Pundit Ex Machina

2002-11-11T01:37:00.000-05:00

I've Moved!

Pundit Ex Machina can now be found at www.SeanKirby.com

2002-11-10T00:45:00.000-05:00

Wake me up when the bombing starts
In keeping with what I assume to be some kind of "Eleven strikes and you're out" policy by the UN, Saddam Hussein has been offerend one last chance to comply with demands for Weapons Inspectors. I'm sure he'll know we're serious this time.

We are serious this time, right?

2002-11-10T00:25:00.000-05:00

British Tabloids - now with 28% more homophobia!

Royal butler a 'queen': report

FRESH claims that British royals hushed up the rape of a servant, and tabloid reports that a butler passed sensitive information to his boyfriend caused more embarrassment for the royal family today.

2002-11-09T21:56:00.000-05:00

Trying to install and configure open source blogging systems like Moveable Type or Greymatter is as absolutly the most infuriating task I know of. Has anyone, anywhere, ever, completed the install of one of these systems without recieveing one, two, or ten consecutive errors? Is there such a thing as a clean install? It sure doesn't seem like it.

And the documentation that comes with Moveable Type sucks.

2002-11-08T14:19:00.000-05:00

Australia is being described as a "Problem state" for abstaining from a UN vote banning torture. I guess it's supposed to be more like Saudi Arabia, who recently ratified the UN convention banning discrimination against women.

Sometimes signing a UN treaty doesn't necessarily mean you'll obey it, other times it almost ensures you will not. Australia does not torture people, other countries that have signed the treaty do, so what are we talking about here?

2002-11-07T15:08:00.000-05:00

I've just registered an account with a new site hosting provider, which should become active within the next day or two. After that, I imagine it will take me some time to import my blog archives, and get the code tweaked just right. So basicly, I'll be moving out of here in the next week. Stand by.

2002-11-06T22:26:00.000-05:00

Someone tell Allen Greenspan that I owe him a coke, just for the pure balls of it. 50 points...

2002-11-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

Some “day after election day” thoughts

I think we can finally but to bed all the screaming about Bush not being legitimate, people like him, they really like him. In that same note, Crossfire made an interesting point: the biggest issue among Americans at election time, bigger then Terrorism, Education, or defense, is the Economy. 25% of people in fact said that the economy was their biggest concern. And yet, they demonstrated that concern for the economy by going to the polls and voting for Republicans in record numbers. All we’ve been hearing from Democrats is that Bush has been intentionally avoiding making issue of the economy, that he’s manufacturing a war on Iraq to take people’s minds off economic issues.

I’d like a registered democrat to answer me this: Since nobody fell for Bush’s Iraq straw man, since Americans rate economic issues so highly above all others – then why did they elect more Republicans anyway? Could it be, that in the minds of the American people, Republicans might actually be *gasp* better at solving the economic woes of the country?

2002-11-06T22:10:00.000-05:00

I Didn’t Vote

Just so my American readers know – no, I did not vote. I am old enough (barely), but I was born and raised in Canada. I don’t have a home state, thus no governor or senator. Catch you in two years.

2002-11-06T22:08:00.000-05:00

Democratic Spin:

Remember kids: when Democrats win, it's because the people have made their collective voices heard. When Republicans win, it's because of clever strategizing and gobs of soft money. Just watch the TV - every Democrat you hear will "praise" Bush for his "deft" maneuvering. If you think it’s odd to hear a democrat use “Bush” and “deft” in the same sentences – it’s because it is. They want to play the angle that Bush won because he’s a shrewd, rich campaign monkey. You will never hear them talk about how the election, you know, reflects the will of the country. In their minds, the will of the country is to vote Democrat, anything else, and they must have been tricked.

2002-11-05T12:58:00.000-05:00

The new ad-tastic Daily Pundit has a breakdown of which bloggers are covering the election in which states. CNN has nothing on us.

2002-11-03T22:55:00.000-05:00

Speaking of political cartoons, Reason magazine has brought the funny.

2002-11-03T22:52:00.000-05:00

American Realpolitik is a great blog that always finds the best political cartoons. I really like this set.

2002-11-03T22:37:00.000-05:00

Maybe we should buy Glenn an assistant?

It's for the good of the blogosphere.

2002-11-03T20:07:00.000-05:00

Here is a lengthy discussion of voting theory, and why plurality voting is the worst system there is. It raises a lot of interesting questions I'm not nearly qualified to answer. I can see why it might make sense to have people rate the candidates, instead of just choosing one across the board though.

2002-11-03T11:45:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know I haven't been around for a while. It's almost the end of term 1 at school, that means all the work assigned since September is due tomorrow. I'll get back to the blogging after that. Until then, go read a book or something.

2002-11-03T11:44:00.000-05:00

The Army is firing Arab linguists, a bunch of them apparently, because they're gay. Excuse me, but if they we're serious about preventing more 9/11's, shouldn't they be hiring every able bodied Arabic translator they can get their hands on?

(via Instapundit)

2002-10-26T02:04:00.000-04:00

Sen. Paul Wellstone Killed in Plane Crash
Terrible news. Sen. Wellstone, his wife, child, and associates were killed in a plane crash today. My deepest sympathy to everyone affected. I disagreed with Senator Wellstone on many things, and we were on opposite lines of the field in recent months over the Iraq situation. Not in spite of, but because his strong opposition to my point of view, he will be greatly missed.

2002-10-24T22:34:00.000-04:00

Due to circumstances related to Rogers Cable Corp and the Toronto District School Board existing for the sole reason of tormenting my soul, I have lost the server which I used to use to host by Blogroll and various images. Swift, bloody revolution against both is strongly encouraged.

(Legal Note: Not to be taken as encouragement for swift, bloody revolution -Ed.)

2002-10-24T22:16:00.000-04:00

People of Toronto: Your Country Needs you!
This artist wants to photograph 5000 nude people in the streets of Toronto. If they let me wear a wireless laptop, I'll consider showing up and blogging the experience.

2002-10-24T19:56:00.000-04:00

An Organization called Reporters Without Borders has just published their first ever “worldwide press freedom index”, which lists all the nations of the world according to the freedom of their press. The United States, surprisingly, ranks 17th, below Costa Rica and most of Western Europe.

I always thought the United States had one of the most free presses in the world, so I was curious as to why it wasn’t in the top five. Their description of how they reach their decisions was fairly vague, and in regards to the United States standing, they had this to say:

“The poor ranking of the United States (17th) is mainly because of the number of journalists arrested or imprisoned there. Arrests are often because they refuse to reveal their sources in court. Also, since the 11 September attacks, several journalists have been arrested for crossing security lines at some official buildings.”

Hmm, interesting. What do they mean by “number of journalists arrested”? Is that a total, or a per capita. The United States, being one of the most populous countries in the world is bound to arrest far more journalists the Costa Rica, simply because there are going to be far, far more of them. Even if the number is a per capita (which I doubt), it’s worth noting that the United States probably has the highest number of journalists per capita of any nation in the world. Thousands of newspapers, radio stations, Local News, CNN, MSNBC. The US media is huge, in part because it is also the major source of news for everyone in the world, not just Americans. A country that has a higher number of reporters per capita will always arrest a higher number of reporters per capita. Has Reporters Without Borders taken these factors into account when building their rankings?

