first jet

Care to guess what the first jet-powered aircraft was, and when it first flew?

Was it the Gloster Meteor in ww2? Or maybe the Heinkel 178 in 1939?

Try the Coanda - in 1910!

i'm not holding my breath

Powerline ponders President's popularity polls:

It will be interesting to see whether all those articles we've been reading for the last four months about the President's plummeting poll numbers will be equalled by coverage of his recovery."

in case you haven't heard

tax cuts increase federal income. now imagine how much money they could make if they repealed income tax altogether.

Shaq's a cop?

Please, no jokes about "the long arm of the law"...

babs on crack?

alternate title: "that schnozz was made for huffing".

approval ratings

imagine what the president's approval rating would be if the reporting weren't biased...

two pair

Two posts at Varifrank:

Propaganda
and Poetry.

---

Two things I discovered this weekend:

It is possible to drive from Brownwood to north Fort Worth (Texas) without ever getting on an interstate highway.

I then realized that inside Tarrant County, that's not necessarily a good idea.

Projection

these are just a few examples. can you think of others?

UN-Controlled Internet, pt.2

It may be a prolonged fight to keep the tentacles of the UN off of the internet, but it is a necessary fight.

post shortage

it's been a busy week, and will probably be a busy weekend. i hope to post more next week...

Wendell Berry

Unlike the "cult of gaia", this kind of environmentalism I can understand.

happy non-euclidean holidays!

Lileks' geometric analysis of Christmas music where:

"...the various members of the family gather to rock around the Christmas tree. How this rocking is done I am unsure, since the tree is usually in the corner; thus it would be difficult to rock around the Christmas tree. You would have to rock in a semi-circular pattern. The people on the end would either have to circle around the others, which would mean they were rocking around the persons rocking, or the entire line would have to shift back and forth, permitting the occupant of the center position no more than a few feet of rocking. It is also unclear what sort of rocking we are talking about here; most rocking doesn’t take you around anything. From the Bruce Springsteen grin-and-thrust-and-pump-hip dance to the Foghat-stoner stand-in-place-and-bob-head style, most rocking is done in place. So the whole song falls apart under analysis. Note: it is possible to rock around the clock, this being an expression of rocking performed in time, not space."

Rush & Max

I have two reasons to like this video of the song "YYZ" by Rush:

I was a long-time Rush fan, seeing them in concert five times (twice on the Presto tour), and I work with 3D Studio Max, the software used to make this video.

stifling of dissent, pt. 4

UPDATE: Professor Daly has resigned! One down, several thousand to go...

"Freedom of Speech" and "Freedom of Ideas" are unwelcome in Professor Daly's classroom in Warren County Community College in Washington, N.J.. Read the article, then read my parallel response:

Dear Professor Daly,

I am asking everyone to boycott your school. Your poorly-written message is fascist propaganda and is extremely offensive. Your assertion that "Capitalism killed over 100,000,000" is not only untrue, but ignores the fact that COMMUNISM has killed many more and the evidence for that can be seen in accurate history books, such as those in most libraries. (This may not apply to your local libraries, as you seem like the book-burning type.)

The ACLU can sue to silence anyone in America in 12 hours, yet they have not fought for real liberty for Americans in decades. Racism and profits are key to their priorities. Hollywood, by the way, made billions of dollars in profits this last quarter, thanks to the idiots who are brainwashed to whine and lie for MoveOn.org and other shady organizations who raise illegal contributions for their communist puppet candidates. If you want to count the number of deaths based on political systems, you can begin with the Kurds who have died in Iraq from Saddam's use of WMD, or the millions of African people who died from communist and Islamic regimes.

I will continue to expose your left-wing, anti-reality politics until tenured idiots like you won't dare show their face on a college campus. Real freedom will come when students in college classrooms across America turn their arguments on their superiors and fight for just causes and for people's needs--such freedom fighters can be counted throughout American history and they certainly will be counted again.

Hatless in Hattiesburg

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving thoughts from:
Mish Mash,
Molten Thought,
A Little Aardvark,
via Powerline via Claremont Institute, George Washington & Abraham Lincoln,
Dustbury,
GM's Corner,
Varifrank, and
Cheat Seeking Missiles.

