Thursday, December 20. 2007
 Is Theo blogging again? Inquiring minds want to know. (Photo of Mrs. Claus from Theo.)
Archbishop of Canterbury claims nativity "a legend." When you take the laws seriously, illegals go home. Polipundit Men who look like old lesbians. h/t, David Thompson. How can we compete with sites like that? Charter schools get top grades in NYC Santa receives fire in Brazil. I did not know that Rio was one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Conrad Black got revolutionary justice. I agree. Stanford credit for Harry Potter. How about for reading Dr. Seuss? Or watching Gunsmoke? Evil Border patrol oppresses innocent Mexicans Government as Santa: Hillary video at Althouse. Unintended self-satire. Huckaboom = conservabust? I'm sure he's a fine fellow, but he is a goober if I ever saw one. These are the sort of quotes that make me like Fred. 400 climate scientists now dispute global warming. NYT decries media deregulation. Of course. Every large voting group in the US opposes illegal immigration. Red wine prevents colds.
Wednesday, December 19. 2007
 Is alimony obsolete? Dr. Helen
Not repairing the AMT? Blue Crab Iran's new friends in the Americas. Dino Infra-red art photography. Good Communists and Bad Christians. Dr. Sanity English-speaking in England's schools. Tangled Web The rich pay for the federal govt. Adopted kid finds his real mother at his workplace, working the register at Lowes. More on the Inquisition in Canada. Attack machine
Tuesday, December 18. 2007
You've read this already, but since we did link the original Princeton story (with a hoax warning), this is for the record. What a jerk. The guy is as bad as the AP or the NYT.
 Green Fascism update: Tom Friedman drinks the warming Kool-aid. More on Friedman at Powerline. The Socialist legacy of Bali at Patterico. Also, Mayer Hillman says:
“When the chips are down I think democracy is a less important goal than is the protection of the planet from the death of life, the end of life on it,” he says. “This has got to be imposed on people whether they like it or not.”
to which Protein Wisdom comments: Scrape away some of the high-flown rhetoric of the acolytes of the Church of Anthropogenic Global warming and it is easy to see a coterie of fashionistas, retooled Marxists, doe-eyed relativists, unrepetant misanthropes and pragmatic authoritarians.
Geography quiz at Flares. Ruled Britannia? Kimball Iraq launches a new tanker. Surber Greedy selfish boomers will bankrupt America Is "Clinton amnesia" coerced? Classical Firearms dilemma, at Mr. Free Market: Left-handed rifles are rarer than rocking-horse sh1t.
Do Christians mind being called "barking bonkers"? Not really. I just read somewhere that 30% of Americans identify themselves as evangelical Christians. Justice done for wounded and injured soldiers. How to become a virgin. LGF  The US Army considering Israel's micro-Tavor. (photo on right)
Not dead yet? Fidel is retiring, he hints. Why do people buy individual stocks? Prof B on McArdle Is waterboarding really all that bad? Tammy
Monday, December 17. 2007
 Mitt on Meet the Press. Althouse
The violence at Princton. NY Sun. The Sun doesn't mention the rumors that this might be a hoax. A kinder gentler Hillary? Blue Crab Bali and the media. Dino Media were equally biased against Reagan. Willisms The poor farmers and the Farm Bill. Driscoll Hamas: Jews creating earthquakes. Video at LGF Al Gore's unpleasant habit of denouncing the US when overseas. Moonbattery
Sunday, December 16. 2007
 Yes, we do have a very fine storm today, and the natural snow is piling up at my local ski area - Jiminy Peak.
