Monday, May 16. 2005
Newsweek: Beyond Shame and deep into the danger zone: The MSM blew it again ! Isikoff's turn to get blog-swarmed. The disgusting Koran-toilet story explored and corrected by RWN. and Captains Quarters. and many others. Facts never intefere with the anti-American fanatics, but in this case, people have died and will die, and the ME will never believe Newsweek's apology. If I were a real reporter these days, I would be scared. Error is punished. The motives of the terrorists in Iraq are confusing to the NYT, probably because they do not fit the leftist rebellion model. John at Powerline de-mystifies the issue. Are we certain that democratization in the ME is a good idea? Another point of view, from View from the Right. The Radical Disease at Harvard Law. Time to copy the Pine Tree Revolution? Details by Brewton. Somethings Happening Here, What it is aint exactly clear: Canadian politics. Ideological Purity vs. Political Reality. Radioblogger has Kudlow discussing new trade quotas. We will soon see similar practicality at work with the base closings.
Friday, May 13. 2005
Harvard debates "gender" - a rational discussion emerges from the Summers hysteria. Audio and video versions. But I still don't get it - what the heck is "gender"? Running out of suicide bombers: In Iraq, they are using the mentally ill, and tricking their own people into becoming involuntary suicide bombers - they ask them to transport some bombs from A to B, then remote-detonate them. Surprise! And then comes the really big surprise: There was a slight error in transcription. Instead of 70 virgins in Paradise, you get one 70 year-old virgin. Dang! Condi supports gun rights. "Air Force Academy "Chaplain" Morton’s complaints about too much religion at the military academy is creating waves, and earned her hero status in a report in the New York Times Thursday." In Newsmax New family of rodent discovered for sale in Laotian meat market. Brussels official claims rejection of EU Constitution would be comparable to supporting Nazism. How can these countries willingly sacrifice their autonomy to wacko unelected bureaucrats?
Taranto yesterday on why the Dems "clients" don't vote for them: Every time the Democrats lose an election, they make a big show of asking questions like these. Then, the next time they lose an election, they once again wonder why the "working class" has forsaken them. Maybe it's as simple as: because they were listening. Read entire. Tut died of gangrene. Stop whining about your medical bills - you have better medical care than Pharoah. Click here: Print Story: Tutankhamun died of gangrene on Yahoo! News The Union-Leader shrewd on filibuster: "PRESIDENT BUSH and U.S. Senate Republicans have the far better case in the matter of Democrats refusing to allow judges to be voted on in a straightforward, up-or-down fashion. The problem is that Republicans aren't very good at public relations "spin" — and the Democrats have a ready ally in much of Big Media. But if the Republicans don't wise up and have the guts to stop the Democrats' current misuse of the filibuster, they will find that a President Hillary Clinton and her pals will have no such problem in suddenly "discovering" that the Founding Fathers never intended judges or other Presidential appointments to be blocked in this manner." Read entire editorial. Meanwhile GOP pulls even in the PR war. It's live ammo - remember that. The UAL pension mess explained. Thanks, Prof. Bainbridge.
Thursday, May 12. 2005
More on Bolton's enemies: One Janice O'Connell, a Cuba apologist on Sen. Dodd's staff. Bolton was clearly targeted, like Delay, as part of the ongoing pissing contest in DC. Novak has the details. Thanks, Powerline. Always thought the Americans with Disabilities Act was insane. Right Thinking provides more reason to think so: a day care center run by the blind. When was common sense outlawed? Stix rips Ellison's neo-feminism, in a piece entitled This is Your Brain on The New York Times: A sample: Feminism’s contradictions. Back in the 1970s, feminism routinely condemned motherhood. But in recent years, yuppy feminists have discovered that children can be status symbols, just like expensive cars and summer homes (or at least, time-shares) in the Hamptons. Having or adopting a child shows the world that you can “have it all,” even if you rarely see the tyke. After all, what are illegal aliens for? Ellison is writing on the joys of motherhood for women who either have no children, or who neglect their children, but wish to get credit for their illegal nannies’ labors. Read entire in Intellectual Conservative.
The nonsense behind those color code terror alerts revealed by Ridge. Alien prisoners in the US: The numbers and the cost. A Necessary War but maybe not a Good War? Wheatcroft reflects on the myths of WW11. Click here: Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Ideas / how_good_was_the_good_war Kingdom of Heaven discussed by Chrenkoff. PC can kill. The perils of political fashion, as outlined by Zinmeister. Click here: The American Enterprise: Political Fashion Can Hurt, Even Kill : Just as we were assembling this special issue of The American Enterprise on political correctness, the Associated Press transmitted a story across the nation about the latest fashion in marking tests and homework at public schools. For generations, teachers have corrected answers and offered suggestions in red ink. "But that approach meant the kids often found their work covered in red," the story noted. And some parents objected. "Red writing, they said, was 'stressful.'" So schools have put red on the blacklist.
What are schools thinking? Red corrections worked for me. My self-esteem is my own problem, by the way. Plus self-respect is earned, not given. And self-esteem is a meaningless concept, psychobabble. Maybe I needed more red ink - I love incomplete sentences.
