Voter Fraud

Notice how many Democrats are up in arms about this actual voter fraud conspiracy?

Four (East St. Louis) defendants -- Jessie Lewis, Sheila Thomas, Yvette Johnson and former city official Kelvin Ellis -- were found guilty of conspiracy to commit election fraud and election fraud. All worked for the Democratic Party during the election last November.

Democratic Party boss and former City Councilman Charlie Powell was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit election fraud.

The five were charged with paying voters up to $10 a vote to vote for Democratic candidates during the Nov. 2 general election.

War on Terror

three links:

American Thinker

Vodkapundit

Varifrank

(occasional profanity)

musimacal edumacation

Music students say the darndest things.

Virus

The opening sentence should give you a double take...

"To keep myself from getting depressed when I think about Wahabism and other bloodlusting branches of Islam, I think of ebola. And it gives me peace."

...but the rest of the post makes a good point.

Live 8 Alternative

It beats watching Paul McCartney crank out Dino Rock for effete Europeans, doesn't it?

Now That's Eminent Domain!

Can I drive the bulldozer?

Gitmo Q&A

Lileks: "Gitmo is the gulag equivalent of a Ben Affleck movie: no one's seen it, but everyone has an opinion about it."

Update: Little Green Footballs found evidence of actual abuse at Guantanamo Bay! Details via Blue Goldfish:

These recalcitrant detainees are known euphemistically as being “non-compliant.” They attack guards whenever the soldiers enter their cells, trying to reach up under protective facemasks to gouge eyes and tear mouths. They make weapons and try to stab the guards or grab and break limbs as the guards pass them food.

Internet Decision

In the Supreme Court's recent burst of random decision generation, No Oil for Pacifists found they made one good decision which should minimize overregulation and maximize innovation of the internet.

Intention, Causation, Responsibility and Culpability

Hugh Hewitt has an in-depth analysis of why kids shouldn't be allowed to play with matches (so to speak).

Property Wrongs

(originally posted jun.23)

Nobody should care too much about flag-burning while the Supreme *spit* Court is burning the Constitution that makes the flag worth something. Might as well move to Zimbabwe...

Update 1: A scene I'd like to see.

Update 2: Following the Court's own logic, the Supreme Court building itself should be bulldozed. It has been a blight on America since Roe v. Wade. Washington residents would be much better served by a parking garage... or a Taco Bell... (Update 5: Scrappleface wrote something similar.)

Update 3: Do I need to show you a picture?

Update 4: How about another picture ?

Update 6: Instapundit liked to this Yahoo article, in which International Economic Development Council president Jeffrey Finkle is quoted as saying:

"I can't imagine that this Supreme Court ruling will all of a sudden cause every city council member to risk alienating their constituents by rampantly doing eminent domain."

I don't have to imagine it, Mr. Finkle, I've seen it. Perhaps not by "every city council member", but "rampantly doing eminent domain" will take over property like kudzu if this ruling is not reversed.

Steyn, of course

Go read Mark Steyn's article about the flag-burning amendment, which concludes with this paragraph:

A flag has to be worth torching. When a flag gets burned, that's not a sign of its weakness but of its strength. If you can't stand the heat of your burning flag, get out of the superpower business. It's the left that believes the state can regulate everyone into thought-compliance. The right should understand that the battle of ideas is won out in the open.

Memo from the SSRD Self-Referential Department

The SSRD in "SSRD Self-Referential Department" stands for "SSRD Self-Referential Department", which is a subsidiary of the Godel-Escher-Bach Institute of Dustbury, Oklahoma.

airplane design

Have you ever thought of designing your own airplane? Chris Heintz has several helpful articles.

PBS funding

George Neumayr goes monopoly-busting.

Schmuckraking

Schmuckraking: because 'fisking' isn't strong enough a word...

(Lileks has a more polite take on the diatri... er, 'article' in question. He also provides a direct link to it, which is more than it deserves.)

Okay. Now I get it.

No he doesn't.

And because I do, I now have a better understanding for the likes of President Bush, Pat Robertson - even John Carlson. They can't help themselves.

I now have a better understanding for the likes of Howard Dean, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Kleagle Byrd. They're brainwashed.

According to a new study published in the American Political Science Review, being politically conservative is, in part, a matter or genetics.

According to the facts, being politically liberal is a matter of brainwashing.

I've long wondered how an otherwise seemingly rational person could adhere so strictly to stilted ideologies; how they could be so consistently willing to smother a sense of social well-being.

