Deal with the Devil?

Via Mark Levin, it seems the UAE company is not exactly a pristine one, at least when it comes to anti-Semitism.

How can it not fail?

Canada's national health care system that is. In the NY Times:

Accepting money from patients for operations they would otherwise receive free of charge in a public hospital is technically prohibited in this country, even in cases where patients would wait months or even years before receiving treatment

That bit of information, that it is illegal to provide healthcare outside the system, startled me. Even more startling;

Private clinics are opening around the country by an estimated one a week, and private insurance companies are about to find a gold mine.

So now, Canada's healthcare will truly embody what so many say is wrong with the US system, that only those who can afford it (not true here) recieve care, and further prove that a completely government run and operated system fails.

The kind of thing

I like to read...

But so long as you think you are getting something for nothing, the politicians' shell game has worked and the welfare state can continue to expand.

Intellectual Gathering...

Our Governor apparently had dinner with Jessica Simpson last week during her visit of Santa Fe to film a Wal-Mart parody. Topics of discussion included her recent split with "that 98 degree guy" and a symposium on what's actually in those Chicken of the Sea cans. It was unanimously decided that it's NOT green chile...

How About TSA?

It's become somewhat a ritual for me to hit Peggy's Column every Thursday. This week she brings up a good point. Not to distract from seaport security, but what about our airports?

Profiling A La Carte...

Interesting to see who's on which side of the Dubai deal...
Not sure how I feel about it yet... But is it ever good to have the UAE controlling more than they "need" to? "Need" is relative in that statement...

Income Tax, SSec Tax, Death Tax, Medicare Tax, Breathing Tax, Thumb Tax, Tax, Tax, Tax!

A tediously boring but comprehensive review from the Heritage Foundation of some of the myths of tax policy propagated in the last 30 years.

A Well Known Tidbit..

..about hiking minimum wages. Too bad it's coming here...

The definition of irrelevant

Please allow me to indulge in nonsense for a moment, back to politics later I promise.

The day following the super bowl I read something surprisingly relevant by espn.com’s Sports Guy:

I think God created "Grey's Anatomy" as a way to stick it to guys who watch football all day, then have to deal with girlfriends or wives who play the "Screw you, you're watching this with me, you spent all day watching football!" card on Sunday night. There's really no way out unless you're giving up any and all hope for sex later that night. This is why the ratings are so high, I'm convinced. Wait, am I sharing too much here?

Reading that I could only hang my head in shame as I remembered what I was doing right after the game, rushing home to watch “Grey’s Anatomy” at the behest of my accompaniment for the afternoon.

Later in the evening, after reading that fateful article, I shared the above snippet with her and she laughed then became serious and told me that she knows plenty of men who enjoy the show and that she didn’t think it was a “girly” show at all.

After my head stopped spinning I came to my senses and knew it was up to me to explain to her why. My first question was important, if she knew plenty (?) of men who liked the show, why watch it with me? She did notice my eyes rolling into the back of my head ever two minutes throughout the episode, right? Besides, even if she knew plenty (!) of men who watched it, and (pretend to) enjoy it, that’s all explained above in the third to last sentence of the Sports Guy’s prose.

Now it came time to think. I had laid out a framework and learned that the woman I was seeing knew plenty (?!) of men. I needed an argument and one that was creative, one that held water. She’s a law student so I couldn’t give her any opening.

Like an epiphany it came to me, a tangible way to determine if a television show, movie or any of a number of things could be considered conceived for a female audience and I’m proud of this theory enough to share. I call it “The Mangina Scale.”

It’s a simple theory really. If, on the show, none of the main male characters are cool enough to hang out with say Jack Bauer or Michael Knight. If there are a disproportionate number of male character “nice guys” who have zero chance of landing the conflicted, hard-working, intelligent female lead whom they covet. If the male characters on the show make you ashamed as a man for any number of reasons, the show has a high score on “The Mangina Scale”.

So, what is the antithesis of “Grey’s Anatomy”? What kind of show earns a solid zero on the scale? Easy, I used Jack Bauer and Michael Knight previously for a reason. 24, Knight Rider, the A-Team, Miami Vice, The Fall Guy, The Shield, MacGyver all zeros. Jack Bauer scores in the negative as a matter of fact.

