“Let’s talk about talking.”

Does saying that make Joe Biden the most self-unaware man in Washington?

Finally found out what TSA stands for

Too Stupid for Arby’s.

Guilty?

Coulda knocked me over with a feather.

Never Forget

Unlikely to be seen on al Jazeera

Pig 1, Suicide Bomber 0.

Barry Turns a Deaf Ear

This is trajifunny.

Must be that crack team of which he is, as he reminds us, the executive. Maybe we call them “The Gang That Couldn’t Slime Straight.”

In case you’re worried

Up to the minute updates here: hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com

Update:

The site should be highly reliable. A programmer I work with just observed:

If you read the html source for the page, you see a Javascript program
that determines whether the world has ended or not:

   <script type="text/javascript">

      if (!(typeof worldHasEnded == "undefined")) {

         document.write("YUP.");

      } else {

         document.write("NOPE.");

      }

   </script>

It also points to a feed url, so you can use your rss reader to get
updates on the destruction of the world:

<link rel=”alternate” type=”application/atom+xml” title=”Recent Entries”
href=”http://www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/atom.xml&#8221;
/>

And, there’s a warranty in an html comment:

<!– if the lhc actually destroys the earth & this page isn’t yet updated
please email mike@frantic.org to receive a full refund –>

The Real Reason to Oppose Obama

I’ve long recognized him as a garden variety Marxist. Melanie Phillips outlines just why he’s so dangerous. It can be summed up with two words: Saul Alinsky. In case you were wondering what a “community organizer” is:

His creed was set out in his book ‘Rules for Radicals’ – a book he dedicated to Lucifer, whom he called the ‘first radical’. It was Alinsky for whom ‘change’ was his mantra. And by ‘change’, he meant a Marxist revolution achieved by slow, incremental, Machiavellian means which turned society inside out. This had to be done through systematic deception, winning the trust of the naively idealistic middle class by using the language of morality to conceal an agenda designed to destroy it. And the way to do this, he said, was through ‘people’s organisations’.

Community organisers would mobilise direct action by the oppressed masses against their capitalist oppressors.

The bottom line:

Alinsky was a radical straight out of the Gramsci playbook. In both America and Britain, Gramsci’s acolytes have been conducting a decades-long march through the institutions. In Britain, they have substantially achieved their aim of subverting western morality and changing the face of British society. No political party stands against this. In the US, they have made huge inroads but haven’t yet won. With Palin on one side and Obama on the other, it is now clear that this US presidential election has taken the culture war to the gates of the White House itself.

Don’t think it can’t happen here. Britain has already been destroyed.

Dear Mr. Obama

Barry:

Please watch this video. Get back to me on your reaction to it, OK?

(H/T BlackFive)

The Worst of Times

David Gorski gives the anti-vaccine airheads the Dickens.

Basically, the design of the Hornig study study was pretty simple, and, better yet, it was an intentional attempt to replicate the research of Andrew Wakefield using rigorous methodology. The design was a case control study in which children with autism and GI problems were compared to children with GI problems and no autism for a number of parameters, including MMR vaccination and the presence of measles virus RNA in the gut of children who underwent endoscopy. The overall approach was to determine whether children with autism and GI symptoms were more likely to have detectable measles virus RNA in the gut. The result?

Zero correlation. Nada. Zip.

Vaccinate your kids.

Palin Locks Up Key Constituency

Photo credit: Agrapha

Where Eagles Dare

Michael Yon files his first report from Afghanistan, and it’s as dramatic as anything he posted from Iraq.

When I was briefed on the top-secret mission before it was launched, I thought : “Good grief.  I might have to report on the failure of one of the largest and most important missions of the entire war.”

It was a stunning, unqualified success. Which probably explains why you’ve heard so much about it in the media. Oh, you say it’s news to you? I keep forgetting whose side the MSM is on.

Yon, and British combat photographers, brought back some amazing images. Be sure to read the comments, especially the one from a sniper who was there:

Sirs,

without breaking rules etc, I am a Australia Serviceman who also went on this op.

