Well I guess I'm living in a biased society, alas

A bold new way to slam Whitey

Jonathan Kay, National Post Published: Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Jerry Seinfeld: Hello? Who is this? Donna Chang? Oh, I'm sorry, I must have dialed the wrong number.

Elaine: Benes Donna Chang?

Jerry: Should have talked to her. I love Chinese women.

Elaine: Isn't that a little racist?

Jerry: If I like their race, how can that be racist?
-- Seinfeld Episode #90, The Chinese Woman, Oct. 13, 1994.

Great question, Jerry. And I know exactly the guy who can answer it: Pierre Deschamps. On Friday, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (HRT) adjudicator became the first jurist in recorded human history to convict someone of racial discrimination for praising visible minorities.

Read the whole thing.

1.6 Tons of Manure, I Doubt It

The Daily Green has an article mewling about how concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOS - essentially gigantic corporate meat farms, can pollute more than a city the size of Houston Texas. They cite this figure:

A single farm, raising 140,000 head of cattle, can produce 1.6 tons of manure every year, more than is produced by Houston, Texas.

1.6 tons of manure every year? 1.6 tons is barely a single Harry Reid press conference! If you're going to engage in fear mongering, at least try to get the facts close to straight. My guess is they meant to say 1.6 million tons of manure or the entire DNC output in 2008.

True In My Case Anyway

What Your Drink Says About You

Gimlet
Something about your personality makes otherwise normal people use words like “bounder” and “cad.”

Red Sox Make Post Season, Have Chance to Repeat

There was additional reason to celebrate. The Sox' clinch party came at the expense of the Yankees - who had been in the playoffs 13 consecutive seasons.

Heh.
Late September and October in New England is pretty much the most compelling reason to live here. Warm, dry days, cool nights each a little longer than the one before. The maple and the oak slip a little each day into their gaudy autumn colors.
Lately we've come to expect the Sox to make the post season and this year is no different. I hope they do well. If they don't, I wish those pesky upstarts from Tampa well and rejoice at the ignominy of the failed Yankee season.

Biden A Veritable Gaff Machine

Who could have foreseen that Joe Biden would say some stupid things? Some are even calling him a Gaffe-O-Matic.

Connecticut Democrats Ponder Lieberman Censure

Former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate and current US Senator Joe Lieberman, (D - for now - CT) has provoked the hamster like wrath of Connecticut Democrats by supporting Republican John McCain for POTUS. Go ahead, piss him off. Regardless of how he votes, if he caucuses with the GOP next year that's one more Republican and one less Democrat.

Good For You Joe

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's running mate says a campaign ad that mocked Republican presidential candidate John McCain as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate was "terrible" and would not have been done had he known about it.

A decent sentiment, if a little late. Is this evidence of latent character in the Obama camp or just another example of Biden being Biden?

Black Squirrel, NUTS!

So I am at the park the other day (Saturday) watching my daughter play, sitting on a bench in the shade of a chestnut tree, when all of a sudden half-masticated chestnuts start dropping upon me and - almost immediately - begin staining my hands and scalp with green spots. What's up with that? So I move down the bench a few feet, and again, mushy chestnuts dropping from the sky! So I move to the end of the bench, and again, mushy chestnuts from the sky, dropping all over me. What the?!?

So I move to the next bench, "outta reach" of the chestnut tree -- and the intentional civilian bombings ceased.

Now are squirrels nuts, or what? What about the just war theory? Pre-emptive strikes!?

Well, to my delight, as evening came on, the black little furry monster from upstairs came down to forage. And spontaneously, a group of 5 or 6 kids started chasing the little bugger all over the park, and it couldn't shake them. They were throwing sticks and stones at it and screaming. When the apparent father (a Torontonian at that!) started encouraging these kids, I was delighted. And the squirrel seemed to be having a grand old time. As they returned to the play area, I remarked to the man: "And thus, homo sapiens initiated the first ritualistic hunt for the elusive black ground squirrel. Scholars believe that fox-hunting began in a similar way." To my surprise (he was, after all, a Torontonian), he responded: "And whenever children start playing with sticks, a ritual killing ensues. God they're having fun!"

All of which reminded me that El D said basically the same thing to me, some many, many years ago.

Useful Idiot of The Week: Kent Higgins

BOSTON - University of Massachusetts officials on Monday quashed efforts by an Amherst campus chaplain to offer two college credits to any student willing to campaign in New Hampshire this fall for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Chaplain Kent Higgins told students in a Sept. 18 e-mail, "If you're scared about the prospects for this election, you're not alone. The most important way to make a difference in the outcome is to activate yourself. It would be just fine with (Republican candidate John) McCain if Obama supporters just think about helping, then sleep in and stay home between now and Election Day."

I wonder if you could get two credits for campaigning for John McCain, if not then Kent Higgins should be shit canned.

How We Got Here

Regarding our current financial crisis, there are a lot of voices out there. It can be hard to sort it all out.

Last night a friend sent me an email suggesting that much of the blame can be traced to the repeal of Glass-Steagal but that doesn't really make sense. (The bill repealing Glass-Steagal is called the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.)

Glass-Steagal put a wall between commercial banks like Bank of America and investment banks like Merril-Lynch. Of course Bank of America just came to Merril-Lynch's rescue, which is to say: the repeal of Glass Steagal, at least in this instance, kept the problem from getting a lot worse.

Here's Megan McCardle on Gramm-Leach-Bliley:

"GLB had nothing to do with either lending standards at commercial banks, or leverage ratios at broker-dealers, the two most plausible candidates for regulatory failure here.

Most importantly, commercial banks are not the main problems. If Glass-Steagall's repeal had meaningfully contributed to this crisis, we should see the failures concentrated among megabanks where speculation put deposits at risk. Instead we see the exact opposite: the failures are among either commercial banks with no significant investment arm (Washington Mutual, Countrywide), or standalone investment banks. It is the diversified financial institutions that are riding to the rescue."

So if GLB didn't cause this mess, what did?

