Wednesday, August 2. 2006
I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting. Ronald Reagan
Tuesday, August 1. 2006
Let's fix everything today. It should be easy. First, we'll tell the Israelis and the Palestinians and Hezbullah and Syria and Iran and all those stans to knock it off. Lebanon has nice beaches if they're not mined. Now,let's move on to the domestic front. Let's fix everything right away. Difficult? For some yes, but I'm exceptional. Make me emperor for a day. I promise to change only one thing. Then I'll turn it back over to the knucklehea...I mean our elected representatives. Hmm. Change one thing, fix everything. I've got it. Here's my edict: No one is allowed to teach school of any kind until they are 65 years old and retired from a career, the military, or childrearing. Period. Let's see. First of all, the quality of all instruction will improve dramatically. Teachers will no longer just parrot some Chomsky rant they learned two summers ago. They would have had to make a living for forty odd years first, and the only person that can make a living talking like that is Chomsky. Discipline will improve with crabby old people heading the classes. They're frailer, but mean as hell. Life does that to a person. We'll end the icky sex between the teachers and the students. Even if the viagra spam gets through the AOL filters to the elderly teachers, they'll be 30 years past getting anybody of schoolage interested. More problems solved. Children will actually learn things again. When your next bed will be one with a lid, you have a sense of urgency about your approach. Old coots will bang those facts into those dense heads as fast as they can so as not to interrupt their afternoon naps with dolts hanging around after school. They'll all be smart by noon-time. We'll be able to go back to paying our teachers crappy again. They'll be retired already, hopefully set for life, but in any case they won't have to worry about their Social Security checks bouncing, because the tens of millions of former teachers will be out doing something productive and paying taxes, instead of touring Europe each summer. Or else. Pay those old farts like top shelf Wal*Mart greeters, and let them clout the kids on the ear if they act up--they'll line up in droves to get the job.
Continue reading "Public Education: Let's Fix Everything Today!"
A few interesting pieces: First, from this new piece by Jimmy Carter, a man who has always been in utter denial of evil and detructiveness in the world and the easiest con target on earth. He blames the war on Bush (wasn't it great the way the "Peace Process" worked before Bush?): The general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well known. There will be no substantive and permanent peace for any peoples in this troubled region as long as Israel is violating key U.N. resolutions, official American policy and the international "road map" for peace by occupying Arab lands and oppressing the Palestinians. Except for mutually agreeable negotiated modifications, Israel's official pre-1967 borders must be honored. As were all previous administrations since the founding of Israel, U.S. government leaders must be in the forefront of achieving this long-delayed goal. A major impediment to progress is Washington's strange policy that dialogue on controversial issues will be extended only as a reward for subservient behavior and will be withheld from those who reject U.S. assertions. Direct engagement with the Palestine Liberation Organization or the Palestinian Authority and the government in Damascus will be necessary if secure negotiated settlements are to be achieved.
All I can say is this: if these terrorist guys were calm, rational, and humane, the problem would have been solved by Jimmy Carter himself - if not by Nixon. No need to read it all - the guy is in LalaLand. He had his chance, and he kissed Yasir Arafat. Decades later, he still wants to drop love bombs. Second, Tracinski at RCP, asks "If the Iranian strategy is so clear, why can't we deal with it?" Damn good question. Everyone knows that Iran is using Hezbollah's war in Lebanon to distract attention from its nuclear weapons program. The Iranians were given a July 5 deadline to suspend uranium enrichment or face "serious consequences." The contemptuous Iranians declared that they wouldn't reply for another six weeks, on August 22. Then Hezbollah--a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iran's Revolutionary Guards--initiated their war in Lebanon, and no one has paid attention to the Iranian nuclear program for the past three weeks. Now, finally, we are sending a new resolution to the UN Security Council--giving Iran until August 31 to agree to talks or face another months-long debate about whether we will impose sanctions against them. The Iranian strategy to buy time is utterly transparent and not especially clever. It is simple to defeat: declare that Hezbollah's aggression against Israel is proof of Iran's evil intentions and that we don't require any further diplomatic justification to bomb Iran's nuclear sites and bring down its regime. Instead, Western leaders fell for the Iranian strategy, and the Iranians have pretty much gotten what they wanted.
