04. June 2005 · Comments Off on RNC Takes Stand For Internet Freedom · Categories: Politics

Here’s their press release, in full:

To: National Desk

Contact: Republican National Committee Press Office, 202-863-8614

WASHINGTON, June 3 /U.S. Newswire/ — The Republican National Committee (RNC) today submitted comments to the Federal Election Commission regarding the Commission’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Internet Communications.

“The RNC strongly supports a view of the Internet as an open public square where political ideas may be exchanged freely, without burdensome federal oversight or regulation that potentially discourages the use of the Internet in the political arena,” RNC Chief Counsel Tom Josefiak said.

Among the RNC’s suggestions is that many, if not all, bloggers should be included under the FEC’s media exemption rules.

To view a complete copy of the RNC’s comments to the FEC please visit: http://www.gop.com/media/PDFs/InternetCommunicationscomment.pdf

Paid for by the Republican National Committee. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.

04. June 2005 · Comments Off on Koran Mishandling Report Released · Categories: Military

Some interesting stuff from AP:

WASHINGTON – U.S. military officials say no guard at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects flushed a detainee’s Quran down the toilet, but they disclosed that a Muslim holy book was splashed with urine. In other newly disclosed incidents, a detainee’s Quran was deliberately kicked and another’s was stepped on.

On March 25, a detainee complained to guards that “urine came through an air vent” and splashed on him and his Quran. A guard admitted he was at fault, but a report released Friday evening offering new details about Quran mishandling incidents did not make clear whether the guard intended the result.

In another confirmed incident, water balloons thrown by prison guards caused an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet, and in a confirmed but ambiguous case, a two-word obscenity was written in English on the inside cover of a Quran.

What are guards doing tossing water balloons in the detention area?

But it seems some detainees my be harder on their Korans than the guards:

Hood also said his investigation found 15 cases of detainees mishandling their own Qurans. “These included using a Quran as a pillow, ripping pages out of the Quran, attempting to flush a Quran down the toilet and urinating on the Quran,” Hood’s report said. It offered no possible explanation for the detainees’ motives.

In the most recent of those 15 cases, a detainee on Feb. 18 allegedly ripped up his Quran and handed it to a guard, stating that he had given up on being a Muslim. Several guards witnessed this, Hood reported.

I doubt there will be any outrage on the “Islamic Street” about those incidents though.

Update: Similar, but more extended comments from Austin Bay here. I particularly like this:

The big joke, however, is on all of us who bother discussing the”Koran mishandling” issue– and that includes Newsweek and its initial “Koran flushing” report. Our focus is Mickey Mouse, in the pejorative sense Disney despises. The big story is the tragically dysfunctional Arab Muslim Middle East that exports its religious and tribal wars as mass terror. The secondary tragedy is spoiled, privileged fools who fail to realize their beautiful liberty is protected by awkward power – and I say awkward, not evil. (That’s an indriect way of telling Noam Chomsky to get a life.) Here’s the upside: The US and its allies –its overt and covert allies– are winning this intricate war, but like a bunch of yammering chumps we’re catatonic about kicking a Koran and a jerk urinating in a grate in Gitmo. Step back: the urine splashes a terrorist sitting a cell. It’s urine, man, not shrapnel, or a 767. Is this My Lai? Is this Nanking? Buchenwald? Stalin? 9/11? The Taliban in full flower? Saddam? How odd and small a focus is this? Will the Boomer Generation ever grow up? Do you have evidence –reliable evidence– on which to question BG Hood’s integrity and the integrity of his report? It turns out in Watergate you’ve relied on the tips of the Number 2 man in the FBI – a Hoover protege.

Please see my post on the inevitability of moral compromise in war– see the quote from Septmeber 25, 2001. That’s reality, sir– mistakes, inadequate responses, oversights, and then trying the hell again because liberty, freedom, and opportunity are worth the individual effort and the united battle. But the blight you suffer from – or at least your post indicates you suffer from– is a hideous blight. You’re defeated if you have so little faith– as well as so narrow a perspective. What’s sad is your defeat is in part our mutual defeat.

