Infinite Monkeys
"...a sparkly blog..." - James Lileks"Read them only with extreme caution."- Hugh Hewitt
Infinite MonkeysThere's actually some (spotty) wireless Internet access out here on the playa. In a way, it's too bad. It used to be great to be completely cut off, and to only hear news (such as Di's death in '97) when you returned. The Katrina news is so sad, and we have some friends who live there. I'm not sure if they are coming out (they are in San Francisco now, so they may not have anywhere else to go).
The weather here was high winds on Sunday, but beautiful since. Our camp is wonderful, and I'm having fun bartending. A figure from the past showed up yesterday--the Deuce of Clubs, Godfrey. He was part of the chain of people who brought me to Burning Man, and to meeting my wife. And a few minutes after he left, four guys sat at my bar, and said they were from Show Low, Arizona. Weird.
Not much else to report. We're thinking of the Hurricane victims here, and hoping the rest of the world holds together while we're in this strange, magical one.
Listening to the news reports of the devastation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, got me to thinking of the damage that results from catastrophic flooding.
This year the State of California settled a flood case (levee failure) in sparsely populated and somewhat economically disadvantaged Yuba County (sorry folks) following a 1997 flood. The State paid out $45 million to settle the case with about 500 plaintiffs/flood victims. (There was a $400 million "settlement" of another flood case (over 3000 plaintiffs), but that one was tried twice over 19 years (1986 flood), so a good percentage of that money is interest and attorney fees.)
I remember the photos at their depositions. It was at times shocking and always heartbreaking. Mud up to ten feet high or more in their homes. Raw sewage. Dead pets and other animals. Everything they've accumulated throughout their lives utterly destroyed.
Much of this we take for granted. Imagine the little things. An older couple with several generations of family photos and heirlooms. Grandma's wedding dress. Destroyed forever. Your old dog or cat that you can't get to. Drowned. Forget the electronics, the stereo and the big screen HDTV television. Those are just "things." Things are replaceable.
And what of the retirees from the rust belt? I have no idea how many people retired in this area, but I imagine quite a few have picked up and moved south, built their retirement homes - with a room for the grand kids. And now lost it all. Along with their memories.
And of course there are the domestic animals. A lot of drowned cattle and horses that got their legs tangled in the fencing while they were floating around trying to swim to higher ground. Their legs get tangled and they cannot move, so they either drown as the water rises, or simply sink from exhaustion.
It's not just the water. Or the mud. It's every bit of garbage, pesticides, chemicals, and other poisons, debris, dead animals, etc., that the flood waters will sweep up and carry along. Then, as the water flow slows and stops, it drops this mud, poison and pollution into the homes and businesses and their contents.
The devastation from such a flood is every bit as bad as a fire. What can be salvaged is minimal. Imagine having sediment ten feet or more high inside your house. Sediment mixed with the poisons, chemicals, etc. Are you going to simply hose that off and put it back on the shelf, or in your drawers? Hardly. It's gone.
The Cincinnati flood of 1997 was also particularly devastating. Even the pictures at their site don't do it justice. More.
Hugh Hewitt is right about the Red Cross and the short term "blankets and coffee" relief that they provide. What Louisiana will need is economic relief to rebuild. Hugh recommends Samaritan's Purse
Samaritan's Purse Donations.
Following the Tsunami, Worldvision was at the forefront of providing relief. So far, they do not appear to be involved in any Katrina relief efforts yet.
Just finished Nicholas Lehman's profile of Hugh Hewitt in The New Yorker. It's a good read. And that's all I'm going to say, because if you want to read it, you should go to your nearest purveyor of fine periodicals and purchase a copy. (But hurry -- the new issue hits newsstands in about 10 hours).
Hugh is left to wonder why the profile does not appear on the New Yorker's website. "It is inexplicable that the New Yorker doesn't have an article about blogging and new media available online when half its magazine is." No, it's perfectly explicable: The old media still matters. If you want to know why, read the New Yorker's profile of Hugh Hewitt. If not, don't. No skin off my nose, Bubba.
Pat Robertson finally "apologized" for advocating the assassination of despot Hugo Chavez. Of course, he lied about what he said, but who cares. He's an idiot.
