Tuesday, February 20. 2007
 What was wrong with that UNICEF Report that slammed the US? Shrinkwrapped takes a look at the report's assumptions.
And speaking of income inequalities, Sowell looked at the extremely high pays of some CEOs in January, in NRO "Good freaking luck" to Harvard's new pres, says Coyote. Scott admires Smokey Robinson as he turns 67. Love the guy. Is Russia ready for democracy? Siberian Light quotes a guy who says No. Democracy is not the answer to Russia’s problems, actually in today’s environment it may add to them. Would Russia would be better if it were democratic is like asking if you prefer peace to war - the answer is axiomatic. However, democracy is not about voting and the right to vote. That is purely the symbol. Real democracy can only happen when rights and responsibilities are balanced. Russia is not there yet.
It's always interesting to ponder the cultural, economic, educational and psychological/characterological requirements for political freedom.
Monday, February 19. 2007
 76,000 Loonies to find out "you are too American."
Scroll down here for info on the new weight loss meds. Steve Jobs beats up on teacher's unions. Fine, we know it's a scam. But I blame the parents first. Grade school teachers want to do their job well, like everyone else. But I do agree that unionization of a profession removes it from the "profession" category. Today in Brooklyn, 1902. Gun control doubles gun murders in the UK. Duh. You don't get Yankee Magazine? Why not? (free advt) It is true about the Brits. Iran's obsession with the the Jews. The history of this nutty thing. For women: A sex health quiz. The Blackwater live eagle cam is up. The eagles have two eggs already. Ospreys not back north yet, of course. Left rooting for defeat? They always do. We have said it many times. Wizbang says it better. Why do they hate this fine country, still with more freedom and more opportunity than anywhere else in the world? Is it a disease, or something? A touching gift for the angry divorcee. Empathy for Britney, from RWNH. I agree with him. Life is tough enough, and staying centered is an endless challenge, but celebrity can be a real killer unless your head is screwed on straight. If you like old cars, do not miss this link from us, the other day. Drool with envy. Image: A southern New England coast, yesterday
Sunday, February 18. 2007
 Filling in for the News Junkie today...
"The government is endogenous." A profound comment by Prof Bainbridge. We've been inching towards this kind of clarity, but the Prof arrived. The point being this: Why should govt be the problem solver, when it is no more rational, or even less rational, than the public? We would argue, far dumber, much more amoral - and power-hungry arrogant schmucks. I'd like to spend some time in Mozambique. Looks good to me: Samizdata. Beautiful women, beautiful, exotic place. I am ready to go. Should be no problem for my G5 bumbling along at 50,000 feet. Ten Step Plan to becoming a dictator. (H/t, Reader). This guy figured it out. The truce is over. Belmont Club. What truce? The Left has been pushing surrender forever. Surrender to what? To whatever. Melanie Phillips takes a look at Iran's 27-year war on the west. Does Russia want to re-start the Cold War? NY Sun. I doubt it. But they do want to be players on the world stage. It's such a dump of a country, I guess they need something to feel good about. The surge has been a success, thus far. But the bad guys are just hiding under rocks, waiting. Even the NYT, after a bit of Bush-bashing, wonders whether Murtha et all are crackpots. The stupidity of crowds. No Pasaran takes on the Greenie-Lefties. Our opinion: the Greenies are the "useful idiots" of the Left. Adding to blogroll: Siberian Light, Granddaddy Long Legs, Foo Bar and Grill Catholic women's college obsessed with vaginas and sex. Is this "higher education"? Sounds like lower education to me. Hate to quote Instapundit because everyone reads him anyway, but this blurb was too good. It captures a ton of insight: IN THE MAIL: Michael Burleigh's Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror. Looks quite interesting. From the blurb: "Covering a vast canvas, Michael Burleigh examines the many secular religions the twentieth century produced, analyzing how successive totalitarian leaders coveted and mimicked the hierarchy, rites and ritual of the churches in the desire to return to the day when ruler and deity were one."