I've long wondered how these idiots could adhere so strictly to faulty ideologies; how they could, while calling themselves 'caring' and 'tolerant', be so consistently willing to kill anyone, especially non-whites and unborn babies, who stands in their way.

It's merely a matter of having been dumped in the shallow end of the gene pool.

It's merely a matter of having been brainwashed.

They're sorta like the puppy who piddles in the middle of the floor: They just don't know any better.

He's so devoid of independent thought, the idea that others can think for themselves never crosses his mind.

To be sure, the study says that how someone is raised may determine their political party affiliation, but it's genetics that appears to set one on a philosophically conservative course.

To be sure, the study says that how poorly their parents raised them may determine their political party affiliation, but it's brainwashing that appears to set one on a philosophically liberal course.

To me, that helps explain why PBS threatens their intellect, or why they are so at peace with going to war.

To me, that helps explain why Fox threatens their intellect, or why they are so at peace with killing babies.

It's not that conservatives mean to favor the rich over the poor and middle class.

It's not that liberals mean to live in a fantasy world where actions have no consequences. (Did someone say Chappaquiddick?)

And it's not that they'd rather drill for oil than preserve the environment.

And it's not that they'd rather supplicate themselves to fascists, terrorists, and totalitarians than lift one finger to help anyone but themselves.

Because it's not really their fault. They're just born that way.

They're just brainwashed morons.

Double Standard

Just a small reminder of how "Fair and Balanced" the MSM is...

Note to Management

Managers: Here's a paradigm shift you should use when you are evaluating employees for upcoming promotions. Be suspicious of "brown-nosers" and "yes-men".

It is most likely that the employees who are sucking up to you are doing so because they are the least competent at their jobs and know it. Your most productive employees do not have time to suck up because they are busy doing actual work. To really improve productivity and morale, reward those who are productive, rather than those who spend all their time telling you how productive they are.

As an exercise, fire the next person who comes in and sits down in your office just to ask how your weekend was. That person is a slacker. You should see a sharp boost in productivity soon after. (Of course, that sort of termination may not be allowed in a union shop. In such circumstances, you may ignore this advice, because your company will likely be bankrupt in a couple of years anyway.)

Doublethink

Where are their priorities?

Durbin's "Apology"

I liked the first draft better, especially the part about his resignation.

oh woe is hollywood!

Miss O'Hara makes many good points about the declining box office profits of movies these days. There's one point she missed - that actual studio revenues are going up due to increased DVD sales.

Does moderate equal lukewarm?

Read Sprucegoose on Danforth on moderate Christians.

The trees WILL be kept equal

The last thing a school should do is actually teach kids. (\sarcasm)

prank punks

I've always hated prank calls, hidden camera stunts, and 'practical' jokes on TV (and real life). On the other hand, I'm no big fan of Tom Cruise or the cult to which he belongs, but he didn't deserve this kind of treatment.

Iranian Election

"Pay no attention to the men under the turbans."

60 > 0

Newsweak: shut 'em down.

m$oft

Yet another reason to hate Microsoft.

how many...

...dogs does it take to change a lightbulb? wendy cooper knows.

real torture

Powerline: "One way you can distinguish a real torture center from an American detention facility is that in the real thing, people keep dying."

Update: Here are pictures of actual abuse in Iraq. Though disturbing, they should clarify the issue.

truly compassionate

Now here's a tax increase that deserves our full support!

the bottom line

Family Values, Huh? Sounds like this magazine does not care for family or values. Its sole interest is getting as much money as it can from advertisers.

this says a lot

Read these wonderful words of inclusiveness by the "Conscience of the Left", Kleagle Robert Byrd.

Also, don't question their patriotism!

women in the military

no matter your opinion on what role women should play in the military, you gotta be proud of these two:

silver star and thunderbird

hey, that would be a great name for a movie!

dem's demise

The Democrats have absolutely no credibility left (pun intended), and their insane rantings are a worse threat to America than AlQaeda currently is. If only we could get them to go out with a whimper instead of a YEEAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

durbin to the dustbin

There has never been such a hilarious satire written in the annals of human history!!!! It is a bazillion times funnier than the all the Monty Python sketches put together!!!!! The uproarious laughter directed at it will cause massive earthquakes, and may change the planet's orbit!!!!!!!!

