The vote on the human-rights committee to condemn Castro’s Cuba was 21 to 17, with 15 abstaining. That is, 21 countries voted for the resolution of condemnation, 17 voted against, and 15 abstained.

Nordlinger at today’s Impromptus. France voted Yes? And Saudi Arabia? He’s got the whole roll call. Big disappointment about India.

Soon-to-be TalkRight radio host Ace of Spades, along with his future co-host Karol, note that Congresswoman Maxine Waters has stepped up to the plate to oppose illegal immigration.

Well, naturally. I mean, that’s how the CIA got their newfangled specially-designed-to-addict-black-folks crack cocaine up into her district to begin marketing it to the black population. Why would she oppose tighter border control?

From a 1996 Walters Press Release:

“The origin of the crack cocaine trade in this country was led and designed by the CIA and their paid Nicaraguan agents — who introduced crack cocaine to South-Central Los Angeles,” proclaimed Waters as the hearing began. “The consequences of this wholesale dumping of cocaine into inner cities by CIA-organized agents has been widespread homelessness, violence, the destruction of families, and death.”

Rep. Waters cited a series of articles in the San Jose Mercury News, from August 18 – 20, 1996, authored by reporter Gary Webb, which documented the connection between U.S. foreign policy in the 1980s, international drug traffickers, and crack cocaine’s origins in South-Central Los Angeles. The drug trade subsequently spread to many other inner city neighborhoods in the United States.

Never mind that the Dark Alliance series has been thoroughly debunked and Gary Webb estranged from the SJM. And never mind that not only the CIA, but an independent DOJ inquiry (links to follow in an update this afternoon, if I feel like it) have determined this is baseless, and never mind that this whole controversy started because a convicted coke dealer thought he could talk himself out of jail by claiming he was, ummm, working for the CIA and gullible liberals like Maxine Waters and Gary Webb believed him. (I haven’t heard an apology coming from Rep. Waters, but that’s probably just because she’s so busy with border control.)

But now with Rep. Waters on our side, we cannot fail. The border will soon be sealed up tighter than Rep. Waters’ reasoning! Take that, CIA crack-pushers!

UPDATE–MIDNIGHT

No, this isn’t afternoon. But I did chase down those links: CIA report and DOJ Report (scroll down to 1997). The reports are long and convoluted, but it’s an entertaining read.

As for Waters’ endorsement in 1996 of articles that were debunked in 1997 and 1998: The articles were pretty absurd on their face. Why would the CIA protect domestic drug shipments? Under what legal authority would they do so? Did they think that this would just never come to light? Webb’s conspiracy theory lacked even a motive.

But Maxine Waters took Webb’s paranoid ramblings and opened the throttle wide. Now for her it wasn’t just a matter of the CIA looking the other way, or protecting politically useful criminals from prosecution. In Watersworld, the CIA deliberately engineered crack cocaine to be released on the black population in order to keep them down. That’s the value added in her press release. Whether she thought of that herself, or some seditious moonbat or Communist propaganda artist coined it, it’s a vile piece of race-baiting seditious poison that slanders the intelligence community and stirs up interracial distrust and rancor. Waters abused her platform by advancing the theory. It still tarnishes the reputation of the CIA at home and abroad.

It looks like the truth of the Contra-Drugs connection is that both sides in Nicaragua were running coke; the CIA was supposed to make sure we didn’t have any on our side but was much more interested in the Cold War than the Drug War and didn’t want to look to closely at the Contra’s extracurriculars. They were willing to kill commies and run risks, and people like that were hard to find–and intel services don’t usually insist on a recitiation of the Boy Scout Oath before recruiting sources. So allies weren’t properly vetted, flights and equipment were occasionally diverted to illicit use, and cooperation with the DEA, et al. was slim. But the notion that the CIA was complicit in, much less masterminding, running drugs into the US is tinfoil-hat-wackitude.

Besides, if the CIA were behind an attempt to hook the black citizens of LA on crack cocaine, don’t you guys think that they would actually end up hooking the Samoan citizens of Milwaukee on No-Doz?

James Lileks pumps out a blistering Screat (my coinage for a Screed masquerading as a Bleat, for those familiar with his abstruse nomenclature) on the arrogance of the Senate. Worth your time, like you needed me to tell you that. In a just world Lileks would already be grinning at you from your Sunday LA Dog Trainer’s editorial page, while bloggers would instead be heaping scorn on an obscure and penurious Robert Scheer who self-published on a vanity site, writing about his new towels and pestering George Soros for money.

Or in an even juster world, Lileks would be in the Senate himself, giving wedgies to Ted Kennedy, baiting Robert Byrd mercilessly, and making loud squishing sounds whenever Voinovich walked into the room.

I do, however, take issue with this statement of Lileks’:

Such airs! They’re the only branch of government that regularly advertises its special nature and higher purpose – it’s like having a special branch of the Kiwanis made up entirely of bankers who announce, before each meeting, that they’re better than the realtors and insurance salesmen. And why? Because there are fewer of them.

Has he checked in with the Supremes lately? Because if you want a regular, sanctimonious frenzy of self-lubrication, I think they’ve got the Senate beat. And there are fewer still of them.

UPDATE: THE BEST KEPT SECRET ON THE INTERNET

Am I breaking some VRWC taboo by pointing out that Lileks has a new syndicated political column up every Thursday for free at Newhouse News? He never links to it, which makes me think I’m giving out insider info here. Here’s his latest effort on John McCain’s preening. These pieces are a little shorter and targeted more for a general audience than the fine old screeds archived on Lileks’ site–think Jonah Goldberg’s syndicated Townhall columns vs. his longer, snarkier, pop-culture-loaded, digression-laden G-Files. (And speaking of which, why doesn’t Townhall pick these up?)

If I’m giving away the VRWC secret weapon here, Mr. Rove, I will submit to your humble correction. Just keep sending the checks.