Particularly troubling is their statement that “since the 11 September attacks, several journalists have been arrested for crossing security lines at some official buildings”. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I hardly see arresting an individual for crossing a security line at a government building, while there is a threat of immanent attack, to be an issue of journalistic freedom.

Do Reporters Without Borders look at the cases to see whether a reporter was detained for a legitimate reason? Do they see any legitimate reason to arrest a reporter at all? I’m particularly interested in how the EU, with it’s repressive “hate speech” laws, managed to squeak above the United States, where reporters can and do print just about anything without fear of being arrested for lack of “sensitivity”.

I don’t know what method Reporters Without Boarders uses to gauge journalistic freedom, and see no reason why their opinion should be treated with special attention, anyone can construct a list according to their own vague criteria to express whatever results they choose. However, this list has been widely reported in the (American!) media as if it were fact, when in reality their chosen method of ranking nations seems biased and unscientific at best. To me, it looks like they’ve specifically chosen a method of ranking which penalizes the United States, ironically, for having too many journalists.

2002-10-22T23:18:00.000-04:00

This Could be Serious
You probably didn’t notice, but we were just hit by what might turn out to be one of the biggest and most sophisticated terrorist attacks in recent memory. All 13 Root servers for managing Internet domains were hit yesterday by a DDoS attack, possibly the largest ever. It seems that only luck prevented the whole system from crashing.

First, I want to know how the whole net could be so vulnerable to collapse, and second, I want to know what the chances of this being terrorist related are. If Al Qaeda disrupted the internet on a massive scale, even for an hour, they would instantly loose the support of lefty college kids worldwide, and have to face a generation of video-game trained killing machines barking for their blood. Don’t fuck with us, we play Counter-Strike.

2002-10-22T22:22:00.000-04:00

Art pour l’art
Part of the requirements for Grade 13 Art at my school is that each student must log approximately 40 hours of work on projects to get their credit. To fulfill this requirement, two guys at school have cooked up an idea that’s part performance art, part sport, and completely insane: This weekend they will stay in a room, awake, creating artwork nonstop - for 40 hours. The entire event will be filmed for a live streaming webcast, along with a blog, so we can all watch and read as they make beautiful things, then not so beautiful things, then go utterly mad.

Visit the official site.

2002-10-21T18:44:00.000-04:00

---Attention Confused Canadian Political Fans---
In case you've come here by mistake, I am NOT the Sean Kirby from this article:

On Election Day, that is all likely to spell good news for Chretien and the Liberals who, mostly on the basis of strength in a single powerful province, will probably be left as Canada's only remaining national party.

"Canada is a big country," said Liberal Party spokesman Sean Kirby. "We are just happy that our campaign seems to be resonating" in Ontario.

Sean, if you are here, then please contact me; we need to decide which one of us will wear the “evil twin” devil-beard.

2002-10-19T16:34:00.000-04:00

Alright, there was some confusion, and the original post got deleted, but here is the proper link my Amazon Wishlist. A fairly odd collection of stuff I know, but that's just the kind of guy I am. Who else has got one?

2002-10-17T23:00:00.000-04:00

Warning - Bad Puns Ahead
Israelis at center of major astronomical discovery (Jerusalem Post)

Weizmann Institute astrophysicists have managed to track a star, called S2, racing around a dark mass at the centerr of the Milky Way a pioneering achievement that offers additional support for the widely held view that the dark mass is a "supermassive" black hole.

I guess with a name like Weizmann, the place would have to have some smart people...

2002-10-17T17:45:00.000-04:00

The United Nations: Preventing Genocide since… uhh… nevermind
While Nelson Mandela is busy accusing the US of flouting United Nation’s resolutions because Kofi Annan is black, would he care to explain why the UN allowed a Nazi War Criminal to become Secretary General, or why we should be paying him a 2.3 million USD pension?

The UN is beyond irrelevant, it’s in direct contradiction of it’s own mandates. It’s not just incapable of preventing genocide, but pays huge compensation to actual mass murderers. The United States, or any other country that values human life, should stop paying dues right now.

And execute Kurt Waldheim while we’re at it.

(link via Ben Fischer)

2002-10-17T16:24:00.000-04:00

From The Department of Great Minds
Today’s Mark Steyn column quotes Winston Churchill, twice. As most of you know, this blog gets by largely by quoting Winston Churchill and Mark Steyn. Isn’t it odd then, that Steyn would use the same quote I did a few weeks ago, to make pretty much the same point I had in mind:

I began with a Churchill quote, so let me end with one: ‘Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.’ That’s what happened after 11 September: the brief glimpse of the reality of the Islamist scheme was too much, and so we dusted ourselves off and retreated back to all the illusions, like the Oslo ‘peace process’. That can’t save us, and it certainly can’t save Indonesia.

Yeah, exactly.

2002-10-15T16:28:00.000-04:00

Won’t somebody please think of The Children^TM!?
Here’s a link to a clip from today’s MSNBC broadcast. Part of their “all sniper, all the time” schedule. In it, they state that police are investigating possible links between te “I am God” tarot card, and violent video games (they show a screenshot of counterstrike) which “glorify ‘one shot, one kill’ assassins, and allow players to enter god mode – to become invincible”.

MSNBC has always been a fan of the “It’s the Video Games, stupid!” Explanation for the existence of human cruelty and malice, but this one hits a new low. (Alright, maybe not - Blaming MS Flight Simulator for Sept, 11th was an all-time low.) I need not address the utter stupidity of suggesting that First Person Shooter games are somehow responsible for this serial killer, because if you don’t understand that already, your too dumb to be reading this page, leave now. However, I will mention how magnificently idiotic it is to draw the spurious correlation between the words “I am God” and the incidental phrase “God-mode”, which was slang for having the invincibility cheat-code in Doom, a game that’s almost a decade old. As a friend pointed out, it would make far more sense to investigate links to all forms of religion, if not God himself, then a video game which happens to feature sniper rifles.

2002-10-15T16:15:00.000-04:00

It’s election time in Iraq again, this time Saddam is looking to beat his 99.6% mandate. Reading the news, you’d be surprised how many papers fail to mention within the first paragraphs:

1) Saddam is running unopposed
2) Every voters name and address is printed on their ballot
3) Anyone who votes against him is beaten and/or raped.

They seem to prefer running photos of publicly staged “shows of support” then focus on the total lack of any trace of democracy. Is it really so bad to remind people from time to time that Saddam is not a leader as any American, Canadian, or person possessing of common sense should define the word? It doesn't matter anyway.

The election is already over, and Saddam lost 77-23.

2002-10-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

From Sea to Shining Sea.... to Shining Sea?
A Recent survey says that 38% of Americans support the annexation of Canada.

So what I want to know is, what percentage of Canadians would support such a move? I'm firmly in the YES (and remember: my vote counts as an American and a Canadian). We get to consolidate the North American landmass into one nation, all protected by the same military. The US gets lots of oil, timber, and fresh water, Canada gets the Bomb. Everybody wins.

Cast your Vote below.