03. June 2005 · Comments Off on A Man And His Monkey · Categories: General, General Nonsense

I am currently watching Mallrats on WE. And I have to say: if you “get it,” this show is seriously funny.

Again, I am kind of getting hung-up in the details. But the inclusion of Jay and Silent Bob kind of smoothes over all that.

03. June 2005 · Comments Off on A Rebuke To The Proclaimer Of The “Zipless Fuck” · Categories: General

Erica Jong’s commencement speech, at the College of Staten Island, met with widespread disapproval:

“It was disgusting, despicable,” said the Fort Wadsworth woman, who would not give her surname. “She called politicians liars, called us all liars. She trashed America. Mostly, she just wanted to talk. It was personal spewing. There was nothing about graduation.”

LOL

03. June 2005 · Comments Off on Re: The Case In Favor Of Fetal Stem Cell Research · Categories: Science!

This from BusinessWeek:

On June 6, a team of scientists will release results of a study that they believe could usher in a whole new way of treating heart disease. At a meeting for cardiologists, a surgeon from Lenox Hill Hospital in New York will describe what happened when stem cells taken from fetuses were injected into the hearts of 10 patients.

The patients in the study suffer from heart failure, a debilitating and as-yet incurable disease that afflicts 500,000 Americans. The data from the study can’t be unveiled quite yet, but Barnett Suskind, CEO of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine in Barbados, believes the results will “compel us to move forward with additional work.” Suskind, whose company provided funding for the study, says, “It’s absolutely a milestone.”

FRIENDLIER CLIMATE. Many more studies will have to be done before this treatment is anywhere near marketable. Still, Suskind’s enthusiasm underscores the growing interest in a controversial but therapeutically promising type of stem cell. So-called fetal-derived stem cells, such as those used in the recent heart study, aren’t subject to the same restrictions that limit federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells. But because fetal cells are taken from aborted fetuses, they conjure up much of the emotion that has characterized the current debate in Washington. Critics of stem-cell research, in short, oppose any such research that they believe it requires the destruction of human life.

Read the whole thing.

03. June 2005 · Comments Off on Down To The Wire · Categories: Politics

Today is the last day to get your comments into the FEC. If you think it’s not important, just see what the united reform front is saying:

Finally, we do not believe anyone described as a “blogger” is by definition entitled to the benefit of the press exemption. An individual writing material for distribution on the Internet may or may not be a press entity. While some bloggers may provide a function very similar to more classic media activities, and thus could reasonably be said to fall within the exemption, others surely do not . The test here should be the same test that the Commission has applied in other contexts – is the entity a “press entity” and is it acting in its “legitimate press function”?

Surely, Benjamin Franklin was fulfilling a “legitimate press function” when publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette. But was he when publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac? This is a question that just shouldn’t be left to Washington bureaucrats, and not one I would like to see bloggers subjected to. The First Amendment is quite clear:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

What part of “NO law” don’t they understand?

Hat Tip: InstaPundit

03. June 2005 · Comments Off on NYT: Parents Keeping Kids Out Of Military · Categories: Military

I wasn’t going to bother with this, until reading (and following the links on) David’s earlier post, which this story dovetails with.

In one of their typical anti-war stories, the NYT reports today on the “growing problem” of parents urging their kids not to enlist in the military, or at least the Army and Marine Corp. Well, duh; the worried parent/loved one syndrome, particularly in times of war, is as old as time. Author Damien Cave stoops to some unsupported editorializing, however, with this line:

Mothers and fathers around the country said they were terrified that their children would have to be killed – or kill – in a war that many see as unnecessary and without end.

Well, perhaps some do see the Iraqi campaign that way, particularly if they get all their news from the NYT. But I would guess that the great majority of these same parents would try to dissuade their children no matter what the war was doing.