---

And my favorite passage for this season, Psalm 107, this year from the NASB (via Bible Gateway):

1 O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,
      For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
      Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary
3 And gathered from the lands,
      From the east and from the west,
      From the north and from the south.

4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region;
      They did not find a way to an inhabited city.
5 They were hungry and thirsty;
      Their soul fainted within them.
6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble;
      He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 He led them also by a straight way,
      To go to an inhabited city.
8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness,
      And for His wonders to the sons of men!
9 For He has satisfied the thirsty soul,
      And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.

10 There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death,
      Prisoners in misery and chains,
11 Because they had rebelled against the words of God
      And spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12 Therefore He humbled their heart with labor;
      They stumbled and there was none to help.
13 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble;
      He saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death
      And broke their bands apart.
15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness,
      And for His wonders to the sons of men!
16 For He has shattered gates of bronze
      And cut bars of iron asunder.

17 Fools, because of their rebellious way,
      And because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18 Their soul abhorred all kinds of food,
      And they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble;
      He saved them out of their distresses.
20 He sent His word and healed them,
      And delivered them from their destructions.
21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness,
      And for His wonders to the sons of men!
22 Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
      And tell of His works with joyful singing.

23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,
      Who do business on great waters;
24 They have seen the works of the LORD,
      And His wonders in the deep.
25 For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind,
      Which lifted up the waves of the sea.
26 They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths;
      Their soul melted away in their misery.
27 They reeled and staggered like a drunken man,
      And were at their wits' end.
28 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
      And He brought them out of their distresses.
29 He caused the storm to be still,
      So that the waves of the sea were hushed.
30 Then they were glad because they were quiet,
      So He guided them to their desired haven.
31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness,
      And for His wonders to the sons of men!
32 Let them extol Him also in the congregation of the people,
      And praise Him at the seat of the elders.


33 He changes rivers into a wilderness
      And springs of water into a thirsty ground;
34 A fruitful land into a salt waste,
      Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35 He changes a wilderness into a pool of water
      And a dry land into springs of water;
36 And there He makes the hungry to dwell,
      So that they may establish an inhabited city,
37 And sow fields and plant vineyards,
      And gather a fruitful harvest.
38 Also He blesses them and they multiply greatly,
      And He does not let their cattle decrease.

39 When they are diminished and bowed down
      Through oppression, misery and sorrow,
40 He pours contempt upon princes
      And makes them wander in a pathless waste.
41 But He sets the needy securely on high away from affliction,
      And makes his families like a flock.
42 The upright see it and are glad;
      But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth.

43 Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things,
      And consider the lovingkindnesses of the LORD.

---

And I wish everyone a Blessed, Safe, and Happy Thanksgiving.

The Democrats want America to lose

Molten Thought has several good quotes about the reprehensible gutless cowards who want to destroy America, and summarizes with another good quote:

The Democrats want America to lose the war in Iraq.

How do we know this?

It's quite simple. They call for an unconditional surrender to al Zarqawi and al Qaeda. What else does "immediate withdrawal" mean? There is no victory plan, no plan of any sort for how to open another front in the War on Terror. There is only surrender and disgrace.

This should sound very familiar.

It was the Democratic plan for ending the Vietnam War. We all know how that turned out---it took 16 years to wipe away the stain on our military prowess and our sacred honor, if such a stain can ever be wiped out.

In fact, the number one fear of our soldiers fighting in Iraq is not the IED. It is the stab-in-the-back, delivered by Democrats and weak-sister Republicans in Congress, who profess to "support the troops" while undermining their mission.

I'll consider a plan for withdrawal from the War on Terror when the Democrats propose a plan for withdrawal from the War on Poverty.

update 1: related story

update 2: Ann Coulter comes to the same conclusion.

problem thinking

i'm going to join a square-root-of-144 step program tomorrow.

new post

i guess i should post something today...

and now i have.

ongoing jihad

what was that saying?... err... "those who forget... uh, something... doomed to... uhh..."

UN-Controlled Internet

Bad Juju shows us a likely scenario. (via dustbury)

Texas Press

James Bernsen via Voice in the Wilderness notices the "great chasm between the people of Texas and the newspapers that report to them", and asks:

How often have the editorial pages (of Texas newspapers) called for political representation that “looks like Texas.” How often have they demanded that businesses hire more minorities? How often have they called for more diversity?

