The Samaritan Report

When Sheer Obviousness Kicks In

2008-04-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

I've had conversations with fellow students who try to justify any and all actions undertaken by FARC, presumably because they've been taught by the ministries of truth that FARC ain't no terrorist organization. Wrong. This terrorist group attempted as recently as six years ago to assassinate Uribe.

Even while Muslim leaders in Britain literally call for "jihad" to transform the nation into a Sharia state, our Defense Department is explicitly forbidden from recognizing this explicitly communicated goal. Perhaps they should listen to guys who understand the complexities of 21st-century counter terrorism, as opposed to those clueless Europeans.

Victor Comras lays the blame for high oil prices at the feet of speculators, and Bill West foresees a conflict in the near future between gov't and the airline industry.

Why is justice in such short supply these days? Ray Dirks got his just in time, Paul Wolfowitz' came only after his resignation, and prosecutorial abuse in the Enron case is only now coming to light.

Retired Idaho state senator Larrey Anderson calls out Anthropogenic Climate Change for what is really is - "redefining Western economics and culture." He's not wrong - Earth Day is all about destroying capitalism - even Al Qaeda is joining the party!

And Miss Malkin brings news: we're winning, they're losing.

Some Post-Penn Postulating

2008-04-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Wow. Just when one mighta been thinking Pelosi's said and done it all, out she comes with something else! This has made enough rounds that even Rush decries the Ministries of Truths' "misquote" excuse, saying quite plainly that barring the fact she made it up, "she's got a new religion that she hasn't told us about and she's just calling it Christianity." Indeed. Jim Hoft notes this is the eighth time she's used that made-up Biblical verse in the past four years. Unless she'd been a scribe at some point in her life, what's up with this?:

"To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us"?

Paul Mirengoff takes down a WaPo hit piece on McCain's tax rate cut stances, arguing that:

John McCain may not be a whiz on economics (neither is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton) but he's intelligent enough to understand that the following two decisions -- (1) whether to support legislation that will lower tax rates in 2001 and (2) whether to support legislation that will raise tax rates in 2008 -- are independent ones. In other words, raising tax rates is not the same thing as lowering them, and the economic environment in 2008 is not the same as the economic environment in 2001.
Some politicians favor virtually every tax cut; others always oppose cuts, at least for people who are economically well off. McCain, as is typical, falls in neither camp. Throughout his time in public life, he has supported some tax cuts and opposed others. Even Weisman acknowledges as much, though you need to read a long way to see it. And the minute one recognizes these simple matters of fact, logic, and economics, the Post's claim that "McCain offers tax policies he once opposed" becomes vacuous, and Weisman's anti-McCain hit piece loses its force.

An Obama campaign slogan was "Judgment to Lead." But don't question his judgment! That's just a "distraction." Right. Because bad judgments are distractions from good judgments. And when the bad outweighs the good, count on a good four years of a distracted President. On that note here's a nice article from Human Events featuring all of Obama's socialist supporters.

Miss Malkin's got commentary on the latest outrageous enviro-nitwitism.

Ace has an interesting reaction to the concept of Vulgar Marxism. But I think he underestimates Obama, and the Christian community should be wary of the Dem party trying to latch on to its vote, much as it has done in the past with the blacks, white-collars and anti-semites (note to DNC: ain't gonna happen this time around!).

Newt's Newest Tune a Noggin-Scratcher

2008-04-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Some of y'all might have seen this:
Michelle's reaction:

I thought the Robertson/Sharpton pairing was going to be bad, but it’s nothing compared to these two stiffs on a couch peddling eco-alarmism. There was a time when Newt Gingrich and the Beltway GOP establishment could be counted on to defend free market environmentalism, property rights, and rational cost-benefit analyses. No more.

Allapundit differs:

He’s been all for market solutions in his most high-profile statements on this subject in the past and, judging from his website
, still is. Watch this snippet from his debate with Kerry last year to see what he prescribes for inducing developing nations towards conservation. Al Gore clutching Hu Jintao’s sleeve and whimpering “please?” with tears in his eyes doesn’t factor in.

Gingrinch responds to the many complaints in "Why I Took Part":

Many of you have written to me to ask why I recently taped an advertisement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for The Alliance for Climate Protection, a group founded by former Vice President Al Gore.
I completely understand why many of you would have questions about this, so I want to take this opportunity to explain my reasons. First of all, I want to be clear: I don't think that we have conclusive proof of global warming. And I don't think we have conclusive proof that humans are at the center of it.
But here's what we do know. There is an important debate going on right now over the right energy policy, the right environmental policy, and making sure we do the right things for our future and the future of our children and grandchildren. Conservatives are missing from this debate, and I think that's a mistake. When it comes to preserving our environment for future generations, we can't have a slogan of "Just yell no!"
I have a different view. I think it's important to be on the stage, to engage in the debate, and to communicate our position clearly. There is a big difference between left-wing environmentalism that wants higher taxes, bigger government, more bureaucracy, more regulation, more red tape, and more litigation and a Green Conservatism that wants to use science, technology, innovation, entrepreneurs, and prizes to find a way to creatively invent the kind of environmental future we all want to live in. Unless we start making the case for the latter, we're going to get the former. That's why I took part in the ad.

Okay, so do I have a beef? It sounds like Gingrich is trying to pass off his ad as "good intentions." I'm not sure how Limbaugh would respond to that (I guess we'll find out soon), but that just might not cut it with the rest of us conservatives. In the ad he explicitly asks us to "demand action from our leaders." I believe it was Ronald Reagan who said (in his first inaugural address) who asked us to not look to our government for all the solutions. It is in this that I think Newt gravely erred in this ad since his actual intentions as he claims them to be are not presented sufficiently.

I believe Mr. Gingrich is making one other mistake as well. He is of the mind that rejecting the Anthropogenic Climate Change movement is akin to Barry voting "no" on Civil Rights, arguably causing conservatism to miss that bandwagon for at least a decade, if not ever since. However, ACG may be a mere fad. If Newt really believes there is a powerful "conservative" way to address catastrophic human-induced climate change, there are better ways of communicating that perspective than through this ad.

And finally, the number one reason not to do the climate change cult...AQ is a dues-paying member.

Throwing Caution to the Winds of Time and Change

2008-04-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

From Cathy Glick's "Fear of Democracy" we should gather that hate speech is still free speech. Incitement is entirely another thing altogether, and the worrisome part here are the UN-HRC members who get to decide it. The UN worked well in the Cold War era, but it has long overstayed its welcome.

Great - the Barbary wars are back!

You stay classy, Bill Cope!

D'you know what? I've decided John Yoo's one of my heroes.

Military Affairs Associate Director Sean Osborne of the Northeast Intelligence Network explains the crux of the Long War on Terror.

My dear, good friend Yoni, you were a good roommate and a good man, but on a crucial issue you are so, so very wrong:

"I expect the Jihadi influence to spread after the Americans’ exit from Iraq, and to move towards Jerusalem." - Zawahiri

I'm pretty sure this is just ho-hum to the high-mighty UN-HRC.

In light of the FISA fiasco, this is a pleasure to read:

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee head Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., charged that "the Bush Administration is violating the law" because the Interior Department missed a deadline on whether to add polar bears to the endangered species list.

One of Charles Johnson's lizards notes an sfgate article in which the "AP tries desperately to stir up some kind of scandal about McCain's wife's finances, but flops spectacularly":

AP really scrapes the bottom of the barrel in trying to come up with something scandalous involving McCain and his wife Cindy; but, sadly for AP, there's nothing really there worth getting worked up about. The best they can do is dredge up a 1982 investigation (when he first started politics) in which he was exonerated of any conflict-of-interest.

I can almost feel the frustration on the part of these moonbat journalists. They so want McCain to have skeletons in his closet, but they can't seem to find a single one. So -- McCain's wife is rich. Is that news? Most Senators in the US (including most Democrats) are fabulously wealthy. And because of a pre-nuptial agreement, McCain himself has no connection to or ownership of any of his wife's finances. On his own, not counting her assets, he's actually one of the poorest Senators.

Sorry, AP, you're biting on granite here.

Introducing Howard Zinn, all-American arsehole.

A cell phone projector? Okay, I'll admit, I'm impressed!

Does Islam give the ok to adultery? Haji Murad says yes.

Walid Shoebat recounts the indoctrination in his youth.

Rezko's lawyer attempts to help him by exposing more corruption in Chicago. But I don't get how a corrupt witness testifying against a corrupt defendant is supposed to help the latter. Seriously, is anyone surprised that Chicago brims with financial cock-ups? Not so much a city of Robin Hoods as Robbing 'Hoods.

Vestiges of a decomposing Cold War from a Canadian perspective.

Another "work accident" in the territories. Exit question: "mysterious" or "ambiguous?"

Well, I think Osborne (mentioned above) would have a field day with this election report from France.

See, I told you so: Kevin Rudd puts earwax in mouth, gets elected. Same Rudd playfully salutes the POTUS, gets bad press. The "I told you so" part involves the fact that Rudd like his predecessor, is still unabashedly pro-American, and in all likelihood'll be a real pal of the next POTUS, John McCain.

Today, Hamas attempted (and failed) to assassinate a Israeli state official
. In the meantime, Hiz B'Allah is making air traffic nervous. And given recent events, Israel has begun to install automated machine guns along the Gaza border. This opens up a whole new dimension to the dilemma. In the meantime, elite unit 669 gets its first Arab female recruit.

The Washington Post has chosen to embed with the enemy. Never before in history has our media presented a bigger threat to our national security. Is it just me or is journalistic negligence utterly rampant?

Quote of the Day: "Let's be friends, guys>" - Vladimir Putin.

In the hypocrisy of the day, the U.S. is sending aid to Egypt to monitor the Gaza border.

Historically, the FRB has thrown itself behind Democrat candidates. This year will be no different.

Gee, I guess the first amendment doesn't apply to states.

Y'know, I'm not a greenie, but I appreciate a good thing when I see it. ;-)

In related hypocrisy, Zawahiri opines that civilian massacres and collateral are okay when AQ does it - but not Hamas!

Looks like Israel's starting to know what it's like when the fourth estate becomes the fifth column.

Hillary pulls a Goolsbee with Columbia. Neither Democrat candidate, it is apparent, can be trusted with economic trade. They tell constituents they're anti-free trade, and go around secretly doing the opposite. That's just wrong.

Here's a hoodie that Obama certainly will never wear.

Here's the latest NIE that'll not be in the NYT tomorrow!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember the last time an American was jailed for flag-waving.

Probably the best measure of how Palis and Israelis treat each other can be discerned from their respective treatment of sea turtles.

Violence occurs at the much-publicized anti-violence student rally in Chicago.

"Zero-Tolerance" is a disastrous policy.

NoKo, all ready suffering from a meth problem and a food shortage, faced a women's right rally. Speaking of which, the artificial ethanol craze is hurting the commodities market, which, given the U.S.'s strong share of agribusiness, could spill over into a global dilemma.

Trinity of the Righteous Times

2008-04-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

I hope my previous post was a good summation to keep y'all in the know concerning the plight of territory-based Palestinians. But I've decided I'm all but about ready to give up on eliminating antisemitism from the elite college campus. You heard me right - and if Buckley can knock anti-Semites out of the Republican party through a magazine, why can't the left half of the political spectrum shove Jew-hatred out of Case Western and Harvard?

Chertoff is suddenly tough on border enforcement.

Dr. Farish A. Noor writes of growing dissatisfaction of sharia in Malaysia.

Debbie Schlussel uncovers something that should worry everyone.

Deroy Murdock makes the case against Sharia-Compliant Financing.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has its latest press release on the building of Fallujah’s first central sewage treatment facility. You see, people who put down their morning papers are far more attuned to the realities in Iraq than are those who stick their noses in the daily Pinch garbage dispenser.

Here's a retch-worthy CNN puff-piece.

How's this for a humor filler: Obama buys more votes.

This just in: terror blast at bus station in Nepal for election run-up. Something we just don't get here.

Dinesh D'souza continues to impress.

Obama just said he's not in favor of concealed weapons. Okay - so I guess security detail for our next President is out the window. Won't do much good when a radical assassinates the apostate after Friday services.

Next: NASA astronauts to start using zero-gravity pencils!

Amir Peretz should have learned that from the moment his binocular lenses were covered, so should too his mouth.

As of this point, Democrat really have to stop whining about GOP 527s.

Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey needs to be reviewed to be believed.

In all our zeal over Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, let us not forget the battle against political Islamist forces being waged in India and central Asia.

Though I'm not all gung-ho for alternative fuels, I do take pride when Boeing flies a hydrogen-powered plane, and when efficiently practical methods devised to power hydrogen cars are explored But I digress on the issue of true nutballs.

I linked to Qadaffi's schpiel in my previous post, and now I present rebuttal from Khudayr Taher.

For those strongly against revisionism, here's the low-down on 1850s Jerusalem Jewry.

Also in my previous post, I referenced the anti-Christianity prevalent in Sudan and the Palestinian territories. Now I bring forth Pakistan and, wouldya believe it, our own US of A.

Eh...not a sure-fire way to attract a large atheist population, but Obama and Gore minions might find comfort in Austria.

Some words from a writer in Iran on the Mullah's two faves: Carter and Obama.

The one city more corrupt that Chicago is finally exposed.

Oh, I'm sorry, did you want an illegal wiretap scandal. Okay then - I'll give you one.

Howard Veit explains why the mainstream press is losing ad revenue and why Europe is getting its balls back.

And here's Howard on "market reform":

The Democrats will kill the new Treasury Proposals and an ignorant public and a media that hates Republicans will support them. The Democrats are literally in the pocket with CFTC regulated markets (commodities) and will tolerate nothing that might stop their gravy train, meaning the farm states continue to be the recipients of the biggest welfare handouts on the books (Iowa is virtually a client state). The Democrats are also for more regulation, meaning the government will oversee markets so much that we are liable to lose our place as the financial capital of the world. This is an election year and look for the biggest two bums in the Democratic Party: Charles Schumer (NY) and John Dingell (IL) to be spouting off on TV this AM. Dingell in particular is a pretentious menace. He is either stupid (very unlikely) or just one more bribe taking politician. This will be all about turf and corporate (agribusiness manufacturing, etc.) interests getting more and more government "help." This along with almost forcing companies to accept unionization, compulsory dues to unions, and new taxes.

BTW: the BS regarding capital gains is just that: BS. The truth is that the imposition of the Alternate Minimum Tax (ATM) rules on cap gains mean that most taxes on capital gains hover around 23%. The Republicans sat on their asses in Congress and did nothing (what?) for eight years and cap gains inertia and failure to reform the odious ATM are simply another couple of reasons that they are being thrown out on their asses. When history is writ you will find that Republicans killed capitalism. They are just plain bums.

More on the Democrat love affair with commodities, and Dr. Sanity throws the media into the mix with its "economic hallucinosis."

Burning midnight oil in NY: Once again, the state legislature is going to be passing budget bills in the middle of the night, and taxpayers will feel the burn once the new taxes and fees hit home.

Indeed - compare, for example Los Angeles and Japan. I recommend readers read Geoff Colvin's take on taxes. And Mike Volpe schools Barney Frank and the Dem POTUS candidates.

Coulter arguably flattens the Obama candidancy with this book review, while Nina May smacks down his Philly speech. And slowly, but surely, the Rezko trial is slowly creeping ever closer to Obama.

Today's slowly evolving revolt against Blagojevich is highly amusing. Cellini and Peters and Levine slowly cave while the Rezko connection magnifies. Blagojevich is facing a downfall. This whole thing is bigger than most realize. This extends to voter fraud in MO and the NYC Council Speaker.

Rush asks listeners to focus on liberal ignorance of historical American economic liberties.

Julian Krasta talks foreign policy, Tom Blumer delivers a blow to social security, and Newt Gingrich displays traditional conservatism.

Gore's antidepressant is expiring.

Did you hear that? Taxation doesn't lead to Kyoto. But even with the discovery of Bakken (#4), and the Wyoming governor is endorsing Obama (#6) because neither wants to drill for the portion of the formation in that state.

Moreover, Rush deciphers the reality of Obama, as does Rove:

Have you gotten to know Hillary or Barack to any degree?
Yes, I have.