Anyway, the Press-Enterprise makes note of Robertson's gaffe with an interesting observation:
Let's remember too that Pat Robertson does not speak for the estimated 70 million Americans who call themselves evangelical Christians, any more than Osama bin Laden speaks for the world's 1.2 billion Muslims.
The difference is, the televangelist is unlikely to inspire one of his followers to hijack a jumbo jet and crash it into Hugo Chavez's presidential palace. Bin Laden's record speaks for itself.
I would add to that Bin Laden reference the hundreds of radical Imams throughout the Muslim world that make Robertson-like statements on a weekly basis. Yes, Pat is an idiot, and a liar. But it would be nice to see the news media get even half as upset about radical islam as they did about this idiot.
Maybe some day.
For those of you that have missed it, those silly-ass bastards at the NCAA are trying to drop the hammer on college teams that use Native American names for their sports teams. Florida State Seminoles, Fighting Illini, Fighting Sioux, etc.
When this policy was announced on the NCAA website I was intrigued as to why, for example, the Choctaws are unacceptable but the Aztecs (San Diego State) are acceptable. Because there are no more Aztecs? Interesting.
Anyway, the NCAA has deemed these images to be "hostile or abusive in terms of race, ethnicity or national origin." So for the NCAA Championships, they are verboten.
In an article published on U.S. College Hockey Online, Patrick Miller of the University of North Dakota (the "Fighting Sioux") School of Medicine and Health Sciences puts the NCAA's grandstanding about diversity and sensitivity into its proper perspective.
Hey, Hey, NCAA, Censored Logo Leads The Way
by Patrick C. Miller/USCHO Arena Reporter
When the NCAA announced its new policy to penalize college teams for using American Indian nicknames, mascots and logos, it said the action supported the organization's goals of diversity and inclusion.
Unless we disapprove of your name.
Walter Harrison, chair of the NCAA Executive Committee and president of Hartford University, also suggested that educational considerations — not just athletics — played a role in the committee's decision to implement the policy.
Didja see that? Educational considerations? Want that explained? Just wait.
"We obviously find that these hostile or abusive mascots or nicknames are troubling to us as presidents of educational institutions," Harrison said.
The underlying assumption is that the 18 universities using American Indian names and imagery deemed "hostile and abusive" are less diverse and, therefore, less effective educational institutions because they create an atmosphere in which Native Americans are excluded.
After all, why would minority students choose to attend a school that's openly hostile and abusive to them when they have other choices?
Good point. So these schools would necessarily have no Native American Students? Being all hostile and abusive as they are.
If the NCAA's premise is correct, American Indian students should be attending state universities which lack the allegedly offensive nicknames, mascots and logos in much greater numbers than those that use them. However, in the Dakotas, the exact opposite is true.
I'll bet you can see what's coming next, huh?
The University of North Dakota is on the NCAA's list of offenders because it uses the "Fighting Sioux" nickname and has a logo (but no mascot) depicting a Sioux warrior. The logo was designed by American Indian artist Bennett Brien, a UND graduate. The controversy surrounding UND's use of the Sioux name has flared off and on for more than 30 years.
A Native American artist? No way liar!
North Dakota is a state in which American Indians comprise about five percent of the total population, according to the 2000 census. UND last year had 407 American Indian students (three percent) out of a total enrollment of 13,000. That's three and a half times more than North Dakota State University (the Bison) with an enrollment of 12,000.
One might expect that in South Dakota where American Indians represent more than eight percent of the total population, the situation would be markedly different. However, UND has more than twice as many American Indian students as either South Dakota State University (the Jackrabbits) or the University of South Dakota (the Coyotes).
Wait, I don't understand. Shouldn't all the offended NA students be fleeing the University of North Dakota because they are offended by this "hostile" and "abusive" symbol?
In two states of similar size, comparable resources and significant American Indian populations, only one university — UND — comes anywhere near having a representative number of American Indian students on its campus. This turns the NCAA's rationale on its head.
It does more than turn it on its head. It makes the NCAA liars.
Quite obviously, the educational opportunities a university offers are of far greater importance to American Indian students than the nicknames and logos of its athletic teams.
Quite obviously it does. But not to the NCAA. But wait, didn't the NCAA say something about "educational considerations"?
