Wow

I really can't believe this made a post in the "most visited" blog of the internet - the barking moonbats of the Daily Kos are lending credence to the paranoid theory that the Bushies bombed the levees in order to protect the French Quarter. I'm speechless.

"Disaster Porn"

This is a hilarious parody of the "disaster porn stars" of cable news. I hate tv journalists. Hate them. Even on Fox.

Germany Bound

The US National Team defeated Mexico 2-0 last night to become the first North American team, and the eighth overall team, to qualify for the World Cup Finals in Germany. This victory is all the sweeter because it came at the expense of Mexico, who most consider the top team of the region - and who also have yet to qualify (although they will probably do so quite easily next game). Kudos to Kasey Keller, Claudio Reyna, and Oguchi Onyewu, who had the best performances of the game in my opinion. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a final four spot for the US next year!

Check out what the Mexican coach said:

“The U.S. is a small team,” he said. “They play like my sister, my aunt and my grandmother.”

Talk about a sore loser! I hope we meet them in the World Cup again, so we can knock them out - just like in 2002.

The Geopolitical Implications of Katrina

Tigerhawk posts an incredibly chilling analysis of what Katrina has done to our economy:

During the Cold War, a macabre topic of discussion among bored graduate students who studied such things was this: If the Soviets could destroy one city with a large nuclear device, which would it be? The usual answers were Washington or New York. For me, the answer was simple: New Orleans. If the Mississippi River was shut to traffic, then the foundations of the economy would be shattered...

The analysis is we won't be able to export agricultural products from the heartland because it will be too expensive. I'd always wondered what idiot came up with the idea of building a city below sea level at an area where hurricanes strike like clockwork every year, but the fact is it's there because it has to be - we need it as a vital hub in our nation's economy. I honestly did not know that New Orleans had the number one port in the US in terms of tonnage. Read the whole analysis.

What Media Bias?

Check out the headline from this AP story:

Unemployment Rate Slumps to Four-Year Low

Could they be reporting economic good news as bad news? Naw, not the AP.

Um, ok....

Not sure what I think about this...

A secondary school is to allow pupils to swear at teachers - as long as they don't do so more than five times in a lesson. A running tally of how many times the f-word has been used will be kept on the board. If a class goes over the limit, they will be 'spoken' to at the end of the lesson.

It is certainly strange.

Gas Prices

are still lower today than during the first oil crisis, when adjusted for inflation. I knew this to be true, but didn't have the actual numbers, and now I have - found via Tigerhawk.

Pat Robertson

is an idiot. I hope I speak for most evangelical Christians in America when I say he holds very little influence. Byron York thinks otherwise, and has the numbers to prove it. I fear he's right, there is a segment of our population that is susceptible to his hypocritical machinations.

Joe Carter links to a guy who is disappointed in the Evangelical reaction. I'd like to think that it's because nobody listens to Pat Robertson and didn't know about it until late, but unfortunately I think it's because they are embarrassed and hope the story just goes away after we lock our embarrassing crazy old Aunt Pat back up in the attic. Or even worse, they tacitly agree with him.

Well, I'll do my part in the Garden State, denouncing Robertson to all who ask for comment.

I think I'll stay away from Kutztown, PA

Seems 13 high school students are being charged with felonies because they used the password which was taped to the bottom of their school issued laptops. The press release from the school district seems to say, "let the little brats rot, it's not our fault the PA legislature made their actions a felony."
Here's the letter sent to the parents from the police. Note that the police believe they are proudly serving their community. What a joke.
The letter is hosted at a site setup to show the students side of the story.

Guilty until proven innocent

...is Bob Feller, who stands accused of a crime worse than murder - being a racist. Check out this tendentious headline from SI:

Hall of Famer denies holding racist views on players

Feller also denies beating his wife, and dressing up in women's panties while prancing about his living room.

ZDNet UK Apologizes Just In Case

For those not familiar with the story, Google is refusing to speak to News.com (run by ZDNet) for one year. The "I'm not talking to you" punishment is in retaliation for News.com publishing a story which included "private" information about the CEO of Google. That information was all found by googling the CEO.

Now, ZDNet UK has appologized profusely just incase they fall under the same punishment due to corporate association. Here's the money quote:
"Acting under the mistaken impression that Google's search engine was intended to help research public data, we have in the past enthusiastically abused the system to conduct exactly the kind of journalism that Google finds so objectionable.

