Wednesday Morning Quick Hits

Turley on impeachment: "It's time to pony up" Professor of Constitutional Law Jonathan Turley appeared on Olberman last night, and he blasted the congressional Democrats for failing to impeach the feckless fool, charging that the founding fathers "would have been astonished by the absolute passivity, if not the collusion, of the Democrats in protecting President Bush from impeachment."


Having absorbed the quake, China turns back toward things it can control: Namely, people. Returning focus to the upcoming Olympics and the flood of tourists that will bring, the Chinese have issued a long list of "don'ts" for visitors to the country. The Chinese Olympic committee posted the prohibitions to it's web site last week, instructing visitors to the country that they could not bring “anything detrimental” to China, which includes printed materials, photographs, recordings or movies. Religious or political banners or slogans are banned. Rallies, demonstrations and marches are prohibited unless prior approval is obtained from the authorities. Also, individuals with mental illnesses and sexually transmitted diseases will be barred from the country. (The prohibition on religious symbols presents an interesting dilemma where the flags of Greece and Israel are concerned, doesn't it?)




Madeleine Albright reminds us what a Secretary of State looks like She has an op-ed about the cyclone in Myanmar in the New York Times today, and I just gotta say that the woman has more historical perspective, cogent thinking, analytic ability and common sense in her toenail clippings than Condi Rice could ever hope to muster. She lays it out - the advances of the post-Soviet era have been negated by the disastrous invasion of Iraq. National sovereignty now trumps pretty much everything. By todays standards, we would not intervene in Haiti nor would Australia intervene in East Timor. Thanks to bu$h's splendid war, the rights of the state to remain sovereign are paramount, and human rights are not a factor. Nice.


A year after the civil war in Gaza, the outlook is bleak Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is in the tenuous position of having to engage both the Islamists and the Israelis as he attempts to secure a united Palestinian state. Neither approach looks very promising. Yet aWol still delusionally insists that there will be peace by the time he leaves in January. And everyone is getting a pony.