I am a sniper assigned “overwatch” meaning to travel ahead a few Klicks, setup, spot and if needed , Neutralise the opposition. then repeat when the “charlie team” ( 3 teams, 1 set, one moving, one setting up)

and after reading this i am so happy to say its spot on. Truth in reporting at last!!!

Now people can see what we do and why. 60% of the Afghani folks want us here, the rest are scared of the Talibs but when its dark offer us tea or water before running away before another Afghani see’s them.

One day they’ll hopefully not be so scared and i personally think when this day come the Talibs are done for , they play on fear and intimidation. remove the fear and they are nothing but rabble with guns.

Full marks to the reporter! I’ll buy you a beeer for this one mate!

cheers

J

Instapundit spoke to Michael via satphone.

He’s with British troops now, and his comment is: “These guys are studs. All they do is work out and fight.” He says troop morale generally in Afghanistan is really good, partly because there’s more public support for that war, but that the overall situation is “not great” and “clearly deteriorating.” He adds that “we’re not losing,” but that we’re not making progress either. “I’ll tell you Glenn, we really need more troops here.” With what he describes as a “meltdown” going on in Pakistan, he says that Afghanistan needs a lot more troops — like 50,000 or more. Part of the problem, he adds, is that many of the Coalition troops, like the Germans, aren’t really allowed to fight, making the effective number of available troops lower than it seems.

Update:

Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. The Times covered it. No, not the one in New York, silly.

Willie’s Worried

The Bay Area’s very own Minister of Arrogance and King of Corruption thinks Palin landed a solid right hook.

The Democrats are in trouble. Sarah Palin has totally changed the dynamics of this campaign.

Period.

Palin’s speech to the GOP National Convention on Wednesday has set it up so that the Republicans are now on offense and Democrats are on defense. And we don’t do well on defense.

Suddenly, Palin and John McCain are the mavericks and Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the status quo, in a year when you don’t want to be seen as defending the status quo.

From taxes to oil drilling, Democrats are now going to have to start explaining their positions.

Whenever you start having to explain things, you’re on defense.

I actually went back and watched Palin’s speech a second time. I didn’t go to sleep until 1:30 a.m. I had to make sure I got the lines right.

Her timing was exquisite. She didn’t linger with applause, but instead launched into line after line of attack, slipping the knives in with every smile and joke.

And she delivered it like she was just BS-ing on the street with the meter maid.

She didn’t have to prove she was “of the people.” She really is the people.

All together now: “Awwwwwww.”

Truly, he has a dizzying intellect

Ignorant, and proud of it.

After all, said Zahar, a donkey can eat shrubbery and survive, but a human cannot.

“So, a donkey is more evolved than a human? No,” scoffs Zahar, seemingly satisfied that he has demonstrated the absurdity of Charles Darwin’s theory. Allah, not evolution, made man, he says, and Allah has made Gaza Islamic.

This pea-brain is a “surgeon”. May Allah keep him away from me with a knife.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan

Michael Yon’s latest email, titled “Many Taliban dead”:

03 Sept 08

0910 est

Michael has no internet but called on the sat phone.

British 2 Para in Helmand provence have been repeatedly and successfully closing with and engaging the Taliban. In ongoing operations today a number of British paratroopers lured Taliban into an attack. British forces responded with machine guns, small arms, shoulder fired rockets, mortars, and a 500 lb bomb. Locals say “Many Taliban dead.”

More Later….

He also posted this just the other day.

How To Make Magic Happen

I tell friends, tours, and pretty much anybody who will listen that the reason “art” and “technology” are words that unite us here rather than divide us is named Ed Catmull. Here he generously makes it clear exactly how he did it.

Pixar is a community in the true sense of the word. We think that lasting relationships matter, and we share some basic beliefs: Talent is rare. Management’s job is not to prevent risk but to build the capability to recover when failures occur. It must be safe to tell the truth. We must constantly challenge all of our assumptions and search for the flaws that could destroy our culture.

Well worth reading.

The funny part is that I’d bet folding money that no other studio will take his advice.

