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when occam's razor points to human stupidity

An bipartisan mob is gathering pitchforks and torches for a march on the State Department after reports that some Foggy Bottom staffers opened the travel files of all three presidential candidates. No doubt the conspiracy theorists will seize upon this incident when their candidate loses either the party nomination or the general election. And yet, there’s some evidence that the offending individuals were not at all partisan:

Sen. Barack Obama’s file was breached three times from January to March, State Department officials said, while Sen. John McCain’s was searched once earlier this year. Last summer, a junior State Department official opened Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s file while undergoing training on how to process passports.

The individuals involved worked for two Virginia-based private companies with State Department contracts to process passports. Sterling Inc. said it fired two employees as a result of their involvement in case. The Analysis Corp. said it disciplined one employee.

The Analysis Corp.’s chief executive officer is John Brennan, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center. He also serves as a foreign-affairs adviser to Sen. Obama.

Chances are, with targets on both sides of the aisle and at least one linked individual (Brennan) residing on the side more likely to point fingers at administrative corruption, that it’s just another case of humans independently doing stupid, stupid things. But, hey, don’t let that stop you from continuing your screeds on “Bu$hitler’s brownshirts!!!111″

links for 2008-03-22

• Giampietro+Smith: Anatomy of a Merger–making the new Sprint logo
  (tags: design interesting)
• WSJ: How the Tigers are trying to fix Bonderman’s awful first inning ERA
  (tags: sports)
• Andy Ihnatko on the virtues of marriage on Feb 29
  (tags: humor)
• Pharyngula: U of M prof held out of creationist movie. . . but guess whom they let in.
  Truth bests fiction once again. (I like my entendres double, thank you.)
  (tags: film humor irony religion science)

the other, other white meat

As you continue your easter feasting, particularly on pig meat, check out another delectable type of “pig”, after the jump.

[Content may disturb people who are enamored with small mammals or frequent sites like Cute Overload. I promise it's not a bunny. Viewer discretion is advised.]
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another reason i chose wordpress

Drupal is the kid at the party who steers every conversation to “Dr. Who,” just so he can tell you that you don’t know **** about “Dr. Who.”

- Andy Ihnatko

the paleolibertarian pot and the neocon kettle

Justin Raimondo writes a snarky little piece at the paleoconservative Taki’s Magazine on the decline of prominent neoconservative¹ author David Horowitz–including some prose that sounds awfully familiar:

His web site. . . used to attract attention on account of the over-the-top “exposés” of his enemies (both real and imagined) that appeared on a daily basis: he used to run frenetic attacks on me practically every week, and I got in the habit of logging on to his site every morning just for an easy laugh. Alas, these days, he seems to have quieted down, and fallen into a weird sort of self-celebration.

Funny, with allegiances to both the ultimately reasonable Lew Rockwell and the ever-enlightened Pat Buchanan, one might think they’d reconsider equipping that shiny glass house of theirs with cannons.

¹ “Neoconservative” used in the true sense of the word–socialists-turned-Scoop Jackson Democrats, rather than simply a synonym for “fascist” designed to be wedged somewhere between “brownshirt” and “AmeriKKKa”.

justice thomas on constructionism, plessy, and golden silence

Justice Clarence Thomas is the subject of this week’s WSJ weekend interview. Justice Thomas says of his reluctance to ask questions in court:

And why doesn’t he ask questions at oral argument, a question oft-posed by critics insinuating that he is intellectually lazy or worse? Mr. Thomas chuckles wryly and observes that oral advocacy was much more important in the Court’s early days. Today, cases are thoroughly briefed by the time they reach the Supreme Court, and there is just too little time to have a meaningful conversation with the lawyers. “This is my 17th term and I haven’t found it necessary to ask a bunch of questions. I would be doing it to satisfy other people, not to do my job. Most of the answers are in the briefs. This isn’t Perry Mason.”

links for 2008-03-21

• DNA India: Communist West Bengal CM has nothing to lose but his chains. . . and his smokes
  Sure, the Communists have no trouble reorganizing other people’s lives according to their whims. But god forbid they should have to follow a simple no-smoking ordinance like the. . .er. . . proletariat.
  (tags: communism stupidity bureaucracy health)
• WSJ: Bush administration rushes out expensive new EPA regulations
  And this is environmental laxity. I shudder to think what environmental action would look like.
  (tags: environment bureaucracy government economics)

NY acting gov may have used campaign money for extracurriculars

The NY Daily News reports that Governor David Patterson (D) may have used some money from his 2006 campaign along side Elliot Spitzer to pay for a hotel room during the previously admitted “rough patch” in his marriage. Alarming News’s Karol Sheinin calls for his resignation if the allegations are true.

I’m just praying that no single news paragraph ever mentions 78-year-old Acting Lt. Gov. Joe Bruno and “sex”.

links for 2008-03-20

• KAL’s Economist cartoon: Mugabe outlines his accomplishments
  I wonder how many people concerned with saving Darfur have noticed this thirty-year-long racist disaster. Or is okay because he’s a Marxist-populist?
  (tags: humor africa tyrants)

but i thought it wasn't about race

John Kerry explains that Barack Obama has superpowers:

Kerry: [Obama]has an ability to help us bridge the divide in religious extremism, to maybe even give power to moderate Islam.
Reporter: . . . [W]hat gives him credibility on that score?
Kerry: “Because he’s African American. Because he’s a black man.”

I’m sorry: I’m getting mixed signals, here. Senator Kerry, I thought we were moving beyond melanin content, not ascribing magical superpowers to dark skin. Not that I would complain, mind you.

After the jump, the full video.
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