ishkabible

Dr. Hans-Peter Raddatz

If you were a molecule type of "personality" who has only one alternative of existence, namely being stripped of any individual ego and merged with the mass of the "umma", the community of Allah, you might also be tempted to look for some dynamite - or rather C4 - in order to focus your unimportant life into one single, supposedly grandiose moment. ... Some of the Palestinian suicide bombers wrap their penises into fire-proof aluminum foil to save them for the pleasures to come. ... Islam appears as a comprehensive spectrum that contains and encourages all sorts of behaviour but clearly favours deceit and violence as far as the achievement of goals is concerned, especially in "competition" with non-Islam. ... There should be consent not only on the spectral character of the Islamic culture but also the corresponding special kind of freedom it creates. As the Koran and tradition offer a wide variety of measures between peace and war, Muslim power has always preferred the violent side and, therefore, has brought about a historically grown phenomenon which I call "counter-ethics". This means to say that the special Muslim freedom created a similarly special inclination to violence wherever an opportunity arises to gain an advantage - inside and outside of Islam.

We should note here some very important examples I have mentioned partially in a previous round. They confirm the power of man and a rather free interpretation of what is referred to as "religion" but is merely naked and mostly quite primitive power politics. Firstly, Jews and Christians have been historically extinguished although there are Koranic regulations to the opposite. Secondly, women have been historically humiliated, beaten, raped and killed although there are Koranic rules and many traditions to the opposite. Thirdly, dissenters and apostates are badly beaten and often killed although there are clear rules saying that their punisment should be postponed into the beyond.

So we should not be very astonished if we are repeatedly confronted with "honor" murderers, suicide bombers and other Islamic geared perpetrators as long as our "elites" tell us that "Islam is not the problem".

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August 26, 2005

Mick Jagger jailed without trial!

The People's Cube reports that "In an unabashed show of Neocon power, the Bush administration dragged the legendary Rolling Stones' lead singer Mick Jagger off the stage and threw him in prison without trial." Ai yi yi yi yi ... it's starting ...

Posted at 09:29 PM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Crime

"Symposium: Through the Eyes of a Suicide Bomber" - Nancy Kobrin

These Nancy Kobrin quotes are extracted from an article that appeared in Front Page, "Symposium: Through the Eyes of a Suicide Bomber," by Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine.com, August 12, 2005

Dr. Nancy Kobrin, an affiliated professor to the University of Haifa, Arabist, psychoanalyst and author of the upcoming book, "The Sheikh's New Clothes: Islamic Suicide Terror and What It's Really All About."

