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Saturday, February 19, 2005
 Kerry Beards for Clinton
Lorie Byrd Reminds UsThat there really are two Americas. The America that can be the bottom half of a losing ticket and still get a sinecure teaching at UNC, and the rest of us.
 Hillary & John
Ten Things I Love About Comics--#2 Will Eisner's Spirit. Although it is not commonly understood today, comics did not start out as entertainment for children. They evolved out of the editorial cartoons over time and initially retained some sharp social and political commentary. When newspapers started including comics sections with their Sunday editions, the sections were often a smorgasbord of entertainment for the entire family, with strips that were geared towards women, others aimed at men, and still others for the kiddies. In 1940, Will Eisner, a young artist and storyteller, started the Spirit comics sections, a 16-page four color supplement included with many newspapers around the country. The sections featured a 7-page Spirit story, with two back up features (usually Lady Luck & Mr Mystic) rounding out the book. The Spirit was obviously designed to cash in on the craze for "Mystery Men" as the superheroes like Batman & Superman were called at the time. But unlike them he wore no elaborate costume, with just a domino mask to cover his identity and a sensible blue suit and hat. At first Eisner's plots were typical of the time, with mad scientists and costumed villains. But from about mid-1942 to late 1945, Eisner found himself, like many other young men in America, called upon to do his part in World War II. When he returned, the Spirit changed dramatically. There was much more of a film noirish quality, with gritty, realistic stories about political corruption and gangland slayings. Eisner was a master storyteller and artist and over the next five years the Spirit became the greatest series ever. Here's an example from Ten Minutes, one of Eisner's most famous stories. To set the stage, Freddy's an angry young punk who decides to rob the local sweet shop when he finds himself alone for a moment with the owner. Shooting the man behind the counter, Freddie helps himself to the till, but finds himself trapped when suddenly a bunch of customers come in. He pretends to be helping out, but a flirting young girl notices something on his cheek.   Now, is that a perfect sequence of panels or what? Note the sudden change in the girl's expression as she sees the dead body behind the counter, and then the perfect follow up scream as Freddie hotfoots it out the door. Will Eisner's Spirit, the highwater mark for comics. The prior entry in this series.
Friday, February 18, 2005
Pinball Memories IWhen I went to college, there were virtually no video games; they were just starting out. I played pinball instead. My freshman year there were four machines in the game room; by the time I graduated there were at least 10. The machines were busiest after dinner when a lot of people would stop by for a quick game before heading back to the dormitories.  One of the first games I played at college was Jack in the Box, which was an interesting game because it had an exploit. If you look at the top of the machine, you'll see the ball comes down one of three rollovers. What you can't see from that angle is that it then falls into one of two kick-out holes on either side. Here's a top-down look at a schematic:  The trick was to give the machine a good nudge when it came out of the kickout hole and hopefully the ball would come out funny and instead of proceeding up and then out either side, it would fall back into the hole, collecting more points each time. Aside from that the objective in Jack in the Box was to knock down the clown targets at the top of the field. If you got all ten down the game would give you either a special or an extra ball.
Three Great Bands That Nobody Ever Talks AboutCaldera: Latin Jazz/Fusion band of the late 1970s that cut four great albums and then disappeared. Similar to Return to Forever but better and more consistent songwriting, although they had no real virtuosos like Stanley Clarke and Al DiMeola. Guitarist Jorge Strunz released several CDs with a Persian guitarist under the name Strunz/Farah that are great, but not terribly similar to Caldera, and the drummer from the first two albums, Carlos Vega, appeared on many, many albums in the 1980s. Synergy: Actually just one man made up this band, synthesizer player Larry Fast. The song Legacy, on the album Electronic Realizations for a Rock Orchestra, is a fugue that just blows me away every time I listen to it; it's definitely in my favorite ten pieces of music. Renaissance: My sister turned me onto this band and we ended up seeing them in concert 4-5 times in the mid-70s. Annie Haslam has the greatest voice of all time, and it was put to excellent use on songs like Black Flame, Running Hard, Mother Russia and Carpet of the Sun. Look for the live album at the Academy of Music or the studio LP Turn of the Cards for the best examples of their work.