Clearly, there is no place in modern reporting for this kind of unregulated, unprotected access to readily available facts, let alone in capriciously using them to illustrate areas of concern. We apologise unreservedly, and will cooperate fully in helping Google change people's perceptions of its role just as soon as it feels capable of communicating to us how it wishes that role to be seen. "

Snap.

Pro-War Leftie

Christopher Hitchens asks a pertinent question: (found via Ann Althouse, subbing for the Instapundit)

How can so many people watch this as if they were spectators, handicapping and rating the successes and failures from some imagined position of neutrality? Do they suppose that a defeat in Iraq would be a defeat only for the Bush administration?

Spot on. From my conversations with lefties around here, it seems they are actually rooting for our loss in Iraq, so they can stick it in Bush's eye. Don't they understand that if we lose, then hope for our way of life is going to fade fast? Hitchens earlier wrote:

It never seemed to me that there was any alternative to confronting the reality of Iraq, which was already on the verge of implosion and might, if left to rot and crash, have become to the region what the Congo is to Central Africa: a vortex of chaos and misery that would draw in opportunistic interventions from Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

I don't know about you, but the thought of Iran taking over Iraq, or getting into fisticuffs with the Saudis or the Turks, is a little unsettling. Especially with Iran restarting their nuclear programs.

Is Dean Losing it Again?

Or is he just banking on the utter ignorance of Democrat-Youth? Powerline points out how Dean blames the Kelo decision and the raiding of the Social Security fund on Bush and Republicans. The Democrats I know aren't this ignorant, so maybe he's just trying to whip them up into a frenzy. Before you know it, he'll say Bush kicks puppies and tears the legs off of grasshoppers.

Homer makes how much now?

I was reading NRO's the corner this morning and noticed this list from CNN listing the salaries of TV Dads. Interesting, they estimate Homer makes 65K a year. Not bad.

GW Bush, Miracle Worker

Chrenkoff points out how W has managed to heal the rift between Moby and Eminem. Amazing.

You Mean I'm Paying for a Bike Path in Duluth?

The Wall Street Journal points out a reason to dislike the Republican leadership in Congress. I used to brush off charges of Republicans as "Democrat-lite" but this kind of spending is really ticking me off. We need more Goldwater-style Republicans in office, and less of these profligate spenders.

CAFTA

President Bush is pressing Republicans to pass CAFTA. Good for him. Tom DeLay is confident - I hope he's right. After we relegate the Democrats to the fringe, we should flush out the anti-free trade protectionists from our party.

Update: It passed in a squeaker. The Instapundit links to a guy who notes the declining support for free trade by Democrats. I hate to give the man credit, but Bill Clinton is responsible for the passage of NAFTA and deserves praise for his staunch support of free trade. It looks like his legacy in the party on this issue was pretty fleeting though.

Bin Laden wanted to help rid US of cocaine addicts, foiled by Columbian drug lords

"PAPER: Bin Laden Had Plan To Sell Poisoned Cocaine To Americans In 2002
Tue Jul 26 2005 09:43:35 ET

Osama bin Laden tried to buy a massive amount of cocaine, spike it with poison and sell it in the United States, hoping to kill thousands of Americans one year after the 9/11 attacks, the NEW YORK POST reported on Tuesday.

The evil plot failed when the Colombian drug lords bin Laden approached decided it would be bad for their business - and, possibly, for their own health, according to law-enforcement sources familiar with the Drug Enforcement Administration's probe of the aborted transaction.

The feds were told of the scheme earlier this year, but its existence had never been made public.

The Post has reviewed a document detailing the DEA's findings in the matter, in addition to interviewing sources familiar with the case.

Developing..."

Note that the link is to flash.htm at www.drudgereport.com. I'm guessing that link won't necessarily stay on the same story if you try and follow it a couple days from now.

Recreational Explosives

This is the sport of Boomershooting - combining two great things, high explosives and powerful rifles. Videos here. I really need to get into this sport....

Most Overpriced Cities

As ranked by Forbes: Seattle tops the list, followed by NYC, then Portland. No surprise, except I was expected San Jose and San Fran to be higher (#5, and #7, respectively). Quite telling was the fact that Joizey had two towns in the list, both suburbs. I thought people moved to the suburbs to get away from the overpriced cities!

Most surprising to me though was that Denver made the list. I was under the impression that Rocky Mountain/Southwestern cities are quite affordable.