Here are some more articles by other super smart people that helped me understand how we got here and what the next move or series of moves should be:

How Washington Failed to Rein In Fannie, Freddie

Rein In Fannie, Freddie? Not Dodd

A Bad Bank Rescue

Explaining the root causes of the crisis.

That last link was via Baseball Crank who has a post which collects the recent articles by Francis Cianfrocca, a regular contributer over at Red State. Every one of his posts is worth your time.

Boiling it all down, in the banks that have failed there was way, way, way too much leverage. Using borrowed money is a real easy way to make money when the markets are moving in your direction. It's an even easier way to be wiped out when the markets move against you. Bank of America's capital ratios are estimated to be about 10-1. Merril-Lynch's were at least 30-1.

First Things: When Not Aborting Is Immoral

Keith Pavlischek at First Things notes how people on the right and left view giving birth to Downs Syndrome children and large families:

From over on starboard side, Nicholas Provenzo of the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism is “troubled” by the implications of Gov. Sarah Palin’s “decision to knowingly give birth to a child disabled with Down syndrome.” He thinks “it is crucial to reaffirm the morality of aborting a fetus diagnosed with Down syndrome (or by extension, any unborn fetus)—a freedom that anti-abortion advocates seek to deny.” Here’s his line of thinking:

A parent has a moral obligation to provide for his or her children until these children are equipped to provide for themselves. Because a person afflicted with Down Syndrome is only capable of being marginally productive (if at all) and requires constant care and supervision, unless a parent enjoys the wealth to provide for the lifetime of assistance that their child will require, they are essentially stranding the cost of their child’s life upon others.

In short Provenzo looks at a Downs Syndrome child, does the math and concludes the child isn't worth it. If we are only a collection of clever tubes and chemical processes, maybe he's right. But I believe he's wrong. If human dignity has any meaning at all it starts with the assumption that all humans have the same rights as every other, specifically the right to life.
Over on the left Paul Ehrlich thinks large families are immoral:

I believe it is immoral and should be illegal for people to have very large numbers of children because they are then co-opting for themselves and their children resources that should be spread elsewhere in the world. You only get a chance to get your fair share.

What is a large family?

The issue is: What is the political position to take? In a country like the United States, we should stop at two. But if you had an ideal situation, you might have a lot of people who have no children at all, and some people who have as many as three or four because they happen to be particularly good parents, and are going to raise their children very well.

At the risk of seeming anti academic, these two schools of thought are exactly why academics should be kept as far away from positions of actual authority as possible. Provenzo and Ehrlich look at the problems facing the world, study them and apply their considerable talents to addressing them then subsequently come up with the exact wrong solution. I assert that their solutions rather than creating a pleasant Utopia, would create hell on earth. Where were these guys in eight grade when they showed the film strips about the last time some academics did the math and came up with the Final Solution?
Start with and preserve always the concept of equal protection before the law and you can never go too far wrong. Start with the presumption that some people are more deserving than others, no matter how well intentioned, and get ready for hell on earth.
Hat Tip: Cultman

The Way I See It #298987

Is it fair to put pointless, facile platitudes posing as profound insight on $4.87 cups of espresso and steamed milk? Is there room for yet more nuggets like:

We are the first generation in history that can end extreme poverty. That’s our good fortune, our challenge, and our responsibility.
-- Jeffrey D. Sachs
What he means is, he can take 47% of your income and redistribute it as he sees fit. The thought of creating new wealth, more productive crops and industry is far too passe'. Viva the Norman Borlaug Green Revolution - Borlaug has single-handedly done more to feed the world than any hundred men you care to name.

With all the food leaving our kitchens each night, I’m still astonished that this country has a hunger problem. There are hungry people in every community who cannot afford food. While I can’t help every family, I can start by helping one.
-- Tom Douglas
Yet more chiding of the well fed cattle, er customers by their moral and intellectual superiors.

Wild animals often do a much better job of caring for their offspring than we civilized and educated humans do. If we cannot keep children safe in their homes, how can we hope to make ourselves safe in the world?
-- Lee Grogg
Any Tiger cubs care to comment?

People often ask me if it is worth it to work at sea, isolated from the world, far from loved ones, seasick, and running on three hours sleep. To lay eyes on something never before seen by anyone, to learn something new about our planet, for that one moment of discovery – yes, it is all worth it.
-- Katy Croff
This is particularly true if you aren't very fond of your loved ones and addicted to caffeine.

Anger is contagious.
-- Sandra Cisneros
So are pat aphorisms! See there goes another one!.

Beware of turning into the enemy you most fear. All it takes is to lash out violently at someone who has done you some grievous harm, proclaiming that only your pain matters in this world. More than against that person’s body, you will then, at that moment, be committing a crime against your own imagination.
-- Ariel Dorfman
I heard that Patton felt the same way and wept on his death bed about liberating all those concentration camps by using his armored division, just like the Nazis would have done, except he was trying to get people out of the camps, not into them, but still.

You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. Find someone with whom you don’t agree in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length. Then take a seat, shut your mouth, and don’t argue back. It’s physically impossible to listen with your mouth open.
-- John Moe
Not true, my jaw drops every time I hear liberal mewl about all that crazy shit they believe..

How have we become so addicted to petroleum oil? How would the world be different if we could make all our own fuel in our own country? For the last two years I have driven to work on soybeans. This is possible in our lifetime.
-- Martin Tobias
Who will rescue the preachy rescuer from his addiction to soybean oil? When will this madness stop?

Scientists tell us we only use 5% of our brains. But if they only used 5% of their brains to reach that conclusion, then why should we believe them?
-- Joseph Palm
A. Scientist never said that because it's not true, never was. B. Except in the case of Joseph Palm.

Have you noticed that dogs are the new kids? You take a walk with your kid and your dog, but nobody says, “What a cute kid!” Instead they say, “What a cute dog! What’s his name? Is he a rescue?” Maybe if I put a collar and leash on my kid someone will notice her.
-- Judy Gruen
Who could tell?

