Couldn’t Help But Notice (100607)
Soldier and civilian deaths are down in Iraq (HT Mark at Weapons of Mass Discussion).
Annualized, September’s 988 civilian deaths (assumed to be all-inclusive of all causes until someone shows me that they aren’t), in a nation of about 26.8 million people, works out to 44.24 per 100,000. That death rate is less than the murder rates in all but one of the US cities cited in the historical review done at this post early this year.
Matt’s point that the improved situation isn’t generating much Old Media attention is a good one.
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If this is really true (cough, cough), Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean may resign soon:
A standing policy of the DNC prevents money accepted and vetted under previous chairs to be returned, said press secretary Stacie Paxton. Dean has held his title since early 2005.
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Micheal Medved, who has been on an incredible roll lately, has another must-read hard-drive saver: “The Founders Intended A Christian, Not Secular, Society.” Historical facts are stubborn things.
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Bill Steigerwald, on the free media-scrutiny pass politicized NASA climate scientist James Hansen gets — and doesn’t deserve.
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Taranto at Best of the Web responds to the news that 41 Senators have attempted to intimidate Clear Channel into muzzling Rush Limbaugh:
If Democrats want to support the phony troops, it is their right to do so. But when they try to interfere with Limbaugh’s livelihood, that amounts to an effort at creating a McCarthy-style blacklist.
The Fox report says that 41 Democratic senators signed this letter, which means that 9 or 10 did not (depending on how you count Joe Lieberman). Will they speak out against their colleagues’ intimidation efforts? And where are the Republicans in all this? With the Democratic Party increasingly in thrall to hate groups like MoveOn and Media Matters, America urgently needs politicians of either party with the courage to take a stand for decency.
The worst part of all of this is that at least McCarthy “got the outline right and the details wrong” (link here; look for comment by Charles if link doesn’t take you there); the MoveOnster monsters couldn’t be more comprehensively wrong.
Hey Tom, I posted the Iraq War death story…..just to clarify…..
Mark
Comment by Mark at WMD — October 6, 2007 @ 5:39 pm
#1 sorry, I usually catch that.
Comment by TBlumer — October 6, 2007 @ 5:51 pm
Tom;
The Medved is a must read history lesson.
Comment by Brian — October 6, 2007 @ 7:15 pm
Regarding Medved’s Christian Society argument:
While Medved may indeed point to historical facts, logical arguments to support today’s public policy must be the foundation of political philosophy.
The other edge of the ‘historical fact’ sword cuts a swath that blemishes our history: slavery, segregation, lack of women’s suffrage are also historical facts that logic-based public policy enlightens us against.
Comment by Porkopolis — October 7, 2007 @ 12:18 pm
#4 Porkopolis,
It was from the pulpits of the Christian churches that the abolitionist movement got its strength and sustenance.
The Reverend Martin Luther King inspired blacks to engage in the civil disobedience that brought down the Jim Crow South and led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. King’s crusade touched the conscience of the still-Christian nation and got the support of the white majority that was necessary for passage.
We are less of a Christianity-based society than we were even 30-40 years ago. That is not a good thing, as we don’t have an adequate ethics-based framework to deal with the likes of embryonic research, euthanasia, etc. without reference to Christian principles.
Comment by TBlumer — October 7, 2007 @ 1:27 pm
“…[W]e don’t have an adequate ethics-based framework to deal with the likes of embryonic research, euthanasia, etc. without reference to Christian principles…”
But indeed we do have an independent ethcial frame-work…it’s the Golden Rule which has the added benefit that this tenet is supported by logic and should be accessible to both faith-based and logic-based individuals.
Comment by Porkopolis — October 8, 2007 @ 10:10 pm
With 2 million Iraqi refugees (both internally displaced and those still in international limbo) we can hardly expect the media (old or otherwise) to jump up & down over some preliminary reports. Besides, isn’t ONE death too many if it is your son or daughter? Oh, I forgot–neocons let the poor and racial minorities do the fighting for them–they wouldn’t know.
Comment by Tammy Obeidallah — October 8, 2007 @ 10:28 pm
#6, I should modify it to Judeo-Christian principles, and note that they put the mean on the Golden Rule’s bones.
#7, the vast majority of those who have lost loved ones in Iraq and the WOT support the mission and don’t want their loved ones’ deaths to have been in vain. There are at least 10 of them for every Cindy Sheehan. Trust the families, Tammy.
Comment by TBlumer — October 8, 2007 @ 10:37 pm