Off The Air

Free speech? Are you kidding? We’re at war!

A congressman says comedian Bill Maher’s comment that the U.S. military has already recruited all the “low-lying fruit” is possibly treasonous and at least grounds to cancel the show.
Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., takes issue with remarks on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, first aired May 13, in which Maher points out the Army missed its recruiting goal by 42 percent in April.
“More people joined the Michael Jackson fan club,” Maher said. “We’ve done picked all the low-lying Lynndie England fruit, and now we need warm bodies.”
. . .
“I think it borders on treason,” Bachus said. “In treason, one definition is to undermine the effort or national security of our country.”
. . .
“I don’t want (Maher) prosecuted,” Bachus said. “I want him off the air.”

It’s great we have these kind of people running the country. I didn’t see the aforementioned comment, but the Michael Jackson reference pretty strongly suggests that the statement was made in humor–or treasonous humor, if you will.
I’m getting tired of rightists breaking out the “treason” card whenever someone says something too critical of America or the “war on terror.”

The Compromise

Josh Marshall gets at the crux of why yesterday’s heralded compromise probably isn’t a long-term solution:

And the main issue isn’t resolved so much as it’s delayed. The moderate Republicans agree to preserve the filibuster so long as the Democrats use it in what the moderate Republicans deem a reasonable fashion. And yet the use of the filibuster, by its very nature, almost always seems unreasonable to those whom it is used against.

Exactly. From what I’ve seen, there’s no definition for “extraordinary circumstances.” So what does it mean? In practice, it apparently will mean whatever these 14 “moderate” senators say it means. And there’s no guarantee the consensus shown yesterday will withstand the stiff winds of a Supreme Court confirmation fight.
Moreover, as Mr. Marshall notes, the agreement fails to include a White House commitment not to select far-right nominees which would be the basis for another filibuster fight. My hunch is that this episode merely serves as a flashing red cape, emboldening the Dobson/Frist/Bush coalition to send an even more radical appointment when they have the chance. You gotta maintain the tough guy appearance to keep the red meat crowd happy. And that won’t happen through compromise.

Fighting To Defeat

Makes sense to me:

[QUESTION]: Do you think that [the Iraqi] insurgence is getting harder now to defeat militarily?
BUSH: No, I don’t think so. I think they’re being defeated, and that’s why they continue to fight.

Uh, if you’re defeated, doesn’t that mean you stop fighting?

Rank The NY Times Columnists

Timothy Noah conducted a short reader poll and established the relative value of NY Times columnists as follows ($3.13 being the line separating “above normal” from “below normal”:

Paul Krugman: $6.90
Thomas L. Friedman: $4.10
Frank Rich: $3.92
Maureen Dowd: $3.42
Nicholas Kristof: $2.35
Bob Herbert: $1.42
David Brooks: $1.39
John Tierney: $0.31

It’s notable that an economist tops the unscientific survey, since most people don’t think of economics as being that interesting. I know he doesn’t just write about that, but it does illustrate that interesting writing can come from virtually any field.