:)

prayer

the title of CrosSwords' post about prayer is a little misleading, but the rest is quite insightful.

cake

We had some visitors at work today who gave us short notice before they were to arrive. Just after the announcement was made, I sent a quick a.i.m. message to a coworker. Transcript follows:

(edited for spelling & clarity, and the names have been changed to protect the guilty...)

me: if i knew they were coming, i'da baked a cake
cw: it would have been for nothing, because i'da eaten it by the time they arrived
me: if i knew you'da ate it, i'da locked it up
cw: if i knew you'da locked it up, i'da make a copy of da key
me: if i knew you'da copied it, i'da used a combination lock
cw: if i knew you would resort to such lengths, i'da got a bolt cutter
me: if i knew you'da bought them, i'da hired some guards
cw: if i knew you'da hired some guards, i'da taken over the company so they have to follow my orders or get fired
me: if i knew you'da done that, i'da given up
cw: i hope that is a good cake...
me: it's an anchovy cake with rutabaga frosting
cw: perfect!

Space Travel

If you can sift through the mountains of hyperbole that John Derbyshire wrote against the Space Shuttle, NASA, and human space travel, you might notice that he's throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Like the monster in some ghastly horror movie rising from the dead for the umpteenth time, the space shuttle is back on the launch pad. This grotesque, lethal white elephant — 14 deaths in 113 flights — is the grandest, grossest technological folly of our age. If the shuttle has any reason for existing, it is as an exceptionally clear symbol of our corrupt, sentimental, and dysfunctional political system. Its flights accomplish nothing and cost half a billion per. That, at least, is what a flight costs when the vehicle survives. If a shuttle blows up — which, depending on whether or not you think that 35 human lives (five original launchworthy Shuttles at seven astronauts each) would be too high a price to pay for ridding the nation of an embarrassing and expensive monstrosity, is either too often or not often enough** — then the cost, what with lost inventory, insurance payouts, and the endless subsequent investigations, is seven or eight times that.

Translation: The Space Shuttle is an old and flawed design, created and operated by bureaucracies with conflicting interests, cost far too much, and has had some spectacularly tragic failures. Agreed.

Also noted: Umpteen = 113.

There is no longer much pretense that shuttle flights in particular, or manned space flight in general, has any practical value.

The shuttle itself, perhaps, but all manned space flight? That's a bit presumptuous.

You will still occasionally hear people repeating the old NASA lines about the joys of microgravity manufacturing and insights into osteoporesis (sic), but if you repeat these tales to a materials scientist or a physiologist, you will get peals of laughter in return. To seek a cure for osteoporesis by spending $500 million to put seven persons and 2,000 tons of equipment into earth orbit is a bit like… well, it is so extravagantly preposterous that any simile you can come up with falls flat. It is like nothing else in the annals of human folly.

Is it as extravagantly preposterous as seeking (in vain) a cure for inequality by killing 100 million people as communism did? Perhaps you can't think of a simile in the annals of human folly, but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist.

Having no practical justification for squirting so much of the nation’s wealth up into the stratosphere, our politicians — those (let us charitably assume there are some) with no financial or electoral interest in the big contractor corporations who feed off the shuttle — fall back on romantic appeals to Mankind’s Destiny.

So politicians make appeals not based on reason and practicality. In light of recent insane rants by certain Democratic senators, is he surprised by this?

The rest of the president’s address on that occasion was, to be blunt about it, insulting to the memories of the astronauts who died, and still more insulting to their grieving spouses, children, parents, and friends. If these astronauts believed that “they had a high and noble purpose in life,” they were mistaken, and someone should have set them straight on the point. Please note that “if.” The motivation of shuttle astronauts would, I suspect, make a very interesting study for some skillful psychologist.

Your diatribe is far more insulting than the president's speech, Mr. Derbyshire, and your motivation for writing it would make another very interesting study for some skillful psychologist.

Here is Ken Bowersox, one of the astronauts who was actually on board the International Space Station (steady now, Derb, husband your wrath) when Columbia blew up. He is writing in the June 2005 issue of Popular Mechanics, putting the “pro” case in a debate on the continuation of the Shuttle program, versus former NASA historian Alex Roland arguing the “con.” Bowersox:

I’ve wanted to be in space from the time I was listening to the radio and heard about John Glenn circling the earth. Columbia was the klind of blow that could have made me walk away from it. As astronauts, though, we wouldn’t have been on the space station if we didn’t believe in the program. Even after losing our friends and our ride home, we still believed that exploration was important.