What have been your dealings with them?
Well, you know, I used to have her office at the White House. And I got to know [Obama] because we have a mutual friend, Ken Mehlman, who was his law-school classmate at Harvard. And so as a result, whenever in the last three years he's been around at the White House, I've gotten to see him, and we sort of would hang around and chitchat about things. I'm actually in his book. He wrote that "people like Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay, Ralph Reed, and Karl Rove say we are a Christian nation." And I did not say that. I confronted him about it. At the White House.

And what did he say?
Well, first he denied that I was in the book! And then he denied that it said that I said that it was a Christian nation. And then when I pulled out the thing [he had a copy of the offensive page with him] and showed it to him, he sort of blah-blah-blah-blah-blah- blah-blah. And I thought, That's who he is. I mean, look, he may claim that he's for a different kind of politics, but that was a cheap shot. And I'm not certain if any of the four said it either. But it was like, you know, Let's just strap it in there and see if it goes someplace. Another example: Him saying, "We honor John McCain for his fifty years of service" was a cheap shot. He was going out of his way to say John McCain's old.

Certain Reservations, Bar None

2008-04-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

Planned Parenthood has accepted money to abort Black babies. Don't read too much into this. It's exactly as it sounds, euthanasia with a smiley face and a side dose of racism. And a terror gang plotted to blow up transatlantic airlines with liquid bombs, as heard in court. No, this is not gov't making up a case to crack down on our individual liberties. This is terrorism that would have rivaled previous acts if successful. Qaddhafi’s version of the origin of America, NATO, Iran and the Ummah. They say a fool is a man who cannot shet his trap. He's a smug fit for that description. The plight of terrorized Sudan Christians is ignored. Two million Sudanese Christians died as a result of the 05 war. Yes – that’s two with six zeros. Meanwhile, a Christian cemetery in Shechem (Hebron) was desecrated. Well, lives in Sudan, property in territories – par for the course.

Muslims are converting from Islam in droves, and
the decline in Palestinian Arab fertility should matter, particularly as Jewish refugees’ assets are double their counterparts’ and Arab nations are being stingy with their pledges to PA.

In true Pallywood style, a German news agency pays Arabs to riot. After Condi forced the IDF to loosen some checkpoint security, the latter encountered and eliminated six armed militants. Hamas is hiding weapons under UNRWA schools, and its new Iranian mortars are more deadly than the Qassams.

In the meantime, Czechs support Israel joining NATO, and Australia to Continue to Support Israel at UN.

The Midnight Train

2008-04-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

Democrat voters must be very happy. The guy who's currently winning the popular vote (largely due to Cook County and the absence of Florida and Michigan) also might get more superdelegates. The catch that goes with "change we can believe in": Because he can dish out more money.

Looks like the Supreme Court doesn't want to get involved in the Legislative-Executive tug of war, even when doing so endangers foul play. Here's a memo to the Supremes: a lower court decided it could have a say in federal affairs by striking down an even lower court's decision to limit corruption. You guys can do the right thing. Meantime, you just sent Legislators a message that they can get away with shit without much apprehension. Great job.

A lot of people are starting to notice the Arrogance of Obama. He'd previously described Wright as "mentor," "spiritual adviser," "moral compass" and "sounding board." But on The View:

"I feel badly that he has been characterized in just this one way. But he was my pastor. I think people overstate this idea of mentor or spiritual adviser. He was my pastor."

An AT contributor writes:

The real question is, why do major NATO powers such as Germany oppose NATO expansion into Tbilisi and Kyiv? The answer is simple and extremely short sighted. Several West European powers have sold their souls to Russia to make sure that they can get a steady supply of oil.

While Russia may have a different mindset from European democracies, and the Russian people whom I have met overseas do not really want a Western style democracy, the fact of the matter is that Russia should not be allowed to interfere in NATO decisions. And Gazprom, the Russian State oil company, has proven itself to be an unreliable trading partner. Gazprom has threatened to shut off supplies to not only The Ukraine and West Europe, but has also threatened the same with its own allies like Belarus. With friends like Putin and Gazprom, who needs enemies?

As many of you know, a storm of controversy has been ignited by Obama calling unplanned teen pregnancies "punishments." Even the Washington Post has dug through Obama's past. Of course, at issue on this is the next couple of Supreme Court Justices, and the fact that every child born after the mid-70s can look their parent in the eye and know that they could have been that constitutionally aborted fetus, which might explain the possible upsurge in pro-lifers.

We can still take advantage of Germany acting the hypocrite.

Not Saying That I Agree With This, But...

2008-03-31T21:53:00.000-07:00

Aprils Fools STILL Just Around The Corner...

2008-03-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

In something far to neat-o to be ignored-o, Snarky Bastard "Tom" has hit his head on a rock and incurred a revelation: Obama is the Dem's Kwisatz Haderach.

"He's the token black. He mouths gauzy inspirational platitudes. He can electrify an audience. He's...Black Vulcan!":

Democrat-leaning voters might want to reconsider the claim that their party is the party of the "little guy."

An excellent post over at American Thinker ought to dispell incorrent notions of America an an intentionally vile imperialist machine.

INCREDIBLE: just as Wolfowitz was vindicated, so too might appear to be the case with the Enron "scandal."

Oh, some things in life just don't stop getting better. Not only does Obama have the support of stark-raving-mad anti-Semites, he's got the French socialist vote as well!

The Start of More to Come

2008-03-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

This is great: a liberal Chicago black liberation lawyer talks about a Clinton “character gap.” Yeah. That’ll work.

The juiciest number of the day: U.S. contributions to UNRWA for '08 is nearly $150 million, just six million short of last year's total. A hell of a lot of good that's doing!

Michael J. Totten has a good piece in which he relates Kosovo's status as "Israel of the Balkans."

The Integrity Cage Match

2008-03-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

In order that the Holocaust is not repeated, its survivors need to tell their stories - and they need the full resources at their disposal in order to do so. Any less is a perversion of, or at worst a will to repeat, history.

Europe is at last full of an unseemly mix of internationalists and political Islam apologists - and they may find they're not good bedfellows.

At the very least, even though it's taking a different method to confront terrorists (namely, diplomatic capitulation to tribal leaders, which changes much of the dynamic along the Pakistan-Afghanistan war), the Pakistani government is making some headway.

And hey, here's a few people's parting shots at Eliot Spitzer.

This story of the Hamas manifesto published by Obama's Trinity Church has been getting plenty of traction these days, as it particularly should for the Jewish community. New details on this emerge every day.

The MSM never ceases to amaze me. Power Line's Scott Johnson absolutely rips into the BBC, and Charles Johnson catches the BBC once again in the act of performing its usual Ministry of Truth tactics. Rosslyn Smith dissects how the media will be expected to treat McCain into the general season. Patterico also takes on the latest LATimes hit job on the Maverick.

Easter-Time Hoedown!

2008-03-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

The Marijuana issue might come to a head before long, at least once the basic arguments are fleshed out. Of course, the complexities of the issue are probably what make Obama so nervous about taking a firm stance on the issue. New Politics. Heh. Some still wonder if Obama has got this Wright thing under control. In fact, it sees that the Dem party's gotten worse and worse at nominating men of convictions. Rand Simberg, for one, has finally had it with John Kerry.

Oh, and take note: if our government were only a little bigger, and Wright only a little more of a fanatic, we'd have this.

And the Spitzer thing ain't over. Charles Johnson caught the AFP labeling the governor, now that he's a known wrongdoer (or so I'm imagining is their excuse), a Republican. The AFP, whether it was purposeful or just a reflex, immediately corrected itself. Charles also noted the excquisite timing of Spitzer's bad-assery. He's getting curiouser and curiouser or more and more obvious. That said, the transition isn't going smooth, either.

And this week has seen a lot of weird weather in the U.S. Hail in Los Angeles. A tornado in the ATL. And now, floods right down the middle.

Now that McCain's the obvious Republican choice while the Dems will battle it out until the convention, Paul Mirengoff suggests the Maverick kick an economic advisory into high gear asap.

More evidence that a bastion of crapola can be found within the UC system.

For those fellow Jews who are not yet convinced that McCain is a better preference than is Obama on our one common issue, well...just click on those hyperlinks.

Former candidate Sharpton's trying to do a favor for the childlike Obama by not endorsing him even when explicitly asked for one by pulling a leaf out of Limbaugh's book of presidential election campaigning.

Yeah, um... Anti-semitic. Blood libel. In Russia.

Here's what happens in the sharia-laden Saudi kingdom.

84% of Palestinians supported the slaughter at the Yeshiva. And Dick Cheney just now had the gall to say: "“Terror and violence do not merely kill innocent civilians, they also kill the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people." Charles Johnson appropriately notes that

“Terror and violence” are “the hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

If someone wants to contest this notion, then I'd like to see the evidence.

In a vote that caused global sighs of relief, Taiwan chose not to piss of China any more than it all ready is, what with the Olympic boycotts and Tibet stuff and all.

And finally, here's a reality check on nation of dwindling hopes: NoKo.

The Soft Approach

2008-03-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Oh, I just love the '08 Democrat primaries! What could be better than the Clinton campaign calling Richardson Judas over Easter! Hah!

The Obama has a strange attraction to anti-Semitism. And no, I cannot explain it, I'll need a volunteer (Yoni, you there?). 'Twas Powers, then Wright, now McPeak. Speak up, Obama, or stay the hell away from the White House!

Another crop of military-hating hippies crops up again in the usual places.

When the passport story came out, the Obama campaign thought it nabbed a bombshell. Well, not so much.

And in addition, I haven't ever seen a film treated with as much opprobium.

Spelling Out the Cost of Selling Out

2008-03-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

First, here's info on black liberation theology's negative reception.

Now, as we're all aware Obama gave a big speech a few nights ago. That most obvious lie encountered amidst the platitudes aside, Ed Morrissey notes the narrowness of Barack's intended audience and Allahpundit offers his own original viewpoint, upon which Ace comments while gathering other opinions. Paul Mirengoff presents the central dilemma of the liberal mentality:

By peddling a mind-set of victimization and by failing to support meaningful education reform out of deference to teachers’ unions, the Obamas, like nearly all modern-day liberals, represent the problem, not the solution.

Paul additionally notes it's up to voters whether they can stomach the Obama-Wright package, and asserts this association is problematic for Obama.

Jim Hoft has, meanwhile, approached a number of angles. He takes down the apologists, notes Obama's shameful grasp of history and later shock at the reaction and his ever-changing opinions of Wright, and finally learns the media on fair coverage.

Of course, there's so much criticism to offer here, so I'll do my best. Jim Geraghty wonders why Obama knew of Wright's rhetoric and still brought his daughters. Charles Krauthammer calls the speech fraudulent. Shelby Steele calls the speech another part of the "Obama Bargain" and Limbaugh claims it was a Rorschach test designed to intimidated the media. To IBD, Obama used the speech to change the subject, while to Scott Ott Obama was calling for racial unity to overcome capitalism. What confuses some is Obama's cluelessness concerning Rezko simultaneous with his willingness to embrace Wright. Some say we should be suspicious of Obama's mentality, others say of his past, and still others of his authenticity. The latter is truly a sticking point for some.

Still others were unhappy about Obama's comments and later follow-up regarding his grandmother.

And yet, quite unfortunately, commentary wasn't devoid of raves.

Wright Before That Speech

2008-03-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

Whew! So, we've a lot on which to catch up. Let us examine some reactions to Wrightgate from before Obama's speech.

We will start with some commentary from Paul Mirengoff:

Wright has been Obama's pastor for 20 years. He married Obama and his wife Michelle, baptized their two daughters and is credited by Obama for the title of his book, The Audacity of Hope. Obama says he was not at the church on the day Wright blamed America for 9/11. "It sounds like he was trying to be provocative," is the best Obama can offer on this one.
[snip]
Wright isn't just someone with whom Obama is friendly. To criticize Obama for having friends with controversial, or even abhorrent, views would constitute guilt by association. But Wright is Obama's spiritual leader. To be sure, no thinking person always agrees with his minister, priest, or rabbi on political and social issues. But it's unusual for a thinking person to retain an affiliation with a church whose leader attacks his country unless, at a minimum, that person considers those attacks not "particularly controversial."
Obama should explain why he retained his apparently close affiliation with Wright and his church in more persuasive terms than he has to date. Otherwise, I think it's reasonable to draw adverse inferences based on that affiliation, including the inference that Obama doesn't quite measure up as a "post-racial" figure.

After reacting to Obama's lame defense of the pastor, Paul goes on to conclude that:

In sum, Barack Obama's close and longstanding affiliation with Wright and his church probably does tell us something important about the man. It doesn't tell us that he agrees with Wright's most extreme ravings, but it suggests that Obama is enough of a leftist to be attracted to, and comfortable at, a place where Wright's most extreme views, though controversial and provocative, are not outrageous.

And perhaps readers who might consider supporting Obama in the general would do well to consider the contents of the first sermon Obama heard from Wright that compelled the title of Obama's memoir. And it should come a shock to no one that the mainstreamed press did its utmost to flatten reaction to Wright, even before Obama's speech. What went on behind the scenes in the media is quite eye-catching!

The No-Pigment Curse

2008-03-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Vogue's guilty of original sin?

Dear Moscow...

2008-03-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

A Jupiter move under the radar that can affect the world power system in ways unseen since the Reagan era. Ed Morrissey reports.

Conveyed The Due Credit

2008-03-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the sexiest conflict in the world, and everybody wants to be involved.” So said Israel FM Tzipi Livni. Why? Because "before the IDF attacks Qassam workshops or warehouses it distributes flyers asking the residents to evacuate the area. But Hamas exploits the flyers and places small children on the rooftops in order to foil the attacks. And thus because of this trick the IDF is forced to halt many such bombings at the last moment...We are working with our hands tied because of all these laws and because we are part of the free world and because this is part of our values."

Credit should still be given where it's due, especially when Israel does something rare like avoid civilian casualties. Palestinians still explode bombs in their hands and bury themselves alive during smuggling runs. And these are just the reported cases! Meanwhile, two out of every five Mauritanians are slaves. Some might call that a monstrous crime.

Now, what is big government? Rush explains that Texans and Californians have learned the hard way concerning traffic law in the former and gasoline in the latter. But Rush seems to think it also applies to water rates in the south, applying it to conservation rather than the more likely and most obvious culprit, the drought.

All Hands Below Deck

2008-03-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

An Israeli Arab went on a total rampage, and now the mastermind has been fully brought to justice.

I hope the GOP knows what the hell it's doing concerning the location of its convention. That said, I think the Denver one for the Democrats is just gonna be hilarious. Nonetheless, they need to keep an eye on these guys.

Mama Clinton, cheerleader.

The foreign policy jist: Rice'll be chillin' with Medvedev's diplos tomorrow about Putin's demands for a drawdown of European missile defense. Other than that, favoring Russia over Georgia and Ukraine to back up Pakistani overflights on which we rely for communication with Afghan deployments is NATO's likely preference.

Don't be surprised when those student protests in Iran become full-out revolution.

Good God! First we got the NRSC putting up Keyes against Obama and then flubbing a chance to contest Mark Pryor's AK seat. Now, not only did the NRCC once again fail to seat Oberweis in Hastert's place, they got a scandal going at the link. Is Pelosi still fair game?

It finally comes out that the House Dems not only warped FISA to placate their trial lawyer buddies, but also to placate their constituencies.

Michelle O, Uncut and Revisited

2008-03-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

I figure what with Obama having to let Wright and Powers off the hook, and getting his nose mixed up with Underground Weather and the Rezko trials, it's time to review the other personnel of Obama policy, Obama's wife:

America is a nation divided, yet not devoid of cynics, sloths, complacents, "just downright mean," "guided by fear," “just jammed up, and it’s gotten worse over my lifetime. And, doggone it, I’m young. Forty-four!”

"What I notice about men, all men, is that their order is me, my family, God is in there somewhere, but me is first. ... And, for women, me is fourth, and that's not healthy." - Kind of stupid when Hall of Fame Bears running back Sayers puts God and family first.

"Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community." - Well that's not a quote; that's the title of her thesis. Relevance? Unavailable at Princeton library through November 5, '08 (until Politico picked it up).