Perhaps they could illustrate this sacred principle by taking the lead themselves…

When was the last time a paper hired a white male from Abilene? A suburban woman from The Woodlands?”

"Clinton Lied!! People Died!!"

CrosSwords fetched something from the memory hole. You can read the edited version, but I'm copying the CNN source article unedited here, in case it gets disappeared (bold text is original, italics are mine):

Clinton: Iraq has abused its last chance

December 16, 1998
Web posted at: 8:51 p.m. EST (0151 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- From the Oval Office, President Clinton told the nation Wednesday evening why he ordered new military strikes against Iraq.

The president said Iraq's refusal to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors presented a threat to the entire world.

"Saddam (Hussein) must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons," Clinton said.

Operation Desert Fox, a strong, sustained series of attacks, will be carried out over several days by U.S. and British forces, Clinton said.

"Earlier today I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces," Clinton said.

"Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors," said Clinton.

Clinton also stated that, while other countries also had weapons of mass destruction, Hussein is in a different category because he has used such weapons against his own people and against his neighbors.

'Without delay, diplomacy or warning'

The Iraqi leader was given a final warning six weeks ago, Clinton said, when Baghdad promised to cooperate with U.N. inspectors at the last minute just as U.S. warplanes were headed its way.

"Along with Prime Minister (Tony) Blair of Great Britain, I made it equally clear that if Saddam failed to cooperate fully we would be prepared to act without delay, diplomacy or warning," Clinton said.

The president said the report handed in Tuesday by Richard Butler, head of the United Nations Special Commission in charge of finding and destroying Iraqi weapons, was stark and sobering.

Iraq failed to cooperate with the inspectors and placed new restrictions on them, Clinton said. He said Iraqi officials also destroyed records and moved everything, even the furniture, out of suspected sites before inspectors were allowed in.

"Instead of inspectors disarming Saddam, Saddam has disarmed the inspectors," Clinton said.

"In halting our airstrikes in November, I gave Saddam a chance -- not a license. If we turn our backs on his defiance, the credibility of U.S. power as a check against Saddam will be destroyed," the president explained.

Strikes necessary to stunt weapons programs

Clinton said he made the decision to strike Wednesday with the unanimous agreement of his security advisors.

Timing was important, said the president, because without a strong inspection system in place, Iraq could rebuild its chemical, biological and nuclear programs in a matter of months, not years.

"If Saddam can cripple the weapons inspections system and get away with it, he would conclude the international community, led by the United States, has simply lost its will," said Clinton. "He would surmise that he has free rein to rebuild his arsenal of destruction."

Clinton also called Hussein a threat to his people and to the security of the world.

"The best way to end that threat once and for all is with a new Iraqi government -- a government ready to live in peace with its neighbors, a government that respects the rights of its people," Clinton said.

Such a change in Baghdad would take time and effort, Clinton said, adding that his administration would work with Iraqi opposition forces.

Clinton also addressed the ongoing impeachment crisis in the White House.

"Saddam Hussein and the other enemies of peace may have thought that the serious debate currently before the House of Representatives would distract Americans or weaken our resolve to face him down," he said.

"But once more, the United States has proven that although we are never eager to use force, when we must act in America's vital interests, we will do so."

Feel free to print out this article and shove it in any moonbat's face when they say "Bush Lied, People Died".

update: similar forgotten fragments

Islam

Somehow I keep forgetting how Islam is "the religion of peace".

• More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition combined.
• Islamic terrorists murder more people every day than the Ku Klux Klan has in the last 50 years.
• More civilians were killed by Muslim extremists in two hours on September 11th than in the 36 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.
• 19 Muslim hijackers killed more innocents in two hours on September 11th than the number of American criminals put to death in the last 65 years.

Hmmm, the phrase "peace of the grave" seems to help me remember...

read the screed

Lileks on the French riots:

"(Europe's) vision – a post-national multiethnic welfare state linked by nothing but the language in which people curse one another – is fatally flawed. The rioters can’t be dispelled with Brussels-based regulations specifying the number of cars one can burn per night."

1.7 tons is nothing...

...when reporting on WMD in Iraq.

white-collar crime

Sony is aspiring to be as reviled as Microsoft.

laun------dry

Though they're not adjacent, at least my washer & dryer are in the same room.

disaster averted!

