Link Round Up

We're back in Chicago but much more tired out than I'd have expected. As a result, all I've got the energy for tonight are a few intriguing links and bits of news to pass along.

I saw this piece Steve Clemons wrote last week for TPMCafe, but in light of Seymour Hersh's article, it seems even more relevant. Clemons tells us that the Isreali national security apparatus seems much less concerned about Iran's nuke capabilities than we do. If Israel, which is notorious for its hyper-vigilance over possible threats, thinks we can back off, then we should just take the lesson and move on. Clemons also reminds us that, although we can't know for sure, it's been suggested that Valerie Plame was working on nuclear intelligence about Iran. Any intelligence program she had going was blown along with her cover when the Bushies decided that it was more important to smear Joe Wilson, who was attacking their PR campaign for war in Iraq, than to actually keep up with what was going on in Iran.

Speaking of Iran, that nation announced that it had successfully produced enriched uranium.

In more uplifting news, Dick Cheney was roundly booed when he threw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals' home opener. Interestingly, The Washington Post thought the boos were a result of Cheney's poor pitch, a misperception that Editor & Publisher called them on. Even The Washington Times, probably the White House's best friend in an already obsequious print media, had to call it like it saw it:

Mr. Cheney strode out of the Nats' dugout and boos immediately began to rain down on him, growing to a crescendo as he neared the mound.

But not everyone at the half-filled stadium was booing. Former Clinton strategist James Carville, in the front row just behind the home team's dugout, was howling like a hyena, his face contorted in laughter. Next to him, his wife, Mary Matalin, cheered enthusiastically as her former boss headed to the mound.

Yet the vice president, a year older than Mr. Horton, didn't toe the pitcher's rubber, 60 feet 6 inches from home plate. Instead, he took a spot in front of the mound, on the infield grass. The boos sustained their deafening pitch in the stadium's bowl. With a jerky and short windup, the vice president threw the ball toward home plate.

It didn't quite make it. The ball skipped in the dirt just in front of the plate, but was expertly scooped up by Washington catcher Brian Schneider. The fans booed until Mr. Cheney was back out of sight in the dugout.

Over at AMERICAblog, John noted a post at a National Review blog:

I voted for President Bush twice, and contributed to his campaign twice, but held my nose when I did it the second time. I don't consider myself a Republican any longer. Thanks to this Administration and the Republicans in Congress, the Republican Party today is the party of pork-barrel spending, Congressional corruption — and, I know folks on this web site don't want to hear it, but deep down they know it's true — foreign and military policy incompetence. Frankly, speaking of incompetence, I think this Administration is the most politically and substantively inept that the nation has had in over a quarter of a century. The good news about it, as far as I'm concerned, is that it's almost over.

A follow-up post this afternoon reported that e-mail came in 4-1 in favor of the sentiments. Don't forget these are National Review readers, followers of the William-F. Buckley-founded journal that has been a significant voice (sometimes the voice) for conservatives in America for more than half a century.

And finally, from an e-mail a lunch companion sent me this afternoon, is an appreciation of the latest crop of horror movies and what they're saying about contemporary life in these United States. I'm not sure I'm convinced, but it comes from the film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and you don't get much more middle America than that.

Well, this always happens. Whenever I try to post a quick list of links, I insist on saying something about each of them and end up with a particularly long post. I'm even thinking that there was one more thing I was going to include, but it's slipped my mind at the moment. Just think, this could've been even longer, and I could've stayed up even later to do it.