“Let me tell you, don’t get sick in America” - and don't read The New Yorker.

"Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual."

"Every woman that I know...is struggling to keep her head above water."

And of course the golden nugget:
"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country."

Empty Forest, No Megaphone

2008-03-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

So many talk of the "end" of conservatism, whatever that means, as a result of WFB's passing. But this is the press at work that as usual gets ideological dividends from democrats telling us in Hitlerian fashion that Conservatives are disintegrating. Who after all wants to side with a non-underdog minority?

But maybe, this election season, it's the Democrats who're really splintering.

David Weidner of MarketWatch opines:

"It's the editors and reporters who stepped out of their roles when it came to making Spitzer too good to be true. Big papers dutifully leaked embarrassing details about Spitzer's targets, generated by the attorney general's office, while protecting the source of the information. In most cases, reporters put careerism ahead of fairness or, at least, questioning the tactics of one of the state's leading law-enforcement officials.
At the height of his power, Spitzer was in control, and instead of challenging him, the media was part of his machine."

It appears that due to the Wright Wrevelations, the real Obama has stood up.

That's right: Porkorrupt Barack.

Half the Battle

2008-03-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

The Obama infatuation concerns me. He's had to deal with Wright, Powers, Farakkhan, Rezko, Michelle, Underground Weather and Chicago politics. Personnel defines policy. And still Anderson Cooper, diligent in the Lebanon War, yet a vigilante for climate change believes Romney's affiliation with Mormonism (amazingly all these guys let Reid off the hook on this one) is far more pertinent than is Obama's ties with the Trinity Church.

But expect the media to spiral downward in its bottomless pit of cluelessness, as I'll bet even Cooper is incapable of reading in between the lines, to say nothing less of the lines themselves.

I'm not surprised to see the press won't cover the unethical passage of ethics reform in the Pelosi House.

What could be better news to cover right now, after all, than the divulged Saddam-AQ connections. They're as real as this hyperlink.

Great - as if there wasn't enough foreign policy headache to worry over, the Tibetans are once again going head-to-head with China (casualties included).

Ah, now that it's tax time, how about we review Obama's church? Obama accused pointed observations of "God Damn America" as cherry-picking. He then proceeded to aid the United Church of Christ in defending his former pastor. Obama's complacency with Wright's shenanigans is disturbing. A taste:

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people... God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye."
"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost."

Obama cannot pick and choose where his money goes.

Common Sense in Most Welcome

2008-03-14T06:22:00.001-07:00

Never has a House Speaker been more critical than Pelosi's reaction to the fact that

"While the House bill would not grant immunity, it would allow phone companies to present their defense in a closed-door U.S. district court, with the judge given access to confidential documents about the surveillance program."

by saying that

"I think that is the proper way to decide whether they should have immunity or not -- not members of Congress' voting on it."

And now, a special KFI linkfest:
LAUSD School Administrator Charged With Sex Assault Has Been In Trouble Before
Trying to quit smoking? Do some Pot!
Elderly dudes drink way to much. Does this explain the driving?
Infant suffocation is *gasp* preventable!
Almost a fifth of 6th-graders drink. Early prep for Rush.
Hey, Joe (Jax)? You might want to contact your doctor.
Lose some, win some. That's the way of the home video business.
Wikipedia has no business to speak of whatsoever.
Does politics have an effect on cheated spouses?
People say the future is now, but those people are either PR hacks or inherently stupid.
California Republicans show their guts. Took 'em long enough!
Rush is right: watching the Dems' Florida recount in an exercise in exuberance for the GOP.
More evidence of Chicago-style "post-modernism."

Don't Stare, I'm Busy

2008-03-13T22:07:00.001-07:00

The presses, you see, cannot bring themselves to admit Spitzer's guilt (and of course his wives' statements following Monicagate are getting plenty replay in light of all this) largely due to his party affiliation. One LATimes columnist even demanded as a result of this fiasco that prostitution be legalized. Why? Because a Democrat was caught doing it - ergo, it must be ok! I can bet you now that if a Democrat jumped off a cliff tomorrow, expect a gaggle of reporters to be close behind. It is to be, sadly, expected these days.

Speaking of fiascos, Ed Morrissey recounts the Metzenbaum-Doggett debacle concerning the Justice Thomas hearings in light of Metzenbaum's recent death and in the added context of Doggett's well-spoken-of conversion to conservatism. Oh well, happens to everyone at some point...

Ah, far too good to ignore....Rocky Reid said our Founding Fathers were earkmark-o-philes! Eh, Rocky, it's factual history for you on line 3! Well, this is to be expected from the pork-&-tax-loving 110th!

Y'know, I respect Howard a lot, but now he's on the tail of...the Russian Mafia!?

Just So You Knew

2008-03-13T17:35:00.001-07:00

There is no other armed forces that is as afraid of its nation's civilians.

Shots in the Dark

2008-03-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

Jim Hoft notes in the "Client 9" aftermath that Spitzer's a rarity as a Democrat resignee. Then again, he's not in the business of the feds.

Tehran Police Chief Reza "modesty crackdown" Zarei, fond of coffee, walks on the beach and watching women pray in the nude, will be secretly tried after elections as a result of being caught in bed with six soiled doves. "Client 9" on line one for you, Zarei!

Maybe it's time to give that IPCC report a second look.

As the Democrat primaries are being reduced to identity politics, isn't it time for the GOP to have a strategy change?

In case nobody noticed, the "war on drugs" has reached an important climax and the question "where do we go from here?" begs for an answer.

Shocka: our tax money sponsors terrorist propaganda.

And now that Obama has silenced his cat, his bulldog has come out of the pen (or in his case, pulpit).

Lest We Forget....

2008-03-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

The Partially Biased Observations at blogspot remind us of the calls to war with Iraq by Dem leaders in '98 and '02. And the suggestions of AQ-Saddam links go back as far as the Clinton Administration. Also, Bill Ardolino reminds us that press matters.

And Jim Hoft reminds us that speaking on the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children who died as a result of the 90s sanctions against Saddam, Madeleine Albright said "the price is worth it." Meanwhile, Saddam was building up his weapons program while the Oil for Food scandal occurred in plain sight:

Nowhere close to that figure - of children, no less - has been killed as a result of this war, even by ISI and the other insurgent groups.

And maybe it's just me, but Columbia U. must be feeling nausea right about now:

And don't forget that even though the stock market's been feeling it the past two days, the press found it necessary to feed recession fears by highliting that even though February unemployment fell to 4.8%, keeping the Bush average below the Clinton average, the relevant info (to MSM types) was the 63,000 jobs slashed last month. Picky, picky.

What we also forget is that all the far left has to do is convince enough Americans that AQ isn't a bad guy and attacked us for ok reasons, and they'll take total control of the feds no problem. And, guess who'll be celebratin'?

Well, turns out even Samantha Powers admits that just as with NAFTA, Obama cannot be trusted on his Iraq policy. Speaking of NAFTA, the Danish PM is the latest foreign leader to blast the Dem candidates' economic foreign policies.

Pots and Kettles in the Political Spectrum

2008-03-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

Corruption at the EU is utterly rampant.

We've seen underdogma rear its ugly head in many contexts...now, see it in science!

Well, we all knew this would happen one day...CA state senator Lowenthal has apparently decided to introduce a resolution negating an existing law that literally prevents Communist propaganda from being used to advocate overthrowing the government.

And now, UCLA Political Science Associate Professor Michael Ross suggests that in the Middle East it is oil, not Islam, that subjugates women. In his own words in the abstract: "I present evidence that oil, not Islam, is at fault." Quite the useful idiot.

Furthermore, a little editorial thought for the day: are we, in fact, a country of immigrants? Obama seems to think so. And in a way, the answer is no. Unlike a lot of other countries (such as Israel, at least until the last few years), America is not dependent on an inflow of human capital. Sure, a little more is always nice, but immigration needs to rise and ebb, not adapt into a constant stream.

A century ago, William Graham Sumner wrote that "the type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C's interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man."
And in the present day, Charlie Martin provides a historical (half-century) walk-through perspective of health insurance, concluding that "in this mandated universal coverage plan, the government comes and makes me give someone money so it can be distributed to other people, and I don’t have any choice about participating. Where I come from, we call that a 'tax.' Whatever it is, it ain’t insurance." All in all a good read.

Armed with the knowledge that our three contending senators (McCain, Clinton, Obama) are in part Scots-Irish, Rand Simberg reaches a startling conclusion:

There is no "Irish-Catholic half" of the Scots-Irish. Scots-Irish aren't Irish at all. Neither are they Scottish. They were mostly Anglo-Saxon, not Celtic. They were also a violent people with an honor culture, mercenaries from the border area between England and Scotland. As the article notes, they were sent by the English to colonize Ulster, to get them out of Britain after the war between England and Scotland was settled and they had no more need for them. The ones too violent for Ulster were shipped off to America, so they're a double distillation of the most violent culture that the British Isles produced. After they fought (mostly for the South) in the Civil War, many of them headed out west.
People who think that America is too violent blame it on the proliferation of guns. But they confuse cause and effect. We have a lot of guns because we have a lot of Scots-Irish (aka rednecks). But it comes in pretty handy during war time.

HFSC Chairman Barney Frank argues for federal intervention in the housing sector. But when George McGovern, David Mamet and Jeff Jacoby all suggest that government can get too big...then well, just maybe, it's settled that federalism has its particular limits.

A Letter To The Moneymen

2008-03-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

March 6, 2008
President Robert Zoellick
The World Bank
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433

Dear President Zoellick:

As you know, the World Bank is currently operating nine projects in Iran totaling $1.355 billion - including one project in Isfahan, the headquarters of Iran's nuclear program.

On October 25, 2007, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Iran's Bank Melli as a terrorist-financing institution and froze its U.S. assets. The New York Times reported on November 3, 2007 that the World Bank was using Bank Melli as the financial institution to transfer Bank funds to the Government of Iran.

On February 2, 2008, the World Bank's Web site posted:

"Disbursement requests received on World Bank projects in Iran were temporarily delayed in the final months of 2007 because of difficulties in executing through the normal channels as a result of certain banks being placed on sanctions lists. Arrangements have been put in place to ensure disbursements under project agreements are utilizing banking channels that are not subject to sanctions lists."

Over the last several weeks, my office repeatedly asked the World Bank staff to disclose which financial institution replaced Bank Melli as the conduit for World Bank disbursements to Iran. To date, my office has not received an answer. Furthermore, the U.S. Executive Director's office at the World Bank informed me that it has "no access" to this information.

On February 25, 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported:

"Now, financial-intelligence officials say the Iranian central bank, also known as Bank Markazi, is handling U.S.-dollar transactions for the blacklisted private banks, and is also helping them by backing their existing dollar-denominated letters of credit."

This week, the U.N. Security Council passed its third sanctions resolution against Iran. The resolution included the following article:

"10) Calls upon all States to exercise vigilance over the activities of financial institutions in their territories with all banks domiciled in Iran..."

The United States remains the top investor in the World Bank, contributing $950 million in 2006, $940 million in 2007 and another $942 million scheduled for 2008.

As a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations, which funds the U.S. contribution to the World Bank, I would like to know how the Bank will comply with Article 10 of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1803. It would appear the Bank should disclose to its Executive Directors the identities of the financial intermediaries used by Bank staff to transfer funding from the Bank to the Finance Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In addition, 26 members of the United States Senate recently urged the U.S. Government to designate the Central Bank of Iran, Bank Markazi, as a terror-financing institution. Press reports indicate the U.S. Government may take such action. Should this decision be made, I would also ask how and with whom the Bank staff would transfer funds to Iran in a manner that complied with U.S. laws and regulation.

Sincerely,
Mark Steven Kirk
Member of Congress

Meaty and Juicy: The Link-O-Rama!

2008-03-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a kind of cut and run strategy here. We have a word for those who give a half-hearted attempt to willingly discredit someone with little evidence. But why settle for one word when we can get a whole expose?

Some people might not like it, but the recent unfortunate occurrences in Pakistan underscore that if the new Parliament discards the U.S., the latter will have no problem going into Waziristan without permission while strengthening its ties with India.

So, Saddam didn't have WMDs by the time we invaded, hadn't had a hand in 9/11, and wasn't in cahoots with AQ. And still to this day, I feel like asking: "so?"

Speaking of AQ, its fingers are all over a plot against China. I'm sorry but, um, I'd like to hear how this is retaliation for Iraq or anything else the Chinese might have done to piss off the AQ overlords...anyone?

Oh, and all that clas warfare? Definitive bullf*ck. And, very quickly, EISA 2007.

War Games, Special Edition

2008-03-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Breaking the Bread

2008-03-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

We all knew it had to come to this...link-o-rama!

Even with Penraker out of bandwidth, climate science is being exposed for the bureaucratic "ism" it really is. Rand Simberg spots us a guy named Miskolczi who's in big trouble with NASA management for updating an outdated theory. "That would be completely uprecedented in science," Rand notes sarcastically, adding that "climate researchers are always portrayed as objective, noble and selfless, unswayed by the need to maintain their grant funding stream from Big Climate Change."

Always a whistleblowing media watchdog, Michelle Malkin catches the Associated Press in the act of "sweeping claims about a DoD inspector general’s report purporting to tie Dick Cheney and KBR/Halliburton to water-borne illnesses." I tried to summarize it in my own terms. There's no way. Check the link for incredibly catchy details.

OK, so I guess the link-o-rama! will come a bit later, I think what we have in this post is enough of a shocka for some people. Adieu!

Irreconcilable differences

2008-03-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

Over at National Review's "Corner", Jim Manzi supposes that ideological differences between Conservatism and Libertarianism can be improved through a pragmatic fusing of sorts. There's a fundamental reason this is a terrible idea: Those who are to the left on political spectra generally are pragmatic in theory, ideological in practice. Their experiments, begun by Karl Marx and other thinkers, ended with the Holocaust, the Gulags, the Red Guards, etc. Those on the right are ideological in theory, pragmatic in practice. It is for this reason that conservatism, a foundation of thought that moves society ever rightward with net positive consequence, will last indefinitely. And I know I'm right, largely because Liberal Fascism, regardless of ones' opinions, has been flying off the shelves.

Losing A Good Man

2008-03-09T10:48:00.001-07:00

Being a Republican is tough at my alma mater, which shares intellectual property with the UBIT-exempt Carter Center. It is because of this that many college-level Republicans have made the unfortunate transition to RINO status before they're ready for the real world. Such has been the fate of the ECR '07-'08 Attorney General. Reproduced below for your deepest sympathies is his blog post from Feb. 28:

Conservatives for Obama?

With the hot, passionate nights of the Republican primaries over, conservatives all across America are waking up the next morning and asking, “Oh God, what did I do?” First it was Ann Coulter who proclaimed on Hannity & Colmes that she would rather campaign for Hillary than vote for McCain. Libertarian-leaning Republican Andrew Sullivan has leant his unequivocal support to Obama and the anti-war conservative Justin Raimondo stopped just short of endorsing him in his own blog. Just the other day, a conservative Ohio radio host declared that he has “had it up to here” with John McCain and will never support him. And of course, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have been less than favorable.

Generally, there are two schools of thought here (three if you count the people, like Coulter, who just really, really hate McCain). The Sullivan/Raimondo camp believes, albeit hesitantly, that the Democratic Party will do a better job of promoting their ideals from now on than the Republicans can. Unfortunately for them, this camp could fit in one tent.

Okay, let's stop here for a second, and review. So, the Att'n Gen'l thinks we can let a few nuts and dolts speak for our party, when it's very likely he's never nominated these dudes before to such a stature? Geez, sounds like something right out of the politico (oh, wait...right!).

Others believe that what the Republican Party needs is a good trouncing if it wants to reclaim its principles. Just like the heartache of the Kerry campaign led Democrats to search for a truer liberal in 2008, a loss this year could inspire Republicans to get back to their Goldwater/Reagan/Gingrich roots in 2012. Of course, an electoral defeat and at least 4 years of an Obama administration are tough for most conservatives to accept. They may soon decide that a bad Republican is better than any Democrat..

