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Saturday, April 30, 2005
Speaking of Abducted BridesKitty has the story of the woman from Georgia who it turns out was not abducted. The New York Times has a story on bride abducting in Kyrgyzstan. The story is certainly disturbing, but the Times is like an anthropologist; studying and not making judgments. Recent surveys suggest that the rate of abductions has steadily grown in the last 50 years and that at least a third of Kyrgyzstan's brides are now taken against their will.There are three pictures accompanying the story. Two with very happy-appearing women who were abducted by their husbands, and a third with a woman named Ainur Tairova. But it turns out that although she is photographed alone, she is happily married to the man who abducted her: "I was angry and I felt betrayed," Ms. Tairova said, adding that she had cried the whole day.
But as with many Kyrgyz women, she eventually accepted her fate. She since has reconciled with her in-laws and says she is happy with her husband now.
"He says he had to kidnap me because he heard someone else was trying to kidnap me first," she said. "He's a good man."And get this little bit of ethnic wisdom: Brutal as the custom is, it is widely perceived as practical. "Every good marriage begins in tears," a Kyrgyz saying goes.I have a hunch there's gonna be a whole lot of stomping going on over this article.
The Spitting ImageHere's an article by the professor who claims nobody ever spat upon returning Vietnam War veterans. Many tellers of the spitting tales identify the culprits as girls, a curious quality to the stories that gives away their gendered subtext. Moreover, the spitting images that emerged a decade after the troops had come home from Vietnam are similar enough to the legends of defeated German soldiers defiled by women upon their return from World War I, and the rejection from women felt by French soldiers when they returned from their lost war in Indochina, to suggest something universal and troubling at work in their making. One can reject the presence of a collective subconscious in the projection of those anxieties, as many scholars would, but there is little comfort in the prospect that memories of group spit-ins, like Smith has, are just fantasies conjured in the imaginations of aging veterans.As Orwell says, there are some things so stupid, only a university professor could believe them. This is one.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Survivor NotesDidn't get to watch the episode until late this afternoon. As usual, Burnette does a great job of convincing you it's anybody except the obvious person, and in the end, it's the obvious person. Especially the bit with Ian saying "You're the hardest competitor I've ever met, you had to assume (and the camera quickly focused on) Tom. Steph survived an incredible number of tribal councils, but her luck finally ran out. That said, I do think the remaining members of Koror are risking a lot by keeping Tom in the game. He's got an excellent chance of winning immunity challenges, and nobody's going to want to face him in the endurance test that always decides the final immunity.
Stupid Comic Covers--Part I Here's one of the all-time stupid comic covers, from Blackhawk #189, October 1963. You can almost imagine this one being discussed by the editor and the writer: Editor: "Our research shows that kids like futuristic weapons, waterskiing and cavemen. Can you put them all in one story?" Writer: "Cavemen and futuristic weapons? How can I put them both in one story?" Editor: "See, there's this scientist in the future who's invented jet-powered waterskis and ray guns that can melt rock. So he sends them back in time." Writer: "Why would he send them back in time?" Editor: "Because man hasn't advanced far enough that he trusts us with these great weapons." Writer: "But the cavemen have?" Editor: "I'm on a roll here. We'll have Blackhawk on the cover being chased by the cavemen on the jet-powered skis and fired at by a ray gun that melts metal!" Writer: "That's brilliant, Chief! And in case the kiddies don't get it, I'll have Blackhawk say something like, 'Huh? Cavemen on jet-powered skis firing heat-ray weapons that can melt stone!'" Editor: "Heheh, that twelve cents is going to be out of the kids' pockets and on the counter in three seconds flat!"
Other Voices, Other BlogsNeo-neocon has a tremendous post on the evolution of her thinking on Vietnam. I concur with all that she has to say here. Kitty Litter's got a brand new look. And she's got reactions from the lefty pols to the news of Lucianne's birthday! John Ruberry notes that the Chicago Tribune is fairly careless with its photo labeling, or should I say libeling? Right Wing Nuthouse has a guest comment from Marvin Moonbat, who sounds like a committed liberal. And I do mean committed. I'll have a Prince Charles, hold the pepperoni. Right Wing Sparkle explains. Tinkerty Tonk hits on a pet peeve of mine--creative punctuation. If your words don't work without lots!!! of exclamation points!!! maybe you need to try grunting to get your point across instead.
New Evidence that Global Warming Is Not Man-Made?Of course, that's not what the media are trumpeting about this story, but here's the new evidence: Climate scientists armed with new data from deep in the ocean and far into space have found that Earth is absorbing much more heat than it is giving off, a conclusion they say validates projections of global warming.But of course, if the earth is absorbing more heat than it's giving off there are two basic possible causes: 1. The earth is changing so that it absorbs more heat or emits less. 2. The sun is getting hotter. Obviously we can't be causing #2, so nothing we can do will affect it. We could be causing #1. So it becomes important to look at what other effects of #2 would be. Maybe the hotter sun would be showing up on other planets? Bingo.
Happy Birthday, Lucianne!Here's to the patron saint of bloggers!
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Senate 2006I was all set to do a post on the prospects for various Senate races around the country when I found out that John Miller had already done it. I agree with his assessment that the Republicans are in pretty good position to at least break even and possibly pick up a couple of seats. ARIZONA: Democrats will say Republican senator Jon Kyl is vulnerable, but he isn't.Amen to that. Kyl's so invulnerable that the Democrats didn't even bother nominating anybody to go against him in 2000.
Excellent Video on Pat TillmanOur buddy Chris at Lucky Dawg News pointed me to an excellent video tribute (big file warning) to Pat Tillman. Its in WMV format; a Real Audio format one is here. Some of you may recall my tribute to Tillman last year.
Andrew Sullivan Getting a Tad Shrill?Here he doesn't even check his facts, or perhaps he just blurs a line? DOES GLENN KNOW ABOUT THIS? Banning new books in public libraries that feature any gay characters or are written by gay authors?Except when you go to the linked article, it's not about "public libraries", but "public school libraries". Not that Sully is alone on this; the linked article's author says: A college production tells the story of Matthew Sheppard, a student beaten to death because he was gay.
And soon, it could be banned in Alabama.Except that's not the case. Indeed, reading a bit further: Allen originally wanted to ban even some Shakespeare. After criticism, he narrowed his bill to exempt the classics, although he still can't define what a classic is. Also exempted now Alabama's public and college libraries.Seems to be a verb or a colon missing in that last sentence, but I read it to indicate that it doesn't apply to college libraries or public libraries. So what we are really talking about is whether books with gay authors or characters should be allowed in high school and elementary school libraries. And I think that's a debate worth having. My thought is that the orientation of the author shouldn't be an issue, but the orientation of the characters, especially in elementary school libraries, might be worthy of debate. And certainly it should be done on a case-by-case basis. The writer brings up "The Color Purple" which should NOT be given to elementary school students. But Andrew Sullivan isn't looking for a debate, he's looking for evidence of a theocracy. The article is very muddy on the chances that Allen's bill will pass (I suspect it won't). But of course Andrew wants to judge Republicans on what one legislator in one state has proposed.
A Better PollOur buddies at Ankle-Biting Pundits have become known for nipping at the heels of pollsters, exposing the bias in many polls. For a change, they find much to agree with in a recent poll by Fox News.
Moron ThompsonThe New York Times can't seem to get enough of Hunter S. Thompson retrospectives; here's an appalling one from last week. He reached out his right hand and the drink was there, just there, ice clinking. Thompson opened the drawer to his left. It was filled with narcotics. As he looked inside, the sheriff said, ''I'll go into the other room while you do your drugs, Hunter.''
He sank a straw into a plastic container and took some cocaine onto his tongue. He returned to the drawer constantly in the course of the night, getting cocaine, pills, marijuana, which he smoked in a pipe -- the smoke was soft and tangy and blue -- chased by Chivas, white wine, Chartreuse, tequila and Glenfiddich. The effect was gradual but soon his features softened and the scowl melted and his movements became fluid and graceful. By midnight, the man who had emerged a bleary-eyed ruin hours before was on his feet and swearing and waving a shotgun and another show had opened in the long run of Hunter S. Thompson.Sounds vaguely like college days to me, although of course we were not drinking the top-shelf brands of liquor. And most of us outgrew that phase.