Deval changed his mind. Sorry, MA. Now he wants more of your money. I guess he changed his mind... Should the word "scrotum" appear in kids' library books? Why not? I thought they were already teaching the little ones gay and transexual pleasuring techniques in our progressive government schools. Scrotum definitely a sensitive area. "Fusionism" is the notion of the merging of Libertariansim and Conservatism. Is it possible? I think so, as long as folks don't feel the compulsion to be completely consistent in their politics - but who is? TCS takes a look.  More on the subject of "We're all Welfare Queens" now. How pathetic have we become as a nation? Help used to be for the folks in trouble, but now it's for everybody, including the "greedy geezers," with the predictable weakening of the human spirit and the rise of whining as a life style and a voting style. There is no way back to good old study Manhood and Womanhood, once a majority is on the dole in some way - or expects to be.
Are we raising a generation of the dependent, passive, and spineless, like Europe? Not only a serf mentality, but a surrenderist mentality. I do not wish to imagine where this sort of future takes my descendants. People who won't take up a challenge, but collapse and give up? That ain't the American Way, nor is it the Anglo-Saxon way. Nor is it the Pilgrim way, where freedom under God was every family's goal, in the face of death. Pull up your socks and get to it and give it the old college try - come what will. And pray. That's our approach. Whether it works or not, fine. We will get by. Can't beat Touch of Gray. It has got it all over Woody's sappy "This land is your land..." Touch of Gray is the American middle-aged Song, and man, could that guy play a sweet guitar? Although we do have a natural weakness for the Maggie's Farm attitude - good for all ages. The depressing graph is from a piece at Villainous.
Saturday, February 17. 2007
Joe Lieberman said this (piece at YARGB): From all of the research my staff and I have done, including asking the Library of Congress to do, we have found no case in American history where Congress has done what this resolution does. That is, in a non-binding resolution, oppose a plan that our military is implementing right now. Congress has expressed non-binding resolutions of disapproval before a plan of military action has been carried out. Congress has taken much more direct steps, authorized to do so by the Constitution, to cut off funds for military action or a war in progress.
But never before has the Congress of the United States passed a non-binding resolution of disapproval of a military plan that is already being carried out by American military personnel.
The paragliding story - just incredible. My nightmare. How Edward Said made it impossible to speak the truth about Islam and the Middle East. New York Sun Sissy shares our views of PC and threats to free speech. Womens' work spaces dirtier than toilet seats. Sheesh. Good advice, for bloggers and for everyone, from Wizbang: Never say anything you would not be willing to repeat under oath. Never say anything you would not want to see plastered across the front page of the newspaper. Never write when you can speak. Never speak when you can nod. Never nod when you can wink.
Friday, February 16. 2007
 What do black votes cost? Ask Hillary
Clayton Cramer's new book. Armed America: The Remarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie Iran's economic house of cards. Shulman at American Future A parrot with a 1000 word vocabulary. BBC Castle Doctrine spreading - now to TX The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming Warming is our friend. Tyrrell at Am Spectator Antarctica defies warming fears. Still quite cold down there. Bangkok Street Dogs. There's a site for everything. William and Mary, No to cross, yes to hos. Not my America. Sign a petition. Powerline
He decided to cancel the tour. Turns out there isn't any warming.
Thursday, February 15. 2007
 "They were laying new power cables which were strung on the ground for miles. The moose are rutting right now and very agitated. He was thrashing around and got his antlers stuck in the cables. When the men (miles away) began pulling the lines up with their big equipment, the moose went up with them. They noticed excess tension in the lines and went searching for the problem. He was still alive when they lowered him to the ground. He was a huge 60 inch bull and slightly peeved !"
 Hey Al! It's 14 degrees this morning up here, and a Wooly Mammoth is stalking me. I can just barely see him through the trees. I am going inside to start a fire and meditate on Aussie nude surfing babes since I was without a girlfriend on St. Valentine's day - as usual. Summer down there, isn't it?
