"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
Moe Lane Christopher Bahn has some rather pointed suggestions on how to save Episode Three from the vast wasteland of suckitude that it’ll otherwise inhabit. I should be using qualifiers, no doubt, but hey, I saw the last two films: the next one is going to be even worse. Bahn’s suggestions range from the serious Considering that … Read more
As some of you might remember, a couple of months ago my girlfriend and I went on an off-season vacation to the Outer Banks (Kitty Hawk area). Said girlfriend had been there years and years before and had done beginning hanggliding, which sounded like a lot of fun, so we went to go do some.
The photos have come back.
…and skipping the SCA event on account that it’s Too Bloody Hot out and while I’m not hung over, I’m also not entirely eager to leave my nice, cool, dark house just yet*.
The wedding was very nice – lovely ceremony and the reception food and drink was the best that I have ever seen – but I suspect that either the wedding planners and/or the Lords of Kharma (I expect the latter, ‘cuz the parents of the couple don’t know me from Adam) were funning with me, because I apparently ended up at the Republican table. Hell, I was the vocal moderate at the Republican table, which was really, really funny – but I DIDN’T INSTIGATE ANY OF THE POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS. I kept telling my infinitely-patient girlfriend that. I was being good.
Well, true, I admit to trying to make my presumptive future father-in-law’s eyes pop out by telling him that Senator Hillary Clinton wouldn’t be a bad choice for the 2008 nomination from the Democratic POV, but that was for completely different reasons.
Moe
…but I had to note first this gem* of an op-ed from Senator Fritz Hollings:
…Of course there were no weapons of mass destruction. Israel’s intelligence, Mossad, knows what’s going on in Iraq. They are the best. They have to know.
Israel’s survival depends on knowing. Israel long since would have taken us to the weapons of mass destruction if there were any or if they had been removed. With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign country? The answer: President Bush’s policy to secure Israel.
Led by Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Charles Krauthammer, for years there has been a domino school of thought that the way to guarantee Israel’s security is to spread democracy in the area…
Or, as Sensei Lileks puts it:
Listening to a radio host discuss this column by Fritz Hollings. What caused the war with Iraq? Simple! Charles Krauthammer used his super-powerful Jew Beams to cloud the minds of hapless pliable goyim. Then Bush realized he could win reelection by getting that overwhelming number of Jewish voters.
Now, I’m not so naive as to think that Hollings is going to suffer any formal penalty for this: we’re all men and women of the world, here. Probably moot, too, seeing as he’s retiring anyway. But, still. Sheesh.
Gotta go; I’m holding up breakfast. See ya on the flip side.
Moe
UPDATE: Ah, how the universe loves me. Volokh produces a measured response so that I don’t have to, and Damien Penny handles the entire ‘consider the source’ angle (quick hint; do the words ‘Rather than eating each other, they’d just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva’ ring any bells with people?). I can thus go enjoy this lovely Saturday afternoon.
Thanks, universe!
More of the buggers, but not yet a horde. Still waiting; in the meantime, I finally tracked down the lyrics to that rap song by the Pheromones (found here, amid some commentary that you may want to skip over completely). It may not be a perfect reproduction of the original text, though.
Catch all y’all on Sunday, most likely: I have a wedding in NJ to go to tomorrow and a SCA event back in MD on Saturday. Arrgh.
Moe
Oberon of North Georgia Dogma is belatedly celebrating his 6 month blogoversary; as part of it he’s asking around for other blogger’s best posts. Tell truthful, I’m not sure which is the ‘best’, but I suppose that I’m proudest of this one, mostly on its artistic merits. If anyone’s got their own opinions about best … Read more
I am not immune to the siren call of superstition myself, and so I am indulging in some right now: to wit, writing out a post that worries about something that may happen, thus somehow making it less likely that something will happen, thus demonstrating my utter lack of precognitive powers (and theoretically increasing my … Read more
I walk past this twice a day: … And I’ve always wondered who put it there, and why nobody ever cleaned it off. It’s been defaced for a while now, from what I remember. I don’t really know why this struck me as interesting, so I won’t be heartbroken if I don’t get comments on … Read more
…for they can tell me whether this analysis* of the recent compromise on judiciary appointments is Received Wisdom of the Ages, Absolute Balderash or somewhere in between.