Jesus wasn't homeless. Steyn on demographics of aging, 30 year-old Italian Romeos living with Mom and Dad, and the "don't have kids to save the planet" silliness. Good stuff. h/t, Lucianne Six major bogus stories from the MSM within six weeks. Gateway. How are our readers doing with that simple geometry problem? It's good fun, unless you're a serious math whiz. Same old Russia. Putin incarcerating dissidents in psychiatric wards. Republicanophobia. Mrs. Edwards is "scared." She would not be so scared if she met me. Guns don't kill people - Christians do. I was going to ignore the newspaper endorsements, since everyone else is linking them, but Jules has a good take on them. Cherry-picking data points to create alarm about an income gap. View from 1776. Dishonestly fueling envy for political purposes is low. Somebody needs to tell the NYT that 1) We Americans aren't Commies and 2) Who cares what other people make? I don't want their money - I want to do what I chose to do. The 10 Economic Media Myths of 2007: Dem. Project Today's Hillary Quote: "You know, I'm going to start thanking the woman who cleans the restroom in the building I work in. I'm going to start thinking of her as a human being." - Hillary Clinton, from the book "The Case Against Hillary Clinton" by Peggy Noonan, p. 55
Saturday, December 15. 2007
 Weather: Arctic freezes in record time. New study: No man-made global warming. And read the Open Letter to the UN re the IPCC. All dissent was prohibited. Meanwhile, Repubs want to get on the warming issue to look virtuous. I guess it's all about posing, isn't it?
Jonah Goldberg at UMass: ...I must say I can't remember visiting a campus where the leftwingness seemed more intense or pronounced. And I've been to a lot of campuses.
From Insty: YALE'S REALLY RICH. TOM SMITH OBSERVES: "I have thought of asking Yale to stop writing and asking me for money. But why should I? I like getting the letters. They fill me with a kind of awe. They remind me that greatness comes to those who dare to ask for more than anyone can possibly think they deserve. They fascinate me. What can they possibly say to make me think I should send what $50, $100? to the people who are making 28% a year on $22.5 Billion? They say they need the money, which cannot be true, except in the sense of me and the beggar. I am astonished."
Opie likes this guided tour of Art Basel Miami. Jumping all over the CIA will make them more cautious and less effective. And more about the waterboarding story at Family Security Matters.
Friday, December 14. 2007
 Where's the Rock? The Hall of Fame is running out of candidates.
A Moslem approach to difficult teens. SDA Arkansas tackiness? Powerline. Huck: Tacky. Hillary: Tacky and corrupt. She might be as dishonest as Bill. After all, doesn't water seeks its own level? Al Gore, swindler? God knows, he is getting richer and fatter, and looking like becoming a plutocrat. A young Brit's Road to Damascus A Munich flavor to the NIE? David Warren Harvard for free? Fay Vincent in Opinion Journal The legacies of the Duke Case, at Durham in Wonderland. h/t, David Thompson. Yes, it is a systemic problem. Who invited the dog? Family allergy holiday fun, at The NYT Today's Hillary Clinton quote: "I am a fan of the social policies that you find in Europe "-Hillary Clinton in 1996," from the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p.6 Derbyshire quoted in a piece at Powerline about Nativism: The U.S.A. has an immigration system, under laws passed by the people's representatives in Congress. For twenty years the federal government, for reasons to do with ideology and "interest," has failed to enforce those laws. As a result, tens of millions of foreigners have settled in our country unlawfully, while other foreigners who wish to settle here but respect our laws, wait long years in their home countries for permission to enter. A great many Americans are very angry about this. If you were to poll those angry Americans on the topic of legal immigration, you'd get all sorts of answers, from severe-restrictionist to couldn't-care-less. The center of gravity of the answers would probably be somewhere like: "Sure we should have immigrants, but it should be done legally, properly." The anger, the shouting, the jammed Congressional switchboards, the cable-news bloviating, is about the federal government's failure to enforce federal law. To glibly dismiss it all as "anti-immigrant" is gross propagandistic distortion. . .
Photo: From Theo, who is now on sabbatical
Thursday, December 13. 2007
 This planet has had plenty of catastrophic encounters with asteroids over the years, even in recent times.
Wikipedia notes, in the thorough entry on Impact Events: An impact event is commonly seen as a scenario that would bring about the end of civilization. In 2000, Discover Magazine published a list of 20 likely end of the world scenarios with impact event listed as the number one most likely to occur. Until the 1980s this idea was not taken seriously, but all that changed after the discovery of the Chicxulub Crater which was further reinforced by witness to the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 event. Since then there has been more interest from the scientific community and greater public awareness of the possibility of impact events.