2002-10-14T01:55:00.000-04:00

CalPundit attempts to discredit fisking by using it (very badly) against the Gettysburg Address. Instapundit says that doing it wrong doesn’t mean that it’s a fundamentally bad form of writing. Glenn is right, fisking can be masterful when done right, but it’s also very hard.

Let’s ask an expert:

“I think so, but then again, so are most writers.”
-T.S. Elliot, when asked if he thought editors were all failed writers.

2002-10-11T22:18:00.000-04:00

Important Notice:
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee can go straight to hell, and Jimmy Carter is a disgrace for taking part of what is fast amounting to World Annual Blame America Day.

2002-10-11T22:11:00.000-04:00

National Coming Out Day
According to Connie Chung, today is National Coming Out Day. And it's critically important to take part. Of course, I'm not actually in the nation that this refers to, and I’m fairly sure I’m already "out", but that’s no reason to neglect my social responsibilities right? I’ll make it quick:

I'm here, I'm queer, and nobody really gives a damn.

Ok? Good. Moving on....

2002-10-10T14:51:00.000-04:00

--No Dogs, Jews, or Niggers--
“Your kind ain’t welcome around here” policies are alive and well in Ireland, where a hotel owner is refusing to take bookings by Israeli citizens “due to the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government”.

Even presuming (and I don’t) that the hotel owner’s criticism of Israeli policy is justified (and it’s not), how does that make it ok to punish every citizen of Israel he comes across in any way he can? Does he expect citizens to return home, and petition their government for a change in policy, because they can’t get a decent hotel room outside the country? What kind of dumbass “political activism” is this?

Don’t answer, I know. It’s the “blame the Jews” kind.

Just hope this guy isn’t planning to visit the holy land any time soon. It would be a shame if he couldn’t get a place to sleep. What with the dangers of Irish terrorists and all.

2002-10-09T19:40:00.000-04:00

What does he want? His face on the one dollar bill?
Robert “The Pork barrel” Byrd is threatening to filibuster the Iraq bill. You may have seen a clip from the debate in which he said we should “Hang a sign on the statue of Liberty – ‘Out of Business’.”

If Byrd’s approach to government funding is any indication, you could expect it to follow soon after with a sign reading “Under New Management – Welcome to the Robert C. Byrd Statue of Liberty!”

2002-10-06T14:16:00.000-04:00

A French Oil Tanker has been hit by an explosion off the cost of Yemen, in almost the exact same way the USS Cole was bombed. Eye-witnesses and French Officials say it was a terrorist attack, Yemen denies it. There is one individual still unaccounted for. Let’s hope he’s ok.

2002-10-06T13:37:00.000-04:00

There are three utterly brilliant pieces of writing on the net right now. If you have the time, read all of them. If you do not, read all of them anyway.

The first is Mark Steyn’s column in the Spectator about Europe, defense, and Iraq. Read it HERE.

The second is James Lileks' fisking of Senator Paul Wellstone’s anti-war speech. Lileks delivers a lightsaber blow to this guy. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Read it HERE.

The third piece is an excellent and captivating portrait of Saddam Hussein, his life, his routine, and his psychology. It’s written by Black Hawk Down author Mark Bowden, and offers perhaps the best explanation for the need to take out Saddam as any I’ve seen. Read it HERE.

Enjoy!

2002-10-06T13:26:00.000-04:00

CNN last night aired a program in which they discussed three possible scenarios for invading Iraq:

1) Gulf War style: Bring in carriers, have a sustained bombing campaign, then land troops and amour to fight their way in. Slow, steady, and safe.
2) The Afghan Plan: Arm and assist rebels in the north and south, fight side by side against the Iraqi army. This is a faster, more surprising attack, but still involves prolonged conflict with Iraqi regulars.
3) The Inside Out approach: Land hundreds or thousands of American troops in Baghdad, by airdrop. Have them seize the city, take out Saddam. The fastest, most surprising attack. It gets Saddam right away, presumably taking out the heart of the Iraqi infrastructure. The military folds. However, it would also involve lots and lots of very deadly urban combat, high casualties.

I honestly don’t know what the best plan is, I suspect it will be a mix of some or all of them. I will, however, say that we should not totally discount the third option simply because of the high casualties involved. It could be very bloody (everyone is of course remembering Mogadishu at this point), but it might also be the only way to make it work. Consider that at this point, Saddam knows that as soon as the battle starts, it will not end until he is captured. He knows there is no chance of reprieve, and will thus probably not hesitate to use whatever weapons he’s got to stop American troops. Going right for him, skipping the sustained desert battle, might actually be the best way to go. ON the other hand, I’m not to fond of the idea of having to fight a full scale battle in a city the size of Los Angeles, to many things could go wrong.

It’s too bad that assassination is *ahem* out of the question.

2002-10-06T13:14:00.000-04:00

Some Amusement for a Sunday Afternoon
In response to Bill Quick’s rant about never voting Democrat again – this guy has written a rather serious condemnation of such crude, insulting, offensive tactics by the right. The comments then go on to call all right-wing people racist, fascist, sexist, unpatriotic, brown shirt-jackbooted mother fuckers. Our always wacky friend “ct” even shows up towards the end to boast about his bible-thumping skills, and then call everyone a moron. Fun for the whole family.

2002-10-04T15:55:00.000-04:00

”No Free Speech for Hate Speech” Watch
Canadian Custom has seized boxes of literature from the Ayn Rand Institute in the United States, destined for the University of Toronto. The material is described as "a intellectual argument in defense of Israel". Customs is looking into whether or not it is "obscene or hate propaganda", before allowing it to pass into the country.

I’ll tell you what’s obscene. Obscenity is when someone reads the phrase “intellectual argument in support of Israel” and their first reaction is to censor it, lest it be considered hate propaganda. Obscenity is when basic freedom of expression is sacrificed to open-ended “hate speech” laws whose only purpose is to make unpopular opinions criminal. Obscenity is when those laws, and the attitudes they foster, are used so effectively as to make a belief in Israel’s right to exist and defend itself “an extreme position”. Obscenity is when this country is more worried about the potential “hate speech” of some papers then it is about the real, violent, racist hate brewing in such fine establishments as Montreal’s Concordia University. Everything about this scenario is obscene and hateful, save the documents themselves.

UPDATE: Eugine Volokh points out that clicking on this link to the offending pamphlet, under broad-readings of Canadian import law, may be a crime. Come and get me.

ADDITIONAL UPDATE: If I were to encourage readers to print out the PDF and distribute it, in violation of the law, would I get into trouble? I guess we'll never know...

UPDATE-THE-THIRD: The material has now been cleared of customs, as we all knew it would, but that certainly doesn't make this action ok.

2002-10-02T23:24:00.000-04:00

Kevin Mitnick's 486 laptop - the one siezed by the FBI, is being auctioned on eBay for (currently) $10,000 US. Like a sword bent after a warrior's death, it's been loaded with a fresh copy of Windows 95.

Readers are encouraged to buy it for me.

2002-10-02T19:07:00.000-04:00

Memo to Ms. Streisand: Shut the Hell Up.

Seriously, she needs to stop talking altogether. If it's possible to make a bigger fool of herself, she will find a way.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go read the Drudge Report (like you haven't already)

2002-10-01T00:03:00.000-04:00

Anti-Semitism: A Vast Jewish Plot!