Straight Talkin Aussie

My only regret is that I missed the live video of this exchange. The Anglosphere alliance is strong, alive, and well. Terrorists can cow countries like Spain but not us tough ol' Anglospheric countries - although maybe they can scare Canada, with all dem Canadian Frogs. Here's a piece:

Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it's given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.

Settling a conspiracy

Once upon a time I read somewhere that 1 in 4 people believe that the moon landing was faked and I thought I saw a correlation to the 50% divorce rate. Anyway, scientists at NASA will finally be able to silence the naysayers when;

In 2008 a powerful camera aboard a new spacecraft called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will photograph the moon's surface in fine detail - fine enough to pick out the Apollo 17 moon buggy abandoned 33 years ago, along with lunar landing platforms and other relics.

Oops, I forgot, they can just say the photos were faked too.

Who didn't see this coming?

I shouldn't be surprised, as soon as the President has named his choice for the Supreme Court, the dems decide on their preferred method of attack.

AaawwwwwwwYeeeeah

Team USA has risen to #6 in the FIFA world rankings. This is the highest ranking ever for our guys. Very impressive, and hopefully this means we are ready for a head-turning performance at World Cup 2006 in Germany (I'm hoping for a semifinals appearance). Now, we just need to get a higher ranking than Mexico so we can be best on the continent......

Thank you

I just wanted to put a thank you out there, from the rational members of the human race, to Dr. Stephen W. Nicholas. I know it's not much in the fight against the loonies, but at least it's something. The chain of action by which Dr. Nicholas was demonized for helping develop treatment for children with HIV is worth checking out.

Wha......

First, no scoring in soccer or other kid's little league type activities and then classes wherein a failing grade cannot be achieved to preserve some kid's "self-esteem". Can it get more ridiculous. Yes, it can;

The word "fail" should be banned from use in British classrooms and replaced with the phrase "deferred success" to avoid demoralizing pupils, a group of teachers has proposed.

OK, the REAL Supreme Court Nominee

It's John Roberts. I admit, I was caught up in the conservative swooning over him at first, but let's get down to business. Bush made a brilliant choice politically - at least for temporal reasons. He will be easily confirmed, and he seems conservative enough to satisfy Bush's base. But remember, stealth nominees are never, ever, good choices. Remember David Souter?

I'm cautious, and teetering between optimism and pessimism. Polipundit points out that his paper trail (although it is sparse) is not a big confidence builder - although he argued against Roe (with the gov't as client) he also argued against Microsoft. I'd have to read his defenses to ensure he was defending conservative principles (free markets) but it gives me jitters, esp. in light of the Kelo case.

That's just my take. Conservatives are reacting with mixed emotions - Ann Coulter is attacking Bush's choice, while the guys at Powerline are just ecstatic. I tend to side more with Powerline than with Ann's sometimes hysterical attacks, but I think she has a point here - based on past experiences.

At any rate, the best blog to cover this, I would imagine, is this one. Not like it won't be endlessly covered in the news anyway....

Powerline has responded to the conservative critics, with good points. I'm a little happier now.

Supreme Court Nominee!

I pity the foo who criticizes Bush's choice!

Spurlock Watch

I posted a while back on Morgan Spurlock's movie Super Size Me - in particular the idiotic premise behind it. Now it seems that he's gained a li'l fame, and he's got himself a TV show on FX called 30 Days, with pretty much the same sort of preachy liberal premise behind it. In response to this, there's now a blog called Spurlock Watch (found via Instapundit). Seeing how I won't watch his show, I bet I only go to this blog in response to a friend using this show as 'proof' of any liberal shibboleth.

Jet powered MR2

This is the sort of thing I would make if I had lots of money and didn't have to work. Ahh to be able to devote ones life to the betterment of society...

Call Them What They Are

The Dallas Morning News is dropping the label "insurgent" in favor of "terrorist". Apparently the recent bombing of children in Iraq changed their mind:

[The terrorists] drove that point home with chilling clarity Wednesday in a poor Shiite neighborhood. As children crowded around U.S. soldiers handing out candy and toys in a gesture of good will, a bomb-laden SUV rolled up and exploded.

These children were not collateral damage. They were targets.

The SUV driver was no insurgent. He was a terrorist.

Bravo to the editorial board - the DMN has become one of my favorite papers over the last couple years, for reasons like this. (Via LGF)

Sweeeeeeeeet!!!!!

