global warming

For the "purely scientific" among you: Do any of you honestly believe that a century of pollution can outweigh the effects of Dansgaard-Oeschger Events and Milankovitch Cycles?

Be a good steward of the earth, but don't worship it.

p.s. and for the purely unscientific among you, those two terms have nothing to do with motorcycle racing. :)

Out of context

...but very true.

MacStansbury concludes an Open Letter to Limbaugh, Ingraham, and Sowell with this:

"Now, where is the enthusiasm for rolling back the welfare state? Social security, government medical insurance, government subsidized food and shelter, state schools, and an array of regulations that grant privilege to some to the detriment of others have made this country more like the Soviet Union than the country founded by Jefferson, Madison, Washington and Franklin."

Know-Nothings

Contrary to popular belief, the Know-Nothing Movement did not cease to exist in 1856. The party has many active members, most of whom are employed as managers.

Unfair Immigration Laws

...of Mexico:

In brief, the Mexican Constitution states that:

• Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.
• Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.
• Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens will never be treated as real Mexican citizens.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens are not to be trusted in public service.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.
• Private citizens may make citizens arrests of lawbreakers (i.e., illegal immigrants) and hand them to the authorities.
• Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.

(Found via Molten Thought)

Trinity Uptown

Big plans for central Fort Worth TX.

happy days

...are here again.

not

lileks links the looneys

korean egg song (also try egg and ramen)

goat on a pole

MishMash not at the Movies

Alternate title: "V for Velveeta"

obfuscated cooking

how do you say rube goldberg in japanese?

Clarification

WELCOME: LEGAL immigrants.

• People who will work to make a better life for themselves and their families.
• People who obey the laws of America.
• People who seek to become American.
• People who, while honoring their heritage, make an effort to assimilate themselves into their chosen homeland.
• People willing to learn English, the predominant language in America.
• People who want to build up America.
  
• (and anyone who helps them achieve these goals.)

UNWELCOME: ILLEGAL immigrants.

• People who want a better life for themselves, but are unwilling to work for it.
• People who circumvent the laws of America.
• People who want to take over America.
• People who want all the benefits of being American, but refuse to assimilate themselves into their chosen homeland.
• People unwilling to learn English, the predominant language in America.
• People who want to tear down America.
• (and anyone who helps them achieve these goals.)

Coins of Ephesus

Via Wikipedia, here's a site that shows examples of coins found in Ephesus.

Per Sense

In a recent study, scientists have discovered that fully 86% of the polls conducted over the last 20 years have been seriously flawed, due to faulty sample group selection and dubious wording of the questions.

And in a recent poll, fully 86% of respondents have discovered serious flaws in the continuous barrage of faulty "scientific research" designed only to scare consumers into making dubious product selections.

Gnonsense

Next they'll claim that the Photoshop Bible was divinely inspired...

Discerning Texan

I was going to link to this upbeat post at the Discerning Texan site, when I noticed the previous post. Then I noticed another I wanted to link, then another, so now I'll just recommend reading everything there.

St. Dhimmi in tha house

Seems like the Church of England is missing the point:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, led the Church’s call for the situation to be turned from one of “embarrassment, disturbance, and even outrage into positive action, positive hope, which will break the stereotypes and lay serious and lasting foundations for understanding and peace.” While the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev Richard Harries, has expressed his concern that people should be allowed the freedom to change their religion, others said that Sharia Law was being wrongly portrayed as “a strict set of rules and regulations”.

but one Pennsylvanian in Exile isn't:

Ask the Christians in Africa and Indonesia about Sharia law, and how much of a "flexible system" it really is. Ask Salman Rushdie about how much a walk might bring about unity? Oh that's right, he can't walk around since he has a price on his head. Ask Theo Van Gogh about Muslims desire for "understanding and peace." Oopsie, some Muslims murdered him.

more on immigration

If a man "would do anything to feed his family", why won't he obey the laws of the country he's entering, hmm?

(the article does get better)

bias

maybe they'd get a bigger reaction if they had muslims blowing up a pickup in front of a nascar race...

