Maggie's Farm

Re that thing about California changing its lightbulbs, Althouse has a better idea: ban air conditioning.  Naw, they'd never do that. Tokenism is the thing. Plus a/c cools things off, right?

Meanwhile, SDA notes that no-one in Canada really believes in the man-made global cooling warming hypothesis. Goldstein explains, in the Toronto Sun, while noting that any warming would be much to the advantage of Russia and Canada.

In other weather-related news, Joe Malchow illustrates the high intellectual and factual level on which global climate debates occur. (h/t, Viking). Blue Crab unveils the newest weather and climate predicting supercomputer. And those nice folks at the UN have decided that, if they can't scare the adults, maybe they can give the kiddy-poos nightmares. Since the UN totally sucks at preventing war and creating peace, maybe they are switching their marketing plan for world governance to the climate angle.

Image: Scientists' consensus of the appearance of a Nome, Alaska, beachside resort in 2010. Make your reservations now, and save!

Chavez is becoming an embarassment to the Left, as he follows the usual Leftist path to tyranny. Tupy at TCS.

Meanwhile, thousands are fleeing the country.

Maggie's Farm is up and running. Limping, bleeding, but alive to fight another day. See our post from last night on Our Denial of Service Attack. We continue to block a good deal of our legitimate traffic, and commenting will be open sporadically today - if at all.

An Aussie is offended by the Aussie flag. I am offended that the Aussie is offended.

Mark Green's brother buys him a radio network. Air America. What a nice brother. Those outside the northeast don't know who Mark Green is. Here's the story.

Mr. Edwards Builds his Dream House.

Richard Clark - yes, that Richard Clark, on Iran. When people ask "When will we go to war with Iran?", I say "We already are."

Meanwhile, Jon Cary attacks the US from Iran. That is beyond dissent: that is disloyal, if not utterly insane. But that's why we call him Pariah Kerry. Someone needs to run against him in MA. How about it, Neo-neocon?

Two new books by Warming doubters. via Drudge

Some of the problems with Vista.

Chris Hedges scares me. Coyote

A rational Senator? Lugar on Iraq.

Moscow Mayor terms gay parade "Satanic." via Drudge.

Why married people don't want sex. Dr. Helen

LaShawn reminds us of an important piece by Walter Williams - Bogus Rights

Color photos from the Depression Era. Very cool. (h/t, Done with Mirrors)

Taking offense is offensive. Indeed it is, and hostile and manipulative too. Am Thinker. A quote:

The great victory of the left is that it has made us apologize for being right.  A few may be truly offended, being in the grip of primitive pride.  But, mostly, we are in the grip of a primitive ploy.  We need more offensiveness, not less.  We must offend the liars, the degraded, the darkness, the destroyers of civilization. So my answer to the offended is, you have every right to be offended.  Now, grow up.  If you can't sit at the table of reasoned debate, go back to your bread and circuses.  Let the adults figure out the problems of the world.

The new Battleground Poll shows a conservative America. Intell Cons.

The anti-war march. Old folks, reminiscing about 1968. Some people never grow up. (h/t, Instapundit) Quite pathetic, really.

Ethanol production damaging the Mexican tortilla business.

Iran in Iraq. It's not news, but watch us go after them...covertly, and at night.

Prelapsarian, innocent vs. naive, and pompous language. Shape of Days.

The BEEB bans LGF. Augean Stables.

Are Americans saving enough for retirement? Cowen

Liberals don't give a damn about human rights. Gay Patriot

Is freedom dying in Central Europe? Reason

Ruth Wisse in Opinion Journal. What happened to America, I wonder? A quote:

The year was 1917. At the beginning of the spring semester, the Harvard Crimson reported that 1,000 undergraduates were ready to enlist in the Reserve Officers' Training Program (ROTC), including students from the law school, from other graduate schools, and even members of the faculty. The recent crisis in international affairs had created a need for qualified military leaders, and the editorial hailed the school's vigorous response to it: "That Harvard is the first University to adopt an intensive system of training officers should not be a matter of pride, but rather a basis for the hope that other colleges will establish the same system, and that the foundations of a great citizen army will be laid among our young men."