Speaking of which, Nor'easter road rage is good! Valentine's Day flowers - in Egypt? How many Moslems does it take to screw up a country? Ace. And speaking of those sneaky jihad Moslems, take a look at how Jihad-apologist CAIR is trying to insinuate itself into the mainstream. Atlas. Via PBS, of course. FARK shut down our "Prayers for Global Warming" piece, so it didn't even appear on Total Fark, which almost everything does. A bit humorless over there at Fark, when it comes to Planet Catastrophe? Bird Dog thought they might enjoy it. I did. Truly bad taste. Do not look. Free Market Fairy Tales French plan lovefest for Fidel. Hmmm. I thought they were proud of murdering their King. Maybe they prefer Commie Kings? Difficult to understand French psychology. But why bother? They have sexy babes, and that's what is important. Adding to blogroll: Calculated Risk, and Reference Frame from Harvard. Did you know that Bush was the first president to fund embryonic stem cell research? Willisms. I guess it doesn't fit the narrative. Giant squid blind their prey with light. Cool. Old? Get out of our way. Brit national health Where's Mookie? On vacation, of course. Michelle. Terrorists need vacations. Just like Osama. Seen him lately? No, he's at Sandals in Jamaica, which is full of virgins. Don't send my boy to Harvard. Horsefeathers. Bunch of Kool-Aid drinkers over there. Cleopatra needed a nose job? AOL news We are all on welfare now. Who did this to us? Viking. This is not the proud Yankee way of life. But isn't co-dependency a lovely thing? We all care so much about each other. Kumbaya, man. Crikey. A game: Name that Party! Surber A fine MSM update. Driscoll Dems work hard to plan our Iraq defeat. RWNH. May I ask why they do this? Is it perhaps political? Naw, they'd never do that. Or would they? AP admits Dems undermining war. Do many Dems hate America and the freedom and opportunity and can-do spirit and independence it stands for? No doubt. And it's a shame: it didn't used to be that way. There is a cancer in this country, eating its soul and spirit, which is I why I take the time to post with my friends at Maggie's Farm. Taliban copying the Palestinians, and using children as shields. Singleton. Heroic freedom fighters. Al Gore and global coldening. Blair. Quit it, Al. I am freezing. Obama is famous because he's black. SDA. Hillary is famous because she has female genitalia (supposedly), and was married to a President. Where would these two be if they were white men? Fairly average-bright nobodies, like all the rest of us guys. Brit Anglican moonbats try to salvage the Anglican Church. It won't work, because everyone knows they are Moonbats.
Wednesday, February 14. 2007
 The Surge. Details at America's North Shore Journal (h/t, Daily Pundit). Photo from the site.
Weenies. Yes, we have snow and sleet in Yankeeland. What's the big deal? What do you expect in February? Go outside and enjoy it before Bush makes it melt and kills all of the Polar Bears. Bent Skovmand died. You don't know who he was, but he did a great thing. He created the Weed Bank. The future will be grateful to him - seriously. Could be a QQQ. Giuliani: "In the business world, if two weeks were spent on a nonbinding resolution, it would be considered nonproductive," Giuliani told the lunch crowd, setting off a burst of laughter. Quote from a Norwegian, in a piece at No Pasaran - about Americans: "Because by speaking negatively about them, we elevate ourselves. It confirms that we are the opposite. We Europeans have refinement, culture, and intellectual life. To think this way raises our image of ourselves."
Roosevelt Admin nixed visas for Anne Frank. NYSun As we predicted, it's the Incredible Disappearing Rape Case at Duke. In this case, an alleged rape by a person of no ethnicity upon another person of no ethnicity. Victim female, though, apparently. Duke profs silent. A war on Toyota-ists? Don Surber. Too damn bad, Michigan. If you build it, they will come. When a cigar is not just a cigar: Ellison calls the cops. What a schmuck. But, I ask you, how come congressmen can smoke in their offices, and I cannot? Do any laws apply to them? More on Mr. Sun and cosmic rays. Gates of V.
Tuesday, February 13. 2007
 Another Duke rape case, but by a suspect of no ethnicity. LaShawn
Deficit falls. MSM doesn't notice. Gateway. Why I won't leave Amerikkka, even though I hate it. Moonbattery. Very transparent excuse, if you ask me: they are here for the freedom, but won't admit it. Wizbang takes a look at Bush's health care ideas, and likes them What's in a grouper? Could be an Asian Catfish The crazy Marcotte story, fully summarized by Michelle Grow your own (implants) Image: Borrowed from SDA
Monday, February 12. 2007
 I am a pod, and I don't know how to act with people. But I found a solution. Humgbug
Let's remember: Nifong is innocent until proven guilty. Durham in Wonderland. A comment by LGF: There you have the modern Democrat Party: they want to talk with our worst enemies, and pick fights with our best friends.
