The Political Chase

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Appeals Court Judgment

The Court of Appeals Judgment (04-3138, 39, 40, District of Columbia, Feb. 2005) regarding Judy Miller’s subpoena, is available to download. This is the opinion that was released to the public yesterday, which held that Judy Miller (formerly New York Times) and Matt Cooper (Time) must testify before the grand jury for the CIA leak (Plamegate).

The notable points in this judgment, at this stage of the investigation, is the revelation of the depth of Scooter Libby’s perjury when testifying before the grand jury. Additionally it confirms Dick Cheney’s discussions with Libby and that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is definitely focused on Dick Cheney. The decision that Miller and Cooper were required to testify is old news.

Tags : Scooter+Libby, Plamegate, CIA+leak, Dick+Cheney, court+judgment, politics

Cartoon Riots

Josh Marshall has an excellent post on the substantial civil unrest with many Muslims derived from the European cartoon of Muhammed. The rupture Josh refers to, I believe is the early stages of a major milestone in theological anthropology. I won’t try to substantiate my theory on that today - that would require a very long post. I’ll save that for another day.

So liberal mores versus theocratic mores. Where’s the possible compromise? There isn’t any. On the face of it this gets portrayed as an issue of press freedom. But this is much more fundamental. ‘Press freedom’ is just one cog in the machinery of a society that doesn’t believe in or accept the idea of ‘blasphemy’. Now, an important cog? Yes. But I think we’re fooling ourselves to reduce this to something so juridical and rights based.

I don’t want to imply this is only a Muslims versus modernity issue. I know not all Muslims embrace these views. More to the point, it’s not only Muslims who do. You see it among the haredim in Israel. And I see it with an increasing frequency here in the US. Is it just me or does it seem that more and more often there are public controversies in which ‘blasphemy’ is considered some sort of legitimate cause of action — as if ‘blasphemy’ can actually have any civic meaning in a society like ours. Anyway, you get the idea.

Much, probably most of what gets talked about as the ‘war on terror’ in politics today is a crock — a stalking horse for political power grabs, a masquerade of rage and revanchism, a running excuse for why we’ve made so many stupid decisions over the last five years. In some cases, on a more refined plain, it’s rooted in intellectual or existential boredom. But beyond all the mumbojumbo about how we’re helping ourselves by permanently occupying Iraq and running the country’s finances into the ground, there is a conflict. There is a basic rupture in the world.

Read more…

  Technorati Tags : Denmark, Jyllands-Posten, France, France+Soir, Muhammad+cartoon, Islam, riots, editorial+cartoon

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