Headline Crawl 4

'05 Use of Gas By Blackwater Leaves Questions - Questions like why is a State Department contractor using tear gas on a crowd that includes US soldiers on guard duty?. Why do these guys even have gas? After this incident, their ration of baked beans should be limited.

Ireland: Inquiry Into Drinking Laws - Justice Minister Brian Lenihan calls for repeal of the daily two drink minimum that has long defined the national character, provoking national outrage and drunken rioting in several major cities. Seriously, Lenihan decried a national problem with binge drinking and called for a study of current laws on sale and distribution of alcohol. News in Ireland, but really, NY Times, would this be in your headlines if the Justice Minister of any other country had made the same announcement?

Pirate Attacks Increase in 2007 - Angered by the rising tide of pirate humor, buccaneers bumped up their swashbuckling stats by more than 10% over 2006. An anonymous pirate, who asked to be identified only as Hillarrrrrrrrry, broke down in tears while talking to this reporter - "It's just not fairrrrrr. We don't all have peg legs and talk with rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrolling rrrrrrrrrrrs. And the whole parrrrrrrrot thing is just so ridiculous, it really hurts sometimes."

Second Escapee From New Jersey Jail Is Arrested in Mexico - Otis Blunt was seized in a cheap Mexico City Hotel. Jose Espinosa was captured a day earlier in an apartment near the jail in Elizabeth, NJ. As Good As News pictures these guys tunnelling gleefully a la Shawshank redemption, covering their entrance with a poster of Jessica Alba, scrawling a sarcastic thank you to the poor guard who didn't notice, then - free at last. Oops, unlike Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, they have no secret bank account skimmed from the warden and no tropical Eden awaits them. Hint to prisoners, when you're on the outside you need more than Al Sharpton's phone number.

Consultant Questions Beijing's Claim of Cleaner Air - Steven Q. Andrews, a Princeton In Asia fellow who worked in Beijing with the National Resources Defense Counsel, has concluded that "irregularities" in the pollution measurement system have allowed Beijing to meet environmental targets linked to the upcoming Olympics. Government official Du Shaozong responded. Without rebutting any of the specifics in the Q's detailed critique, Du noted that sky's were indisputably bluer and promised that with patience and reeducation the small group of people who did not understand this fact would eventually understand. Ah the joys of a one party system and captive press - Mr. Du's blather does not seem to have encountered any follow-up questions. So, kudos to Q, kudonts to Du.

Blog Takes Failed Marriage Into Fight Over Free Speech - A divorce judge in Vermont has ordered blogger William Krasnansky to take down posts that offer a "fictionalized" view of his wife, who initiated divorce proceedings. His postings include entries from her journal. Ouch. Sympathies to the wife, but by obtaining a restraint on free speech and making a constitutional case out of it, she has put the husband's blog in the NY Times when otherwise it would have been read by 4 people in Vermont. If minimizing her embarassment was the goal, doing nothing about the blog would have attracted a lot less attention. A suit for damages based on libel, copyright infringement and invasion of privacy, with no request for an order censoring the blog, might have scared the husband into taking the posts down voluntarily while the suit was pending. Instead she asked for, and got, a broad order to take down the offending posts and cease putting up new ones, generating national publicity for a blog that's still up and running. Be careful what you wish for.

3:10 to Baghdad

Chief of Blackwater [Erik D. Prince] Defends His Employees in testimony before Congress:

-"OK, maybe our ads did say "Cowboys Wanted", but it was just to get people's attention, there are a lot of other advertisements in Modern Mercenary, you have to do something to capture some eyeballs. "

-"All right already, yes -Chapter 1 of the training manual is titled "Shoot First - If You're Any Good There Won't Be Any Questions Later", but that was just a little Blackwater humor - the footnote on page 354 clearly states that weapons are to be used for defensive purposes only."

Mr. Prince is another interesting character. The son of an auto parts millionaire, he's a Republican blue blood who interned in the White House and Congress and is the brother in law of Amway founder and conservative money man Richard DeVos. Mr. Prince was an officer in the US Navy and a Navy Seal, not quite the same thing as the Texas Air National Guard. He attended Annapolis as a freshman, but returned to Michigan to graduate from Hillsdale College. Why? This guy became a naval officer shortly after college, so he had not changed his career goal, and he had the fortitude to endure Navy Seal training so he probably could have handled Annapolis, why leave? Comments anyone?


Mr. Prince is an interesting detour, as is the crazy vacuum in which no law seems to apply to Blackwater personnel in Iraq, but the real issue is why are these jobs handled by private contractors? Just as the all volunteer army made it easier politically to rush into the Iraq war, the private guards help to reduce the military casualty numbers and blunt the military recruitment problems that a dangerous, unpopular war creates. Maybe we should fight wars with real soldiers who are trained and accountable, wars that people support because they serve a fundamental national interest, instead of hiring mercenaries to reduce the political impact of a continuing mistake.