Elizabeth Edwards Posting at Democratic Underground?John Hawkins has the story. To me, it seems obvious that the real message of this story is that John Edwards is running in 2008 and that he and his wife are keeping up with the lunatic crowd that is going to be so very important for getting the nomination. At least, they will be important right up until the moment people start voting in the primaries and caucuses. Remember, the darling of the DU crowd and most of the left-wing bloggers at the beginning of 2004 was Howard Dean. And while the Dean scream has moved into legendary status as the cause of his downfall, people forget that moment came after Dean had lost Iowa. This is something that we often lose sight of. The rank and file Democrats are not as goofy as the DU crowd or the lefty bloggers. They would have joined in our revulsion at DKos's "screw 'em" dismissal of the US contractors in Iraq last year (if they had any idea who Kos was). Yes, Kerry was a goofy pick, but he was the height of sanity compared to the Vermonster.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
This Woman is a TurkeyCNS has a story about a woman who speaks for the chickens. In truth, it's hard to believe the article is serious: Davis's United Poultry Concerns urges people to "celebrate Easter without eggs." It has campaigned against the White House Easter Egg Roll, the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book series; and even compared the attacks on the World Trade Center to what "millions of chickens endure every day."But here's her website. As for the title of this post, it is not inspired by this part: "The day may come when to be called a 'chicken' or a 'turkey' will be rightly regarded as a salute to a person's intelligence," she wrote.
Roger L. Simon links to this article in the NY Times about Arianna Huffington's new celebrity blog. This strikes me as another one of those efforts that's bound to fail. First, get this nonsense from Airiheadda herself: Ms. Huffington said the site "won't be left wing or right wing; indeed, it will punch holes in that very stale way of looking at the world."You can tell it's going to be a left-wing site, can't you? The minute they start spouting that "let's get over the left/right dichotomy" crappola, you know that what it really means is that they're hard left. As I indicated on Roger's post, Airiheadda's Blog will probably suffer same fate as Noam Chomsky's blog. Have you seen Noam's blog lately? Neither has he; the last post there is from July of 2004.
Marvel Comic Supports Troops?Our buddy at Lucky Dawg News, Chris, pointed to this story about a comic that Marvel is producing which will be distributed free of charge at military exchanges. The book is a normal-sized edition of The New Avengers, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Dan Jurgens and Sandu Florea.
Virtually every major Marvel hero is involved in an encounter with an alien army. The ads are tailored for soldiers.Both DC Comics and Marvel have published special issues before on topics such as drug abuse, land mines and the heroes of 9/11.
This latest effort dwarfs those in size, and is in partnership with "America Supports You," a Defense Department campaign that encourages private citizens, communities and businesses to reach out to troops and their families, "especially those serving in harm's way."We'll see. Marvel has not been above the PC nonsense before; here's a discussion of an explicitly anti-war on terror comic featuring none other than Captain America. I suspect somewhere in the comic will be an articulation of the argument that those who are anti-war are not anti-military. One thing's for sure; this guy's not going to be happy that a comic is being distributed which supports the troops.
Those Trees Don't CountBrit-blogger Tim Worstall has an excellent and funny piece over at Tech Central Station on the MTV environmental show with Cameron Diaz & Drew Barrymore previously discussed here. It's worth reading all the way through, but I wanted to riff on this bit: They enjoyed the benefit of advice during filming from the World Wildlife Fund and the Natural Resources Defense Council so there's really no excuse for things like this, talking of Bhutan:
"[The] only country in the world where forest cover is increasing."
Which is I am sure something of a surprise to those in the US, where such cover has been increasing since 1920, also to those of us in the UK where we know very well that there has been an increase since 1940. A lot of very nice Germans took photos of the place for us and handed them over in 1945, that's how we know.Rush Limbaugh remarked on the great reforestation of the Northeastern US in one of his books. But you know why that doesn't count with the global warming crowd? Because there is no chance those trees would be cut down. Those trees don't count because they aren't part of a woods that could be efficiently turned into lumber. What is the nature of capitalism? The nature of capitalism is to do things more efficiently and cheaper. Capitalism looks at the business of timber and says "How can I get those logs and make lumber out of them at the lowest possible cost?" The answer, obviously, is clear-cutting. If you cut down all the trees, you get the most lumber, and you have the least headaches in terms of obstruction for your equipment and for removing the cut-down trees. But you can't clear-cut in the Northeast because it's very much developed and most of the trees growing there are on individual lots. So the capitalists look to the Northwest, to Oregon, Washington, and California. But there the environmentalists battle them tooth & nail. Why? Well, I'm sure a lot of them legitimately don't like the look of a clear-cut forest, and that's a legitimate negative to be weighed by government. But many of the environmentalists are also driven by a hatred of capitalism. Ironically, their efforts quite frequently result in the impoverishment of the working class they claim to support. After all, if capitalists can't wring excess costs out by clear-cutting, they either find themselves non-competitive in the market and fire their employees, or they find ways to wring the costs out of the workers.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Amazing Race Turkey--Welcome Viking Pundit Readers!Uchenna and Joyce and Gretchen and Meredith caught a big break tonight in finding an earlier flight to Istanbul, getting what appeared to be a 2-hour lead on Rob & Ambuh and Ron & Kelly (you know the show is getting near the end when you can remember the names of all the contestants). However, I gotta admit, it was one of those maddening moments when you wonder just how they actually did it. They managed to bum a cell phone off somebody to make the call, but then what do you do--call India Information and ask for a travel agent? Anyway, the other two couples made an apparently determined effort to find an earlier flight and were unsuccessful. But then Rob made the classic reality-show mistake of assuming that good enough is good enough. I'm sure that if they watched the show tonight he and Ambuh winced seeing him mouth off about how the black couple and the retired couple were "the blind leading the blind". For a change, the teams did not all pick the same task at the detour, and once again the team (the POW & the Beauty Queen) that went against the grain appeared to pick up some time because of their choice. Gretchen obviously redeemed herself tonight with the climb up the rope ladder, although you gotta wonder about Meredith's sanity in agreeing to let her handle the task. But it was a great moment for the show as she doggedly hoisted herself up that ladder. Boston Rob's luck continued to hold. While every other team's climber struggled to find a key at the top of the fortress, he saw one immediately and was dashing back down, making it impossible for the POW to catch him. Fortunately for Ron & Kelly, it turned out to be a non-elimination leg, so they live to race another day (and ironically won the evening's prize, which includes $20,000 to spend on Travelocity). Random Thoughts: It was nice to see that Joyce was confident enough to show off her new shaved look after last week's obvious distress. Was it just me, or did Phil seem extremely pleased to see them win the leg? Don't forget, the producers of this show are looking for drama and Joyce provided it in abundance last week. Also, when Phil specified that Ron & Kelly have to start the next leg without any money, was that a rule change? Remember, when Meredith & Gretchen finished last they lost their money and got no more the next day, but they had apparently bummed a few bucks from the gay couple (and clothes from Uchenna & Joyce). Or was that after that leg started? Kelly will no doubt take some criticism of her comments on how Ron got out of his military commitment by becoming a POW. It was a cheap shot, but Ron seemed to pick the fight with her by making the comment about not being ready to settle down, wanting to see more of the world (and, I suspect, its women). The scene where they kissed and made up seemed a bit forced. Viking Pundit posted his weekly recap and points us to Kris' take on the evening's show.
Happy Anniversary!Democrats are cheering the one-year anniversary of the media's "breaking" of the Abu Ghraib story.  Kitty sent us this photo of some of the celebrants.