Sharing my theory for the first time, she laughed a little and proceeded to jab me in the ribs then told me I was mean. Perhaps, but it sounded to me as though I had made a point. A night to savor indeed…

Good to be back

What was that? Oh yeah, my laziness has finally been snapped and I decided to finally get back to the blog. It's been since December, but sometimes there's just something you have to link to, courtesy of Jonah Goldberg at NRO...

If you recall, the "living Constitution" is the notion that the meaning of the Constitution changes over time. One day nine justices simply wake up, and when they arrive at work that day, they discover that the words in the document they studied their entire adult lives suddenly mean something new and fresh. It's a bit like a science experiment where you try to grow mold in a petri dish. A dead (or "enduring") Constitution is simply one that means what it says and says what it means. Obviously, this is a gross generalization, but you get the point.

More Evidence...

From a NewsMax interview with former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw.

"Shaw suggested that the answer of why the Bush administration had systematically "ignored Russia's involvement" in evacuating Saddam's WMD stockpiles "could be much bigger than anyone has thought," but declined to speculate what exactly was involved.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney was less reticent. He thought the reason was Iran.

"With Iran moving faster than anyone thought in its nuclear programs," he told NewsMax, "the administration needed the Russians, the Chinese and the French, and was not interested in information that would make them look bad.""

At least in my opinion, everyone who has an inkling of the powerful eyes of the US intelligence community knows the government is well aware of the movements of Saddam prior to his removal in Iraq. I find the most likely reason why the Administration has been tursely quiet about this story is in fact a more important decision to not bring another era of Soviet "complications." The world of the politics of defense is not a pretty one...

AP Mistakes

Well, at least you can't chalk this one up to bias. This AP reporter called the move Lindsay Jacobellis executed before she crashed and lost the boardercross gold a "backside method grab" - even though 1) there is no such thing as a frontside method grab, and 2) judging from the replay, she did a "Palmer" air, or a method tweaked out by pulling the bottom of the board up to face the direction of travel.

In her defense, snowboarding IS fun, and is a sport defined by individual style. Leave her alone! She'll pick up the gold in Whistler.

Open Letter to Ann Coulter

Courtesy of John Hawkins (via Tigerhawk). Definitely needed. Ann made me cringe for the first time with her post 9/11 column, which got her fired from NR. She's an incredibly gifted and witty writer, so I hate to have her talent go to waste - but she is guilty of impeding the effort in the Middle East if she resorts to slandering an entire group of people and needs to be called on it. It would be a shame to have her excellent work regarding Joe McCarthy to be dismissed because she keeps sticking her foot in her mouth.

For the record, I went to an Ann Coulter talk in Abq with the wife a couple years back, and Ann was as civil as could be. It was an enjoyable experience - but probably because there were no vocal and rowdy protestors. I think what happens is her incisive wit causes people to become irrational and she descends to their level. Overemotionalism in debate is a big problem and if you can't control it you shouldn't debate (I've been guilty many times). Anyway, I hope that's what happens, because I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt here.

How Many Engineers Does It Take to Move WMDs?

An interesting piece linked from NewsMax, take from it what you will...

"A Liberal's Ode to Regime Change"

by Dan Calabrese:

Murder, mayhem, torture
Unfortunate these acts
Would that we had a perfect world
We'd surely turn them back

But from my purview on the left
I've an enlightened view
No regime's a perfect one
We must accept it's true

So while Saddam is clearly bad
We all agree, oh yes
We mustn't lose our focus
On whom we do detest

He's the one who terrorizes
All that we hold dear
By cutting taxes for the rich
He makes it oh so clear

He wants to drill in ANWR
His lawman's known to pray
He doesn't bow at Kofi's feet
He needs to go--today!

We lefties want regime change
Oh let there be no doubt
We must depose this daunting threat
We have to throw him out!

Saddam may be an awful thug
Killing near and far
But he does not cut finding
Of our precious NPR

So let Hussein play torture games
It's no skin off our back
But for the tyrant cretin Bush
A pre-emptive attack!