Lott-a Pork

Trent had better get used to taxpayers questioning questionable spending of their tax dollars.

Deconquista!

If it weren't for the approximately eleventy jillion dollars it would cost bringing the place up to code, this might be a good idea.

p.s. just kidding...

p.p.s. more like eleventy gazillion...

Yimothy Yhompson

Deroy Murdock questions Yale's highly questionable admissions policies:

Yale admitted this former adviser to the notorious one-eyed Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. As Yale officials stated, Hashemi got in "despite his fourth-grade education and high-school equivalency certificate" because "Universities are places that must strive to increase understanding." The Wall Street Journal's John Fund reports that Yale, which bars military recruiters and the ROTC, discounted Hashemi's tuition 35 to 40 percent.

Imagine if Yale had accepted German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop's top aide in 1942 to "increase understanding" of Nazism. Maybe Yale should add David Duke to the faculty to help students "increase understanding" of neo-Nazism.

To which Molten Thought responds:

I frankly didn't think the effete band of bespectacled and goateed sissies making up American academia could possibly sink any lower in their treason-toeing efforts to undermine the War on Terror. I should have known they'd plumb deeper depths yet. What next? Teaching the fine art of suicide bombing to the mind-numbed idiots enrolled in these seditious cesspools?

trogdor-esque too!

Dustbury found these loose interpretations of corporate logos. (Click on each icon to see the variations.)

happy 10th!

lileks.com is ten years old.

he celebrates by being completely wrong about daylight saving time, a.k.a. benjamin franklin's worst joke ever.

what he said

commenting on the end of the therapist's current blogform, pete says:

"In the current ugly climate, it's hard to keep up the humor, day after day. And sometimes it's not so easy to mix the humor with the straight stuff within one blog."

which is part of the reason for the recent sparseness of posts here.

reconquista!

let's make a run for the border (and then some...)

;)

Flags - Legal and Illegal

Earlier this week, Dallas, TX students were returned to school after skipping school to rampage through Dallas City Hall waving Mexican flags.

Today, Fox 4 News reports that a Royse City, TX student was sent home from school for attaching American flags to his pickup.

What's wrong with this picture?

Immigration

My gratitude goes to the protestors in LA, Dallas and elsewhere for proving the necessity of the immigration bill.

update: ...beyond any shadow of a doubt. This is an invasion that must be stopped by any means necessary.

The words of Theodore Roosevelt ring truer than ever:

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. ... The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic. ... There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else."

Miss O'Hara's words on the subject are good too.

good news from iraq

...keeps pouring in, if you know where to look.

san francisco

...is so very tolerant :P

Moham-madmen

As evidenced by his adherents' actions, it's obvious that Allah approves of rape, torture, dysfunctional society, racism, kidnapping and murder, and now it looks like Allah has nothing against profanity either.

Ain't That America?

It sure used to be...

0 for 2

Does anyone in the government have any concept of the term "port security"?!?

The Survival Of Freedom

Mark Steyn (of course) gets it:

(putting) aside the America-haters for a bit... the argument of... the mainstream of the Democratic Party is this passivity. "Oh, we can't do this, and we can't do that, because something may go wrong, and it may not be easy, and this will happen, and that will happen. And we don't understand any of these strange, wacky foreign places anyway." That passivity will end freedom in the world. It won't end freedom in the world in America, it won't end it in Iowa and in Massachusetts tomorrow. But it will end it in a lot of the borderline jurisdictions around the world very quickly. You cannot be that feeble in the face of an existential threat.