Be Still My Bleeding HeartYou might think it would be hard for a columnist to write a sympathetic story about a former NFL player who blew through $9 million, who had six children by six different women (none of whom he apparently married). But Michael Rosenberg is up to the task. Where did the money go? "Just take a $9-million figure," Blades said. "Forty percent, right off the bat, goes to Uncle Sam. And then the state and local taxes. Let's say 50 percent of your money is already gone. You're down to $4.5 million, averaging about $450,000 a year. Just in child support I was paying almost $17,000-$18,000 a month."
Burgess said Blades already had paid more than $1.3 million in child support. According to court records, $243,000 has gone to Ashley Healey.
And then there were the house and gifts for his parents.
And there were the down payments on cars and houses for his siblings. Blades has six.Don't you just love that last bit? Well, he had to buy the cars and houses for his siblings, and after all, he does have six of them. Blades' defense is laughable: "You can call it irresponsible for having the kids so close together from so many different women," Blades said. "I was always taught, regardless of whether you're being irresponsible, as long as you live up to your responsibility, you're being a man. Nobody who knows me well can ever say I wasn't a father to these kids."Yes, except that he hasn't been keeping up with the child-support payments.
Melody Townsel, In Trouble, Runs to the Daily Kos?Check out this incredibly self-serving letter to the DKos crew: When I was in college, 22 years ago, I plagiarized some columns while working for my college newspaper, and I was removed from staff. Months later, while working for another college newspaper, I wrote a review for a local play that tracked closely in format to another writer's review -- and, although it was not plagiarized, it made my editors, who had become aware of my recent past, very uncomfortable, and we mutually agreed that I would no longer submit stories to them.But of course, we should not consider this in assessing her character, 22 years later: I know they'll tell you that my pending statement to the Senate cannot be trusted because I did some stupid things as a 20-year-old kid two decades ago -- even as they try to tell you that Mr. Bolton's bahavior toward me in Moscow and Kyrgyzstan 11 years ago just doesn't matter.Of course Ms Townsel would have us judge Mr Bolton harshly for things he did 11 years ago, but don't judge her for things she did 22 years ago. Also note that she fudges about when this all happened; at one point she says "...keep in mind that I was 21 years old when this happened....", but a few paragraphs later, she's a 20-year-old kid. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that she writes the letter directly to the DKos Doofuses; note that the salutation is "Hello, Daily Kos-ers:". Hat Tip: Danegerus
Syria Pulls Out of LebanonYou know what that means? Head on over to Ya Libnan, the blog of the Cedar Revolution.
Too Much Savings Abroad?Here's an interesting take on savings and trade deficits. Samuelson is one of those rare magazine writers who actually understands economics. Like others, Bernanke warns that these trade imbalances—our huge deficits, their huge surpluses—seem dangerous. His contribution is to show that their main causes lie outside the United States. To say a country has surplus saving is simply another way of saying that it lacks good investment opportunities at home or discourages its citizens from consuming. Asian countries favor export-led growth, de-emphasizing local consumption. Latin America's volatile politics deters investment. Europe's heavy taxes and regulations do likewise. Whatever the problems, Americans can't fix them.
The Reality-Based Community? Part LThe DC Examiner runs through the history of John Bolton's latest accuser, Lynne Finney. Turns out Mrs Finney has an interesting background: Those articles also failed to mention the fact that Lynne Finney, the women who claims she was abused by Bolton, has problems with her memory. She believes that she long suppressed and later recovered memories that she was molested by her father - a process which the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association regard as dubious and an unreliable source of testimony.Quackery, in other words. The Examiner highlights her website, which is ummm, rather interesting. In this new millennium, we entered an era of human evolution where we can reinvent ourselves and create new realities. We all have the ability to clear out our limiting beliefs and behaviors and tap into the infinite power of Consciousness. I've spent many years learning how to do this for myself and would like to pass on what I've discovered to you. I hope my work is helpful. But the truth is that you are already enlightened. Self-realization is not something we earn or "get." It's who we are - our true nature. You only have to realize it.
Monday, April 25, 2005
A Run Through the Blogroll Part IILucky Dawg News is the blog of our old buddy from the 2004 campaign, Chris of the amazing Kerry Waffles site, the multimedia epicenter of the anti-Kerry effort. Chris is mostly blogging on NASCAR these days but he does give the left a little what-goes-for every time he sees the chance. A Small Victory is one of my favorite pop-culture/nostalgia blogs, always an entertaining way to spend a few minutes. Don't forget to pay a visit to The Coalition of the Dark Side, a group blog supporting the New York Yankees. It's going to be amusing watching the shrieking from that corner as the Bronx Bombers start bombing. ACE (Airborne Combat Engineer) is the place with the helpful hardware man. If you're interested in military equipment, you'll find intelligent discussion and hard facts at ACE's. La Shawn Barber's blog is now one of the top trafficked blogs in the 'sphere. Politics from a Christian perspective and phenomenal writing have propelled her to numerous appearances on TV and radio shows. Always worthy of a visit. Blackfive is a great milblogger, with lots of posts on the heroes of our fighting forces. He has great contacts in the military community, which means he'll have the real poop on the latest "outrage" committed by our troops and reported eagerly by anti-military journalists. To Be Continued!
Drudge Hits 10La Shawn Barber notes the anniversary and says: While he’s not a blogger, his site was definitely a forerunner to the new medium.I don't know about that part. I've always felt that Drudge & Lucianne were blogs, just that they are such big blogs that people don't recognize it at first. What makes a blog? 1. Links to articles of interest. Check. 2. Commentary on those articles. Check for Lucianne, but less common at Drudge. However, Drudge's own headline with the link frequently contains his commentary. Consider this headline from today: Holding On Tight. The headline links to this article, where the only part I can find that appears to justify the headline is this: Bush kept a firm, guiding grip on his guest's hand as they walked up the path, past a field of bluebonnets that the president took care to point out, to a new office building on a corner of the sprawling ranch.3. Links to Other Bloggers. Lucianne does this with her once-a-day BlogTruth posts. Drudge seldom links to other bloggers, but this may be a blessing; when Drudge did link to Power Line during the Ra thergate scandal, the blog almost immediately crashed due to the heavy traffic generated. The things that rule against Drudge being a blog are mostly superficial--no topdown posting (although his headlines are stored topdown), and few permalinks.
The CSI Effect?Here's an article on the concern for the justice system caused by the TV show CSI. I highlight the article because when I was called for jury duty last year, one of the questions asked in voir dire was how many of us watched the show regularly. So apparently there really is an issue.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
2007: Democrats Stall Extremist Nominee to Supreme CourtDemocrats vowed to fight President Bush's nomination of right-wing extremist conservative Hillary Rodham Clinton as new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. "She's way out of the mainstream," said Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, citing Clinton's reported desire to keep the number of abortions as low as possible, and her noted belief in God. DNC Chair Howard Dean noted that Hillary had not only supported the war in Iraq, but had voted in favor of the $87 billion Iraq reconstruction and military funding package. "She's to the right of MoveOn.org and that's unacceptable to this party." The nomination of former Senator Clinton came as the Democratic filibuster of judicial nominees entered its 24th month, and was seen by some as a conciliatory measure by President Bush, whose Republican Party has been unable to break the filibuster despite a freshly-won 61-38-1 majority after the '06 debacle for the Democrats. However, with the help of maverick Republican Senators McCain, Hagel and Voinovich, the Democrats have maintained their effective veto over the process. Joe Lieberman sounded a cautiously optimistic note in the morning, but by mid-afternoon had joined his partisans in expressing doubt. In an interview on Fox, Lieberman expressed the opinion that Mrs Clinton would be a fine nominee. But after other Democrats voiced their dismay, the Connecticut senator acknowledged that perhaps once again, the rest of his party would settle for obstructing President Bush. "They're apparently holding out for Lynne Stewart," said Lieberman, referring to the New York lawyer serving a 20-year sentence for supporting terrorism.
Oh, That Liberal MediaThe BBC sends hecklers to conservative rally.
