Saturday, November 5. 2005
From Gates of Vienna: "The european union is so busy building houses of cards they don’t even notice that half the place is on fire and the other half is muslim." The American right to Cheap Oil: PoliPundit Liberal politics: RWN: "But, when will they have their big "awakening" and finally figure out liberalism is a political killer? Who knows? Given that the Democratic Party has been going downhill at least since Nixon slaughtered McGovern in 1972, you'd think the Dems would have figured this out long ago." "While Europe Slept": Neo-neocon Sambo in Maryland: good comments from Ragged Thots "Some things shouldn't be for sale." Ain't that the truth. Classical Values on Art, etc. The California elections - a run-down on the Propositions by Ankle Biter Tuition breaks for illegals in Massachusetts - but not for legals, of course. MassRight
Friday, November 4. 2005
If I burn a car, can I get a free villa in Provence? A case study in how not to deal with Jihad. NY Sun. I guess now it's all about "occupied territories" - Sensible Mom. And how did it happen that France is now Jihad's "Enemy Number One"?
Minor Details France, via Yahoo News: "The country has 751 neighbourhoods officially classed as severely disadvantaged, housing a total of five million people, around eight percent of the population. Conditions are often dire with high-rise housing, unemployment at twice the national rate of 10 percent and per capita incomes 40 percent below the national average. Many of France's estimated five million Muslims live in those suburbs." Dare I ask what is wrong with "high-rise housing"?
More on the Paris riots here- things seem to be rapidly spinning out of control. Every day I read that De Villepin is "vowing" to restore order, yet the situation only seems to get worse as French authorities are paralyzed by their own politically-correct inhibitions. Meanwhile the mayor of a nearby town recommends that France "give these people a message of hope" to remedy the situation, a textbook example of 60s thinking that views criminals merely as victims of societal oppression and exclusion, thereby excusing and even justifying their violent behavior. Amazing that Sarkozy seems to have received more criticism from calling the rioters "scum" than the rioters themselves have received from their own actions.
Steyn on Moslem Riots in Europe "This is a fuse that's been lit all across Europe." Read Steyn interview with HH, here. Thanks, Instapundit
Comments on Recent Postings 1. My thought about the piece on Wellies: A charming and useful post, but the problem with wellies is that you cannot eat them like leather boots when you run out of food, as Chaplin famously did in The Gold Rush: Click here: Film Listings Archive: 2. A comment on my piece about barbecue: There is a roadside barbecue pit in New England - in fact, in Putney, VT, which is excellent. Go about 1/2 mile or less west off the Putney Exit of Rte. 91, and it's on the right hand side. They run it out of old broken-down trailer homes, and the southern gent named Curtis who owns it is the real deal, with a pet pig. He's open until Oct., when he goes back to North Carolina for the winter. Definitely worth a stop, even if you think you aren't hungry. 3. Paxety had some thoughts about the piece on recorded vs. live music: "Plus, folks get fewer and fewer places to learn to play - or to play after they've learned. Far too many school systems consider band and orchestra to be outside activities similar to sports. When I taught band many years ago, I had students whose only academic achievement was in music - it was the only thing they "got" and were successful in. Now, those kids aren't allowed to take part in what's now called extra-curricular activity.
Then there's the opportunity of performance. Even when I played professionally, I performed many times for free in local little theater productions and at churches. Now, these venues use recorded music rather than live.
I don't know where future musicians will come from. Perhaps that's why current pop music contains so little of what I would consider original music - it seems to be mostly samples, or chords that make the old rock 'n roll 3-chord turnover seem complex."
Flu pandemic hypothetical, from RRWH Reid's foolishness: RWNH A Swede encounters California education: Atlas
French Tolerance, etc. With the Moslems setting France on fire, let's see what these condescending politicians will do now. The HT has an opinion article: "The suburbs of Paris, whether the faubourgs of the French Revolution or the banlieues of today, have a long history of violent uprisings by enraged citizens. But the nightly clashes in the grimy northeastern environs of the city over the past week were dismally contemporary: The rioters torching the cars and pelting police around the low-rent apartment blocks that abut the City of Light were the sons of African and Arab immigrants, most of them Muslims, who have never been integrated into French society, who work for the lowest wages, who live in ghettos rife with crime." Read entire at Int. Herald Tribune
More on blogs, free speech, and the Dem's efforts to defeat political speech: Am. Princess An interview with Alexander McCall Smith. Looks like he has moved past Mma Ramotswe - what a shame. Bookslut
Thursday, November 3. 2005
Thanks, Chris Our blog looks the same, but the guts have improved. We are not really a slick blog, but I think we will have gotten rid of those dang Texas Holdem spammers without having to resort to registration for comments, which I find to be a deterrent.