Salon.com has gotten on my bad side with this horrible editorial. What bugs me the most is that it’s written in a “reporter” tone, thus giving that sly suggestion of objectivity and fact without actually crossing the line from crappy opinion piece into biased, false reporting.

Without further adieu:

On Sept. 18, the conservative Middle East Forum launched Campus Watch, a Web site designed to "monitor and gather information" on academics who are not sufficiently pro-Israel.

Within the first sentence, the article has already tossed away any pretence of credibility. They make Campus Watch sound like an Orwellian database of possible enemies of the state, instead of an independent political website aimed at making public the views and opinions of high profile academics. Apparently, asking who is and is not “Pro-Israel” is now a right wing plot.

There are "dossiers" on eight professors of Middle Eastern studies, six of them Arabs.

Racist pigs! How dare you create any form of list, catalogue, or database in which Arabs are featured more prominently then others. Profilers! Racial Profilers, the lot of you!

Since appearing on the list, all have been deluged with hostile e-mail and one has been threatened by phone.

Well, that’s the risk you run when you engage in controversial public debate. Look - Campus Watch isn’t calling people pedophiles or making them wear scarlet letters here. All it has done is present the views of some professors to a less receptive audience then they are accustomed. I would think that these people would like the chance to reach a wider audience; instead, they blame Campus Watch for the negative feedback they received.

There's also a page on Campus Watch for students to submit complaints about their teacher's pedagogical treason.

Pedagogical treason? Has the person who wrote this essay been to a college campus in the past 50 years? Calling support of Palestine “pedagogical treason” is roughly equivalent to “standing bravely in support of beer” in such an environment.

The project is designed, says Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes, to push ideas that are "outside the bounds of mainstream discourse" off college campuses.

Notice the way the first half of Pipes’ phrase is in quotation marks, while the second part is not. He could have used the words "outside the bounds of mainstream discourse" in any number of contexts, but here it is matched up with the worlds “push… off college campuses”, words which are the writers own conjecture. They have just barely avoided falsifying the quote outright, but any casual reader would certainly miss the ruse.

His message to professors of Middle East studies: "Be careful. You should behave yourself."

Again, who knows how or when Daniel Pipes said this, the quote (possibly) is authentic, while its context is anyone’s guess.

Pipes' enemies list is one of the latest firefights in the battle over the Middle East that's being waged with passionate intensity on campuses across North America, and it's further evidence of how nasty and polarized the debate has become.

I would think that the REAL firefights are already sufficient evidence of the nastiness and polarization of the Middle Eastern, but apparently the opinions of Daniel Pipes trumps tank battles and suicide bombers in terms of drama and divisiveness.

Colleges might be the ideal place to hash out the myriad entangled issues and competing narratives of the impossible Israeli situation, but all too often, the loudest voices belong to partisans on each side trying desperately to shut each other up.

A classic tactic of anti-Israel writers has been to present the conflict as being so complex and convoluted as to be beyond comprehension of blame. It’s a way of disarming those who would side with Israel by making both sides seem hopelessly flawed and equally guilty, and presenting one’s self as being somehow “above” the whole messy situation. I take issue with their characterization of the situation as “impossible”.

With depressing predictability, political tragedy abroad has metastasized into petty culture war in the schools.

This is just appallingly bad writing. Straight from the “paper does not refuse ink” school of journalism.

The human rights disaster in the occupied territories is the latest radical chic cause, and some college activists have mobilized against the Israeli occupation by setting up mock checkpoints and Palestinian graveyards on campus, donning kafiyehs with all the histrionic self-righteousness of '60s students draping themselves in the Viet Cong flag.

I again take issue with the implication here that Israel has abused human rights to the point of “disaster”, which I think is outrageous, but the writer does manage to identify the new wave of student activism for what it is – poorly recycled anti-Vietnam romanticism.

Meanwhile, a few Jewish students and professors declare that critiquing Zionism is tantamount to bigotry…

Meanwhile, Palestinian student groups distribute blood libel pamphlets, tag walls with “Kill Jews” graffiti, and physically assault holocaust survivors.

…and neoconservatives have seized on Sept. 11 to excoriate tenured fifth columnists, their longtime bêtes noires.

Neoconservatives have “seized” on Sept. 11th? In what way? Is it somehow unfair of writers to criticize their opponents when public opinion shifts out from under them? Was the terrorist attack a big ploy, to lure leftist columnists into saying something incredibly stupid, just so we could point it out? If anyone is under the illusion that tenure should make one impervious to criticism, just wait and see which part of you gets “seized” on next.

Speakers on both sides of the issue have been driven from campuses; partisans on both sides have gotten death threats. Anti-Semitic violence is up; so are baseless accusations of anti-Semitism. While Campus Watch claims that pro-Israel, pro-American voices are silenced by a professoriate steeped in p.c. Marxism, the most passionate critics of the Israeli occupation are also finding themselves unwelcome at some universities.

You can almost taste the moral equivalence in this paragraph. Passionate critics of controversial issues will always be unwelcome somewhere, that’s the nature of free speech. The difference is in how that unwelcomeness manifests itself. When Benjamin Netanyahu is forcibly prevented form speaking by a violent, bloodthirsty mob and Arab speakers are peacefully protested but nonetheless allowed to have their say, things do seem a tad unbalanced.

2002-09-28T21:58:00.000-04:00

Saint Judge of the Towers?
Andrew Sullivan has a post up about Father Michael Judge, the priest and chaplain who died while ministering to the dead and wounded in the World Trade Center. I was thinking about what an amazing example of a Catholic and human being he was, and what the proper way to preserve his memory would be.

I realize now that only one thing would be fitting: he must be made a saint. Specifically, he should be made the Church’s Patron Saint of the World Trade Center. The event certainly deserves such commemoration, as does Judge himself. I don’t know how long the process of beatification takes, or exactly what is involved, but I know it could be done eventually, and it’s only fitting that the Church remember him with the same total devotion he showed on September 11th.

2002-09-28T17:12:00.000-04:00

Department of Mixed Blessings
It looks like late-night talk shows will be exempt from the new "No Discussing Candidates During Elections" law. It's for the good of the democratic system you see.

2002-09-28T00:51:00.000-04:00

2002-09-27T09:56:00.000-04:00

The War That Never Was Watch

The Star was running a piece today on the latest airstrikes against Iraq. Apparently, between the US and the Brits, they’re averaging a bombing every two days, hitting some sites more then once. Of course, the world is to busy debating whether we should go to war to notice that we have gone to war, and having to do coverage of actual events would be much less interesting then abstract debates and heavy moralising about theoretical principals of conduct.

Add to this, the fact that Congress is dragging it’s heals on passing a resolution, and it’s starting to look more and more like this thing is going to be in the bag before it starts. At the office of wherever-important-papers-go, the American guy carrying the declaration of war will have to line up behind the Iraqi carrying notice of their surrender.

2002-09-27T09:39:00.000-04:00

Cats and dogs marrying each other…

Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise speak out in support of our Republican President, and the war? While in Italy and France? When did we move into Bizarro world?