A Full SteynHere's the master at work, combining the Bolton nomination with Benedict XVI: I'll bet Pope Benedict XVI is glad that his conclave doesn't include either Cardinal Biden or Cardinal Voinovich, or his church would be pontiff-less indefinitely while they ''investigated'' last-minute rumors that he'd been off-hand to some guy in seminary 55 years ago. I had no strong views about the new pope one way or another, but I'd have voted for him just for the pleasure of seeing him drive the U.S. media bananas. Apparently, the New York Times was stunned that their short list of Cardinal Gloria Steinem, Cardinal Rupert Everett and Cardinal Rosie O'Donnell were defeated at the last moment by some guy who came out of left field and isn't even gay or female but instead belongs to the discredited ''Catholic'' faction of the Catholic Church.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Friday Blog-CruisingProfessor Shade has his " Freakin' Friday Soft-Core Links" up at Lifelike. The linked sites are usually sex-related, but work-safe, and worth the trip. Lucky Dawg has a fun post today about the tie-in between NASCAR and comic books. ACE praises James Carville! Buckley F. Williams unveils the Democrat's new plan: Winning the War on Terror Without Hurting People, Plants or Feelings. Roberto at Dynamo Buzz reports on Jon Corzine's blogging endeavors at DKos.
Celebrity EnvironmentalistsThis article on a new environmental TV series has to be read to be believed. The MTV series features actress Cameron Diaz and a rotating crew of "her close, personal friends [who] think globally and act globally." They tour developing nations, incuding Nepal, Bhutan, Tanzania, Honduras and visit remote villages in Chile.
Actress Drew Barrymore, who reportedly earns $15 million a film, told MTV viewers in one episode that after spending time in a primitive, electricity-free Chilean village, "I aspire to be like them more."
Barrymore, apparently enthralled by the lack of a modern sanitary facilities, gleefully bragged, "I took a poo in the woods hunched over like an animal. It was awesome."Do I have to point out that taking a poo in the woods is not environmentally sound, or sanitary? But then this is not about environmentally sound policies. Despite the celebrities' praise for the primitive life, "Trippin'" shows them flying on multiple airplanes and chartering at least two helicopters and one boat to reach remote locations over the course of the first four episodes.
The series also showed the celebrities being chauffeured to the airport in a full-size Chevy SUV -- despite several on-screen, anti-SUV factoids noting how environmentally unfriendly SUVs are.Don't do as we do, do as we say, I suppose. Remember Kerry insisting that he doesn't own an SUV, his family does?
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Survivor ThoughtsTom is kicking everybody's butt; he's gotta be the one person everybody's going to want to vote off first time he doesn't get immunity, because nobody wants to be in the three-person endurance test against him. He showed some smarts in the immunity challenge by making a snorkel out of his hands. He could be another Colby from the Outback, the guy who wins all or most of the individual challenges. Steph and Janu had the starring roles at tribal council. It seemed fated that Steph was going to be voted off but Jeff goaded Janu into quitting. Steph has now survived an incredible 10 consecutive tribal councils without getting voted off, which surely is a record. There were a lot of scenes that looked like foreshadowing to me; for example, in the highlights of the prior episode they showed again Steph on her own the last night, commenting on how hard it was but that it would all be worth it in the end if she won. Which of course probably means Burnett is trying to mislead us and Steph gets the axe next week. Nobody else looks ready to extinguish their own torch to save her, so she's definitely in trouble unless Tom somehow loses immunity, in which case things could get ugly for him suddenly.
Good Point on the PopeTim Worstall, writing in Tech Central Station on those who blame Pope John Paul II for not allowing Catholics to use condoms to help prevent the spread of AIDS: The first and most obvious answer is that of course the Church has no responsibility for these AIDS deaths at all. For along with the idea that one should not use contraceptives are the teachings that one should be virgin at marriage, not have sex outside marriage and marry only one person. It's rather difficult to see how, in a world that actually followed such teachings, AIDS would in fact be a sexually transmitted disease.Yep. The assumption seems to be that people don't listen to the Pope about sex outside of marriage, but then refuse to use condoms because it's against their religion. That doesn't make any sense when you think about it.
No Communist Revolutionaries Were Harmed in the Making of This Tee ShirtThat's a relief!
Brooks: Roe Lengthened the Abortion BattleAs I have written before, when the courts interject themselves into political battles, they generally do not solve them. Why? Because nobody considers the courts to have had the final word on the matter except the winners. When Blackmun wrote the Roe decision, it took the abortion issue out of the legislatures and put it into the courts. If it had remained in the legislatures, we would have seen a series of state-by-state compromises reflecting the views of the centrist majority that's always existed on this issue. These legislative compromises wouldn't have pleased everyone, but would have been regarded as legitimate.Consider Brown v. Board of Education for another example. Had segregation been eliminated state by state through the legislatures (as it surely would have been, albeit not as swiftly), you would not have seen "Impeach Earl Warren" billboards throughout the South well into the 1960s. Now you can make the argument that Brown v. Board of Education was the right decision to make on equal protection grounds, but it's hard to deny that it did not settle the matter for good. So it is with abortion. Had Roe not been handed down, odds are that abortion would be legal in many states, although perhaps not all. New York and several other states had already legalized it by the early 1970s; over the years the battle would have played out state by state. Brooks notes that Roe is almost the sole reason we have these debillitating battles over judges, to the point where one side is talking about limiting debate, and the other is talking about shutting down the government. But it's his last paragraph that will have liberals in NYC spitting up their morning latte: The fact is, the entire country is trapped. Harry Blackmun and his colleagues suppressed that democratic abortion debate the nation needs to have. The poisons have been building ever since. You can complain about the incivility of politics, but you can't stop the escalation of conflict in the middle. You have to kill it at the root. Unless Roe v. Wade is overturned, politics will never get better.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Teflon Gives His Concession SpeechSomehow the Cardinals missed a good candidate for Pope.
Here's Irony for YouMan arrested for spitting in Jane Fonda's face. Prediction: The liberals will use this incident to buttress their claims that in fact, no soldiers were spit on after returning from Vietnam.
Here's to Bangor, Maine!This is a heartwarming story; have some tissues nearby though. Lining the hall and clapping were dozens of Bangor residents who have set a daunting task for themselves: They want every Marine, soldier, sailor and airman returning through the tiny international airport here to get a hero's welcome.
Even if the planes arrive in the middle of the night or a blizzard, they are there.
Composed mostly from the generation that served in World War II and Korea, they call themselves the Maine Troop Greeters. They have met every flight bringing troops home from Iraq for nearly two years — more than 1,000 flights and nearly 200,000 troops.Good people, doing what may seem like a small thing.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Amazing Race UpdateThis segment featured not one, but two spots where all the teams caught up with each other, which had to make the brothers, who lost a few weeks ago when there were none, a little annoyed. The obvious highlight of the evening was Joyce's bravery in accepting the shaving of her head. I couldn't help but be impressed with her willingness to do something that obviously upset her a great deal in order to win. It was a shame that there was no prize for winning this leg of the race, especially since it was a long (two hours over two weeks) segment. Gretchen continues to grate on my nerves. She was foolish enough to accept being put in the howdah atop the elephant, as she ended up adding weight to the load while not being an assistance in pulling it. Then of course, Meredith does reasonably well in the camel ride but all we see is Gretch shaking her head in disgust. I got a hunch that she's going to go out like Ray, muttering about how her partner, who is clearly the only reason they've gotten this far, held her back. This was the second consecutive week where everybody goes for the same task at the Detour, which makes for less excitement. In most of these Detours, when one or two pairs have gone against the grain they've done quite well--remember the brothers passed Ray and his girlfriend when they chose to suck water out of the ground rather than mash the corn. And Uchenna and Joyce aced the "Balance stuff on your head" challenge while the others were milking goats and picked up a lot of ground. Gretchen and Meredith would have been smarter to try the tie-dying experiment, which didn't sound all that complicated or exhausting. I was a sorry to see the gay couple go; I've generally liked their cooperation and support for each other. And they went out with class talking about all the wonderful people they'd met along the way. However, I did catch one jarring note when Lynn yelled at the driver of the autorickshaw to "run over that elephant" (the one that Gretchen was riding in). Despite the claims of fraternity, they were still quite competitive. Too bad they didn't grill their driver to make sure he knew his way to the pit stop. Update: Viking Pundit has his recap up, while Kris at Dummocrats sums things up.