Worldwide, more than 40 million people are living with HIV and AIDS. Thirteen million children have been orphaned due to AIDS. Six hundred thousand children are infected with HIV each year. And 25 years into the AIDS pandemic, no vaccine or cure is in sight. The numbers speak for themselves. What are you doing to help?
-- Joe Cristina
I'm protesting the EVIL DRUG COMPANIES with ACT UP, that'll teach to spend billions on researching life saving drugs.

Children are born with such a sense of fairness that they will accept no less than equal treatment for all. I know – I have three. I hope that as they grow, they keep that sense of justice and learn to challenge the old adage that life’s not fair. It should be, in so far as we have control of it.
-- Beth Vanden Hoek
To liberal morosophs, children hold the answer to everything, not true. Lord of The Flies may be fiction, but it's less fictional than the belief that we are born perfect and degrade as we age.

Sometimes good art is simply creating an honest mess.
-- Stacy D. Flood
So sayeth talentless hacks the world over. (We meet the first Wednesday of every month at the learning annex, room 317)

Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.
-- Bill Scheel
Because God created you, dolphins and the rest of the universe in only six days. The best you could do is come up with this lame ass observation.

Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. Wikis give us a place where anyone who is kind, thoughtful and intelligent can come and join us in building a better and more rational world.
-- Jimmy Wales
Until some prick with a gun comes and shoots them, takes their shit and sells it.

Children are living in a world surrounded by media. If we can use television to teach tolerance and respect and promote healthy eating, we can indeed change the world.
-- Gary E. Knell
How has that worked out for all those overstuffed couch potato children in the last thirty years there Gary?

In reality hell is not such an intention of God as it is an invention of man. God is love and people are precious. Authentic truth is not so much taught or learned as it is remembered. Somewhere in your pre-incarnate consciousness you were loved absolutely because you were. Loved absolutely, and in reality, you still are! Remember who you are!
-- Bishop Carlton Pearson
What the hell sort of church is this gomeril a Bishop of? Perhaps he's just well meaning heretic engaging in wishful thinking.

We will end poverty and stop HIV/AIDS within our generation when guided by African principles such as ubuntu that underscore our interconnectedness. With greater compassion for others, we would no longer accept hunger and disease as facts of life.
-- Cedza Dlamini
Yet there they are and there they are likely to remain. Might I recommend being guided by Western principles like scientific inquiry to end HIV/AIDS and hunger and capitalism and free markets to pay for it.

BornAliveTruth.org Gianna Ad

All the noise about "choice" ends when there is a human child laying on a hospital table. How anyone could oppose protecting such people is beyond me.

One Word Answer: No!

Jay Nordlinger this morning over at The Corner:

I am no violet, and I know that politics is an ugly business. But I must say: The attempted destruction of Gov. Sarah Palin — by some of the worst forces in this country — is making me sick. You? For most of our lives, we have heard squawks from the left about civil liberties. Also about the “politics of personal destruction.” I know they hate her, politically and personally. But won’t some of them stand up against what is happening now? Just for the sake of a semblance of integrity?

No.

Barack Obama, unfit to be commander-in-chief

According to Amir Taheri in Monday's New York Post...

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence...

Pete Hegseth has more.

Aaron in Buenos Aires

West Hartford bon vivant, web designer and cafe crony Aaron (above, far right) has gone south to beautiful Buenos Aires and started a blog about it, check it out here. Nice to see you keep regular cafe hours there as well Aaron.

Dexter visited BA once and reported back about the beautiful women, luscious, full bodied and affordable red wines, steak at every meal, excellent coffee made with heavy cream and a national youth fixation on the Ramones. What he didn't mention is that Argentina has some of the best fly fishing in the world. Explain to me again, why do I live in Connecticut?

Greece Vs. Germany

Hat Tip Cultman

Obama Campaign: McCain Out Of Touch, Can't Use Email

If only the Obama campaign could figure out why?

The Bradley Effect

Vodka Pundit Stephen Green contemplates the Bradley Effect:

Take every state where Obama leads by four points or less and give it to McCain, and you end up with a map that looks like this sometime late on November 4,
2008:

Read the whole thing, Green is one of those bloggers who makes me seem like one of those monkeys typing away at random in search of a Shakespearean sonnet.
If the Dems lose in November, and it's starting to look like a possibility, they are going to go ape shit, apoplectic, bat shit-crazy. They'll wonder whats so wrong with Kansas, Pennsylvania, Florida and New Hampshire that they can't see the perfection inherent in The ONE.

George Bush: The Dark Knight

Over at NRO TV Peter Robinson interviews author Andrew Klavan who compares Batman The Dark Knight to George W. Bush. He hit the nail on the head, watch it here.
For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, here's a scene with Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Michael Caine as Albert Pennyworth:

Bruce Wayne: People are dying, Alfred. What would you have me do?
Alfred Pennyworth: Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice.
Bruce Wayne: Well today I found out what Batman can't do. He can't endure this. Today you get to say "I told you so."
Alfred Pennyworth: Today, I don't want to. [pauses for several moments]
Alfred Pennyworth: But I did bloody tell you.

In twenty or fifty years, when the Middle East is the home of prosperous, tollerant democracies the father of this success will be George Walker Bush. The Pelosii and Reids of this world will try to find a way to claim paternity, but the only thing they have ever screwed is up.

Animated Doppelgangers

McCain/Palin, Cotton and Peggy Hill. I don't know why I didn't see it sooner, the similarities are more than mere appearances.

seven years on....

(part 1)

(part 2)

(part 3)


Sometime today stop and say a prayer for those killed that day and for their families and for our military and their families.

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Hate To Say I Told You So...

Back on Aug 27th I wrote:

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.

Right on cue, stereotypical feminist Wendy Doniger, Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago’s Divinity School proves me correct with this perspicacious observation:

Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman. The Republican party's cynical calculation that because she has a womb and makes lots and lots of babies (and drives them to school! wow!) she speaks for the women of America, and will capture their hearts and their votes, has driven thousands of real women to take to their computers in outrage. She does not speak for women; she has no sympathy for the problems of other women, particularly working class women.

