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Opinari - Latin term for Opinion. Opinari.net is just what it seems: a cornucopia of rants, raves and poignant soliloquy.


Saturday, July 31, 2004

Today, the family and I spent the day driving to New Hampshire, mainly so that our son could relax in his car seat and get some much needed rest, and also to visit the closest Chick-Fil-A. We are obsessed with their chicken nuggets... so sue us.

Anyway, it was a very productive day, in terms of family bonding. I really look forward to these days as a respite from a very fatiguing weekday schedule. When we got home, I read the Knoxville paper, and I came across this article about a father who is now trying to care for his daughter without his wife, who was killed in an automobile accident just over 2 weeks ago. Stories like these come and go in local newspapers across the land. But something made this one stand out... this man is my best friend from high school.

After I saw the article, I decided to call Greg, as I hadn't talked to him in years, and I wanted to offer my condolences. I cannot imagine what I would do if I lost my wife. I spoke to Greg and I could hear the pain in his voice, and the sheer fatigue of the ordeal. I did not understand his pain, because I have not felt that sort of emptiness in my life, and I hope I never do. But I did understand, as a husband of a wonderful woman, the kind of hole that would be left were she to meet a similar fate.

I hung up, and I cried to myself. I cried because I love my wife, and the thought of losing her hit me at that moment. I cried because I wished beyond all else that I could somehow help my friend regain his wife, the mother of his child, the person to whom he had showed such devotion and love for nine years. But all I could offer was my thoughts and prayers. Tonight, I am giving those to him.

I am happy to have regained a long lost friend today, one that I intend to correspond with for many months to come. I just wish it could have been under decidedly different circumstances.

There is a scholarship fund that has been created for Greg's daughter, Cynthia, in honor of her mother, Greg's wife, Heather. Anyone interested in contributing to the fund can do so at any First Tennessee Bank location. First thing Monday morning, I am going to send a check. It's the least I can do.

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.: posted by Dave 10:18 PM



Friday, July 30, 2004

When the Cuban government shows F911 to its citizens, and the Socialist and Communist parties endorse the Democratic candidate for president, that says a little something about the left's agenda.

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.: posted by Dave 11:29 AM


Neal Boortz points to this hilarious audio of the Convention Director Dan Mischner blowing a gasket over the slowness of the balloons being released at the close of Senator Kerry's speech last night.

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.: posted by Dave 11:25 AM



Thursday, July 29, 2004

Springfield is going to legalize gay marriage.

No, not Springfield, Mass. Springfield... er, whereever. Home of the Simpsons.

Speaking during a weekend panel at San Diego's Comic-Con convention, show producers dropped a bomb: An upcoming Simpsons story line will focus on what happens when Springfield legalizes gay marriage.

"We have a show where, to raise money, Springfield legalizes gay marriage," producer Al Jean told comic book fans. "Homer becomes a minister by going on the Internet and filling out a form. A longtime character comes out of the closet, but I'm not saying who."


Most people think it will be Smithers, but isn't that too predictable for Groening and company? I think it will be Carl and Lenny. Heh.

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.: posted by Dave 9:28 PM


Useful Blogger Quotes:

We got some excellent swag at last night's blogger's party hosted by Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader. Usually you get worthless crap but these guys know how to spend money.

- Dave Winer

Yeah, and that's why I don't vote for them.

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.: posted by Dave 9:25 PM


Spoons noticed Andrew Sullivan's addition of a jackass to his "Daily Dish" masthead. Fitting.

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.: posted by Dave 9:22 PM


I haven't seen this covered in the mainstream media.

Despite growing calls from human rights groups, US Army Special Forces veterans, and pleas from homeless refugees fleeing genocide Senator John Kerry (D-MA) has stalled the Vietnam Human Rights Act (Senate Bill HR-2833) since September 2001.

The stalled Bill would have sanctioned the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) against further racially based sterilization, terrorism and genocide of the Christian hilltribe Dega peoples living in the Central Highlands region of the country.

The Degar tribes people, commonly known to westerners as the Montagnards, are ethnically unrelated to the Vietnamese. The Central Highlands region was never a traditional part of Vietnam. The region has been the home of the Degar tribes for at least a thousand years.