And now, our friend AG echoes the sentiment (initially) that hey, maybe it's ok if the GOP loses the White House this election cycle! My old friend, courtesy Thomas Lifson...maybe not.

Only time will tell what the mood will be come November. Still, if liberals and independents are gravitating to Obama, and conservatives are pulling away from McCain, one has to ask: who will vote for McCain?

At long last, AG erases any pretense of GOPness - he's now converted to full-fledged RINOhood! He's succumbed to the mere suggestion that Obama has the full support of Dems and Inds and is capable of siphoning off parts of the GOP vote. This may not be true, but Dems have learned to repeat in true Hitlerian fashion any lies that might help them maintain their power indefinitely, at whatever the cost to the American people.

So, to my friend who was mercilessly defeated by the RINO inside him at such a tender age, I say...RIP, Kelse Moen.

Not Like It Used To Be

2008-03-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

California's probably a lot different from when Reagan was the go-to guy. Most recently, after the disastrous Davis governorship and the failed 2005 special election, we've had the antiwar protesters vs. marines standoff in SanFran and an "independent" tax-hiking analyst who doesn't understand half of CA's economic meltdown.

Now, here's a little message to Alan Colmes, who yesterday invited Ed Morrissey on his radio show just to bash him in over suggesting nutcases in the antiwar movement would do just what similarly disturbed individuals in any other radical activist group would - that is, target specific individuals in random acts of violence. Umm guys, an antiwar lawyer keyed an active duty soldier's car a few months ago. It'll happen sooner than the leftist shmuck supposes. And don't forget the arson in Times Square. Nah, here's the thing...when a foster teen wants to enlist early for Marine sniper duty and a $10,000 signing bonus, you'd think a reason for turning him away would be legal, right? Well umm no, not when it comes to Children's Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel, no in that case...wrong. This story flew though a few portals, including Fox News, before I picked it up off LGF Quick Links. The bitch turned him down for personal reasons...she didn't approve of the Iraq War, won't trust recruiters, and doesn't support our uniformed men and women. I'll let y'all soak that in...

In the meantime, here's a heartwarming tale of the Guvernator siding with the homeschooling family (the Lynwood Longs) that was ruled against in court. Pro: father does homeschooling to prevent his kids from learning about homosexuality until they are mature enough; Con: father is a creationist.

But I know one thing: all's well that ends well.

Average Propensity to Convolute

2008-03-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

Okay. We've seen the recent media-driven smears of our troops suggesting drastically awful suicide, homicide, and paranoid rates as a result of the Iraq war. We've seen the circumstantial anecdotes and the scant evidence.

But oh, the corporate/mainstream/drive-by media's not quite done yet. Nuh-uh. They're just gettin' started! ABC is the first to blame the "puppy cliff" video on the Iraq war. Then NBC dishes out an underhanded attack on vets - and one vet in particular (think about which one; hint: John McCain). And The Atlantic makes a blanket statement that Manchu-stationed troops are rapists.

Is war ever perfect? No. But consider that in the past century, governments've had a higher recent kill count than have militaries. Peacetime is for losers.

The Kivalina Hustle

2008-03-02T22:10:00.000-08:00

Ace of Spades with hyperlinks:

The Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment is up to their old tricks once again, this time suing a slew of energy companies over the alleged damage their products have caused to the Earth Goddess Gaia (P.B.U.H.). The San Francisco based law firm, the Native American Rights Fund, plus six other law firms have joined the suit on behalf of the tiny Alaskan village of Kivalina against the region’s most evil oil, power and coal companies. The Plaintiffs claim that emissions from those power companies have contributed to global warming and that as a result of those effects, the village and its inhabitants must be moved 7.5 miles away.

In addition, the suit seeks damages for an alleged conspiracy by several of the defendants to "create a false scientific debate" regarding global warming and that they" formed and used front groups, fake citizen’s organizations and bogus scientific bodies ....” to further their evil, earth destroying plans.

This is likely the first of ten coastal villages that will claim that they are under the threat of global warming and therefore must be moved. That also means that this is likely the first of nine more lawsuits that will be brought by The Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment. The law firm has a rich history of litigiousness in the area having initiated several recent lawsuits against mining operations (who are also the region’s largest employers).

Kivalina is situated at the tip of an 8-mile barrier reef located on the Northern coast of Alaska. It is locked in ice and unnavigatable for the better part of 8 months per year. Its average winter low temperature is -15 degrees and its summer high temperature averages 57 degrees. The village gets almost five feet of snow per year.

The tiny village of Kivalina, population 383, has been suffering the effects of storm related ocean erosion damage for many decades. Since the early 1990’s various state and federal agencies have been funding studies on how and where to best relocate the village. This is not the first relocation of the village though. In 1900, Kivalina was forced to pull up stakes and move to its current imperiled location.

Kivalina is not the only village in the area forced to move because of erosion and flooding. The nearby village of Shungnak, founded in 1899 was forced to move during the 1920s because of erosion and flooding. In May 1973, a flood inundated the entire village. The village of Buckland has moved its location at least five times and the village of Noorvik’s name literally translates as "a place that is moved to".

Fifteen years ago, the National Park Service (NPS) and the Alaska State Historic
Preservation Office (SHPO) investigated the area to determine the feasibility of preserving an historically significant site from the danger of ocean erosion.
“The SHPO noted that placing fill on the coastal side of the site may act to preserve the site, but that the erosion problem was being caused by the dock interrupting sediment movement. The SHPO and NPS also expressed concerns about how the change to near shore sediment transport may adversely effect coastal sites southeast of the port”.

Erosion has been a major problem of the coastal villages of Alaska since they were settled. Their main defense has been the thick ice that forms during the cold months of the year that protects the villages from waves generated by winter storms. It is now claimed by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that man made global warming is preventing the protective ice from forming thus leaving the tiny villages defenseless. That may be a tough sell to a jury though. Many experts do not agree with the law firm’s climatological “expertise”. "A lot of these places were destined to have erosion problems from the day they were built," said Orson Smith, an Arctic engineering professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The Obama Paradox

2008-03-02T21:21:00.001-08:00

Paul Mirengoff at Powerline deftly sums up the central paradox of an Obama presidency:

There are two possibilities here. First, Obama might turn a deaf ear to key Arab leaders when they urge him to undercut Israeli interests. In that event, the summit almost certainly will be a failure, perhaps a spectacular one. Obama will come away with nothing. Our nation's standing...as an arrogant power unwilling to listen to others will be reinforced. The great agent of change will have changed nothing, except that, by enhancing the status of the dictators of Syria and Iran, he will have undermined the standing of the domestic opponents of those dictators.

The second possibility is that Obama’s interest in avoiding the above consequences, coupled with his inclination and that of his main advisers, will cause him to appease Israel’s opponents by tilting significantly away from Israel.

And THAT About Says It All...

2008-03-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

Lifted from a Yahoo Finance article:

The hardest hit state of all is California, where celebrated Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has $16 billion of red ink to address. Faced with steep deficits, state governors are proposing new and creative ways of coping with their budget crises. Republican Governor Don Carcieri plans to cut Rhode Island’s state work force by 1,000 in order to soften next year’s estimated $385 million shortfall. In Arizona, Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano wants to build schools and make counties accountable for some prison costs in an attempt to narrow an estimated $1.2 billion deficit.

Now, let's focus on California. The American Legislative Exchange Council's "Rich States Poor States" '03 report attributes half of CA's $14 billion deficit at that time to a fifth of the state's milionaires fleeing the state to avoid the special interest-imposed taxes and regulations, as pointed out at World Net Daily. In addition, in the next two years California managed to attain the second-biggest domestic population outflow of the 50 states, a humiliating label. California will lose - and in fact, has lost - jobs, which aren't really get back-able. Perhaps the legislative leaders in Sacramento forgot that states compete for jobs, and dangling taxes at potential landowners is not going to draw many serious business? Apparently the legislative analyst who the Governator bypassed to strike down taxes wants 'em cranked up by another $2.7 billion. Maybe she didn't get the jist about the memo on unions, special interests and high taxes being antithetical to the economic strength of a state. If other states take on California's recent performances as their own, it'll be little wonder that outsourcing from the United States continues indefinitely. Little Wonder.

Revelations on the Proper Usage of Stuff!

2008-03-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

ANWAR, coal in Minnesota...forget it! Fragile nuclear power and useless wind? All the way!

A Few Words On The Buckley Era

2008-02-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

Choice words from Oraculations with a heavy weight:

A giant has passed us, make no mistake.
When he first hit the scene with "God and Man at Yale," he didn't cause things to change immediately, but that book sold well and acted to till the soil so the seeds of conservative thought could be planted and the new and different trees might actually grow. Keep in mind that NO conservative voice existed. The MSM made sure that conservative meant KKK, racist morons, religious fanatics, and people not right in the head. Everyone subscribed to that view. A view that the Left would have you believe right now. It took Republicans more than twenty years to throw over the racist elements in the party, but because Buckley created that launching pad for ideas it was done.

What were things like before Bill? Easy. Look at a cube of butter. See how it's wrapped. A complicated hard to open packaging that was mandated by government to....keep the people wrapping butter in their jobs. Our entire society was mis-wrapped like that cube, governed by the state in virtually all that we did and owned. Answering machines were ILLEGAL because their use would put operators at switchboards on the unemployment lines. Federal Express didn't exist because it was illegal to ship anything by private carrier. There had to be elevator operators in every elevator even though the electronic system was in place. Much of the New Deal is still in place but the removal of so much of it is due to the arrival of WFB. The funny thing about it is that he got face and airtime because he was Ivy, sounded like those phony Liberals such as Russian spy, Alger Hiss; and was considered harmless by the liberal establishment

Reagan was a stupid actor and Buckley was harmless.

He had a good run. He did his job. Thank God.

RIP, Bill.

Thoughts on the Sideline

2008-02-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

A keen observation from Power Line'sJohn Hinderaker:

Here, though, lies the rub, in my view. Ronald Reagan came to power at a time when America had been carrying out, for sixteen years, an experiment with liberalism that by 1980 had brought the country to the brink of catastrophe. Americans did not adopt conservative principles because they sounded good on first hearing. They adopted conservative principles because of bitter experience with the alternative.
Today, the benefit of that experience has largely been lost. A generation of American voters has not experienced the failures of the Great Society, the near-collapse of American cities, double-digit inflation and unemployment, seventy percent tax brackets, or the disaster of Jimmy Carter's foreign policy. In the absence of historical memory, and with a powerful assist from the ever-forgetful press, liberalism is once again emerging as the philosophy that sounds good. The fact that it doesn't work awaits as an unpleasant surprise for a new generation. In the meantime, Barack Obama may well be the plausible candidate who can lead voters, once again, down the blind alley of leftism. He is, as Steve Hayes argues, an opponent who must be taken seriously.

ID Politics: Fish' Case

2008-02-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

Stanley Fish makes the case for a particular brand of identity politics in the NYT:

February 17, 2008, 9:43 pm
When ‘Identity Politics’ Is Rational

If there’s anything everyone is against in these election times, it’s “identity politics,” a phrase that covers a multitude of sins. Let me start with a definition. (It may not be yours, but it will at least allow the discussion to be framed.) You’re practicing identity politics when you vote for or against someone because of his or her skin color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or any other marker that leads you to say yes or no independently of a candidate’s ideas or policies. In essence identity politics is an affirmation of the tribe against the claims of ideology, and by ideology I do not mean something bad (a mistake frequently made), but any agenda informed by a vision of what the world should be like.
An identity politics voter says, in effect, I don’t care what views he holds, or even what bad things he may have done, or what lack of ability he may display; he’s my brother, or he’s my kinsman, or he’s my landsman, or he comes from the neighborhood, or he’s a Southerner, or (and here the tribe is really big) my country right or wrong. “My country right or wrong” is particularly useful in making clear how identity politics differs from politics as many Americans would prefer to see it practiced. Rather than saying she’s right on immigration or he’s wrong on the war, the identity-politics voter says he looks like me or she and I belong to the same church.
Identity politics is illiberal. That is, it is particularist whereas liberalism is universalist. The history of liberalism is a history of extending the franchise to those who were once excluded from it by their race, gender or national origin. Although these marks of identification were retained (by the census and other forms of governmental classification) and could still be celebrated in private associations like the church and the social club, they were not supposed to be the basis of decisions one might make “as a citizen,” decisions about who might best lead the country or what laws should be enacted or voted down. Deciding as a citizen means deciding not as a man or a woman or a Jew or an African American or a Caucasian or a heterosexual, but as a human being.
Stanley Crouch believes that the project of liberal universalizing is now pretty much complete and that “elements of distinction” – his phrase for the thinking that was fashionable in “the era of ‘identity politics’ ” – “have become secondary to the power of human qualities with which anyone can identify or reject” (Daily News, Feb. 11). But his judgment is belied by almost everything that is going on in this campaign. As I write this I am watching the returns from the “Potomac Primary” and the news is being presented entirely in racial, ethnic, and gender terms. Every newspaper or magazine article I read does the same thing. The Obama and Clinton campaigns accuse each other of playing the race card or the gender card. An Hispanic superdelegate warns that by replacing her Latino campaign manager with a black one, Senator Clinton risks losing his vote and the vote of other Hispanic delegates he is in the process of contacting.
Christopher Hitchens looks at the scene and is disgusted by behavior that, in his view, “keeps us anchored in the past.” (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 18) He will not, he tells us, vote for Clinton just so that we can have the “ ‘first woman president’ ” (I don’t remember that one from the past); and he won’t vote for Obama who, he says, “wants us to transcend something at the same time he implicitly asks us to give that same something as a reason to vote for him.” It would seem that we are far from realizing Ken Connor’s dream that we might judge “all of the presidential hopefuls on the basis of the content of their character and their qualifications to serve” (Townhall.com, Jan. 20).
But is it as bad as all that? Is it so irrational and retrograde to base one’s vote on the gender or race of religion or ethnicity of a candidate? Not necessarily. If the vote is given (or withheld) only because the candidate looks like you or has the same religion, it does seem a shallow and meretricious act, for it is an act unsupported by reasons. “Because she is a woman as I am” is of course a reason, but it is not a reason of the relevant kind, a reason that cites goals and programs, and argues for them. But suppose what was said was something like this: “As a woman I find government sponsored research skewed in the direction of diseases that afflict men and inattentive to the medical problems faced by women, and it is my belief that a woman president will devote resources to the solution of those problems.” That’s an identity politics argument which is thick, not thin; the she’s-like-me point is not invoked as sufficient unto itself, but as it relates to a matter of policy. The calculation may or may not pan out (successful candidates both disappoint and surprise), but it is a calculation of the right kind.
One objection to identity politics (Crouch makes it in the same column) is that groups and populations are not monolithic, but display a diversity of attitudes and positions. Yes they do, but members of a group who might disagree with each other on any number of things could nevertheless come together on a matter of shared concern. American Jews, for example, have widely varying views on many important issues – tax cuts, tort reform, gay marriage, the Iraq war. Still, the vast majority believes that it is important to defend the security of Israel. This is a belief shared even by those American Jews who are strongly critical of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. They may deplore Israel’s actions and agree with Jimmy Carter when he likens them to apartheid, but if the choice is between a politician who pledges to support Israel and a politician who would withdraw support and leave the Jewish state to fend for itself, most of them would vote for the first candidate every time.
African Americans are no less heterogeneous in their views than Jewish Americans. Yet every African American – conservative or liberal, rich or poor, barely educated or highly educated – meets with obstacles to his or success and mobility that are all the more frustrating because they are structural (built into the culture’s ways of perceiving) rather than official. To the non- African American these obstacles will be more or less invisible, especially in a country where access to opportunity is guaranteed by law. It makes sense, therefore, that an African American voter could come to the conclusion that an African American candidate would be likely to fight for changes that could remove barriers a white candidate might not even see. A vote given for that reason would be a vote based on identity, but it would be more than a mere affirmation of fellowship (he’s one of mine and I have to support him); it would be a considered political judgment as to which candidate will move the country in a preferred direction. Identity might be the trigger of the vote, but it would not be the whole of its content.
We should distinguish, I think, between two forms of identity politics. The first I have already named “tribal”; it is the politics based on who a candidate is rather than on what he or she believes or argues for. And that, I agree, is usually a bad idea. (I say “usually” because it is possible to argue that the election of a black or female president, no matter what his or positions happen to be, will be more than a symbolic correction of the errors that have marred the country’s history, and an important international statement as well.) The second form of identity politics is what I call “interest” identity politics. It is based on the assumption (itself resting on history and observation) that because of his or her race or ethnicity or gender a candidate might pursue an agenda that would advance the interests a voter is committed to. Not only is there nothing wrong with such a calculation – it is both rational and considered – I don’t see that there is an alternative to voting on the basis of interest.
The alternative usually put forward is Crouch’s: Vote “for human qualities” rather than sectarian qualities. That is, vote on the basis of reasons everyone, no matter what his or her identity, will acknowledge as worthy. But there are no such reasons and no such human qualities. To be sure, there are words often attached to this chimera – integrity, dedication, honesty, intellect, to name a few. But these qualities, even when they are found, will always be in the service of some set of policies you either favor or reject. It is those policies, not the probity of their proposer, that you will be voting for. (If your candidate is also a good person, that’s a nice bonus, but it isn’t the essential thing.) You will be voting, in short, for interests, and those who do not have an investment in those interests will be voting for someone else.
What this means is that the ritual deprecation of “special interests” makes no sense. All interests are special interests – proceed from some contestable point of view – and none is “generally human.” And that is why identity interests, as long as they are ideological and not merely tribal, constitute a perfectly respectable reason for awarding your vote.