Pretense? Cynical? Are we to pay any attention at all to the pernicious musings of a Professor of Religious History, who seems, paradoxically, entirely immune to the lessons of both religion and history? A woman who denies another's muliebrity simply because the other chooses to live a life of faith, family and service? I thought the feminist mantra for to past thirty five years was choice, I guess that only applies to women who do what they're told.

Not to get bitchy or anything, but I think Wendy is a little peeved that Sarah has hipper specs. Not that appearance, grooming or attractiveness have any bearing whatsoever to a persons dignity, person-hood and value.

Lileks In Rare Form Today

Gee, someone peed on this guy's cornflakes:

John Doyle, the cleverest critic in Canada, comes right out and calls Palin an Alaska hillbilly.

“Cleverist” is a matter of opinion, but I’d suggest that when Mark Steyn gets a haircut, the shorn pieces fall to the floor and form, at random, cleverer observations in the form of Chinese characters.

Read the whole thing, it's pretty funny.

The Biden Effect

Joe Biden has been Barack Obama's running mate for less than a month, but already the young presidential hopeful has learned much at the masters knee, namely cribbing political cartoons for unattributed use.

Obama: Lipstick on a Pig

Is this what he means by hope and change, referring to a woman Vice Presidential candidate as a pig? I'd like to think he was misquoted or in the heat of his oration he misspoke, nonsense. He knew what he said and we all know who he was referring to. This man is a super genius! By throwing some red meat to his afficion, he risks further alienating more than half of the electorate. Simply brilliant. I can't wait until see how well he'll do for us when dealing with Medvedev, i.e. Putin, Achmedinajad and Chavez.

McCain: Hanoi Hilton, Obama: The Hilton

Poor Barack Obama, apparently he's been forced to stay in hotels while running for president:

“I hope you guys are up for a fight. I hope you guys are game because I haven’t been putting up with 19 months of airplanes and hotel food and missing my babies and my wife – I didn’t put up for that stuff just to come in second,” he said. “I don’t believe in coming in second. The American people can’t afford for us to come in second.”

Conversely, John McCain put up with airplanes and less than perfect accommodations too. While flying his 23rd bombing mission over Vietnam, McCain was shot down and spent five and half years in the Hanoi Hilton. He could have checked out after two years, but he stayed an additional three years refusing to break faith with his brothers in arms.

I was in solitary confinement when my captors offered to release me. I knew why. If I went home, they would use it as propaganda to demoralize my fellow prisoners. Our Code said we could only go home in the order of our capture, and there were men who had been shot down before me. I thought about it, though. I wasn’t in great shape, and I missed everything about America. But I turned it down.
A lot of prisoners had it worse than I did. I’d been mistreated before, but not as badly as others. I always liked to strut a little after I’d been roughed up to show the other guys I was tough enough to take it. But after I turned down their offer, they worked me over harder than they ever had before. For a long time. And they broke me.
When they brought me back to my cell, I was hurt and ashamed, and I didn’t know how I could face my fellow prisoners. The good man in the cell next door, my friend, Bob Craner, saved me. Through taps on a wall he told me I had fought as hard as I could. No man can always stand alone. And then he told me to get back up and fight again for our country and for the men I had the honor to serve with. Because every day they fought for me.
I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else’s. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn’t my own man anymore. I was my country’s.

Compare and contrast the two men, compare their words, contrast their actions. This choice isn't a hard one.

Separated at Birth: Mark Steyn and Samuel Colt

Welcome Mark Steyn readers, I am so not worthy... you may, however, enjoy this take on our European friends.

Obama Campaign National Finance Committee Member Criticizes Palin's Parenting

The hypocrisy doesn't get any thicker than this. Imagine the cacophony of hissy outrage if a conservative said this about a liberal female candidate?
Hat Tip: The Blog Father

"The Palin Breakout, Part 4"

from Hugh Hewitt's blog:

...The Obamains decying "mean-spiritedness" are diminishing Obama the former giant slayer turned victim. They think Sarah Palin, Rudy, Mitt and Huck are tough? Remember Obama is scheduling meetings with Ahmadinejad, Kim, and Chavez for '09...

Yeah, I was thinking that too.

Also, when Obama complains about Republicans being "divisive" - what the hell do they think it is when Democrats call Republicans "Fascists"? What a whiner.

I also loved this from the comments:

as Howard Cosell would say....
The Thrilla from Wasilla...Down goes Obama! Down goes Obama!

Speaking of Sulfur...

Let's see what Strinberg and Helium have been up to shall we?

Sulfur Hexaflouride

Cool, no?

Harold Simmons' Obama Ad

Is it fair for a US citizen to pay for and air spots like this that are critical of a candidate's affiliation with an unrepentant anti - American terrorist? The Obama campaign didn't think so, so they whined to the DOJ to try and get the spot removed and the financier, Harold Simmons in a jam. Of course they only succeeded in bringing attention to the ad, which shows how Obama clings to the paleo radical Bill Ayers. If there are any inaccuracies in the ad, I'd love to hear about them. The lack of denial from the Obama camp is deafening.
Every American voter should see this ad, consider making a donation to the American Issues Project.

Palinpalooza Continues...

Sarah Palin on her experience:

"I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better. When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too. Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities."

Ouch.

Mrs. Palin Goes to Washington

Thomas Lifson and Clarice Feldman over at American Thinker comment on the tension between Middle America and our ruling elites. Sarah Palin's nomination highlights that tension.

It's not just sexism that's driving much of the negative coverage of Governor Palin. There's also naked fear.

update: also, this from today's WSJ.

Oh! THAT Bill Ayers!

Steve Diamond has the story.

Perhaps realizing that there is no hope on the Ayers issue, the Obama campaign began its strategic retreat today. They trotted out a local ally in the Chicago school wars, Linda Lenz, to begin the effort. Her job: admit finally that, in fact, there was some kind of relationship between Ayers and Obama after all but "it ain't no big thang."