What really gets my neck hair bristling are the parents trying to unduly influence the decisions of other parents and their children:

Meanwhile, Amy Hagopian, co-chairwoman of the Parent-Teacher-Student Association at Garfield High School in Seattle, has been fighting against a four-year-old federal law that requires public schools to give military recruiters the same access to students as college recruiters get, or lose federal funding. She also recently took a few hours off work to stand beside recruiters at Garfield High and display pictures of injured American soldiers from Iraq.

“We want to show the military that they are not welcome by the P.T.S.A. in this building,” she said. “We hope other P.T.S.A.’s will follow.”

And there’s this:

At schools, they are insisting that recruiters be kept away, incensed at the access that they have to adolescents easily dazzled by incentive packages and flashy equipment.

Oh give me a break. There’s no reason military recruiters shouldn’t have the same access to schools, and make the same sort of pitch (so long as they are truthful), as recruiters from other employers or colleges. To be balanced, however, there does seem to be some legitimate gripes about recruiters who are something less than honest:

Orlando Terrazas, a former truck driver in Southern California, said he was struck when his son told him that recruiters were promising students jobs as musicians.

But, just like any other human endeavor, one is going to find a few bad apples. That’s no reason to condemn the whole bushel.

02. June 2005 · Comments Off on TNR Rips Dean · Categories: Politics

The New Republic has joined the growing chorus of those on the left unhappy with Howard Dean:

But it’s hardly the DNC chair’s place to be making predictions about what a judge and a jury might decide–especially since DeLay hasn’t actually been indicted!

I personally think that Dean is entirely wrong for the post of Party Chairman. Because, like Bill Clinton, he is incapable of fading into the background, and leaving the grandstand to the active politicians. The principle job of Party Chair is fundraising. On that count as well, Dean has been seriously deficient:

It goes without saying that 100 days is an arbitrary and premature point at which to assess whether Dean is saving or screwing the party. Right-wing pundits have already started celebrating what they see as Dean’s speedy march towards failure. Although Dean is hitting “record levels,” according to DNC spokesperson Laura Gross, with a million-dollar-a-week fundraising pace, conservatives are gloating over RNC chair Ken Mehlman’s $34.2 million-twice the amount Dean has raised so far.

31. May 2005 · Comments Off on “This Is About Taking Care Of Me” · Categories: General

The Sheild is still Too Cool. What more can I say?

31. May 2005 · Comments Off on Sorry I Have To Leave · Categories: That's Entertainment!

I’m currently watching the first few minutes of the rather poorly reviewed Just Visiting on WE, and I’m busting a gut. Alas, a full determination will have to save ’til later.

31. May 2005 · Comments Off on Harnessing The Creativity Of The Masses · Categories: General

Watching a rapid fabrication machine in action is like watching paint dry – if you could actually see the molecular chemistry taking place. It’s a really wondrous technology. A new center is forming at Saddleback College here in Orange County to make this technology more available to start-ups (OCRegister – free registration req’d):

Many university researchers are studying all the whiz-bang uses for this computer technology. But few companies understand how they can use it to be competitive in the rapidly changing global marketplace. And those who figure it out can’t find trained technicians.

The National Science Foundation is funding the Advanced Technology Center at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo to bridge the gap. The effort should boost the local economy by helping start-up companies develop cutting- edge products cheaper and faster and training workers for high-paying jobs.

Currently, machines and computers representing the latest technology are spread around campus while the building to house the center is remodeled. Everything should be consolidated in one location by July 1, says Ken Patton, dean of Business Science, Workforce and Economic Development and lead researcher on the NSF project.

This seems to go hand-in-hand with this latest post from Virginia Postrel:

Gershenfeld’s experience with students and workshops from Ghana to South Boston confirms von Hippel’s central point: In many cases, people want things they can’t currently get and, given the tools to make them, will create new inventions. “The killer app for personal fabrication is fulfilling individual desires rather than meeting mass-market needs,” he writes. (For more info, see his website here.) I admire Gershenfeld’s enthusiasm, but he overstates the case for making stuff yourself. I already have the equipment and (rusty) skills to fabricate my own skirts, and by making them myself I could get exactly the right fabric and fit. But I don’t. Making stuff yourself can be fun and satisfying, but it can also be time-consuming and frustrating. The theoretical question is who has the scarce knowledge. User innovation taps unique or unarticulated desires, but specialization allows expertise and gains from trade.