As much as I generally dislike Micro$oft (and Bill GatesOfSheol), tonight I have learned to greatly appreciate their "System Restore" utility.

I have also learned to distrust "Spybot Search And Destroy", because it flagged my ENTIRE MUSIC SOFTWARE FOLDER for deletion.

on revisionism

Cox & Forkum quotes Podhoretz:

Among the many distortions, misrepresentations, and outright falsifications that have emerged from the debate over Iraq, one in particular stands out above all others. This is the charge that George W. Bush misled us into an immoral and/or unnecessary war in Iraq by telling a series of lies that have now been definitively exposed.

What makes this charge so special is the amazing success it has enjoyed in getting itself established as a self-evident truth even though it has been refuted and discredited over and over again by evidence and argument alike.

what's the deal?

Power Line wants to know what's wrong with the Republican side of the aisle.:

Almost exactly one year ago, President Bush was re-elected with more votes than had ever been cast for a Presidential candidate, breaking Ronald Reagan's 1984 record. Not only did Bush sweep to victory by a three million vote margin, the Republicans increased their majorities in both the House and the Senate, the first time this trifecta had been accomplished since 1964.

Since that triumphant moment, what has sent the party into a tailspin? Has the economy collapsed? Not at all; it is humming along as strongly as ever, steadily putting more distance between America's prosperity and that of Europe and Japan. Have the terrorists attacked successfully, exposing a weakness in our domestic security? No. Astonishingly, we have now gone more than four years without a successful attack on American soil, even though newspaper headlines reveal, on an almost daily basis, how bloodthirsty our enemies are. This is an extraordinary record, of which all Republicans should be proud. Have there been setbacks in foreign policy that could explain how a party that was triumphant just twelve months ago should now be in full retreat? Not at all. We continue to make excellent progress in both Iraq and Afghanistan. On a number of fronts, liberty has made progress in the vital Middle East. And no foreign power even imagines that it could rival the United States in influence.

So what has happened in the past twelve months to terrify so many of our Republican office-holders? Two hurricanes struck, and some observers accused a federal agency of responding too slowly to one of them. Tom DeLay was indicted, in what was basically a bad joke, by an absurdly partisan and utterly discredited Texas Democrat DA. An aide to the Vice President has been accused of lying to a grand jury about telling the truth to the press about a mountebank Democrat's lies about the administration. And the President's poll ratings--more or less irrelevant, given that he can't run for office again--have dropped into a range occupied, at one time or another, by every President from Lyndon Johnson to the present.

These are pathetic reasons for our representatives in Congress to be in a Chicken Little mode. The Republicans are rapidly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and it's hard to say who is more to blame--the Congressional Republicans, some of whom are afraid of their own shadows, or the White House, which, in studiously refraining from responding to the most outrageously unfair and blatantly partisan attacks launched against an American administration in 145 years, seems intent on a weird kind of martyrdom.

It's no wonder that Republicans across the country increasingly regard their elected representatives as gutless wonders. There is no objective reason why 2006 should be a disaster for the party, but it will be if our representative don't stick together and show the voters that the Republican party still stands for security, common sense and limited government. That's still a winning combination, but only if our representatives vote for it.

France Riot Update 3

24 hours, 2 weeks, what's the difference?

Does anyone remember the outcry that occurred when George Bush didn't get on TV in the 24 hours after Hurricane Katrina and make a personal expression of sorrow? That outcry resulted from a natural disaster, not a threat to the authority of the government. Chirac has yet to make any significant speech to his country as head of state in the face of a direct challenge to French sovereignty. It's as if the entire French command structure has forgotten why it exists. Instead of standing for French law and order and defense of French interests -- the natural role of the executive in any form of government -- Chirac has gone into hiding and his staff has prepared a slate of bribes.

Profits of Doom

This place will also need a video section, including "Red Dawn", "Chicken Little", and "Day After Tomorrow"

secret weapon!

They could actually be serious about "The Military Applications of Silly String".

p.s. you (especially ryan/mish mash) can also see some other projects this guy made.

France Riot Update 2

with picture and commentary.

Introverts

This info could come in handy for people around me.

War on Terror

Go read this piece at Vodkapundit about the War on Terror. One key quote:

"The MSM needs to relearn constructive criticism, and they need to remember which country defends their rights, and which group of people would gleefully slit their throats."

