They’re politicizing national security

(TWO SETS OF UPDATES, on jump)

I’m convinced that the Obama administration’s decision to try five 9/11 war criminals in civilian federal court is about politics — not send-a-message-to-the-world-about-our-values politics but rough-and-tumble domestic electoral politics. And that’s a travesty.

Edward Woodward, RIP

Click photo to read an obituary of Edward Woodward, 1930-2009.

Actor Edward Woodward has died at age 79.  He was great in Breaker Morant, and to me even greater in the TV crime drama The Equalizer.  What other hero drove a Jaguar, drank only the best wine, had a killer Manhattan apartment — and boasted an arsenal that would rival a small nation’s?

Here’s an insightful appreciation on The American Culture blog.

In WH press room, spinner and spun alike have short memories

It’s so moving when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs gets a little wistful.

It happened at Friday afternoon’s White House press briefing, after a Mother Jones reporter read him a provocative quote from Thursday’s health care legislation protest on Capitol Hill. Gibbs was led to lament the “stunning” state of American political discourse:

“In this debate you hear analogies, you hear references to, you see pictures about and depictions of individuals that are truly stunning, and you hear it all the time. People — imagine five years ago somebody comparing health care reform to 9/11. Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler. Hopefully we can get back to a discussion about the issues that are important in this country that we can do so without being personally disagreeable and set up comparisons to things that were so insidious in our history that anybody in any profession or walk of life would be well advised to compare nothing to those atrocities.”

Yes, those were the days.  Why can’t we return to the gentler times of, say, 2001-2008? If you need a reminder, take a look. (Be sure to follow the links to get the whole picture.)

Seriously, Mr. Gibbs — how long do you think the American people will continue to accept the excrement you’re peddling? I’ll answer my own question: It won’t stop until the reporters who cover the White House, who most certainly remember the vile, ugly rhetoric slung at former President George W. Bush, call him on it. At the time he says it.

Don’t get me wrong — I don’t think Hitler or the Holocaust should ever be used as a comparison point, unless we’re really talking about the despotic murder of millions upon millions of people.  But these crocodile tears shed by the side that’s now in power are just a little much.

Construction watch: Weekend I-440 work resumes / Memphis-area bridge work / I-40 blasting in West Nashville

Click here and follow the first eight links to find out about road work the Tennessee Department of Transportation has scheduled through next Wednesday. The highlights:

• The shutdown of part of Interstate 440 in Nashville resumes this weekend. The affected section: all westbound lanes between Interstate 24 and Interstate 65.
• Paving and blasting will disrupt traffic along Interstate 40 in West Nashville and Bellevue.
• Bridge work continues in the Memphis area, with traffic squeezed into a single lane in two locations this weekend.
• Several paving projects statewide.