Methodology Of A Winning Precedent

2008-02-24T16:39:00.000-08:00

It seems that the Mansoor "Manny" Dadullah has been in spots of trouble lately. Last time he was captured, his cronies had to resort to exchanging him for an Italian dude they captured in retaliation. This time around, Manny might be exchanged with an ambassador and two geologists. The Taliban just loves playing the ransom game every time we get one of their guys - and Europe waltzes right along with 'em! The problem is that both Manny Dadullah and Baitullah Mehsud really know how to drive wedges between the localized Taliban and the global AQ network. What's worse is that neither dude's a really good strategist, so they end up ass-screwing their volunteers in in the Euro cells. They only understand force, though, and while the Taliban is just a measly bacteria, AQ is a frickin' pandemic virus, one that evolution and adaptation can only screw over with intensive patience.

At least, it'll go on as long as the Democrats' weapons are sheets of flimsy.

Resolved?

2008-02-21T20:58:00.001-08:00

Well, tonight's CSAmerica Emory debate topic was "RESOLVED: THE UNITED STATES TAKE DRASTIC ACTION TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE."

Of course, the idea was to discuss U.S. policy, not the validy of climate change itself. One pro speaker envisioned outsourcing our pollution to China. I dig that, I'm down with that. And the next con speaker emphasized the "drastic" portion of the resolved.

But I feel differently, I say "combat" is the keyword. Why? Well, I don't mind some kind of combating climate change - LA did that in the 70s and 80s to the extent that by the time I was born, there was no red haze downtown for me to stare at regularly. But I wouldn't go so far as climate change in the classroom, in the thermostat, and in the tax law.

News is Like...Popcorn. But don't just take my word for it; read the blogpost.

2008-02-21T19:54:00.000-08:00

Just how often do things like these have to happen before lawmakers at all levels of government start to get a clue?

The one thing Americans value more than a short attention span and long incubation periods are the more pertinent issues of procrastination. But don't say you didn't notice, or that I didn't tell ya.

Mughniyeh's Reckoning

2008-02-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

You heard that right. But, you already knew it. And rejoiced.

And yet, new details emerge hourly. Fun fact # 1? The pick of the day: background of suspects apprehended by Syria is Palestinian. But that still does not provide motive, nor disqualify any organizations.

Heh - tough week to be in Damascus.

And it turns out that Mughniyeh was gonna take part in a meeting involving Syria, Iran, Hamas and Islamic Jihad to plot bombings in moderate Arab nations (Jordan, Kuwait, etc.) that wouldn't attend a Syria-based Arab League summit. Add to that the fact that Mughniyeh died next to the exploded car while building a car bomb, and...juicy.

Super Tuesday Backbones: A Reflection

2008-02-14T22:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes - Super Tuesday has come and gone. But the repurcussions are only beginning to be felt. And as such, on that note, in that light, a brief summary of blue-state identity politics:

Clinton has strong support among Hispanics, Jews, and white urban working class voters. These groups are underrepesented in Iowa, North Dakota, etc. Thus, Clinton struggles...The big difference this time is that the non-establishment guy who appeals to upscale voters and kids happens to be black. Thus, African-Americans combine with the upper income and younger voters, and their candidate wins both in states where many blacks live and in states where other traditional Democratic constituencies are not well represented.

Maybe, in a few years or a few millennia, issues-based voting will once again find its way into the Democrat primary process. Or at least, one can only hope...

Reactions, Determinants and Derivatives

2008-02-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

Ed Morrissey comments on the Archbishop of Canterbury's sharia statements:

The Archbishop forgot that Britain operates under a representative government, not a theocracy. The adoption of shari'a would obliterate that system and place the UK under the thumb of imams -- a prospect that even British Muslims find distasteful. Khalid Mahmood, a Muslim MP for Labour, noted that Muslims around the world fight to free themselves from such systems, and wondered aloud whether Williams knows what shari'a actually entails.

It's not the first time a member of the clergy has suggested appeasement and surrender for a strategy against expansion of radical Islam. The endorsement of these strategies by the leader of the Anglican Church is especially disheartening, however. That the leader of a worldwide sect of Christianity thinks of shari'a as "inevitable" should prompt questions about his fitness for that office.

Maybe those who objected to Horowitz' ad in the Wheel would do themselves some good paying attention to Mr. Mahmood. And what is terribly scary is that a religious authority of a religious sect that broke itself away from a distant leadership (the Pope) was completely willing to be complicit in subervting centuries-old tradition in favor of an entirely different faith - one that was, to be historically accurate, imported from a distance in the first place to begin with. Now if that ain't prime-roasted cultural suicide, then...I dunno what is!

Questions of Remorse: A Query in Attitude

2008-02-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

For some highly skilled experts, analyzing the cause of a death is not rocket science. It is a pity the Pakistanis don't think the same way, on a few levesl. First and foremost, of course, is the death of Bhutto. Scotland Yard says "Dance!" Musharraf quips "But that's what I said!" And the Pakistani people still resoundingly shout "No!"

Perhaps Captain Ed doesn't take the equation to the next step - it's sure swell to suggest that the Bhutto family conduct its own autopsy with ample press coverage. But the state on the ground plus the steady convictions of the Pakistani people are unlikely to help expedite the process of uncovering the specific cause of Bhutto's death - and quashing any remaining floating rumors in the process. Whenever quick and easy is not an option, efficient and deliberate cannot always fill the shoes - but since when has it ever hurt to've tried?

A Dose of Common Sense, With A Side of Itself

2008-02-14T19:49:00.001-08:00

I've always wondered who can best exemplify pragmatic fixing in the empirical world much as Romney would do in the politicosphere. Looks like I've my answer:

The Mystery Remains

Apparently CalOSHA has issued their report, and it remains unclear what caused the explosion at Scaled last summer. Charles Lurio notes (as I've been saying for, well, forever, or at least since I heard about the proposal to go with a nitrous hybrid):
.
..largely because of its ability to self-detonate - nitrous oxide has every now and then created unhappy surprises whose causes are difficult or impossible to explain. This may turn out to have been the case at Mojave. If in the end no cause for that incident is identifiable, Scaled should perhaps consider an alternative oxidizer for its hybrid; liquid oxygen (LOX) may be less convenient to transport and manage but doesn't have nitrous' particular unpredictabilities.

It also performs much better, whether with hybrids or liquids. This is very bad news. If you don't know what caused an accident, it's very difficult to know how to prevent it from recurring. Even if it causes a delay in the schedule, I think that they will have to go to some other design, and I also think (as I've always thought) that they should subcontract it out to an established propulsion house, such as HMX or XCOR, who are right there on the field.

Maybe when Burt has recovered from his recent health problems, he'll be in better shape to grasp that nettle than he has been.

Brevity in Food for Thought

2008-02-14T19:11:00.000-08:00

A sample of J. R. Dunn's "Obama and 'Da Yutes'":

All this might have been harmless but for the collapse of the previous generation -- the so-called "Silents". (Actually merely a subset of the GI generation.) Possibly the most overlooked factor of the entire decade is the manner in which this generation, just coming into their prime years, abdicated responsibility in favor of what we've come to know as the 60s lifestyle. It was this, rather than anything the kids did, that caused much of the later trouble.

There's no difficulty explaining this turn of events. Every generation has a strictly limited leadership cohort -- the number is generally held to be approximately 5%. The U.S. lost over a quarter-million men in WW II. A substantial number of the GI generation's natural leaders were killed at places like Kasserine, Tarawa, and Omaha Beach. This is one kind of deficit that simply can't be made up. As a result, positions in the postwar world that required hard-charging alphas were filled by whoever was available, too many of whom weren't up to the job. Government was left in the hands of odd figures like Lyndon B. Johnson (who could never have been elected on his own) and Robert "S. for Strange" McNamara. (The same phenomenon can be seen in the 80s and 90s of the 19th century, the so-called Gilded Age. Consider the lengthy chain of nonentities that served as president during that period. The truly dynamic leaders had been killed in the battles of the Civil War.) The kids (just becoming known as "Boomers"), left without guidance or the benefit of experience, ran wild, with many of their elders grooving right alongside them. And so the country roared full-speed ahead into the children's hour: the 60s of legend, in all their tie-dyed and bell-bottomed, not to mention tear-gassed and rubber-bulleted glory.

The MIDDLE Class!

2008-02-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

Living Large and the Death of the Middle Class

There is an old SciFi story that I read back in high school that had as a subject cryogenics, freezing one's ass for a hundred or so years after depositing savings in the highest interest bearing account possible so you'd come back with compound interest ready for the future. So this guy wakes up from a five hundred year hibernation and finds......?

He quickly discovers that although he has a million dollars in his savings he can't begin to live. He doesn't have enough money. Why? Because there are at least five hundred new products and services "he needs" that didn't exist when he "died." Had he wanted to live at the level that existed when he hibernated he would have a ton of money. The stuff he used to have was being virtually given away. The new stuff included things like the now required continuing body scans so nobody got too sick, compulsory unlimited sexual gratification so the divorce rate had arrived at nearly zero, effortless learning through the use of hypnotism, a uniform economic growth due to computerization of goods and services, etc. etc. etc. Everybody had a boat, a couple of cars, a vacation spot, and so on. The rub here is that the prices all these "necessary" goods and services cost were deducted from your account, and you had to take these services. But the people who were in the current population knew how to deal with everything just fine. They had enough money because the time it took to earn enough for the goods and services was down to next to nothing.

In other words, there is a method wherein you establish the cost of something based on the number of hours (amount of time) you have to work to get it. It is this fact that isn't included in all the "studies" made by left wing Democrat and spouted by Lou Dobbs and the rest of the MSM. Here's a link for you....

So it would seem that if you look at the cost of things from the perspective of how much time you have to put in at work to purchase the things you want, it turns out that times are good.

Except, records and charts are no dam good if they don't start at the same point in time, and this one from so-called Reason Magazine doesn't do that. Interesting anyway and I'd like to see the study done correctly.
(link via Reynolds)

Well, We Knew It Would Come To Pass...

2008-02-09T18:53:00.000-08:00

After all, She was the greatest nation on earth for at least a century. But now she's been moral, physical, and spiritual decline for decades. And all three may be culminating soon...so who knows? Maybe Britain'll go out with a bang...

Fill in the Blank...As soon as you find it.

2008-02-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

In an earlier post I related the recent "discovery" that ancient South Americans might have engaged in global trade earlier than thought. The newest story?

According to a team of researchers from Copenhagen University, a single mutation which arose as recently as 6-10,000 years ago was responsible for all the blue-eyed people alive on Earth today.

The team, whose research is published in the journal Human Genetics, identified a single mutation in a gene called OCA2, which arose by chance somewhere around the northwest coasts of the Black Sea in one single individual, about 8,000 years ago.

The gene does not "make" blue in the iris; rather, it turns off the mechanism which produces brown melanin pigment.

But the real meat-n-potatoes part?

The finding that a rare mutation, probably dispersed in the rapid wave of colonisation that followed the end of the last ice age, highlights one of the great mysteries of human evolution.

Well, the article goes on to cite the "oddness" of Europeans - which is odd yet not altogether surprising, seeing as the source is a British daily.

But again, this builds directly on what I said earlier - that global trade had existed thousands of years ago beyond the bounds of what we had imagined, given the ginantic technological gap between now and then. But this only proves that slim-to-none leaves a little room for slim as well. Perhaps our scientists and researchers would do well to heed this in the future.

A Word on Imperialism in U.S. Foreign Policy

2008-02-09T17:09:00.000-08:00

A word on Iranian reactionaries and the American "anti-Imperialist" left:

The picture gets further complicated, and the Left gets further flummoxed, over the role of Empire in the Iranian context. The memory of the 1953 coup burns furiously in the minds of many Iranians to this day. Because anti-imperialism is our primary conceptual organizing principle, leftists are of course highly attuned to such sentiments. Particularly in this era of Empire fever and regime-change mania, we reflexively and viscerally oppose US interference in other countries - and understandably so. Anti-imperialist pronouncements coming out of Iran thus have a certain resonance for many leftists. The supreme cleric Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has characterized the students as "American mercenaries." As the Middle East scholar Juan Cole points out, that kind of accusation "has resonance in a country where US conspiracies to change the government - like the 1953 CIA coup - have actually succeeded." (It should be recalled, however, that the Islamists deploy the 1953 coup in bad faith: not only did they oppose Iranian president Mohammad Mossadegh for his secularism and liberalism; they even had their own plans to take him out. And after taking power in 1979, they obliterated the Mossadeghi National Front Party. This little footnote has largely been forgotten but is hugely relevant to the present situation.)
The problem is that denunciations of US Empire in Iran today are the rhetorical dominion of the Right, not the Left. It is the reactionary clergy, not the students, who wield the idiom of anti-imperialism. Regime hard-liners "legitimate their suppression of the students," Brecher points out, "as necessary to guard against 'foreign forces"'; the mullahs denounced the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Shirin Ebadi as "the result of the cultural hegemony of western civilization," a tool "intended to serve the interests of colonialism and the decadent world." This kind of talk can run an interference pattern on the ideological compasses of many leftists.
In contrast, for students, feminists, human rights activists, and dissidents agitating for pluralism and democracy in Iran today, opposition to US imperialism is not the central issue. The student movement's principal demand, as Brecher notes, is "to eliminate the power of the self-perpetuating theocratic elite" over the Iranian state. A simple stance of "hands off Iran," end of discussion, is not what those struggling for change in Iran need from progressives around the world. Of course we should be steadfast in opposing any US military intervention in Iran - that's the easy part. But it's not the end of the discussion. Iran is, as the Iranian anthropologist Ziba Mir-Hossein puts it, "a state at war with itself." Progressives everywhere should take sides in that war and actively support the forces of democracy, feminism, pluralism, human rights, and freedom of expression.
It's not that the students and other reformers in Iran are pro-imperialist. Quite the contrary. Ebadi, for example, has made it perfectly clear that she opposes US military intervention, advocating instead a nonviolent, internal transformation of Iranian society. But US imperialism is simply not the central issue for them - and this, I think, is a stumbling block for many American leftists, because it is the central issue for us. We're better at making sense of situations in which the US Empire is the foe and building our solidarity with other people around that. That was the case in Guatemala - as it was in Indochina, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and East Timor.
But that model simply doesn't apply to situations in which the struggles of oppressed groups are not aimed directly against American imperialism. And that's a serious blind spot. It creates myopia on the part of American leftists. Anti-imperialism can turn into a kind of tunnel vision, its own form of fundamentalism. Cases that fall outside its scheme simply get left out, and our solidarity with struggles around the world is determined by George Bush, rather than our principles.

The quote was from a recent book on the said Mullohcracy. (h/t Winds of Change, followed in the comments section where lively discussion ensues)

End of the Line? No.

