Get Beat by a Computer at Chess

and watch how it does it.

YouTube Diplomacy

The Obamateur Hour continues. The Bush administration had a frustrating lack of clarity in its Iran policy. But sending a video? Words fail me.

For nearly three decades relations between our nations have been strained. But at this holiday we are reminded of the common humanity that binds us together.

Yeah, nothing like bombing our civilians and killing our troops to “strain” relations, huh Barry?

Charles, at LGF, put it well:

The mullahs are laughing today, knowing that Barack Obama will do nothing to stop them from gaining the ultimate weapon. This isn’t just ill-advised, it’s disastrous. Barack Obama just hung a huge “Kick Me” sign on America’s back.

Well, I’m sure He’ll show ’em. If Iran nukes Israel He’ll put some stern comments on Ahmadinejad’s FaceBook page.

At this rate The Messiah is going to do the impossible: He’s going to make me long for the days of the Nasty Little Man.

Update:

Mark Steyn says not to worry. The video probably won’t work in Iranian VCRs.

Another Update:

Just for the record, I chose the title for this post before Drudge did. Or at least before I saw his page. A case of (obvious) parallel development.

For a Guy Who Walks on Water This is Pretty Clumsy

Good grief. If we keep track of every witless remark the Messiah makes we’ll sound like those Bush-deranged Berkeleyites with the “Somewhere in Texas there’s a village missing its idiot” bumper stickers on their Priuses.

Except that we won’t be exaggerating.

The first appearance by a sitting president on “The Tonight Show” may well end up being the last.

President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended up insulting the disabled.

Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance, the president talked about how he’s gotten better at bowling and has been practicing in the White House bowling alley.

He bowled a 129, the president said.

“That’s very good, Mr. President,” Leno said sarcastically.

It’s “like the Special Olympics or something,” the president said.

It’s maybe at least the last time he goes on TV without his security blanket.

Update:

Priceless. (And I updated the “security blanket” link, above.)

Not Everybody Obama Throws Under the Bus

necessarily belongs there.

The handful of souls who championed the firm’s now-infamous credit-default swaps are, by nearly every account, long since departed. Those left behind to clean up the mess, the majority of whom never lost a dime for AIG, now feel they have been sold out by their Congress and their president.

“They’ve chosen to throw us under the bus,” said a Financial Products executive, one of several who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. “They have vilified us.”

Read the whole thing before you get your undies in a twist over those “bonus” payments, too.

They say what is missing from this week’s hysteria is perspective. The very handsome retention payments they received over the past week were set in motion early last year when the firm’s former president, Joe Cassano, was on his way out the door. Financial Products was already running into trouble on its risky credit bets, and the year ahead looked grim. People were weighing offers from other firms, and AIG executives feared that too many departures could lead to disaster.

So AIG stepped in with an offer to employees of Financial Products. Work through all of 2008, and you’d get a lump payment in March 2009. Stick around through 2009, and you’ll get paid through 2010. Almost all other forms of compensation — bonuses, deferred payments and the like — have vanished.

“People are trying to do the right thing,” the same Financial Products executive said. “Guys have worked their [tails] off to try to get value for the taxpayer. This isn’t money that’s being advanced to us. People have performed the work and done it exactly as we asked them to do.”

Not that there aren’t heads which should roll for this mess. I could think of a couple to start with. And we all know where the buck stops.

OK, cut the laughing.

Outrage OTD

The Pentagon’s worst wounds are self-inflicted ones. Like giving a citation to Congressman John Murtha. What in the name of Sulphorous Hell were they thinking?

John Murtha deserves no such award. He has routinely and deliberately undermined the United States military, slandered servicemen serving in combat, and caused irreparable damage to our international reputation. While serving as a Representative from Pennsylvania, Murtha called Marines from 3d Battalion, 1st Marines “cold blooded killers” who “murdered innocent civilians.” Before an investigation into the Haditha incident was even conducted, Murtha went on numerous television news programs and announced that the Marines “went into houses and killed women and children.” He said, “There’s no question in my mind about what happened here. There was no gunfire, they killed four people in a taxi…24 people were killed.” When asked specifically if he claimed that innocent civilians were intentionally executed by Marines, he said, “That’s exactly what happened.” Not content to slander those Marines directly involved, he went on to claim that if these Marines were not punished, “other Marines would say well I’ll do the same thing.” Murtha then continued to use this incident to lobby for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, citing it as evidence that our military was incapable of winning the war.