I’m not sure if Virginia quite “gets it” here. I’m something of a MacGyver/Hank Hill type myself. But, at this stage in my life, I prefer to just “job-out” the creation of my visions. The problem, of course, is finding people to fulfill your vision faithfully and competently. For me, it’s frequently easier just to do it myself.

But, I think the impact on society goes well beyond that. It’s about capitalizing on the creative talents of those who wouldn’t normally be inclined to follow through from imagination-to-market by traditional paths. All of this is just pie-in-the-sky at this point; we are still far from Xerox’s highly touted “On Demand Publishing” ideal, and that’s just print on paper. But it’s coming.

31. May 2005 · Comments Off on Copyright Problems For Google Print · Categories: General

Something this good just can’t happen easily:

The much-heralded project called Google Print would provide free online copies of out-of-copyright books and newer books still protected by copyrights, making them searchable with snippets of text available online. But Google’s (nasdaq: GOOG – news – people ) utopian project has hit a few bumps in the five months since it was announced, and Google is in the rare position of having to defend itself.

The idea made a lot of sense given Google’s search expertise, its incredible stash of technology resources and its stated mission to organize the world’s information. Google Print also complemented efforts within the company to develop perfect machine language translation, which means that some day a scanned book will theoretically be readable in any language, anywhere in the world.

Sounds great, but a serious criticism of the project emerged last week from academic publishers. In a six page letter, a group of publishers admonished the Mountain View, Calif.-based company for scanning copyrighted books without detailing their plans, leading to a possible “systematic infringement of copyright on a massive scale.”

30. May 2005 · Comments Off on Is Ionatron For Real? · Categories: Military, Technology

If you’ve seen the demo of Ionatron’s directed energy vehicle, blowing up IEDs in it’s path, well before it’s in the blast zone, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s quite amazing. But is it too good to be true?

Company executives at Ionatron, Inc. in Tuscon, AZ say they’re working on laser-induced plasma channel (LIPC) weapons that use uses femtosecond lasers to carve conductive channels of ionized oxygen in the air. The idea is that Ionatron’s weapon will then use these channels to send man-made lighting bolts up to 800 meters away to disable or kill people and vehicles. DefenseTech.org reports that the company has received $12 million in appropriations.

Investigations by DefenseTech.org and the New York Post, however, are raising questions about Ionatron. New York Post Business columnist Christopher Byron has alleged questionable award practices at the Congressional level and even potential technology ownership issues involving Raytheon and/or HSV Technologies. DefenseTech.org lays out what is currently known about the situation, and reports that Ionatron executives refused to comment on the contents of his story or on Byron’s more detailed allegations.

30. May 2005 · Comments Off on Something To Make Timmer Drool · Categories: General Nonsense

Shawn Crosby and hai Honda \"H-Wing\"

Shawn “Obi-Shawn” Crosby and his Honda H-Wing Fighter

I know you want one! LMFAO 🙂

29. May 2005 · Comments Off on A Valuable Reference · Categories: A Href

Looking for the text of a famous speech? Or just a lover of great elocution? You want American Rhetoric. Rationalize rhetoric and it speaks to your mind; personify her and she speaks to your soul.

29. May 2005 · Comments Off on Horseracing Hits A New High · Categories: General Nonsense

A thoroughbred in Australia has tested positive for cocaine.

29. May 2005 · Comments Off on UN To Tell Us How To Save Trees – Riiiiight. · Categories: General

This from Steven Edwards at the NYDN:

Bold statements about the need to save the world’s trees poured into the United Nations last week at a massive conference called the Forum on Forests.

And yet the world body produces so many reports daily it is known as the globe’s most prodigious paper factory.

Which wouldn’t be so bad if someone were getting some benefit from all the printed words.

