It doesn't always take a woman

In this video of yesterday's debate, proof positive, at 1:15, that you don't have to be a woman to show love for your family. Proof too, at 1:41, that not all women feel the pull of emotion.

'Nuff said

(Occasional item taking context-optional note of thought-provoking quotes.)

This is bullshit. This is malarkey. This is outrageous. Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, sit in the Knesset … and make this kind of ridiculous statement.

-- U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) (above left), former Presidential candidate and Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. The cause of his objection? President George W. Bush's statement in Israel's parliament, during a commemoration of Israel's 60th birthday. Bush likened proposals to meet face-to-face -- that is, to engage in diplomacy -- with adversaries such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to pre-World War II appeasement of Adolf Hitler. Many others objected. Here's what Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) had to say:

I think what the president said in that regard is beneath the dignity of the office of the president and unworthy of our representation at that observance in Israel.

Chillin'

There's something so last-millennium about the news that explorers have planted the Russian flag at the North Pole; to be specific, more than 2-1/2 miles underneath the pole. The move of these latter-day conquistadors would bemuse if the stakes weren't so high.
It's intended to give Russia rights to exploit "oil, gas and mineral reserves" believed to lie in the claimed "vast swathe of territory in the Arctic." The reserves are more accessible, U.S. Coast Guard Academy Professor Scott Borgerson writes, on account of the warming of the Arctic. And Russia's not the only interested state: Borgerson names a half-dozen more that claim interests in the Arctic, and demonstrates that the potential for an ice rush, if you will, calls for some international cooperation.
Eventually there should be a comprehensive Arctic treaty, he writes, and even before that, bilateral agreements.
An obvious route for cooperation is the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. As posted earlier, however, the United States remains outside that treaty regime, a fact that reduces its leverage on this issue. In May, President George W. Bush called for ratification. But, as in the past, ratification's become a topic of heated debate. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Joseph Biden's among Democrats in favor of ratification, while folks generally supportive of Bush are weighing in on both sides. It remains to be seen whether the support of this President can propel this multilateral treaty through the U.S. Senate.
(photo of flags at North Pole during Robert E. Peary's 1909 expedition (c) 1910 Frederick A. Stokes Co.)

Gitmo on the Demo campaign trail

Democratic presidential candidates seem even more united than Republicans on the issue of Guantánamo/"Guantánamo"; that is, not only on questions of closure of the detention camp that bears the name, but also on post-September 11 practices of coercive interrogation. As detailed yesterday, nearly all GOP candidates favor the camp and/or the harsh methods. In stark contrast are the Democrats: nearly all have advocated closing the camp, and none has supported coercive interrogation. Here's a sampling of Demos' comments this campaign year (and in the 1st example, well before):

U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, 2005 TV appearance:

This has become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world. And it is unnecessary to be in that position. ... I think we should end up shutting it down, moving those prisoners. ... Those that we have reason to keep, keep. And those we don't, let go.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Senate committee hearing:

Rather than keeping us more secure, keeping Guantanamo open is harming our national interests. It compromises our long term military and strategic interests, and it impairs our standing overseas. I have certainly concluded that we should address any security issues on what to do with the remaining detainees, and then close it once and for all.

U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut:

Dodd has sponsored the Restoring the Constitution Act 0f 2007, a bill that would not close Guantánamo, but would allow detainees to petition federal courts for writs of habeas corpus, and also would address some due process concerns related to the military commissions set to try some Gitmo detainees.

Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, speech to the California Democratic Party Convention, San Diego:

On my first day in office, you have my word that Guantanamo will be closed.

Former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska, radio appearance:

I will withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 60 days and raze Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo. We must tell the world that the United States does not stand for
torture. It is unacceptable human behavior.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, news interview:

You could close Guantanamo; that’s a good move — but until the United States ends the occupation (of Iraq), we will still have this war.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, speech in Kansas City:

He also called for the closing of Guantanamo -- the American military base in Cuba where putative al-Qaida terrorists are imprisoned: 'Why don't we say we don't do torture, we don't do rendition, that's not who we are as a people.'

Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, 2007 speech in Washington:

... Richardson told an Arab-American group that, as president, he would close the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorists ... Richardson said the prisons at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib had made Americans 'very, very ashamed.'

'Nuff said.