We'll see if this helps or only fans the flames...

Wondering when the media are going to finally get around to vetting Obama.

not just a former mayor and a governor...

She was also the chair and ethics officer of the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. Beldar has more:

...Gov. Palin's service on the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission is significant. First, it marks the beginning of what's become a very in-depth exposure to the intersection between government and the energy industry. Alaskans in general tend to be more attentive to energy issues because so much of their state's economy and their state government's budget depend on that industry. But Palin has been focused heavily on energy more or less continually since 2004 — a claim that neither Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or (for that matter) John McCain can make.

Second, although she'd been a reformer and opponent of government corruption/favoritism since her time as a Wasilla city councilman and then mayor, she significantly expanded those credentials — at enormous potential political risk — in her capacity as the Commisson's ethics officer...

Read it all. Her qualifications COMPLETELY eclipse Obama's (and, btw, Biden's). When has Barry ever taken on corruption within his own party?

Sarah the Riveter

The OPV AIDS Debate

In 1992 Tom Curtis proposed a theory, called the OPV AIDS theory, which asserts that scientists testing Oral Polio Vaccines in the middle to late fifties in the Belgian Congo may have inadvertently created AIDS by using biological material harvested from chimpanzees infected with SIV, the simian immunodeficiency virus. Scary shit if it's true, but apparently it's not. Scientist have looked at the SIV virus endemic to the chimps in the area and have found, "SIVcpz is indeed endemic in wild chimpanzees of this region but that the circulating virus is phylogenetically distinct from all strains of HIV-1, providing direct evidence that these chimpanzees were not the source of the human AIDS pandemic."
I'm no doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but it seems to me that if the Oral Polio Vaccine were the culprit many, many more, if not all, of the people who took the OPV would have developed AIDS. This didn't happen. Besides, the way these vaccines were allegedly developed is that they were created in relatively small amounts on site, which were then sent abroad for further development into yet more vaccine. So if one drop of the starter culture is infected, every subsequent milliliter of vaccine will also carry that infection. Unless the biological media used to create the new vaccine is the source of the contamination, which is not what is alleged.
There are two ways in which a Simian retro virus can infect a human, you either have some sort of contact with a simian, which people outside of Africa rarely do or you are exposed to the simian virus through a vaccine, which happens whenever you take a vaccine developed in simian biological media. Since the SIVcpz of the chimps in question is phylogenetically distinct from all strains of human HIV, the simian - human transmission must have happened the old fashioned way, humans eating chimps, the mode of cross infection most of the medical establishment believes to be the culprit.
This question needs to be addressed fully, openly and honestly by all parties involved because it is imperative that people all over the world have confidence in life saving vaccines. Polio is on the verge of being wiped out the way Small Pox was, the few remaining hot spots are in Africa where the local populations are leery of the safety and efficacy of Western proffered vaccines. With stories like this who can blame them?

Bristol Palin Pregnant, Andrew Sullivan Gets The Vapors

Is this some sort of uber genius plan to get the liberal left to make stupid comments? If so it's working perfectly. If not and it's yet another 17 year old kid getting knocked up, oh well. If only every mistake we made in life resulted in the creation of something that forces us to love, to grow up, to care about the world in general, etc...
I don't get Andrew Sullivan. I understand why he wouldn't dig Sarah Palin: she's a genuine conservative, pro gun, pro life, pro family, pretty, but some of his commentary is just plain asinine.

Sarah Palin - CNBC Interview with Maria Bartiromo

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.

So Long Manny

Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out you mook.....
Manny is arguably the best right handed hitter in the game. But he's a pain in the ass of biblical proportions, let's see how the laid back Dodger fans will feel about "Manny being Manny". Good riddance.

Does Obama Favor Reparations?

Does Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama favor reparations for slavery? His pastor, the now infamous Jeremiah Wright sure as hell does. Guilt by association, I know. But what to make of this Obama remark:

"I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it's Native Americans or African-American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S.
government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds."

If John McCain really wants to be president he ought to dig awhile in this gold mine of redistributionist pablum.

Jon Voight's Brilliant Op Ed In The Washington Times

Who knew Jon Voight was a conservative?

The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America.

By all means read the whole thing.

"G" Is For Gangsta!

Alabama Felon Sues To Regain Franchise

A felon in Alabama is suing because she is no longer able to vote. Our friends the ACLU are naturally aiding and abetting this felon, claiming the law the preventing her from voting is vague. I think I have a solution: all felons, regardless of the nature of their crimes, should lose the right to vote. That's pretty clear, set it to a vote.
It would probably be helpful if you had to pass a civics exam in order to vote, nothing outrageous, just a little metric to see if you can figure out how to make your choices known and if you have a clue about what's going on in the world. Something like this test from the Pew Research center.

Pedophile Sues Amex

We all have privacy concerns and perhaps Amex should keep their yaps shut, but it's hard to feel sorry for this yahoo:

A disbarred Manhattan lawyer who pleaded guilty to statutory rape has sued the American Express Co. for giving police credit card information he says led to his capture.
James Colliton was arrested in February 2006 near Toronto, where prosecutors say he fled after being indicted on charges of having sex with underage girls.

Cancer's Unexpected Blessings

An article written last year by Tony Snow in Christianity Today

Blessings arrive in unexpected packages – in my case, cancer.

Those of us with potentially fatal diseases – and there are millions in America today – find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God's will. Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence What It All Means, Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.

The first is that we shouldn't spend too much time trying to answer the why questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can't someone else get sick? We can't answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.

I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is – a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.

But despite this – because of it – God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face...

Undeniably a good man. Rest in peace, Mr Snow.

Movie Review: Hancock

Hancock is great fun, go see it. Will Smith, cast against type, did a great job as the reluctant super hero, Justin Bateman was charming as an image consultant of good will and Charlize Theron is just plain gorgeous and surprising. I was surprised by the humor which was very effective over all and the story, though fantastic, was explained to the point of credibility. The one bone I have to pick is that the director Peter Berg was a bit ham handed in foreshadowing one of the relationships. I love it when a film exceeds your expectation by a wide margin.