Alas, most of the reports go unread, their shelf life being just a few days as they pass from racks marked “today’s documents,” to “recent documents,” and finally to giant plastic bins for recycling.

The UN conservatively estimates 700 million pages stream off its printing presses every year. Critics say the total is closer to 2 billion.

28. May 2005 · Comments Off on Where To Look For Real Homeland Security · Categories: Home Front

This from Gary Wolf at Wired:

Fortunately, this advice was mostly ignored. According to the engineers, use of elevators in the early phase of the evacuation, along with the decision to not stay put, saved roughly 2,500 lives. This disobedience had nothing to do with panic. The report documents how evacuees stopped to help the injured and assist the mobility-impaired, even to give emotional comfort. Not panic but what disaster experts call reasoned flight ruled the day.

In fact, the people inside the towers were better informed and far more knowledgeable than emergency operators far from the scene. While walking down the stairs, they answered their cell phones and glanced at their BlackBerries, learning from friends that there had been a terrorist attack and that the Pentagon had also been hit. News of what was happening passed by word of mouth, and fellow workers pressed hesitating colleagues to continue their exit.

We know that US borders are porous, that major targets are largely undefended, and that the multicolor threat alert scheme known affectionately as “the rainbow of doom” is a national joke. Anybody who has been paying attention probably suspects that if we rely on orders from above to protect us, we’ll be in terrible shape. But in a networked era, we have increasing opportunities to help ourselves. This is the real source of homeland security: not authoritarian schemes of surveillance and punishment, but multichannel networks of advice, information, and mutual aid.

Remain vigilant

Via InstaPundit

28. May 2005 · Comments Off on You’d Think She Is Dealing With The Government · Categories: Ain't That America?, General

You would think that admitting Ligaya Lagman, whose son was killed last year in Afghanistan, into American Gold Star Mothers would be a simple matter. Public sentiment is certainly with her. But, as these two conflicting AP reports (here and here) show, it ain’t that simple:

“We can’t go changing the rules every time we turn around,” said Herd, the national president. “When we have problems within our organization with people not abiding by the rules, we just get it straightened out, we don’t change the rules.”

Mrs. Lagman may not be a citizen. But she has been a legal resident here for over twenty years. But most importantly, her son, Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman, gave everything in the service of America. This should be a no-brainer.

Then again, one has to wonder why Mrs. Lagman would even want to be part of such a stick-up-the-ass organization.

25. May 2005 · Comments Off on Leon Kass Interview · Categories: Politics, Science!

Marc Strassman has just interviewed Dr. Leon Kass, Chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics. The introductory page is here. In case you have problems finding the link to the interview (a 16.8mb Winamp file), it is here.

Comments forthcoming. The interview is about 37 minutes long, and my computer keeps freezing when I pause. So I need to make the time to listen straight through.

This is really a must-listen for those needing a primer on the matters of stem-cell research and cloning. And it’s important that the differentiation be made.

The issue is that of life begins at conception. Most embryonic stem-cell research involves cell derived from eggs fertilized by a sperm – “conception”. Cloned embryos, on the other hand, are created by replacing the nucleus of a egg cell with a donor nucleus; the DNA is entirely that of the donor.

With the, a principle argument of the Right to Life crowd collapses, in that the cloned blastocyst is no “unique”; it is not biologically distinct from any other tissue sample taken from the donor.

25. May 2005 · Comments Off on The Birth Of The Filibuster · Categories: Politics

The Dems would have us believe that the filibuster has been with us from the birth of the republic. But Brookings has this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from a year ago:

Right to extended debate

The Constitution allows the Senate to establish supermajority requirements. Article 1, section 5, provides that “each House may determine the rules of its proceedings.” Such requirements may be troublesome for the Republican majority, but the Senate clearly has the constitutional authority to create and enforce supermajority rules.

Still, this does not mean no reform is permissible. The right to extended debate was not created until 1806, when the Senate cleaned up its rulebook and dispensed—probably by mistake—with the rule that allowed a majority to limit the debate. Filibusters did not begin in earnest until the newly formed Democratic and Whig parties formed several decades later.