Most impact events are small, like shooting stars and meteorites, but the Apophis asteroid is big, and it is due to come too close for comfort in 2036 If it hits the earth, as others have done in the past, it will surely solve all the problems with humans messing up the planet. Help us, Obi-Wan Algore! You're our only hope.
"As a Republican, I'm on the fringe." Being a conservative in academia at WaPo. h/t, TigerHawk Everything's coming up Bush. Jules Crittenden Why you cannot treat war detainees like domestic criminals. Wizbang The Economist addresses the rising cost of food. Hillary quote of the day: "Where is the G-damn f***ing flag? I want the G-damn f***ing flag up every f***ing morning at f***ing sunrise." -From the book "Inside The White House" by Ronald Kessler, p. 244. (Hillary to the staff at the Arkansas Governor's mansion)
Wednesday, December 12. 2007
We are expecting a nice, good snow here in Yankeeland. Judging by the radio, you'd think it was the end of the world. "Major storm" and all that. Global snow catastrophe. It's just snow, folks. Nice stuff. Lovely, gently falling like a good dream, covering hill and dale with a pure coating of white. It's wintertime, and it will melt by May. Sheesh. If I lose my internet connection, I'll just go out and find my own stories. Or make them up, like The New York Times does.  Image: A pony keg kegerator. A nice gift for a beer-guzzling spouse, parent, or pal. They also make full-sized for more serious beer afficionados, for whom a pony keg is just a warm-up.
Hey Gals! Whoring for health! I will charge you only a nominal fee for practice sessions, and I am clean, trim, young and single. Call me if you are cute and clean, with no body piercings. (h/t, Mr. Free Market) Comp USA shutting down. Too many doctors? Kevin, MD. No. This jerk wants to fly all over the world warning about global oblivion. No, it's not Al this time. Half of women want to change how their partner looks. Only half? What about vice-versa? 99%? h/t, Pajamas A Brief Primer on the Problem of Evil. h/t, Dr. Bob PM Brown suggests negotiating with Taliban. Ace. Great idea! How come nobody else thought of that? Huckabee displays a strange misunderstanding of forgiveness. School voucher success in Florida. h/t, Chequerboard The religion of peace. Moonbattery Led Zeppelin coming to NYC?
Since we're speaking of global warming today, check out this chart. The red line shows the average annual temperature in the northeast United States, while the blue line shows the average number of home runs hit per game in Major League baseball each year (the graphs have been overlaid for convenience of comparison). Graphs are science, and the two lines clearly track together: the gradual warming of the first half of the century moving along with the end of the dead-ball era; a slow cooling as home runs declined from the 1950s to the 1970s; then a spike in the late 80's and 90's, with the warmest year all time (1998) the same year that McGwire and Sosa were chasing the home run record. My conclusion is that while Al Gore is definitely right on about the warming caused by CO2, we also need to do something to cut down on the number of home runs hit if we are going to get this runaway warming under control. Maybe controlling steroid abuse can help. Regrettably, we heard nothing about this critical subject from the soccer-oriented and baseball-deprived attendees at the UN Bali conference this week. (Related: see our piece on monomania) 
Leadership and intellectualism. Am Thinker Now it makes sense. The Venezuela vote Hillary's Glass House. National Journal The Camorra - Naples' international criminal empire. Don Martin's genius. Dirda in WaPo Study: Ethanol can improve mileage. h/t, reader Hillary Clinton quote: "We just can't trust the American people to make those types of choices.... Government has to make those choices for people " -From the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 20 - (Hillary to Rep. Dennis Hasert in 1993 discussing her expensive, disastrous taxpayer-funded health care plan.) My reaction? Who the heck is she to make my adult decisions? She's not my mommy.
Tuesday, December 11. 2007
 "BOHICA." Bend over, here it comes again. Thanks for the useful new lingo, Synth. Will use it.