UND administers 25 Indian-related programs that include medicine, research, law, psychology, nursing, geology, arts and communications. UND's Web site lists eight publications and seven student organizations, all related to American Indian students.
In addition, the Educational Leadership program at UND has generated eight tribal college presidents. The 30-year-old Indians Into Medicine (INMED) program at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences produces 20 percent of the nation's American Indian physicians. These are just a sample of the real, tangible benefits that flow from UND to Native Americans throughout North Dakota and around the nation.
(I've taken the liberty of inserting some hyperlinks to the UND site. The list of services for current UND students can be found here.)
The NCAA is also urging its members to follow "the best practices of institutions that do not support the use of Native American mascots or imagery." Among those "model institutions," in the NCAA's parlance, are the University of Iowa and the University of Wisconsin, which have policies against scheduling games with schools that use American Indian names.
YES! Now these schools have made a STATEMENT! They took a stand! No cheap posturing for the Badgers or the Hawkeyes, no siree!
Of course, neither university's policy applies to conference opponents. Therefore, Wisconsin regularly plays two of the 18 schools that the NCAA finds objectionable: UND in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and the University of Illinois (Fighting Illini) in the Big 10 Conference. Big 10 member Iowa also plays Illinois regularly.
Opps. Can't jeopardize those big football payoffs. I mean, principles can only get you so far. Besides, so long as you say the right thing, that's enough.
And even though these two institutions have a combined enrollment five times greater than UND's, they together educate fewer American Indian students.
But they are sensitive!! They care! They feel the pain of... Of who?
What does this mean? Perhaps the NCAA's Executive Committee would implode if someone were to suggest that a university with a more "politically correct" nickname might have less incentive and motivation to develop programs that attract and educate American Indian students in careers that benefit their tribes.
The NCAA should explain why so many American Indian students vote with their feet to attend UND in far greater numbers than "model institutions" or other universities in its region with nicknames currently in favor with the organization. Unfortunately, in the NCAA's upside-down world, what a university says is far more important than what it does.
Welcome to the real world, Patrick. And the NCAA's dispensation for Florida State today is no less hypocritical than the Wisconsin and Iowa positions of moral superiority. Can't jeopardize those big football paydays.
Patrick C. Miller is a native of Pierre, S.D., and holds a degree in journalism from South Dakota State University. He has lived in North Dakota for 28 years and works in public information at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He serves as the North Dakota arena reporter for U.S. College Hockey Online and has covered Fighting Sioux hockey for the past four seasons.
The views expressed by Miller do not represent any official position of the University of North Dakota or the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
And get your official politically incorrect UND Fighting Sioux merchandise while you can!!
UPDATE: University of North Dakota appeals the NCAA ban. UND's Letter of Appeal.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
Open letter to Pat Robertson:
Shut up!
Shut the F**k up!!!
Thank you.
And before I get in trouble (again) with Chad the Elder. A flashback from Fraters, featuring the "band" Cake:
(Shut the f***) up
Yo, shut the f*** up
(Shut the f***)
Right, right, learn to buck up
(Shut the f***)
Right, shut the f*** up, hey, ho
(Shut the f***)
Now, now learn to buck up
Listening to the news on Sacramento powerhouse AM radio station KFBK today, the news Babe announced a bulletin that an unidentified soldier from the town of "EG" may have been killed in Iraq today. There was no confirmation from the Army.
So how many parents in EG were left stunned at the possibility that it was their son or daughter that may have been killed? Or may not have been killed? KFBK's news babe didn't know. But there might've been one. Maybe.
Assholes.
Chad the Elder offers a crucial piece of marital advice: "Never yield an inch of the garage." Where were you when I needed you... some years ago?
I think Dennis Prager offered similarly sound advice when it was too late. Paraphrasing: Men, buy your stereo equipment before you get married. Otherwise, it's too late.
Yes.. well. No kidding. (Though, I suspect Dennis is an exception that proves the rule.)
Let me offer my own advice about marriage, sure to be ignored. Work harder at it than you think you need to work. Because it's worth it. Odds are, she will make you a better man.