Far be it from me to pull rank on Astronaut Bowersox, but I’ve wanted to be in space for somewhat longer than that — since seeing those wonderful pictures by Chesley Bonestell in The Conquest of Space, circa 1952, or possibly after being taken to the movie Destination Moon at around the same time. The imaginative appeal of space travel is irresistible. I don’t think I could resist it, anyway. Even with two young kids who need me, and a wife who (I feel fairly sure) would miss me, I would still, if given the opportunity to go into space tomorrow, be on the next flight to Cape Canaveral. As Prof. Roland says in that Popular Mechanics exchange: “The real reason behind sending astronauts to Mars is that it’s thrilling and exciting.” Absolutely correct. The danger? Heck, we all have to go sometime. As President Bush said, I am sure quite truly: “These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly…” It’s the president’s next clause I have trouble with: “…knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life.” Did they really know that?

My experience of pointless make-work, which is much more extensive than I would have wished when starting out in life, is that people engaged in it know they are engaged in it. Whether they mind or not depends on the rewards. For a thousand bucks an hour, I’d do make-work all day long — aye, and all night too! Astronaut salaries don’t rise to anything like that level, of course; but there are rewards other than the merely financial. I hope no one will take it amiss — I am very sorry for the astronauts who have died in the shuttle program, and for their loved ones — if I quietly speculate on whether, being engaged in such a supremely thrilling and glamorous style of make-work, one might not easily be able to convince oneself to, as Astronaut Bowersox says, “believe in the program.”

None of which is any reason why the rest of us should believe in it, let alone pay for it.

I hope he will not take it amiss if I quietly speculate on whether, being engaged in such a supremely 'thrilling' and 'glamorous' style of journalism, he might not easily be able to convince himself to believe in the agenda.

None of which is any reason why the rest of us should believe in it.

There is nothing — nothing, no thing, not one darned cotton-picking thing you can name — of either military, or commercial, or scientific, or national importance to be done in space, that could not be done twenty times better and at one thousandth the cost, by machines rather than human beings. Mining the asteroids? Isaac Asimov famously claimed that the isotope Astatine-215 (I think it was) is so rare that if you were to sift through the entire crust of the earth, you would only find a trillion atoms of it. We could extract every one of that trillion, and make a brooch out of them, for one-tenth the cost of mining an asteroid.

I suspect he's right about much of this. I especially agree that it would be inefficient to pick cotton in space. But if an asteroid made of pure Astatine-215 (or some other ultra-rare raw material) were found, suddenly the exploration wouldn't seem so foolish. Let's let the free market decide how much risk is appropriate in exploration.

The gross glutted wealth of the federal government; the venality and stupidity of our representatives; the lobbying power of big rent-seeking corporations; the romantic enthusiasms of millions of citizens; these are the things that 14 astronauts died for.

The term "died for" is loaded, and Mr. Derbyshire knows it. I agree that government waste, inefficiency, bureaucratic stupidity, and corporate greed are no good, and probably caused their deaths. However, the astronauts did not have any intention of "dying for" (in the grander sense) the aforementioned causes.

To abandon all euphemism and pretense, they died for pork, for votes, for share prices, and for thrills (immediate in their own case, vicarious in ours).

Is he saying he is thrilled at their deaths?

I mean no insult to their memories, and I doubt they would take offense.

Oh suuure, how could anyone be offended at that? If we are to believe that, we should also doubt that Mr. Derbyshire would be offended when the astronauts' families make cross-country trips just to spit in his face.

I am certain that I myself would not — certain, in fact, that, given the opportunity, I would gleefully do what they did, with all the dangers, and count the death, if it came, as anyway no worse than moldering away in some hospital bed at age ninety, watching a TV game show, with a tube in my arm and a diaper round my rear end. I should be embarrassed to ask the rest of you to pay for the adventure, though.

At least we can agree that the 'pump has been well-primed' for space travel, and removal of governments' monopoly on space travel is a good and desirable result. But he should be embarrassed for insulting the people - living and dead - who did that initial hard work.

** There are actually reasons to think we may have been lucky so far. News item: “Steve Poulos, manager of the Orbiter Projects Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston, acknowledges there is ‘a debate’ inside the agency about the threat posed by space debris. One school of thought is that a fatal debris strike is ‘probable,’ Poulos said. But he said others think such an event is likely to be ‘infrequent’." Uh-huh.

I agree with his assessment of the odds here. There's a lot of junk up there, and in a worst case scenario, impacts could set off a chain reaction resulting in a very expensive dust ring for our planet. Given that economic risk, the free market just might find a solution...

(update: Upon rereading this, I realize that a pure "free market" has its own set of drawbacks, so I did some slight editing in that regard.)

multi-fragmentation

So what do these studies tell us about multitasking behind the wheel, hmmm?

