PETA Vs. Bear Fur Hats

There was a time when Britain civilised the world. There was a time when the British would do say and do things like this:

Sir Charles Napier, who was Governor of Sind province (now part of Pakistan) tried to stop the traditional practice of wife-burning on the funeral pyre of the dead husband. When he was told that this was an Indian custom, he is said to have replied "My country also has a custom. We hang people who burn women". The wife-burning stopped.

Now the British content themselves by producing the finest actors in the world and masturbatory hand wringing over animal rights:

Military chiefs are to meet with an animal rights group on Tuesday to discuss alternatives to the traditional bearskin hats famously worn by the guards at Buckingham Palace.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) are to hald (sic) talks with Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials to put forward what they say are ethical alternatives to the 18-inch (46-centimetre) tall fur hats worn by army guards.

Where does it end? The Beefeaters becoming known as the Edamame Munchers? The venerable SA80 replaced by non threatening sunflower stalks? I would suggest that the military chiefs mimic, among other things, the speech patterns of the Spartans and simply tell the PETA people to fuck off.

Sarah Palin Angler

I think the GOP has either gotten really lucky or really smart recently. This picture alone will lock up several constituencies: Conservatives, Red Blooded Men, Fly Fishermen, Red Blooded Conservative Men Who Like To Flyfish....
Thanks to Webutante for the PIC.

The Choice Becomes Clearer

OR
Sarah Palin: Hunter, angler, former beauty contestant and athlete, mother of five including a welcomed Downs syndrome child and a soldier, fiscal conservative, pro gun, pro ANWAR drilling, pro marriage, pro life, gay friendly, reform minded executive, easy on the eyes.
Joe Biden: Plagiarist, attorney, father of four including a soldier, perennial also ran since 1988, envies Stalin's hair do - shares his politics, pro abortion, anti gun, pro Biden, loves pork more than Homer Simpson, occasionally says what he means, sponsor of reams of meaningless legislation, loves the sound of his voice more than freedom, apple pie, truth, justice or the American way combined, looks like the way nails on a blackboard sound.
Heading up the tickets are McCain, the old centrist war hero with decades of experience and Obama, the young attorney who is arguably the most liberal in the senate. This isn't a hard call, but I bet self described feminists won't vote for McCain/Palin and help Palin become the nation's first woman president in four or eight years because she is not a "real" woman by their standards.

this is just a kickass choice...

I didn't dare hope it would be Palin. I figured I'd be setting myself up for a disappointment. I'm just over the moon McCain proved me wrong.

Over at the Corner Mona Charen quotes this from Sarah Palin's profile in Wikipedia:

On September 11, 2007, the Palins' son Track joined the Army. Eighteen years old at the time, he is the eldest of Palin's five children.[10] Track now serves in an infantry brigade and will be deployed to Iraq in September. She also has three daughters: Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7.[11] On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome.[12] She returned to the office three days after giving birth.[13] Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin said. "Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"[13]

Go Fly A Kite, Trout Lake WA

That's Mount Adams in the background.

Wow! This is gonna leave a mark...

(via Hot Air)

Joe Biden for VP

There are nearly 300 million people in the United States of America and Barack Obama chooses Joe Biden for his running mate? I weep for our Republic.

minimalist music vid

This pretty much the polar opposite of the whole Cirque Du Soleil thing. I like both but for those critical of my last offering maybe this will be more to your liking. (It probably also helps that the video quality is a LOT better with this one.)


(via Instapundit)

NYC 2008

Bea hams it up for the camera on the steps of the Museum of Natural History.
The boys and I do our best Steve Zissou impression on the turtle lousy pond in Central Park.

You may think Des is working it for the camera, but he's always working it, here we are at Rockefeller Center.
Times Square. If you told me in 1985, the first time I visited Times Square, that I'd take my little children there one day I'd say you were nuts.

John Edwards Admits Affair, Denies Child Is His

WASHINGTON - Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday admitted to an extramarital affair while his wife was battling cancer. He denied fathering the woman's daughter. Edwards told ABC News that he lied repeatedly about the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter but said that he didn't love her.

Typical liberal, screws around on his dying wife, says he doesn't love the other woman - as if that makes things better - and then denies the one good thing that came out of this sordid affair, his child. Good thing this man hasn't been attending funerals throughout the world on our behalf for the last four years, he may have found a way to screw that up too.

UPDATE: Haha.

this is radically cool stuff

"Homage to All the Rabbbits Who Died in the
  Hands of Incompetent Magicians"

  Music by Eric Serra
  Choreography by Wade Robson

Holocaust Survivor

Yesterday afternoon I had a conversation with Joseph, a Holocaust survivor, who as a young man in Poland was forced into slave labor by the Nazis and experienced all the horrors you can and cannot imagine. Even after 63 years he is still rather down on this whole humanity thing and feels that Genesis 26:4 was lie considering that there are fewer Jews today than there were in 1939. I wanted to reassure him and tell him that the world is a beautiful place filled with horrible things or a horrible place filled with beautiful things or some such nonsense, but what can even the cleverest of words mean to a man who has seen what he has seen? When one sees first hand the word stripped of platitudes and it's veneer of civility what's the use of words?

NRO TV Uncommon Knowledge

If you haven't visited Uncommon Knowledge on NRO TV you should do so immediately. Host Peter Robinson interviews knowledgeable talking heads on matters of importance. It's stuff like this that make broadband Internet access a good idea.

George Will: Obama Eloquence Fatigue

I love George Will. He and men like Paul Gigot are among the reasons I am a conservative. People Like Nacy Pelosi and Paul Krugman were just as influential in an entirely different way.
At the heart of conservatism is a desire to view the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. George Will sums up Barack Obama's rhetorical excesses with the sententious observation:

The world is a fact, and facts are indeed stubborn things. After eight years, if such there are, of an Obama presidency, if such there is, the world will look much as it does today — if we are lucky.

You should, of course, read the whole thing.

Obama: The One

There is nothing so damming as Obama's own inordinate self regard as reflected in his inane utterances. I can't wait to hear the complaints about this ad, truth hurts sometimes.