Filibusters against nominees are constitutional. Some Republican senators have claimed that filibusters of nominees are unconstitutional because they prevent the Senate from fulfilling its obligations to advise and consent. In fact, and quite remarkably, the Constitution does not specify that a majority of any sort is required for confirmation, or even for passing laws. The Framers most likely had such a requirement in mind, but the Constitution does not address it. No reading of the Constitution can support the idea that filibusters are unconstitutional.

There is precedent for banning the filibuster. Periodically, the Senate has chosen to impose debate limits on important bills. “Fast track” for trade bills ban the filibuster and a wide range of laws (from arms export control laws to marine sanctuary protections) limit debate. In proposing a ban on filibustering judicial nominees, Frist may simply have found another special purpose for limiting debate.

Further, while he Jackasses are baying loud and long about how a change in the cloture rule is unprecedented, that is far from true as well:

Cloture has not always been like this. When rule twenty-two was adopted in 1917, it took 2/3 of the Senate who was present to vote for cloture providing there was a quorum. In 1949, rule 22 was amended to state that 2/3 of the entire senate, or 67 members were required to vote to end debate. In 1959, rule 22 was amended again lowering the required number of senators to 2/3 of those who were present and voting. In 1975, cloture was lowered to 3/5 of membership or 60 members to vote for it. Since the drop in the number of members needed to invoke cloture, cloture votes were twice as successful then in the period from 1959.

The other major reform that took place in cloture was the time allotted to debate after cloture was invoked. Originally rule 22 never specified the amount of time that was permitted for debate after cloture was invoked, senators began to exploit the rule in the late 1970s. They started what became known as the post-cloture filibuster, where after debate had been supposedly ended, they would continue to tie up the floor with more debate, amendments, and points of order. For example, Senator X would have control over the floor and ask for every amendment to be read, despite relevance or necessity. This post-cloture filibuster would eat up a large amount of time.

Thus, in 1979, the Senate amended rule 22 to state that post-cloture debate would be limited to one hundred hours or one hour per Senator. The only problem with this reform was that the one hundred hours did not include points of order or readings of amendments, so the post-cloture filibuster still worked in delaying the passage of a bill. Again in 1986, the senate voted to amend rule 22 to limit post-cloture debate to 30 hours including all points of order. This recent amendment has pretty much eliminated the post-cloture filibuster.

Another somewhat less looked at cloture reform is that of dealing with procedural motions and rules. In 1948, the chair decided that cloture cannot be applied to procedural motions applying to pending legislation. One year later, the senate voted to overturn that decision, saying that cloture could be applied to procedural motions except those motions to change the standing rules of the senate. One decade later in 1959, the senate again changed rule 22 to say that cloture may be invoked in motions considering changes in senate rules. In 1975, along with the lowering of cloture votes to 3/5, the senate mandated that 2/3 of senators present and voting must vote cloture on senate rules. This is the ruling that remains today.

So why is rule 22 cloture reform so important to the passing of legislation? It is pretty simple. It is almost impossible for a majority in the senate to have 3/5 or 60 votes. So in order to pass a partisan bill, one party must get a number of votes from their opponents in order to shut off the minorities ability to filibuster. There have been talks about lowering the amount of votes needed to invoke cloture but due to the fact that you need a 2/3 vote to change senate rules, it is unlikely that the minority will want to give up their ability to block unfavorable legislation.

Finally, I find it almost laughable that, after all the vitriol and hyperbole over Owen for the past four years, when it finally came down to a vote to end debate, it passed by an overwhelming 81-18.

Hat Tip: Todd Zywicki at Volokh

24. May 2005 · Comments Off on A Cool Resource · Categories: General, History

I’ve been doing a little research of late into the origins of modern guerilla warfare. In studying the Napoleonic conquest of Spain, and subsequent resistance, I’ve stumbled upon a little treasure-trove called the War Times Journal – a site targeted on hard-core strat-sim gamers. There’s a lot of good stuff in here; I’m currently perusing the memoirs of Marshal Louis-Gabriel Suchet.