With HR-2833 stalled by John Kerry of Massachussetts, Vietnam is free to continue its widely publicized “cultural leveling” program. This means Vietnam will continue without restriction the ethnic cleansing of the Degar Christians in the Central Highlands region in an attempt to gain control of the Dega land and resources.


Here is the text of HR-2833.

The article above appears on the Green Berets for Human Rights website, an organization which is not familiar to me. The interesting question to me is not what Kerry's role in the stalling of this legislation is, but why this genocide goes unreported, while the Darfur incidents get more and more publicity. Does the world only have the stomach for one genocide at a time?

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.: posted by Dave 9:12 PM


Liberals for Bush?

Still, I have to admit to feeling a little uncertain of my disdain for this president when forced to contemplate the principle that might animate his determination to stay the course in a war that very well may be the end of him politically. I have to admit that when I listen to him speak, with his unbending certainty, I sometimes hear an echo of the same nagging question I ask myself after I hear a preacher declaim the agonies of hellfire or an insurance agent enumerate the cold odds of the actuarial tables. Namely: What if he's right?

As easy as it is to say that we can't abide the president because of the gulf between what he espouses and what he actually does , what haunts me is the possibility that we can't abide him because of us—because of the gulf between his will and our willingness. What haunts me is the possibility that we have become so accustomed to ambiguity and inaction in the face of evil that we find his call for decisive action an insult to our sense of nuance and proportion.

The people who dislike George W. Bush have convinced themselves that opposition to his presidency is the most compelling moral issue of the day. Well, it's not. The most compelling moral issue of the day is exactly what he says it is, when he's not saying it's gay marriage. The reason he will be difficult to unseat in November—no matter what his approval ratings are in the summer—is that his opponents operate out of the moral certainty that he is the bad guy and needs to be replaced, while he operates out of the moral certainty that terrorists are the bad guys and need to be defeated. The first will always sound merely convenient when compared with the second. Worse, the gulf between the two kinds of certainty lends credence to the conservative notion that liberals have settled for the conviction that Bush is distasteful as a substitute for conviction—because it's easier than conviction.


Go read the rest.

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.: posted by Dave 8:58 PM


The Nine Lies of Fahrenheit 9/11 - it's good to see a rebuttal appear on the GOP website. Now if we could get the Bushies to repeat some of them publicly.

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.: posted by Dave 8:57 PM


Roger L. Simon agrees with me: Lieberman is a Democrat that he could vote for. Kerry is a far different matter entirely.

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.: posted by Dave 8:32 PM


Slashdot, one of the first true blogs, is known for its bashing of Microsoft. Today's rant is about Microsoft outsourcing some of their high level work to foreign contractors.

The Seattle Times reports "A Seattle labor group said it has new evidence that Microsoft is shifting high-level work to foreign contractors, including work on the next version of Windows. The evidence is a cache of Microsoft contracts with Indian technology vendors that were leaked to the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, an AFL-CIO affiliate that has focused on outsourcing in its effort to organize tech workers."

First, the prospect of Microsoft outsourcing jobs has been no secret, as weeks ago, it was reported that, in the next 12 months, the software giant is seeking 7000 resumes for jobs in the United States and abroad. From the tone of the Slashdot posting, you would think there was a conspiracy by the firm to hide these outsourced jobs from the world. Very few of these people bother to consider the additional insourced jobs, because then they wouldn't have anything about which to complain.

My second point is that most of the pinheads in the open source community wouldn't work for Microsoft anyway, so where's the complaint? Maybe they understand that outsourcing actually makes sense for some businesses, like software firms, and that helps their bottom line, which helps them stay competitive, which is bad for Linux.

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.: posted by Dave 8:19 PM


Joe Wilson furthers the gap between himself and credibility at a Cambridge get-together:

"On my road to Boston," he said, "I was ambushed by a Republican National Committee smear campaign based on lies and distortions. You've seen it in The Wall Street Journal, you've seen it on the right-wing blogs, you've seen it in William Safire's articles."

Such criticism, Mr. Wilson told the crowd, sends a "message" to would-be whistleblowers: "Your government will do everything in its power to destroy you and your family. Be afraid. Be very afraid."


Wilson reportedly ran from the room in fear, exclaiming "those noises, those damned noises... see the black helicopters? They're coming to get us, you know! Hide me! Hide me, please, for the love of God!"