You can sign a petition to urge the Navy to correct this error.

To “Tacky” we can confidently add “Clueless”

Except that Clueless wasn’t one of the movies.

Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.
The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words “wrong region” came up on his screen. Although he mournfully had to put the popcorn away, he is unlikely to jeopardise the special relationship – or “special partnership”, as we are now supposed to call it – by registering a complaint.

Let’s just keep asking: What would the press have done if Bush had pulled such a gaffe?

Update:

Mark Steyn has a great idea.

When the President and his Teleprompter visit London for the G20 summit in a couple of weeks, it would be a tragedy were Barack Oprompta to rise for his big speech to find nothing but the words “Wrong Region” flashing on his screen (although I’m sure the Queen would be very polite and string along and make all the swells stand up and join the toast to “Ron Region”, whoever he is).

What Pelosi Knows and Won’t Admit

While Pelosi, Obama, and just about every other Washington low-life complains about “business jets”, Pelosi likes them just fine as long as the taxpayer is footing the bill.

Bill Garvey wrote an op ed for the NYT, explaining why private airplanes are a good idea, that was severely edited for space. Here’s the whole magilla.

Here’s a reality check: Envision a rectangle 11 feet long by four feet, nine inches across. Now, stand in the center, scrunching down so the top of your head is no more than 57.5 inches from the bottom of your heels. That’s the cabin area of those riding in a Citation CJ1, which together with its predecessors, comprise the most populous model — by far — of business jet in the world.

The part that The One misses is how much he is talking down an American industrial success story.

And here’s the thing: The aircraft and their systems are, for the most part, made here in the U.S. of A., by union and non-union workers, in places like Wichita, Cedar Rapids, Savannah, Phoenix, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. And they’re prized throughout the world. In 2007, half the business jets delivered by U.S. manufacturers went to foreign buyers who paid more than $3 billion for them. Manufacturers elsewhere, including in Japan and Germany, have tried to compete, but they were so utterly trounced by American ingenuity and craftsmanship that they simply gave up.

There are foreign-made business aircraft to be sure; for example, Falcon Jets made in France by Dassault are highly regarded. But even those are stuffed with American-made avionics, engines, subsystems and interiors. Indeed, Dassault’s largest facility in the world is in Little Rock, Ark., where 2,285 people work completing Falcon interiors and readying them for delivery. In further acknowledgment of America’s business aviation leadership, Brazil’s Embraer is right now building a business jet production plant in Florida, and Honda another in North Carolina.

Ask the Expert

When Will Obama Seek Help

for His teleprompter dependency?

A laughing Mr Obama returned to the podium to take over but it seems the script had finally been switched and the US president ended up thanking himself for inviting everyone to the party.

Laura Ingraham wondered on her show yesterday if he gets special massages to treat his Tennis Match Neck.

Update:

JammieWearingFool posits the rhetorical question:

Imagine if George W. Bush had such a crutch and pulled a monster gaffe like this. It would be played 24/7 on television until the end of time.

For some strange reason, the networks refuse to release video of this great moment in hilarity.

Update, March 26, 2009

It turns out that there are two very good reasons why the networks did not release any video. The first is that only print pool reporters were allowed, so there was no video to release. The second is that the reported gaffe never happened.

“Then it was Cowen’s turn, and he was in for a surprise. ‘We begin by welcoming today a strong friend of the United States,’ he said–then stopped in surprise as he realized he was reading President Obama’s speech off the teleprompter. ‘Why don’t these things work for me?’ he asked, as the crowd roared. ‘Thank you for having us. Who said these things were idiot-proof?’ Then he got his bearings and gave the same talk that he delivered in the East Room.  When he ended, at 8:12, Obama stepped to the microphone and said, ‘First, I’d like to say thank you to President Obama…(much laughter). Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, everybody.’ Then we were escorted out.”