(edited for clarity, emphases mine)

Transcript via Discerning Texan, who also has this wonderful defense of President Bush:

"It struck me that as this President has taken all the horse**** that the media and mad scientists on the left can throw at him, as he has lived through the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor and led us to victory in two wars, as he has put up with the naysayers and the sky-is-falling lunatic fringe, that fighting spirit has never left him. He has conforted the grieving families, grieving for the children he send to defend us. He shed genuine tears after 9/11. He stood on that pile of rubble and told the world what to expect from the United States. He threw out that pitch in Yankee Stadium less than a week later. He stood strong even when the winds blew hard the other way. This is what I so admire about President Bush--he sticks to his guns, no matter how the political winds are blowing, no matter what the opinion polls say, no matter what the hyenas in the baying press are howling. You know where he stands, like it or not. He is not blown about by every wind as was his father and his predecessor. In fact, he is been at his very best when the chips are down--just as we saw in that brilliant performance yesterday in front of a foaming at the mouth press corps."

don't leave the house (or senate) without it

Mish Mash got a nice credit card in the mail. The best features of the New Republicard:

• You can spend as much as you want as long a bunch of people the money doesn't belong to approve.
• If you exceed your debt limit, you just raise it so you can spend more.
• If you run out of money completely, you just print more.

The Leftard Card has the same features, with the added benefit of automatically sending the bill to future generations.

smoking and laws

Wizbang sums up my view on smoking and the attempts to regulate smoking pretty well.

diary of a mad iraqi dictator

This is long but well worth reading, because you probably won't hear many of the details about Saddam's papers elsewhere.

Some highlights:

Judging from his private statements, the single most important element in Saddam's strategic calculus was his faith that France and Russia would prevent an invasion by the United States.

According to his personal interpreter, Saddam also thought his "superior" forces would put up "a heroic resistance and... inflict such enormous losses on the Americans that they would stop their advance."

Even with U.S. tanks crossing the Iraqi border, an internal revolt remained Saddam's biggest fear.

Americans may have listened with amusement to the seemingly obvious fabrications of Muhammad Said al-Sahaf, Iraq's information minister (nicknamed "Baghdad Bob" by the media). But the evidence now clearly shows that Saddam and those around him believed virtually every word issued by their own propaganda machine.

When it came to weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Saddam attempted to convince one audience that they were gone while simultaneously convincing another that Iraq still had them. Coming clean about WMD and using full compliance with inspections to escape from sanctions would have been his best course of action for the long run. Saddam, however, found it impossible to abandon the illusion of having WMD, especially since it played so well in the Arab world.

At one low point during the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam asked his ministers for candid advice. With some temerity, the minister of health, Riyadh Ibrahim, suggested that Saddam temporarily step down and resume the presidency after peace was established. Saddam had him carted away immediately. The next day, pieces of the minister's chopped-up body were delivered to his wife. According to Abd al-Tawab Mullah Huwaysh, the head of the Military Industrial Commission and a relative of the murdered minister, "This powerfully concentrated the attention of the other ministers, who were unanimous in their insistence that Saddam remain in power."

One major problem with this story, however, is its downplay of the WMD issue. Fortunately, others have covered that subject, even with pictures.

kids these days...

some of them turn out pretty good.

'Hack' Thomas

It would be wrong to suggest that Helen Thomas is a senile bitter leftard, since her own words do that job much more admirably.

Consider the alternative:

QUESTION: I'd like to ask you, Ms. Thomas -- your decision to slander our President has given aid and comfort to our enemies during time of war, strengthening their resolve to obliterate western civilization.

Everything you write, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is: Why do you really hate America? From the moment you stepped into the White House, your minions, lackeys, and so forth - but what's your real reason? You have said it wasn't revenge, the lust for revenge. It hasn't been freedom of speech or anything else. What was it?

THOMAS: I think your premise, in all due respect to your question and to you as a peon, that I don't lie. To assume I lie is just flat wrong, sirrah, in all due respect.

QUESTION: And...

THOMAS: Hold on for a second, please. Excuse me. Excuse me. No reporter lies. Everything you may have heard Rather, Jayson, and Jennings say is that, but it's just simply not true. No, wait, it is true. I mean, the lies are true, just like in the movie...

Wish I were a better writer so I could Scrappleface her properly.

WaPo Conservative Blog?

As Vizzini would say, "Inconceivable!"

"Yet even in a climate where Republicans hold command of every branch of government, and advocate views shared by a majority of voters, the mainstream media continues to treat red state Americans as pachyderms in the mist -- an alien and off-kilter group of suburbanite churchgoers about which little is known, and whose natural habitat is a discomforting place for even the most hardened reporter from the New York Times ...