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.: posted by Dave 8:14 PM


I'm sure many people share the following sentiment: Microsoft Internet Explorer pisses me off. I love its functionality. It has a robust object model. It runs seamlessly with the operating system. But... it's a security nightmare. And let's not forget the myriad adware and spyware programs that seem to propagate daily through networks because of IE exploits and flaws.

So, if you have ever wanted to get rid of IE altogether, go here. (Well, IE is built into the OS, so you can't "get rid of it" per se, but you can hack the registry to make sure that it never bothers you again.)

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.: posted by Dave 8:06 PM


John Kerry, man of the middle class:

So tonight, in the city where America's freedom began, only a few blocks from where the sons and daughters of liberty gave birth to our nation -- here tonight, on behalf of a new birth of freedom, on behalf of the middle class who deserve a champion, and those struggling to join it who deserve a fair shot, for the brave men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day and the families who pray for their return – for all those who believe our best days are ahead of us – for all of you -- with great faith in the American people, I accept your nomination for President of the United States.

This, of course, is the richest man to ever seek the office of President.

Yeah, he's one of us.

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.: posted by Dave 8:03 PM


For those parents of infants who are obsessed with tracking everything about their growth and maturity comes this Palm app.



BabyCheck is a baby information administration tool with which one can track the child's growth, immunizations, first words, etc.

My wife uses a nifty little calendar with cute stickers on it, but somehow, the techie in me prefers a more portable, electronic solution. :-)

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.: posted by Dave 2:07 PM


A Sure Sign of the Apocalypse - Reality TV comes to Iraq.

"Labor and Materials" is Iraq's answer to "Extreme Home Makeover" and the country's first reality TV show. In 15-minute episodes, broken windows are made whole again. Blasted walls slowly rise again. Fancy furniture and luxurious carpets appear without warning in the living rooms of poor families. Over six weeks, houses blasted by US bombs regenerate in a home-improvement show for a war-torn country.

Coming soon: Survivor - Abu Ghraib.

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.: posted by Dave 1:55 PM


Latest Poll Numbers:



91.3% of Swift boat commanders who served with John Kerry in Coastal Division 11 do not support his candidacy for President.

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.: posted by Dave 1:49 PM


The NEA v. Homeschooling:

The NEA again made its animosity against homeschoolers loud and clear. The resolution against homeschooling demanded that all instruction be given by teachers licensed by the state education licensure agency, and that the curriculum be approved by the state department of education. The NEA also took the position that homeschooled students should not be allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities in public schools (even though their parents pay the same school taxes that public school students' parents pay)

What exactly does this organization have against homeschooling? Shouldn't an organization named the National Education Organization strive to educate the children of this country in the best possible manner, with the best possible results? From the events of the meeting, the answer seems to be no. In fact, the agenda is not one of educating, but one of ensuring that the teachers' union maintains a monopoly on educating the masses. The name should really be changed to the National Public School Teachers' Union.

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.: posted by Dave 1:30 PM


One of my blogging acquaintances, Grace Marzioli , is going to be a guest on the Cam Edwards Show tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. Be sure to tune in on Sirius Patriot 141, or online.

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.: posted by Dave 1:18 PM



Tuesday, July 27, 2004

This site is covering the "makeover" of the Democratic Party as demonstrated at the DNC.

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.: posted by Dave 10:28 PM


On my next trip to Boston, I am definitely going to patronize this guy's establishment.

FYI, that's Halftime Pizza, 115 Causeway Street, Boston, MA.

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.: posted by Dave 10:18 PM


Idle Speculation:

What do you think will happen if John Kerry wins the popular vote, but George W. Bush wins the electoral college? Will hell reign on earth?

Or... What will happen if Bush wins the popular vote, but Kerry wins the electoral college. What will the Democrats say then? Will they admit that the election in 2000 really wasn't "stolen"?

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.: posted by Dave 10:00 PM


Hillary Clinton is in early campaign mode. If she can't be a keynote speaker at the DNC, then she'll have to settle for the next best thing- an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, of all places. The topic? Outsourcing. This one is a good read if you like proposals for how the government should intervene to limit outsourcing of jobs (read: "tax credits", "tax incentives", "direct investments", and "policies").

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.: posted by Dave 9:54 PM


A South African news agency reports:

Auction site eBay has denied South African reports that a database of customer credit card numbers it maintains has been compromised by a Nigerian 419 syndicate.