France Riot Update

According to Yahoo News:

Asked on TF1 television whether the army should be brought in, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said, "We are not at that point."

For once, de Villepin is right. This is no time to surrender....

The Lit-Up City

NOFP has a must-read report on the Paris riots.

spam poetry 5

Alexander's interesting information
was comb, as talent
downstate. Attache
with see to name negotiation.

Is type it mercy
I overheard that
on? Eat the tomato,
or learn my villainies
in Forget or Southwest
Siberia. Lace,
achromatism, affluently, adevism
valium, pilgrim,
see? Impersonate a cerulean
kaiser!
Look sharp at all times
by reply at mystique.

So finish by appliance
which ask on Afrikaans'
Ambien shakedown.
Benevolent footprint
of spend a stood ideology.

marriage amendment

What these tactics prove is that the liberal left cannot win based on truth.

"Stability" in Middle East

Dustbury argues that "the only thing wrong with the war in Iraq was that we didn’t do it sooner."

Discerning Texan has three related posts.

plame again

i didn't want to post any more on the whole plame game, but this is just too good...

"Give peace a chance, or we'll kill you!"

Looks like the phrase "peace protest" has a whole new meaning.

Halloween Continues...

the horror! the horror! at chartwells.

Cyprus

Lileks linked to a site that has stories and pictures of a modern ghost town and a divided capitol on Cyprus.

with science like that, who needs mythology?

According to this Yahoo Science News story,

"The most explosive star in our corner of the solar system has a companion."

Wow! I didn't know our solar system had another star?!?

:P

lileks is linking

Techno pioneer Kraftwerk is still around.

Watch Yoda Rap.

two stories in one

Here's a sad story about a pastor who was electrocuted during a baptism service. The story covers the details, but goes on to give a less-than-flattering editorial description of Waco, the town where it occurred.

But you must understand, the story is on a London website. With a population of 7,619,000, that town has also made more headlines than would be expected for a town of its size.

In the late 19th century it became infamous for several murders committed there by Jack the Ripper. During a earlier period, many people were imprisoned and beheaded in the Tower of London (an actual stone tower, not a record store). London is also noted for being the home of the bubonic plague and the Spice Girls.

(...and the reporter is from Los Angeles, the shake-and-bake with all the flakes.)

verrry scarrry

for your halloween viewing horror...

zapped

Been there, done that.

rational rationale

MacStansbury tells us why he votes Republican.

Revenge Of The SOTH

Flying Space Monkey found that Speaker Of The House Dennis Hastert has a new blog.

10-30

Don't forget! Benjamin Franklin's Worst Joke occurs again this Sunday .

gaaah!

I could deal with the Sox winning the series, but not with the Astros not even winning one game...

:P

SCAM WARNING

NOT SATIRE

Watch out for this new credit card scam!

"nintendo mall"

On my way to work today, I heard a pickup blaring some tejano music, but I couldn't quite understand the words. The singer seemed to be most concerned with "a key" and "sue's cortizone"...?

:)

compare and contrast, pt. 2

this time, it's two sides of the same coin.

compare and contrast, pt. 1

noah compares true vs false, and has more evidence against the false.

UN-tied Nations

CSM shows us how to celebrate UN Day.

Liberal Hivemind

naaman says, "If it is sexist to assume that all women are like June Cleaver, then it is equally sexist to assume that all women are like Gloria Steinem. Why don't so-called feminists understand that simple point?"

che's killer says, "Difference of opinion is healthy and to be expected in a republican democracy. Liberals however seem moved to violence when confronted with opinions that significantly differ from their own."

also, a little gun control and a little gratuitous advice.

small rays of hope

The subhead of this article should be edited to say "School's suppression of kindergartner's artwork violated constitutional rights"

Found at Evangelical Ecologist, who also notes that the Church of Gaia is now selling indulgences.

bumpersticker

and remember: when cars are outlawed, only outlaws will have cars.

Ghouls

To spare you the trouble of going through bugmenot.com to access this NYPost article by Ralph Peters, I'll post the highlights here:

We'll soon reach a total of 2,000 dead American troops in Iraq. You won't miss the day it happens. The media will pound it into you. But no one will tell you what that number really means — and what it doesn't.

Unable to convince the Bush administration or our troops to cut and run, the American left is waging its campaign of support for Islamist terror through our all-too-cooperative media. And you're the duck in the anti-war movement's shooting gallery.