If you didn't watch the National Geographic Channel's Inside 9/11, be sure to catch it next weekend. It really should be shown in every High School in the country. It's just the facts, and it's moving and terrible, and brought back so many memories. Like the picture of the young fire fighter ascending the stairs into the tower--it made me weep the first time I saw it, and it made me choke a little tonight too. So much evil that day, yet so much courage.
Hugh Hewitt reinjured an old rotator cuff injury today patting himself on the back over the article about him in the New Yorker.
Hugh claims that the article about him is fairly accurate. But is that accurate as in "fake but accurate"? I don't know. But in the interest of fairness and accuracy, below is a bio of Hugh Hewitt. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this bio, nor can I vouch for the integrity of the author.
The "Real" Hugh Hewitt
Born on February 22, 1936, in Warren, Ohio, Shock Jock Hugh Hewitt, a California lawyer, is the host of his eponymously named nationally syndicated radio talk show heard in more than 60 cities nationwide, and a Professor of Law at Chapman University Law School, where he teaches Constitutional Law. He is the author of 5 books. Mr. Hewitt has received 3 Emmys during his decades of work as co-host of the PBS Los Angeles affiliate, KCET's nightly news and public affairs show Life & Times. He is a weekly columnist for The Daily Standard, the online edition of The Weekly Standard, and a weekly columnist for WorldNetDaily.com.
Mr. Hewitt claims to continue to be active in the practice of law.
Hugh received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Harvard University shortly after the end of the Second World War. Remarkably enough, unable to find work during the booming post-War years, Mr. Hewitt eventually found himself at the University of Michigan School of Law. This member of a bizarre and mysterious cult known as the “Order of the Coif” eventually “graduated” with a Juris Doctor degree in 1957. (Inexplicably, Mr. Hewitt was not admitted to the California Bar until June 1989.)
Some biographers report that following his formative years as a Student Socialist, Hugh apparently followed the natural political progression by eventually assisting in the formation of an shadowy organization known as “Young [sic] Republicans [sic] for Ford” in Massachusetts in 1997. Most historians doubt the existence of such an organization, and particularly Hugh’s involvement. By this time of course, Mr. Hewitt was anything but “young”, and the existence of “Republicans” in Massachusetts has never been confirmed.
After finally completing law school, Mr. Hewitt was able to conceal his membership in the Massachusetts organization, spending his few productive years as a low-level functionary of the federal government (clerk to a hanging judge, government lawyer, etc.), occasionally rising to the mid-level mediocrity.
Tiring of the rarified air of Washington, D.C., Mr. Hewitt, continuing with his record of spotty employment, accepted a short-term position as Executive Director of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, in Yorba Linda, California. After a very phlegmatic year at the helm of the Nixon Library, Mr. Hewitt vacated the position in September of 1990, leaving it in the capable hands of John H. Taylor, who had served as Nixon's chief of staff for the past 10 years.
After gracefully departing the Nixon Library & Birthplace, Mr. Hewitt finally found gainful employment with the Irvine law firm of Pettis, Tester, Kruse & Krinsky, eventually becoming a “partner” in the once reputable firm.
It was while he was “employed” with Pettis, Tester, that Hugh Hewitt earned his reputation as a tenacious and feisty litigator. In what is still spoken about in hushed terms as the Battle of the Big Birds, Mr. Hewitt engaged in a long-running battle with the dreaded and endangered Gnatcatcher on behalf of a group of patriotic rich land developers.
In September of 1993, his mythic battle with the Gnatcatcher having exhausted the resources of Pettis, Tester, and already feathering his nest with his side occupation as a radio shock jock (while also showing his true colors as a TV host on the notoriously liberal PBS), Mr. Hewitt turned his back on his employers and set out on his own in the company of 8 others to form the firm of Hewitt & McGuire.
Mr. Hewitt is perhaps best known as the living example of the egg-shell plaintiff, following his series of debilitating injuries on jet-skis, snowmobiles, softball games, and jogging. Much like his hero/role model John Kerry, Mr. Hewitt mysteriously also claimed to undergo rotator cuff surgery,. And, just as John Kerry mysteriously and conveniently removed himself from the Presidential campaign for a period of time, Mr. Hewitt thus removed himself from competition in the greatest sports moment in Minnesota history, his Hugh Hewitt All-Stars hockey game.