Sitcom Scrabble Non-Words

One of our local UHF stations plays Mad About You reruns in the afternoon. Last week they aired an episode which began with Paul and Jamie playing Scrabble. Paul had put down the letters to make the non-word "hing", and was trying to convince Jamie that it was really a word. Jamie challenged Paul about it and asked him to use it in a sentence, to which he replied (something like) "I won the game of Scrabble by playing the word 'hing'."

That reminded me of two other references to sitcom characters making up words to play in Scrabble. One was an early episode of The Simpsons, where Bart makes up the word "kwyjibo", which he claims to mean "a big, dumb, balding North American ape, with no chin."

The other was an episode of Family Ties, where (as I remember) Alex makes up the words "zoquo" meaning "to shower", and "ushnu" meaning "to towel off".

(Note the Google results for each italicized word.)

Does anyone know of any other made-up words that characters have used in Scrabble in other sitcoms?

Aiding and Abetting Rapists

Planned Parenthood has been charged with concealing the sexual abuse of minors.

he's just sayin'

In ivory towers, the words "words mean something" mean nothing.

revision

In a surprising turn of events, the Senate has voted 83-17 to apologize for keeping African-Americans and other minorities enslaved to the welfare system. Kleagle Robert Byrd said,

"I have stood in opposition to the Emancipation Proclamation far too long, but now I realize the error of my ways. I call on my colleagues to cease the obstruction of Mr. Lincoln's decree."

Meet Ms.Kettle

Why did Madeline Albright do nothing about the slavery and starvation when she had the chance?

compare & contrast

A dose of Sanity could help cure selective indifference.

my only mj post

The whole Michael Jackson trial gave me the creeps, so I didn't comment on it, and plan never to do so again. Molten Thought makes several good points about it though, including:

1. Instead of jury instructions, perhaps California jurors ought to get a dictionary with the pages for "reasonable" and "doubt" dog-eared.

4. If MJ and OJ are any indication, "Celebrity Justice" is alive and well in America. If Will Smith ever decides to chainsaw a bunch of people to death, he's got a Get Out of Jail Free card for sure. I'm not so sure that 50 Cent would get a pass, though---he may not have enough Tiger Beat covers to beat a felony rap. And if Jennifer Garner gets the murder bug, watch out, America!

idiot

"Aggies do not lie, cheat, or steal, nor do they tolerate those who do."

belief system

Using global warming as the foundation of their faith, scientists reach further into the realm of belief:

Undetectable Waves Detected
and
Why People See What's Not There

However, they remain confused by a mysterious liquid that threatens to cover the earth.

Mission Statement

"We here at Hatless in Hattiesburg understand that it is better to scale nano-ultra-globally than to disintermediate virally."

Go read Hatless in Hattiesburg, Inc.'s new mission statement. We are so proactively customer-focused, if you are dissatisfied with our statement, you can reload the page for free!

:)

Perspective

Varifrank puts Guantanamo in perspective.

how did they know?

The Founding Fathers understood many of the perils that America would face.

Eureeka!

Scientists have discovered a new planet: Bizarroworld.

Denominations

I didn't know there were quite this many Islamic denominations.

Space Weapons

More a Phantom Menace than Star Wars.

Islam Unmasked

...or rather, masked, a photo of the religion of piece.

War on Drugs

The rest of the site is a freakshow, but they got this one right about creeping Big Brotherism. For the other half of the story, read this.

No Place To Hide

John W. Whitehead interviews Robert O'Harrow on his book about the surveillance state Americans are being conned into accepting.

Whither China?

A Buckley title for a Steyn article on the two faces of China.

Iraq Update

Chrenkoff's Good News from Iraq, pt.29. See also Ben Stein's "What If?"

poll numbers

Blue Goldfish found two interesting poll results. (see also this related)

and that!

Lileks on dose po'widdle tewwowists: "What can you make of men who are scared of women and dogs?"

take that!

In the 2nd & 3rd paragraphs of this, Lileks drives a stake through the vampire genre, coining three new words along the way: Fangboy, Euroskeeter, and Matrixious.

Audiogeeks Only

For those of you into digital recording, check out this great new VST!

:)

two bits

Sometimes the best weapon in the War on Terror is a little humor. NIF found these two.

Step right up to the donk tank!

Blue Goldfish has an extended analysis of the clowns of the d.n.c.

maybe, just maybe

Perhaps one of the keys to succeeding in America is to drop the hyphenation when you enter the nation?