Rob & Ambuh HitchedSurvivor Winners and Amazing Race Contestants Rob & Ambuh have gotten married. As would only be fitting for a couple whose courtship and subsequent engagement played out on television, CBS was along for the wedding ceremony as well, filming for a two-hour special that will air on May 24.Hat Tip: Dana of North Shore Politics
New Pope Getting Criticized AlreadyLucianne highlighted this on her front page this afternoon. Look at the adjectives being used: The Associated Press: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the Roman Catholic Church's leading hard-liner...Reuters: Arch-conservative German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope on Tuesday in a surprise choice that delighted traditionalist Roman Catholics but stunned moderates hoping for a more liberal papacy.The New York Times: As an ultraconservative, he had shut the door on any discussion on several issues, including the ordination of women, celibacy of priests and homosexuality, defending his positions by invoking theological truth. In the name of orthodoxy, he is in favor of a smaller church, but one that is more ideologically pure.President Bush: President Bush on Tuesday called newly elected Pope Benedict XVI a "man of great wisdom and knowledge."
He is "a man who serves the Lord," Bush said of the pope, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who has been a leading church hard-liner.
Roosevelt the RadicalCame across discussion of Roosevelt's "Second Bill of Rights" in two places this morning; this indicates to me that something is going on. Expect to see more about this in the near future. Bob Herbert in the Times lays out the Roosevelt agenda and wonders where we went wrong. Here are some of the proposed "rights": "The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation.
"The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.
"The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living.
"The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.
"The right of every family to a decent home.
"The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.
"The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment.
"The right to a good education."Now I think we can all agree that most of these rights represent social goods; the only argument is whether government should be in charge of ensuring them. The second reference to the Second Bill of Rights may explain why we got the first. John Hinderaker, writing in the Weekly Standard notes: None of this, however, discouraged the conference participants from staking out bold new constitutional ground. The tone was set in the "opening dialogue" between professors Bruce Ackerman and Cass Sunstein. Power Line sent one of our East Coast correspondents to sit in on the discussion. The conversation left no doubt about the "rights" that, according to these eminent liberals, should be constitutionally enshrined by the year 2020.
The touchstone is Franklin Roosevelt's "Second Bill of Rights," which would recognize a right to "a useful and remunerative job"; sufficient earnings to provide "adequate" food, clothing, and recreation; a "decent" home; a "good education"; and "adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health."Note that interestingly, the focus of the people cited in Hinderaker's article is not on passing these rights legislatively, or even amending the US Constitution to provide for them; rather it's on "finding" these rights (and more) in the Constitution as it exists. For an example of the "and more", consider this: Economic citizenship--stakeholder society in which every young adult gets a form of citizenship inheritance of $80,000, funded by a wealth tax . . .This is of course the proposal of the "Stakeholder Society" a ridiculous book that made the rounds of the lefty talk shows a few years back. It's a classic Democrat proposal: Something for nothing.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Vanessa Kerry Outdoes Her DadJohn Ruberry, aka Marathon Pundit, notes that Vanessa started and finished the Boston Marathon as an official participant (unlike Le Fraude, who when caught lying about it, claimed he'd run as an unofficial entrant). Ruberry notes that she finished in about 3-1/2 hours, a rather impressive time. 
Dworkin Being Whitewashed?Cathy Young thinks so. Whatever her defenders may say, Dworkin was a relentless preacher of hatred toward men ("Under patriarchy, every woman's son is her betrayer and also the inevitable rapist or exploiter of another woman" -- Our Blood, 1976, p. 20), masculinity, and male sexuality -- which she described as "intrinsically drunk on its contempt for all life, but especially for women's lives" (Letters from a War Zone, 1989, p. 14). Yes, she apparently had genuine and even warm affection for some men in her own life, and spent her last 20 years with a male companion she eventually married (John Stoltenberg, a MacDworkinite feminist and practically a poet of male self-loathing). But no one would absolve a male misogynist on the grounds that he loved his mother and sister, or had a devoted wife who embraced his ideology.More important, from the whitewashers' point of view, is that Dworkin was also relentlessly anti-American. Indeed in the one of her books that I read in the late 1980s, she still referred to this country as "Amerika" which I found rather quaint.
Hanoi Jane Gets the Albuquerque TreatmentOur buddy Chris at Lucky Dawg News was there to protest. His wicked sense of humor from his Kerry Waffles days is still in evidence: I spent the rest of the day holding up my sign on the median of Montgomery Avenue. On the whole, the response from passersby was supportive. I did have one troll roll her window down and tell me she loves Jane Fonda. Too bad I didn't have Fonda's ex, Roger Vadim's, number handy.
Book ReportsPat Hynes reports on Byron York's Vast Leftwing Conspiracy, while Lorie Byrd and DJ Drummond tackle South Park Republicans.
Frank Rich Uncovers a ScoopA scoop of what, I'm not saying. But Rich does some simple dot-connecting: This time the plot begins with money. Two K Street fixers, a lobbyist named Jack Abramoff and a flack named Michael Scanlon, managed to snooker six American Indian tribes into handing over $82 million in exchange for furthering their casino interests. According to The Washington Post, some of their tribal takings, cycled through a nonprofit center for "public policy research," helped send Mr. DeLay golfing in Scotland.A Congressman got treated to golfing in Scotland by lobbyists? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! This is one of those stories where you wonder whose mind is going to be changed. Rich's readers are mostly NY liberals who already hate Tom Delay. He appears to be trying to score points with social conservatives ("Look, Tom Delay took money from gambling interests!"), but few of them read his column and the gambling connection is tenuous at best, and not as hypocritical as it sounds. Suppose, as has happened in many states, the local racetracks are begging to be allowed to have slot machines. In that instance the Indian tribes with casinos would of course be opposed, as would social conservatives. So social conservatives and Indian tribes with casinos can have common interests. The rest of the column is remarkable for its lack of content. Rich introduces a lot of players, but their links to any current story is hard to discover.
Why Fox is a ThreatAccording to William Raspberry: So why would I consider Fox such a generalized threat? Because I think the plan is not so much to convince the public that its particular view is correct but rather to sell the notion that what FNC presents is just another set of biases, no worse (and for some, a good deal better) than the biases that routinely drive the presentation of the news on ABC, CBS or NBC -- and, by extension, the major newspapers.
For the Foxidation process to work, it isn't necessary to convince Americans that the verbal ruffians who give FNC its crackle have a corner on the truth -- only that all of us in the news business are grinding our partisan axes all the time and that none of us deserves to be taken seriously as seekers of truth.
This is huge. As a friend remarked recently, time was when if you found it in the New York Times, that settled the bar bet and the other guy paid off. But if the Times and The Post or any other mainstream news outlet -- including the major networks -- come to be seen as the left-of-center counterparts of Fox News Channel, why would anyone accept them as authoritative sources of truth?Perhaps because they do have axes to grind, and are not authoritative sources of truth?
Ward Churchill Comparison?Here's the story of another Colorado University professor who was let go: Six weeks ago, a teacher named Phil Mitchell reluctantly spoke to me about his unjust and forced exit from the history staff at the University of Colorado after 21 years in the classroom.