According to News24, advanced free fraudsters "gained access to the credit card numbers... addresses and identity numbers of thousands of eBay clients and have started to distribute this to other syndicate members". The news service quotes Inspector Rian Visser of the SA police's commercial crimes unit to support its claims that local police have joined up with the "American Secret Security Service" (sic) to investigate attacks on eBay and an assault by the same gang against E-tronics, a US ISP.


When I have several hundred dollars in charges from Abuja, I'll know who to blame.


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.: posted by Dave 9:48 PM


Just exactly what did the USA Today expect when they hired Ann Coulter? I'm thinking these guys, if they ran a 5-star restaurant, would have hired Jeffery Dahmer as their meat supplier. Sheesh.

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.: posted by Dave 9:45 PM


For all the hype about bloggers being credentialed to report on the DNC, I must say I am utterly disappointed. While I am excited that blogging has been taken seriously, I can't say that I have been impressed by anything coming from them. I won't say that I have read every blog from the DNC, but those that I have read have been anything ranging from mundane to narcissistic to irrelevant, and that is independent of the fact that the internet connectivity there has been atrocious. The only consistent blogging has been from those who already in the "mainstream" media.

As a reader, I don't want pictures of the Fleet Center. I don't care if you had your picture made with Atrios. I do care what was overheard in the conversation between Senator A and Representative B. I do care about political strategy, anticipated mayhem on the outside, or how delegates really feel about the candidates, or the issues. The "hey, look at me, I'm blogging from the DNC" reporting is just not what I expected.

UPDATE: Says Jarvis:

Nothing is going to happen there. It's not news when nothing happens.

This is the real reason I didn't apply for credential to cover the convention with other bloggers. I said that I wanted to leave room for other citizen journalists who've never been behind the curtain before and that's true. But I also didn't know what the hell I'd write about: I saw myself with my laptop and wi-fi and camera phone and camera and digital recorder and phone modem: all dressed up and nothing to cover.


Maybe that's the real reason for my disappointment.

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.: posted by Dave 9:35 PM


John Edwards likes to talk about the "two Americas" in his stump speech, but tonight, I witnessed something more profound. I like to refer to it as the "tale of two Democrats".

On the one hand, Fox News loudmouth Bill O'Reilly sat down for an interview with film star and Democratic contributor Ben Affleck to discuss politics. As I would expect, Affleck was very personable, and well spoken. What I did not expect is that I would have a modicum of respect for the man after the interview ended.

O'Reilly asked Affleck all sorts of questions that the conservative man on the street would be likely to ask, given the chance. Affleck actually made sense. He even admitted "I don't think Bush is out to ruin this country." Astonishing to hear that point conceded on the air by a Hollywood Democrat. Even more shocking is the fact that Affleck is a second amendment advocate. Affleck's main objections to Bush were the tax cuts, which he believed were ill-advised (I'm guessing Affleck is a Keynesian), and that Bush behaved rashly when trying to formulate an international coalition during the days leading up to the invasion of Iraq. It is these sorts of issues that should be debated amongst people, and I believe they would, if we could just get past the "We hate Bush" rhetoric. Thus, Affleck was very likable, and I was very surprised to turn off the interview feeling that way.

Now, enter Michael Moore. What amused me was the lengths to which O'Reilly would go to secure an interview with Moore. Apparently, he avoided O'Reilly, and would only agree to an interview once he was cornered on the subway! Even then, he would only do so if the interview was unedited. So, I sat back and listened to 20 minutes of Moore's boorish blabbering.

Not surprisingly, Moore embraced the same positions he espoused in his propaganda flick, "Fahrenheit 9/11." O'Reilly asked Moore if he would ever be willing to apologize to President Bush for calling him a liar, to which Moore responded emphatically, "Bush is a liar." O'Reilly presented the 9/11 Commission findings, the Putin intelligence, the MI6 intelligence, the CIA findings, and the past policy statements of the Clinton administration. Each response by Moore was a variant of the same theme: "Bush is a liar." One gets the sense that Moore goes to bed each night repeating the same set of bizarre untruths to convince himself of their viability. It is obvious that Moore is either pathologically attached to this belief, or he fears admitting his thesis is flawed because it will illustrate how ridiculous his "documentary" really is. I am opting for the latter, even though there is definitely a sense of hysteria that oozes from Moore.