Interview with Vader

and now you know . . . the rest of the story.

Salvo

Go read these four Cheat Seeking Missiles posts, these two at Discerning Texan, and a hopeful note at Dustbury.

Gitmo Serious

Recently I wrote this(hopefully) humorous bit about Amnasty Infernational's lies about Guantanamo Bay. No Oil For Pacifists graciously provided a link to that, and now has written a more serious (and link-filled) post about the specifics of the case. Go read.

is this a hoax?

self-forming clay robots... oh my

Down Mexico Way

A lawsuit has been filed by Mexican attorneys against a volcano. The class-action suit seeks 75 billion pesos in damages for false advertising, because while the mountain is named the "Volcano of Fire", its most recent eruption only produced lava and ash clouds.

:)

Cool!

NIF found this real cool computer case

Revenge of the Nerds

Take that, ya dumb jock!

(I'd apoligize to any dumb jocks reading this, but that would be like making an apology on TV to the Amish.)

:)

does anybody remember small government?

It seems that "interstate commerce" now means the use of any item for any purpose at any time, even if the item never crossed state lines.

As dissenting Justice Clarence Thomas warned, "If the majority is to be taken seriously, the federal government may now regulate quilting bees, clothes drives and potluck suppers throughout the 50 states."

"This is so unlike the French, they didn't surrender!"

Although a few are vulgar, most of the captions submitted for this contest are funny (like the one I stole to title this post).

Uhhh...

MTV's Daria used to have a running joke called "Sick Sad World". This is a perfect example.

they're baaack!

Le Sabot Post-Moderne is back from hiatus. The most recent post is about the Domino Effect.

Free Advice to the Fashionistas

The catwalks of Paris and Milan are no more fashionable than the cathouses of Peoria and Milwaukee.

(also see Miss O'Hara's related post)

The Feingolden Rule...

He who has the gold makes the rules, but less so on the internet.

Does anyone in their right mind think that this McCain/Feingold piece of insipid big-brotherism will do one single thing to stop the "monied interests" from having their voices heard?

Zimbabwe

Live 8, but how many dead? Mugabe's project of urban de-newal razed (among other things) an AIDS clinic for orphans.

Kerry's Grades

PlaidBerry has a top ten list of excuses for Kerry's college grades.

:)

ah, Bach!

Via Dustbury, news that a previously unknown Bach piece has surfaced.

news to me

apparently 500 TONS of yellowcake uranium and hidden centrifuge equipment has nothing to do with WMDs.

so purchase restrictions on ammonium nitrate fertilizer should be lifted, because they have nothing to do with homemade explosives, right?

and koresh's stockpiled weapons were no threat either... "Reno lied, kids died!"

Fisking Fisk

"Robert gets a bit windy from time to time."

storm names

In case you were wondering, here's NOAA's list of hurricane names through 2010.

Star Wars Politics

Lileks has many comments about the most recent Star Wars movie, including this one about Lucas' political projection:

Didn’t see all the political overtones, perhaps because I wasn’t in a mood to look for them. Expecting pithy pointy political insight from Lucas is like reading transcripts of Spongebob episodes to learn about perils and stresses on the marine ecosystem. But before the fight on the Molten Lava Planet – where any metal object exposed 24/7 can nevertheless be firmly grasped without incident – Darth says to Obi:

“You’re either with me or you’re my enemy.”

Obi sighs. The sun is behind him, so we know he’s in the right here. “Only Siths deal in absolutes,” he says.

Well, Obster, you’re not with him, right? And you’ve come to kill him, right? So Darth has a point. One might say that the Jedi failure to deal in absolutes, such as make absolutely sure Vader is absolutely dead instead of leaving him to bake like a tater tot left overnight in the broiler machine, might have served everyone well.

I also liked the bits about Yoda, the Wookies, and Coruscant apartment building codes.