Dems oppose free speech on internet: Powerline. This should be front-page news, but it won't be....which is why free speech is necessary. Left and Right don't matter: centralization of power is what matters. Cafe Hayek ACLU opposes proof of identity when voting. Cao
Anderson on Detainees and the Geneva Conventions A somewhat lengthy, very thoughtful legal consideration of the advantages to applying the Geneva Conventions to terrorists. The subject is worthy of debate. One excerpt: "Given, however, that the Bush administration engaged in the utter foolishness of taking a bunch of religious fanatics and giving them solely a Koran for reading material, rather than loading them up on decadent Western entertainment and thought, thus reinforcing their sense of martydom and heroically self-referential world view, it seems a little late for arguing about these issues. The US has done more to reinforce anti-American Muslim resentment, paradoxically, by kow-towing so stupidly to supposed Muslim mores, in ways that no Muslim country would do in war or conflict. But if you announce in advance that you are going to make Muslims happy, then you in effect reward further Muslim resentment as a way of getting more reward, and that has been the sole result of all the goofy politically correct multi-culti way in which so much of the cultural side of the war on terror has been run. It was and is a foolish strategy, exemplified at this moment by a person truly out of her depth, Karen Hughes, and by those who dreamed up a strategy in the first place of trying to show the world that the US would be nice to Muslims, even ones trying to kill the infidel. They artificially set the bar for behavior at a level that angels in heaven itself could not meet, and then seemed surprised when the response from the Muslim world was not, look how humane they are, but rather, what have you done for us lately?" Read entire.
Wednesday, November 2. 2005
Carl on Alito and the NYT: "Forget Fox News or newspapers. Bugger the bloggers, on earth or in the MSM. Never mind The National Review. Useless is US News (and World Report). Screw The Standard (Weekly) and the Spectator (American only for now).
They're all reasonable, right and rational, of course. But the best argument for confirming Samuel Alito to replace "Harriet O'Connor" comes from the mixing-results-and-reasoning, misguided, but no doubt typical, liberals who penned the lead editorial in Tuesday's New York Times:" Read the whole thing at No Oil. This guy is a classic blogger, and he shreds the NYT.
Essential Reading from Michelle: "When you read The New York Times (if you still bother to read it), always ask: What is the Times NOT telling me? The answers are invariably more compelling -- and newsworthy -- than what the paper actually deems "fit to print." Read entire at Town Hall
Moslem riots in France continue to their sixth day: CBS.
How do we prevent ourselves from being guilty of schadenfreude with those arrogant and self-righteous French? And how does their pride and self-satisfaction in their culture coexist with an utter unwillingness to defend it?
Bird Flu, From Mr. Free Market:
Air Pollution and Second-hand Smoke From Norm: Every year, according to a paper published by the British Medical Journal, some 54 bar staff in the UK die as a result of their exposure to other people's cigarette smoke. And every year, according to the EU, some 39,000 deaths in this country are caused or hastened by air pollution, most of which comes from vehicles.
Read entire. Cover-ups, when there is no "underlying" crime We did a piece on this a week ago: this better piece from neo-neocon: "Rothstein says to avoid this kind of trap, special prosecutors should use their prosecutorial discretion not to file coverup charges when there is no evidence related to the alleged underlying crime." Read entire. From Atlas, a piece on The David Project:
 "Jewish students on American college campuses are facing an onslaught of anti-Israel campaigns and propaganda. We at The David Project have documented this in the now famous documentary film taking place at Columbia University, where students were harassed and intimidated in and outside of class by anti-Israel faculty. Clearly, Jewish college students need to be prepared for what they may face on their campuses. columbiaunbecoming.com (WATCH THE VIDEO!)"
Bush on the avian flu. This scare story from Canada is not the dangerous avian flu - just a normal bird flu. Laughter in marriage. Corny, but a good idea. Alito will be confirmed. It's a done deal. All that is left is the posing, posturing, and partisan exploitation for fund-raising purposes.
Tuesday, November 1. 2005
Top Daily Kos posts on Alito, at Decision 08 (thanks, Irish Pennants) Iran cracks down on mannequins: Ace Let the debate begin: Geo. Will Witches get tax breaks. Should have run this link yesterday. Who uses cell phones the most? Hispanics. Does exercise prevent breast cancer? What is an "extreme right winger"? Am. Thinker Alito: Champion of minority rights. Front Page.
Alito: Hewitt, Patterico, Right Thinking, Ex-Donkey, NPR for the Left: View from 1776 Islamic feminists: Protein. Moslems riot in Paris: Atlas El Salvador's secret: Acton Inst. More on Prince Charles: Samizdata MoDo update: No Oil Bush will discuss Avian Flu today at NIH
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