23. May 2005 · Comments Off on Is Anyone Paying Attention? · Categories: Media Matters Not, Politics

Mickey Kaus presents some good dissertation on the so called “Nuclear Option” (start here, and work up). The basic theme is whether or not it’s wise for the Jackasses or the Dumbos to push this point now, as opposed to when a high-profile nomination for The Supremes comes up.

Well, my position is that, of those who pay attention at all, people are paying attention. This is because a) the MSM, as well as we in the alternative media, are forcing the issue, and b) everyone pretty much knows that this is just a prelude to the next Supreme Court Justice battle, both for the precedent it will set in the appointment process, and that these people, particularly Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown, will be high on Bush’s list of potential nominees

23. May 2005 · Comments Off on Red State Arabia · Categories: Politics, World

A must read article from Fouad Ajami in OpinionJournal:

The children of Islam, and of the Arabs in particular, had taken to the road, and to terror. There were many liberal, secular Arabs now clamoring for American intervention. The claims of sovereignty were no longer adequate; a malignant political culture had to be “rehabilitated and placed in receivership,” a wise Jordanian observer conceded. Mr. Bush may not be given to excessive philosophical sophistication, but his break with “the soft bigotry of low expectations” in the Arab-Islamic world has found eager converts among Muslims and Arabs keen to repair their world, to wean it from a culture of scapegoating and self-pity. Pick up the Arabic papers today: They are curiously, and suddenly, readable. They describe the objective world; they give voice to recognition that the world has bypassed the Arabs. The doors have been thrown wide open, and the truth of that world laid bare. Grant Mr. Bush his due: The revolutionary message he brought forth was the simple belief that there was no Arab and Muslim “exceptionalism” to the appeal of liberty. For a people mired in historical pessimism, the message of this outsider was a powerful antidote to the culture of tyranny. Hitherto, no one had bothered to tell the Palestinians that they can’t have terror and statehood at the same time, that the patronage of the world is contingent on a renunciation of old ways. This was the condition Mr. Bush attached to his support for the Palestinians. It is too early to tell whether the new restraint in the Palestinian world will hold. But it was proper that Mr. Bush put Arafat beyond the pale.

Hat Tip: InstaPundit

21. May 2005 · Comments Off on Buzzzzzz!! Reject. · Categories: That's Entertainment!

MSNBC at the Movies has devoted its whole show this weekend to (what else?) Star Wars ep. III, Revenge of the Sith. Except for the rather bad review by Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers, it has been something of a mindless gush thus far. To prove my point, they just did their “Top 10 Sci-Fi films of all time.” It was led by (what else?) Star Wars ep IV, A New Hope. Places 2,3 and 4 were occupied by Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Alien (little argument from me there). But, well, besides the fact that virtually everyone on Earth agrees The Empire Strikes Back was a far better film than the original (or any other in the series, for that matter), the mindlessness of this list is evident in their inclusion of The Matrix (at 6 or 7, as I recall), and the exclusion of Metropolis.

I also would have included Woody Allen’s Sleeper, and dropped The Terminator (which was #10). But that’s likely just me. 🙂

20. May 2005 · Comments Off on Get Your Email Into The FEC · Categories: Politics

RedState.org reminds us that the deadline for comments to the FEC on proposed regulation of blogs is June 3rd. They have lots of handy links.

Hat Tip: InstaPundit

19. May 2005 · Comments Off on Eeeek! · Categories: That's Entertainment!

I’m just about 20 minuites in watching Flashdance. And, even after twenty-two years, the story line is still too sickening to endure.

“Alexandria: you are 18 years old. Either join the nunnery, or go fuck your boss”. Oh, barf

Oh, gawd – it’s the romance sequence. And Jennifer is prancing around the freight yards in 3″ heels.

Oh, gawd! “let’s establis that you are so much different from all the other bitiches I’ve fucked. So let’s fuck – bitch.”