Dr. Nancy Kobrin

Dr. Dalrymple has succinctly described the crux of the problem – that the other is always already guilty and hence expendable. Similarly Dr. Raddatz is correct in fore grounding the Ummah. Just as the child in Arab Muslim culture is not permitted to separate from the Umm [Ar. mother], this enmeshment gets repeated and reinforced by the Ummah as a singularly fused group.
...
If you are denied a life and live in a community where power [meaning absolute control of the other] is the rule of thumb and it is enforced brutally through honor killings, child beating, sexual abuse, beheadings etc., fear and terror are pervasive. The need to hate and the need to have an enemy are in place by age 3 – and the Jew is among the most hated of all. I will return to this in a moment. It is precisely because of the terror that few factor in the ramifications of shame-based child rearing practices because the implications are enormous and the ability to do effective interventions are highly compromised.
...
There are many adults who may appear to be high functioning but the splitting is there below the surface in their minds and they still struggle to be "free" from their terrors of abandonment and rejection, feeling humiliated and shamed by this impotent inability. So that when the terrorists and the Ummah scream in a deafening voice "we have been shamed and humiliated!" it might be worth the while to ask – how did they themselves participate in creating a collective self which is so easily shamed by others? If a person has a realistic sense of self, it is hard to buy into being shamed as an adult. There is the Arabic saying: "He hits me and cries, and races me to complain."
...
But in the mind’s eye of the Muslim, Judaism and Christianity and their believers are subjugated to Islam as Dhimma. The root of the word means to blame so that the Prophet Muhammad built into the religion an institutionalized ideology where you can always blame the other and never have to assume responsibility for your own community’s predicament.
...
You know, Musa (Moses) is the most frequently mentioned prophet in the Qur’an. Why? Because of the giving of the law at Sinai Moses makes divine will manifest in human discourse in the Torah. However, to be a believer requires a leap of faith. The Christians had to appropriate the giving of the law and then added to it with the New Testament. The Prophet Muhammad was faced with a much more difficult task since he had to juggle two preceding religious identities. Muhammad initially borrowed extensively from the Jews who at that time lived in what is now Judenrein Saudi Arabia. He borrowed with the hopes that the Jews would convert. When that didn’t happen, he became enraged and more deeply engaged in Jihad and Da’wa [the call to convert].
...
Jihad is unique to Islam – Judaism and Christianity have nothing remotely similar. People routinely fail to remember that the Muslims invaded Spain fi sabil Allah – [fighting] in the path of Allah in 711 AD. They came on Jihad. The Crusades were a response to massacre, forced conversions to Islam, Muslim invasion, conquest and the animosity for the Prophet co-opting the New Testament by the Quran. So the Islamic terrorists attempt to resolve their religious identity confusion by brute force, using suicide bombers as a tactical tool with this psychological undercurrent. By the way, the Sira (the biography of Muhammad) records that the prophet attempted suicide twice; though this has rarely been pointed out as a modeling moment for Muslim identity.
...
"Ego-extinction" (Arabic: tadjarrud) is an official, high-ranking mental exercise to get rid of individual temptations. Among the "normal" Muslims you will find very few who allow themselves an independent, outspoken opinion outside the official Islam mainstream. Whoever has lived for a longer period of time in Islamic countries - like myself - very probably has experienced that there is a lot of distrust and tactical behaviour within the closest family relations. He or she who violates the rules or just makes simply a wrong decision, does bring shame over the family, over the tribe and - ultimately - Islam.
...
Thus, we should not be too astonished at the Western process - at least in some major European countries like England, Germany and France - of a distinct approach and assimilation to Islamic rules and regulations. It is accompanied by long-term aspects which are clearly meta-historical and out of direct political reach, namely a growing hostility against women, combined with an equally growing "understanding" for homosexual and paedophiliac interests, as well as renewed anti-Semitism. The latter is not restricted to Muslims but being emancipated again in Europe nowadays. It is an old phenomenon as the repeated attempt to "overcome" traditional society patterns, particularly connected to the Jews as "inventors" of the first law as such in the development of mankind.
...
As for Muhammad’s biography (sira), the scholars are not very certain about the double suicide thing, as they are very shy about him altogether. We are faced with another psychological question here waiting for discussion and clarification. It has a lot to do with Muhammed’s wildly changing mental states and obviously deeply rooted, rather psychotic situations, reported by his companions. As the Koran waits for a historical analysis, Muhammad waits to be laid on the couch.
...
Those hijackers of 9/11 and the suicide bombers who were well educated and came from middle to upper middle class families had their own sense of emotional deprivation, rejection and abandonment which went undetected and which was accompanied by profound rage leading to violence and cold blooded murder.
...
It should not be forgotten too, that the Prophet Muhammad died with his head in the lap of his “favorite” wife Aisha whose name happens to mean ‘life’. Furthermore, he was buried in her room where she continued to live, earning her keep from the alms she received from pilgrims who visited the site. Think: Womb to Tomb. The image venerates a permanent fusion signaling that the ideal is never to separate.

And by the way, what’s with this ‘favorite wife’ business? Polygamy is nothing more than a clever way to pit one wife against the other and never have to deal with male rage. Plus if you don’t like what your wife says, you can merely blow her off and go on to the next so that you never have to learn how to resolve conflict. That would make learning how to negotiate a peace quite difficult – don’t you think? That’s why, if we are going to discuss “the military occupation,” it needs to be understood in light of Islamic history and its ideologies rather than taking it at face value. The ideology of submission, i.e. Islam, would make it very difficult for male Muslims to tolerate any other position than conqueror but certainly not that of the conquered.

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August 25, 2005

"Atlantic Owner Scours Country For Cinder-Editor"

Tom Scocca has an article in The New York Observer about David Bradley's search for a new editorial team for The Atlantic ... August 29, 2005 ... he is moving the magazine's base from Boston to Washington ... we like his focus on The Wall Street Journal and The Economist ... which were held up as examples of the kind of writing we wanted to emulate at West's Legal News ... witty yet respectful, insightful, accurate ... my guess is Washingtonian will be an unintentional casualty if Bradley really wants to compete with New York magazine ...