One Suggestion Would Help the Democrats, One Would Hurt ThemHillary suggests letting felons vote. This would probably help the Democrats, although I suspect not much. I doubt that there are a lot of convicted felons who are itching to vote. Meanwhile, Nuancy Boy Kerry comes out in favor of a national holiday on Election Day. That's one that would probably work against the Democrats ironically. Give people the day off and you encourage them to make plans for the day, maybe even take Monday off to make it a four-day weekend.
Three Cheers for MoveOn and the Lefty BloggersI know, you don't expect to see those sentiments here. But they're doing more to crush the Democrats than all the Republican blogs combined. Consider this article on MoveOn. Between bites of sushi, Matzzie noted how senior Democratic senators eagerly rearrange their schedules to meet with MoveOn. And how MoveOn would be comfortable helping defeat Democratic Rep. Allen Boyd if the Panhandle congressman continues embracing private accounts for Social Security.
What's more, "We're going to have to have some discussions with Bill Nelson," because Florida's senior senator appears reluctant to block President Bush's controversial judicial nominations. And the centrist Democratic Leadership Council that helped guide Bill Clinton into the White House? So 1990s.Translation: They are determined to purge the ranks until only the absolute faithful remain. You can see the same phenomenon in the lefty blogs. Atrios has his "Social Security Wall of Shame" for Democrats who've gone off the reservation on Social Security personal accounts.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
A Little Diversion into the Sports WorldThe Minnesota Vikings' prospective new owner Reggie Fowler got into hot water after distributing a biography that claimed he had played in the NFL, CFL and the Little League World Series. This is kind of funny, because about a year ago a friend of mine, who works as a banker, mentioned that he was looking at financing some car washes for a former NFL player named Reggie Fowler. I did some poking around in my reference books and told him I could find no record of Mr Fowler playing in the NFL. Here's the punchline. Fowler represents himself as being worth $400 million or more. My friend said that in the financials he saw, only a year ago, remember, Fowler claimed a net worth of $120 million, and some of that was hard to evaluate.
This Sounds Like FunA bunch of Greenpeace protestors broke into the International Oil Exchange in London and got smacked around for their trouble: But they were set upon by traders, most of whom were under the age of 25. “They were kicking and punching men and women indiscriminately,” a photographer said. “It was really ugly, but Greenpeace did not fight back.”Well, it's certainly commendable that the traders didn't engage in sexist discrimination. And of course, the lesson is clear: Don't bring a peacenik to a fistfight. Catch this gripe: “We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs,” one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. “I’ve never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view.”Oh, so they were interested in having a discussion? No: They made their way to the trading floor, blowing whistles and sounding fog horns, encountering little resistance from security guards. Rape alarms were tied to helium balloons to float to the ceiling and create noise out of reach. The IPE conducts “open outcry” trading where deals are shouted across the pit. By making so much noise, the protesters hoped to paralyse trading.Hat Tip: Instapundit
Kitty's First Porno AdventureThis one will have you grinning.
The Lefty Bloggers Have Their ChampionSlow-Mo Dowd checks in with a column today on the Jeff Gannon story that could have been written by Fatboy Willis. It's hard to believe the White House could hit rock bottom on credibility again, but it has, in a bizarre maelstrom that plays like a dark comedy. How does it credential a man with a double life and a secret past?Maureen, the next time you get a White House Press Pass, we're going to ask you about whom you've had sex with in the past ten years. No photos, though, please (shudder)! Update: Fred does it better. Hat Tip: Kitty (at Lifelike).
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Peggy Noonan Gets ItBest column on blogs ever.
Ten Things I Love About Comics--#1I came across this theme at Michele Catalano's blog, but it apparently started here. I don't think I could come up with 100 things I love about comics, so I thought I'd do ten to start and see where it goes from there. This is in no particular order. First up, is the Golden Age Wonder Woman. If you grew up in the 1960s like I did, you probably remember Wonder Woman as one of the absolute worst comics of all time, with lousy artwork, atrocious stories and horrific editing. Ah, but in the 1940s Wonder Woman was one of the most consistently interesting series with lots of kinky sexual overtones. Consider this panel from Sensation Comics #9:  Diana gets manhandled and clearly finds it quite arousing.  The Holliday Girls (led by Etta Candy) provided comic relief. Note that the girl "assuming the position" is about to get whacked by a paddle, and remember this was about 35 years prior to Animal House.
Ironic IndeedDanegerus contrasts two laws in Oregon.