All the evidence, notwithstanding the tortured spin of CU and its defenders, was that Mitchell, a reliable and well-regarded instructor, was being "let go" because of conservative political and evangelical Christian beliefs.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Steyn in Rare FormHe does a little reductio ad absurDemocrat on Barbara Boxer's vapors over John Bolton's anger issues: If the Senate poseurs and the media wanted to mount a trenchant critique of Bolton's geopolitical philosophy, that would be reasonable enough. But there's not even a pretense of any of that. Instead, his opponents have seized on one episode -- an intelligence analyst in a critical position with whom Bolton and others were dissatisfied -- and used it to advance the bizarre proposition that every junior official should be beyond reproach, and certainly beyond such aggressive ''body language'' as putting one's hands on hips. Or as Peter Beinart, editor of the New Republic, complained to the BBC the other night: Bolton was ''disloyal to his subordinates.''Worth the read. Hat Tip: Lucianne
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Quickie Baseball Season AnalysisNobody seems to have seriously established themselves as a breakaway team; the team that gets that hot start that means everybody's going to be choking on their dust. Colorado looks like the only legitimately awful team at 1-8, although the Tigers are borderline at 3-7. Detroit has actually scored more runs than they have allowed, so I'd say they're just a little unlucky right now.
Abortion Cuts Down on Crime?A column that should offend almost everybody.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Rogers Broke?Say it ain't so! Friends, I am broke. I have back bills to pay. My rent needs to be paid. And, as the writing of this post I don't even have the $500 it will take me to convert the files I want to share with you for the web.Almost makes one want to shed a tear. Hat Tip: Wizbang
Matt Yglesias Shows His Class EnvyI got a chuckle out of this chuckleheaded post. Taxing estates doesn't really seem like a great plan. If I die with a $10 million estate and want to give $5 to 2 million different people, there doesn't seem to me to be a good reason why the estate should be taxed. Better to tax inheritance since the actual concern is that I'll give $10 million to my son and he'll be rich, rich, rich without ever having worked.To which, I have to respond, so what? Yglesias goes on to say that the inheritance tax is fine with him: Here you are, you inherit a store worth $X. You owe $Y in taxes, with Y being less than X. So you are "forced" to sell the store, and accept "only" $X-Y as your inheritance. Note that X is a figure in the millions, and Y a small proportion of X.And so what happens? The son is rich, rich, rich, without ever having worked. Less rich than he would be without the inheritance tax, but only by a "small proportion". Sounds like the inheritance tax has not done anything about Matt's supposed "actual concern". He also engages in a little small businessman bashing: Speaking of which, f**k the small businessman.Well, at least he's a little more honest than the average Democrat running for office.
Whom Would You Draft First?Michael Silver, a CNNSI columnist, holds a mock draft, but instead of picking college players he picks current NFLers. His top three: 1. Michael Vick 2. Peyton Manning 3. Tom Brady Now, in fairness to Silver, that's whom he thinks the teams would pick, not necessarily whom he would pick in those spots. However, this comment on Vick certainly indicates he concurs: Vick is the most talented player in the draft, and one who has led his team to playoff victories in each of his two healthy seasons as a starter. Even John York can't screw this one up.Look, this is really simple. Tom Brady is the best player in the NFL. He's now 9-0 in the playoffs, which ranks him in the top ten quarterbacks all-time for playoff wins. Vick is one heck of an athlete, but he's an average passer and if he gets another serious leg injury he may not even be that. Peyton's great but until he gets a ring I'm not going to pick him higher than the guy who's got three of them.
Is Hillary Disaster-Proofed?John Hawkins gives his assessment of her candidacy. He strikes me as right on the money with this part of the analysis: In her favor, she seems to be fairly well liked by the press and the Democratic base, has proven she can fund raise, and seems -- at least, in my opinion -- to be much smarter politically than John Kerry. Personally, I think she will be a tougher opponent than John Kerry.She is also the only Democrat who can act like a moderate for the next three years and still have a great shot at getting the nomination. That's a huge advantage over Kerry, who was forced to tack left with his vote against the $87 billion Iraq package in order to assuage the anti-war crowd. It helped him win the nomination, but it undeniably hurt him in the general election. However, I gotta respectfully disagree with this: [S]he has more baggage than anybody short of Ted Kennedy or Robert Byrd which is why in the last poll I saw on the topic in December of 2004, she already has a staggeringly high 42% negative rating. Just imagine that as a starting point and then add on a year of negative ads and lots of time spent reminding people about "Hillarycare," Whitewater, The Rose Law Firm Billing Records, her crooked looking cattle futures deal, on and on and on as far as the eye can see. It's not a pretty picture.That past isn't really going to hurt her, or rather, it's already hurt her as much as it's going to. Almost everybody knows about Hillary's many scandals, it's been gone over thoroughly, and there are almost certainly no unexploded bombshells in there. And nobody is going to be interested in hearing about Whitewater again. In a way, it's analogous to the situation over President Bush's Air National Guard service. In 2000 it was a story because we didn't know W all that well. In 2004 it didn't matter (which is the irony of Rathergate: It would have been a futile effort even if the memos had not turned out to be phony). The same applies to Hillary. Assuming there's no deep, dark secrets from her recent past, Hillary's basically disaster-proofed. And when you consider how many skeletons popped out of Le Fraude's closet (Christmas in Cambodia, the controversy over his medals, his meeting with the North Vietnamese for starters) that has got to sound tempting to the Democrats.
Socialist Feathers Own Nest?Turns out that Tom Delay is not the only congressman to have family on the payroll. There's nothing illegal about the situation, but it does strike me as a little funny that America's lone congressman from the Socialist Party, Bernie Sanders, does it. According to records filed with the Federal Election Commission, his wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders received $91,020 from his campaign for consultation and negotiating the purchase of advertising time, from 2002 to 2004. About two-thirds of that money was used to pay media outlets, O'Meara Sanders said. Her daughter, Carina Driscoll, was paid $65,002 in wages over the same time period. She served as her stepfather's campaign manager in 2000, fund-raiser and office manager in 2003 and his database manager last year.That reminds me of a high school teacher's description of socialism: What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Kerry to Participate in the Boston Marathon?Yep. Our friend John Ruberry, who was the blogger to break the story that Kerry had falsely claimed to have run the Boston Marathon back around 1980, has the news.
A Savior for the Republican Party?Try not to snicker as you read this column by Howard Fineman entitled "A Dark Horse Republican to the Rescue?" It speaks volumes about the condition of the GOP that at least a few people around town are talking up [Haley] Barbour as a Republican presidential contender in 2008—and that at least a few of his fellow Republicans (and not just his former business partner, Ed Rogers) seem to be taking the idea somewhat seriously.Rolling my eyes here. Fineman appears to believe that the Republicans are in trouble. This is the kind of trouble the Democrats could only pray for: Control of the White House, the Senate (with votes to spare for another Jumpin' Jim Jeffords) and the House of Representatives. And listen to his dismissal of two obvious candidates: There is no obvious successor to George Walker Bush as El Jefe of the GOP except perhaps Gov. John Ellis “Jeb” Bush of Florida who, by virtue of being Little Brother to the President, is too oppressively obvious and therefore problematic.Yes, and Hillary Clinton is oppressively obvious as well. That doesn't mean that the Democrats aren't going to nominate her, because they are. Others in the party have taken the measure of Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader and supposedly Carl Rove’s favorite. They think Frist can be had. Yes, he is from the Bible Belt, but he is too princely in demeanor and had enough faith in (and knowledge of) science to have become one of the world’s leading thoracic surgeons. What’s more, they say, he is studious to a fault in the Kerry mold.Horrors! We can't have a scientist running for President on the Republican ticket! A studious guy to boot? No, we want more morons like Chimpy Shrub McHitler! And I can't help laughing at the notion of Kerry being studious to a fault; even his hagiographer, Douglas Brinkley, noted that Kerry was no grind.
My Entry In GOP & The City's Contest  Details here.
Another Kerry-Related ContestOur buddy The Man at GOP & the City has a hilarious contest for Photoshoppers. In fact, it's such a great idea that I'm going to create an entry. Look for it later today.
The Reality-Based Community? Part XLVEvan Coyne Maloney documents the rise of the fascists on the left.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Here's Hoping the Democrats Don't Listen to this AdviceDonna Brazille, speaking in New Jersey: "You know what the Republican Party stands for. They're for smaller government, strong family values, a strong military and putting religion back in public life," Brazile said. "We need a philosophy, even if it makes some American people uncomfortable.