Warming skeptic scientists urge world to do nothing. Hillary desperately searching for dirt on Obama. That lady "security guard" who saved many lives was an armed church volunteer. Great story. Powerline notes that this was a true hate crime. More on the Canada/Steyn story. This evil sword is two-edged. Special to Maggie's Farm: This morning, from a cave somewhere in Pakistan, Taliban Minister of Migration, Mohammed Omar, warned the United States that, if military action against Iraq continues, Taliban authorities will cut off America's supply of convenience store managers. If this action does not yield sufficient results, cab drivers will be next, followed by Dell and AOL customer service reps, and finally Motel 6 managers.
We have been writing about evolution, and this makes no sense in evolutionary theory. Jews speak up for Christmas. Walter Williams on poverty in America: Listening to people like Lou Dobbs, John Edwards and Mike Huckabee lamenting the plight of America's middle class and poor, you'd have to conclude that things are going to hell in a handbasket. According to them, there's wage stagnation, while the rich are getting richer and the poor becoming poorer. There are a couple of updates that tell quite a different story.
Read the whole thing, which tells the truth.
It was 78 degrees in Nashville today - an all-time record for the date, and perfect weather for taking a walk outside. Here's a scene along Belmont Boulevard, the former site of another streetcar line. 
Monday, December 10. 2007
How to identify a cigar at a distance: Know your cigars. Dems knew about "torture," but kept silent until now. Why? They knew all along. Lying phonies. Who is Andrew Ferguson? An interesting guy. Four hours, 400 on stage, plus a goat. War and Peace at the Met. Somebody, please invite me! How green was Bali? Bali was a joke. Nanny-staters just never, ever, ever stop fucking with people. Ace Nobel winner: Y chromosome greatest threat to mankind. Take your glasses off and try saying that to my face, you pencil-neck weenie. Best-kept secret in the MSM: Despite everything, the Bush economic boom continues. Boom and Bust. US housing. CSM. And Kling on your income and your house, at TCS Let them eat cake. NY Philharmonic to play in N Korea Candidates' net worth. Money Rubber room? Big tension in Hillaryland. As low-life scheming politicians go, I do like Obama - but none of his views. I think Hillary is a liar and a Commie and a closet Fabian. Time Magazine has carried a torch for Russia since Stalin. Still does. Afghan Army goes after Taliban. CSM
 Eco-Religion. It's usually not as dramatic as this one-minute video depicts, but I still think it's basically a religion.
K-Mart Shoppers! Holiday Trees? I still do not know why "Christmas" is so offensive to retailers. Is any shopper in the world outside of Saudi Arabia offended by Christmas? IPC caught manipulating data on sea levels. IBD. Locally subsiding lands, like eroding places, are not examples of sea level rise - and how can sea level rise be local anyway? h/t, Tangled Web Cathedrals of Insanity. EU Referendum on wind turbines in the UK Clear simple explanation of the sub-prime ripple effect. S&M. And how it happened on the ground, at Dino. Is there a grim hysteria in the financial world? Yes. I hear it everywhere I go. Ignoramus du Jour. Maureen Dowd Dems admit that "paygo" was a con game. No kidding! Somebody told me that they thought Hillary Clinton was a Fabian. I think so. She looks like one. The horserace. There is something to this at NY Magazine: ...Romney’s entire presidential bid has the feel of a PowerPoint presentation come to life: linear, analytical, bloodless. The game plan that he and his advisers devised was straightforward. First, raise a ton of dough. Second, play the inside game: Court the Beltway Republican Establishment, neutralize the most vocal sources of potential opposition, rack up gold-plated endorsements. On issues, cravenly disregard what Romney once stood for, tailoring his positions to make him minimally acceptable to the three legs of the GOP stool: social, economic, and national-security conservatives. Pour resources into Iowa, win there and in New Hampshire (where Romney retains a pronounced quasi-hometown edge), then roll to the nomination.
Romney would be a fine President, but he is not an inspiring candidate, and people - rightly or wrongly - want to feel inspired. He is like the CEO/Country Club candidate. That's what we need.
Sunday, December 9. 2007
 Phony: Gore takes train, his luggage takes a Mercedes. So does he really believe, or is he a poser?