Does Al Libbi Matter? Some say not. Make up your own mind. Zarquawi Letter: Sounds discouraged. Text here. WaPo poll on "nuclear option" here. But who cares? Polls aren't elections. They aren't even news. They are filler, just like here.
Wednesday, May 11. 2005
The Battle in Iraq Here and here and here. Zarqawi may be dead.
Delay Won't Go Delay is a tough SOB and no lefty cabal will drive him away. The story is already old. But if you need info on who takes these lobbyist junkets, here it is, FYI, Nancy Pelosi: Surprise! And here's the $ comparison: Dems win again! We're not saying these trips are bad. We don't know. We just don't like the pious hypocrisy.
One Year Ago The MSM priorities: (Courtesy of Cox and Forkum)
Dean supports Sanders for Senate. Oh, man. Get real, Vermont. Can Air America Fly on One Wing? The latest on this donor-supported broadcaster. AARP is in in big trouble with me. A classic example of what Bird Dog wrote about last week - non-profits taking in dues and ignoring your wishes at HQ in DC. Their chief lobbyist here. These things deserve to be scandals. Taking Putin for a Ride, #2 Welch in Reason: "For nearly 15 years, anxious Russologists like Thomas L. Friedman have urged Washington to ignore the security pleadings of the "buffer states," treat Moscow with the deference it craves, and above all else avoid waking up the sleeping bear. Bush has decisively thrown that advice into the dustbin of history. For the moment, at least, it looks like Bush was right." Read entire. Behind the "Get Delay" movement: WSJ names the Leftist organizations here. Dick Morris Predicts Condi vs Hillary. I predict that neither will be nominated. Update on Aerospace in Jane's
Big Green Let us fervently hope that the removal of the fascistic politically-correct speech codes at Dartmouth heralds a shift towards sanity in those hallowed halls of Hanover. I'd support codes of gentlemanly and gentle-lady-like behavior, but not political speech content.
Krauthammer on the Court: "Have that independence and supremacy been abused? Grossly. What other advanced democracy would radically legalize abortion by judicial decree rather than by democratic will expressed through legislatures or referendums? What sane democracy allows four unelected robed eminences in Massachusetts to revolutionize the very definition of marriage, the most ancient institution in society? This is not just deeply undemocratic. It is politically crazy. Democracies work as stable social entities because when people are allowed to settle issues themselves by debate and ballot, they are infinitely more likely to accept the results when they lose. To deny them that participation is to risk instability and threaten social peace." Read entire. Adscam etc.: Good update on Canadian politics and the effect of adscam. Who in Congress Takes the most Junkets? Not Delay. Brawl at NYSE: The playground brawl among the boys from downtown continues at NYSE as lawsuits are filed over the proposed merger with Archipelago Holdings. It looks like John Thain and Goldman Sachs are in bed together again. NYT: "In a suit filed in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, William Higgins, a longtime owner of a seat on the exchange, argued that the terms of the proposed merger - which would grant members 70 percent of the merged company plus about $300,000 a seat - grossly undervalued the exchange. Among the employees who would share in the 5 percent is John A. Thain, the chief executive of the exchange. Goldman Sachs would own more than 5 percent of the shares, according to the terms of the proposed deal. The lawsuit noted that Mr. Thain was president of Goldman Sachs until he became chief of the exchange last year." Entire: Click here: A Big Board Member Sues to Stop Archipelago Merger - New York Times
Tuesday, May 10. 2005
Advice to Bloggers Good post from RWN, who shares his years of blogging experience.
Among other suggestions, he suggests adding one's photo, so I have
dutifully posted my photo to the right.
"Arianna's Blog Blows": According to LA Weekly. Surprised? Dems Slowly Understand Campaign Finance Reform: Yes, it is anti-free-speech. Unconstitutional, too. The solution to free speech is more free speech. Sweden's Immigration Catastrophe: How soon will they become a Muslim theocracy? And now we have the wacko Islamist vote in the UK - thanks, Powerline. Another Good Interview with Brian Anderson. Guess he's on the book tour. Columbia Univ. Senate thinks it's Smarter than US Armed Forces: Damn disappointing, stupid, out-dated, and embarassing. How would they be with Al Quaida recruiting?
Anti-American Mosques in America: LGF is on the story. Joe Klein on Hillary: He thinks she's a bad idea. But he likes her personally. Global Cooling: Cooling could camouflage warming.
Monday, May 9. 2005
Bush Takes Putin for a Ride: Surprising photos.
Humility at the NYT? Drudge mentioned last night that this piece was coming out. The NYT is examining itself. About time. For one thing, they found a serious credibility problem, with only 21% of readers believing "all or most of what they read" in the NYT. Piece here.
Those Evil Christians Dems want to make Christians into the next Commies. It won't work. Somehow I missed the anti-Christian Hootenanny.