Anti-whaling insanity. Tim Blair. I oppose whaling too, but come on. Segolene Royal wants more freebies for the people. Blue Crab. Why not just eliminate work entirely? Some good weather coming to Yankee land. Bring it on. Are we the only part of the country which regards what other parts of the country term "bad weather" as fun weather? Bird Dog News. World's largest hunting dog magazine, online and off.
Sunday, February 11. 2007
 Nobody's at home on Park Avenue. Envious? You bet. Lots of houses.
Can we please let these guys off the hook? Truly ridiculous. More on Saddam-Osama links. Flopping From Yon, at Powerline: America has asked David Petraeus to walk into a burning barn and perform brain surgery on a dying patient. If it can be done, David Petraeus is our man. The odds are against him.
Something else for Canada to fear: Another Trudeau The 2006 Darwin Awards are out. (h/t, Blue Crab) Small local newspapers are making plenty of money. So are some online newspapers: Bainbridge I missed this quote from Ayatollah Khomeini, which surely stretches my sensitive, tolerant, multicultural nature: A man can have sexual pleasure from a child as young as a baby. However, he should not penetrate. If he penetrates and the child is harmed then he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl, however would not count as one of his four permanent wives. The man will not be eligible to marry the girl's sister.
Re Giuliani, this seems right, at TownHall: So Rudy's campaign is essentially about arguing over which question voters should use as the criteria for making their decision. If he wins that argument, the question of whom to vote for starts to favor him a bit. In politics, the question is more important than the answer.
Image: a couple of Maggie's Farmers and friends at the end of grouse season. Now the trick is to stay alive until the next one.
Saturday, February 10. 2007
Could not resist borrowing todays' Chris Muir, above. We owe him for the use, which is only fair. Meanwhile, tell your local newspaper to add Day By Day to their cartoon list. Very odd that the basis for the need for sleep has yet to be understood. But rest does help you replace old brain cells. But is it worth it, since you miss out on so much when sleeping? Al Quaida in Iraq? Surber Women prefer Mr. Average. BBC. Maybe that's my problem. Adding to blogroll, under Education: Campus Watch. Melanie Phillips, via Instapundit, in a Steyn piece at The Corner: Watch this respectful Sky News interview (via LGF) with the ranting Islamist Anjem Choudary and last night’s morally eviscerated Question Time on BBC TV to see how Britain is ever more eagerly stretching out its neck for the cultural knife.
Find the best possible candidate, instead of hoping for perfection. Powerline George Will, on the MSM, warming, and news crusading. I hope this is not new news to Will. Al Gore urged to run. Great. There are many "Anybody but Hillary" folks amongst the Dems. They dislike her, and fear her. I think she is just a mean George McGovern, in pants. The UN Report will backtrack on prior hysterical predictions. Opinion Journal The Stature Gap: Gay Patriot (h/t, Wizbang)
Friday, February 9. 2007
 Highly comical Groucho Marx story. Althouse.
Send NY State Sen. Kruger an email. Be nice, or they won't take you seriously. Bainbridge ACLU attorney: "I looked up and I saw Leviticus." ACLU attacks a library. Too bad he didn't read the Leviticus... Blame Christmas cheer, and blame the government: Brits see record number of abortions in January Rough justice. But how rough? Classical Values Faux fur is often not faux. It's coondog. A forbidden assignment in Mecca. NY Sun Something not rotten in Denmark: "Multiculturalism has gone too far." Gates of Vienna "Multiculturalism is really blossoming in Britain these days. It's enough to warm a progressive's heart." Moonbattery. "Kids who attend the Saudi-funded King Fahd Academy in Acton can learn from their textbooks that Christians are "apes" and Jews are "pigs."" Why is Western Europe anti-American? No Pasaran. Honestly, I don't really care why or whether, but I guess it's a bit of a puzzle, since we've saved their asses several times, and even today save them the trouble of maintaining serious militaries. I have a thought of my own, a basic thought about human nature: The given-to always resent the giver, just as recipients of charity must always hate the charitable. It's a matter of maintaining pride, or, you might say, vanity. Charity is a joy for the giver, but a humiliation for the recipient. Pelosi's Tahoe breaks Maggie's Rule of Global Warming. Blue Crab offers Princess Pelosi an airplane solution. How long does it take for these idiots to forget who they work for, and who pays their bills? Dr. Sanity wrote once about "Acquired narcissism." Image: I call this birthday photo "Honey, don't forget the limes." Is that Maggie? We're not telling.