Dirty Work

With no apologies to the Rolling Stoned, I present:

Gitmo
(The Ballad of the Amnesty International Moonbat)

----

I can't Gitmo
Sat-is-fac-tion
I can't Gitmo
Sat-is-fac-tion
Cuz I lied and I lied
and I lied and I lied
I can't Gitmo

When I'm watchin' CNN
And that man comes to the podium
Sayin' stuff I don't want you to know
About some factual information
With a military abbreviation
I can't Gitmo, oh no no no
Hey hey hey, that's what I say

I can't Gitmo
Sat-is-fac-tion
About Gitmo
All the facts shun
Cuz I lied, and I lied
and I lied, and I lied
About Gitmo

When I'm watchin' the BBC
And that man comes on to tell me
How Iraqis can be free
But that can't be a plan
'cause he does not hate
America like me
I can't Gitmo, oh no no no
Hey hey hey, that's what I say

About Gitmo
All the facts shun
Bald-faced lies will
Get more traction

When I'm lyin' the world
About Saddam, Bin Laden, and Arafat
And I'm parrotin' the terrorists
who tells me some guy whizzed on his book
or maybe gave him a dirty look
I can't Gitmo, oh no no no
Hey hey hey, that's what I say

About Gitmo
All the facts shun
Said they keep 'em
Gulag fashion
Cuz I lied, and I lied
and I lied, and I lied
About Gitmo

Anger

After work today, I really needed this...

GM commentary

The management at GM should stop and ask Miss O'Hara for directions.

God-Lite

NRO has an article on progressive vs. traditional church attendance.

This isn't the main point, but it's the funniest:

Many readers of the New York Post... were one morning shocked to read that former Beatle John Lennon had become a devout fan of none other than televangelist Pat Robertson... in the late 1970s Lennon had taken to watching Billy Graham on TV... one day, he had an epiphany — he allowed himself to be touched by the hand of Jesus Christ, and it drove him to tears of joy and ecstasy... Every other sentence out of John’s mouth was ‘Thank You, Jesus or Thank you, Lord.’”

...Lennon would not be the first popular icon to pursue, for a time at least, the traditional version of Jesus. Bob Dylan’s conversion to Christianity is well known, and appears to be intact. And last year, the London Spectator informed readers that Keith Richards, famed dope sponge and Rolling Stones guitarist, had seen the light, perhaps thanks to the influence of wife Patti, whom biographer Christopher Sandford calls a “devout Lutheran” and who attends a weekly Bible study and “won’t stand for swearing around the house.” At the time of their marriage, Patti’s parents told reporters that Richards is an “enthusiastic disciple of Christ” who had “embraced Christ as a way of life.”

And everyone thought Saul of Tarsus was a tough nut to crack.

Frisco's Freaky Fascists

San Francisco city council: above the law and beneath contempt.

WTC Memorial

MUST READ: Another attack is planned on the World Trade Center site.

Gimme That J-School Religion

Their special flavor of koolaid is called Watergatorade.

is dean colorblind?

heard on an imaginary streetcorner:

dean: "all o' you dang gops look alike to me."
crowd: "who you callin' cracker, cracker?"

Fallujah Update

Just in case you missed it on the evening news: Good news from Fallujah.

But here's some bad news from a real quagmire... ;)

i'm blinding you with science

Cool stuff via Yahoo Science News:

Dolphins

Bacteria

Acceleration (and related image)

odd aircraft

here's a site with info about lots of unusual planes.

Orwell, well, well

1984 is sooo last century.

who's winning?

Discerning Texan found this article about Al Qaeda's successes.

your tax dollars at rest

if i were an arab teen, and i saw this, islamofascism might seem a viable alternative.

fake but accurate

"I don't know for sure if Amnesty International is run by a bunch of crack-smoking tutu-wearing inbred squid-brained commie troglodytes, but it would be fascinating to find out."

Photos of the real Hattiesburg

As part of my attempt to apologize for the confusion caused by the blog name, here are some photos of the real Hattiesburg, and others from around Mississippi.

Islam

Wizbang would rather fight than switch, and wonders if the term "extremist" is applicable.

Nader's Believe It Or Not

I can't wait 'til someone slips on the ice in front of this place...

hahaha

oh i get it - global warming causes global cooling!

Islamic desecrations

Via LGF:

The OIC Spokesman urged the United States Government to live up to its responsibilities and not be lenient with the perpetrators of the desecration. He also demanded that those responsible for this despicable crime should be brought to justice immediately and that urgent measures should be taken to calm the tension in the Muslim world and ensure that such detestable acts are not repeated in the future.

and in related news:

The United States Government urged Islamofascists to live up to their responsibilities and not be lenient with the perpetrators of the beheadings, rape rooms, suicide bombings, genocides, brutality against females, and all manner of terrorist activity and barbarism. They also demanded that those responsible for this barrage of despicable crimes should be brought to justice immediately and that urgent measures should be taken to calm the tension in the rest of the world and ensure that such detestable acts are not repeated in the future.

Now, which warning do you expect to be taken seriously?

p.s. see Ed Driscoll's take on this topic.