Today the Beloved Husband of The Fetching Mrs. Hewitt, Hugh continues his little radio show in Los Angeles, which is growing at a startling pace, adding new affiliates on nearly a yearly basis.
Since we've mentioned Hugh in the last two posts, I should note that in his redesign he lost the link to our site. He said he has just been to lazy to add the link.
Anyway, I hope he remembers us. I'll be remembering him (click the link below to see where).
By the way, it's "http://infinitemonkeysblog.com"
I was pleased that Hugh led Friday's show with analysis of how dangerous the Merck Vioxx decision was. To quote Milton Friedman:
The FDA has already done enormous harm to the health of the American public by greatly increasing the costs of pharmaceutical research, thereby reducing the supply of new and effective drugs, and by delaying the approval of such drugs as survive the tortuous FDA process.and
The people whose lives might have been saved will not be around to protest. Their families will have no way of knowing that their loved ones lost their lives because of the "caution" of an unknown FDA official.What's true of the FDA is even more true of trial lawyers, who use the power of government to extort money at enormous cost to every American.
Hugh Hewitt makes the case for why Harvard must be destroyed. Oh, and the New York Times has a story, too.
I don't care. Honestly, I don't. But David Lombino and his editors at the New York Sun seem to think the story is worth pursuing. Read Lombino's coverage -- or don't! -- and judge for yourself.
Mark Steyn, in Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times:
The Democratic Party is a coalition of Pat Sheehans and Cindy Sheehans, and the noisier the Cindys get the more estranged the Pats are likely to feel.Sorry about that, but, if Mrs. Sheehan can insist her son's corpse be the determining factor in American policy on Iraq, I don't see why her marriage can't be a metaphor for the state of the Democratic Party.
Sometimes I wonder if the Democratic Party of the early 21st century isn't more than a bit like the Republican Party of the late 1930s and early '40s.
Scott Johnson and Paul Mirengoff elaborate at Powerline.
Also, via Powerline, a samping of Minnesota's war moms.
It's probably true I've become more misanthropic and hermetic than ever. But who can blame me? Summer brings with it killer heat, killer mosquitos, and really bad movies. Sorry, but summer sucks.
James Lileks isn't ready for summer to leave. He likens the season to a "tall pretty woman at the party who was here before but isn’t here now. You look up, look around; she was over there, talking to that guy just a minute ago. Or ten minutes. Whatever. It’s a great party; you don’t notice. But an hour later there’s a hole in the room, somehow; the mood’s changed, the momentum dissipated."
We have a word for this. It's called "delusion."
I'm always happy to see summer go, but maybe that's because I can't stand the heat. That, and I just wrote a check to Edison for somewhere in the neighborhood of $250. Besides, in our changing climate, and under the apocalyptic new Energy Law, summer is going to last until Thanksgiving anyway.
What a nightmare.
Good riddance to summer. Bring on Old Man Winter, with his 66-degree highs and 44-degree lows. Just the way we like it.
Jeff Jarvis rightly wonders: "What has happened to drinking in this country?" I don't know. I only drink top-shelf stuff. Maybe J.B. Doubtless can offer his learned wisdom?
No, really, I'm asking a serious question. Does anyone really care that Air America Radio seems to be built on a house of cards? Well, I guess Michelle Malkin and Brian Maloney do. And good for them. Somebody's gotta do it.
Yes, yes... I understand the scandal and the principle of the thing: Taxpayer dollars may have been misused. But should Americans care more or less about the misappropriation of a rather piddling amount of funds to a radio network nobody listens to?
From Thursday's Wall Street Journal: "I lost a son in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan does not speak for me."
A couple months ago I mocked the town of Lodi, California, after the feds busted a bunch of Jihadists.
Boy, do I have egg on my face now. Oh, don't get me wrong. I still maintain that Lodi is deserving of mockery (except for one small but excellent winery). But today I learned that the Jihadi's are a little closer to home. From the Sacramento Bee (registration required, so screw them):
Folsom prison linked to alleged terrorism plot, By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff Writer (Published 9:48 am PDT Wednesday, August 17, 2005)
Apparently, this plot to conduct several terrorist attacks in and around Los Angeles was hatched at the prison in Folsom (not to be confused with Folsom Prison. Seriously.)