T. Boone Pickens Has a Plan...

Heard about this on NPR this morning. He wants to use wind power to substitute for natural gas in our electric generation and then use the natural gas in the transportation sector instead of oil.



I like the idea of using wind. I had no idea the central states could generate as much power with this resource, though. This is a far better alternative than using corn to create ethanol. Wind is largely an untapped resource. Anything that involves using stuff that we are currently under-utilizing is going to be part of the long-term solution.

The Cape wind project (near Nantucket) should be green-lighted too. It'll provide electricity most when it's needed most (in the winter).

Vote For Common Thrill

Common Thrill is in a competition to open for Cold Play on their Viva La Vida Tour. Please go HERE and vote for them, they are the very last band at the bottom of the page - it's the video that looks like the one above. Thanks.

PFC Michael Dyer Has Died

Kim du Toit informs us that PFC Micheal Dyer has died as a direct result of his service in Iraq, may he rest in peace.

I know what you know about Michael Dyer, he's the American GI photographed carrying the Iraqi child to safety during the early part of 2003. I surmise that he was a decent guy who volunteered to serve after his nation was attacked on 9/11. Decent guys are often adversely effected by the horrors of war, some things once experienced can't be un-experienced, I guess some of those things followed Michael home. I hope he and his family can find peace.

Wikipedia May Be Wrong Here.....

From Wikipedia's entry on John Adams:

John Adams was the eldest of three brothers, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Lord Voldemort, born on October 30, 1735 (October 19, 1735 by the Old Style, Julian Calendar), in Braintree, Massachusetts, to John and Susanna Boylston Adams.
The location of Adams' birth became part of Quincy, Massachusetts in 1792 and is now part of Adams National Historical Park. His father, a farmer and a deacon, also named John (1690–1761), was a fourth-generation descendant of Henry Adams, who immigrated from Barton St David, Somerset, England, to Massachusetts Bay Colony in about 1636, from a Welsh male line called Ap Adam. His mother, Susanna Boylston Adams, was a descendant of the Boylstons of Brookline.

Apparently some muggle is, to use the parlance of our times, having a laugh.

Al Qaeda Crushed in Iraq, Who Knew?

AMERICAN and Iraqi forces are driving al-Qa'ida in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country.
After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, al-Qa'ida's dwindling band of fighters had made a defiant "last stand" in the northern city of Mosul. A huge operation to crush the 1200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Quick, elect Obama to surrender to these thugs and murderers before they are all wiped out! Not that the American voter knows anything about this story since our useless, liberal, MSM refuses as a matter of policy to report any good news on the war in Iraq.

John Kerry Criticizes McCain's Decision Making

What is Kerry trying to do, get McCain elected president? Having John Kerry criticize your decision making is like Tom Arnold lecturing you on culture. Let's look at some of John Kerry's decisions shall we?

• The $87 Billion Vote, in 2003 voted for a $87 Billion in wartime funding before voting against it, capping his indecision with the immortal phrase: “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.”
• The War, not content with taking one side of any issue Kerry voted for the war in Iraq and has subsequently been an outspoken opponent of it.
• The Wind Surfing Outfit, when running for president one should avoid multicolored stretchy outfits and sports that mimic your propensity to tack back and forth on every issue.
• John Kerry picked the Breck Boy John Edwards as his running mate - a man who couldn't deliver his own state. How'd that work out for you John?
• Flip Flops, Kerry has "decided" on multiple issues - multiple times. Affirmative action, death penalty for terrorists, releasing the strategic petroleum reserves, the patriot act, no child left behind, the Israeli security fence are all issues that have Kerry's size 13 flip flop prints all over them. Say what you want about McCain but he's no waffler.
• This picture. WTF was he thinking?

God and/or Isaac Newton Hates the Yankees

Look how the ball stays on the wall for two seconds or so, what are the odds?

Obama Unveils Plans for Hope-Based Initiatives

(from Ridiculopathy.com)

"ZANESVILLE, OHIO - Presidential candidate Barack Obama surprised a fair number of his fellow Democrats on Tuesday when he told a crowd of supporters that he is so fond of the Bush administration's faith-based initiatives that he plans to make them a centerpiece of his White House agenda. As a matter of fact, Obama is now promising an administration entirely based on faith. After all, with just two years of experience in the federal government (and most of that spent running for its top job) faith and hope are his primary qualifications..."

Adele - Hometown Glory

I've been walking in the same way as I did
Missing out the cracks in the pavement
And tutting my heel and strutting my feet
Is there anything I can do for you dear? Is there anyone I can call?
No and thank you, please Madam. I ain't lost, just wandering

Round my hometown
Memories are fresh
Round my hometown
Ooh the people I've met
Are the wonders of my world
Are the wonders of my world
Are the wonders of this world
Are the wonders of my world...

A few weeks ago I started taping Fox's show "So You Think You Can Dance". I don't always get to see everything I've taped but some of what I have seen has been quite impressive.

Last night a couple performed a Mia Michaels choreography to this song - "Hometown Glory" by the British singer, Adele. At times it almost verged on the overly dramatic... almost, but in the end it was a very lovely dance, as is this song.

Ball Girl Crazy Catch

A. This is pretty damn cool.
B. There is no way this is real.

The "Turk" A False Automaton, Genuine Fascination

A pseudo automaton that beat Napoleon, Ben Franklin and other notables in chess and may have helped spawn the genesis of computers, pretty damned cool:

The Turk or Automaton Chess Player was a chess-playing machine of the late 18th century, exhibited from 1770 for over 84 years, by various owners, as an automaton but later explained in January 1857 as an elaborate hoax . Constructed and unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734–1804) to impress the Empress Maria Theresa, the mechanism appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent, as well as perform the knight's tour, a puzzle that requires the player to move a knight to occupy every square of a chessboard once and only once.