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August 24, 2005

Google Talk

downloadsquad has a Google Talk Review ... "Basic IM capabilities, high-quality and easy to use VoIP, complete integration with Gmai" ... "Google tells us that SIP support is coming soon and are in talks with Skype, AOL, and Yahoo! concerning interoperability. Another big feature they're working on is 'joint search,' which would allow two or more Google Talk buddies using Google and surfing the web together." ... sounds interesting ... but we wonder about security ...

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If I Had My Life to Live Over, by Erma Bombeck

"If I Had My Life to Live Over," by Erma Bombeck

I would have talked less and listened more. I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love yous".. more "I'm sorrys"... but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it... live it...and never give it back.

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August 23, 2005

web sites from Rob Cockerham

Rob Cockerham has some very funny web pages

• How much is inside? My favorites:
  • "Sharpie"
  • "An Acre"
  • "Dust Off"
• Pranks - I like
  • "Starbucks Chairs"
  • "High-Profile Sculpture Replacement"
  • "Chad, the Cross-Country Googler Prank"
  • "Java City Lid Instructions"

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"Symposium: Through the Eyes of a Suicide Bomber" - Theodore Dalrymple

These Theodore Dalrymple quotes are extracted from an article that appeared in Front Page, "Symposium: Through the Eyes of a Suicide Bomber," by Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine.com, August 12, 2005.

Dr. Theodore Dalrymple, a prison psychiatrist who has had much experience with treating Muslim patients in Britain and who has witnessed the "collision of cultures." He is the author of his new collection of essays, "Our Culture, What's Left of It. The Mandarins and the Masses."

Dr. Theodore Dalrymple

I agree that poverty and humiliation are not sufficient explanations of the phenomenon. These are things which are almost part of universal human experience.

I think the problem is a combustible mixture of elements.

The first is the belief that Muslims are in possession of the final revealed truth, and that they have a testament and a tradition of sayings of the Prophet that in essence answer all human questions, and by the light of which all such questions ought not only to be answered but are answerable. While no doubt there are Christians who feel more or less the same about their favoured scriptures, they now have to live in a world of competing ideas.
...
While in possession of transcendental religious and philosophical truth, however, it has not escaped notice that the Muslim world has fallen behind the rest of the world. Japan, China, India are fast catching up or overtaking the West: they have been able to meet the Western challenge. No Muslim country has managed more than a kind of parasitic prosperity, dependent on oil ....
...
The fact that Islamic civilisation was once exquisite, and in advance of most others, is in this context a disadvantage. It means that Muslims tend to think in terms of recovery of glory, rather than anything new.
...
In summary, we have:
* Metaphysical superiority.
* Technical and intellectual retardation.
* Self-hatred caused by the impurity of their own desires.
* No practical means of escape from genuine quotidian humiliations.
* The promise of rewards, for their families on earth and for themselves in the other world.
...
The suicide bomber is of above average intelligence.
...
The person who becomes a bomber often has a special, personal sense of grievance.
...
The point is:
i) that the Islamic terrorists, at least of the London bomber kind, have no specific demands to make
ii) they are clearly trying to resolve some conflict within themselves.

I think they are trying to prove to themselves that the west offers them no temptations, that they are actually more Islamic than the Prophet, though at the same time a still small voice tells them that this is not so. Death is a solution, it squares a circle.
...
Perhaps people will begin to see that some values are simply not compatible with others, and will now be prepared to stand up for those that we believe in. Certainly I hope people will start to examine the abominable abuse of women that, if not universal, is very widespread in the Moslem population, and that is a large part - I believe - of the attraction of Islam to increasingly and essentially secularised men.
...
In Britain, if we had the courage to defend Moslem women, I think Islam would lose a lot of it residual attraction. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister's wife went into court shortly before the last election to defend a Moslem schoolgirl's right to wear 'traditional' costume - not traditional in Luton, by the way - I suspect to obtain the Moslem vote for her husband, and probably knowing, and certainly with the duty to know, the often abominable social meaning of this costume.

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August 22, 2005

13-year-olds can get abortions without parental consent but 18-year-olds are still "children" if they want to join the military ...