(via Instapundit)
…Senator John Kerry and Ralph Nader had a meeting. WASHINGTON – John Kerry (news – web sites) met with independent Ralph Nader (news – web sites) Wednesday, but didn’t ask the third-party candidate to quit the presidential race despite widespread Democratic fears that his candidacy could ensure President Bush (news – web sites)’s re-election. Big … Read more
Blabbing like that. Well, might as well admit it… yeah, folks, it’s all true. Every bit of it. In fact, it’s worse than you think. I’m part of the whole sorry conspiracy, too. In fact… Well, not to put too fine a point of it, I don’t actually exist. Not physically – or more accurate, … Read more
Powder bombs at Blair trigger security fear at British parliament Britain’s parliament was evacuated for more than an hour after harmless purple powder was hurled from the public gallery at Prime Minister Tony Blair in a dramatic breach of security. Two men were arrested on the spot and taken into custody Wednesday, police said, as … Read more
Amygdala (run by Constant Reader Gary Farber, who I believe is still looking for work, if you’ve got any) linked without real comment to this NYT article about the newer, hipper Christianity (Christian Cool and the New Generation Gap). As I recall, this sort of thing comes in waves, about every 20 years or so; … Read more
Or not: James Pinkerton (the author of this article) is presenting arguments both for and against the notion that this election will repeat 1988. On the whole, I’m going to say ‘Not’; you can link up any two events or concepts if you try hard enough, and human eyes are often quite good at seeing … Read more
…all the good domestic political stories got taken*, let’s look at an international one. India’s surprising results went more surprising: Gandhi ‘Humbly Declines’ India Leadership. NEW DELHI – Stunning her supporters, Sonia Gandhi announced Tuesday she would “humbly decline” to be the next prime minister of India, sidestepping Hindu nationalist outrage over the prospect of … Read more
Three loss of dial tone* between last entry and this entry. Moe *Yes, yes, DSL/Cable Modem/anything besides dialup would be better. Tell me something I don’t know.
Intermittent connection problems all evening, and sleeping sounds good right now. So, here’s a couple of fresh threads to post to. I hope that they post…
Short Hope Unfiltered has an interesting anecdote up that might illuminate some hithero overlooked connections between Social Security, immigration and outsourcing one’s retirement. Or not. It may just be an anecdote about a guy with a pretty clever idea on how to stretch out his retirement income. I find that I am especially tired tonight, … Read more
It would appear that the American bald eagle will be taken off the threatened species list, thanks to a thirty year program of careful breeding, legal protection and the continuing nonusage of DDT. This is, of course, excellent news. The bald eagle will continue to enjoy federal protection, but apparently being taken off the list … Read more
When the recipe books all tell you that a regular sized chicken can be slow roasted in 3.5 hours, they lie. Oh my droogies, how they ever lie.
Somebody will eventually bring up this Seymour Hersh piece (The Gray Zone), so I might as well post a link to it now – and note for the record that when Hersh is prepared to risk his career by naming his sources, I’ll be prepared to listen to his theories with an open mind. I … Read more
…not spit at hearing the words “Agricultural Subsidies”? (pause) Thought so. This should be cheering news, then: In U.S., Cotton Cries Betrayal. Sumner, an agricultural economist at the University of California at Davis, played a key role in an international trade case that is shaping up as one of the most significant defeats the United … Read more
James Joyner let that pollster off the hook waaaaay too easily; in my house we treat one of their calls as an opportunity to practice our improv skills. In my day I’ve: *Start babbling mid-sentence, then just as stopped just as rapidly; * Randomly adjusted the volume control while talking; * pretended that the volume … Read more
On our way back from IKEA (too hot and muggy for my dad to do the tourist thing; he decided to stay home and watch 3,000 Miles to Graceland in a nice, dark, air-conditioned room). It was on the sidewark to our house; it had the weird eyes and wings, so it was definitely a … Read more
The American Civil Liberties Union just won a Michigan court case involving religious expression in a school (in this case, a high school yearbook). At issue was whether a high school valedictorian would be allowed to use a Bible verse as a special quote for the yearbook (not the regular quote under her picture; one solicited by the school itself); the ACLU won an overwhelming victory. Quotes Kary Moss, ACLU head for Michigan:
“There are reasonable limits the schools can place, and potential for disruption is one reason a school might be able to limit certain speech,” Moss said.
Are my Righty colleagues annoyed, yet?
