Links and Minifeatures 2008 06 13 Friday

Private Papers on Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Good Idea, Bad Timing

Q: What would happen if President Bush repealed this ban now?

A: Environmental extremists use it as a wedge issue in the election, screaming about how Republicans rape the environment. Mr. Bush isn't on the ballot personally, but they're going to do their damnedest to put him there metaphorically.

Q: Will there be a good time for Mr. Bush to do this?

Yes.

Mugabe militias burn women and children alive

The reign of terror in Zimbabwe hit a new low for atrocities last week. Militias associated with Robert Mugabe have begun burning family members of the political opposition alive. Armed thugs looking for the head of the MDC in Mhondoro satisfied themselves with mutilating and murdering his wife instead, and it wasn't the first such attack for Mugabe's goons:

When will the world do something about Robert Mugabe?

I'd like for the answer to be "20 years ago", but given that unlike Saddam Hussein he keeps his atrocities inside the borders of the country he runs, there isn't the international pressure.

It's not news, it's Scrappleface, but it's a sad commentary when the satire makes more sense than the Chicken Little articles we call news.

How the Irish saved Civilization, Again

They've rejected the proposed EU Constitution. Proponents are griping that this means 1% of the population killed it for everyone. What they're not saying is that the Irish were the only EU members permitted by their government to vote on the abomination.

Add this one to Dred Scott and Plessy vs. Ferguson: The Boumediene decision. It's a real contender for the championship: all time worst judicial blunder.

Supreme Disgrace

Looks more like Supreme Dictatorship to me. Or Oligarchy, if you want to get technical. I'm with the Chief Justice on this one:

What Boumediene v. Bush is really all about, as Justice Roberts wrote, is control of federal policy regarding enemy combatants. That is another way of saying this case was about power -- and Thursday's decision was a power grab.

Hot Air

The 5-4 decision reverses over 200 years of American war precedent, as well as turn the Geneva Convention on its head. Unlawful combatants now have more rights than POWs, whom the GC forbids access to civilian courts. POWs facing war-crimes charges have to be tried in military tribunals, not civil courts, but terrorists somehow now have better standing than those captured in uniform.

Sanity on energy policy from Newt Gingrich and Hot Air.

via Instapundit, Does the Obama Campaign Foreshadow His Presidency?

I'd say it's certainly likely to be indicative.

Faster, please.

Why?

1. Space travel! The resources of the solar system become immediately accessible.
2. Gas prices become irrelevant
3. Pollution control
4. Quantum leap in standard of living
5. Hydrogen, the base fuel, is almost as common as political stupidity.
6. OPEC goes back to the same importance they had 200 years ago
7. No more oil price windfalls funding terrorists
8. No more burning food for fuel
9. Poverty as we currently understand it disappears

How many more reasons do you want?