2002-09-26T21:33:00.000-04:00

The New Republic is still inexcessable, and that makes me sad. Can anyone out there mirror the Gore Speech-takedown for me?

2002-09-26T17:45:00.000-04:00

The Tribe Has Spoken

I'm still trying to decide whether The American Candidate is the greatest refreshment of the democratic process in decades, or the first step towards universal Armageddon. Some might argue that TV networks already decide who should be President, which might be true, but at least this damn show might get people interested in the process. I figure, if the show serves to make people vote, if only to prevent it's chosen candidate from actually winning, then it's a good thing. Either way, it should be interesting.

2002-09-26T17:37:00.000-04:00

As Promised...

Here is your free ice cream.

2002-09-26T17:35:00.000-04:00

Daschle Dwadle Watch

The Indepundit is all over Tom Daschle, and his plans to derail operations in Iraq. Go read all his posts.

2002-09-26T17:29:00.000-04:00

Canada not completely Irrelevant yet

We faltered at first, but Canada claims to now be onboard for the war with Iraq. I guess they're finally listening to me.

2002-09-26T17:23:00.000-04:00

Robert Prather explains why the ACLU doesn't understand the constitution. (I know, it's hard to believe isn't it?)

2002-09-26T17:15:00.000-04:00

Event Recap

High Schools are still run by fools:

High school bans bloggers…

…and Dreadlocks?

Protestors are becoming indistinguishable from Terrorists:

Protestors threaten to shut down nation’s capital

Al Gore’s strategy of political suicide is going exactly according to plan:

Here’s the text of his speech…

…And two takedowns.

And In Other News:

American’s (and Canadians) are being saved by French troops.

Laurence Simon is almost running for President (Vote early, and vote often.)

Barbra Streisand is playing the Military Intelligence Game

The guy who makes bombs for Hamas has finally been killed

And perhaps most importantly – Sean Kirby is posting again.

2002-09-24T23:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a link to the British Government's official assesment of Iraq's weapons capabilities, development, and possible intentions. In PDF.

No, this does not mean I am "back", it's just a sporadic post that slipped through.

2002-09-18T22:05:00.000-04:00

We are temporarily out of free ice cream at Pundit Ex Machina, but a special present may be on it's way in the near future. We urge you not to delete us from your links just yet.-Ed.

2002-09-14T00:21:00.000-04:00

More Voting Irregularities in Florida

Apparently, suspicion was raised when Cowboy Neal won a landslide vote for governor.

2002-09-12T23:25:00.000-04:00

From the Onion:

"Last week, a Canadian parliamentary committee recommended that the government legalize the use of marijuana. What do you think?"

Fake Guy #6 comments:"They're legalizing pot, plus they already have free health care and almost no crime? Now, why exactly do we always make fun of them, again?"

Why Indeed. Comments are, as always, below.

2002-09-12T22:58:00.000-04:00

Vote me off... please

Right Wing News prints some satire that is, simply, beyond biting:

Survivor: Islamic Law

2002-09-12T18:36:00.000-04:00

Canada: A Dominion of Dissent

I hardly feel that I can add anything to the commentary on this story, now that it has made the rounds through every level of the blogosphere, as well as mainstream news, but I will try.

Essentially, a group of Palestinian students at Montréal’s Concordia University rioted last week, destroying property and clashing with police. They wanted to prevent former Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking at a major assembly. One “protester” was quoted as justifying the actions, saying “there is no free speech for hate speech”. Presumably, he considers anything Netanyahu might possibly say so offensive that he has no right to be heard, and the cause of the Palestinian students so righteous, they have no responsibility to respect law when preventing such a dangerous man from poisoning them with his words.

In a controversial interview, media mogul Izzy Asper made a very astute comparison between the Palestinian student group involved, and Hitler’s “brownshirts” – youth groups in early Nazi Germany who crushed dissent by disrupting and intimidating public speeches by opponents of the party. Asper hit the nail on the head with that, and in spite of his correctness (or more likely, because of it), he was heavily criticized. Those students were downtrodden minorities, fighting to make their voices heard! Not a group of ragtag thugs combating ideas and opinions with pure dumb force. How dare Asper suggest otherwise.

On the anniversary of September 11th, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien went, of all places, to Gander, Newfoundland. Nobody died in Gander last year, there were no plane crashes or collapsed buildings in Gander. What did happen in Gander was an incidental footnote to the events of that day: thousands of American planes were diverted there, and the people of that small town were kind enough to provide accommodations to the stranded passengers. The PM went to Gander yesterday to draw attention to the roll Canada played the events of Sept. 11th, and he went there to criticize the United States. Calling the US “arrogant”, and claiming they use their power to “humiliate” the powerless nations of the world. What a way to remember all the lives lost.

What we are witnessing in Canada today is a windfall of the simmering Anti-Americanism that has plagued this country’s people for decades. It used to be that Canadians were content with lamenting the amount of American television in Canada, or mocking American’s sometimes questionable knowledge of Canadian geography, but now we have developed serious a mean-streak. Canadian Universities have become simmering pots of hatred, and enemies of the free exchange of ideas. The Prime Minister uses the anniversary of the terrorist attacks to deride and insult American policy, then patting himself on the back for playing Holiday Inn to stranded travelers a year ago.

We have heard much from writers in the United States about the supposed “death of dissent” in America. As the argument goes, the war on terrorism has made it a crime to disagree with the government today, and people are afraid to speak out against the unstoppable juggernaut of military-industrial whatever.

Notwithstanding the fact that this argument’s very ubiquity is in itself a refutation of it’s thesis – that nobody dare publicly criticize the government – the sentiment has become unavoidable here in Canada. Everyone knows that the United States an Orwellian police state. We reward mobs of student terrorists by allowing they’re violent actions to prevent world leaders from speaking– but we cast aspersions on the state of free speech in America. Rather then the much forecast death of dissent; Canada has just the opposite – a dominion of dissent. A minority of “lone voices” have been allowed to shout down the quiet but staunch support of Canadians in the war on terror. The opposing view has become the only view, promoted by a self-serving Prime Minister and chattering class of Canadians who are simultaneously bitter and aloof towards the Americans.

The war on terror has not yet come to Canadian soil, but if it does, Canadians would do well to remember who will be fighting for the freedom we now show so much contempt.

2002-09-12T16:18:00.000-04:00

Me Fail English? That’s unpossible!

William Quick points me to an article by the LA Times which recycles a great deal of it’s content from old stories by Wired and The San Francisco Gate. As with the first two, it gleans quotes from an earlier discussion on DailyPundit, where I rant tin-foil hat style about the dangers of teaching blogging in school. Here’s my favorite part from the LA Times piece:

"Just when it was getting good," wrote a reader on the Daily
Pundit blog, "the academics show up to suck the marrow from an
infant art and bind its feet so that it limps about like some rich man's
bride from China." Added another reader in an English-challenged
entry: "Berkely J-school ... looks like the parties over."

They’re right of course – I meant to say “party’s” not “parties”, and Berkeley is spelled wrong. However, there was also a comma between Berkeley and J-School, which the author conveniently left out. In addition, the writer (Renee Tawa) mangles the word “blogosphere” by adding two hyphens to it throughout the piece. I don’t have an editor. What’s your excuse Renee?