Ay caramba! Mark Steyn writes:

They're not children in Iraq; they're grown-ups who made their own decision to join the military. That seems to be difficult for the left to grasp. Ever since America's all-adult, all-volunteer army went into Iraq, the anti-war crowd have made a sustained effort to characterize them as "children." If a 13-year-old wants to have an abortion, that's her decision and her parents shouldn't get a look-in. If a 21-year-old wants to drop to the broadloom in Bill Clinton's Oval Office, she's a grown woman and free to do what she wants. But, if a 22- or 25- or 37-year-old is serving his country overseas, he's a wee "child" who isn't really old enough to know what he's doing.

I get many e-mails from soldiers in Iraq, and they sound a lot more grown-up than most Ivy League professors and certainly than Maureen Dowd, who writes like she's auditioning for a minor supporting role in ''Sex And The City.''

The infantilization of the military promoted by the left is deeply insulting to America's warriors but it suits the anti-war crowd's purposes. It enables them to drone ceaselessly that "of course" they "support our troops," because they want to stop these poor confused moppets from being exploited by the Bush war machine.

"'Peace Mom's' marriage a metaphor for Dems," by Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, August 21, 2005

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August 21, 2005

"Symposium: Through the Eyes of a Suicide Bomber" - Jessica Stern

These Jessica Stern quotes are extracted from an article that appeared in Front Page, "Symposium: Through the Eyes of a Suicide Bomber," by Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine.com, August 12, 2005.

Jessica Stern, an expert on terrorism, a lecturer on the subject at Harvard, and the author of "Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill."

Jessica Stern

From talking to terrorists and those who monitor them, I and others have learned that terrorism thrives in an atmosphere of humiliation, marginalization, and dashed expectations. ... I believe the best way to understand the situation in Palestine is to see suicide-murder as a kind of epidemic disease. Ordinary suicide has been shown to spread through social contagion, especially among youth. Studies have shown that a teenager whose friend or relative attempts or commits suicide is more likely to attempt or commit suicide himself. ... The notion that poverty causes terrorism has been disproven again and again, as the other participants have pointed out. But terrorists I have interviewed tend to emphasize humiliation and confused identity in their answer to the question -- why do you do what you do? Sometimes it also seems to be a kind of vicarious humiliation - the notion that my people are humiliated so therefore I must act to avenge their pain. ... Still, as our other contributors have made clear, most people feel confused about their identities at some point in their lives, and most people feel humiliated. I think of my university, Harvard, as a humiliation factory - everyone feels humiliated, except, perhaps, the president. And yet we don't see a lot of terrorists emerging from Cambridge. Not yet, anyway. So if humiliation is important, it is certainly not sufficient. Could it be that the shame-based child-rearing practices and splitting the world into good and evil are important additional ingredients, as you suggest? I think that Dr. Raddatz is absolutely correct in emphasizing Manichean world views. I have the feeling that honor and shame are also critical here, but at this point it's just a feeling - I haven't been able to do the interviews that would allow me to assess your hypothesis.

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"Did Lawyers Hinder Bin Laden Capture?"

From Jim Lindgren at Volokh Conspiracy:

It is quite depressing to read descriptions of how investigations or captures of Osama Bin Laden or other Al Qaeda were hindered by lawyers, rules developed by lawyers, or fears of lawyers. For example, there were the FBI lawyers who wouldn't allow seeking a search warrant to look into Zacarias Moussaoui's laptop computer in Minnesota just before 9/11/2001.

The latest set of lawyers' restrictions to be alleged grew out of a plan to capture Bin Laden. So great was the lawyers' concern for Bin Laden's comfort that a special chair was built to hold him and they were concerned whether the tape used to hold him would hurt his beard. This latest nonsense was revealed by the man who for 10 years headed the CIA's desk tracking Bin Laden, Michael Scheuer, interviewed by Nora O'Donnell on Hardball.

"Did Lawyers Hinder Bin Laden Capture?" by Jim Lindgren, The Volokh Conspiracy, August 20, 2005

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Movable Type resources

Learning Movable Type

MovableStyle.com

Planet Movable Type

MT support forum

default styles

Photo Galleries in Movable Type

beginners guide - from tokyo shoes

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Low Morale - crush me

don't know why but this resonates with me ...