Breathless anchors and voice-of-God columnists will suggest that 2,000 dead is an exorbitant price to pay in wartime, that reaching such a threshold means we've failed and that it's time to "support our troops and bring them home."

All lies. Certainly, the life of every American service member matters to us. But the left's attempt to exploit dead soldiers and Marines for partisan purposes is worse than grave-robbing: Ghouls only take gold rings and decaying flesh; the left wants to rob our war dead of their sacrifices and their achievements, their honor and their pride.

Those who died in Iraq have not died in vain. Even should Iraq fail itself in the end, our courageous effort to give one Middle-Eastern Muslim population a chance to create a rule-of-law democracy has been worth the cost — for their sake, but also for ours. Without a transformation of the Middle East, we shall see no end of terror.

As a former soldier whose friends still serve under our flag, I'm especially disgusted by the pretense on the part of those who never served and who wouldn't dream of letting their own children serve that they speak for the men and women in uniform.

Our troops speak for themselves. By re-enlisting. And returning to Iraq, to complete the mission for which their comrades gave their lives or suffered life-altering wounds.

Two generations of politicians and pundits suffer from their avoidance of military service. They speak of war in ignorance and view our troops — whom they quietly despise — as nothing more than tools of their own ambitions. After deploring body counts during their Vietnam-era protest years, today our leftists revel in the American body count in Iraq.

The left has been infuriated by its inability to incite an anti-war movement in our military — forgetting that this is an all-volunteer force whose members believe in service to our country. The best the Democrats can do is to trot out poor Wes Clark, an ethically challenged retired general who will say anything, anywhere, anytime in return for five more seconds in the spotlight.

As for that "unacceptable" number of casualties, let's put it in perspective:

Our current loss rate in Iraq from combat and non-combat deaths is 765 per year. That's painful for individual families, but we would have to remain in Iraq, taking casualties at the same rate, for 76 years to rival our loss of more than 58,000 Americans in Indochina.

And Vietnam wasn't remotely as important to our national security. The terrorists we face today are more implacable than any of the enemies from our past. Even the Germans didn't dream of eradicating our entire population. The Japanese hoped to master Asia, not to massacre every man, woman and child in America.

We would need to continue our efforts in Iraq and the greater War on Terror for 532 years to suffer the 407,000 dead we lost in less than four years in World War II.

And what about our greatest struggle, the American Civil War? We would have to maintain the status quo in Iraq for 470 years just to rival the number of Union dead and for 729 years to equal our total losses, North and South.

Even our Revolutionary War, in which fewer than 5,000 Americans died in combat (many more, unrecorded, fell to disease) has to be judged in terms of the population at the time — just over 2 million. Equivalent losses today would be over 500,000 dead Americans.

The point isn't to play hocus-pocus with statistics. That's what the pro-terrorist left is trying to do — betting that you know nothing of military history. Two thousand dead isn't a magic number. Our first loss was as important as the last. We must not make a mockery of our fallen by treating them as political rag-dolls to be tossed around the media playroom. Great causes incur great costs.

In historical terms, our losses in Iraq have been remarkably light, given the magnitude of what we seek to achieve. The low casualty rate is a tribute to the skill and professionalism of our troops and their battlefield leaders. None of us should breathe a word that undercuts them while they're fighting our war.

If the American left and its media sympathizers want someone to blame for our combat losses, they should begin with themselves. Their irresponsible demands for troop withdrawals provide powerful encouragement to Muslim fanatics to keep on killing as many American service members as possible. On the worst days the terrorists suffer in Iraq, our "anti-war" fellow citizens keep the cause of Islamist fascism alive. Their support is worth far more to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi than any amount of Saudi money.

It would be wonderful to live in a world in which war was never necessary. But we don't live in such a world. And there are no bloodless wars. We should honor every fallen American. But we also must recognize that, on this maddened earth, only the blood of patriots shed abroad allows us to live in safety here at home.

Found via Cold Fury, who also has this related post.

Scotty's gift keeps on giving...

The story I found earlier about a NASCAR-designed military vehicle didn't mention the cool bulletproof windows made from transparent aluminum.

keywords

This entry on my blog is listed at #7 on AltaVista for the search term "hee haw gloom despair".

This disturbs me greatly...