From a WSJ Opine Collection... There's some pretty good ones. Check 'em out.

FYI

Ran across this today on Opinionjournal - it looks like they are forming a new website called the Opinionjournal Federation, which will be a page with links to various political and commentary blogs. It's probably going to be very similar to PowerLineNews, but the various players are more "meaty", it seems, with participants like City Journal, the Claremont Institute, the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation.

Snicker

I guess when it came to Vote or Die, Rock the Vote is dying.

The Anglosphere

Mark Steyn discusses the global benefits of imperial power:

Those American conservatives -- the realpolitik crowd -- who disdain "nation-building" ought to consider what the Indian sub-continent would look like if the British had been similarly skeptical: today, it might well be another Araby -- a crazy quilt of authoritarian sultanates and psychotic dictatorships.

Pax Britannia lives on!

Who Would Aid America?

Always the shining edge of moral clarity, Dennis Prager reviews the situation of growing hatred...

Finally, A Social Program Worthy of Conservative Merit...

Michael Yon is usually enjoyable reading, moreover this time I had to link his dispatch about Operation Iraqi Children. Yon is actually requesting all readers to visit the site, donate if possible, and spread the word. It's quite encouraging to see that enough people, through private, corporate, and organized means, still care to help when the opportunity is there. Bravo OIC!!

Preparation M...

Had to post this from the Rott. This guy's a riot!

Bush to Nuke New Guinea...

In the Bush Administration's continuing war on science, plans are in place to nuke the area where hundreds of new animal species have been discovered. A White House spokesperson said this morning that "The world simply cannot afford to have any new species. Global warming is leading us to utter destruction, and these new species will only accelerate us on that path. They must be destroyed." This to happen in conjunction with the conversion of NASA, the EPA, DEA, DOE, DOD, CIA, NSA, NEA, ADA, NRA, FDA, and ACLU to Evangelical Christianity.

Politically wrong

okay, this is gonna be brief (I know, me brief, what a shock) and may not make sense to some, but I'm just gonna say it. If those Muslims get annoyed by an effortless interpretation of the murderer Muhammad, then why don't we drop from the sky a TRILLION different offensive odious representations of this and maybe these obtuse morons will disintegrate into oblivion since they enjoy the exceptional art of rioting and disturbance. I mean, if that's ALL it takes, geez, we got the answer people!

I'm sure Quran is a household item, but so is garbage and it stinks when it gets old too.

Steyn's Latest

On the riots over the Danish cartoons:

Denmark! Even if you were overcome with a sudden urge to burn the Danish flag, where do you get one in a hurry in Gaza?

Dude, it's not that hard. We produced a burnable US flag at the cabin in just a couple hours, stars and all. Although we didn't burn it, we raised it with a chopped-tree flagpole. The Danish flag looks like it could be produced easily with a little white canvas and red paint.

Speaking of cartoons, Mark Levin asks, where were the riots for these ones?

An Interesting Piece

Something I wondered about briefly at some point last year, probably while driving home or better yet, while sitting in my reading room (a.k.a. the bathroom), how much does war cost - relative to the economy?

Roberts and Alito Too New, MSM Crosshairs Now on Scalia

When I first read Brian Ross's Report on Scalia, I must admit I had a few threads of angst among the vast weave in my head (though some argue it's mostly air). For at least a couple seconds, I thought that Scalia might have gone up a bar or two in my "unethical meter."

Then I did a little research on Gillers. Here's a decent summary of "Scaliagate."

Excerpt:

"The group [Federalist Society] said that "Rather than taking a recreational trip with hours of tennis and going fly-fishing, as ABC would have its viewers believe, Justice Scalia was honoring an agreement made nearly a year in advance with the Federalist Society to teach a serious scholarly program to more than 100 lawyers from 38 states that required considerable work and advance preparation. Prior to the course, Justice Scalia produced a 481-page course book that attendees were expected to review in advance. The course was approved by at least 30 state bars for most of the attending lawyers' continuing education requirements. Justice Scalia was there to share his knowledge and experience and received only reimbursement for travel and lodging.""