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jcb, by nizlopi

Yi Wah - you'll enjoy this music video.

jcb, by nizlopi

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Street entertainers

The next time you stop and watch a street entertainer, think about these articles:

• "Essays: Steven Ragatz on Busking," March 1992
• "Primer on Busking With a Special Focus on Balloon Entertainment," by Larry Moss

Wikipedia on Busking

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MSM - political polarization - greater sensationalism - falling costs to new entrants

Richard Posner had an interesting op-ed in the NYT.

The current tendency to political polarization in news reporting is thus a consequence of changes not in underlying political opinions but in costs, specifically the falling costs of new entrants. The rise of the conservative Fox News Channel caused CNN to shift to the left. CNN was going to lose many of its conservative viewers to Fox anyway, so it made sense to increase its appeal to its remaining viewers by catering more assiduously to their political preferences.

The tendency to greater sensationalism in reporting is a parallel phenomenon. The more news sources there are, the more intense the struggle for an audience. One tactic is to occupy an overlooked niche -- peeling away from the broad-based media a segment of the consuming public whose interests were not catered to previously. That is the tactic that produces polarization. Another is to ''shout louder'' than the competitors, where shouting takes the form of a sensational, attention-grabbing discovery, accusation, claim or photograph. According to James T. Hamilton in his valuable book ''All the News That's Fit to Sell,'' this even explains why the salaries paid news anchors have soared: the more competition there is for an audience, the more valuable is a celebrity newscaster.

The argument that competition increases polarization assumes that liberals want to read liberal newspapers and conservatives conservative ones. Natural as that assumption is, it conflicts with one of the points on which left and right agree -- that people consume news and opinion in order to become well informed about public issues. Were this true, liberals would read conservative newspapers, and conservatives liberal newspapers, just as scientists test their hypotheses by confronting them with data that may refute them. But that is not how ordinary people (or, for that matter, scientists) approach political and social issues. The issues are too numerous, uncertain and complex, and the benefit to an individual of becoming well informed about them too slight, to invite sustained, disinterested attention. Moreover, people don't like being in a state of doubt, so they look for information that will support rather than undermine their existing beliefs. They're also uncomfortable seeing their beliefs challenged on issues that are bound up with their economic welfare, physical safety or religious and moral views.

"Bad News," by Richard Posner, New York Times, July 31, 2005

via anguswit

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facial attractiveness

the daily isolato links to a very interesting study on facial attractiveness ...

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NIMBY Of The Year Award

from West Virginia Political Sweatbox

Kennedy, along with a bunch of other millionaire/billionaire muckety mucks, like Walter Cronkite, and author David McCullough (who's recent book "1776," is excellent, by the way) are vehemently fighting the construction of this pollution free energy source [windmills off Cape Cod]. Why? Because they would be visible from their multi-million dollar beach homes on the Cape and they don't want to ruin their pristine view of the ocean. So, they are willing to demand everyone else clean up their rivers, and not pollute this and not pollute that, but when it comes to someone making pollution free electricity, RFK Jr.'s response?

"I'm all for that and think it's a great idea, but NOT IN MY BACKYARD."

And for this display of elitist greed and hypocrisy, we at the West Virginia Political Sweatbox, hereby award our first ever NIMBY Of The Year, to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I'm sure his father would be proud. [Golf clap]

All joking aside, this is why people dislike "limousine liberals." People who are quick to condemn your lifestyle, under the guise that they know what you need, better than you. But, they don't often practice what they preach, as in the instant example.

"And the NIMBY Of The Year Award goes to.... May I have the envelope please....." August 17, 2005

via the Robert C. Byrd Hillbilly Carnival

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Star Wars , er, John Roberts papers opening ...

Dana Milbank had a piece in Friday's WaPo about the release of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' (no relation, I don't believe, although he does look vaguely familiar...) archived government papers at the National Archives.

The throng of journalists lined up outside the National Archives yesterday morning made the place look like the Uptown Theater on "Star Wars" opening night, without the storm trooper costumes.

They had come to examine 39,000 pages of the paper trail of Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. -- perhaps even to find the smoking gun that would brand him a hard-edged conservative or a closet moderate -- and they vied fiercely for 71 boxes of 20-year-old documents.

Archivists drew names from a large, yellow suggestion box, as if performing the NFL draft. USA Today, with the first pick in the first round, went with Box 49, "set-aside cases." Reuters, picking second, chose Box 1, "advisory committees." ABC News got Box 6, "briefing materials," and Fox News selected Box 11, "Contra Aid."