Gore Mentions Jeff Gannon?Intriguing mention in the Note (scroll down to #12): We admired Will Lester asking a political question (disguised as a wonky question) of Al Gore on Tuesday's global warming conference call; we didn't quite know what to make of Gore seeming to take himself out of running for public office; and we L-O-V-E-D Gore's unbidden, unprompted reference to Jeff Gannon — made with barely contained fascination and glee (once a journalist, always a journalist; once a Bush hater, always a Bush hater).Gotta wonder about that one; is it an effort to suck up to the lefty bloggers by congratulating them on their trophy? Meanwhile, John Hawkins has a must read on the wilder speculation going on in the loony bins about Gannon. Hat Tip: Kerry Spot, via Ace of Spades.
The Continuing Saga of Mamdouh HabibA psychiatrist hired by his attorney stated that he probably had been tortured. Interestingly, the attorney then fired the psychiatrist for revealing that information to the media, arguably on privacy grounds although the story hints that it may have been because the attorney had a deal with other media outlets. His lawyer also claims that Habib got the money to travel to Pakistan by selling his coffee shop.
Right Wing Nuthouse Has Moved!To fancier digs in the pricey end of town. Update your bookmarks & blogrolls, and stop by to say hello to our old buddy, Superhawk!
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
More Details on HabibPrevious entry is here. More details about Habib. Australian intelligence officials recently revealed that Habib was identified by other al-Qa'ida detainees as a participant in five paramilitary training courses between 1998 and his arrest in 2001. These same witnesses placed Habib, on September 11, 2001, in an al-Qa'ida camp in Afghanistan undergoing instruction in advanced counter-intelligence tactics.Even some Muslims in Australia are asking pointed questions about Habib. FREED terror suspect Mamdouh Habib owed Australia's Muslim community an explanation about what he was doing in Pakistan and Afghanistan before his capture, the leader of a major Muslim community group said yesterday.
Lebanese Muslim Association president Keysar Trad said Mr Habib should have held a press conference last month to fully answer all questions relating to time spent in those countries.And: Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty revealed in federal parliament yesterday that Mr Habib had offered his services to al-Qa'ida before his capture, "almost as a mercenary".More here. Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib trained as a terrorist in Pakistan before moving to Afghanistan to serve as a mercenary with al-Qaeda, Australia's top policeman has told a parliamentary inquiry.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said Mr Habib received firearms training in Pakistan in the days before September 11, 2001 to prepare him for a border crossing into Afghanistan to join Osama bin Laden's terrorist organisation.Hat Tip: Brainster's and KH longtime buddy Grant.
Blog for Freedom in Iran?Roger L. Simon is out of the hospital and blogging up a storm. He (following the lead of Michael Ledeen) suggests that one way to counter the "lynch mob" mischaracterization of the blogosphere is for us to call for a referendum in Iran. It's certainly a worthwhile goal, but I don't know how much pressure the blogosphere can bring on the mullahs. CNN and CBS backed down because they have to retain their audiences and their credibility (such as it is). But I'm on board.
Gannon Marches Onward into ParodyLots of folks on our side having fun with this story now. Fair warning: some of these links have some strong language. Bill InDC uncovers Helen Thomas' sordid past. My Pet Jawa fingers Duncan Black. Jeff Goldstein has several fun posts. Some of the funniest stuff is unintentionally so, from the left trying to explain why this is important. They will go on and on about how the real story is that a reporter with no real experience managed to start getting into White House press briefings. Okay, then what does the gay prostitute angle have to do with that? Nothing at all, but it makes the story titillating.
Death of a Playwright Revisited--Updated!When I posted my piece on Arthur Miller over at Lifelike, I felt I was going out a bit on a limb. Turns out some other people have the same opinion of his work: Terry Teachout in Opinion Journal: It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the fanfares to die away, and no less interesting to see whether any of Miller's plays outlive him. Most are already deservedly forgotten, but I expect that "Death of a Salesman" will continue to hold the stage, though not because it is beautiful or intelligent or provocative. It is, rather, sentimental, and sentimentality always goes over big in the commercial theater, so long as it's disguised as realism. More important, "Death of a Salesman" has a coarsely compulsive power that somehow manages to mask its aesthetic deficiencies, or at least render them momentarily palatable. That's the mystery of theater: It's all about what works, and like it or not, "Death of a Salesman" works. But it's no "Lear," just as Arthur Miller was no Shakespeare, and anyone who thinks otherwise is as lead-eared as he was.Here's a satirical look at Miller's passing: Although most of the country is now looking back at the life of one of our most famous and influential literary figures some salesman are looking forward to the opportunities that a dead Arthur Miller will create for them. Namely, textbook salesmen.Update: For a rather profane, but undeniably heartfelt tribute to Miller, champion of the weak and oppressed, by a lefty blogger click here.
