids) forced him, too, on the defensive in his second term. Now it may appear the US will have to live with a severely weakened chief of state for three more years, unable to capitalise on his party's control of all branches of government.
I'm not entirely convinced that overturning Roe v Wade, opening up a full-scale abortion war in the country, will do the conservatives a lot of good in the long term. That said, social conservatives will be very thankful if Bush leaves them a SCOTUS that has taken a decisive turn to the right. Those who favour abortion rights but oppose it being 'legislated from the bench' may well be satisifed about this development, too.
I've said it before: in the long term, a government is not stronger than its opposition. The Democratic party's inability to capitalise on Bush's misery is maybe the most notable aspect of the current political turmoil in the US.
By 2008, that may well have changed.
9:31:46 PM
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The UN Security Council has unanimously passed resolution 1636, calling on Syria to detain and hand over all suspects in the killing of Lebanese politician Rafik Hariri and 22 other people, and threatening unspecified "further action" if no cooperation is forthcoming.
The resolution called on all States to prevent the entry or transit of suspects designated by the Commission or the Government of Lebanon and to freeze all assets of such person on their territory. It took this action to assist the investigation and "without prejudice to the ultimate judicial determination of guilt or innocence of any individual."
The measures will stay in place until "all the investigative and judicial proceedings relating to this terrorist attack have been completed" unless the Council decides otherwise. The Council also set up a committee to register the individuals concerned, remove anyone who is deemed to be no longer a suspect, and approve exceptions such as travel for religious or humanitarian purposes.
Suspects include members of President Bashar Assad's inner circle, like his brother, brother-in-law and a close friend, and he himself is wanted for questioning. Giving in to these demands would be a total humiliation for Assad, as he is severely weakened at home. On the other hand, with little outside support, even from the Arab world, it is difficult to see how he can stand firm against this onslaught. For Assad, it is clear he is facing the devil's alternative. If he is seen as too weak at home, he may eventually be toppled by military leaders vying for power. If he tries to stand his ground, economic sanctions could prove totally devastating to his grip on power anyway.
Russia said just a few days ago it would block calls for sanctions against its allies in Syria, so it's a question of whether the resolution will have sharp teeth. It remains to be seen whether Russia will really be willing to pay the political price of standing up to the united western powers over Syria, if it is really obvious that Assad is ignoring a SC resolution Russia itself signed.
9:02:07 PM
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On October 24, I linked an item concerning the growing threat of militias and terrorists (with probably a bit of overlap) in southern Nigeria. Two days earlier, an airplane had crashed in Nigeria, killing 117 people, including a US special forces officer. At the time, I was not aware of any serious allegations that this was anything but an accident, but now some evidence indicates the crash was caused by sabotage or an explosive.
Senior Nigerian officials are now saying publicly that there was an explosion in the air, before the aircraft, which had recently passed inspection, crashed to the earth. The lastest official statements can be found here.
At least one previously unknown group from the troubled Niger Delta region has taken credit for the downing, but the claim has been disavowed by other groups, and there seems to be little indication that any are legitimate.
The jury is still out on the cause of the plane crash, but it's certainly worth paying attention to. If this was a terrorist act (or a crime), it certainly marks a serious escalation in West-Africa's largest country, and one of the world's frontlines in the struggle against extremist Islam.
8:40:07 PM
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I've been out to sea for the last couple of days, enjoying myself with some friends, and being blessedly offline.
The world could have ended, almost, without me knowing it. That's a bit weird for a news junkie like me. The world didn't end, but quite a bit did happen. I'll hopefully be able to catch up a bit in the evening.
8:01:21 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.11.2005; 08:54:02.
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