"Newshounds on the Paper Chase," by Dana Milbank, The Washington Post, August 19, 2005

via fishbowlDC

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Space Elevator

Interesting article about a space elevator.

Rockets are getting us nowhere fast. Since the dawn of the space age, the way we get into space hasn't changed: we spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars on a rocket whose fundamental operating principle is a controlled chemical explosion. We need something better, and that something is a space elevator—a superstrong, lightweight cable stretching 100 000 kilometers from Earth's surface to a counterweight in space. Roomy elevator cars powered by electricity would speed along the cable. For a fraction of the cost, risk, and complexity of today's rocket boosters, people and cargo would be whisked into space in relative comfort and safety.

It sounds like a crazy idea, and indeed the space elevator has been the stuff of science fiction for decades. But if we want to set the stage for the large-scale and sustained exploration and colonization of the planets and begin to exploit solar power in a way that could significantly brighten the world's dimming energy outlook, the space elevator is the only technology that can deliver.

It all boils down to dollars and cents, of course. It now costs about US $20 000 per kilogram to put objects into orbit. Contrast that rate with the results of a study I recently performed for NASA, which concluded that a single space elevator could reduce the cost of orbiting payloads to a remarkably low $200 a kilogram and that multiple elevators could ultimately push costs down below $10 a kilogram. With space elevators we could eventually make putting people and cargo into space as cheap, kilogram for kilogram, as airlifting them across the Pacific.

The implications of such a dramatic reduction in the cost of getting to Earth orbit are startling. It's a good bet that new industries would blossom as the resources of the solar system became accessible as never before. Take solar power: the idea of building giant collectors in orbit to soak up some of the sun's vast power and beam it back to Earth via microwaves has been around for decades. But the huge size of the collectors has made the idea economically unfeasible with launch technologies based on chemical rockets. With a space elevator's much cheaper launch costs, however, the economics of space-based solar power start looking good.

"A Hoist to the Heavens: A space elevator could be the biggest thing to happen since the Stone Age, but can we build one?" by Bradley Carl Edwards, IEEE Spectrum Online, August 2005

via Instapundit

"Carbon Nanotubes," by Tim Worstall, August 21, 2005

"Nanotube sheets come of age," by Mark Peplow, news@nature.com, August 18, 2005

The Space Elevator Reference blog

Posted at 12:12 PM   ·  Categories: Technology

Hillbilly Carnival - Don Surber

Don Surber has a good blog, where he hosts the Hillbilly Carnival. Here's a post from today:

From almost the moment the second plane hit the World Trade Center, I have been hearing the don't-question-my-patriotism cha-cha-cha from liberals. That also came with the lectures on the First Amendment. Bill Press didn't even wait a month after 9/11 to declare on CNN on October 9, 2001:

"Americans are united in a war to stamp out terrorism. But terrorists have already won the first battle: they have succeeded in killing free speech."

Yes, that is why today 75 journalists are in jail. Oh wait. That's Cuba.

I laugh at the liberals who wrap themselves in the flag and declare that anyone who disagrees with them is questioning their patriotism and therefore, unpatriotic. Ah yes, the final refuge of the scoundrel is discovered by some of the more tedious libs. But I also think it is time to hold the most extreme liberals accountable for their actions.

Let's take the city of San Francisco's refusal to allow the USS Iowa to dock. She protected San Francisco and the rest of the nation in three wars and suffered a terribly tragic training accident.

Read the whole thing.

Hey Don! Could you make it easier to see all those Robert C. Byrd Hillbilly Carnivals ... by making a "Hillbilly Carnival" ... or "Robert C. Byrd" category or something ...

Posted at 11:29 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Politics

August 20, 2005

Classified trouble for newspapers ... and eBay

AdJab links to a story "about the impact of craigslist on classified advertising, especially the growth of it online."

We use craigslist to advertise job openings ... and my 77-year old mother-in-law uses it to sell things that she used to sell on eBay ...watch out eBay ...

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Click Fraud Claims Drive Lawsuits

Adam Penenberg has a story in Wired about clickfraud ... this is why we eliminated our Overture spending and dramatically reduced our spending on google adwords ...

via theunofficialgoogleweblog

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Coyote v. Acme Products Corp.

To read the rest, click here.