"We're not going to win in 2008 if the Republicans spend all their time and money defining us and we spend all our time and money running away from who we are."Yep. That's the real problem with the Democrats as I have stated many times in the past. They know they have some unpopular positions, but rather than arguing why they're right, they try to finesse things and end up coming off as dishonest. On the other hand, I certainly hope they listen to David Ignatius, who has some "bold" ideas for how the Democrats can seize the day: A sensible Democratic leadership would gather this very weekend to begin formulating a plan to address America's looming economic crises. These party leaders would develop specific proposals to reduce the trade and budget deficits that are spooking the financial markets.Let's see, my first guess on the budget deficit would be that they would propose tax increases, but not spending cuts (since that would be "balancing the budget on the backs of the poor". My imaginary Democrats would get serious about energy, too. They would admit that with soaring Asian demand pushing against tight supplies, the world is facing a long-term squeeze. Rather than pretending that the solution is somehow to mandate lower prices, they would do something about increasing supply (yes, even from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) and reducing demand (yes, we are all going to be driving versions of the Toyota Prius someday).Well, since the ANWAR drilling bill has already passed (with little to no help from the Democrats), that's certainly a "no pain, all gain" solution since the only thing that remains is reducing demand. Either CAFE standards or gas taxes would be increased, which of course are liberal wet dreams since way back. Even as they framed plans to deal with the immediate economic dangers, my imaginary Democrats would offer proposals to solve the longer-term threats to the solvency of Social Security and Medicare. Above all, they would face up to the reality the Republicans generally have avoided: that there is no way out of the fiscal mess without a mix of higher taxes and benefit cuts for those who can afford to take the hit.Well, hush ma mouth! Is he talking about tax increases and means testing? Jeez, the courage that his hypothetical Democrats (who have been calling for both since time immemorial) would have to summon up to propose those "solutions" is, well, nil.
The Reality-Based Community? Part XLIVJohn Hawkins notes a controversy over some "art". I'm with him; let's stop federally funding this kind of lunacy. And another thing. Do any of these idiots ever stop to think what would happen if President Bush were indeed assassinated? Well, first of all, Dick Cheney would become the President. Second, he would probably run in 2008, and he would almost certainly win. Remember, Lyndon Johnson in 1964 is the only Democratic presidential candidate to get over 51% of the vote since FDR (he got 61%); a large part of that was undeniably caused by the assassination a year earlier of John F. Kennedy. Update: Kitty notes a similar item here.
A Worthy CauseOur longtime buddy John, over at My Take on Things, has formed Operation Soldier, which describes its mission as follows: Our objectives are quite simple. To support the brave men and women of the United States Military as much as possible, while they selflessly serve abroad, fighting the war on terrorism.
Our support comes in the form of the care package drives, and the support of providing the family members of soldiers that are critically wounded in battle, by helping them with the financial burdens they often suffer, while visiting a wounded loved one, in hospitals that are often in major metropolitan cities, many miles from where the families live.I can't think of a better cause. As always, when I suggest that you make a donation, I have done so myself first.
Amazing Race UpdateViking Pundit has his thoughts here. As I mentioned in his comments, one of the things that struck me about last night's episode was the similarity of the Detour and Roadblock tasks. In the Roadblock, one person from each team was required to look through 600 metal suitcases in search of one of ten clues. In the detour, the teams were required to serve tea to five of ten people on a list in an office building containing what appeared to be about 600 people. Gretchen did terribly in the Roadblock. Despite being the one with apparently the most patience, she gave up for awhile and cried on Meredith's shoulders about how hard she was trying. As usual, Rob & Ambuh had all the luck, with Ambuh entering the roadblock behind the Beauty Queen and finding her clue a few minutes earlier. The gay couple have seemingly adopted Gretchen & Meredith and this episode that hurt them, as they were stuck bartering for taxis for two sets of people while Uchenna & Joyce took off. Eric was surprised that the POW & the Beauty Queen did not force Rob & Ambuh to yield (wait for an hour). I agree, it was a boneheaded mistake. They may not find themselves in front of the Survivor duo again, and you know doggone well that the Godfather will not hesitate to force them to yield when he gets the chance. The ending was a bit of a surprise as it was not a pit stop. Phil was there complete with mat on the ground, but when Rob & Ambuh arrived first, he told them that they were still racing. To be continued... next week!
New CompetitionLorie Byrd over at Polipundit found out that John Fraude Kerry is soliciting tales of woe from military families and their friends: Those who have stood for us should know that we stand with them, today and always. Share the story of a family you know that has endured hardship in service to our nation.Of course, we all know that Kerry has no real interest in helping out military families; he's just going to use these stories as a club with which to beat the Bush Administration. So here's the competition. Come up with the nuttiest "tale" you can devise that fits Le Fraude's request. One very important caveat: Let's not demean or diminish the very real sacrifices that our soldiers and their families accept on our behalf. Here's my entry: Dear John: I am a Vietnam veteran who has endured much hardship in service to our nation. During my time in Vietnam, I personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country. Well, actually, I mostly ran the filmstrip projector, but you have no idea what an instrument of torture that can be in the hands of a skilled operator. Since I returned from Vietnam I have continued to serve our nation as a professor at one of our leading universities. Now I am under attack by the little Eichmanns on the Board of Trustees for exercising my freedom of speech. Please help in any way you can. Sincerely, Ward Churchill
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
The Sexual Revolution ExplainedJudge Richard Posner, considered by some the smartest man in America, takes on the subject of the Sexual Revolution. Discussing contraception, abortion, and the elimination of of syphilis as a deadly disease, Posner writes: The consequence of all these things has been to reduce the marriage rate and delay the average age of marriage, and also to reduce the cost of divorce to women (and to men, by reducing the benefits of marriage to men who want to have children and stay-at-home wives). With less and later marriage and more divorce, women spend less of their sexually active years married and so their demand for nonmarital sex—sex made in any event less risky by improved contraception and the availability of abortion—soars.
The increased demand for divorce was a factor in the successful movement for easy divorce, and easy divorce makes it impossible to channel sex into marriage. In communities (and there are still some) in which premarital sex is strongly disapproved, young people marry to have sex, but marriages so motivated are likely to end in divorce, producing more unmarried people and so more demand for nonmarital sex.An interesting post from a brilliant man. Of course, you know how that goes; brilliance is no guarantee he's right. But his explanations dovetail nicely with some of my own (less rigorous) theories.
Running Through the BlogrollJohn Hawkins shares some of his hate mail. Ever notice that most of these hate mailers can never spell? Lucianne is my personal favorite website; it's a must for bloggers because you can check out dozens of articles quickly. Kerry Haters is the blog I dedicated much of last year to updating, along with Kitty and Aaron. I wish that blogging in a non-election year was as fun or as filled with stuff to post about. Kitty Litter is always fresh, always interesting, and unlike the real thing, you don't have to scoop out the little turds. Ankle-Biting Pundits is the site of two professionals in the political game. If you want to know the real story, check them out. Lifelike is where the old Kerry Haters, Aaron, Kitty and I (along with Professor Shade, Pam Meister, and Dodo David) blog as a group. Lots of entertaining posts and links. Professor Shade has his own blog in addition to his work at Lifelike. Great sense of humor, and his "Freakin' Friday Softcore Surfin'" links are not to be missed. To be continued....
End of the IRA? Or Just Another Speech?Kevin Toolis has a very perceptive column in the London Times. Common sense tells us that after 30 years at the top of the republican tree Gerry Adams should have a pretty good idea who is on the IRA Army Council. Why doesn’t he just call them up on the phone, rather than make a public speech? How can such a consummate political operator not have the number of each and every IRA gunman somewhere in his contacts book?
The truth is that for decades Northern Irish politics has been built around the lie that Sinn Fein and the IRA are separate entities. But the history books tell a different story. In 1991 Martin McGuinness and Gerry Kelly represented the IRA in secret talks with MI6’s head of counter-terrorism. Today they declare themselves to be mere democratic politicians.