Third, a quote from Dershowitz in The Front Page: Sunday was a day of great triumph for Hezbollah. Its tactics had worked. By launching rockets at Israeli civilians within yards of a building filled with refugees, Hezbollah had induced Israel to make a terrible mistake. Its defensive rocket had missed the Hezbollah launchers and hit the civilian building. That was Hezbollah’s plan all along. As Israelis wept in grief over the deaths of the Lebanese children, Hezbollah leaders celebrated its propaganda victory. Yes, Hezbollah was happy that an Israeli rocket had killed Lebanese children. The children were now in paradise, martyrs to Hezbollah’s cause. Israel was being condemned throughout the world for “killing” children—“massacre” was the most common word used in the Arab media. The Israelis apologized, but that was not enough to put out the flames of anger or to quiet the shrill calls for revenge.
 For salt-water flyfishing, everyone says the Seychelles are the best. Miles of flats, and no fishermen.
It's a bit of a trip, but Frontiers can arrange it all for you. (This is a free advt. for our friends at Frontiers.)
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
George Orwell, 1984 The very notion of speech "crimes," or "thought crimes," deeply dismays me. It's not a slippery slope argument: we are already on the slope. If I punch you in the nose due to an irritable mood, it's assault. If I punch you in the nose and call you a "filthy libertarian," they can add a couple of years to my jail time. While we tend to think of Lefties when we think of proponents of criminalizing thought, no-one's hands are clean with this. From a piece by Nat Hentoff in the Village Voice (h/t, Daily Pundit): The current view of the Supreme Court, that what you say can add prison time for what you do—in a "hate crimes" case—came down in Wisconsin v. Mitchell (1993). The defendant, Todd Mitchell, black, was convicted for "assaulting" a white teenager, and the trial judge added two years to the normal two-year sentence for aggravated battery, making it a "hate crime." This is what happened in the "assault"—as described in by far the best book on this issue, Hate Crimes: Criminal Law and Identity Politics (Oxford University Press), by NYU law professor James Jacobs and attorney Kimberly Potter. Todd Mitchell and several friends had just seen the movie Mississippi Burning, about the notorious murders of civil rights workers in the South during the 1960s. In one scene, a praying black youth was beaten by a white man. As Mitchell and his friends left the theater, a white youngster walked by, and Todd Mitchell said to his companions: "You all want to fuck somebody up? There goes a white boy, go get him." The white boy was beaten so badly that he suffered severe injury. But Todd Mitchell, as Professor Jacobs notes, "did not physically participate in the beating." (Emphasis added.) The Wisconsin Supreme Court declared the state "hate crimes" law that added two years to Mitchell's sentence unconstitutional because it punished an "offensive motive or thought." But writing for a unanimous United States Supreme Court, William Rehnquist overturned the state court and ruled that "bias-motivated offenses warrant greater maximum penalties across the board."(Emphasis added.)
Rehnquist was way wrong on that one. How about the Bloods and the Crips? Read the whole thing. Image: Photo of George Orwell (Eric Blair), 1903-1950. No doubt he would be pleased to know that he is in the Maggie's Farm pantheon. Update: As if to reinforce the above, I see today at Env. Repub that the ADL wants Gibson charged with hate crimes - purely for speech. Thank God that in America we are all free to be jerks and disgusting idiots - because we all are, sometimes. Which is not a defence of Gibson - what a schmuck. (Is that hate speech too?)