"While the mainstream media has been slow to recognize the growth in conservative America, smart Democrats have not. Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and Hillary Clinton are not alone in recognizing that the unhinged elements of their base, motivated by partisan rage, Michael Moore conspiracies and a pronounced feeling of victimhood have dragged down the Democratic Party for far too long... Red America's citizens are the political majority. They're here to stay. It's time to start paying attention to what they believe and why."

give (mercedes/peace/czech) a chance

michelle thinks it's a mercedes logo, but i think it's possible that these idiots were supporting the czechoslovakian air force...

interesting clock

analog? digital? both? check out this clock.

update: see also this computer.

gender bias

To discover the inherent bias in a statement, it is often helpful to reverse its terms, making it easier to notice the outrageousness of the statement.

Consider this whopper:

"He claims that - in general - men are idiots. About 90%. But they are 10% smart, which is how they are able to get a woman. Women are about 90% smart. But they are 10% idiots, which is usually when we go all weak-kneed and fuzzy over a man who's completely wrong for us."

Anyone who agrees with this statement is obviously not intelligent enough to notice its sexist language. Consider the opposite:

"...women are idiots. About 90%. But they are 10% smart, which is how they are able to get a man. Men are about 90% smart. But they are 10% idiots, which is usually when we go all weak-kneed and fuzzy over a woman who's completely wrong for us."

Upon hearing this, most women would be outraged - and they should be. However, men are expected to put up with this sort of wretched idiocy for over 30 years now.

So are both statements biased? Yes. Equality will only come when BOTH sides stop this sort of childish name-calling.

See also: racism.

---

update: retro rocks!

iraq so far away

...from saddam's killing fields and chicken lefties' predictions.

arrr!

"So, Mr. Pirate, you say you were just holding these grenade launchers for your cousin?"

zimbabwe west

update: I realized what I wrote earlier was probably illegal in that it might be construed as inciting violence. It was wrong for me to suggest that the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency Board offices should be bulldozed for condemning a church to make way for condos. It would also be wrong to suggest that anyone track down those agency members and bulldoze their homes. Better suggestions are given in the linked story:

• Call the office of Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill at (562) 570-6801, or e-mail her at mayor@longbeach.gov to protest condemning a Church to make way for condos.
• Call 6th District Councilwoman Laura Richardson at (562) 570-6816 -- the Church is in her district.
• Call the Redevelopment Board Members at (562) 570-6615 and let them know how outraged you are by this decision.
• Call Barbara Kaiser, Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, at (562) 570-6340, or e-mail her at barbara_kaiser@longbeach.gov.
• Let the City (of Long Beach) hear your views about their efforts to close down a vibrant community church.

And support the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence in their fight against the money-grubbing weasels at the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency.

another kind of tolerance

cold fury:

It’s not so much that conservatives or their libertarian-leaning cohorts like myself like Bush; we tolerate him, not because the Left hates him but because the alternative is so very much worse. We also are aware that, whether even Bush acts like it or not, the nation is currently engaged in the most crucial struggle of our lifetimes, and we feel ourselves duty-bound to give the nation’s leadership our support (or at least the benefit of the doubt, anyway) because of it. This sense of duty does not encompass slavish obedience to every ill-considered big-government whim Bush may seek to inflict on us. But it also does not allow for the kind of mindless, rabid opposition to his every last proposal that has become the stock in trade of the Democrats, who seem positively eager to reduce themselves to lowly bedpan-cleaners in an asylum run by its BDS-afflicted inmates.

(emphases mine)

rights

via Rightwingsparkle, some rights just go hand in hand.

Oil in Mexico

Vodkapundit reports that Mexico has discovered:

"...a new deep-water oil discovery (which) could eventually yield 10 billion barrels of crude oil."

Looks to me like this could either alleviate the illegal immigrant problem, or move socialist Venezuela's border thousands of miles closer to the US.