2008-02-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, we'll get to the global warming heretics soon. And I'm not sure but I think I already covered the Vegan who visited Mongolia with (for her) disastrous results. And then there's the animal rights "activists" who set fire to a UCLA researcher's house. Now, we've got two Aussie activists who boarded a Japanese whaling ship from their own (the Steve Irwin - a direct insults to the man and his legacy) and proceeded to harass the shipmen and toss acid around. The pair was apprehended, tied outside in the freezing cold Antarctic air, and offered whale meat. Two days later, they boarded a sister ship and proceeded with the same methods of harassment. Once again, they were promptly returned to their ship. Thus ended the ordeal - for now.

Press the press to press the press to...

2008-02-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Now, in my long diatribe on Yale Law I wrote on the difference between actual guilt and declared guilt by a random sample (also called a jury). In our most recent demonstration of this, an article penned in a middle school student newspaper made its way online and became an instant big hit in the big media, basically claiming that the school banned farting. Indeed, said the principal, some teachers were enforcing it as a new 'policy,' but it hadn't been anything on the level of a "rule." There have even been accusations of it having been a rule, with the principal backpedaling when the story broke. But then here, again, is where the truth is elusive enough that it might just have to be decided by what the majority believes.

This leaves us with two scenarios. One, the article is as pranky as some had believed it to be, which speaks ill of the national presses. Two, the national coverage did get the school elite to dial down this "new rule," just as the CA thermostat big-brotherism and McCain's amnesty bill were killed by national exposure from particular corners of the media. It's a shame such a tactic won't work on an international level with the Saudi womens' rights violations nor the abuse of native Africans in the Darfur region.

Up Next: Nitwits, animals and animal-like nitwits!

Don't Feel Sorry for Hugo

2008-02-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

After all, how can one sympathize with socialist leader who's managed to be both a failed populist and a terrible nationalist?

Half A Life: A Decade Since

2008-02-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

Monicagate brought me into this world. In a literal sense, I'm not kidding. I must have been ten, so I was coming of age around then. As Bush 43's said, he's not worried about historians working on him while they're still debating Washinton 01. The same can be said about Monicagate. In fact, I've come across some telling, refreshing commentary on the not-so-aged issue.

At Slate, Tim Noah says:

It was 10 years ago on Jan. 12 that Linda Tripp notified Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's office that she had audiotapes of Monica Lewinsky telling her that she'd had an affair with President Bill Clinton, and that he'd urged her to lie if asked about it under oath.

And Rand Simberg replies:

Hint for the terminally clueless. This wasn't "getting a BJ." It wasn't "lying about getting a BJ." As clearly stated by Noah, it's called suborning perjury, in order to prevent a vulnerable young woman from getting a fair trial in a civil suit under a law that the suborner had signed with his own pen. Not to mention bribing and/or intimidating a witness to perjure herself, which is a more egregious instance of same.
Maybe I'm weird, but it seems very hard to reconcile that with upholding an oath to see the nation's laws faithfully obeyed. King William didn't think that the law should apply to him, either when in Arkansas when he allegedly raped a woman as the state Attorney General, or as President of the United States.
That was what the Lewinsky scandal was about.

Tim goes on:

Linda Tripp was rightly identified as the worst villain of all for deceiving her friend Monica and for being a prude, a tattle-tale, and a buttinsky...

To which Rand replies:

I would also point out to Mr. Noah that, there is one person who, throughout, told the truth in this affair, and was never caught out in a lie, or lack of probity, despite all the attacks on her weight, her looks, or her "infidelity" to the "friend" who asked her to commit perjury. Her name was Linda Tripp.

This is one of those when hey, even you liberals can't have it both ways. Two people, two opinions. Pick a side.

A New Direction Called "Sheer Obviousness"

2008-02-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

Did y'all hear that? China's economy is 40% smaller than thought. Anthropogenic Global Warming is a religion to replace all religions. A South American nation is gonna be drilling a gargantuan glob of oil found some-a-ways off its shores.

And then, as per my previous post, we make our way toward the importance of transportation. Ancient civilization used boats and land-bridges to cross vast land and sea for the purposes of trade. The Dow Jones Transportation Index is a leading indicator of economic direction. And AQ just loves to target modes of transport.

Meantime, accusations of fear-mongering are flinged toward American's Executive branch left and right by the same people who tell people what cars to drive, lights to use and bins to dispose in or else the world will be cooked!

Where am I going with all this?

Right here:

World not running out of oil, say experts

Doom-laden forecasts that world oil supplies are poised to fall off the edge of a cliff are wide of the mark, according to leading oil industry experts who gave warning that human factors, not geology, will drive the oil market.

A landmark study of more than 800 oilfields by Cambridge Energy Research Associates (Cera) has concluded that rates of decline are only 4.5 per cent a year, almost half the rate previously believed, leading the consultancy to conclude that oil output will continue to rise over the next decade.

Peter Jackson, the report's author, said: “We will be able to grow supply to well over 100million barrels per day by 2017.” Current world oil output is in the region of 85million barrels a day.

The optimistic view of the world's oil resource was also given support by BP's chief economist, Peter Davies, who dismissed theories of “Peak Oil” as fallacious. Instead, he gave warning that world oil production would peak as demand weakened, because of political constraints, including taxation and government efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil, Mr Davies said that peaks in world production had been wrongly predicted throughout history but he agreed that oil might peak within a generation “as a result of a peaking of demand rather than supply”.

He said it was inconceivable that oil consumption would be unaffected by government policies to reduce carbon emissions. “There is a distinct possibilty that global oil consumption could peak as a result of such climate policies,” Mr Davies said.

The BP economist's remarks were echoed yesterday by Mr Jackson. “It is the above-ground risks that will influence the rate [of oil output],” he said.

Cera analysed the output of 811 oilfields, which produce 19 billion barrels a year, out of total world output of 32 billion. These included many of the giants, including Saudi Arabia's Ghawar, the largest known oilfield, which has been at the centre of the debate between peak oil analysts and their detractors.

In his book Twilight in the Desert, Matthew Simmons of Simmons & Co, the consultancy, said the big Saudi fields reached their peak output in 1981 but Cera yesterday said that Ghawar was not failing. “There is no technical evidence that Ghawar is about to decline,” said Mr Jackson.

Cera reckons that oil output, including unconventional oil, such as tar sands, could allow oil to peak at much higher levels of as much as 112 million barrels per day, with average rates of more than 100million bpd.

The Cera analysis targeted oilfields producing more than 10,000 barrels a day of conventional oil and concluded that overall output was declining at a rate of 4.5 per cent a year and that field decline rates were not increasing.

This is much lower than the 7 to 8percent average rate that is generally assumed in the industry. Typically, Peak Oil theorists believe that the output of oil reserves can be plotted on a graph as a bell curve, rising to a peak and then falling rapidly.

It was proposed in 1950 by M King Hubbert, a US geologist, who successfully predicted the peak of onshore oil production in the United States.

His analysis is disputed by many geologists today, who argue that technology has changed the equation, allowing oil companies to produce more oil from reservoirs than was previously possible.

Meanwhile, increases in the price of oil has made the extraction of difficult reserves economically viable.

The Utter Enjoyment of Being Right

2008-02-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

In one of the more recent examples of science taken by total, exasperating surprise is the discovery that gosh, maybe native South Americans learned cultivation within a few generations of the rest of the world! In our society, we place a special emphasis on domestic abilities, because globalization is "modern" and greenies would like a return to the "good old days." Well, here's news for them: they'll have to live at least fifteen thousand years in the past to get there. Is it such a leap of the imagination to suppose that global trade, however lacking in technology it might have been, was widespread at the crack of dawn of human civilization? Here's the piece for your utter enjoyment:

Andean Crops Cultivated Almost 10,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists have long thought that people in the Old World were planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting for a good 5,000 years before anyone in the New World did such things. But fresh evidence, in the form of Peruvian squash seeds, indicates that farming in the New and Old Worlds was nearly concurrent. In a paper the journal Science published last June, Tom Dillehay, an anthropological archaeologist at Vanderbilt University, revealed that the squash seeds he found in the ruins of what may have been ancient storage bins on the lower western slopes of the Andes in northern Peru are almost 10,000 years old. “I don’t want to play the early button game,” he said, “but the temporal gap between the Old and New World, in terms of a first pulse toward civilization, is beginning to close.”

The seeds aren’t the only things that support the argument. Dillehay also found evidence of cotton and peanut farming and what seem to be garden hoes; nearby are irrigation canals. What puzzles him is why the ancients of the Nanchoc Valley would make the switch to farming from hunting and gathering when a walk of just an hour and a half would bring them to a forest filled with nutritious foods. Some clues point to contact with outsiders and the exchange of foods and other products. The squash is not native to the area, and tools made from exotic cherts and jaspers from the highlands can be found in the same ruins. But there are also other factors, including the need for more food, both to feed a growing population and to use for ceremonies and other gatherings. “The general pattern,” Dillehay says, “is that there’s a technological, socioeconomic cultural package that indicates something unique and interesting took place.”

Heh They're so embarrased they can't devote more than two paragraphs to the story!

In Light, Not In Lieu...

2008-02-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

Given the likelihood of a McCain nomination, it's necessary to reproduce a former governorn's pep talk on this issue. So here's Lamm's (D-CO) speech:

I have a secret plan to destroy America. If you believe, as many do, that America is too smug, too white bread, too self-satisfied, too rich, let’s destroy America. It is not that hard to do. History shows that nations are more fragile than their citizens think. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and they all fall, and that “an autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.” Here is my plan:

1. We must first make America a bilingual-bicultural country. History shows, in my opinion, that no nation can survive the tension, conflict and antagonism of two competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. One scholar, Seymour Martin Lipset, put it this way: “The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension and tragedy. Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with its Basques, Bretons and Corsicans.”

2. I would then invent “multiculturalism” and encourage immigrants to maintain their own culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal: that there are no cultural differences that are important. I would declare it an article of faith that the black and Hispanic dropout rate is only due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out-of-bounds.

3. We can make the United States a “Hispanic Quebec” without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently, “The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved, not by tolerance, but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically, and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.” I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with a salad bowl metaphor. It is important to insure that we have various cultural sub-groups living in America reinforcing their differences, rather than Americans emphasizing their similarities.

4. Having done all this, I would make our fastest-growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50 percent dropout rate from school.

5. I would then get the big foundations and big business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of victimology. I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was all the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.

6. I would establish dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would “celebrate diversity.” “Diversity” is a wonderfully seductive word. It stresses differences rather than commonalities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other–that is, when they are not killing each other. A “diverse,” peaceful or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together, and we can take advantage of this myopia.

Look at the ancient Greeks. Dorf’s “World History” tells us: “The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshiped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic Games in honor of Zeus, and all Greeks venerated the shrine of Apollo at Delphi. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet, all of these bonds together were not strong enough to overcome two factors … (local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions …)” If we can put the emphasis on the “pluribus,” instead of the “unum,” we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.

7. Then I would place all these subjects off-limits–make it taboo to talk about. I would find a word similar to “heretic” in the 16th century that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like “racist”, “xenophobe” halt argument and conversation. Having made America a bilingual-bicultural country, having established multiculturalism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of “victimology,” I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra –”because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good.” I would make every individual immigrant sympatric and ignore the cumulative impact.

8. Lastly, I would censor Victor Davis Hanson’s book “Mexifornia” –this book is dangerous; it exposes my plan to destroy America. So please, please–if you feel that America deserves to be destroyed–please, please–don’t buy this book! This guy is on to my plan.

Let's Go Over This, Shall We?

2008-02-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

The ongoing civil war at Yale Law is an ugly sight to behold. At the root is the general historical antipathy of law schools toward the military. In the most ultimate hypocrisy ever, former Dean Kronman revealed the upper brass as sell-outs to the most dishonorable principles ever. They would only turn their backs on deeply-held hatred of their home country if the said country withheld vital funding. In the land of our enemies, such institutions would be burned to the ground without a moment's notice. Honor is a concept lost to useful idiots in the name of moral equilibriums, which exist more in the mind than in reality.

So, we come to the Solomon Amendment. Without it, Yale Law would have no qualms preserving the nondiscrimination policy so common to law shools these days. Actually, it took Yale a full year to realize fair yet grudging and resentful institution and enforcement to protect its undeserved yearly $350 mil Fed moneys. Yale would in fact have us believe DADT is the heart of the issue, when in fact its reaction to DADT takes the cake. A number of law schools tried to invoke the 1st amendment against the Solomon Amendment as if it were a violation of the 2nd amendment in some way (it's not) in the case FAIR v Rumsfeld in '03; how it managed to get all the way to the Supreme Court (at which point it was immediately struck down) has been beyond me.

And then in Oct '03, Navy JAG Recruiter Brian Whitaker went to Yale. The one student he was scheduled to meet with cancelled the planned interview after almost every other Yale Law student signed a publicly displayed petition indicating they'd never do so. And of course, this is where we dive underwater to see the rest of the iceberg.

But before we dive in, some stats declare to the high Heavens that we've got 5% of the world's population and train 70% of its lawyers. Now pay attention, because we're getting into part two. The ability for those on the left to readily and willingly sympathize with those trying to kill them is at the same time frightening and amusing. E.g. Jose Padilla. Found guilty by a jury of his peers, so legally guilty, the basis of a conviction as opposed to actual guilt - 'cause that's how the system works for law-abiding Americans. But some of these guys saw an opportunity to trash out gov't and took it - and Padilla, guilty and convicted, was still able to file suit against John Yoo ('92 Yale grad) with help from Jonathan Freiman ('98 Yale grad - what nincompoop paid for this wasted education?) because some DoJ Office of Legal Counsel chief didn't have the guts in himself to fight terrorism full-on and decided to write about it. Again, a message to people on the left side of politial spectra: the American legal courts system makes use of a jury of peers not to know if a crime was committed but rather to decide just that - a representative sample in a just and fair Republic.

I simply do not get liberal psychology. Cuban expatriates s are still our allies and FARC still an enemy. There is a major difference between choosing a side, and choosing the lesser of two evils. I hear fellow students decry and denounce Cuban Americans every day, and I've heard arguments justifying the current and past actions of various regimes - Nicaragua, Iran, Vietnam to name a few - and the U.S. is painted in a bad light in each. It is as if...JFK had never existed. McKinley picked Roosevelt, FDR picked Truman and JFK picked Johnson. In some ways and with history as his guide, at least Bush was smart enough to have picked Dick Cheney. But I digress - this asinine digust for some American actions during the Cold War has manifest itself in our powerful bureaucratic legal system that refuses to come to terms that in this struggle, there are clear moral boundaries that they ought to prevent themselves from crossing to sympathize with the enemy. Because remember, before invading Poland, Hitler was the darling of liberals everywhere. There's more to this that can be remarked on later. Back to Yale...

Former Yale Law Dean Koh testified to the Feds against domestic FISA surveillance. That's so Yale. And let's not forget the most recent case in which a number of Yale students disrupted an event featuring 9th Circuit judge Jay Bybee (who'd collaborated with Yoo in the past). The protest was led by Yale '09 Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation New American Fellowship recipient Darryl Li, who protested the same individual at Harvard. That's a special kind of stalking, one designed to shut down oppposing viewpoints.

Uh, Li? It's repeated history waiting for you on line one.

(big h/t to Scott Johnson)

The Importance of the Recap

2008-01-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

I like to recap. Recapping is fun. Especially when I'd like to point out for posterity that FNC is both fairest and most balanced.

First, you've heard of it, but would you want to live it? That's right: A Polish man visits a brothel only to find...his wife. Priceless.

Blogger Sugiero finds a northern Sweden swimming area that's allowing women to go topless, and the folks at HotAir say: "Three cheers for gender equality!" But Sugiero goes on to note the feminists' objections in the news article, and posits a situation for them. Allow me to lay out for you the finer details: the 32 year old daughter of a Lancashire imam ran away from home at age 16 to escape an arranged marriage, has moved 45 times since then under false pseudonyms, and has been in hiding since '94 when men armed with knives, axes and hammers attacked her home. You might ask, "Why? I'm missing context, aren't I?" Well, no you're not. Did the Imam father bit not tip you off? She recently got a text from her bro in which he absolved himself of responsibility in the event of her death. And she's surprised her family would follow the Qur'an, which demands the execution of apostates, to the letter. She shouldn't be: fully nine out of every 25 Muslims Brits aged 18-24 are all for apostate execution. Uh, feminists? HELLO?