It is this hysteria that differentiates the Moore types from the Affleck types. No matter what was said to the contrary, Moore simply would not admit his error, nor will he ever. O'Reilly called this "blind ideology." I call it opportunism du jour as far as Moore is concerned, but there is a faction that truly is blind to the point of irrational behavior. We expect to see those people in the protest "cages" outside the Fleet Center. We don't expect to see them in the box seats inside, but sure enough, there they are, as animated as ever, maintaining that "the unelected president" is a hatemongerer, a homophobe, a fascist, and must be eliminated from the Presidency at all costs.

These partisans drown out the Affleck types, the Liebermans, and Breauxs of the Democratic Party, do not carry about them this edge, this hatred. They are instead rationally opposed to what Bush does, and/or how he implements it. They are entitled to their objections, and some of them make sense, to be frank. Sorting out these disagreements is what the election is supposed to accomplish. Unfortunately, the thinking types have been drowned out by the lunatic fringe, a fringe that seems to be clawing its way into the Democratic elite.

John Kerry's task is to appeal to both sides of this ideological fence, and then, to show the American public that he is a mainstream candidate with mainstream ideas. He must show which Democrat is the real Democrat, and that should be an interesting demonstration. Reasonable arguments might win the presidency for Kerry. "Bush is a liar" certainly won't.

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.: posted by Dave 7:27 PM


O'Reilly v. Moore, tonight on Fox. I would much rather watch that than the [yawn] DNC.

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.: posted by Dave 1:55 PM




After my latest debacle with lopdotcom (UGH!), I have officially made the move to Firefox.

Two plusses: control over popup windows, and the bugmenot plugin.

Two minuses: the annoying Windows popup that comes up when I double click on a desktop link, and the loading of graphics is somewhat slower than IE.

However, the plusses far outweigh the minuses.

Also on the Firefox front, 1.0 preview release is due out in August.

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.: posted by Dave 1:47 PM


Cowabunga! Boing Boing tells us that there will indeed be a Simpsons' movie.

(E)xecutive producer and longtime Simpsons contributor Al Jean announced the news that many fans have been waiting for: "There will be a movie," putting enough "English" on the word "will" to leave no doubt among the faithful that they will be able to see the yellow-hued denizens of Springfield on the big screen.

Woohoo!

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.: posted by Dave 1:44 PM


Opinari's sports department is giving a hearty thumbs up to the Tennessee Vols' retro jerseys by adidas. Now if someone can send me a link as soon as they are available to the public, I would be much obliged.



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.: posted by Dave 1:40 PM


Slate's Chris Suellentrop expounds upon Mickey Kaus' "Pedro Martinez" theory of the Kerry campaign:

He asked supporters of the Iraq war to consider the merits of a relief pitcher: "Wouldn't we be better off with a new President who hasn't burned his bridges to our allies, and who could rebuild respect for America in the world?"

But if you're deciding whether to turn to the bullpen, it matters whether the guy warming up is Eric Gagne or Byung-Hyun Kim, and Gore doesn't do much to assure voters who aren't certain about Kerry's merits. Here's the entirety of his case for Kerry: He is loyal. He is honest. He is patriotic. He served in Vietnam. He protects the environment. He fights narcoterrorism. He's a deficit hawk. He picked John Edwards.


And, I might add, he's not George W. Bush, which seems to be the only compelling case the Democrats can make for voting for Kerry. "Not Bush" won't help Kerry with swing voters any more than "Not Clinton" helped Bob Dole.

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.: posted by Dave 1:24 PM


There's not much to add to what the blogosphere is saying about the first day of the Democratic National Convention.

To sum up, Al Gore was self-deprecating and solemn in his speech, certainly proving that, for a cause (e.g. convincing the American mainstream that the Democratic Party isn't to the left of Lyndon LaRouche), he can curb his shrillness. Bill Clinton was masterful as usual, showing what the Democrats lack in the post-Clinton era (namely, someone to succeed him as the party figurehead). Jimmy Carter yearned for an era of appeasement, and docility not seen since, well, the Carter era.
 
And the networks wonder why the ratings are in the tank.
  
 

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.: posted by Dave 1:04 PM


James Taranto sums up the present state of the Democratic Party:

Maybe some of the Clinton magic will rub off on John Kerry, and we'll be proved wrong come November. So far, though, the post-Clinton Democrats have looked like the Chicago Bulls without Michael Jordan.