The Messiah and his faithful dog, Manfred, are gaffe machines. No need for anybody to invent moments that never were.

As Befits the Day

A Swift idea:

A Modest Proposal to Prevent the Pernicious Warming of our Fair Globe.

Let us consider: As a consequence of global warming, in nearly all places on our planet the last killing frost of the spring is occurring earlier, and the first killing frost of the fall happening later, than was customary in the past. This lengthened season of growing, combined with a general increase in rainfall, and an over abundance of carbonation within the air, has so encouraged and expanded the growth of plants as to fill the stalls of grocers everywhere with such an abundance of fruits and vegetables that must perforce have the most unfortunate results — to wit the gestation of further multitudes of unwashed, uncouth, and ill-mannered hordes of noisy unwanted and unnecessary personages to infest our world with their brutish countenances, bestial customs, and unattractive complexions.

Just Whose Side is Obama On?

For crying out loud, now Teleprompter Guy wants to disarm pilots.

The Washington Times editorial:

Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.

The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots.

A New Hope

And here I thought I found Paganini moving

Do You Live in California?

If you also own a gun then you probably know that concealed carry in this state has become an impossible den of corruption. One of the few sane people in Sacramento is trying to fix that.

Please do the following: Go to this link to find your state legislators, if you don’t know who they are already, and ask them politely (by both phone and letter) to support AB 357, Assembly Member Knight’s CCW Reform Bill. It would turn California into a “Shall Issue” state, bringing it in line with states which have already found that liberalized concealed carry permits result in lower crime. The bill itself is available as a PDF. Here’s an excerpt:

Existing law authorizes the sheriff of a county, upon proof that the person applying is of good moral character, that good cause exists, and that the person applying satisfies any one of certain conditions, as specified, to issue a license for the person to carry a concealed handgun, as specified.
This bill would delete the good cause requirement, and require the sheriff to issue the license if the other criteria described above are met.

And then get your friends and family to make a phone call and send a nice note of support, too. It’s guaranteed to be a local phone call. Although calling both their District office and their Sacramento office would be a swell idea.

Hint: Using the word “liberalized” may make it more palatable for some of the more “liberal” members. Mostly, though, they need to get lots of calls, faxes and letters.

Update:

More background info, should you need it, from Sean Bonner.

A “Few” Tea Parties

The MSM valiantly shills for Obama, still basking in their electoral victory and completely blind to how they have destroyed their own credibility.

Check out some of the photos on Instapundit. And this:

Cincinnati reader Jeff Riley was at the protest and emails: “I was thrilled at the turnout here in Cincy, however I wasn’t thrilled with the lack of coverage by the local media. Trust me on this, during the Bush Adminstration when they had 4 people show up at the local Federal Building and protest against the war they were all over it. When 3500 (estimated) people show up to protest the bailout they just shrugged. People were pissed and are realizing that the media is doing much more that shilling for Obama, that they are willing participants in the propaganda effort. Every time they do so they lose a bit more credibility and people are turning them out and getting there news elsewhere.”

AWNAA

This legislation was proposed last December, but I missed it. Buttle’s World regrets the delay.

How Britain Lost the War

By appeasing the enemy.

The active involvement of radical British Muslims in the Afghan insurgency has led senior officers to claim that they are engaged in a “surreal mini-civil war” in Afghanistan. And yet, for all the compelling evidence that British-based Islamist radicals are actively participating in a jihad against Britain and its coalition allies, the Government, together with those who have opposed our involvement in the War on Terror from the start, seems determined to give the Islamist radicals the benefit of the doubt.
Even when incontrovertible proof is found that British Muslims are aiding and abetting the enemy in Afghanistan and elsewhere, the Government’s instinct is to try to cover up their involvement, for fear of further inflaming Islamist sensitivities.

Can you imagine, seventy years ago, Britain worrying about “German sensitivities”? Trouble is, this Islamic threat is much greater, and more likely to succeed, than the Nazi threat ever was. In fact, it has obviously already won in Britain.

