"A coward and an idiot"

On 6 June 2009, in retaliation for astute blog-posts which made Ed look foolish, Ed Whelan vindictively "outed" pseudonymous blogger publius, publishing on the National Review website publius' real name and employer. Whelan did so under the heading "Exposing an Irresponsible Anonymous Blogger" and spun as a principled move rather than a childish stunt. He also sent an email to publius, calling him a coward and an idiot.

The next day, someone with an IP address of 76.237.200.93 (AT&T according to WHOIS), expanded the Wikipedia entry on M. Edward Whelan III. This contributor included personal information such as Ed Whelan's full name, his year of birth, that he graduated with honors from Harvard, many career details, and the fact that "Whelan and his wife, Deborah C. Whalen, live in Arlington, Virginia."

On 9 June 2009, an anonymous Wikipedia editor from the same IP address as the earlier change has removed the information about Whelan's wife's name and his residence, with the edit summary: "not sure personal information is relevant or appropriate", which seems to imply that someone else had supplied the personal information to the Wikipedia article. In fact, it was almost certainly the same contributor who added the material, and almost certainly M. Edward Whelan III. Here is a list of contributions made from IP address 76.237.200.93.

Good riddance

With the murder of Doctor George Tiller, the religious right has shot itself in the foot. Here's to hoping that the wound is fatal. A doctor who --- in the eyes of the law at least --- was an innocent citizen, gunned down in church while his wife was in the choir. Any conservative who fails to unambiguously denounce these tactics has stepped into the territory of Al Qaeda-style religious terrorism.

Poor libs

Enemy of humanity John Yoo:

Liberals have missed their chance to put on the Court an intellectual leader who will bring about a progressive revolution in the law.

Thanks for the crocodile tears, but I'm guessing that Obama will get to appoint another justice in the next eight years.

With their amusingly absurd and fact-free "going Galt" rhetoric, Republicans combine Ayn Rand's egotistic materialism with their Christian fundamentalist dogma. Thus, on their view, specific, narrow religious values should be enforced on a diverse population (the criminalization of abortion, discrimination against homosexual behavior, the regulation of birth control, etc), but any regulation of economic markets and taxes which pay for expected public services (police, traffic lights, etc) are verboten.

Obviously, combining such completely contradictory philosophies takes a certain amount of cognitive dissonance, as does their belief that either of these juvenile philosophies are prescribed by the teachings of Jesus.

Neocon: We have to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein is torturing people, and my hightened sense of morality won't tolerate that.

Liberal: But won't that make other countries angry at us?

Neocon: Well, we'll torture people in order to keep us safe from those countries.

Liberal: I thought your hightened sense of morality couldn't abide by torture?

Neocon: What are you, a pussy?

Indeed, for purposes of civil liability, the torturer has become like the pirate and slave trader before him hostis humani generis, an enemy of all mankind.

—United States 2nd Circuit Court, Filártiga v. Peña-Irala, 630 F.2d 876
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Obama has made Rush Limbaugh into the Sister Souljah of the right.