2002-09-11T20:46:00.000-04:00

One Last Churchill Quote - it's the big one though:

".... You ask, What is our policy? I will say; "It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy." You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory - victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."

2002-09-11T11:34:00.000-04:00

Another Perfect September Morning

No Updates today. I'm going to avoid all "Looking back" documentries on TV or the Net as well.

However, my assigned "one year later" essay can be read at A Perfect Morning, a metablog of rememberance essays:

...there was nothing quaint about the destruction of the World Trade Center, nothing heroic
about the thousands of hapless, innocent victims obliterated slowly by fire and crashing steel,
nothing triumphant about New York’s slow and painful recovery.

The site is still looking for more contributers. If you've written your own reflection (and you probably have at some point in the past year) then send it in.

That's all for today.

2002-09-10T01:03:00.000-04:00

Orson’s Game

I was just looking through the archives of Orson Scott Card's (Of Ender's Game fame) weekly column, when I came across this piece.

Especially, Orson is talking about tolerance. He relates stories of how Mormon missionaries are the targets of shouted insults from passing cars and occasional beatings, just for going outside. “Intolerance is what caused 9/11” he says, and he’s right. “Religious fanaticism and prejudice leads to horrific things” he says, and he’s right. However, Mr. Card has also said a few other things, that don’t wash so well with that particular notion. I quote from 1990 essay in Sunstone magazine, titled (ironically enough) The Hypocrisies of Homosexuality:

Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message to those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.

Orson: I’m so sorry to hear your people are insulted by passersby on the streets of the world, and sometimes physically attacked. It just breaks my heart that someone would show such intolerance to those different from them. Fucker.

ALSO: I’m in a quandary. I’ve followed the Ender’s Game series for years. The whole concept was probably what first drove me to blogging. Now there’s a new book out, and will soon be in paperback. I do want to find out what happens next, because to be honest, Card is a fantastic storyteller. However, I also despise the man. What do I do?

2002-09-07T13:46:00.000-04:00

Daily Churchill: War In Iraq Edition

"In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."

2002-09-07T01:13:00.000-04:00

The War That Never Was Watch

Twelve American and British Planes, with a huge support system, attacked and destroyed Iraqi military targets two nights ago. Special Forces are poised (at least) just across the border in Jordan. Stage One is over. The war in Iraq has now gone public.

It only gets bigger from here on in.

2002-09-04T22:59:00.000-04:00

Don't Go to Greece

Greece has unilaterally banned all forms of electronic gaming in their country, from arcade machines to Snake(TM) on your mobile phone. The move, they say, was to prevent illegal gambling machines.

Presumably, this will have the added benefit of moving children away from their "mindless" electronic games, and into healthy activities. Because god knows, nobody ever wagered on sporting events.

Unbelievable.

UPDATE: I guess this will have the effect of driving a lot of greek gamers to the net in seach of banned games. I suppose if a guy were to use the phrase "greek game warez", his hits might just increase a little bit eh? I guess we'll never know.

2002-09-04T22:13:00.000-04:00

Regional Stability Watch

Got this one from Spoons:

Arabs Balk at Bush War Plan:
Middle Eastern leaders fear that a U.S. war on Iraq would destabilize the region.

Well I say, if that image isn't the definition of stability, I don't know what is. We certainly don't want the US doing anything rash that might disrupt the delecate balance of culture.

2002-09-04T00:46:00.000-04:00

Help me Dr. Zaus
Via War Liberal

Life is sometimes funnier then The Simpson's makes it out to be. Does anyone remember the episode where they make a Broadway Musical of Planet of the Apes? It could never happen right? Well Tim Burton, the man who directed the recent remake of Planet of the Apes is actually, really, making a Broadway musical of Batman. I'm not making this up.

Bill Quick should find this espcially ammusing.

2002-09-03T19:19:00.000-04:00

That Sounds about Right

What revolution are You?
Made by altern_active

2002-09-03T00:02:00.000-04:00

Summer Job is dead, long live the school year.

This will either mean more blogging, or much, much less.

2002-09-02T10:37:00.000-04:00

So I'm getting links coming in from this blog, which appears to be from Iran, and possibly written in Farsi. I don't read Farsi, so I can't tell what it says, what the tone of the blog is, etcetera. Can any Farsi speaking readers help me out? I'm just curious.

Also, if the blogs writer is here, and happens to speak english, drop me a line.

2002-08-31T13:06:00.000-04:00

The Safety Valve has a great idea for his "One From the Vaults" feature, where he reposts old entries from when nobody was reading his blog. It's good because it saves good ideas from going to waste, and save you the time of coming up with new stuff when nobody has even read the old stuff. I would do it, except for two things:

1) My writing probably sucked in those days.

2) It's probably a better idea to wait, then repost stuff from now when more people are reading the site, if they ever do.

2002-08-31T01:13:00.000-04:00

Not with a bang but with a survey?
Is this how freedom in America will die?

There is something both eerie and fitting about the phrase "polls show support for First Amendment is down."

2002-08-30T21:38:00.000-04:00

Funnier than The Onion?

From The Daily Sedative:

"Iraq is not a country the US could almost effortlessly overwhelm and invade, like Iraq was," said Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan. "Our defenses will not be easily outsmarted and quickly destroyed like they were when the US attacked Iraq," he said, comparing the Persian Gulf war to the current crisis. "I think it's silly to compare the war against Iraq with a war against Iraq."

While they certainly say it in a much funnier way, I've been saying this for months.

2002-08-30T19:31:00.000-04:00

Underranked Websites of the World Unite!

You’ve probably read this article, as heavily linked as it is, in which some Uber-lefty webmaster attacks Google for being the root of all evil on the internet.

I really hate it when people misuse words, especially when the words being misused are intended to convey a big and important idea. One of the greatest victims of such misuse lately is “democratic”. People talk about the “democratizing effect” of things, when they mean something has given a greater amount of power to individuals. Just recently, I heard news cast about how hand-held video camcorders have had a democratizing effect on protestors, who apparently can use them to “document” police brutality.

In the article in question here, the interviewee calls Google undemocratic, and inadvertently makes a good point about the nature of far-left thought on the subject of democracy. Mr. Brandt’s main beef with Google concerns their PageRank system, the beating heart of the search engine which has made it the primary site on the net whenever anything needs to be found. The PageRank algorithm is extremely complicated, and the source code for it is no doubt locked away in a machine-gun protected sub-basement in California, but the essential fact about how it works is this:

When website A links to website B, Google considers that to be vote for site B, by site A - the more people who link to a page, the more value on Google that page receives. Further, the value of each link to the page is weighed by the rank of the Linking page. So if I receive a link from Wired.com, it’s counted as more votes then a link from someone’s rarely visited Geocities page. Mr. Brandt objects to this system, because he says it gives unfair advantage to big sites, and rates sites not by their content. He goes on to call Google “undemocratic” and, tellingly, says the same of capitalism.