Ninety years later, Harvard leads in the opposite direction.

Why the dude photo?  Opie complained that we never show any eye candy for the gals. So here's a photo of me, in my side job. Yes, I do work out. No, there is not a wad of kleenex in those shorts. And I am straight. And no, you cannot have my phone number.

Hollywood loved Bill, but they do not seem to love Hillary. Not their type. Heck, that's in her favor, but she is not for me.

Does Mormonism bother you? Not me. RWNH. Romney is OK with me.

Where would we be without government's help? Spain decrees fashion sizes. Althouse. Hahahaha. It's not a joke.

Journalism is a dying trade. Not at Maggie's Farm, but we don't get paid. No benefits, either, other than world-wide fame. On the other hand, we rely on journalists, but we take them with a tablespoon-full of salt. We prefer Michael Yon and his ilk, the volunteers.

Going after the Iranian govt. About time. Jawa. Get those "special forces" on the job. No contest.

Mountain lion attack. A tough lady. Cao. Everybody is on this cool story.

The heartbreak of income inequality. Cowen (!) in the NYT. (via Instapundit - how does he do it, with a job? Well, he's a Prof, but still...)

The new UN scandal. What is the US doing with these scumbags?

Unions are still dying. No wonder they want the illegals. Eventually, the only unions will be government employees, which is truly ridiculous when you think about it. Anchor Rising

The gay sheep story, at the NYT. What was this all about, anyway?

Apaches in Baghdad. Iraq the Model. This so-called country is nuts.

Numerology gone wild, in Belgium. Is this satire? Brussels Journal.

A jet-powered turtle.  Perfect.

You thought guns were illegal in Britain? Silly you. The crims have all the guns they want. Dust my Broom. The honest people have nothing. My solution: Arm the populace, and train them in handguns.

Winning elections. This quote is right, alas, from Neo-neo:

Most of today's politicians are pragmatic, rather than principled (perhaps it was ever thus); and their pragmatism tends to focus on a single goal: getting re-elected.

Unremitting opposition--with no need to come up with a better alternative--has defeated the Republicans, put the Democrats in power, and contributed to the lowest approval ratings for Bush of his Presidency (he's done his bit in that endeavor, as well). So it's not surprising that so many Republicans (especially those in somewhat liberal states) are jumping on the oppositional bandwagon as well.

Chicago Bears inspire a city still reeling from the Great Fire of 1871

The new military ray gun

Obesity and osteoporosis. Apparently carrying 80 lbs. of lard around doesn't help. One would think that it would.

Dogs and health.: "In some cases, the social support offered by an animal is greater than the support another human could offer." Ain't that the truth.

Calorie quiz.

Rich guy wins yacht race.

Sent to re-education treatment facility for bad thoughts. Definitely watch the video. Ex-Donk

Please take a few minutes to read the Fukuyama post from yesterday - you won't regret it. It is meaty and important.

Polipundit: Re Duke and Nifong's come-uppance, "And the chorus of cheers from “civil liberties” liberals everywhere is just deafening."

Newt warns of holocaust. YNET

Shacking up with Jesus. Spirit and Eros, at Asst. Village Idiot

Blatant racial sterotyping in the NYT. Horsesfeathers. A quote:

Thank goodness for the New York Times; without it we might think America had made progress towards overcoming discrimination. Instead we stand reminded that whites are cold, robotic, uncaring exploiters of blacks and that success by blacks occurs because they possess the empathic intelligence lacking in their white counterparts. Thanks Selena, we needed that!

Comments on the SOTU from Michelle and Powerline. The NY Sun editorial here.

A pre-comment on Bush and medical care. Kesler at Dem Project

Global warming backpedalling. Moonbattery

Abandon hope, all ye who read here. (Finally added this blog buddy to our blogroll)

Ahmadinejad getting deeper into trouble in Iran. How long can he last?