An Exciting Day at the Office

A Warthog pilot describes a busy afternoon.

Balz comes off the tanker and I asked him for its location because I was on fumes.  He said look up!  The tanker was in the target area at 20,000ft exactly were I needed him.  I jumped on, took 8000lbs of gas (the jet only holds 10,000).  I recommended the tanker stay West of the fight due to possible man pads but when I came off the boom I looked down and I was again directly over the fight, exactly where I needed to be.

It’s Time for Facts

about Sarah Palin. A sample:

Sarah Palin is the reason compasses point North.

Sarah Palin will pry your Klondike bar from your cold dead fingers.

Sarah Palin makes Andrew Sullivan regret some key life choices.

Sarah Palin’s finishing move in the VP debate will be pulling Biden’s still beating heart from his chest & taking a bite.

Something you don’t see every day

Pity Biden

At some point he’ll have to debate a Hockey Mom.

Big News

As if the MSM is going to notice.

Do you really believe in evolution?

Instapundit links to a couple of very interesting articles.

First, David Friedman:

People who say they are against teaching the theory of evolution are very likely to be Christian fundamentalists. But people who are against taking seriously the implications of evolution, strongly enough to want to attack those who disagree, including those who teach those implications, are quite likely to be on the left.

All via Futurepundit:

I think we are on the verge of an enormous explosion of discoveries about human genetics and the roles genes play in causing differences in cognitive function, athletic performance, health, and other aspects of human function. People who anchor their political beliefs in either supernatural religious or secular religious belief systems are going to find the foundations of their beliefs blown away by this coming torrent of discoveries.

Your New Campaign Poster

is ready.

Update:

Perhaps the next one should include a stovepipe hat.

Outsourcing

It’s time to stop!

Apparently it’s supposed to be the Lincoln Memorial

But without, I assume, Lincoln.

Charles Krauthammer isn’t impressed.

Or maybe he’ll just do a Napoleon and coronate himself. By the time Napoleon made himself emperor, he had won the Battles of Lodi, of Arcole, of Rivoli, of the Pyramids and of Marengo. And had promugulated the Napoleonic Code. He had yet to write a single autobiography.

Need A Laugh?

I mean, who doesn‘t?

This is not what an underdog does

This is confidence and class.

Has McCain picked up some good advisors lately or what?

Obama Gets Ringing Endorsement

Well, of a sort.

During the April 16 debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, moderator George Stephanopoulos brought up “a gentleman named William Ayers,” who “was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol, and other buildings. He’s never apologized for that.” Stephanopoulos then asked Obama to explain his relationship with Ayers. Obama’s answer: “The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn’t make much sense, George.” Obama was indeed only eight in early 1970. I was only nine then, the year Ayers’s Weathermen tried to murder me.

As for the “I was only eight” line, how preposterous. Obama was an adult when he made friends with and had his political career launched in the home of an unrepentant terrorist.

Tiny

Either McCain completely re-tooled his campaign after the primaries, or his crew started taking clue pills. The ads they’re producing now are really, really good.

This gives me hope that I won’t have to hold my nose pinched as hard as I feared when I vote for him.

Stunning Advance in Cellular Biology

This is big.

Through a series of painstaking experiments involving mice, the Harvard biologists pinpointed three crucial molecular switches that, when flipped, completely convert a common cell in the pancreas into the more precious insulin-producing ones that diabetics need to survive.

…

“One day, this may allow the doctor to replace the scalpel with a sort of genetic surgery,” Lanza said. “If this can be perfected, it would represent one of the Holy Grails of medicine.”

Yuval Levin says

Now mice aren’t men, and the application of this method to human diabetics and patients with other diseases is by no means on the immediate horizon; it may of course never materialize, as diabetic mice have been cured before. You can never be sure, and especially not after just one experiment. But whatever the eventual clinical applications, the implications of the work for cell biology are extraordinary—that sound you hear is PhD-level textbooks being thrown in the garbage all over the world.

What an age we live in. Look at some other (speculative, breezily-presented) things that just might be coming along.