Pearl Jam Black

This is, by far, my favorite Pearl Jam song.

Just Wondering.....

Is it bad to drink more than six espressos at a sitting?

PETA Vs. Wimbledon

PETA has their cruelty free, gigantic panties in a knot over the shooting of pigeons at Wimbledon:

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - Wimbledon came under fire from animal activists on Tuesday for using marksmen to shoot down dive-bombing pigeons.
The tournament employs two hawks to scare away pigeons who had become a pest swooping down on Centre Court and distracting players in the middle of tense matches.
But the hawks failed to keep the pigeons away from the players’ lawn and the open-air media restaurant so marksmen were called in.

It's sad, even tragic when a living thing is killed - even a rat with wings, but let's have some perspective here shall we? Pick your battles PETA, perhaps then people won't think you are so utterly ridiculous.

Hard Times At Douglass High

Hard Times At Douglass High is a program on HBO which details the difficulties a urban Baltimore high school experiences in complying with the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001". Some observations:

• On any given day Frederick Douglass High School manages a 83% attendance rate.
• Many, if not most students skip their first class.
• FDHS has 500+ freshmen and 180 seniors. Half to two thirds of the freshmen will drop out by their senior year.
• One student passed the state Algebra exam.
• In 2004 only ten percent of FDHS students passed the state reading test, one percent passed the math test.
• Two thirds of the teachers are non certified, many are substitutes who are not qualified in the subject they are teaching.
• They have an audio and video recording center, Johny can neither read, write nor divide but he has been well equipped at your expense to make rap videos.
• FDHS were state champs in basketball.
• The teachers and staff seem well intentioned, but are hopelessly inadequate to the task.
• Some teachers were upset over their less than glowing evaluations even though only 3 of their 25 students were passing.
• One teacher laments that the few parents who attended the parent - teacher meeting were the parents of students who were doing so well he didn't really need to speak with them. Go figure.
• Another teacher laments that there is no funding behind NCLB, opining that the whole thing is a scheme to keep the uneducated poor in their place.
• The rant after the basketball loss is all you need know about the psychology of victimhood.
• The basketball coach should be shit canned for failing to instruct his student athletes about the importance of taking responsibility, win, lose or draw.
• No amount of money will improve this school.

NCLB is not the problem here, no more than the X-Ray that shows a spot on your lung is responsible for killing you. These children come from broken homes, fractured neighborhoods and have been screwed by a useless educational system their entire lives. If nothing else, NLCB mandated testing prevents these kids from get passed on no better than they came in.

What's The Dutch Word For Moron?

Some maroons in the Netherlands think the world will end in 2012:

"You know, maybe it's really not that bad that the Netherlands will be destroyed," Petra Faile said. "I don't like it here anymore. Take immigration, for example. They keep letting people in. And then we have to build more houses, which makes the Netherlands even heavier. The country will sink even lower, which will make the flooding worse."

I thinks it's idioot or something like that, just as it was in English before the Normans screwed up our fine Anglo-Saxon tongue.

Not a thing in the world to be upset about.

Curt Schilling contemplates retirement:

22 years ago January the Boston Red Sox picked a Freshman Pitcher from Yavapai Junior College (the best JC team in the nation btw!) in the 2nd round of the (Last!) January Draft.

3 World Series rings, 3k innings plus later, there’s a chance it’s all over...

Gloucester Teen Pregnancies

GLOUCESTER, Mass. - A pact made by a group of teens to get pregnant and raise their babies together is at least partly behind a sudden spike in pregnancies at Gloucester High School, school officials said.
Principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine in a story published Wednesday that the girls confessed to making the pact after the school began investigating a rise in pregnancies that has left 17 girls at the school carrying a child. Normally, there are about four pregnancies a year at the school.

What could have caused this?

Mayor Carolyn Kirk told The Associated Press on Friday that many factors are involved in the surge in pregnancies in her community, a hardscrabble fishing village which has fallen on tough economic times and cut teachers and services, including some health classes.

Yeah, that's it - lack of health classes.

W.B. Yeats "The Fisherman"

Although I can see him still.

The freckled man who goes

To a grey place on a hill

In grey Connemara clothes

At dawn to cast his flies,

It's long since I began

To call up to the eyes

This wise and simple man.

All day I'd looked in the face

What I had hoped 'twould be

To write for my own race

And the reality;

The living men that I hate,

The dead man that I loved,

The craven man in his seat,

The insolent unreproved,

And no knave brought to book

Who has won a drunken cheer,

The witty man and his joke

Aimed at the commonest ear,

The clever man who cries

The catch-cries of the clown,

The beating down of the wise

And great Art beaten down.

Maybe a twelvemonth since

Suddenly I began,

In scorn of this audience,

Imagining a man,

And his sun-freckled face,

And grey Connemara cloth,

Climbing up to a place

Where stone is dark under froth,

And the down-turn of his wrist

When the flies drop in the stream;

A man who does not exist,

A man who is but a dream;

And cried, 'Before I am old

I shall have written him one

poem maybe as cold

and passionate as the dawn.

Number 17, Finally!

(from left to right: Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce of the NBA Champion Boston Celtics)

It's been a long time coming. The world was "out of kilter" for 22 years! There now, finally fixed. I feel better already.

Yankee's Wang Out Until September

Sometimes headlines write themselves and no, this isn't about an incident in Central Park:

Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang is expected to be sidelined until at least September after injuring his foot running the bases, prompting club co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner to chastise the National League for playing without a designated hitter.
An examination in New York on Monday showed Wang partially tore a tendon and sprained his right foot Sunday during the Yankees’ 13-0 interleague win at Houston. He will be on crutches and wear a protective boot for a minimum of six weeks, the latest blow to the team’s banged-up pitching staff.

I'll be surprised if he comes back at all this year. With out Wang, the Yankees have very little chance of making the playoffs this year.

Hemingway Liked To Drink

Fishing, writing, fist fights with Wallace Stevens and in between Ernest Hemingway liked to drink too.