Don’t think it can’t happen here. I’m looking at you, Obama voters.

Update:

Posting entire blog articles into my comments is not something I want to encourage, but I’ll link here to someone who sees signs that the British Army may, at this late date, want to turn defeat into something less like defeat. (In the future, please post a link in the comments instead of the whole article.)

Darwin and the Tree of Life

Something the BBC is still good at, and for, is documentaries. Richard Attenborough wrote and hosted a well-produced look at Charles Darwin’s work, it’s impact on history and on science.

Charles, at LGF, has assembled the YouTube links where you can watch it.

Highly recommended.

Society Doesn’t Need Newspapers

What we need is journalism.

That is what real revolutions are like. The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place. The importance of any given experiment isn’t apparent at the moment it appears; big changes stall, small changes spread. Even the revolutionaries can’t predict what will happen. Agreements on all sides that core institutions must be protected are rendered meaningless by the very people doing the agreeing. (Luther and the Church both insisted, for years, that whatever else happened, no one was talking about a schism.) Ancient social bargains, once disrupted, can neither be mended nor quickly replaced, since any such bargain takes decades to solidify.

Read the whole thing. Well worth your time. I, for one, wonder if my daughter will even remember newspapers by the time she’s a grandma.

Update:

Count me in with those who won’t miss them much.

Further Updates:

I’ll start collecting a few reasons why newspapers are dying in addition to the great ones detailed in the above link. Like this.

Oh, Wow

Like, duuuuude. Totally.

Because it’s Friday

Just keep scrolling and clicking.

A Life Well-Lived

Charles Murray’s 2009 Irving Kristol Lecture explains exactly why we should not let America follow the European model.

First, the problem with the European model, namely: It drains too much of the life from life. And that statement applies as much to the lives of janitors–even more to the lives of janitors–as it does to the lives of CEOs.

I start from this premise: A human life can have transcendent meaning, with transcendence defined either by one of the world’s great religions or one of the world’s great secular philosophies. If transcendence is too big a word, let me put it another way: I suspect that almost all of you agree that the phrase “a life well-lived” has meaning. That’s the phrase I’ll use from now on.

And since happiness is a word that gets thrown around too casually, the phrase I’ll use from now on is “deep satisfactions.” I’m talking about the kinds of things that we look back upon when we reach old age and let us decide that we can be proud of who we have been and what we have done. Or not.

To become a source of deep satisfaction, a human activity has to meet some stringent requirements. It has to have been important (we don’t get deep satisfaction from trivial things). You have to have put a lot of effort into it (hence the cliché “nothing worth having comes easily”). And you have to have been responsible for the consequences.

There aren’t many activities in life that can satisfy those three requirements. Having been a good parent. That qualifies. A good marriage. That qualifies. Having been a good neighbor and good friend to those whose lives intersected with yours. That qualifies. And having been really good at something–good at something that drew the most from your abilities. That qualifies. Let me put it formally: If we ask what are the institutions through which human beings achieve deep satisfactions in life, the answer is that there are just four: family, community, vocation, and faith. Two clarifications: “Community” can embrace people who are scattered geographically. “Vocation” can include avocations or causes.

It is not necessary for any individual to make use of all four institutions, nor do I array them in a hierarchy. I merely assert that these four are all there are. The stuff of life–the elemental events surrounding birth, death, raising children, fulfilling one’s personal potential, dealing with adversity, intimate relationships–coping with life as it exists around us in all its richness–occurs within those four institutions.

Seen in this light, the goal of social policy is to ensure that those institutions are robust and vital. And that’s what’s wrong with the European model. It doesn’t do that. It enfeebles every single one of them.

It’s not all bad news.

And yet there is reason for strategic optimism, and that leads to the second point I want to make tonight: Critics of the European model are about to get a lot of new firepower. Not only is the European model inimical to human flourishing, twenty-first-century science is going to explain why. We who think that the Founders were right about the relationship of government to human happiness will have an opening over the course of the next few decades to make our case.