Or both...

another offensive cartoon

centipedes and maggots are rioting in protest of this one...

also found via cox & forkum, this may be a preliminary draft for a future bill of rights for iran.

power to the people

...not the union(mob) or the government:

"Unions say, "education of the children is too important to be left to the vagaries of the market." The opposite is true. Education is too important to be left to the calcified union/government monopoly."

be afraid

be...

very...

very...

afraid...

Mo' ham'mad

New islamic emoticons have been invented!

in a nutshell

I Love Jet Noise relays a summary of the DNC:

"So let's see if we have this straight: The Democrat Party's strategy for success includes raising taxes, abetting terrorists, losing wars, aborting babies, smearing judges (ed: unless they're rewriting the Constitution), redefining marriage, promoting discrimination and rights for felons. Did we miss anything? Well, yes — insisting on public education and opposing private education alternatives, suppressing Christianity, promoting secularism and atheism, promoting the breakdown of the family, minimizing penalties for all anti-social behavior while trying to remove guns from law-abiding citizens, supporting eco-terrorists, censoring the Internet, allowing foreign law to rule us, stopping any kind of energy development..."

the parties of big government

Lileks musing about President Bush's spending policies:

"Some observers think he regards big government as a tool to advance conservative ideas, which is a little like Godzilla using his tail for urban renewal."

Vietnam Parallel

There are lessons about the Vietnam conflict that some have learned, and others need to - quickly.

he's out of touch,

he's out of time...

legacy media

or, beating an undead horse.

decisionmaking

Scientists now say we should rely on gut instincts when making decisions. Hmm, I'll have think about that.

forest pork

Somebody wants to build an indoor rain forest in Iowa with your tax money.

Oh how I wish the previous sentence was satire.

mapping the war

...of Islamofascist terror

new tagline

...inspired by this post by A Little Aardvark.

Weapons In School

Sikhs allowed to carry daggers in Canadian schools.

...and in related news, the newly-founded Church of the Smith & Wesson is poised to become the fastest growing denomination in the US.

update: swords yes, scarves no.

Tolerance

Will they ever learn?

update: Wonder if this will help?

musical puns

The puns are so bad, you may have to read it poco a poco.

Greatness

Ben Stein recognizes where it is and where it is not.

Iran, Continued

...or should I say Persia.

update: Captain's Quarters, "The US cannot ignore provocations from a nation that directly results in our soldiers being attacked and killed."

The Clash

Rock The Kasbah!

funny stuff

Pirates of the Autobahn - by Mish Mash

Awards Season Wrapup

Tell me again why I should care what the movie, record, tv, and fashion industries think of themselves?

signs of aging?

Monday Evening reports that Jupiter has a new red spot.

Awards Night

Instead of an Oscar Watch Party, why not hold an MST3K-style Oscar Mock Party?

armed pacifism

"Self-defence isn't an escalation of violence...it's putting a stop to it."

meta-meta-toon

do you have any idea how offensive that is?

more on "the toon"

Lileks summarizes the media's decision not to show the Danish cartoons of Mohammad:

"Question Authority, Unless It's In Mecca."

the other anniversary

As a nice coincidence, not only is today Texas Independence Day, it's also the 5th anniversary of the end of the worst 7 years of my life.

No, I'm not going to elaborate on the details. The readers who know me will understand what I'm talking about.

But I will say this: If you know for sure that you're not supposed to go to Tarshish, then by all means, don't go to Tarshish!

Happy Birthday Texas!

Many of the words of the Texas Declaration of Independence still ring true today:

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression.

When the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated central military despotism...

When, long after the spirit of the constitution has departed, moderation is at length so far lost by those in power, that even the semblance of freedom is removed, and the forms themselves of the constitution discontinued, and so far from their petitions and remonstrances being regarded, the agents who bear them are thrown into dungeons, and mercenary armies sent forth to force a new government upon them at the point of the bayonet.

When, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance and abdication on the part of the government, anarchy prevails, and civil society is dissolved into its original elements...