Politics: The Oprah and Obama Show: Althouse. The show is making big waves. CA diocese splits from the Episcopal Church. I doubt that it's all about homosexuality. The Episcopal Church has been an empty suit for years. Do we need death? Bailey at Cato Unbound Nowadays, even cranks get a hearing. Central Park horses A quote about Krugman and health care at Just One Minute: ...Hillary and Bill made it clear in 1993 that their goal was use health care to create a huge new middle-class entitlement, thereby positioning the Democratic Party as the purveyor and protector of these middle-class benefits in the same way that (back in the day) the Democratic Party wooed the elderly by being generous with Social Security.
Biofoolishness at Blue Crab. I was about to comment that Rufus will have something to say about this, but I see he has already engaged Gaius in the comments. "Should my wordless kid go to school with your normal kid?" Another view on 9-11 and Afghanistan and Iraq at Overcoming Bias: If the USA had completely ignored the 9/11 attack - just shrugged and rebuilt the building - it would have been better than the real course of history. But that wasn't a political option. Even if anyone privately guessed that the immune response would be more damaging than the disease, American politicians had no career-preserving choice but to walk straight into al Qaeda's trap. Whoever argues for a greater response is a patriot. Whoever dissects a patriotic claim is a traitor. Initially, there were smarter responses to 9/11 than I had guessed. I saw a Congressperson - I forget who - say in front of the cameras, "We have forgotten that the first purpose of government is not the economy, it is not health care, it is defending the country from attack." That widened my eyes, not so much for agreement, as for that a politician could say something that wasn't an applause light. The emotional shock must have been very great for a Congressperson to say something that... real. But within two days, the genuine shock faded, and concern-for-image regained total control of the political discourse. Then the spiral of escalation took over completely. Once restraint becomes unspeakable, no matter where the discourse starts out, the level of fury and folly can only rise with time.
Saturday, December 8. 2007
 Baby-selling in Guatemala. Even worse, baby factories for the American market. But I ask this: If you're a middle class white suburban American family and adopt a Guatemalan baby, can that kid put "Hispanic" on his college application? And, if so, what does it mean?
Cuba damaged by Chavez defeat. h/t, Insty How our military has had success in Iraq. A Merry Media Christmas. Am. Thinker Gays in the military: A statement from some retired generals. China to the West: You can go to hell messing with your emissions. Gay Patriot thought this sounded like an interesting book, and I think so too. Education's End: Why Our Colleges Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life
Friday, December 7. 2007
 Quackery supported by Brit NHS. Why? Because it's political, of course. Socialized medicine is all about politics, not medicine.
Eye disease and Impressionism. Neurophilosophy Before we go all hysterical like Andy Sullivan, here are the facts about those CIA tapes. A player to make people like golf who don't like golf Chavez: Our people aren't mature enough. Dr. Sanity. Not mature enough to want to be serfs to the State? What is "sloth"? Kimball When a bad kid smiles at a teacher. What gun laws do for us. The case for English as the official language. NY Sun Is this guy getting a bad deal? I have never seen a child porn site, but what if I just wanted to see what was on them? Cramer Magna Carta for sale. Dissent not allowed in Bali. h/t, Insty More on The Death of the Grown-Up: Driscoll The logical flaw in modern Darwinism. Auster. It's about the human instinct for teleology. Kangaroo farts are Green. What about Wallabees? All I have here is a whole bunch of Wallabees. G.I. Jill. Gateway Image: Thomas Nast's Santa. History of Santa here.
When will the global warming arrive? It's cold as hell up here. When is warming supposed to begin? Do I have to wait 20 years? I can't wait. Search elsewhere. 72 virgins at Wellesley? Lucky just to find 72 cute gals at Wellesley these days. Streisand supports Clinton: Obama dirty tricks blamed Intellectual conformity and the cascade on the globalistical warmening hoax. Never Yet Melted. Ho ho ho. You're fired. Religious schools do best in Britain. Best piece I've read on The New Republic fiasco. Iowahawk A boring subject, but it's no joke. The AMT. Conspiracy. More good on the AMT: Big Lizards Hey shrinks! A new diagnosis: OMS (Offended Muslim Syndrome) The Dems dislike Uribe (he's not a Commie), but he is saving Colombia. The American. Lucky Colombia, unlucky Venezueala. A Harvard guy, but clearly not brainwashed. All too easy to satire. Madeleine Bunting wants the State to control your fun. What a pill!