The reason is a tidal change in our scientific understanding of what makes human beings tick. It will spill over into every crevice of political and cultural life. Harvard’s Edward O. Wilson anticipated what is to come in a book entitled Consilience. As the twenty-first century progresses, he argued, the social sciences are increasingly going to be shaped by the findings of biology; specifically, the findings of the neuroscientists and the geneticists.

Read the whole thing.

You Don’t Have to Go to Med School

to know that Bill Clinton flunked High School Biology.

Maybe Gupta slept through a class or two himself.

How to Own a Gun and Stay Out of Jail

Sadly, in California we have years ago reached the point where such a book is needed. John Machtinger recognized the need and published his first edition in 1995. Things haven’t gotten better since.

I promised Machtinger a review quite a while back, and apologize it’s taken this long. I read the book and then pondered (while being rather occupied filming robots in space) how to approach the review. In a way the delay answered my question.

If you just sat down and read the book you’d have a good overview of how to avoid, uh, “Imperial entanglements” and a shocking glimpse at how few basic liberties are still available in California. But that may not be the book’s strongest suit. Absorbing it that way makes for a fairly dry read, and you’re likely to be distracted by the “mission adequate” art work. (There was clearly no budget for an illustrator. Fair enough: you aren’t buying this for the pictures.)

During this long delay I’ve had questions from several people about California gun law. One wanted to know about bringing in a handgun from out of state, for example. It took me just minutes to find the answers in Machtinger’s book.

That’s where the book really shines: You have a question, you look up the answer, and in no time at all you have a helpful, if not comforting, dose of advice.

I’m not a lawyer, but Machtinger is. So if you live in California and own a gun, you have my pity. And you should probably have a copy of this on the shelf to keep you, as the title says, out of jail. Especially if you ever, say, want to actually transport your gun in a car. You wouldn’t believe the stupid hoops you’ll have to jump through.

NB: He provides updates on his web site so if you get the 2008 edition you can go here for what Machtinger calls the “mercifully short” 2009 update.

The Power of Editing

I know of movies (I won’t say exactly which) where performances have been created in editing. This, however, takes that idea to an extreme.

Update:

The power of cut and paste can lead to errors like the one I made, accidentally putting the WALL-E clip here again. Fixed.

Another Update:

This wasn’t the first time he did this.

WALL-E Meets the Watchmen

Welcome Back!

Heh.

Also, go here and keep hitting refresh.

The Ruins of Detroit

Some stunning photography of Detroit in shambles.

Someone just has to use these as movie locations.

How Long Does It Take

to prove that red light cameras are a revenue-producing scam?

One second.

On January 1, a new Georgia law kicked in forcing a one-second increase in the duration of the yellow warning light at intersections with red light cameras. The result has been devastating for red light camera makers as violations — and revenue — immediately plunged for the months of January, February and March. Last week, the city of Norcross dumped photo enforcement.

And no, people don’t seem to start shaving the red more once they adjust to the new yellow.

Six weeks later, on March 26, 2001, VDOT decided to increase the yellow timing from 4.0 back to 5.5 seconds. The impact was immediate and dramatic. Average monthly violations dropped from 250 to between 20 and 30 per month — a 90 percent decrease. The violation rate remained low until the Virginia legislature shut down red light camera programs statewide in 2005. The number of accidents dropped to a rate of 290, reflecting a 20 percent decrease. Although VDOT’s 2007 report did find that Fairfax County red light camera intersections experienced a 23 percent increase in accidents overall, this figure would have appeared far worse had the Fair Ridge yellow signal not been increased.

I may have to stopwatch the local red lights. Our fair little city is in love with those cameras.

This Is How America Will Die

Besides the possibly mortal wounds being inflicted by The One and his minions, these self-inflicted cuts are the same kind that killed England.

People in America are free to believe whatever they wish. And a lot of them believe some pretty wild stuff. Religion is a matter of personal conscience, individual behavior, and family tradition. But no religious law can be allowed to take root in America, something the mostly quite religious Founding Fathers understood all too well.

Sharia Law has no place in America nor in any modern, free society. It is a small-minded, violent relic of barbarity. When your tax dollars go to support it, or even when you let your neighbors practice it, your country is dying.