It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defence, the rightful property of freemen, and formidable only to tyrannical governments...

oscar predictions

Ann Coulter has some, and says she will...

grant my awards based on the same criteria Hollywood studio executives now use to green-light movies: political correctness. Also, judging by most of the nominees this year, the awards committee prefers movies that are wildly unpopular with audiences.

second mexican war?

maybe not, but the invasion has been going on as long as i can remember.

funny pic

...but the oaks and maples are now rioting. :)

what a difference two days make

Via Righwingsparkle:

NYT Headlines Feb 24 - More Clashes Shake Iraq; Political Talks Are in Ruins

NYT Headlines Feb 26 - Iraqi Sunni Bloc to Rejoin Talks on Government

Of course there was no retraction.

And in other news, your chocolate ration has increased.

"Jaws" on Cable

Tom McMahon explains how the iconic shark movie could be adapted to various cable channels.

written by kids for kids

I have no idea whether this book is satire or not, especially since an Err America personality recommends them.

"Why Mommy Is A Democrat"

But given the official mascot of the party, a more accurate title for the book would be "Why Mommy Is A Dumb ***".

I thought of some better sample pages too:

Democrats lie to you whenever they feel like it, just like Mommy does.

Democrats hate America, just like Mommy does.

Democrats want to steal your money, just like Mommy does.

Democrats change the subject if you're winning an argument, just like Mommy does.

Democrats wanted to kill you before you were born, just like Mommy did.

Feel free to add your suggestions for other samples in the comments.

(update/disclaimer: i'm not referring to the few who call themselves 'democrats' but do not share the (un)values of the moveon/dnc lunatics. i'm referring to the party at large, and their corrupt platform.)

website of babel

(when it works), this is a cool way of demonstrating what can go wrong when translating between languages. it trans(muti)lates the previous sentence as "the end is a fresh method to show that what can give return to erroneamente with the translation between the languages."

presidents day

"All hail the aggregate clump of chief executives"! - Lileks:

"I’m old enough to remember when they were but two such Presidents held up for celebration: the Father of Our Country, known for wooden teeth and inability to prevaricate when confronted with arboreal murder, and The Great Liberator, who sat around looking lanky and pensive until he freed the slaves, after which he was shot. Now these titans have been folded in among the mediocrities and place-holders and notable exceptions, and it’s all just a day off.

We also learned about McKinley, since that’s the man after whom our elementary school was named. He was also shot by a guy named Leon Colgate-garglesound, for reasons that were never quite clear."

Maybe one reason the day is celebrated less and less is because of presidential antics like these.

update: ...and if you happen to like Lincoln, these points may trouble you. Of course, I'm no fan of the barbarians from the north.

In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln employed lofty rhetoric to conceal the truth of our nation's most costly war -- a war that resulted in the deaths of some 600,000 Americans and the severe disabling of over 400,000 more. He claimed to be fighting so that "this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." In fact, Lincoln was ensuring just the opposite by waging an appallingly bloody war while ignoring calls for negotiated peace. It was the "rebels" who were intent on self-government, and it was Lincoln who rejected their right to that end, despite our Founders' clear admonition to the contrary in the Declaration.

Moreover, had Lincoln's actions been subjected to the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention (the first being codified in 1864), he and his principal military commanders, Gen. William T. Sherman heading the list, would have been tried for war crimes. This included waging "total war" against not just combatants, but the entire civilian population. It is estimated that Sherman's march to the sea was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.

...Lincoln's own words undermine his hallowed status as the Great Emancipator. For example, in his fourth debate with Stephen Douglas, Lincoln argued:

"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races -- that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."

...Little reported and lightly regarded in our history books is the way Lincoln abused and discarded the individual rights of Northern citizens. Tens of thousands of citizens were imprisoned (most without trial) for political opposition, or "treason," and their property confiscated. Habeas corpus and, in effect, the entire Bill of Rights were suspended.

In fact, the Declaration of Independence details remarkably similar abuses by King George to those committed by Lincoln: the "Military [became] independent of and superior to the Civil power"; he imposed taxes without consent; citizens were deprived "in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury"; state legislatures were suspended in order to prevent more secessions; he "plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people...scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation."

Some emancipator, he.

it's a riot

At Father Dan:

15,000 atheists in London rioted after a blank sheet of paper was found on a cartoonist's desk.

