Another terrible consequence of the war to depose Saddam is that some democrats in other Arab dictatorships are beginning to get some crazy ideas:
At least 30 arrests were made during a sit-in before the Damascus parliament building, says a Syrian rights group. The protest marks the 41st anniversary of the day Syrian Baathists seized power, declaring a state of emergency.
Yes, the Arab fascists took over in 1963. In Damascus as well as Baghdad.
GREAT MOMENTS IN BRITISH JOURNALISM: Hard to beat this one:
The Mirror account was written by Bill Borrows, an editor at large for Maxim U.K., who said in an interview that he could not recall, exactly, where he got the information that Charlie [Churchill’s alleged parrot] used to swear about Hitler, but that he might have read it on the Internet. He said he had not met Charlie in person, but had tried, unsuccessfully, to conduct a telephone interview.
“The bird didn’t say anything, but I’ve had worse,” Mr. Borrows said.
Jayson Blair has a future, if only he’d cross an ocean.
STREAMING BLAIR: Did you miss his awesome speech on the war against terrorism? C-SPAN is now streaming it here.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “The Americans constitute a real danger for France – a danger different in kind from the threat represented by Germany, and the threat that may eventually emerge from Russia… The Americans can always prevent us from making the necessary revolution and their materialism does not even have the tragic grandeur of the materialism of the totalitarians. If they cling to a veritable cult of the idea of liberty, they do not feel the need to liberate themselves from the sevitudes that their capitalism entails.” – Hubert Beuve-Mery, the future founder and editor of Le Monde, 1944, (thanks to a reader).
RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM WATCH: The fundamentalist cleric most respected by Malaysia’s Islamic parties has just said that anyone who votes against the Islamists will be going to hell. No, he’s not called Pat Robertson.
The Dish 