Thursday, December 6. 2007
 World's hardest easy Geometry problem. Coyote.
Are the Dems still in a Wonderland, where international hostilities can be handled like problems in Sunday School? Opinion Journal No smoking in your own apartment? NY Sun San Francisco will Save the World! With a new tax, conveniently. New taxes are the real Convenient Truth. Iraqis protest Al Quaida. That tells me that they feel safe. Eric thinks the Global Warming hysteria is just the latest device to try to foist communitarianism on America. I agree. With poverty fixed as well as it can be, what else is there to use as a crisis? Re Canada's investigation of Steyn. It is just as we always warn, from Ace: This is shameful. All those dark fantasies conservative "crazies" concocted about the left actually becoming Nazi-like and Stalinist in purging and persecuting those it found troublesome on the right... well, they're not fantasies, and those conservatives weren't crazy. People like me who said "Oh shush with that nonsense, they'd never dare, they too have a commitment to basic liberal values, if perhaps not a very strong one" were actually the crazies.
Whiners. From a Rasmussen South Carolina poll report: Thirty-three percent (33%) of South Carolina Democratic Primary Voters say the economy is the number one voting issue. Twenty-eight percent (28%) name the War in Iraq while 14% say Health Care.
What's wrong with the economy? We have complete employment and the subprime mess doesn't effect the average person - it hurts Wall St. Iraq is going well, and everybody gets medical care if they're sick. What's the problem?
Wednesday, December 5. 2007
 "Uppity nigger" Obama upsets Clintonistas badly. Honestly, the attitude of the Dems towards black Americans does remind me of the segregation days. They are not supposed to wander off the plantation or to make any trouble for Massa.
Portland ME ties 1890 snows. Globalistical Warmening causes weather, dontcha know. We didn't used to have any weather before this warmening crisis. Don't blame me. Blame my credit card. Controlled drinking? LaShawn Enviros oppose wind farms. For the wrong reasons, though. I think wind is stupid because we could easily meet all of our electrical needs with cheap nuke power, with zero environmental impact. The CSM is already blaming world events on global warming, when global warming hasn't happened yet, to a meaningful degree. It's a theoretical prediction, but that is obviously news to our "objective" reporters at the CSM. Bacon comes from rocks? I wish. Washing your car is immoral. Glad to hear it. I hate doing it. If I can now be moral instead of lazy by not doing it, groovy. Polls, shmolls. Rasmussen. Obama: People do not like Hillary Clinton. Duh. Who is your turtle? Evang. Outpost Image: Thanks, BL. More suitable for Halloween, however.
 Seattle parish introduces astrology. It's marketing. Groovy, far out, dude.
Curtis Sliwa wants to get involved in NY politics. Nobody knows the city as well as Curtis does. Doesn't it feel good to "make a difference"? Sanctimonious goofballs. Bali, from Seattlepi (via Drudge) The U.N. estimates 47,000 tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants will be pumped into the atmosphere during the 12-day conference in Bali, mostly from plane flights but also from waste and electricity used by hotel air conditioners. If correct, Goodall said, that is equivalent to what a Western city of 1.5 million people, such as Marseilles, France, would emit in a day.
And we are supposed to think they take this seriously? From a Brit blogger via Mr. Free Market: I SOLEMNLY SWEAR THAT UNTIL THE PISTOL BAN IS REPEALED I WILL BUY, MANUFACTURE OR OTHERWISE LEGITIMATELY ACQUIRE AT LEAST ONE GUN OF SOME DESCRIPTION EVERY SINGLE YEAR, NO MATTER WHAT MY FINANCIAL CIRCUMSTANCES. Not that I will not break any laws but I will do my best to be as politically-incorrect and individualistic as possible at all times. This is the non-violent, gentle revenge of a freedom writer. Who's with me?
From a piece on climate hysteria at EU Referendum: 
Cartoon from Siggy. More Santa cartoons there.
|