Ethanol is a scam. Maggie's readers already know this: it takes more energy to produce ethanol fuel than ethanol fuel contains. 

Soon we can cast off the obsolete, Puritanical taboo against bestiality. Yes, we can be modern if we want to be.

Why Britain does not react to treason within. Auster

How come you can have black-only organizations, but not white-only? (not that I can think of anyone who would want a white-only)

Image stolen from a piece at Sisu, Two for the price of one.

A trip to the Korean DMZ. Samizdata

Oliver Kamm meets Red Ken. I want Kamm to be my prof.

Mathematics is always in a mess. Hayes at American Scientist explains why proofs do not necessarily mean all that much.

Male and female labor force participation, by year. Interesting trends.

Abortion: Culture of death or "culture of me"? Evangelical Outpost. Yes, abortion is a grievous sin, whether it's called a sin of self-love or murder, and whether it's legal or not.

Worst universities. Hee hee.

Boortz does not care much for Hillary Clinton. Funny.

A Left boilerplate rant. YARGB

Excellent update on Chavez and neighbors, at Venez. News

Hitchin's piece in City Journal begins thus (thanks, H):

Mark Steyn’s new book is a welcome wake-up call.

In the prologue to his new book, America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It, Mark Steyn sarcastically alludes to two people whom, in different ways, I know well. The first is novelist Martin Amis, ridiculed by Steyn for worrying about environmental apocalypse when the threat to civilization is obviously Islamism; the second is Jack Straw, formerly Tony Blair’s foreign secretary, mocked for the soft and conciliatory line he took over the affair of the Danish cartoons. The dazzling fiction writer and the pedestrian social-democratic politician are for Steyn dual exemplars of his book’s main concern: the general apathy and surrender of the West in the face of a determined assault from a religious ideology, or an ideological religion, afflicted by no sickly doubt about what it wants or by any scruples about how to get it.

Every word in it is worth reading.

Half of Dems want Bush to fail in Iraq. That is sickening.

How the 1918 Spanish Flu killed

The consequences of losing in Iraq, by VDH

Here comes Big Mommy. Good idea? (h/t, Instap)

Very cool map of the USA. Coyote

Both labor and business want illegals. WaPo

Chris Dodd will not run for re-election in CT. That means one less empty suit in the Senate.

Is MySpace responsible for how people use it?

Think Higgs-boson next time you carry a heavy garbage bag to the garbage can. This weighty subject of the nature of matter is impossible for me to get my head around.

Weatherman says that no meteorologists believe notion of man-made climate change. (Drudge)

A chick fight video goes viral. CNN video

More studies to be pursued on cell phones and acoustic neuroma. My theory: it's not the cell phone themselves that are the problem, it's the idiocy of the conversations.

Sundance Festival goes political. Driscoll

Dems consider "registering" bloggers who address policy issues. Say Anything (h/t, Dust my Broom). Don't anyone dare tell me that the Left is sympathetic to free speech. Blue Crab

What kind of difficult person are you? Althouse

Like herding dolphins.

Drinko?

Noose tightening around Al Sadr's neck. This bad dude needs killing real bad. And he is asking for it.

My vote goes to Louis Lunch.

Where is wealth being created, on the global map? YARGB

Favorite Myths. Cartoons, at Reason

New York Magazine invents "grups."  Magazines love to invent terms like this: I guess it gets attention and sells magazines. This is about adults who don't seem fully grown up, and appear to identify more with adolescents than with real adults.

Why the trades make good, well-paid careers. At Maggie's Farm, we believe that too many people go to college (which in many cases has become extended high school anyway), and that too many people disdain good honest skilled work. Where I live in MA, you cannot find a plumber, and when you do, they charge $125. for a house call. The repair is on top of that. And, besides that, they want cash only, or they won't come back the next time.

Not in my backyard, say MA liberals. First it was the Nantucket windmills, and now it's poor people. Speaking of hypocrisy, more hate speech from the Angry Left.

