“But I don’t want to die for nothing.”
25 January, 2008
It’s not quite that bad
But it’s close.
But the 2008 tax rebate brings us full circle back to 1980, as the final year of the Bush administration increasingly resembles the final year of the Carter administration– including national malaise, getting tough on Israel but not on Palestinian terrorists, support for the DC handgun ban, the Olympics hosted by a communist regime with contempt for human rights, and a consensus that the current adminstration is lacking in competence.
24 January, 2008
California Propositions Voting Guide
Buttle’s World presents its recommendations on the California Ballot Propositions:
91 Yes. McClintock calls it the “real McCoy” for prohibiting Sacramento from raiding highway taxes.
92 No. Think of it as Prop 98 for Community Colleges.
93 No. It’s a low-down dirty trick by Don “Pistol-Packin” Perata and “Fabio” Nunez.
94-97 Yes. With sleazy TV ads on both sides I was about to apply the “when in doubt, vote No” rule. Then I learned that the unions are trying to use these to, among other things, rob casino workers of secret ballots. So if the thugs are for it, I’m agin’ it.
Waziristan Watch
Stanley Kurtz has a roundup of important news from a place you probably haven’t heard of.
What if there were a major development in the war on terror and nobody paid attention? Well, it would still be a major development in the war on terror. The event in question is a offensive by Pakistan’s army against the Taliban’s haven in South Waziristan. Pakistan’s government is playing this down by merely calling it a move to “reinforce” positions in Waziristan, and by formally denying that an “offensive” has been launched at all. But this rhetoric is pretty clearly designed to prevent a backlash by Pakistan’s many Islamist sympathizers.
Important development, indeed. Somehow, though, I find the notion that a key battle front against global jihad is being fought by Pakistan less than comforting.
23 January, 2008
Obama, Friend of Sharia
Thinking of voting for Obama? First read about how he takes calls from Odinga.
Although Odinga is an Anglican, he referred to Islam as the “one true religion” and scorned Christians as “worshipers of the cross.” Obama strongly supports Odinga who claims to be his cousin. As Daniel Johnson reported recently in the New York Sun, during his 2006 visit to Kenya, Obama was so outspoken in his support for Odinga that the Kenyan government complained to the State Department that Obama was interfering with the internal politics of the country. After the Dec. 27 elections Obama interrupted a campaign appearance in New Hampshire to take a call from Odinga.
Time Travel
The Library of Congress has set up a photostream on flickr! These color photos of America in the 30’s and 40’s are so vivid it’s like traveling back in time.
SS2 and WK2 Designs Revealed
Virgin Galactic announces the Scaled Composites ships which will begin commercial passenger flights to outer space.
I wish I were rich.
22 January, 2008
Fred’s First Hire
Patrick Cox writes an appreciation of Fred. It starts well.
In retrospect, I suspect that the critics who said he started too late were right, though not for the reasons that most posited. Fred was correct when he quipped on Leno that the American people would not hold it against him that he waited a few months to officially declare. Everybody I know, however, underestimated how important it is to have political allies lined up ahead of time.
Then he goes – tellingly, perhaps – a little off the rails.
His clout and connections in Hollywood put him in a unique and valuable position. If the good Senator chooses to do so, he can do for the entertainment business what Rupert Murdoch did for television news. Just as a monolithic leftist media bias opened a hugely profitable door for Murdoch to walk through, Fred Thompson can use the door created by a a leftist and exclusionary Hollywood. In the end, he may be able to use his increased respect and visibility to create a pro-freedom, pro-American studio that teaches the principles of the Enlightenment not just to Americans but to the world. If he does, he may actually accomplish more than a Thompson presidency could have.
The good Mr. Cox needs to brush up on his Sam Goldwyn: “If you want to send a message, call Western Union”. Hollywood doesn’t produce left-biased entertainment because that’s part of the business charter, and any studio that sets up a particular point of view as part of the business plan will last about as long as it takes for the earnestly-bad screenwriters to photocopy their 140 pages of what should be 80 pages. It just doesn’t work that way.
