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.

Nuclear Iran

Iran developing the nuclear bomb is an issue that hasn't gotten a lot of attention lately. I'm sure the Irannians appreciate this. Here's a decent article on the topic.
Given that trying to inhibit technological advance is not a strategy that's likely to be succesful in the long term, what should we do? I suggest that we need to start ramping up development on technologies to identify nuclear materials. Such technology could be put to two uses. It would be nice to be able to detect a nuclear warhead through any kind of shielding that a terrorist might employ in trying to gain entrance to the US (or other country for that matter). Also useful would be the ability to identify the origin of a warhead. It seems reasonable that any fissible material should be tracable to the plant it was produced at (possibly via unique trace impurities). Then, if a warhead was ever detected in the US (or more happily, detected as it was trying to gain entry), we could tell the source of the fissible material that they will destroy the offending plant now or we will send a gigaton of our warheads to do the job (in case it's buried under Mt. Everest). Ideally we would figure out a way to identify the warheads and characterize plants via satellite. I'm sure that's quite a bit of science fiction right now, hence the need to get hopping. While I'm making out a wish list, a neutron momentum damping field would be good to have also.

Kelo

State sanctioned thievery or the right thing for the people?
From an anonymous instapundit reader, "the three pillars of prosperity for emerging nations are free markets, rule of law, and private property rights. We just got busted down to third world status."
An NYT opinion piece. To some extent, it does look like some people are setting up a straw man. The question is, how slippery is the slope down which the straw man is being pushed? (oh yeah... tied that metaphor mix together like a boat to the pier holmes) The first answer which comes to mind; the slope is as slippery as the dirty money with which some real estate developers will grease it. Slightly less cynically, all SCOTUS did was tell the states that a commercial development can still be for the public good if it is part of a larger plan to benefit the community.
Here is the decision.
A choice quote from the SCOTUS opinion written by Justice Stevens, "Indeed, while many state courts in the mid-19th century endorsed "use by the public" as the proper definition of public use, that narrow view steadily eroded over time." Isn't it ironic... don't you think?
An interesting side note on this issue is that conservative opinion sources have been pretty consistant in their opposition to corporate interests at the expense of the rights of the people. Put that in your stereotype pipe and smoke it (unless it's medicinal pot ;) ).

Bwahahahahaha

This is sweet. The Atlas Shrugged adds a nice touch. I wonder if it will actually work?

Cryosleep, Sweet!

Slashdot links to an austrailian story about US scientists...
who in the name of awesomness froze a dog and brought it back to life with "no brain damage."
Seriously though, if this technique is perfected (it's been in the works for a while now) it would be a powerful tool in trauma medicine. ...Just got shot though the heart eh? Well if you can hold on for a couple minutes we'll get access to a major artery and freeze you, then no more damage will occur. When we get to the hospital, we'll surically repair the holes and thaw you out. Should be good as new in a few weeks.
Also, cryosleep would make manned travel to other star systems feasible. The only other technical barrier I can think of is that we don't yet AFAIK have the ability to identify a planet which could support human life. Once we found the planet and could get there alive, pioneers from 300 years ago might even be better than us at colonizing it, technology or no technology.

This is a pretty crappy way

to enter the record books. Most times hit-by-pitch!

"Rove-a-Dope"

Instapundit has a nice summary of the recent Karl Rove comment kerfuffle. It seems Karl Rove really is an evil genius. Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Seriously, this is what Rush Limbaugh does. He just tells the truth about liberals, and they get all angry about it.

Top movie quote

AFI's top 100 movie quotes lists "Gone with the Wind" quote as number one. My personal favorite from the list is #36, although as a chemical engineer I'm kinda partial to #42. Although a certain movie is conspicuously missing from the list - I guess an entire movie can't be quoted though. This is my favorite quote from that movie:

"You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair, that they made the Jews wear."

Rabid Dems off the deep end

Via LGF, Dems are staging mock impeachment hearings, and the resulting chaos and random accusations (Blame the Jews!) are almost comical, until you realize that these represent the party's base. I hope average Democrats eschew this sort of behavior.

As much as I think Howard Dean is a maniacal buffoon, though, I give him credit for rejecting the anti-Semitism undercurrent that plagues his party's base, just as was illustrated in this episode.

Too legit to certify

I suppose. I actually find it kind of amusing how the AP reports this news as if it were authentic...

Iranians voted Friday in a high-stakes election

What I wonder is; this is high stakes for whom exactly? I'm sure the hand picked winner is sure sweating it out.

Triumph on Star Wars

Mmm, infotainment...
Ok, there's no info part.

More Reuters "Reporting"

LGF links to this Reuters editorial masking as "journalism". This is the wire service that used to put scare quotes around the word terrorist when used to describe captured al Qaeda operatives - just lovely.

Judicial Buggery?

The Kansas State Supreme Court doesn't think that the Kansas Legislature is following the Kansas Constitution because the legislature didn't increase school funding by enough. As such, the KSC has ordered the legislature to redo the budget. Ordered? I guess it's a matter of how the Kansas State Constitution is written as to whether the courts can order the legislature to make law a certain way. Seems unlikely though. Then again, the courts aren't really pretending that dictating law is an enumerated power for them. Based on action in other states, it looks like the courts just blackmail the legislature by threatening to order the schools not to open. Unless I'm missing something here I can't quite seem to wrap my head around the arogance.
Don't get me wrong, I think public schools need all the help they can get. I'm just not sure judicial blackmail is the right technique for helping.

Defend America, Become American

I think this idea deserves more exposure. It seems to me that there are two main arguments against the idea of non-citizens joining the US Armed Forces.
Argument one is that non-citizens won't have enough motivation to fight for our country. The first refutation of argument one is that the Army doesn't recruit based on a wish to fight for your country (now days) anyway. Recruitment advertisements tout education, training and awesomeness ("Army of One", Marine climbing cliff face). Those who want to fight for their country (and the ideals which America stands for) will enlist anyway. The rest (who enlist for other reasons) are taught the motivation that they need. Armies have been teaching motivation for a long time, they're rather good at it. The second refutation of argument one is that the non-citizens will have further personal motivation than citizen enlisties. An Army "job" may not pay near as well as a civilian job in America, but compare it to most other countries. In addition, I would expect that the recruit and his/her family would become eligible for base housing. So you get a payrate that you probably couldn't touch otherwise and safety/security for your family. Sounds like pretty good motivation for me.
Argument two is that non-citizen recruitment would make it much easier for enemy agents to infiltrate our Army. I find this argument to be the more persuasive of the two. There would no doubt have to be intense vetting and psychological evaluation of non-citizen recruits. There would have to be limits on what positions can be filled with non-citizens. Conveniently enough, the Army is really good at classifying and distributing its personnel. Maybe all non-citizens get to go through Marine bootcamp. Better yet, double length bootcamp with absolutely no outside contact. That should weed out all but the most dedicated infiltrators and give us plenty of time to evalute them. Do they keep pulling out a picture of their family for motivation? Or do they keep pulling out a picture of Osama? At the end of the day, I would be willing to trust the judgment of our military leadership (and only our military leadership) as to whether they could work out the security issues.