(I don't recommend following the link.)

That's almost as funny as the atheists I know whose position is best summarized as "being mad at God for not existing".

Spacemonkey For Governor!

Looks like The Flying Space Monkey is going to run for governor of Alabama, with the campaign slogan, "Alabama can do a lot worse than me." This slogan is true - Kinky Friedman would be a lot worse.

It should be obvious why I'll never run for public office - I can't throw my hat into the ring...

can't wait to buy the book

Power Line says:

Austin Bay reports that an intercepted al Qaeda letter admits the terrorists' "East Asia, Europe, America, Horn of Africa, Yemen, Gulf and Morocco groups have fallen, and Pakistan has almost been drowned in one push."

and speculates:

It seems obvious to me that we have won huge, but unreported, victories over al Qaeda during the past four years, and that this is a large part of the reason why there have been no successful attacks inside the United States. Someday, no doubt, the story will be told. I suspect that when that happens, a lot of the administration's unrelenting critics will feel rather silly.

man! i festo!

Finally, a manifesto that makes sense! Intergalactic Source of Truth's Western Manifesto is a must-read, and I won't steal any of the thunder of the whole piece by including quotes. GO. READ. NOW.

to the president, about ports

President Bush, why start vetoing now?

"Bush, who has yet to veto a bill during his administration, warned that the United States is sending "mixed signals" by attacking a Middle Eastern company after the ports were run by a British firm for several years.

Lawmakers who have called for the deal to be blocked need to "step up and explain why a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard," he said."

The explanation should be obvious, two phrases that you yourself brought into everyday use: "WAR ON TERROR" and "HOMELAND SECURITY". Remember those? If you need more explanation, please let Michelle Malkin explain it further.

update 1: Lileks takes a somewhat softer tone on the topic.

update 2: Varifrank takes a drastically softer tone.

iran's plans

it's not a pretty picture for the next couple of months.

update 1: here's a related pic.

update 2: this should tell us something.

update 3: starting to get the picture?

sellout

In response to the brilliant (not) idea of selling American ports to the UAE, the Washington Times asks:

Do we really want (six of) our major ports in the hands of an Arab country where al Qaeda recruits, travels and wires money?

and Schumer gets something right, for once:

Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, among others, is asking tough questions about this deal.

as every real American should be doing.

fatback fatwa

Islamofascists vow to destroy the universe for the impure images it portrays! :)

(definitely a work-safe page, unless you work in a mosque)

---

update: On a more serious note, read this great bit at GM's Corner, which includes these lines:

"Drawings of Mohammad have been made for hundreds of years, commissioned usually by other Muslims. However, that seems to be a moot point. Instead, we are treated to video of death and destruction, the burning of the Danish Embassy, Denmark advising its people to flee the Middle East in general, and Pakistan in particular and even plastic statues of good old Ronald McDonald being torched. This is a culture I'm supposed to respect?

The mentality of those in the mob is not questionable! It is, actually, bizarre. What other culture would brandish signs saying "Behead the cartoonists," or offer million dollar bounties for the death of a cartoonist (apparently too ignorant to understand that there were a dozen different artists involved)? And yet, and yet, we are being asked to "understand" that they have been insulted, that they have had their sacred religion mocked, and that our inability to "understand" is akin to another holocaust. It strains the fabric of rationality."

"Much has been written regarding the failure of European countries to allow assimilation of Muslims into their society and in part, that may be true. But I think another part of this equation needs to be an honest acknowledgement that Muslims (many? most?) do not want to integrate into the society into which they have moved."

"Tolerance is a two way street. Those who do not grant it, have no right to demand it."

Read the whole thing.

archimedes does it again!

Wikipedia's pic of the day is pretty cool. The Falkirk Wheel is a huge rotating boat lift in Scotland. Not living within 500 miles of a canal, I never knew such things existed.

30 silver euros

Lileks wonders about those leftards who trash America on foreign soil:

Why do American politicians of the Democratic flavor take such solemn pleasure in trashing their country before foreign audiences? Is there some upcoming election for Global Emperor, with all the primaries in Arab nations?

