Tuesday, April 3. 2007
I would not want to be president without Kissinger's advice. Right or wrong, he always makes good sense. He says victory, in the usual sense of the word, is impossible. Quote from the piece in the Int'l Herald Tribune: Kissinger said the best way forward is to reconcile the differences between Iraq's warring sects with help from other countries. He applauded efforts to host an international conference bringing together the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's neighbors — including Iran, Washington's longtime rival in the region. "That is the sort of framework out of which it is conceivable that an agreement should emerge," Kissinger said. "One needs to be prepared to negotiate with adversaries."
Surely he is right. Iraq is beginning to feel like a giant game of Whack a Mole.
There are familiar forms of self-righteousness in which people become so suffused with the virtue of their cause that they cease to care about intellectual honesty. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (h/t, Done with Mirrors)
Giant gypsum crystals in a cave in Mexico. Note the man in photo on the left. More about the cave, and more photos, here. (h/t, David Thompson) 
Monday, April 2. 2007
Today: Fox Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Purple Grackle, Goldfinch, Slate-colored Junco, Cardinal, Blue Jay, White Throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, House Finch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Chickadee, Mourning Dove, Tufted Titmouse.
 Dr. Sanity has a piece today - Showdown at the OK Corral - which perfectly captures the current Moslem-West showdown which is happening at this very moment.
She is absolutely correct that weakness and doubt in the face of Moslem hostility only brings on more. It's like blood in the water. As she says, "They aren't like us." No, they are in a different culture with different rules - if you want to call them rules. We call them dishonorable and uncivilized, but they do not see it that way. I am not going to quote it. Just do me a favor and read her piece.
Throw the Jew down the well. Brits remove Holocaust from textbooks. Moonbattery. Comments from Dust My Broom. Powerline permits a bit of Iraq pessimism. View from the Right. Yes, there is cause for pessimism. The glass is half full. Rick Moran: "Words fail me." Same here. You just give up. Bruce Kesler takes on the costs of higher education. Says parents are co-conspirators. Now the Chavistas want to take over private media. I guess Cuba is their ideal. Adios, Venezuela. It was nice knowin' ya. Yemeni women join army counter-terrorism force. Ex-Bush aid expresses disappointment in admin. NYT. He has a point, especially Bush's failure to mobilize the country. Another shameful vote, but at least right won out. The vote to protect those who express concern about other travellers. Putting Safety Second The truck full of rocks was brought in for the occasion. "The cameramen are here - everybody grab a rock." Entirely staged, to fool their own people. American students: Cocky but dumb. Self-esteem without substance. Glenn Beck video on how Moslems try to stifle dissent in the US. Especially the flying Imams.
I never learned from a man who agreed with me. Robert A. Heinlein
Unbelieveable but real. Youtube
First, at a roast of NYC's WABC talk radio host and Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa. Sports guy Warner Wolf said: "Curtis gets so busy and distracted that he forgot his anniversary. His wife was crying and distraught. So he says "Mary, tomorrow morning in the garage there will be something new and shiny waiting for you, and it will go from zero to 140 in under six seconds." Next morning she goes out to the garage, and there it was - a scale. Second, also on WABC. Monica Crowley was talking with Tom Tancredo, and Tancredo says (I paraphrase): "People like to say today that 'diversity is our strength.' It's almost like a State Religion. But diversity isn't our strength: freedom is our strength. Uncontrolled cultural diversity is the story of the Tower of Babel."
If you missed our April Fool's Day offerings, check 'em out. We'll begin taking them down, and recycling some of them next year, for newbies. Apparently we snagged some April Fools this time, for a minute or two.  From our friend Lubos, on Iran:
The internal politics of Iran is much more complex and non-uniform than one would a priori expect. That makes all things difficult. Moreover, the Iranian government is extremely good in manipulating stupid people which includes, for example, the majority of the Arab nations. So they forced the marines to apologize for their wrongdoing on TV and to praise the Iranian kidnappers for their heavenly hospitality that they will be always grateful for. The only female marine has even apologized in a written form - in a letter that she originally wrote in Persian. Not bad.
Meanwhile, at least the Brit Health Secretary has her priorities straight. The EU flexes its international muscles. Dinocrat. Finds it has no biceps. Is the NYT educable? Surber, on Darfur I hadn't read this at Althouse, but it's here in a piece by Classical Values on Converts and Heretics: bloggers on the right link to you when they agree and ignore the disagreements, and the bloggers on the left link only for the things they disagree with, to denounce you with short posts saying you're evil/stupid/crazy, and don't even seem to notice all the times you've written posts that take their side.
A spiral ramp to build the pyramids? Where the Nanny State meets the Police State. Small Dead Polar Bears, on the UK. I have always believed that Welfare Statism leads to Nanny Statism which leads to Police Statism. It's a natural progression, and it's all for your own good, as defined by your betters! How I came to Christ. LaShawn. A very difficult thing to do. Not child's play. A brief history of zero. Neat. h/t, Thompson
This pretty boat has twin 350 Crusader engines. Speaking of boats, Sippican Cottage does Boatyard. Many can relate, I am sure. 
Sunday, April 1. 2007
 About 5000 anti-war protesters from the US, Britain, France, and Germany braved the dangers to assemble in Baghdad yesterday to protest ongoing Al Quaida activities against the people of Baghdad.
"As long as Al Quaida and Iran continue to create mayhem in Iraq, there can be no peace or security. The good people of Iraq do not deserve this," said a press statement issued by the organizers of the march. It went on to state "We urge the Islamic terrorists to lay down their arms and bombs and to get a job, get married, open an Individual Retirement Account, and help build the economy of this fine country so all can have happy, normal, peaceful lives." Carrying placards reading such things as "Stop the war," "Al Quaida sucks," "Nice people aren't suicide bombers," "Iran Go Home," "Al Sadr is a Nerd,"and "Guys with bombs won't get dates," the marchers followed a route through the main thoroughfares of downtown Baghdad for about five hours yesterday, and will hold a press conference this morning before returning to their homes. The march was entirely peaceful, and thousands of curious but supportive Iraqis emerged from their homes and shops to watch the marchers as they banged on pots and pans and chanted "Bombs aren't cool - let peace rule," "Don't be a fool - freedom is cool," and "One, two, three four - we don't want your Jihad war." As the marchers broke into John Lennon's deeply moving hymn "All we are saying...is give peace a chance," we asked Omar, a bread merchant whose shop was along the route, for his reaction. "Veddy nice hats," he observed. Photo of the Baghdad peace march borrowed from Dr. Sanity's piece on the peace movement.
 In a surprise announcement yesterday, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks held a press conference at Spielberg's office to urge Fred Thompson to run for president.
"We in Hollywood need to support our own," Spielberg said, to the surprise of assembled reporters. "Fred's screen resume is one anyone could be proud of. Fred may be a traditional, uptight American with bourgeois values, so we may not always agree with him on political matters, but loyalty comes first. We supported Schwartzenegger too, remember?" "Admiral Joshua Painter is our man." Spielberg's comments were taken as a message of permission, from the heart of Hollywood, for the influential entertainment industry to step outside the confines of the Democratic Party. Should Thompson decide to run, he will find the checkbooks of Hollywood opening for him. Hanks commented "Running is good. Now you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was running!!" While we were unable to reach actor Sean Penn for a reaction, we were able to reach his agent who told us that Mr. Penn was in Darfur distributing funds and arms to the oppressed Janjaweed freedom fighters. He predicted that "Sean will follow the fashion - that's what he's all about." He added "I'd be amazed if Sean wouldn't courageously follow our very, very dear close friends Stevie and Tommy's lead on this."
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