Because May 13th was Obsidian Wings’ 6 month anniversary, that’s why. What’s the blogospheric equivalent of running to buy flowers, chocolate and a really, really good excuse? I mean, how do you make it up to a website? Moe
The Onion: 34 Congressmen Arrested In D.C. Cockfighting Crackdown WASHINGTON, DC—Washington police seized 22 members of the House of Representatives, 12 members of the Senate, and more than 100 fighting cocks Monday night, in the latest crackdown on blood sports at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Life: Scorpion panic as Colombia election bill … Read more
I have my parents visiting*, so posting may be light this weekend. If you haven’t checked out Kevin Drum’s analysis on the strengths of blogging, do so: it’s pretty comprehensive, although I think that he’s ignoring one in particular. Not fact-checking – he’s aware; he just doesn’t think that it’s all that important – but … Read more
It’s interesting how many stops on the blogosphere remind me of this passage from The Illuminatus! Trilogy:
…”As for the rest of you – who can tell me, without uttering a word, the fallacy of the Illuminati?”
A young girl – she was no more than fifteen, George guessed, and the youngest member of the crew; he had heard she was a runaway from a fabulously rich Italian family in Rom – slowly raised her hand and clenched her fist.
Hagbard turned on her furiously. “How many times must I tell you people: no faking! You got that out of some cheap book on Zen that neither the author or you understood a damned word of. I hate to be dictatorial, but phony mysticism is the one thing Discordianism can’t survive. You’re on sh*twork, in the kitchen, for a week, you wise-ass brat.”
The girl remained immobile, in the same position, fist raised, and only slowly did George read the slight smile that curled her mouth. Then he started to smile himself.
(Pages 429 – 430)
No, I’m not going to tell you what post on what site sparked this observation, because it’s not going to make any real sense unless you understand what the above passage is driving at, and I have no intention of explaining what the above passage is driving at. You either get it, or you don’t – and as the Church of the Subgenius points out, when it comes to enlightenment… if you think that you got it, you didn’t really get it*.
Moe
I’ve been critical (oh, pardon the pun) of Josh Marshall on at least one occasion, so it’s only fair that I note that I would have made roughly the same reply to a criticism made by one of his readers. Said critique was the standard You Haven’t Written About This So I’m Going To Be … Read more
I was searching for what Senator Kerry actually said to have the AP claim that he called the war in Iraq a failure (I found the lack of direct quotes… well, ‘diagnostic’ works, huh?); I haven’t, yet, but I found this in the process: Nader Wins Endorsement from Reform Party. WASHINGTON (AP) — Independent Ralph … Read more
What with me home sick and everything. OTOH, I am actually home sick (though feeling much better), so I’m behind on the post-it notes. And Edward Underscore (guess we’ve got his superhero name, huh) just cut n’pasted that interesting hilzoy comment, so that’s out. (pause) Look! Monkeys! Moe
Especially on this entire lemur thing from Reuters: Lemurs Aren’t So Dumb After All, Study Finds. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lemurs, once believed to be cute but basically stupid, show startling intelligence when given a chance to win treats by playing a computer game, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday. Heck, I wasn’t aware that their being … Read more
…Here’s someone who decided to let his inner Thomas Jefferson do the talking (Update here) – or, as he puts it, “Strengthening the Good”. Every little bit helps.
When the Commissar states that one of the wars going on right now is the one “between our inner Thomas Jefferson and our inner Phil Sheridan“, he is being entirely correct.
When Donald Sensing warns about the consequences of making this war personal, he is being entirely correct.
And when Wretchard declares himself to be afraid what of what comes next*… a merciful God willing, we will not have to determine whether or not he is entirely correct as well.
Moe
UPDATE: Jeebus, you know that it’s been a bad week when Lileks is being grim:
The West doesn’t have the power to change Islam; it only has the power to destroy it. We have a lot of nukes. We could kill everyone. We could just take out a few troublesome nations, kill millions, and irradiate Mecca so that the Fifth Pillar is invalidated. The hajj would be impossible. Every pilgrim a martyr. I don’t think we’ll do either; God help us if we do, but inasmuch as we have the capability, it’s an option. But it would be a crime greater than the crime that provoked such an act, and in the end that would stay our hand. They know we won’t do it.
Strong horse, weak horse.
There is another path, of course. Simply put: if a US city is nuked, the US will have to nuke someone, or let it stand that the United States can lose a city without cost to the other side. Defining “the other side” would be difficult, of course – do you erase Tehran to punish the mullahs? Make a crater out of Riyahd? These are exactly the sort of decisions we never want to make. But let’s say it happens. Baltimore: fire and wind. Gone. That horrible day would clarify things once and for all. It’s one thing for someone in a distant city to cheer the fall of two skyscrapers: from a distance, it looks like a bloody nose. But erasing a city is a different matter.
Everyone will have to choose sides. That would be one possible beginning of the end of this war.