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August 19, 2005

NK News

"Feeling a bit full of yourself lately? Try lowering your ego with the Random Insult Generator." from NK News ...

a searchable database of North Korean propaganda. This site contains nearly every article published on the KCNA's website, in English and Spanish, since Dec 2, 1996--over 50 MB of hard-core Stalinist propaganda! And each article written in that unique and indelible style of the KCNA.

via The Cranky Professor

Posted at 11:05 PM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Humor

Saddam Hussein's Philanthropy of Terror

"Saddam Hussein's Philanthropy of Terror," by Deroy Murdock, Media Fellow, Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Adapted from a September 22, 2004 presentation at the Hoover Institution.

via Powerline:

It sets out, in simple form with lots of graphics, the history of Saddam Hussein's support for terrorist groups. It's a useful history lesson for those who haven't followed closely the connection between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

Posted at 03:29 PM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Terrorism

Best line today

Best line today from Mediacrity: "This is the version of 'reality' you expect from people for whom 'terrorism' is getting bad sturgeon at Zabar's." ... "An Unreality Check at the Times"

Posted at 10:04 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Ignorance

Free fonts

Site with lots of free fonts 1001fonts.com

via j-walk

Posted at 09:58 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Publishing

Academics as merit badge collectors

Asymmetrical Information has a great post about academics ...

Many academics of my acquaintance profess to be aghast at the "status seeking" in which their neighbours engage--and yet I have never met anyone as obsessed with collecting professional merit badges as an academic. Nor have I experienced any other organisational culture, even in hyper-competitive consulting or investment banking, in which professional success is so readily confused with personal worth.

"Money money money money" ... maybe that's because the free market isn't at work in the halls of the academy ... tenure ...

Posted at 08:41 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Free Markets

bunnies go to Pottersville

Angryalien has a great web animation ... "It's a Wonderful Life in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies." ... and make sure you click the bunny silhouettes at the end ...

Posted at 08:09 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Holidays , Humor

Christmas light displays

Does your spouse think your Christmas light display is over the top? ... see this ... "Showing Off in 2004: Ready to see well over 150 of the best 2004 Light Displays!" ... from PlanetChristmas

Ay caramba!

Posted at 08:03 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Ay Caramba! , Holidays , Humor

"Young People's Prayers"

Goodies First has a few prayers for young people ... from 1945, but still relevant ...

"Young People's Prayers" by Percy R. Hayward may have been published in 1945, but it speaks to me still, despite my not being all that young anymore. But hey, with today's bratty, self-absorbed society, ideals intended for teens half a century ago probably still haven't sunk in with the twentysomethings and beyond of present day. Sure they're funny, but damn if they're not relevant to the sinners, complainers and obsessors of the world like me. This book is so out-of-control specific, there are prayers for nearly all of life's quandries such as I Have Lost My Job, Save Me from Hating People, On the Coming of Vacation and Save Me from "The Blues."

"prayers: when all else fails"

Posted at 07:47 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Spirit

August 18, 2005

"High-priced housing faces risks"

Interesting list in USA Today

Fifty-three metropolitan areas representing 31% of the total U.S. housing market are considered extremely overvalued and confront a high risk of future price corrections, a study conducted by National City Corp. says. The study determines a market extremely overvalued if prices are 30% above where the study estimates they should be based on historic price data, area income, mortgage rates and population density.

DC is # 49 at 31% overvalued. Denver is 116 at 16%.

Posted at 11:39 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Economics

August 17, 2005

What teenagers think and feel

"I think that overall, we allow - hell, encourage - a very disproportionate and inappropriate level of importance to be attached to what teenagers think and feel.

Contrary to the accepted wisdom out there, I have thought for a long time now that kids today probably should get a lot less attention, not more. Of course, this doesn't apply to poor pathetic ghetto kids whose parents barely even acknowledge their existence at all. But these school mass-murders aren't being done by those kids anyway. It's the kids who come from comfortable homes, whose parents are at least somewhat high achievers, and who have at least some potential for success in life themselves who are doing the killing out there, or at least the non-gang-related media-spectacular killing anyway.

I don't buy the argument that it's all because Mom and Dad are too career-obsessed and don't make enough time to throw the old baseball around in the backyard with little Johnny, or to "just talk." Nor do I think it has anything to do with Johnny's lowered expectations for his own life brought on by (insert one): a) the threat of nuclear war (an oldie but goodie); b) the perpetually-struggling economy; c) the destruction of our natural environment; d) general cultural malaise and lack of purpose or direction.