Funny thing about Sharia. In a Saudi mall, a man who saw his wife receive a stranger's phone number immediately divorced her that very moment, by way of an awful loud microphone, and left the mall, his wife and kids by car that very second. Now in America, we have a high divorce rate compared to half a century ago, but the legal process prevents divorcees from announcing the decision without consultation and the signing of signatures. Here's a thought: Saudi Arabia, hot spot of the Hajj and of divorce!

In Germany, it appears, one has to be very careful about voicing one's opinions about workplace health. If you request a smoke-free environment, in some places, you get the boot!

For a change, some scientists have uncovered info that is both new and interesting. In this case, the group found that if earth were any smaller, its plate tectonics would be less active, indeed nearly inactive, and earth would not have been able to suport life. The result by consensus? Habitably-speaking, earth just barely squeaked by.

Ok, and something too good to let pass. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built some sucky levees, so 489,000 claims have been filed against the Feds - a fraction of which adds up to 3 quadrillion dollars. Think about that. The U.S. GDP barely touches one quadrillion.

The MNF-I's campaign in Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, was recently given a boost by the surge. And it seems that Operation Phanton Phoenix will encounter little resistance.

Some of you are probably paying close attention to the recent expose on Paul via the revelation of the content of some of his former "publications." Bryan Preston's got a good recap.

In and Out of News: Untouched

2008-01-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

It's rare to find stories in the MSM about heroism in Iraq. Yet here it is.

Columbia professors plan to pander to Ahmadinejad.

James Kirchick has a piece in TNR that blasts Ron Paul to kingdom Come. I wonder often what the Libertarians on my campus are drinking/smoking.

At Human Events, Mark Levin designates Rush Limbaugh as the man of 2007.

A Reuters article confirms that FNC is the most balanced of cable news channels.

Oh, check this: pregnant high schoolers seek maternity leave from school. The message? Welcome to the real world. You're f*cked.

The Washington Post surprised even Ed Morrissey by knocking the Dem candidates on their foreign policy strategy.

DrewM., an AoS HQ blogger, declares:

"A lot of these so called “human rights” groups aren’t so much anti-Western as they are just plain pro-terrorist."

Turns out that statement's not far off the ball.

Turns out, there are smart people in the Middle East. No, not the stringers.

Some doozies: researchers catch up the common individual in figuring that weight and social status of young adults is generally strongly correlated. Way to go, chaps! And what do we already know that researchers always need to figure out for themselves the hard way? That college drinking and high BAC have a cause-effect relationship.

Who knew? Boneheads.

Oil, Kenyans, David, and David (and Thomas)

2008-01-05T23:14:00.000-08:00

While political clout and fallout in Nigeria recently caused a jerkoff to reason himself into a $100 per barrel oil purchase, Kenya's been having some real existential problems within its own political system. Ed Morrissey credits some slight U.S. pressure in the recent possibility of concessions. Credit where it's due.

Meanwhile, amidst the 'Times-Journal' standoff in the Murdoch-Sulzberger wars, the establishment media's trying to reclaim its old throne of authority on the fourth estate. On that note, David Hazinski offered his opinion in the AJC that "Unfettered 'citizen journalism' [is] too risky." David Lazarus offers his take in the LATimes on the 'net's impact on good 'ol-fashioned print journalism (old being an appropriately operative word here). And finally, because she doesn't think we'll ever get enough of her, Helen Thomas decides to clear her conscience. Nearly.

Step By Slow Painful Step

2007-12-30T21:17:00.000-08:00

Not more than twenty-five years ago, Ralphie craved a BB-Gun. Now, the Brits can't do Lego anymore. Fake toy gun-ish catapults for the kids? Only, sadly, in America.

Looks like I can add Rick Moran to the list of those who are of the opinion that Congressional Oversight has proven to be a woefully significant policy failure.

Ed Lasky picks out what Charles Johnson might all a "Fiskie." In this case, PDDNI Donald Kerr has decided to re-impliment and strengthen a Diversity program through the DSIW program. This, of course, after the scandal that was the Nada Prouty incident. The day that the bureaucratic knot on the State Dep't and CIA loosen will be the day that will redeem the world.

What Clarice Feldman could not say in so many words is exactly, precisely what I've been communicating - that esteemed members of the fourth estate rely on ideological dividends for their personal satisfaction. Feldman's also got a busload of revelation spilling all over the Clinton campaign, with thanks and a hat tip to Steve Gilbert. And now, of course, another satisfyingly juicy story on Miss Clinton, former first lady and current Terminator, though with less term and more terminate. Hence the numbers speak.

Thomas Lifson will end our night with a silent prayer of thanks for justice:

"The so-called scandal that drove Paul Wolfowitz from his post as president of the World Bank has ended, not with a bang but a whimper."

Goodnight, My Fellow Americans. And So Long, 2007...

The Underdog: Theory, And Application.

2007-12-30T20:46:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month, the volk over at The American Thinker featured Michael Scroccaro, who wrote a brief overview of a subject he will cover in an eventual book. I highlight here a passage of his piece on underdogma:

We begin life tiny and helpless, at the mercy of those who are bigger and more powerful than us; parents and guardians who tell us what to eat, what to wear, how to behave -- even when to sleep and wake up. Then we encounter schoolteachers and professors who work us, test us and assign grades to us that could shape the future directions of our lives. After school, we emerge into the workforce where we face new Goliaths; bosses and supervisors who interview us, hire us, set our incomes and hold the power to promote or fire us.
The reason why everyone loves an underdog is because everyone knows what it feels like to be an underdog, to be a David in a world full of Goliaths.

About a week later, Science Daily highlighted a study conducted by USF researchers and issued by Sage Publications in the current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin concerning the same phenomenon.

James Lewis places historical significance on the date of December 13, 2007. On that day, the Lisbon Treaty was signed, and all that the U.S. worked for over at least the last half century vanished with the signing of a few pens and the mass subversion of the views of 450 million individuals on that useless massive heap of a peninsula called Europe.

A Blast From The Right About Now!

2007-12-26T19:03:00.000-08:00

It wasn't official before, I'm sure the news'll be supressed now, but still, FNC's been vindicated as the most 'fair and balanced' cable news service.

Bryan Preston has a grievance about the Intel situation and notes McCain's unfortunate involvement (his counterpart Allahpundit meanwhile using every remaining opportunity to negate Romney). Or, as Ed Morrissey says:

"People wondered on 9/12 why our intel operatives were so risk-adverse. In 2007, the question answers itself."

Schoenfeld of Commentary rebukes the long-term role of Congress in this mayhem.

Speaking of Congress, we are shown how non-lame duck Bush actually is. His maneuvering kept the GOP in charge of both Houses in '02 and '04, only to suffer in some swing districts in '06. But Bush and the GOP in Congress have decided they won't bow to rule by plurality. The Dems are understandably yet undeniably shaken. Perhaps Morrissey is right to call that Lame Duck "Mr. Relevant."

In case you missed it, a history of photoshopping.

Even some of my Dem friends have a problem with Reid. He must go.

Ed Lasky has a scathing review of the times, while Morrissey and Preston rip the AJC to shreds over proper journalism.

Phil Plait's a cool guy. That's why I recommend y'all check out the Top 10 Astro Picks of '07.

Hmm - in case anyone missed out, Jim Hoft does a back-to-back on what should and shouldn't count as a hate crime.

Scott Johnson at Powerline eyes the ICRC and BBC - the British-version NYT - with a penetrating suspicion.

The al-Dura case keeps resurfacing. Ace pouts that the courts oughtn't be ok with "missing" raw footage that threw oil in the fire of the then-infantile Second Intifada. I'm in full agreement.

Well, we beat back the AQ enemy at Musa Qala, and of course...nobody knows. That is, moreover, rather, that the fourth estate is a fifth column that'd rather see us lose this war for ideological dividends than see the war through with our uniformed men and women.

For all those who care Ron Silver, has a long piece on fear over at Pajamas Media.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross over at CTB comments on the Fort Dix Six. His main focus is on the propensity of the prison system, but he's mising IMHO the crucial factor that is conversion to Islam. Reynolds has a few words to that effect; Hoft and Morrissey crack that eggshell. The latter has a bone to pick in that region anyway.

A lot of folk have decried "Golden Compass" for its seemingly blatant anti-Catholicism. Which is true. But Penraker reads between the lines and points to an even more disturbing facet of the film - Satanism. Brendan Miniter at Opinion Journal, meanwhile, shows us what Hollywood doesn't have the guts to peruse.

Whether you choose to call it "Huck Zen" or "Playground Diplomacy," the Foreign Affairs piece is getting real traction in Tehran. Not sure if that was Huck's intended plan.

Turns out Washburn, not contrary to expectations, did have a plainly obvious bias, and we can add the Saudis to Hillary's laundry list.

Speaking of which, Novak's got his own must-read laundry list of grievances. Pat Buchanan's got just one: Diversity.

James Taranto highlighted some newsy items a few weeks back. The first article (on liberal compassion) is worth a look.

Kopel at the Rocky Mtn. News seems to think the media might at least in part be responsible for many grisly homicides. Gee, ya think?!

In the midst of his usual frothy Hillary-bashing, Hoft bombshells readers that Clintonite-In-Chief Billy Jeff was a big eavesdropper during his Reichly Reign (ahem: "administration").

Gosh good grief gee whiz - EU/UN Brit officials taking time off from duty to chat with the Taliban. The Afghan gov't gave 'em the boot.

Finally, Jim and Scott do some politially-motivated metaphorical archaelogical digging and come up with the gems you'll get in the links.

As you can tell, most of this's been a review of the past month. But oh I'm not done yet, only halfway through. I'll get the rest down in no time - stay tuned!

Through the Grinder

2007-12-26T15:57:00.000-08:00

First, they came for me at Thanksgiving. Now they come for me at Christmastime:

"The US Senate is holding special one man sessions throughout Christmas and the New Year to prevent President George W. Bush from making appointments without the approval of the Democratic majority.
With the bang of a gavel, Democratic Senator Jim Webb declared the first session open on Sunday morning before closing it seconds later, without any of his colleagues present in the hall.
The brief ceremony will be repeated every two to three days until January 18, when lawmakers resume their work after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
The Democratic majority is staging the move to avoid any formal recess for Congress extending over several days. A recess would allow Bush to appoint ambassadors, judges and other top posts without seeking a Senate confirmation for his nominations."

(h/t Michelle Malkin)

Als courtesy Michelle, I'm sure most of us still have the cupcake's-ban story fresh in our minds. And speaking of fresh, here's fresher - or as some call it, the removal of one's tin foil hat.

The War of Words puts the War on Terror at stake. Let us stay strong, and resolute.

In my previous post, I talked about the dilemma inherent in the practice of atheism. Rand Simberg notes:

"One of the dangerous (and false) assumptions underlying the "progressive" project is the notion that there is no human nature, and that human beings are almost infinitely malleable and mutable. All that is needed is to pass the proper laws, and to punish those who refuse to bend to the dictates of the superior morality. Such notions lie at the heart of most of the human catastrophes of the last couple centuries, from Robespierre, to Lenin and Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. And of course, it is at the heart of the war in which we're now engaged, with the new totalitarians who would, if they could, bend us to their extreme Islamic will."

And to finish off, Claudia Rosett on the UN:

America vs the UN Mob

Just in case anyone thinks the folks at the UN don’t work long hours, check out the news on the UN General Assembly budget vote, held at 5:55 A.M. — on Saturday morning, no less — following “marathon talks that lasted through the night.” The result was the adoption of a record-busting $4.17 billion core budget for 2008-2009, passed by a vote of 142 to 1.
And who was that lone dissenting member state? You guessed it: as Mark Steyn has called it, America Alone.
Is that because 142 member states (including Belarus, China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Laos, Libya, Burma, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe) are right? and America is wrong?
Or is it because the UN system is structured to encourage the mob of member states to treat American money as an all-you-can-eat buffet?
American taxpayers bankroll 22%, or $917 million of this whopping biennial core budget — by far the biggest contribution of any one member state — with just a handful of other countries, including Japan and a few from the European Union, accounting for the bulk of the remainder.
This is just the core budget, of course. The UN system-wide budget is about ten times the size (and for that, the U.S. foots an even bigger portion of the bill, or about 25%), thus likely to total well over $40 billion for the same two-year stretch. Though due to a UN system growing like kudzu, and just as impenetrable, the exact numbers are almost impossible to keep up with.
And does all this money go to make a better world? In a statement to the General Assembly, the U.S. ambassador for management reform, Mark Wallace, noted that this budget contains funding for a conference dubbed Durban II, “an event noxious to my country and a disgrace in the International Community.” That funding was approved 141 to one (yep, America alone) by the UN budget committee at 1:05 AM Saturday, just a few hours before the pre-dawn General Assembly vote. Details of that remarkable scene on Inner-City Press. (And then there is the usual roster of high-ticket UN endeavors entwined with the usual UN money and sex scandals, legitimization of tyrants, routine demonization of Israel and the U.S., and failure to stop the genocide of the hour).
Finally, there is the interesting spin in the UN press release headline about this budget vote, which offers no hint that the U.S. had good reasons for its dissent. Instead (also linked at the top of this post), from the UN we get “General Assemby approves nearly $4.2 billion UN budget despite US Opposition,” and from the New York Times (can anyone spot the difference?), we get “Despite U.S. Opposition, United Nations Budget is Approved.”

By Numbers, By Jove!

2007-12-25T17:14:00.000-08:00

First off, when I mentioned Mitt Romney in the context of the American Thinker, I was referring to this - and now it looks like Romney's got a near-endorsement not just from those guys, but also the ever-esteemed Power Line.

The good man at Penraker brings news: a meagre 52 scientists served at the political whim of 115 diplomats in order to compile that masterful IPCC Report of pure unadulterated bunk, with which over 400 real scientists have a bit of a problem.

In other news, a Chaffey College math professor's review of D'Suza's new book What's So Great About Christianity prompted a realization on my part. Alan Roebuck's review maintains that:

"Indeed, although most liberals and many leftists do believe in some sort of god, the doctrines of the left are definitely based on the nonexistence of the God of the Bible, in which case man alone decides what is true, good and beautiful. And with no supernatural Authority to restrain him, the leftist finds his way clear to remake society in any way he sees fit. This, along with the fact that Christianity has been responsible for much of the formation of Western Civilization, is why the defense of Christianity is the defense of the West."

I took this thought process to the next step. One inevitably comes to the conclusion along this line of reasoning that absent a deity we are led to belive that we are masters of this planet and can affect this planet through our actions - hence the anthropogenic global warming movement. But Judaism and its monotheistic offshoots - that is, Islam and Christianity - maintain that people are but mere stewards and servants of the earth, just as the position of POTUS is created to serve Americans and the American interests. One can therefore see the dangerous lack of humility that atheism can - not will, but can - pose.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

It recently came to my attention that we're not doing all that bad in the War Against Terrorism. Even though Pakistan's spending it's money about as uselessly as the PA - on anti-India operations - Musharaff still knows when ass-kicking is necessary. And with Rudd's continued support of the Afghan skirmishes, NATO's pulled off some stunningly important victories. India's also still doing its part (although is anyone else bothered that the BBC Int'l news map's featurin' a half-swastika?).

Also, one of the original smoking gun excuses for the recent hike in pork-barrel earmarking has finally - in the financial sense - matured. This of course from the state previously administered by Romney, who's on Allahpundit's shitlist although "Dave in Texas" is going the AT route and being a little nicer to the candidate than was Ace.

But Huck's not having a swell time as are the rest of us. He'd been going at it with Coulter, Rush and Rice, and wouldn't you know it got pwned by an elementary scholar:

“Who is your favorite author?” Aleya Deatsch, 7, of West Des Moines asked Mr. Huckabee in one of those posing-like-a-shopping-mall-Santa moments.
Mr. Huckabee paused, then said his favorite author was Dr. Seuss.

