Todays Links 2005 07 14 Thursday

How many Evil Infidel Points is insisting that terrorists act like civilized human beings? Oh. Right. I guess I'm a target. Big target for now or little target for later, doesn't really matter. I'm still a target. I can do something about it, or wait to my turn to get hit. If you have to guess which, then you're a new reader.

Hat tip: Tim Blair

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Edward Lazarus in the Capital Times has some worthwhile thoughts for those left of center on the Supreme Court vacancies.



Professor Althouse adds her thoughts. Read the comments, also. They're worth it.



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Mudville Gazette has more on recent terrorist attacks in Iraq. Is it just me, or does it seem like even the vermin's helpers are starting to have second thoughts? Last week in London they were likely not expecting to be suicide bombers, and in Baghdad the splodeydope human camel tried to walk away.



Blackfive has some picures of ordinary Iraqis marching against terror.



Belmont Club has more.



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Misha takes on the Times's editorial in favor of the IFC at the WTC. He does know how to make his point. Harsh language advisory in effect.



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Vodkapundit makes a good point about the Chinese economy and military intentions. If the chinese economy has tanked, watch out for military action, almost certainly against Taiwan, for the same reasons Argentina attacked the Falklands.



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Vodkapundit also has An Explanation into his position on Rove and Plame. It has to do with protecting our covert intelligence operatives. I see his point, and yet I do not agree. Plame and Wilson came forward and got political on their own. This whole thing is roughly James Bond retires from field service and gets a desk job, gets his anti-government hack spouse a job that said spouse proceeds to botch. Said anti-government hack spouse then goes public with accusations of malfeasance, and it's somehow a crime that the circumstances are disclosed? I don't think so. One right anybody - person, corporation, political group - has in our system is the right to have public illumination shine upon any attack upon them. How else are we to judge the case on its merits? If Plame had been intending to return to covert operations, one cardinal rule of which is "don't get noticed", she shouldn't have gotten her opposition political hack husband the job if he couldn't keep his mouth shut. Here's a conundrum for the other side: Suppose we had had a Republican CIA man's spouse go public about how stupid and poorly thought out Clinton's foreign policy efforts really were? Would you think Billy boy would have been entitled to respond? Suppose Hillary gets elected in '08 and starts moving the War on Terror towards "consultation" with terrorist states, and those who have been fighting it correctly under GWB take public exception? Is she entitled to answer them and illuminate the circumstances? My answer is yes. Is yours? Then why is the Bush administration different?



Q and O has an article dissecting whether Mr. Rove could have committed a crime, examining the relevant law. The short answer: No. The only reason it's even an issue they're moonbats and he's Eeeevil Karl Rove™!



Just One Minute has much more.

Hat tip: Instapundit



Finally, Scrappleface comes up with a way that the left might believe Karl Rove is innocent. Bwahahaha!



UPDATE: Townhall.com has coverage of a total meltdown on the part of the Donkeys, trying to pass an amendment that would remove Mr. Rove's security clearance, among other things. I realize removal of a security clearance isn't prosecution of a crime, but ex post facto procedings have a really bad odor even when it's not criminal, and there is a reason for it (He didn't break the law, so we'll pass a new one and get him with that). Whereas I have to admit that Sen. Frist's amendment is a rather elegant response parliamentarily, it's still ex post facto. The Donkeys have Officially Lost It (Again), and the Elephants fail to convert the fumble.

Hat tip: Wizbang



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Jane Galt makes a good point on Aid to Africa



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Austin Bay has the best coverage of the Van Gogh murder trial and the overall situation in the Netherlands that I've seen.



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I'm saddened to read that La Shawn Barber is taking a break from her blog. On her way out, she says a few things that cannot really be said too often.



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Both La Shawn Barber and Michelle Malkin point us to Jihad Watch, where we learn that the same british taxpayers who were killed were funding the center where the bombers were recruited.



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Dean's World has more on "Defining "Democracy" and The Democratic Peace Theory"



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Eric's Grumbles and Anarchangel both have worthwhile thoughts on the space program.



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