The article included this comforting thought
"They are in our system," said California Department of Corrections spokesman Todd Slosek. "I can say very, very little. Because this is an ongoing investigation of the joint terrorism task force, the FBI is the lead investigative unit."
One of the least reported news stories of the last few years has to be the rise in convicted felons converting to Islam. The thought of hundreds of institutionalized hardcore violent felons turned lose on the streets every day on parole and probation is bad enough. But imagining that a fair percentage might be brainwashed Wahabis is something else indeed.
UPDATE: A more detailed report from the AP in the Washington Post identifies the group as " . . . Jamat Ul-Islam Is Saheeh, or JIS _ is headed by an inmate at the California State Prison, Sacramento, law enforcement officials said. It has existed for about five years and is one of at least three Islamist groups operating in state prisons, officials said."
Ya know, for a lawyer, Hugh Hewitt can be awfully naive sometimes. His big question today, based on Judith Miller's ongoing quest to assure she gets a best selling book deal out of her refusal to name a source (who has given her permission to do so).
Anyway, Hugh ponders how long certain bloggers would last in jail before rolling over (unfortunate phrase) on a source, saying that "I think any of the Fraters would crack in a week given the lack of beer in such facilities."
Hugh? Do you have any clue how much alcohol is available in a prison? Sure, maybe Chad the Beer Snob might have a tough go, but JB Doubtless? We all remember his booze shopping list? That boy will thrive on a steady diet of prison-made pruno. Thrive, I tells ya.
Anyway, for all his bluster, don't forget to vote on how long the Big Man himself would last protecting his source.
Michael Scheuer observes that our Republican leaders continue to treat their supporters like idiots.
Naturally, I demand a second opinion. And another double whiskey, please.
(And how in Hell am I supposed to take seriously any quiz that cannot spell "poison" correctly?)
 | You scored as Posion. Your death will be by poison, probably because you are a glutton and are around so many people that it would be easy to get away with it. Several important people in history share your fate.
How Will You Die?? created with QuizFarm.com |
Keep an eye on me, if you don't mind...
 | You scored as Suicide. Your death will be suicide. What more can I say? Fact: Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. If you want to know hwo you will commit suicide, take a look at your second highest percentage on the bar graphs.
How Will You Die?? created with QuizFarm.com |
Because even in the face of clear and obvious evidence, we must not call the present conflict a clash of civilizations.
And, please, whatever you do, don't buy this book.
... for the third time this week. I hadn't seen it before last Thursday.
All I can say is: I love scotch. Scotchy, scotchy, scotch...
And that's how I roll.
Lileks reports on his eight days without wife and child. I recently went through the same thing, except for seven days instead of eight. The difference? I drank a lot more. And I still had to work. And by "work," I mean I had to drive to my office each and every day. Except for one day I took off. But I can't tell you about it , because then I would reveal too much...
Phil Hendrie is the funniest man on radio today. At least 100 times funnier than Franken and Limbaugh. And 1,000 times funnier... no, scratch that... 1 million times funnier than Hugh Hewitt.
Now Hendrie has a blog. It's quite good (latest post: "We don't send kids to fight...we send men and women") although it is updated much too infrequently. Hendrie is a pro-war liberal, a man who has a pretty good idea of what the current war is about. But, hey, the guy's first job is to make with the funny. Here's hoping "George W. Bush is God" becomes a daily visit.
Goes something like this:
"New job!"
Step step, skip skip skip
"New job!"
[make Plymouth & Vya martini]
"New job!"
Dance, dance
"Woohoo!"
[make another martini]
Peter Jenning, 67, passed away today at 67 from lung cancer. I won't pretend to have been a fan, but when such a familiar icon suddenly passes, it is unsettling. As the Fox link says, Jennings was one of the three faces that dominated the evening news for the last twenty years. Hard to believe that in less than one year, they are all off the air.
He will be missed.
RIP
Today is the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. War makes ordinarily good and decent people do horrible things. Unthinkable things. The murders of over 100,000 civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are good examples. This article from The Guardian reflects on the Allies' policies of bombing civilians in both Germany and Japan, and also notes how difficult the decision to be noble can be when you've got skin in the game.