This is where we start to see what all this is about. Mr. Brandt is a self proclaimed “new leftist”, he’s against capitalism, and distrusts authority. What’s interesting to me is the way in which his criticism of Google reflects the same misconceptions common to far leftists about any number of things. Google ranks sites by measuring how many other sites “vote” for them, and counts those votes by the number of votes possessed by the site which made the link in the first place. There’s nothing undemocratic about that. In fact, there is something supremely democratic about it. It’s Mr. Brandt’s socialist answer to the perceived problem that is, in fact, undemocratic. He claims that Google is too big and powerful, and since their ranking system is unfair, the search engine itself should be made public.

That’s right, he wants to nationalize Google. Apparently, the free market, where anyone can set up a search engine using any algorithm they want to rate pages is not good enough, and the capitalist fat-cats at Google must be replaced by a State Controlled search engine, which will rank pages “fairly”. Typical.

This guy is using the standard idiots definition of “democratic” as meaning something between “making all things totally equal” and “government enforced fairness”, when it in fact means neither. Democracy is allowing the crowd to collectively make judgments about what they think is good, and create policy to reflect that. Google does exactly this when it ranks pages, which is why it works, why people love it, and why socialists like Brand hate it. The problem isn’t really that Google is undemocratic, but that it is too democratic. It doesn’t reflect the way he personally judges the value of things (in this case, web pages) therefore it is cruel and totalitarian. Google, he says, must make judgments based not just one the linkedness of a page, but on its content. Combining these two suggestions, we get a system where instead of all the sites on the net voting in the form of links, a central authority dictates the value of sites be a subjective judge of their content. Oh ya, that’s much more democratic.

[Here’s a link to this guys own website, just for irony.-Ed.]

2002-08-29T22:51:00.000-04:00

Disney's latest major motion picture is called "Treasure Planet", it's a take-off of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic "Treasure Island", a classic work of fiction free to be used because it resides in the public domain. Disney has, of course, built much of its entertainment empire upon such works. Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”, Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” and Grimm’s Fairy Tales to name a few. Ironic isn’t it that Disney, along with it’s walletful of Senators, is now the driving force in extending copyright law and infinitum, and preventing any future generations from doing with it’s characters what they made billions doing with the characters of others.

One hundred years hence, Walt Disney Corp. can make what looks to be a very cool space adventure based on Treasure Island, because Treasure Island is a classic – everyone knows, or should know, the book. Its part of our cultural heritage, so old and so widespread that the law recognizes that to grant copyright on such a work to a specific group would be folly. However, one hundred years from today, you can bet your ass that Mickey Mouse will still be the exclusive property of Walt Disney corporation, and if you even think about using his image as clip art on your inter-office memo, they’ll be on your ass faster then you can say “fair use”.

2002-08-29T20:15:00.000-04:00

For your reading please.

Here's some good cyberpunk fiction about what happens when a hacker opts to run his own body in "Admin" mode. Neal Stephenson-esque.

2002-08-29T00:19:00.000-04:00

Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears… and $3.”

William Quick has made big scary waves in the blogosphere (the very system he first gave name to), by switching Daily Pundit over to a partial for-pay format. Now a good chunk (presumably the best stuff) will be only accessible though a 3 dollar per month account on Blogging Network. Predictably, there was mixed and loud response to this. Some feel that bloggers owe it to their readers to remain free (a preposterous idea), others feel that it’s a great way to create a viable format for remunerating hard-working bloggers, others think it will single-handedly destroy the blogosphere. Here’s what I think:

I think that smart and hard-working men like William Quick absolutely deserve to be paid for their work. Mr. Quick is dear to my heart, because it is links from him and others that have helped get this site off the ground (not that it’s very high off today). He should be paid, and he has all the right in the world to make a move to a system that will help him receive the payment he deserves. I, for one, will sign up for the Blogger Network, because it’s just worth it to me to have access to the content stored there, and he deserves my money. I encourage all others to do the same. (I’ll be honest; I haven’t donated any money to him yet, mainly because the credit card I use for internet transactions has been out of the country for months. I should have written down the damn number.)

However, I must agree, reluctantly, that these for-pay formats will prove to be really, really bad for the health of the growing network of linked ideas and opinions we call the blogosphere. It’s an unfortunate truth that it can only survive when reading and linking can take place unfettered by even the slightest hindrance (like free registration). When people have to pay to read content, that content will go unread, and when links require those who follow them to pay, they won’t be followed (or more likely, won’t be linked in the first place). This is partly due to the fact that even dedicated online readers are reluctant to pay for any online content ever, but that’s not the main reason. The main reason has nothing to do with bloggers, or hardcore information junkies, or meme-tracking linkwhores.

The bread and butter of the blogosphere, of all online media, is the occasional reader. The laymen who wants to get a taste of the thoughts and opinions being tossed around the net, and better understand his world. These are the people that all bloggers are, or should be, trying to reach. They are the vox populi, and if blogs become exclusive (even in the most minor way), they will loose these readers. It’s entirely possible that Blogging Network could prove financially viable, and those who write for it will be fairly compensated for their work, but that will come at a cost. For-Pay blogs will simply not be read by the general public, and will not be linked to.

I’m don’t subscribe to the philosophy that “information wants to be free”. I think it’s bullshit, information doesn’t want anything. However, I do understand how and why the internet works when it comes to spreading ideas, and I know that charging money for them will never work.

It pisses me off that this is the way things are: that those who provide the most to public debate will, in their honest attempt to be compensated for their work, become less impactful, but I don’t see any way around it. Changing the thoughts of men, speaking so as to participate in democracy in its most pure form, are tasks which cost, not reward. I will never charge anyone one dollar to read my blog, because that won’t bring me more readers, and more readers are what I care about more then anything.

Now go give Bill some money.

2002-08-28T22:41:00.000-04:00

“On a perfect morning…”

I few days ago, I was contacted to take part in what can best be described as a "September 11th memorial metablog". I, along with Meryl Yourish, Colin Wyers, Glenn Frazier, Eric Olson, and Seamus Hughes, will be publishing a collection of our personal thoughts on the event, one year later. Each of our essays will appear on the soon to be established www.APerfectMorning.org, where we hope to eventually collect a great number of reflections from all bloggers.

I’ll quote Colin on the purpose of this:

“Ever since the first hours of that day, there have been people who have decided to try and shield themselves and others from the worst of it, to forget about the horror. I feel that if we allow ourselves to forget, then we will lull ourselves into a false sense of security, thus inviting future attacks such as that one to happen. This blog will be our little effort to see that never come to pass.”

What is needed now is for bloggers to spread the word in the hopes of making the site known, and, more importantly, consider submitting their own essays. The logistical details of submissions are yet to be established, but until that point, a post on your own blog (if you have one) concerning the sites address and purpose is appreciated. Thank you.

2002-08-27T20:08:00.000-04:00

Our Friends the Saudis, Part 17,002:

From Bush's meeting at Crawford Ranch, concerning attack against Iraq:

"There is an international process, there is a legal process that nations
go through that has not been gone through. It's not a surprise that no country
in the world supports this. Could it be that a few people in the U.S. are right
and the whole world is wrong? We doubt it," he said.

Can you hear that? It's the eastern wind. If you listen close enough, you can almsot hear a fell voice wisper to you. Listen closely, it's saying "Hey buddy, It's the internet and we can fact check your ass."