:O

spam poetry 4

Fink Algiers,
dreams come true with this prospect:
"abolish everything you owe without paying another dime".

Make all the stress go away,
Bentley -
go use my ulna sandglass,
which tell is duologue wound.

a little good news?

CSM sees a larger picture in the style and substance of Bush's conservatism.

go astros!

The Astros are going to the World Series!

Glad they get to go while Biggio & Bagwell are still there.

go mish-mash!

Ryan doesn't like "reality tv" any more than I do. Make sure to read his alternative version of "Hamlet" too.

go scrappleface!

Scott Ott is on a roll. (four links)

oh my

GT, FJ, or GT?

Arrr, shiver me timbers!

Experts have finally determined the actual cause of global warming.

UPDATE: A new hope?

;)

assisted suicide?

try not to make any jokes about "shooting his mouth off"...

The Right Brothers

No, it's not a typo, it's a band (which has been added to the appropriate blogroll category).

not the baseball team

The Texas Rangers were formally created on this day 170 years ago.

spam poetry 3

(this one even rhymes)

Eminem got one
To sign, by odyssey dismay,
The first time
Here,
And hurt of summertime.


previous spam poetry: #1 & #2

10-15

Hey, it's Sweet Onion Day! Aren't you excited?

Yeah, me neither...

that's a riot

with enemies like that, who needs frien... uhh... er...

PETABOA

End Cruelty To Animals!

10-13

Hey, it's X-Files Day! Aren't you excited?

Yeah, me neither...

The Turtle Calling The Rabbit Slow

But what about Iran's response? or Red China's? or Zimbabwe's, for that matter?...

woohoo!

No Yankees? No Braves? No Red Sox? This is already a great World Series!

Allah's Wrath

Seems that the quake in Pakistan destroyed several jihadi military bases. And in other news...

Surviving militants, who had previously claimed that Hurricane Katrina was Allah's wrath against America, have renounced their claim to the Kashmir region, deeming it to have been the cause of the disaster. Further, some clerics are even beginning to question the entire premise of jihad. "It is possible that our barbaric, militant, and misogynistic ways are the reason Allah has kept Islamic countries in such a backward state." says Mullah Mustarrah al'Sens Ibbl., "Perhaps these signs are Allah's way of moving us into the modern era."

(update: forgot to mention that cheat seeking missiles inspired this one.)

bumpersnickers

All the "NPR minds" around me (and there are several) are some of the most petty, small-minded and loud-mouthed bigots I've ever had the misfortune of meeting.

That said, I'm not really a Fox fan either.

Fires

First the "Wayne Manor", now this...

"Did I Do ThaaAAaat?"

Official Motto of The Party of Urkels.

number eight, number eight, number eight...

congratulations are in order, i guess?

spam poetry 2

The play, so reunite
Lowest rate approved,
And sleep on porcelain telephony
As travel or loan jester.

(see also spam poetry 1)

Whaddya Know!

Yahoo News reports that the House of Representatives passed a bill to boost refineries. The bill would (among other things):

"streamline government permits for refineries, open federal lands including closed military bases for future refinery construction and limit the number of gasoline blends refiners have to produce, eliminating many blends now designed to reduce air pollution."

Hmm, where have I heard that idea before...?

My only post on the Miers nomination

(Not being a real writer, I couldn't get all my thoughts on the topic into a coherent paragraph, so I'll present them as a list.)

1. Opinions abhor a vacuum.
2. Rational discussion is appropriate, but intra-party acrimony only encourages the other side.
   
3. Despite the bickering about her qualifications, I remain unconvinced whether or not Harriet Miers will turn out to be a good Supreme Court judge. Even though I'm still 'on the fence' about this, both my feet are on Hugh Hewitt's side.
4. On the surface, it appears that our President has not learned that appeasement of the enemies of America does not work any better on the domestic front than it does on the international front.
   
5. To paraphrase an old proverb, "Hope for a Rehnquist, prepare for a Warren."

to boldly draw where no man has drawn before

This Yahoo science report links to an image of the world's smallest fountain pen. Even though I had never heard of such an invention, which can draw lines "as thin as 40 nanometers (with) various types of inks, including pigments for painting patterns and organic materials for designing sensors", I had seen it before.