7-31  The Bratzlavers hit the front
Not to be outdone by Lubies (Lubavitchers in traveling wagons), the Bratislavers hit the front recently. Only few of you know that I have had personal contact with Bratislavers, having been enlisted by my khaver, Pinchus, nee Patrick, to take a mikva dip in the cold waters of the Bratislaver's mikva, where the slime on the floor is almost as old as the stones of Jerusalem. This mikva is conveniently located overlooking the Western Wall, that is to say, in the Arab Quarter, through which Pinchus and I wandered at 6 a.m. in order to take a dip. But, this is another tale, not for today. Today, we go to the front line, Bratislaver-reinforced. The Brats believe in Reb Nachman of Bratslav, that he will return perhaps. They arrive frontly, so to speak, in high style. No battered, multicolored rattling Lubavitcher van, with Booming speaker held in place with guy lines. No. The Bratzmobile is like an American RV with reinforced top, metal rails and a logo of "NA, NA, NACH, NACHM, NACHMAN, M'UMAN!" This translates to : "NA, NA, NACH, NACHM, NACHMAN, IS BELIEVED IN!" Their booming box atop competes with the rockets overhead. A reinforced top is necessary, as Bratz stand atop, some dancing as the RV rolls up. Before the sliding van door opens, like Lubies and circus clowns, Bratz plunge through windows, side locks and tzitzit flying. These Bratz wear oversized white knit kippot with a spitz atop and, of course the logo circumscribing the brow. White shirts are untucked, boots or Teva sandals are de rigeur. Some are ex-IDF, one from Lebanon in 1990. But, enough visual details; it's the action that counts. They descend upon the reporter first, upon the paratroopers (next), the artillery men (later), the tankists (finally). The reporter, much to his initial protests, they cap with a spitzy kippah, then paste stickers with -- well you know: "NA, NA, ETCETERA" -- one on each of his cheeks, like Pierrot's tears, around his forehead, on his shirt. The paratroopers are hugged, and firmly kissed on at least one cheek. The dancing starts before the Bratz leave the van, gets vigorous with arms on paratrooper shoulders. In the mass, one has trouble discerning bodies, as legs kick haphazardly. One Bratz grabs his side locks, holds it stretched out to nine and three O'clock, then begins spinning, as if he were a helicopter about to ascend. (The scene ends before his ascent.) Yes, a few tefillin are unwrapped and wrapped on soldiers' arms, but the dance is the thing. And the singing. One loudspeaker-enhanced singer starts: "YAHLA, YAHLA, NASRALLAH, DAFOK LECHA!" Which translates to something like "YAHLA, YAHLA NASRALLAH, F...K YOU!" From a Hasid, such words. Such Bratz!
Continue reading "Guest Reporter: Aliyah Diatry - The Brats at the Front"
Where were the men in the Qana rubble? The mystery grows. SISU Cuba's hereditary dictatorship: What is his brother Raul like? Breibart. Charming fellow. French ban topless sumbathing in Paris. I knew they were nuts, but this is the final proof.
An interview with Roger McGuinn. PopMatters. h/t, Althouse AOL to unveli strategic direction on Weds. I can't wait. CT newspapers support Lieberman: NYT supports challenger, but can't quite explain why. Calif. Yank This absurd statement by the French: Iran is a respected, stabilizing force in the middle east. Is that just diplomat talk? YARGB Ortega poised to be elected in Nicaragua. How nice for them. RTLC Israel wonders what happened in Qana. Size matters. Cartridge size and efficiency. h/t, Alphecca. My question - who cares about efficiency? The list of lone Moslem shooters in the US grows longer. Anyone see a pattern yet? Ramsey Clark plans emergency march against US support of Israel. Why? Hez promises "next big battle" will be against the Leb politicians. This does not sound promising. Big Pharoah Obrador shuts down Mexico City to protest losing the election. No wonder Mexico is such a mess. This goes beyond being a sore loser. The photo proof that Haz is shooting from houses, in violation of Geneva.
"Tell them if you're elected, all of their fondest dreams will come true." Napoleon Dynamite, to Pedro, in the remarkable indie film of the same name.
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