LGF broke the story of Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s (D-NY) remarks in Ithaca, NY on the Future of Social Security.

Apparently, in Congressman Hinchey’s opinion, Karl Rove was behind the forged documents leading to Ra^thergate.

From the LGF transcript:

Congressman Hinchey: “And I said that. In the very beginning. I said ‘It’s my belief that those papers, and that setup, originated with Karl Rove and the White House.'”
Audience Member: “Don’t you think it’s irresponsible to make charges like that?”
Congressman Hinchey: “No, I don’t. I think it’s very important to make charges like that. I think it’s very important to combat this kind of activity in every way that you can. And I’m willing – and most people are not – to step forward in situations like this and take risks.”

Even when he doesn’t have any kind of proof.

Round up of other’s musings on this:
The Anchoress, Roger L Simon, Powerline, VRWC#1 Member, Polipundit, Betsy’s Page, RightWingNews, INDC Journal, Myopic Zeal

Update: Brit Hume just mentioned this story in his “Grapevine” segment on Special Report.

Update 2: more from GOP and the City: Conspiracy Theory: Rove Planted CBS Docs

Update 3: Welcome Confederate Yankee readers (please look around): “A Host of Political Dirty Tricks”

Mover Mike, based in Portland, OR has linked to, and quoted from, one of our posts. He’s also added us to his blogroll.

The playhouse post is just a few posts down. Here’s a link to go directly there. Be sure to click the link to Edward’s SafeBuilding article.

Interesting article on whether bloggers are journalists in the context of “freedom of the press” considerations. The Court in the Cooper and Miller case raised the issue. I think at this point the answer to that question is less important than the fact that the question is being asked. Institution by institution, the blogosphere is entering the mainstream.

A special welcome to Polipundit readers and thanks for the link Lorie. C’mon in folks, have a look around.

Hillary (the “Hawk”) Clinton is on Meet the Press as she continues her move to the center of the political spectrum. She’s in Iraq on another “fact finding” mission. A pretty clever move I’d say. Rather than being perceived as accepting Bush’s position on staying the course in Iraq, she’s saying that she’s being told by the Iraqis themselves that we need to stay.

UPDATE: She also just refused to “rule in or rule out” military intervention in Iran. Am I alone in thinking that Hillary’s move to the center might make Bush’s second term foreign policy moves easier to accomplish?
UPDATE II: Russert shamelessly campaigns for Hillary asking Sen. McCain “Do you think Senator Clinton would make a good president in ’08?” Hillary was giggling like a little girl opening a Christmas present and of course McCain who’s sitting right beside her has no choice but to say yes.

Some of you may know (due mainly to my whining in Polipundit comments) that in the part of Canada I live in, we did not have FoxNews. Just a few months ago the CRTC – the federal body that controls the airways- allowed Canadian access. We now finally have it here.

I’m not kidding in saying that it took a grand total of 3 seconds to notice the difference in perspective. When I turned Fox on, the tag line that ran with the clip read “War on Terror” and the coverage was fighting in Iraq. If you watch CNN (and I don’t recommend that you do) the tag line with Iraq coverage is invaribly something like “Violence in Iraq.”

The tag line/headline sets the tone of the coverage. With Fox it gives context to violence in Iraq. With CNN context is ommitted. We’re just left with violence. I also saw something that I never, never saw on CNN – reporting of a successful attack on the insurgents/terrorists.

Cue the Disney Music……….A whole new world…………

Edward, a friend who builds Kidsafe Playhouses for Children, had this to say about his playhouses (scroll down for pictures):

Children need a place for imaginative play. It develops creativity, socialization and encourages exploration of ideas. If that place is unsafe and a child gets hurt they will not want to use it (and thus money wasted). Furthermore, play is most developmental if it is interactive with other children. A safe playhouse means a child can invite friends over and all parents can rest easy. Developing friendships and interaction involved is a major stepping stone in the development of the child. My playhouses also encourage parents and grandparents to participate in the play since all are built with an adult door. It is hard to come for “tea” if the only entrance is 4ft tall and only 18 inches wide.

Properly constructed playhouses can be used for many, many years. With the adult door it can be used for winter storage. As the child grows it can be a quiet place for a teen to study. When the child finally out grows it, as a young adult, it can become a potting shed, a sewing room or even just a place to display a collection. In fact the dressing up of the playhouse can occur though out its use by children. Imagine a spooky haunted house, or place to hold a child’s thanksgiving feast suitably decorated with corn stalks, Indian Corn, Squash and anything else the parent and child can think of. Maybe Santa’s workshop for a Christmas theme, at 8 x 10 feet (and low to the ground) two strings of holiday lights will do all of the roof edges, windows doors and maybe more. Valentines Day, St Patties and Easter are also possible with in the attention span of child given the small size of the playhouse.

However none of this means anything if the playhouse is not designed for children or worse yet not safe for them.

Click here for an article Edward wrote for the July 24, 2004 issue of Construction Guide (reprinted here with the Author’s permission).

If you are interested in the KidSafe Playhouses, leave an email address in the comments and Edward will get back to you.

Welcome G as in Good H as in Happy Readers. Belated welcome Anchoress readers.

Playhouse

Safe Corner Detail

Loft Detail

8/18/05 – new pictures here

Most of us have heard of false negatives and false positives in the context of medical diagnoses. Diagnostic tests are never fool proof and determining which side a test should err on is often the most crucial factor. For instance a false negative in an HIV test can have devastating consequences. If the test is negative, but is wrong, the patient goes on to infect potentially countless others. On the other hand a false positive no doubt will leave the patient terrified for awhile, but the consequences pale in comparison.

Now consider “diagnosing” international threats to the US based on the best available intelligence. The discourse from the left following the Iraq war was focused exclusively on Bush being “wrong” about Saddam posessing WMDs at the time of the invasion. Forget for the moment the argument that Jack the Ripper isn’t any less dangerous simply because he tosses his dagger in the trash bin. Blinded by partisan politics and comforted by the wisdom of hindsight, the left has completely ignored the dangers of the false negative Bush was forced to confront before he decided to attack. The false negative results in the unthinkable. So the left chose not to think about it.

Rather than engaging in meaningful debate regarding the degree to which we should err on the side of the false positive and the level of proof required to make the decision to use force, the left was content to sit back and accuse Bush of dishonesty. The left also dipped into their trusty bag of utopian tricks and side stepped the issue by creating the UN magic bullet. As for how much evidence the Democrats say we would have needed to make the tough call we will never know. We only know that whatever evidence Bush (and Clinton, Putin and the rest of the world’s intelligence community for that matter) had, it wasn’t enough.

Why is this relevant now? After all, that’s water under the bridge. Unfortunately the dangerous waters keep flowing and again we’re faced with the very real potential of a terrorist-sponsoring state – Iran – developing nuclear weapons. No matter how much the intelligence gathering is improved it will never be fool proof. It will be wrong again. For now Bush appears willing to acquiesce to calls for the UN magic bullet. However, the time may once again come when a tough decision must be made. Should the left again engage in partisan hackery instead of serious, meaninful debate and Bush is forced to make the decision alone, at least we can take comfort in the fact that he will err the right way.

Via Real Clear Politics:
From Opinion Journal
Iwo Jima: The famous battle offers lessons for us 60 years later. BY ARTHUR HERMAN