Thursday, February 8. 2007
Pro-life speaker nixed at Catholic school. With info about Margaret Sanger that will blow your mind. (h/t, Michelle)
I love this piece, on marriage. Sippican. This author is hiding his candle under a bushel by limiting his writing to a blog. Defending China's pollution. Blair. I guess their pollution is cleaner, or more socialistic, or something. Anyway, it doesn't seem to count. I blame global warming: The UK braces for major snowstorm. Times Leftists always admire, or at least make excuses for, Fidel and now Chavez (and Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, etc in the past). Why not Hitler too - he was one. The Left and totalitarianism will be forever wedded. Must be, because socialism crushes the human spirit and, eventually, people rebel. Who buys lottery tickets? Answer here. (h/t, Squaring the Boston Globe) Save the Polar Bears: Open a garbage dump. SDA New Green Crimes in the EU. Quote from Samizdata: It used to be the dream of socialists and utopians of varying degrees of malevolence or stupidity to want a world state. In a world state, pesky local regulatory differences would be obliterated and replaced by a rational grid of laws from which no escape was possible. In true 'watermelon' fashion - green on the outside, red in the core - the Greens are embracing the instruments of a pan-national state to enforce their ideas.
Nice image of the not-yet-completed USS New York, an amphibious assault ship (LPD 21) containing 24 tons of WTC steel. What would you give to drive this baby around the block a few times? 
Tuesday, February 6. 2007
 It's all about anti-capitalism. I think so, too. Polipundit. We love capitalism. It offers the freedom to pursue whatever you want in life, as best you can. As Rudy said, historically nobody emigrated to America for freebies. Freedom means a lot to people. I always am reminded that no-one emigrated to the Soviet Union or Cuba for their wonderful free stuff. Space for the human spirit to range free, take risks, and be free to fail, is what lively people want. The principle of freedom is what separates the Conservatives from the Left.
The ACLU has abandoned the First Amendment. Flopping Aces. We gave up on them years ago. Just another leftist interest group. It's a shame they get govt money. Guiliani is in. I wish I could spell his name. The use of biofuels is moving backwards, not forwards; it represents a move back towards high-carbon rather than towards high-hydrogen. Sugar cane, corn, etc. - all bad ideas. Now look what happened with palm oil. What you do on Sunday morning tells what you worship? Asst. Village Idiot. Well, it might be a clue, but it depends. Maligning the Global Warming Religion can bring threats and reprisals. One climatologist's story. Why I Turned Right. Powerline discusses the new book. These people sound like me - only smarter. Like beating a dead horse. No matter how often these things are said, it seems to make no difference. A quote from Dr. Sanity: What matters most to the minions of the political left is not truth, or reality, or even "peace" and "brotherhood"; what matters is how effective is the language used to manipulate others. Lies, distortions, ad hominem attacks; attempts to silence opposing views--all are strategies that are perfectly satisfactory if they achieve the desired effect. Ideas and reason must make way for reification of feelings; and freedom is replaced by the thought control of the compassionately totalitarian concept of political correctness.
The postmodern assault as it is used by the new totalitarian alliance of the 21st century, is a four-pronged attack to undermine
- Objective reality
- Reason and the rational debate of ideas
- Individual freedom and freedom of thought and speech
- Progress and capitalism
The strategies used in this assault are:
- The distortion of language and meaning to undermine the individual's perception of reality;
- The use of direct or threatened physical violence to suppress speech and individual freedom;
- Politically "correct" thought control and cultural relativism to undermine reason and rational debate;
- The promotion of environmental hysteria to undermine progress, industrialization and capitalism
The Iranian news service offers this gem of a news article. How dumb do they think people are?