On this dark anniversary, I hope I am never faced with that kind of decision.
James Taranto just made me laugh out loud and spit out my food. That kind of timing has got to be recognized in a public forum.
EU threat to Bavaria's buxom barmaids.
"Bavaria's buxom barmaids could be forced to cover up if a "loony" EU directive comes into force over levels of sun exposure. The proposals would force bosses to monitor how much sunlight their employees receive in a working day."
Smoking bans are bad enough, but Boob Bans?
Commie Bastards.
While Hugh Hewitt is off next week on some Russian cruise pretending to have read Crime & Punishment, the great Peter Robinson, author of the wonderful How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life, will be filing in for him.
Apparently, Hugh's gratitude knows no limits. Does Hugh arrange a flight and a car for his dear friend? Noooo. He makes him drive! What an ingrate.
Everyone will have to excuse Monkey Brad for the lack of bike blogging lately. He's been watching his TiVO of Lance Armstrong's 7th Tour de Frog victory over, and over, and over. . . .. Of course he has to relax with a cigarette after every viewing, so bear with him.
Lets see. A terrorist subway bombing in London kills 50+ innocent people. Days later, heightened security and dumbass terrorist foil a second attempt.
Meanwhile, back here in the good ol' U-S-of-A, the New York City P.D. thinks it might be a good idea to randomly search back-packs on the subways.
Good idea? Nope, not if you're the ACLU.
Yeah, I know. If we sacrifice our civil liberties in the War on Terror, then maybe our free society isn't so free and worth preserving. But honestly, when faced with the certainty that there will be attacks, are we to just wait for it and let it happen?
I'm trying to avoid the "Constitution is not a suicide pact" cliche, but it seems so appropriate.
I'm up late doing my expense reports, watching an SNL re-run on the TiVo from earlier this year. Cameron Diaz was the host, and Green Day the guests.
Notes on Green Day's performance:
1. Crappy derivative punk bands become REALLY AWFUL when they get into their thirties.
2. People in their thirties (and up) should stop dressing like 18-year-olds. No more red hair dye and gelled-up mohawks.
3. Take a tip from The Clash and break up, with each member going on to play music that's less adolescent.
Yes, I'm a cranky old fart.
On the other hand, the "Dramatic Weekend Update Play" was loads of fun.
The other day, Mad Howard Dean characterizes the Supreme Court's opinion in Kelo v. New London (allowing the seizure of non-blighted residential property and sell it to a developer for no other "public use" reason than the fact that the new development would pay more property tax.)
as the product of George Bush's "right wing" Supreme Court.
Honestly, is anyone this stupid? And is anyone stupid enough to believe this? The "right-wingers" on the Court (Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas) voted against the seizure, for crying out loud!
Or is Howie living in the Bizarro World where Ginzberg and Breyer are right-wingers?
So, a multiple choice quiz.
Is Howlin Howard:
(a) the dumbest person in the world
(b) a bald-faced liar
(c) a malevolent presence on the Earth?
(d) All of the above
Heard on the radio today that there is a phone scam purportedly raising money for the California Highway Patrol "widows and orphans" fund. Apparently the fraudulent solicitations originated in Toronto.
Bastards.
An American, a Scot and a Canuk were in a terrible car accident. They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.
"Well," said the American, "I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St. Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and that for a donation of $100, we could return to the earth."
He continued, " So of course, I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $100, and the next thing I knew I was back here."
"That's amazing!" said one of the doctors, "But what happened to the other two?"
"Last I saw them," replied the American, "the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay for his."
Yeah, well, liberals... now you know how the conservatives felt about the contemptable Bill Lann Lee. Have a drink, take a breath, move on.
Here's a delightful compendium of unhinged reaction from the left about John Bolton's recess appointment. (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.)
Suck it up, punks. That's politics.
One of the best Mexican restaurants in Phoenix (and New York) is Los Dos Molinos. A recent newspaper story tell of the restaurant and family. When we went there Friday night we were sad to see that the father, Eddie, has passed away, and the restaurant is closed indefinitely. I wish them well in this time of grief, and hope to see them return.