Old Friend, New DigsOur buddy Chris, who was responsible for the terrific Kerry Waffles site last year, is back with Lucky Dawg News. Lots of coverage of NASCAR along with a conservative slant on news items. Welcome to the blogosphere, Chris!
Get Out Your HankiesBefore reading this wonderful description of a soldier's homecoming. Hat Tip: Lucianne
Monday, April 11, 2005
The Reality-Based Community? Part XLIIIJohn Hawkins points us to Dadahead, who approves of the current policy of flinging food at conservative speakers: Rather, we should make clear what they are really doing by doing the same thing--by playing their game, if only temporarily. By acting like they do: as if guided solely and absolutely by insanity and rage and the blind need to stain the world with oneself by any means necessary.
Horowitz isn't a person; he's a ridiculous hallucination, an evil spirit that thrives on our refusal to call him what he is. And the same goes for Buchanan and the rest of the wolf pack. Ridiculous buffoons all of them; treating them any other way is immoral and stupid.Gotta love that dehumanizing of David Horowitz; the first requirement of genocide is to aver that the people in question aren't actually people.
Fatunhate 911: Underperformed in Red StatesByron York has the details: That’s the upside of the story. The downside revealed by the Nielsen EDI numbers is that Fahrenheit 9/11, far from being the runaway nationwide hit that Moore claimed, underperformed in dozens of markets throughout red states and, most important — as far as the presidential election was concerned — swing states. Dallas/Fort Worth, the ninth-largest movie market, accounts for 2.07 percent of North American box office but made up just 1.21 percent of Fahrenheit 9/11 box office, for an underperformance of nearly 42 percent. In Phoenix, the tenth-largest market, Fahrenheit 9/11 underperformed by 29 percent. In Houston, ranked twelfth for movies, it underperformed by 38 percent. In Orlando, it underperformed by 38 percent; Tampa-St. Petersburg, by 41 percent; Salt Lake City, by 61 percent.
The list goes on for quite a while: Las Vegas, Raleigh-Durham, San Antonio, Norfolk, Charlotte, Nashville, Memphis, Jacksonville, Flint, Michigan (Michael Moore's home turf), and many others. And in Fayetteville and Tulsa, where Moore boasted that his movie had sold out, Fahrenheit 9/11 underperformed by 41 percent and 50 percent, respectively.
The Reality-Based Community? Part XLIIWonkette has a bit about Mike Rogers' (the exciteable audience member) wilder flights of fantasy: I happened to share the elevator down from the Press Club with the aforementioned excitable audience member, who elaborated on his theory that Gannon was part of a White House male prostitution ring. Turns out Gannon gets around! In addition to his dalliances with Scott McClellan and Ken Mehlmann, Excitable Audience Member #1 also believes that "it's possible" Gannon has practiced his love with the President of the United States.Our buddy Aaron at Lifelike Pundits has his comments on the Press Club event here and his own run-in with Mr Rogers.
The Reality-Based Community? Part XLIHoward Dean is planning a 50-state strategy in 2008. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says his party is laying the groundwork for a 50-state strategy for the 2008 presidential race.
Dean said early fund-raising will be geared toward having the party pay for workers to help with state and local races, initially in selected states.Unless the strategy is along the lines of "We'll concede them the South and Mountain West," it's doomed to fail. The Democrats can't compete in those areas and while I tend to think he's realistic about that, as I discussed here after the election, among the first Dean Dozen (candidates that the Deanie Babies supported enthusiastically), only three won, and one of those was unopposed. So it does look like Dean takes on Quixotic candidates.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Pinball Memories IV: Sky-LineWhen I was about 12, my aunt and uncle moved to Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. Their house was on a hill about a mile from the ocean, so it was quite common for us to visit there for a weekend in the summer. They had three sons living with them. The twins, Tommy & Terry, were about a year older than I, while Marty was two years younger. Of course, not every weekend turns out to be perfect for the beach. One rainy Saturday, my cousins and I went down to a local pool hall. I spotted a pinball machine in the corner and went over and started feeding it dimes.  Sky-Line is an interesting machine because it is organized around a gag. As you can see, the backdrop is a swanky penthouse club, with men in tuxedos and women in colorful gowns. Most of the people are staring at the elevator, waiting to see the next couple arriving for the evening.  The object of the game is to get the elevator to the top of the building. When you hit the bullseye targets at the top left and right, the elevator indicator advances one floor. Get the elevator to the 15th floor and the doors pop open revealing:  Years ago, I was reading in the usenet forum rec.games.pinball a discussion of this machine, and one writer commented that when the doors open, they reveal a homeless couple; he found the joke unfortunate. I replied that he was looking at the game with far too modern eyes and not considering the time the game was built. In 1965, when Sky-Line was released, the hit new television show was The Beverly Hillbillies, which is the answer to the trivia question: What is the only TV show to be #1 in the ratings its first year? CBS had other shows featuring country bumpkins--Green Acres, the Andy Griffith Show, Petticoat Junction and Gomer Pyle, USMC. And that's what the characters in Sky-Line are: rubes. The image of the woman carrying the basket with a goose in it is a particularly common shorthand of the times for a hillbilly. When I told him this, the guy thanked me profusely. He was so glad he could now enjoy the game without feeling any guilt. Of course, I couldn't help wondering whether a gag at the expense of country people was ethically superior to a gag about the homeless, but that's just the heartless Republican from flyover country in me. Previous entry in the Pinball Memories series
Friday, April 08, 2005
Ten Things I Like About Comics: #5Great covers from the past. The covers shown below are some of my favorites:  I like this one because of the chess theme, and because the analogy to crime-fighting is perfectly presented.  This cover made me laugh out loud the first time I saw it. But Superman gets back at the Boy Wonder with this prank:  Speaking of Supes, he got a good one on Lois Lane's cooking ability here:  Remind me not to have biscuits the next time I eat over at Lois' place. For the prior entry in this series, click here.
Get Tom Delay?The Lefties are baying like hounds on the scent of a fox. Our buddies at Ankle-Biting Pundits suggest that they "Move-On". And on a lighter note, ABP are looking for suggested shows for Al Gore TV.
Kerry Favored by Geography?Sigh. Here's another guy who thinks Kerry should have won. Johnston also argued there is a built-in bias in the outcomes of U.S. elections.
By bias, he meant the difference in Electoral College votes between two candidates if they obtained the same share of the popular vote.
In 2004, Bush received 286 electoral votes with 51.084 percent of the popular vote. Kerry had 252 electoral votes, with 48 percent of the vote.
But if the percentage of the popular vote were equally split between the two candidates, to 49.542 percent, Kerry would have won the election, with 289 electoral votes, compared to 249 electoral votes for Bush.Lord only knows what he means by that. And Kerry did not end up with 252 electoral college votes--there was that goofy elector in Minnesota who ended up voting for Edwards, remember?
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Survivor UpdateSurvivor should be required watching for youngsters. Ulong served a very useful purpose; they demonstrated what happens to those who are lazy and stupid. Bobby Jon must have groaned when he heard that the objective was to do a word-find puzzle. It will be interesting to see if there actually is a merge next week, or if they force Steph to lose two more contests. Obviously the negative would be a fairly small jury; assuming they wanted to have an odd number then they'd be running the risk of having the tribe go to individual challenges with an even number of players. So the merge is bound to happen next week. Tom's gotta watch himself; he's like Ruppert, somebody everybody would vote for if he makes it through to the final two. So the other members of Koror will be looking to get rid of him the first chance they get.
Interesting Case Not Getting A Lot of PlayTom Lifson has the details. An elderly woman, walking home with her husband from an extension class at the University of California, was grabbed from behind by a young woman who had just walked past her on the sidewalk. In a flash, her throat was slit to the bone.
As she spurted blood, the suspect drove off with her companion, another young woman, in a light blue BMW M3 convertible, a car which carries a suggested retail price of 55 thousand dollars.Hat Tip: Lucianne
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