Readers who wish to respond to Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel el-Jubier are encouraged to below.

2002-08-27T12:34:00.000-04:00

Daily Churchill

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

2002-08-27T01:59:00.000-04:00

Fine, but now it's your turn.

Norah Roberts points out the unintended effect of "you got what was coming to you" rhetoric. She writes masterfully:

Yes, we have gotten ours, and those who get theirs give as good as they get. Those who get theirs
have no obligation to neutrality, and those who would ridicule them for having gotten it, have no arguments
left for peace.
We have taken our blow. We have been laughed at for it. We have indeed lost our innocence, and having
lost it, have as much right and reason as anyone to fight back. We have earned the right to inflict wounds
when necessary, and necessity is now our friend.

2002-08-27T01:54:00.000-04:00

The InstaPundit Effect?

Chris Spoons on the power of the professor. It's not what you think.

2002-08-27T01:30:00.000-04:00

Greed Is Good.

Cruel, callous delegates enjoy steak, lobster and oysters while attending a Famine conference.

Apparently, had the delegates not eaten it, the famine stricken locals would have actually bought the hugely expensive steak, lobster and oysters for themselves.

This is another example of the biggest logical error of socialism – that wealth is zero sum, and what the rich take, the poor must therefore lose. Of course, we all know that the fancy foods provided to the delegates have no impact on the situation of the poor who they are there to help, but as good left liberals, we are still supposed to feel utter moral outrage over this opulent lifestyle. Why? I’m not sure, but it just looks really bad don’t you think? I mean, lobster! How dare they!

Ironic juxtaposition is not going to alleviate world hunger, nor is insulting and deriding the rich. What is going to fix world hunger is global capitalism – the system that makes it possible for average people to enjoy such luxuries as lobster and brandy. We, in the first world, have the means to enjoy such things, so why must we hide it when we go to the third world to discuss how to fix the problem of poverty? Why do we have to put on appearances of being moderate, simple folks, so as not to make the locals jealous? They should be jealous. The governments and citizens of the third world should desire the wealth and comfort of the west as strongly as possible, so they will then push to adopt the economic reform that can allow them to share in the banquet. No, solving world hunger is not nearly as simple as waiving a steak in a mans face and saying "you too can have all this", but it's a lot better then simply trying to look compassionate and doing nothing of substance.

2002-08-27T00:56:00.000-04:00

The hardest working man in the blogosphere, N.Z. Bear, is working towards building a searchable archive of all the major blogs, by catagory. In the business, this is what we call a "killer app". Let's everyone thank him and his friends for the contribution shall we?

w00t N.Z. Bear, w00t I say.

2002-08-26T21:05:00.000-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present you to, Mr. Charles Krauthammer:

WASHINGTON--Not since William Randolph
Hearst famously cabled his correspondent in
Cuba, ``You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish
the war,'' has a newspaper so blatantly devoted
its front pages to editorializing about a coming
American war as has Howell Raines' New York
Times. Hearst was for the Spanish-American War.
Raines (for those who have been incommunicado
for the last year) opposes war with Iraq.

And so on...

2002-08-26T20:58:00.000-04:00

A Public Service to Blogspot Bloggers:

Be careful using mailto commands, get it wrong, and you could end up messing up your post, with the added problem of rendering the "edit" button useless. So now I have a broken double post that can't be deleted. Wonderful.

UPDATE: Problem solved. Bloggers are a helpful and outgoing bunch.

2002-08-26T20:51:00.000-04:00

Bill Quick recently hosted two debates regarding the term "chickenhawk". It's been used recently by some members of the left to denote people who support military action, but do not themselves serve in the military. Bill notes that the word already has a long established meaning in the gay community as an adult male who seeks out very young men as partners.

Why don't both groups meet half way? We can keep the "hawk" part as meaning someone pro-war, but also accept chicken to hold its other context - a gay male under 21. Everybodies happy!

So now, the word "chickenhawk" will mean "a strongly pro-war gay male under the age of 21"... Hmm, remind you of anyone we know?

2002-08-26T20:50:00.000-04:00

Tehnical Difficulties, Please Stand By.

2002-08-26T20:39:00.000-04:00

The Kids are Alright

The Truth Laid Bear talks about the rise of High School-aged political Bloggers. He wants to find the youngest one out there, and give them a prize.

I weighed in with my own entry (started at age 17), and I urge any brave 16 year olds out there to pick up a keyboard and challange me and others for the title of youngest Warblogger. Blog Early, and Blog Often.

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Also, Well Fed Conservative has started a webring for High School Bloggers, I hope to be added soon.

UPDATE: The Well Fed Conservative was 15 when he started Blogging. I think we have a winner.

2002-08-25T00:28:00.000-04:00

To compliment the post below, I offer two quotes from Churchill Today:

"It is a mistake to try to
look too far ahead. The chain of destiny
can only be grasped on link at a time."

"Now this is not the end. It is
not even the beginning of the end. But it is,
perhaps, the end of the beginning."

2002-08-25T00:24:00.000-04:00

On Things to Come

This Post in Little Green Footballs (read the comments too) explores a few nightmarish or otherwise radical scenarios for the future of this war, and the world. All the ideas tossed around seem likely, although not strikingly so. What interests me isn’t so much the grave danger of a particular scenario playing out, but rather the sheer number of different scenarios that seem equally likely at this point. I’m starting to realize what a critical point in history we’re at right now. Things could go so many ways, none of which can be reliable predicted. All I can say for sure is that the world as we know it will be unrecognizable in 20 years. I’m going to start piecing together my own projections, predictions, and prophecies for the next two decades of world events, under the assumption that the more radical possibilities explored, the better we can meet the real things. I’ll post what I come up with later, format uncertain.

Bring on the comments.

2002-08-24T19:10:00.000-04:00

Wired News article about the difficulty of accurately calculating the number of running blogs on the net today. There are to many people switching platforms or just quitting all together to know how many registered users represent actual living blogs.

2002-08-24T00:52:00.000-04:00

Why They Really Hate Us.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this a political cartoon praising American Democracy from Gobles-esque hate-propagandists M. Kahil?

One of the things you notice when you follow the writing (or drawing) of ideological madmen long enough is that they generally spend so much time ranting that they often trip over their own accusations, and end up conflicting their own statements. (For instance, Islamofascists like to praise Hitler, whilst denying the holocaust ever happened.) Still, this one kind of confuses me. What is Kahil trying to say?

2002-08-24T00:40:00.000-04:00

The War That Never Was Watch:

US Warplanes hit targets in Iraqi No-Fly Zone.

The US claims that Iraqi radar locked onto American and British Jets policing the zone, giving them authorization to destroy said radar stations. Of course, we’ll never know if the radar installations did in fact lock onto American planes, as they are now smoldering rubble in the desert, but we can’t prove they didn’t lock onto our planes either. What we do know is that the Iraqi ability to make war was further hindered by precision American air strikes – but of course, there is on war right?

2002-08-23T01:12:00.000-04:00

Makes Being Stripped of Your Rights Fun!

Via VodkaPundit.

2002-08-23T00:30:00.000-04:00

Daily Churchill

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth,
but most of them pick themselves up and
hurry off as if nothing had happened."