Monday, February 5. 2007
 The Crusaders are coming to Baghdad, and they are not looking for a "sanitary fight." It's about time. This should be good, and a lot rests on its success. Meanwhile, two of our favorites, VDH and Max Boot, discuss Iraq at Contentions. We also learn that our stupid, loser soldiers who are stuck in Iraq have PhDs, making them easily smarter and better educated than Jon Cary. Iraq the Model is eager: Surge Soon Please.
If you really want to understand Iraq politics, try this Video of Iraq traffic. Hilarious. London's proposed 17-acre mosque - details and video at LGF. It would hold more people than Giant Stadium. This was not immigration - this was invasion. Nader may run. Good. The more, the merrier. Apparently he detests Hillary. They deserve eachother. Dershowitz on Jimmy Carter For Sale. Ever get the feeling that Dershowitz does not care for Jimmah? Full India update, at BBC. If they had a work ethic, they would be or will be amazing. And more on India: Internet marriages in Bangalore. Lebanon update. Excellent piece, at Totten. h/t, Instap.
The double standard: black-on-white hate crime just doesn't fit "the narrative." Ace The Mossad will just kill 'em. There's an excellent solution. Gateway. A few more, please. The LA Times wants to teach his bloggers how to blog. Hello? Hewitt Brit teacher fired for imagining that "most suicide bombers are Moslem." Everyone know the are mainly Mormons. Multiculturalism: What if white folks said some of this? Blue Crab Bill Roggio notes the regrouping of the Courts groups in Somalia A reader is trying to save open space around the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Go for it, y'all. The battle never ends. Yes, we know that area rather well. Royal Marines with balls. Winds of Change Please do not feed the bums. In Orlando French climate hypocrisy. What a joke. No Pasaran John Edward's blogger needs to take her medication. "Laughing all the way to the bank." Who coined that? Liberace. (h/t, Tangled Web) Adding to the blogroll: Attack Machine, Don Surber From VDH, as quoted by Dr. Sanity: We are in a rare period in American political history, in which the battlefield alone will determine the next election, perhaps not seen since 1864. The economy, scandal, social issues, domestic spending, jobs, all these usual criteria and more pale in comparison to what happens in Iraq, where a few thousand brave American soldiers will determine our collective future.
Saturday, February 3. 2007
 Put down the duckie and other Sesame Street favorites from the good old days. Anchoress
Climate change? Live with it. I agree with this piece entirely, at Blue Crab Brainwashing the kiddie-poos in the UK. I knew Gore had thousands of copies of his DVD he couldn't get rid of. Guess he dumped them on the Brits. The End of the World is at hand! Blair Another Texas Deputy in trouble for defending himself against illegals. Message: leave the illegals alone. Moonbattery The Goldilocks Economy continues, even better. Not a peep about it in the news. Glenn thanks Nancy for the great economy Culver City introduces government-censored internet service. Creepy. Coyote France decrees more siesta time for workers. Tammy. Now that is a country that is going places. Imam's opening prayer at DNC meeting. Hot Air. Are Dems comfortable with that prayer? Hamas promises hands-off Dem candidates. What does that tell you? Classical Values. Are Jewish voters comfortable with this? A triumph for "choice." School vouchers in Utah.
Everyone has been posting the Herouxville Manifesto. Sleeper cells in the US and Canada. Am Thinker A question for the MSM: Do Hillary and Bill live together? Just curious. Iowahawk debates the Arkin Controversy John Leo summarizes a year of speech police on campuses. City Journal (H/T, Viking) We like to beat up on George Soros. So does Shulman of A Moderate Voice, at Am. Future. He calls him a Nazi sympathizer. Brit anti-bias laws will damage gay-only tourism. Gee, isn't government smart? Two new Bach books. Quote from the review at Bookforum: ...we have the advantage over Bach's original audiences of a far closer acquaintance with his musical language—and of guidance such as both these admirable books provide. Transcendence is here, in how, as time proceeds, eternity is always present—how, in that gorgeous aria from Cantata no. 115, the shadow of a fall reappears again and again; how, in the D Minor Chaconne, the keynote is forever being revisited, with whatever feelings of homecoming or hopeless inevitability; and how, in the Goldberg Variations, the opening dance is there again at the end, "as if nothing has happened" (Geck) or as if it had been present all along, beneath and upholding "a world of sound unfamiliar and unrepeatable" (Williams).
A note sounds. Then it sounds again. But everything has changed.
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