(I almost titled this post "I'm a calligrapher, Jim, not a doctor!")

unreasonable search and seizure

As much harm as the ACLU has done to the foundations of this country, they do occasionally get something right.

DNA from tens of thousands of suspected illegal immigrants, captives in the war on terrorism and others who have been arrested but not convicted of federal crimes could be added to a national database of convicts' DNA under a proposal the Senate is likely to vote on soon...

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., a sponsor of the bill, says collecting DNA from arrestees would help authorities catch rapists and killers who have arrest records but who go undetected by the DNA system because they have no serious convictions. Barry Steinhardt, who specializes in privacy law for the American Civil Liberties Union, says taking DNA from people who “haven't been found guilty of anything” is wrong. “We've got to ask ourselves whether this is a line we want to cross.”

2NOfP

No Oil for Pacifists has two good bits of reality which the "reality-based" community is likely to ignore.

O'Hair

Molten Thought found this chilling post by Madalyn Murray O'Hair's son.

Remarks on Bill Bennett

Miss O'Hara says it well:

I was listening to Bill Bennett last week when he made the remark that started this ridiculous brouhaha. There's no point in qualifying the asinine charges of racism by defending Bennett, because any halfwit gerbil knows the man isn't a racist. He was making a point, using a noxious example, to prove that the ends don't always justify the means. Nothing wrong or untoward was said.

It's kind of funny - but more sad, really - that the people screaming at Bennett are pro-abortion types who would be happy to see every woman's child aborted, black, white, Asian, or otherwise, if it were the woman's choice.

It's also funny that his accusers are the ones who are always telling us about free speech. Yet here they are, telling us what we can and cannot say, because they are offended. God forbid!

Well...turn off the radio. No one is making you listen, after all.

Most obviously, though, is that we have yet another opportunity (albeit yet another manufactured one) to have that 'discussion on race' the left is always whining about. We had an opportunity last month, too, with the aftermath of Katrina. But instead of a legitimate discussion, we had Oprah pointing her finger at America and telling us we were racist monsters (I suppose that's why waitresses, teachers, truck drivers, nurses, and salesmen dug into their pockets and sent millions to help those people we saw on our television screens every night).

Of course, we all know why that 'discusson' will never take place: the left would lose embarassingly. Tragically, in the meantime, things for the black community aren't getting better. They're practically being held for ransom by the left. Regardless, it's sad beyond words.

There are so many things wrong with the reaction to Bennett's comments - not the least of which is that those accusing him are the real abusers of black Americans.

(emphases mine)

Yach! pt.3

due to a wave of comment spam, i'm enabling word verification for comments. apologies to my good readers out there.

Gasoline's Too High

With an insincere apology to the Starland Vocal Band, here's some alternate lyrics to "Afternoon Delight".

---

Gonna buy unleaded, gonna fill my tank,
When I saw them numbers, well my heart just sank.
Only got a twenty for the whole dang week -
Wouldn't move my Suburban seven hundred feet.

Skyrocketing price,
Gasoline's too high.
Ga-aaa-soline's too high.

Thinking that I can't afford to fill 'er up.
Dollar got a couple gallons, now, just half a cup.
If the war was about oil, wouldn't you just think
That the pricing of the petrol might begin to sink?

Skyrocketing price,
Gasoline's too high.
Ga-aaa-soline's too high.

When the metal numbers move a dozen times a day,
You just know big oil company's gonna make you pay.

Skyrocketing price,
Gasoline's too high.
Ga-aaa-soline's too high.

---

Bill of Rights may have settled during shipment, at participating dealers, except where prohibited.

Dustbury found the "truth in advertising" version of the Bill of Rights.

Machisma Machinations

LA Times makes a good point for once (before the part that says Senator Feinstein is "a sensible person who usually says sensible things."):

"Macha" characters delight in emotional disembowelment; in ordering their victims to let it all hang out. But lots of people have no desire for heart-to-hearts with strangers in public, much less on national TV. Macha is just as toxic as macho, or more so, because it's harder to laugh off."How do you feel?" has become a standard media question, a substitute for eliciting actual information. Oprah and her imitators use it; news reporters covering hurricanes use it. Macha helps demolish the emotional walls that protect people, just as hurricanes demolish their physical walls.

trendsetter, moi?

A few days ago Lileks' Joe Ohio went hatless, now there's one in Seattle, who may have written a very geeky poem...