June 5

Remembering the Gipper's accomplishments.

June 4

The anniversary of the Tianamen Square protest.

if only it were true

Scrappleface: Gitmo Study Sparks Arab Probe of Bible Abuse.

history lesson

i must've slept through more history class than i thought...

oh the poor poor guy

Saddam's morale is plummeting.

Guilty consciences can be such a bummer!

My first reaction was "Good!" My second reaction was also "Good!" My third reaction was "Maybe he'll feel bad enough to finally tell the truth about everything he did, and testify about all the euro-rats who were in on the oil-for-food scam."

Pardon me for being somewhat less than sympathetic to his plight. I'm still catching up from all those he killed.

Ben Stein

Here's Ben Stein's latest article on Mark Felt. Also, his American Spectator link has been added to the blogroll.

watergate

MSM is calling him a hero:

The Washington Post late this afternoon confirmed that W. Mark Felt, the former FBI official, was legendary Watergate source "Deep Throat."

So let's get this straight - one disgruntled employee gossips to two low-lifes about a third-rate burglary, and he's a hero. But hundreds of witnesses (like Vince Foster) with reams of evidence against the Clintons aren't?

Nope, no bias here. :P

UPDATE: what's it like in the universe where you live, mr. clinton?

EU oligarchy

A little revolution is good every now and then...

Star Wars as Space Opera

Lots of commentators and uncommontators complain about the 'wooden dialogue' in the Star Wars movies. So what? If the movies are meant to be space operas, why don't we compare them to other operas?

Believable dialogue is not the genre's strong suit. When was the last time anyone watched a performance of Ride of the Valkyries and believed the sincerity of the warrior praying to the warfather? Or that a crowd of Sooners joined in unison to sing praises to Oklahoma? Bugs Bunny gave a more convincing performance as the Barber of Seville than most operatic performers.

Give Star Wars a break on the dialogue.

Rehnquist to retire?

The sooner we have a Supreme Court vacancy to fill, the sooner we will see what "extreme circumstances" really are, and how hypocritical the "filibuster compromise" donks are.

Sad Old Dude

Hugh Hewitt: "Rather ended up making Nixon look like a model of candor."

Apparel-Sensitive

Check out these two styles of glasses.

Isn't it ironic that you couldn't see the ads if you were using the products, don't you think?

Once Upon a Time

This bedtime story has one happy ending, and we're left waiting for the second happy ending.

The Blues

donks are living in the past

question for youse guys

lately i've been making separate posts for all the unrelated random links that i find, rather than lumping them into a single post with the word 'random' in the title.

would you prefer i continue with making the separate posts, or go back to the big 'random roundup' format? please comment.

language lessons

Two sites have additions to the 'donktionary' - Brain Droppings and The Right Place.

smackdowns

Yet another good one by Donald Rumsfeld. (full transcript here)

Three good ones about Mark Felt.

UPDATE: Another masterful one by Ben Stein.

hmm

As I was waiting in vain for the Rangers' game to start last Saturday, I had time to wander around Ameriquest Field. There were lots of booths and kiosks selling a wide variety of items, but one kiosk surprised me. They were selling some sort of frozen tropical fruit drink, but the name of the stand was "Maui Wowie"...

uhh... "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

(for the sheltered among you, "Maui Wowie" is a nickname for a type of marijuana)

focus

Blue Goldfish has three posts focusing on current events:

Pacificism

Cause for War (including a description of a mass Koran desecration)

Enemies

prisoner abuse

Compare & contrast US and international prisons.

robots

unless the gizmo on top is a gun or a high-powered laser, this thing doesn't look like much of a guard.

p.s. but these things could be terminator's granddad.

projection deluxe

I only had to change a few words from this lunatic's quote to arrive at the truth:

Bloggers are under attack because we try to find stuff out. We are under attack because we say what we believe to be true. (Even more annoyingly, we are protected by the Constitution.) We are a reality-based institution standing up to an anti-faith media culture, and we are paying for it...

The problem is that we are fair-minded. We know that we make mistakes. We want to get better. The fair-minded have no chance against zealots. Zealots lie because the ends justify the means, and we say, "Oh, gosh, we're going to investigate and strive and improve." Are the zealots going to investigate and strive and improve? Of course not: They have an agenda, and the agenda does not include self-assessment. The zealots are working out of the Che Guevara handbook, friends.

well, there they go again...

still trying to stifle free speech.

don't forget the vorpal bunny!

If puppets and narwhals are outlawed, only outlaws will have puppets and narwhals.