Honey, Let Me Introduce You to My Redneck FriendsJohn Hawkins has an amusing look at who's calling Bill Clinton a redneck.
Nothing's Coming to MeOne of those days when all the stories seem tired and uninspiring. Maybe it's just the final stages of this dratted flu.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Gore Vidal RantsJust to remind us that not all leftist dinosaurs have passed from the earth, Gore Vidal gives a classic interview in Australia: GORE VIDAL: He [Ben Franklin] said, "Well, I say 'yes' to this constitution, with all its faults. We need good governance for a while, and this constitution will assure us of good governance for a number of years." Then he said, "This constitution will fail, as others have before it, and that will be due to the corruption of the people, for whom in the end only despotism will serve." This was a famous speech in its day. I went through a dozen high school history books of the United States. Part of the speech is given; what I just quoted is never quoted. So that was the first "nay" vote to the constitution, which I think most thoughtful people - the good thing about it is the Bill of Rights, which guarantees us freedom of speech and so on. The bad things are the powers given to the President, which have now been absolutely inflated out of control, where the President is almost a permanent dictator with the power to declare pre-emptive war any time he likes. Now, George Washington would be out of his mind, and he was the first President. He didn't want powers to say, "I think terrorists might be livin' over there. I think we better hit Denmark. Denmark's a good place to hit. We'll hit 'em because there could be terrorists there." This is the rationale of the so-called Bush doctrine, and it is insane.We invaded Denmark? GORE VIDAL: Well, of course. We've visited despotism many times before - never to the extent that we have now. We've never before gone in on two countries which had done us no harm, were friendly to the United States - Afghanistan and Iraq - and knocked them to bits.Having read that, it's hard not to conclude that Mr Vidal is intoxicated. Is he seriously claiming that Iraq and Afghanistan were friendly to the United States? Here's his prediction for the future: GORE VIDAL: Well, an unholy mess. The dollar declines in value. There is no way that you can up it. There's nothing you can do. The wars will continue. There will be an attempt made in Iran and Syria, other places that look exciting. The United States will go broke; it's as simple as that. That's what ended the British Empire. One of the reasons we got into World War I was that in 1914, under the Asquith Government, the government fecklessly ran out of money, and here they were, supposed to be fighting the central powers, Germany and so on. The same thing is happening to us. We don't have the money to pay the debts. Now, great nations that are rich in a sense don't go bankrupt the way individuals do, 'cause you can't put a valuation on them, but you can certainly show lack of confidence in their currency if it goes down, down, down, which it is now doing, and interest rates go up, up, up. As the interest rates go up, then we have the problem of inflation, which will give social insecurity to everybody, because the price of bread will suddenly get very high, which it has never been in the United States since the early '30s. So I would say that, in the long run, the world will be saved American despotism by the coming bankruptcy of the country. Now, that will have awful fallout for everybody.Cheery guy, eh? And of course the price of bread plummeted in the 1930s, like just about everything else, because the demand softened in the depression. Hat Tip: Tim Blair
Death of a PlaywrightI explain the NY Time's orgy of coverage on the passing of Arthur Miller over at Lifelike Pundits. Roger Simon has a different take on Miller. And for a completely different take (and one that I enjoyed thoroughly), try My Stupid Dog.
Steyn: The UN Corrupts Us AllSuperb article by the best in the business: It's a good basic axiom that if you take a quart of ice-cream and a quart of dog faeces and mix 'em together the result will taste more like the latter than the former. That's the problem with the UN. If you make the free nations and the thug states members of the same club, the danger isn't that they'll meet each other half-way but that the free world winds up going three-quarters, seven-eighths of the way. Thus the Oil-for-Fraud scandal: in the end, Saddam Hussein had a much shrewder understanding of the way the UN works than Bush and Blair did.