Duke faculty too smart by half?  RCP.  I wouldn't put it that way. There is a thing called "educated fools" - rich in degrees but dumb in life. Colleges are sanitaria for them.

Palestinian Chic. Princeton loves the Palis. Why? They even hate eachother.

Knife control on the way, in Canada?

States, by net migration. Kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it? Willisms. And, speaking of which, look at New Jersey, about which Viking - and Malanga - have a few things to say.

Fear-mongering in CT. This time, it's "chemicals." (h/t, Junk Science)

Image: Actually, we love owls and all of God's critters, but we did like this one anyway.

Michelle is back home. So soon? I was hoping for a longer stay, with more good stuff from Iraq.

Tancredo cannot win, but he has the force of ideas. I'd say the same about Newt.

How to get rid of cosmolene. It's like vasolene. MassBackwards is building a cosmolene-removing system for his new guns. Too complicated for me: why not just hold them over a campfire?

Dylan is buying a house in Scotland. Althouse doesn't understand. IMO, that means she doesn't undertand a thing about Dylan. His heart's in the highlands, Ann.

Your choice of parents is your most important decision in life. Cafe Hayek

Lies and Videotape: Pallywood. Augean Stables. NB: Lying, in the Middle East, does not carry the moral burden that it carries in the West. Duh.

The war on unmannerly speech. Moonbattery

The EU wants enlightenment for the Moslems. Good luck. Singleton

Who should pay for an externality? Technical, but it's the cutting edge of the environmental protection movement. Env. Economics

Run away! Run away! Al Quaida flees Baghdad.

Why do Libs seem to hate Christians? Auster spells out his First Law of Majority-Minority Relations. A quote:

The First Law states that because of the modern liberal belief in the moral and substantive equality of all peoples and cultures, the worse any minority or non-Western group really is, the worse the West must be made to appear, as the guilty cause of the non-Western group’s bad or dysfunctional behavior, or as simply bad in itself. If the worse is made to look better, and the better made to look worse, an apparent rough equality is maintained between them, and the liberal view survives.

Whole piece here.

Tinfoil hats for the WaPo. Moonbattery

World champion freehand circle-drawer. (h/t, Tim Blair)

A really big legal show: the Libby trial. NY Sun

World's environmentally worst-behaving country. Guess. Flopping

Are there active and passive occupations? YARGB wonders. Bloggers? Definitely passive.

The French pay homage to Walt Disney

Iranian executions. And, furthermore,

these folks are living in something akin to Europe's Dark Ages. A quote from the NY Sun's piece on banning the letter X:

Among the commission's deeds is the famed 1974 fatwa — issued by its blind leader at the time, Sheik Abdul Aziz Ben Baz — which declared that the Earth was flat and immobile. In a book issued by the Islamic University of Medina, the sheik argued: "If the earth is rotating, as they claim, the countries, the mountains, the trees, the rivers, and the oceans will have no bottom." Another bright light of the commission, Sheik Abdel-Aziz al-Sheikh, recently stopped a government reform proposal aimed at creating work for women by allowing them to replace male sales clerks in women's clothing stores. Sheik al-Sheikh damned the idea, saying it was a step "towards immorality and hellfire." The underlying logic is breathtaking: Women are more protected by buying their knickers from men! Over the years, the commission has rendered Saudi Arabia a true kingdom of darkness. Movie theaters are banned, as are sculptures, paintings, and music, and the mixing of sexes in public.

Meyer, on the new book Reagan the Crusader, at RCP. A quote:

Reagan was elected president of SAG seven times - which makes him among the most successful union bosses in American history, by the way - and as a result he probably engaged in more negotiating sessions with hard-headed corporate CEOs and egomaniacal prima donnas within the union itself than anyone ever elected to the White House. No wonder that, years later, Reagan ran circles around the Kremlin - and around a Democratic-controlled Congress. (Someone once asked the President if it was tough negotiating with the Russians. Reagan replied, "No, it was tough negotiating with Jack Warner.")