Tim Russert, Rest in Peace

There are very few talking heads that I can stand, Tim Russert was one of them. If only every member of the fourth estate were as able, fair, tough and serious. May he rest in peace.

Shorter "Boumediene"

For those who don't want to wade through the entire 134-page (including dissents and concurring opinions) Boumediene v. Bush ruling here's the condensed version:

Justice Robert H. Jackson: "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
Justices Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, et al.: "Oh, yes it is!"

If you do want to read the whole thing, here's a link to the pdf.

The Nanny State Rids Britain Of Slide With 50 Year Record Of Safety

It's hard to believe these people once had an empire and civilised the world:

For half a century youngsters have enjoyed the 10ft slide in the playground, with no more serious mishap than the occasional bruise or grazed knee. Many of the parents bringing their children had themselves played on the towering steel structure years ago. The tradition has, however, been brought to an abrupt halt by that modern scourge, health and safety.

What a bunch of pansies. There does seem to be at least one sane Briton left:

Local Conservative councillor James Hutchings said: ‘It’s completely mad the way we are being run ragged by the health-and-safety mafia. ‘Children are not going to learn how to judge risks - or how to have fun - if challenging play equipment such as this is denied them. ‘If there hadn’t been an accident in 50 years then the chances are there’s not much wrong with this slide.’

Conservatism, is there nothing it can't do other than successfully combat aggressive nannyism?

Pointy Comic: xkcd

Ouch.

Esquire: Snipers in Iraq

Esquire has a fine story about American snipers in Iraq. I know next to nothing about the particulars of the story, but something bothered me:

Hensley said, "If he pokes his head up again, I'm going to take him out." He did not have a high-powered sniper's rifle. He had the basic rifle of the American infantry, the M4. It is basically a .22. The guy across the river was anywhere from three hundred to four hundred meters away. It is not the kind of shot typically made with an M4.

Again, I don't know much about the particulars, but I do know that 5.56 mm is pretty damned different than a .22, as clearly illustrated in the picture above. I also know that shooting a man at three hundred meters or four hundred meters isn't all that hard to do with rifle, even an M4. Hell, I must have killed dozens of prairie dogs at nearly that distance with my civilian M4 and prairie dogs are a hell of a lot smaller than a man. The point is, this is a small detail easy to verify and understand, if the author is wrong on this little detail how are we supposed to believe the rest of the story?

Gyros

Every once in a while I get a hankering for a Gyro, preferably from a place called Dino's, George's or The Olympia - don't ask me why. With lots of fresh made tzatziki and an iced coffee, I'm in heaven.

Obama, Jim Johnson an Auspicious Beginning

CHICAGO (AFP) - Democrat Barack Obama was roiled by another campaign scandal Wednesday when a key advisor resigned amid damaging reports that he had received preferential home loans.
Although Jim Johnson, who has been leading the hunt for a vice presidential candidate, denies any favorable treatment for his home loan, the accusations could dent Obama's image as an untarnished newcomer who has vowed to clean up Washington politics.
Johnson, a former chief executive of mortgage giant Fannie Mae, resigned just hours after Obama took part in a round table in Chicago highlighting the impact of predatory lending on Americans.

Smooth move. Remind me again how Obama became the Democratic party's candidate for President? A willing, complicit press, identity politics and the inability of at least half of Americans to think critically. Now Obama will pick Lani Guinier as his running mate as further proof of his good judgement.

There's Someone For Everybody

How's your lovelife?

MONTERREY, Mexico - Manuel Uribe, who once weighed a half ton but has slimmed down to about 700 pounds, celebrates his 43rd birthday on Wednesday with a simple wish for the coming year: to be able to stand on his own two feet to get married.

He lost 300 pounds, he's a rail a veritable rail.

Fishing Monkeys

BANGKOK, Thailand - Long-tailed macaque monkeys have a reputation for knowing how to find food — whether it be grabbing fruit from jungle trees or snatching a banana from a startled tourist. Now, researchers say they have discovered groups of the silver-haired monkeys in Indonesia that fish.
Groups of long-tailed macaques were observed four times over the past eight years scooping up small fish with their hands and eating them along rivers in East Kalimantan and North Sumatra provinces, according to researchers from The Nature Conservancy and the Great Ape Trust.

How long can it be before they fashion bamboo fly rods?

Hit and Run in Hartford

Central Connecticut is in uproar over a hit and run incident that paralysed a 78 year old Hartford man from the neck down. If that wasn't bad enough, the incident caught on video shows that the good people of Hartford stood by and drove by without offering aid, although at least three people promptly called 911.
From the governor on down people are wringing their wrists wondering how we came to be this way. I'll tell you. When, from the governor on down, you let the little things slide don't be surprised when pernicious assholes drive through your streets as if in a shitty Vin Diesel movie. When more people are familiar with and believe the phrase "snitches end up in ditches" than know or believe Edmund Burke's well worn phrase "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing", don't expect to be able to buy milk at the corner bodega with impunity.

It's Not Queen

The gayest album cover ever. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Papa Doble

This recipe is making me thirsty:

2 oz white rum
1 oz fresh lime juice
½ oz fresh grapefruit juice
¼ oz maraschino liqueur
1½ to 2 cups shaved ice
Combine in a blender and frappe until the drink is foaming. Serve in a large cocktail glass, champagne saucer, or goblet. Note: maraschino liqueur is NOT the same thing as syrup from a cherry jar. Fire any liquor store that tells you otherwise.

Thanks For The C-Note

I bet a friend $100 bucks last year that Hillary Clinton would not be the Democratic nominee for president. He, like Hillary apparently, thought it was a done deal. In my wildest dreams I would not have predicted Obama's victory, I just knew that no one stays on top for 12 months. I would rather have parted with the $100 than face the possibility of another Carter administration except this time the faux wizard behind the curtain is inoculated from criticism by a complicit press and white, liberal guilt. A third Clinton administration although horrible to contemplate, would be forced to govern from the center due to her inherent unpopularity and Velcro like ability to gather criticism.