I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that so much of our culture is geared towards making Johnny feel as though he's the "hope for the future," that as soon as he or she graduates high school the world will be depending on his wisdom and vision to correct all the wrongs that all of us muddle-headed or greedy adults have been so unable or unwilling to rectify; that we're all just waiting for little Johnny to walk across that stage, grab that diploma, and get busy showing us what we've been doing wrong all these years. That's a lot of pressure to be putting on kids who basically just want to get drunk, hang out, and cruise chicks.

The idea, promulgated by the "Rock the Vote" folks and plenty of others, that the youth of today is just bursting with bold new ideas that We All Should Be Heeding is just a load of over-indulgent crap.

After all, take a look at some of the wonderful things that have resulted from excessive pandering to the youth market: Zima. Marilyn Manson. Bill Clinton. Stupid little Japanese pickup trucks slammed to the ground with neon around the bottom of them and dopey-looking Matchbox-car wheels. Greenpeace. Limp Bizkit. Rap music in every commercial you ever hear. Dennis Rodman. Pants that don't fit. Sneakers that look like something Neil Armstrong might've worn to walk on the moon.

My advice to the youth of today: lighten up. Enjoy what you can and deal with what you can't. Life is short, but it's also quite long too. And nothing is ever as important as your high-school guidance counselor says it is - not even you."

By Mike Hendrix at ColdFury.com, April 27, 2002

Posted at 02:57 PM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Children , Good Advice , rules of life , students

Multiculturalism - based on a lie

Multiculturalism is based on the lie that all cultures are morally equal. In practice, that soon degenerates to: All cultures all morally equal, except ours, which is worse. But all cultures are not equal in respecting representative government, guaranteed liberties, and the rule of law. And those things arose not simultaneously and in all cultures but in certain specific times and places--mostly in Britain and America but also in other parts of Europe.

In America, as in Britain, multiculturalism has become the fashion in large swaths of our society. So the Founding Fathers are presented only as slaveholders, World War II is limited to the internment of Japanese-Americans and the bombing of Hiroshima. Slavery is identified with America though it has existed in many societies, and the antislavery movement arose first among English-speaking evangelical Christians.

"Cultures Aren't Equal," by Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 2005

Other Resources

• "Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report," U.S. State Department, 2005
• "Saudis Import Slaves to America," by Daniel Pipes, New York Sun, June 16, 2005
• "Slavery in 2005 – Chann's story," DanChurchAid
• "What is modern slavery?," DanChurchAid
• "Rescued From Sex Slavery," 48 Hours, CBS News, July 22, 2005

Posted at 07:39 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Bigotry , Nihilism

Ay caramba! Hope this isn't true...

Captain's Quarters is reporting that the City of New London, CT, which recently won in Kelo vs. New London, is now claiming that not only must the homeowners leave under eminent domain, the same homeowners owe the City of New London RENT for the years spent fighting the City of New London's eminent domain taking. AND, the homeowners will only be paid for the value of the proeprty at the time of the initiation of the suit, in 2000.

Oh, did I remember to mention that the article claims that the NLDC also insists that all rent collected from tennants of the people who thought they were the owners of their own property actually belongs to the City of New London, and must also be forked over, forthwith? This, too, could amount to tens of thousands of dollars that the hapless home(less)owners now owe the city... for having had the temerity to object to being treated like Mediaeval serfs, ousted at will by the local lord.

These erstwhile owners are in the process of having their lives utterly destroyed by the city in which most were born.

And thank God for Anthony Kennedy! If it weren't for him, these poor saps might have had to shuffle on through life laden down with all these, you know, dwelling places and such.

"Dafydd: Bride of Imminent Domain," Captain's Quarters, August 16, 2006

Other Resources

• "Court Says 'Public Purpose' Trumps Private Property Rights," The Heartland Institute, August 1, 2005
• CastleCoalition.org
• "IJ’s $3 Million National Campaign Tells Lawmakers: 'Hands Off My Home'"
• Wikipedia
• "The Kelo Case, Public Use, and Eminent Domain--Posner Comment," The Becker-Posner Blog, June 26, 2005

Posted at 07:37 AM   ·  Comments (0)   ·  TrackBack (0)   ·  Categories: Ay Caramba!