Transformers, the long-planned, live-action movie based on the robot-morphing cartoon, comic and toy franchise, will roll into theaters July 4, 2007

Can I buy tickets yet? And I'm not even kidding. I always find it amusing when I fit a stereotype and even more so when it's of the nerd kind...

Children of the 1980s likely will be champing at the tie-in lunchbox.

Damn straight!

Staying on message

If you follow Vetes's link below to the transcript of the interview, you'll notice that the first thing Wilson says is, "[Bush is a lier]." At least "Bush is a puppet controled by the evil genius Karl Rove" would have been very slightly on topic. Instead, Wilson recites Talking Point Number 1 from the DNC. No, Wilson isn't a Democrat pawn at all...
I remeber watching the Kerry interview on Today a while back. Kerry basically said, "[Bush is a lier, he's a lying lier, his pants are on fire, yeah he lies..., lier.]" I can't seem to find an actuall transcript of that interview for some reason.
I've been trying to figure out why the DNC still harps the Bush lies slander. I think I've come up with something, so I'll make a prediction. Whoever wins the RNC primary for 2008 will instantly become Bush's primary accomplice in all the lies. Much spittle will fly from Howard Deans mouth as he decries lierness by assosiation. Have I uncovered the DNC's secret 2008 campaign strategy? Time will tell.

More Joe Wilson

Here's the best review I've found of the Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame kerfuffle so far, at the Volokh Conspiracy. This WSJ editorial is also an excellent read. I got into an argument yesterday (I get into a lot of those around here) about Karl Rove and what should happen to him. I was flabbergasted, yet again, by the lack of information that people have on this affair - especially the fact that Joe Wilson has been discredited as a liar on multiple occasions. What can you do, but point people to the truth.....

Seriously, it seems that Karl Rove has some 'splaining to do to the President. If Rove was indeed the "leak" then Bush has a problem on his hands, but if this was fairly common, though unreported, knowledge, then this is nothing but the media destroying itself on another fabricated "scandal". It's clear no crime was committed though. My big question is: why is Judith Miller in jail? The Times is supporting her, and the cat's outa the bag that Rove is at least one source, so is she hiding the original source? Who is it? Is she really making a principled stand for journalism, or is she hidng something? Hopefully we find out.

New study in JAMA

A new study shows that 32% of studies are wrong.

Words escape me

A self serving egomaniac &#!*%. That's all I can say about Joseph "Clown" Wilson.

Latest Sowell...

It is amazing how many problems are caused by the simple fact that somebody could not be bothered to listen.

Many people are so preoccupied with the notion that their own knowledge exceeds the average knowledge of millions of other people that they overlook the more important fact that their knowledge is not even one-tenth of the total knowledge of those millions.

Reading letters from liberals makes me fear that they are going to dislocate their shoulders from patting themselves on the back so much.

"I sorta space out for an hour"

MmmmmmYeeaaaaaahhhh...it seems like the problem of "spacing out" is a pretty common one. My favorite part of this whole story is at the end though:

"There is such a thing as creative waste," said Coleman [senior VP at Salary.com]. "Not all wasted time is bad."

Riiiiiight. That's what I tell my boss when he catches me.

No Question

How long is it going to take for the common occurence of terrorist groups claiming credit for unspeakable acts for people to realize that there is an enemy in this and that if it is not taken seriously only peril can result?

Earlier in the morning I had heard the terrible news of London being attacked by terrorists and later in the morning nothing was worse than reading

A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of Al Qaeda in Europe" has posted a claim of responsibility for the series of blasts in London

Insisting on being offended by the proper identification of those who carry out these evil, despicable acts is uncalled for. The murder of innocents and fear created by these acts is not a call for restraint, a call for indictments. Elimination of those who pursue harm in this way can be the only answer. PERIOD.

Gun Grabbing Gonzales

An interesting opinion piece against Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General. Read it if you like, basically Farah says that Gonzales should not be AG because he would support re-enactment of the "assault rifle" ban.
The article contains a good point that I don't remember having heard before," So often, the gun grabbers portray themselves as crime fighters. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even in a representative republic, when civil order breaks down, as it inevitably does, law-abiding citizens are not safe without adequate firepower. The image of Korean store owners perched on top of their businesses during the L.A. riots is indelible proof of that simple fact."
Not only do gun rights protect the citizenry from government run amok, but they also protect the citizenry when the government can't do it's job.
As to the larger Gonzales issue, I don't know enough about him to have an opinion myself.