New White House Press Pass ApplicationWell, the lefty bloggers have gotten their way. Apparently shocked that an alleged gay prostitute got "to stand just a few feet away from the President of the United States and lob him softball questions", Press Secretary Scott McClelland has announced that all reporters desiring access to the White House answer the following questionairre: 1. Are you gay/lesbian? 2. Are you transgendered? 3. Have you ever had sex with an animal? 4. Are you now or have you ever offered sexual services for money? 5. List all the people you've had sex with in the last 20 years. 6. List all websites/newspapers/magazines where you may have posted personal ads. Lefty Blogger Oliver Willis (like a grow lamp to stupid) pronounced himself reasonably satisfied with the new questionairre. "This should keep those hookers away from the President."
The Super Colossal Jeff Gannon Breaking News is UpBut I'm not going to provide the link. There's some full-frontal nudity there. Arguably one of the websites that Gannon had offered his services as an "escort" for gay men. You can Google "America Blog" if you're curious. Some responses from our side: InDC Journal: I haven't come to a definitive conclusion about the innate newsworthiness of outing an allegedly former gay escort that had day credentials to White House briefings (escort services aren't even illegal on their face), but I'm sure of one thing: these bloggers are pathetic.Protein Wisdom: Why, I sure don’t know the answer to that, John. But I can tell you this much: I eagerly await the investigation into the private loves of other White House reporters. Terry Moran, for instance, looks to me like he keeps a few pair of rubber undies in the closet. And Helen Thomas? My God, I bet there were nights in the late 70s when that sawed-off horny pit bull was about drowning in Lebanese flopper.Ace of Spades is more decorous: Make sure you just read their sites, and not the nasty leftoids they link too. They really ought not get traffic for this sort of crap.Red State: I'd call it shameful if I had even a small hope that they'd recognize the concept.Meanwhile the fat kid who must never be linked starts a rumor about somebody else going to a gay bar 10 years ago.
Red Roses for a Blue LadySorry, couldn't resist.
You're Breaking My Heart, You're Tearing It Apart, So (Bleep) YouA pretty funny old song from the early 1970s by Harry Nillson. The Daily Kos folks have picked it up (Profanity Warning): I'm a republican. (Bleep) you.
I'm a republican. I have my own pile of money. (Bleep) you.
I'm a republican. My kids go to private school. I don't care about your kids, or public schools. When my kids are better educated than yours, they will get better jobs and make more money than your kids. (Bleep) you.It goes on like that for about 20 stanzas. And the commenters have probably added another 200. Remember, this is the biggest Democrat-oriented blog out there, one that Senator Barbara Boxer posted a thank you to. Simply amazing. Let us know when you're tired of losing, Democrats. Hat Tip: InDC Journal, who got it from the Llama Butchers, who got it from Wizbang.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Lefty Bloggers Still After Jeff GannonJohn over at America Blog promises a big scoop coming tomorrow. My guess is that there's a gay porno movie featuring Gannon. Yawn. Update: I've pulled out the link for now. John's putting teasers up that give me some uneasiness that this is going to be pretty disgusting. I'll check it out first before I link.
Who Is Mamdouh Habib? I covered the NY Times story about this naturalized Australian a few posts below. Turns out Mr Habib, who claims he was tortured in Egypt at the request of the United States, and humiliated at Guantanamo Bay, has recently become moderately wealthy: Mr Habib also told Channel Nine, which paid a reported $200,000 for the interview...Gee, wonder how much they would have paid him if he'd said he hadn't been tortured? The good news is that he may not be able to keep the money. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock was still investigating whether such a payment to Mr Habib could be confiscated, Senator Ellison said in Perth today.
"The allegations against Mr Habib are very serious; he is a person of interest to our security organisations and I'll be looking at his interview carefully to see what is said, as will the government," Senator Ellison said.Habib was originally detained in Pakistan, where he supposedly was considering moving from Australia. Born in Egypt, he had moved to Australia in 1980, but began to sour on that country when the Australian authorities took an interest in him. Why did he catch their attention? The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had shown an interest in her husband, she said, ever since 1992 or 1993, following a trip they made to New York to visit Mr Habib's sisters.
Mr Habib also visited Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who was later sentenced to life imprisonment for attacking US targets, and was accused of being behind the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.Well, now, that is certainly a little background that the NY Times didn't bother to disclose to its readers yesterday. So Habib has reportedly met with both of the men who organized attacks on the World Trade Center. Just a coincidence, I'm sure! But wait, his wife has a good reason: Maha has told the Australian media that her husband did not support Sheikh Omar's actions, but simply wanted to try and raise money to buy him medication for diabetes.