Bush's Historic Speech: John at Powerline provides an excellent exegesis of Bush's Saturday speech in Latvia. Freedom is the key. One guote: "To a greater extent than any politician since Churchill, President Bush has set forth and defended his policies in a series of speeches that combine intellectual brilliance and philosophical gravity. Today's speech in Latvia was the latest in this series, and, like the others, it will be studied by historians for centuries to come." Read entire Facts: Two dismal facts I recently stumbled upon: - There is one employee of the US Dept. of Agriculture for every farmer in the US.
- 1/3 of the inmates in federal penitentiaries are illegal immigrants. The Blog Revolution: Gawker Media in the NYT. Despite all of the sarcasm in the NYT article, there is a blog revolution, and Maggie's is pleased to be one small part of it.
Saturday, May 7. 2005
Bloggers: Who are they? Norm at normblog in the UK has interviewed over 50 of them. Debate: Brewton and Prof. Gavin Kennedy debate role of Judeo-Christian values in capitalism. This is high-quality blogging.
Magical Mystery Tour He's back! Iowahawk, that is. From rehab? From jail? From the sanitarium? Or was he just another runaway bride? And with a report of his "tour" of the old USA.
Friday, May 6. 2005
Social Security vs. Savings "Liberals want you to be entirely dependent on the Federal government. Otherwise, you might not have to vote for them." That deserves to be a QQQQ. Excellent summary of the issue by Brewton.
 Sinatra's Arrogance Explained
He was in the mob. See Captain's Quarters. Robert Sheer Exposed By Horowitz, of course. Freakonomics You heard it here second. The new book by Steven Levitt. From Dean Barnett's review: "Levitt graduated Harvard in 1989 summa cum laude and received a Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1994. After becoming a chaired professor at Chicago at the tender age of 35, Levitt recently won the John Bates Clark medal, which is awarded every two years to America's best economist under the age of 40. (The Clark medal is widely viewed as a precursor for an eventual Nobel Prize.)THE ENTIRE PURPOSE OF FREAKONOMICS is to reveal counterintuitive and often unsettling truths. Levitt aims to show the world how it is, not how we wish it were or how the "conventional wisdom" deems it. Levitt knew that exposing such truths would cause no small amount of offense in numerous quarters. In one chapter sure to make enemies, Levitt asks, "What do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?" The answer: Both groups are willing to cheat. I don't want to ruin all the fun and describe how Levitt reaches his almost undebatable conclusion, but one must admire the audacity of a man so willing to stand up to both the teachers' unions and sumo wrestlers." Read entire review. Venezuela Follies Chavez sends troops to protect his oil industry. I can hear the words to his mother: "Mom, when I grow up I want to be just like Fidel." Religion and Politics I believe there is no issue, except pure partisan warfare. New England Patriot has a good piece: "The new liberal talking point is that Republicans, led by conservatives, seek to blur the lines between separation of church and state. Liberal Democrats like Howard Dean and Al Gore have given us a primer on what is ahead in the next election cycle - those who oppose abortion, gay marriage or euthanasia are religious zealots." Read entire. And More on the Subject from Taranto Non-believer Taranto supports the religious right: "One can disagree with religious conservatives on abortion, gay rights, school prayer, creationism and any number of other issues, and still recognize that they have good reason to feel disfranchised. This isn't the same as the oft-heard complaint of "anti-Christian bigotry," which is at best imprecise, since American Christians are all over the map politically. But those who hold traditionalist views have been shut out of the democratic process by a series of court decisions that, based on constitutional reasoning ranging from plausible to ludicrous, declared the preferred policies of the secular left the law of the land." Read entire interesting piece. - and the companion anti- piece by Hitchins.
Thursday, May 5. 2005
Free Toby...I mean Save Toby This is dumb. But Toby will die, unless... Cinco de Mayo Daily Demarche tells us what this celebration commemorates.
Dartmouth Insurgents: The ongoing excitement. What Next for Britain's Tories?: Wheatcroft in WSJ. Piling on Jane Christensen: The holocaust-denying History Prof who teaches that 9-11 was done by Zionists. Hey - tenure doesn't protect you from criticism or mockery. New Pope "too Catholic," says Media: Just found this. A Sad Day for Texas: State bans sexy cheerleading. Lighten up, people. Iraq: I don't post much on Iraq. War's over, good guys won. They have the first elected government in their history. But Instapundit is on Al Quaida's current woes. Seems like their only remaining boosters are in the American Left, all 14 of them. Bob Herbert: Powerline is on the job, exploring Bob Herbert's hearsay-based smear of the US military in Iraq. Look out, Bob. If you rathered the story, ie screwed up your due diligence because of a desire to believe, John will call you on it, big time. More on the Great Horowitz: David H. is doing a great service for all of us. He is a man on a mission, and his Academic Bill of Rights has been effective in smoking out the covert fascists and the latent fascism among the academic Left. Here. Pelosi Hypocrisy: Captain's Quarters also on the job, as usual. Guess what, Delay isn't the only sleaze in DC - big surprise. More Frank-Bashing: We enjoy making sport of Thomas Frank, and so does Mac Johnson - who does a better job of it than we do. But then again, he is such an easy target, it almost feels cruel.
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