If someone sets up a studio that welcomes pro-freedom story tellers, that might work. It would have to be completely blind to the political content of the movies, though, and make entertainment. I’m not sure I’d hold up Murdoch and Fox “Not Quite as Liberal as the Others” News as a paradigm of “accomplishing more” than a presidency could.
The article made me wonder about the caliber of advisor Fred had.
Fred’s Out
Oh, great. I can see it coming: Once again I’ll have to vote against someone for President instead of for someone. I wonder if I’ll ever see a candidate I like in my lifetime. If the Magic 8 Ball worked it would answer, “Don’t Count On It”.
(Yes, if you’re keeping score, I didn’t feel I was voting for Reagan. I knew a lot less about politica back then. And he wasn’t exactly perfect, either.)
18 January, 2008
Observations on Laziness and Efficiency
It’s a good point that the latter can be mistaken for the former.
Atomically-precise Manufacturing
It’s coming, and DNA will be a tool.
Still, he says, a few years ago audience members laughed when he said he wanted to create a compiler to automate the process of encoding desired functions into DNA sequences. “Our field has now progressed to the point where the real question is not whether it can be done, but how far it can be pushed.”
17 January, 2008
Seriously Bad News
While victory seems more and more certain in Iraq, Michael Yon and others have warned that we could lose in Afghanistan. Finding out that the Taliban have overrun and captured a Pakistani military base doesn’t help.
16 January, 2008
This is News
I call it good news. Thanks, I believe, to information available on the internet, the American public mistrusts the MSM.
15 January, 2008
14 January, 2008
11 January, 2008
10 January, 2008
That’s more like it, Fred
I didn’t watch the show. (I won’t call these joint press conferences debates.) But reports are that Fred did well. If this is any indication, this is the guy we’ve been waiting to see.
Anbar Not Just Awakening
It’s about to be turned over to Iraqi control. Half way there.
This could be very good news
The only disease that really terrifies me is Alzheimer’s. Even if I got some deadly cancer, at least I would still be me until I died. But losing my self before my body grinds to a halt would be a living nightmare, partly because others would live most of the nightmare.
Now there is preliminary evidence that Alzheimer’s may actually be a type of diabetes, which could revolutionize treatment. I know enough not to read too much into a single study or report, but this is cause for hope.
Meanwhile, other research continues. This sounds interesting, too.
9 January, 2008
Enumerated Powers Act
In my Walter Mitty moments when I imagine being the President, I send word to congress that no bill that arrives without a cover letter explaining exactly where in the constitution they are allowed to pass it, it’ll get a veto. (And I add, parenthetically, that “the general welfare” isn’t allowed.)
So, naturally, I think this is a terrific idea. I hope Shadegg has success with it.
8 January, 2008
Hitch Pitches a Bullseye
When he’s on, he’s on target. There’s something pathetic and embarrassing about our obsession with Barack Obama’s race.
7 January, 2008
How do you know Hillary is full of it?
Because plants spring up everywhere she goes.
What a Woman
I thought I was impressed with Ayaan Hirsi Ali before. After reading this thoughtful review I am in awe. Here is a woman born into the backward, repressive tribalism of Islamic culture, and she knows Western history better than almost all Westerners. Her linkage of Multiculturalism to Romanticism is incisive. Our troubles come, as she says, not from too much reason but too little.
What a woman.
6 January, 2008
Science Based Medicine
The good Dr. Novella and friends have started a new blog, Science Based Medicine.
So convinced am I by the first few posts I have added it to the Honor Roll at Buttle’s World. The post on Plants vs. Drugs is a good place to start. I also have a soft spot for one which starts with a truthful observation that is only hilarious when you realize who said it:
Safe Predictions
If the founder of the Weather Channel called “global warming” a scam, would the MSM notice?
I’m going with “no”, unless it’s to crucify the guy.
I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct. There is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismissal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.
In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious.
I don’t think it’ll take two decades. Global cooling didn’t last that long.
5 January, 2008
A Prediction
I fear that Jonah’s crystal ball is in perfect focus.
Obama has a rendezvous with destiny, or so we will be told. And if he’s denied it, teeth shall be gnashed, clothes rent and prices paid.
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