Never mind Jimmy Carter, who can be counted on to bad-mouth the United States regardless of the venue. No, it's guys like Bill Clinton and Al Gore who truly mystify. The speaker's fees can't be that great...

It takes a cotton-candy-headed progressive who believes that a weak America will be more loved than a strong one, and hence more successful...

Clinton was in full weather-vane mode in Qatar last month, denouncing the infamous Danish cartoons. "So now what are we going to do?" he asked. "Replace the anti-Semitic prejudice with anti-Islamic prejudice?" Well, if history is a guide, the Europeans can probably multitask and handle both...

Still, that was nothing compared to the utterances at the Jeddah Economic Forum of Clinton's former No. 2, Gore. Whatever wax they use on the Saudis' marble floors, Gore's forehead was shiny with it by the time he was finished.

As an Associated Press account of the speech put it, Gore said Arabs had been "indiscriminately rounded up" and held in "unforgivable" conditions. Yes, indeed: The infamous internment of September 2001, when the government indiscriminately shoveled millions into camps ringed with flaming trenches. Or "FDR-villes," as they were known, in deference to the strategy's founding father...

It would be wrong, of course, to suggest that they're just fond of the 30 pieces of silver they get for showing up. They're probably paid in euros.

or oil vouchers...

thanks michelle!

i had no intention of stealing michelle malkin's thunder, but this blog is the number one sbc/yahoo search result for "i'd rather go hunting with dick than driving with ted"!

slander, libel, or treason?

Muhammad "I invented dhimmitude" alGore needs to shut up or be shut up, along with the rest of the DNCowardly traitors.

Now.

By any means necessary.

--

UPDATE: define 'news':

A former Vice-President and Presidential candidate is paid by Osama bin Laden’s family to make an anti-American speech, in Saudi Arabia.

The current Vice-President injures a friend in a hunting accident.

1) Guess which story is still at the top of Google news today?

2) Which story has almost 3 times as many Google hits as the other?

3) Which story got at least 6 articles in the NY Times, versus none?

4) Which got at least 4 mentions fron CNN, and which was totally ignored?

poor little ol' helen

Helen Thomas has grilled Republican presidents for decades, but she sure can't take any uncomfortable questions herself.

Don't ya just love the smell of grilled hypocrite?

it's ipod time for me

nothing brightens my day more than being subjected to hearing today's episode of my coworkers' ongoing saga of ridding their houses of cat urine stains. gaaahh :P

strong constitution

Via MacStansbury, Judge Scalia rips 'living constitution' apologists:

"That's the argument of flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break."

"But you would have to be an idiot to believe that," Scalia said. "The Constitution is not a living organism, it is a legal document. It says something and doesn't say other things."

Proponents of the living constitution want matters to be decided "not by the people, but by the justices of the Supreme Court."

"They are not looking for legal flexibility, they are looking for rigidity, whether it's the right to abortion or the right to homosexual activity, they want that right to be embedded from coast to coast and to be unchangeable," he said.

Jack Lewis goes on to comment:

A document that "bends" with the culture does little good when that elasticity is completely controlled by judges who live and work in a completely different culture than the people their decision affect...

But the philosophy of a "living document" becomes an open door to a power grab by a despotic oligarchy of judges. And we have seen that happen right before our eyes.

As an aside, why am I suddenly remembering the name "Living Bible"?

no way, ted!

yes way, bill!

check out this hands-on interface.

um, wow!

about 40

random thoughts over the last few weeks surrounding my 40th birthday:

i really appreciate that my friends and family did not subject me to the public humiliation of having waitstaff sing at me in a restaurant.

i am glad that my co-workers did not festoon me with black armbands and balloons, etc.

i wonder whether anyone else has made it to this age without ever deliberately ingesting tobacco or alcohol (except nyquil).

i wonder whether the phrase "you're as young as you feel" has any meaning. i feel 70 intellectually, 17 emotionally, and 170 when trying to wake up or exercise.

i would like to celebrate my 42nd birthday with an evening of 42.