In an interview afterward with the news media, Aleya said she was somewhat surprised. She thought the candidate would be reading at a higher level.

“My favorite author is C. S. Lewis,” she said.

All In A Day's Work

2007-07-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

So first, another Fourth of July having gone by without America having gone down the drain.

That's always good.

Now, many interesting things have happened. But, let's skip the past while since I'm sure you've all been keeping up with the news. Instead, let us begin with today's goin's-on with the El Rushbo "In a Hurry" letter:

The Al-Qaeda leader recently captured in Iraq, Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, says that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, doesn't exist. The group doesn't exist either. Al-Qaeda made the whole thing up to win over Iraqis and make it look like the violence over there is sectarian. There is no civil war in Iraq. Foreign Al-Qaeda fighters are streaming in to be killed and captured by our forces. It's more bad news for Democrats (Rush 24/7 Members: Listen Here).

Democrat Congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in the U.S. Congress, compared President Bush to Hitler. Now Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times has compared Vice President Cheney to Mahmood Amadinijhad. Kristof uses certified conspiracy nut Gary Sick of "October Surprise" fame to bolster his point.

Chow down, people! If people keep gaining weight at this rate, "fat" will be the new normal by 2015.

Bill Clinton on Good Morning America is asked to respond to Elizabeth Edwards' criticism of Hillary. Bill said, "I don't think she's trying to be a man." What has Hillary done for women, anyway? Can anybody tell us? Asked about Iraq, Bill says there won't be a military victory, and subtly shifts the goalposts to the political success of the Maliki government. Look for other Democrats to pick up on this trend. (Rush 24/7 Members: Listen Here).

Senator John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, was on C-SPAN denying that a bloodbath occurred after we pulled out of Vietnam and suggests that some Vietnamese who were put into re-education camps are doing great now. This guy could have president! A female caller then rips old Lurch on his military record and his undermining of the troops. (Rush 24/7 Members: Listen Here).

Is there a movement to remove garlic from Italian food? Yes, and it's happening in Rome.

Cindy Sheehan is a perfect example of liberal cruelty. Democrats used this obviously damaged woman and made her a star in her own mind. Now that she's decided to run against Nancy Pelosi, they've turned on her and will destroy her. Relationship experts on the Today show praise the Clinton marriage and discuss what happens when Type A marries Type B.

Relationship experts on the Today show praise the Clinton marriage and discuss what happens when Type A marries Type B.

Here's an AP headline: "Blacks in US Imprisoned at Five Times the Rate of Whites." And this tells us what, exactly? Rush explains. (Rush 24/7 Members: Listen Here).

Environmentalist wackos vandalize a Hummer.

A caller compares Rush to George Washington and urges him run for president. Rush promises to think about the idea and says, "The only difference between me and George Washington is if somebody wanted to make me king, I'd take it."

Thanks to Byron York for his cover piece in National Review. He's posted a summary at National Review Online. It's a rare event when you talk to a journalist and what you say actually gets into what they write.

Harry Reid staged the Senate Slumber Party to boost fundraising from the anti-war wackos of his base, despite Drive-By attempts to spin it otherwise.

Rush offers The Limbaugh Compromise: We'll withdraw from Iraq if Democrats agree that after our defeat, all stories on the withdrawal must include a spilt screen shot of Al-Qaeda celebrating on one side and Democrats congratulating themselves on the other, or Iraqis being slaughtered on one side and Democrats congratulating themselves on the other.

Rush gives us the inside scoop on the Democrats' SCHIP legislation (State Children's Health Insurance Program) for "kids" up to 25 years old! It's a huge tax increase and a giant step toward government run health care. President Bush says he'll veto it.

Democrats are trying to pull a homeland security bill provision that will protect the public from being sued for reporting suspicious behavior that could lead to a terrorist attack. As usual, Democrats are on the side of radical Islamists and trial lawyers, not the security interests of the nation.

A judge has tossed out Valerie Plame's lawsuit against the Bush administration.

All that and more will be at RushLimbaugh.com tonight when we update the site.

Roger Hedgecock hosts tomorrow's program. Rush returns to the Golden EIB Microphone on Monday.

I feel like looking into that SCHIP stuff, see it for myself. I encourage all readers to do the same. Be back later!

- The Samaritan

A Little More v. A Little Too Much

2007-06-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a neighborhood in which things don't necessarily happen in chronological order. Generally, one must be famous before one ventures into the Hollywood Hills. I do not know if Paris Hilton fits this mold, but I often wonder if we ever get Enough Of Paris.

Let us consider: like anyone who breaks the law, Paris went to jail. And of course, this Paris fiasco played out the way some of it expected. But she is still an anomaly to me. A KFI 640 reporter commented that Paris rushing from the jail to her limo was like a "reverse" Red Carpet - going from the building to the car, as opposed to the other common norm of car to building. And moments ago, a news reporter of the same station asked the question I think we all want to voice: "What is the fascination with Paris Hilton?"

Regardless, in preparation for our generation's Liberation of Paris - the last one occured during WWII - the street next to mine, where Paris supposedly lived, was closely monitored. I am not the least bit curious about this woman, yet the vast majority of everyone else seems to want to get its fill.

And yet, she is my neighbor. Like I care. But this being my first summer back from college, I was hoping to get to know my neighbors more. But like a few of my uber-neighbors, Paris is one of the few I will "know of" before I visit her.

Okay, so even though she's a street over, I might never get to do it. But eventually, at least, maybe I'll be the first Hollywood Hills native to become famous before leaving the area. I'm still building the blueprints...wish me luck!

AT on RC

2007-04-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

Steven M. Warshawsky writes in American Thinker recently about "racial consciousness" and how it pertains to blacks.

That's kinda funny, actually. The terms that many ethnicites currently find derogatory are the terms I think aren't. For example, females would rather be called woman than lady, when the opposite was true at least a generation ago. Orientals are now known as Asians, Black is the new Africa-American, and Negro (actually, Nigger) has now been replaced by Nigga (now, ironically, the demeaning terms by which blacks prefer to call themselves). In each of these cases, I prefer the old terms because I deem the current terms in use as just as demeaning as their predecessors.

On a related note, Andrew Bostom also has a mindblowingly good post in AT.

The Good Stuff

2007-04-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

What with Murth and McCain making fools of themselves, we gotta focus on the good stuff.

To begin with, there's the lovely coincidence that a disaster in the most lefty of cities, San Francisco, served its purpose as proof that fire melts steel. Take that one, Truthers!

Also, finally faced with heartwarming stories, the NYTimes finally prints the good truths about success in Iraq (in the same way a Soviet spy makes a "confession" after being subjected to the American National Anthem who's actually guilty - he says it, means it, but regrets it). Nonetheless, for a change in its recent history, it did the right thing. Shame - it's almost acting out of character!

And it jumped onto the boat just in time. We've captured not just one but TWO Big Fish. One is AQ. The other is Iran. So much for that "civil war" theory, heh?

Oh, and to top off that icing on that cake, we foiled a Taliban ambush and caught an 'ol Taliban friend.

Hard to argue with success NOW, folks!

Why Sink to New Lows?

2007-04-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well, that is an EXCELLENT question to ask the media. The BBC, in particular, will do anything to undermine the War in Iraq, which is really just a regional conflict within the much wider Long War on Terror. And we knew Reuters would willingly allow doctored photographs into its arsenal without checking it, but now the CBC has sunk to a new low by seemingly deliberately allowing an alteration in a photograph - dealing with pollution. I had often asked myself when someone would doctor a photograph concerning this topic, but now I need ask no more.

But on a lighter note, I had in a previous post criticized my own school paper for refusing to print the word "nigger." In my POV it has redeemed itself by honestly reporting the VTech massacre as a shooting and not just a "mass murder," as most professional news outlets were wont to do.

Thankfully, though, that seems to be all the news for today.

Oh, and it's Hot Air's birthday...Celebrate!!!!

Koranic Anti-Semitism...

2007-04-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

...is nothing that can be easily dismissed.

I should also point out that now the Muslim Brotherhood is solidifying its hold in Gaza through Hamas, and now Al Qaeda wants in. Turns out unilateral disengagement was a bad idea, because the wall was a semipermeable membrane. It should not only prevent people from leaving, but also from going in.

Beneath The Ocean Bottom

2007-04-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

Terrorism has sunk to the new low. After cooking an infant and serving it to its mother as a stew, and after detonating a car with two kids inside, the terrorists instruct a pre-puber to decapitate a "traitor." This the kid did with little remorse.

Revolting. Disgusting.

What They Say About FOX

2007-04-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

Well, they say FOX is an unfairly imbalanced-to-the-right counter to the centrist CNN that masquerades as Cable News.

At least FOX had the smarts not to broadcast the Asian Killer's videotape.

Jon Voight

2007-04-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

At last - a Hollywooder who actually gets it!

Waiting for the international outcry...

2007-04-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

...nope. Nothing.

If I didn't know Iran could do anything it wanted before, well, I know it now.

But When the Rosenbergs Did It, They Were Killed!

2007-04-21T17:09:00.000-07:00

And the worst case of anchor-baby on record.

Dire Predictions

2007-04-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

James Lewis of AT has a dire prediction about Europe. Worth a read.

Do We Need to be Reminded?

2007-04-20T20:49:00.000-07:00

Apparently so. At least this is the claim of Penraker. Time to once again talk about the media anti-theme: the success of the surge.

Would I Rather...

2007-04-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

Act on my impulses? Yes.

But now, I'll momentarily take a Never Forget moment.

Ouch

2007-04-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

With Imus, the VT shooting, and the Duke Decision, I think we're in need of a fresh perspective.

Metaphorically Nuclear

2007-04-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

When I say that the next nuclear war will be between India and Pakistan, I think you should think that I know what I'm talking about.

Teachers

2007-04-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well, y'know what they say 'bout liberal professors at universities?

Well, now you can say the same things about those in secondary education: Shame.

Prophets

2007-04-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

After all the stuff done to Jesus and Mohammed, I'm surprised that no one has bothered to artistically represent (with any motive)...Moses.

[Un]Fair Representation

2007-04-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

The Asian American Journalists Association essentially doesn't want us to call the VT shooter Asian.

Riiiiight. And I suppose while we're at it we shouldn't call Pink Ladies a kind of apple.

I think hypocrisy trancends the political.

Stepping Up To Plate

2007-04-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

After reading this American Thinker piece by James Lewis, I'm gonna go the extra mile and call the British out on their hypocrisy. The National Union of Jornalists in the UK is boycotting Israel. This in addition to the recent decision to strike the Holocaust from the classroom in British schools in light of the capture of 15 mentally weak British marines in Iraqi waters by a nation led by Holocaust deniers is an indication of how much of a hypocrism Britain has become.

Just take my word for it.

Though they call me a republican...

2007-04-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

...I prefer HALF AND HALF:

You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.

Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.

If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.

Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.

Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.

If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.

Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

The Great Extremities

2007-04-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

Zombie's got an excellent mini-docu 'bout the link between anti-Semitism, fringe politics, and media ignorance.

Michelle, meanwhile, captures the essense of the latest Imus craze.

Also, what you won't see in the daily media reports emanating from Iraq.

By the way, in this post're lotsa nutshells.

And, less of a snicker, more of a gasp.

Let us end with a gasp and a snicker.

- The Chester Snapdragon McFisticuffs Samaritan

Japanese Military Promo

2007-04-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

...because I have to.

I really have to.

- Samaritan, The (a.k.a "Chester Snapdragon Mcfisticufs")

Snigger Snigger Gasp Gasp

2007-04-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

Snigger.

Snigger.

Gasp.

Gasp.

A Belatedly Late April Fools Celebration

2007-04-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

A German leftists speaks with clarity?

April Fools....NOT!!!

The UK fails to fearlessly defend history?

April Fools....N O T!!!

Lessons learned from 'Nam?

April Fools....NOT!!!

Geography finally laced with White Guilt?

April Fools....N OT!!!

The NYT loans supposedly unbiased space to a confirmedly biased "expert?"

April Fools....NOT!!!

Massad's article is generic?

April Fools....NOT!!!

There is definitive proof somewhere in this vast universe that the French truly hate the Jews?

April Fools....NOT!!!

Finally, just as Carter wrote "Israel: Peace Not Apartheid" to 'stimulate discussion' of the Israel-Arab conflict, artistic director Simon Capet wants to "get people talking about music" by portraying Samson as a suicide bomber. Seriously. No april fools. You cannot make this stuff up.

- The Samaritan

Randomized Reality (Part II)

2007-03-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

American Thinker still thinks that McNulty is deliberately attempting to frame Gonzales. Maybe so, but at this point it's pure hypothesis and speculation and my nonpartisan debate society doesn't buy it.

I know Bloomber's just doing a practice run, but such an action will only present statistical data, not a useful population parameter. He needs to go full-out on this one.

We all know that Wilson had it coming, but a death sentence? The 9/11 Mastermind gets life, and this guy gets death? Pardon me, but isn't that just a little...disproportionate?

Whatever its original intentions, the digital revolution lead to this...popularization of the Wii among the retired elderly. Pardon me while I let the Messiah into Jerusalem.

The NYTimes still does not understand the big picture, because it'll turn the death aspect into the big headline, shoving the impact and implications of the surrounding events to the sideline. And according to the NYT, Iran is charging and accusing Britain, which is itself backed by the UN and the EU (by creed only of course). This is one case in which the NYT fails to do the investigative reporting upon which it normally prides itself.

Remember the double-standard to which I referred in my last post? Michelle provides a good example. And speaking of Michelle, she has documented on her blog another case of the Terror-tubbies: a human-interest article that paradoxically shows how nice we are treating the Guantanamo inmates. Michelle appopriately titles this "Turture." I'd say so - my side's splitting from laughter.

And The Hill can apparently do what the NYT no longer can: investigative journalism. And speaking of paradoxes and contradictions, well - this one applies to Obama.

As an aside, Miami U. associate professor of Communcation Dr. Ben Voth, specialist in argumentation and rhetoric, has a really good piece on the Vietnam War over at American Thinker.argumentation and rhetoric studies.

Books have been reviewed. Movies. Radio shows. Now, Ed Lasky reviews an op-ed in the LA Times, and let's just say the ratings aren't positive.

And speaking o' 'Nam, some guy from the Carter administration doesn't know his own history.

Lifson, another frequest AT contributor, picks out parts of an interview with Crichton.

The AT, through the weblog Sweetness & Light, found on the web what can only be described as gold: a metal merchant in gaza who bought Israeli metal for the purpose of pipe-building has been transferring much of his material to Hamas, which supposedly has used this material to construct Kassam rockets. How much went to rockets instead of sewage pipes, we might never know. But it sheds some light on the situation.

LGF also has a new reason we must stay the course in Iraq, and notes the continuing explosives "accidents" that are occurring in PA territories alongside sewage flooding and civil warring.

Finally, an lgf search for "Palestinian Child Abuse" and "Religion of Peace strikes in Thailand," two recurring themes on that website, had turned up more than I thought possible.

Shalom,
- The Samaritan

I Remember the Good Ol' Days When Speech Was Free

2007-03-31T17:42:00.000-07:00

Freedom of speech is dangerous in today's global trade. In particular, non-whites and non-Muslims are seeing their freedom of speech gradually slipping away when the truth about Black Supremacism and the few Muslim Islamists are not allowed to be identified as such due to "religious sensitivities" (which apparently Southpark doesn't have, thankfully). Last year, my high school paper refused to print the Mohammed Cartoons, against my better judgement. And this year, the Wheel would not print the word "nigger," even when not using it to refer to any particular person - in fact, using it not to refer to any group, just talking about the word and saying "the word N----r."

The amount of double-standards and pandering to extremism in today's day and age is unbelievable. Hot Air recently documented a case in which the EU banned the word "jihad" from everyday speech in connection to the people who actually are waging the violent jihad. Hot Air, in its classical carcasm and typical satire, reported it saying that "EU takes bold stand against the word." Charles simply said that this was the way the "EU solves [the] terrorism problem." Charles, meanwhile, documented a similarly shocking double-standard as practiced by the UN.

This one's gonna be a multi-parter.

Checking back in a few minutes,
- Grant W.