"He was isolated and sick, you know - just for human rights. It was something to do with the human rights," she told ABC.Interestingly, the torture charges related by Habib change from one article to the next. Andrew Sullivan gnashed his teeth over the reported sexual humiliation: There's more along the same lines that we have seen time and time again, at the hands of American interrogators:But to be honest it sounds more like Mr Habib's stories have been told time and again, changing with each telling. For example, here's the story the Times told yesterday: He said that during one interrogation session, a woman wearing a skirt said to him, "You Muslim people don't like to see woman," he said. Then she reached under her skirt, Mr. Habib said, pulling out what he described as a bloody stick. "She threw the blood in my face," he said.But here's how it appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald a few days ago: The Australian Mamdouh Habib, who was released last month, has said he was strapped down while a woman told him she was menstruating on his face.In tomorrow's Syndey Morning Herald: "...he was tortured by his captors, who gave him electric shocks and threatened him with sexual assault by specially trained dogs."But according to his lawyer a few weeks ago: He "was beaten up, electrocuted, injected with unknown drugs, tortured," and dogs were set on him, Mr Hopper has said.Update: Tim Blair has caught some other curiosities about Mr Habib's tales of woe.
If You Read Comic Books Back in the 1960sYou'll probably find this as amusing as I did.
Somebody Who Had Less To Do Than I on Saturday NightConsidering I was home guzzling Dayquil/Nyquil, that's pretty sad. Good news is he recapped Ward Churchill's appearance on C-Span for us. I tend to agree with his conclusion: Prediction: Whether this guy is fired or not, he is going to be a leading Left celebrity for the next few years. Watch for book contracts, appearances with Michael Moore, TV shows, T-shirts, etc. But all the while don’t ever forget how American represses dissent.
 My New Logo  Muchos Gracias to Kitty, who put this together!
Sickness in Rhode IslandLet's start with a Mark Steyn clip from today's column: In such a world, it's good to know we still have the guts to finger the real bad guys. Thus, when Chariho Regional High School art teacher Lynn Norton set her pupils the task of expressing an idea three-dimensionally, Jeffrey Eden immediately thought of a diorama comparing Bush to Hitler. You might think that ought to be disqualified on the grounds that characterizing Bush as Hitler is about as two-dimensional as you can get, and it's less of a diorama than the diarrhea of leftist rhetoric, as poured forth by millions of moveon.org drones and nude Marin County feminist protesters and European activist puppeteers. But there's always room for one more, and Jeffrey's schoolmarm was thrilled at the way he did it so cutely, draping a swastika on one side and the Stars and Stripes on the other, and putting in little plastic soldiers -- Nazi and American, though who can tell the difference, right? -- and then adding his own penetrating observations on both Bush (''Saddam had no affiliation with the Taliban'') and his predecessor as Fuhrer (''Hitler's own justification was his own hatred.'' Hmm. What a testament to the quality of Rhode Island's ''Social Studies'' curriculum).Kitty covered the Jeffrey Eden art over at Lifelike, with the interesting result that Lifelike now comes up as the #1 result on Google for the young man's name. It's a great post, and includes a picture of the offensive art project. Now, my point here is not to bash young Mr Eden. He's a foolish young lad, but the possibility exists that he will outgrow it. What about the adults in this tale? As Steyn notes: But what are we to make of everyone else in this sorry story? The art teacher who gave him an A. The 15 judges in the Rhode Island Scholastic Art Awards who awarded him their ''silver key.'' The proprietor of Alperts Furniture Showroom in Seekonk where the winning ''art'' work is proudly on display. Are there no grown-ups left in Rhode Island?Well, yes, actually there are some. Last year President Bush received the votes of 159,000 Rhode Islanders. It wasn't nearly enough to overcome the 259,000 who voted for Nuancy Boy. As for Mr Alberts, here's what he had to say: "I wouldn't comment on any piece of art here," the furniture store's owner, Hershel Alpert, said last week, noting that he isn't an art expert. "It's not my position to comment on any of this art."The left never seems to get this. Comparing Bush to Hitler does not convince people that Bush is evil. It convinces young men like Jeffrey that Hitler wasn't all that bad.
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