Indeed they do.

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.: posted by Dave 1:01 PM



Monday, July 26, 2004

Ironic that, on the morning when Google's IPO information is announced, they are slowed to a crawl by a variant of MyDoom. Heh. 

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.: posted by Dave 2:44 PM


Today's "huh?" commentary goes to Reagan daughter Patti Davis, who pens the following for Newsweek:

Seeing "Fahrenheit 9/11" made me think deeply about love of country—how it molds us, drives and emboldens us and how it can sometimes make us so angry we want to shout out to the world: "No, this is wrong." Many things have been said about the movie, and of course about its director, Michael Moore. But I don’t think I’ve heard anyone comment on Moore’s love for America. It seemed evident to me that the film was born from that love. 

Love for America, my ass. Excuse me while I puke.

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.: posted by Dave 2:18 PM


Continuing on the topic of Andrew Sullivan, I have to comment on Sullivan's newfound affinity for Kerry. I agree that Bush hasn't taken the most conservative stances on many things. I don't like some of his initiatives. I would rather see more spending cuts, and less subsidies, and trade barriers. I would rather see government exit the education business rather than setting up standardized testing to measure its success, or lack thereof.

However, the issue is this. We have a president who has demonstrated leadership, and a willingness to stand up to the terrorists. We have a challenger who doesn't know where he stands on anything, let alone the conflict in Iraq (read: "I voted for the war before I voted against the war.") In this day and age, we cannot have a commander-in-chief that vacillates. President Bush has shown that he will not back down to the terrorist threat we face in the 21st century.

Sullivan blames Bush for morphing into an aggressive nation-builder. Such a maneuver became necessary on September 11, 2001, when we witnessed the Twin Towers in New York City as they crumbled to the ground, killing almost 3000 innocent people. Bush changed his policy, and he was right to do so. Is Andrew advocating the Monroe Doctrine in the face of this new foreign policy dilemma?

Thus, I see the conservativeness of Andrew Sullivan to be foolish in the aftermath of 9/11. I see Andrew as he refuses to see himself - as a single issue voter. Had Bush not advocated the Federal Marriage Amendment, I think Sullivan would still be backing Bush as his choice for president. Sullivan has, however, been backed into a corner. Vote Bush, and Sullivan votes against his own lifestyle. So, rationalization has set in, and, voila... Kerry has become Sullivan's "reluctant" choice for the job.

Andrew would come off more honest were he to admit freely that it was the FMA that pushed him to the edge. Instead, Sullivan believes that Kerry "may be the right man - and the conservative choice - for a difficult and perilous time." Kerry and conservative are nowhere near the same. Either Sullivan knows this, he has leapt off the deep end, or he is lying to himself about it.

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.: posted by Dave 2:10 PM


Michelle Malkin remarks about Andrew Sullivan's newest "pledge drive". Considering that Sullivan made $120,000 last summer from blogging, I don't really feel compelled to cough up dough for a new server.

On second thought, I might send him a few bucks if:

1) He would lose that damned black background with white text, and
2) He would incorporate RSS into his site.

Until then, nothing from me, Andy.

UPDATE: Laurence Simon writes "Since Andrew Sullivan is begging for cash, I'm sending 10 bucks to Charles Johnson." Sullivan's loss is LGF's gain. Heh. (Simon apparently has decided to use the money to buy something from Amazon.com through LGF's referral ad. Can't argue with that.)

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.: posted by Dave 1:33 PM


Here's a very interesting pop quiz posted by Johnny Knuckles.

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.: posted by Dave 1:24 PM


We can think Michael Moore for stories like this one.

"Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11, is making the rounds here at U.S. bases in Kuwait. Some soldiers have received it already and are passing is around. The impact is devastating. Here we are, soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, just days from finally returning home after over a year serving in Iraq, and Moore's film is shocking and crushing soldiers, making them feel ashamed. Moore has abused the First Amendment and is hurting us worse than the enemy has. There are the young and impressionable soldiers, like those who joined the Army right out of high school. They aren't familiar w/ the college-type political debate environment, and they haven't been schooled in the full range of issues involved. They are vulnerable to being hurt by a vicious film like Moore's."

I believe that most of America's finest will see F911 for what it really is: a piece of anti-Bush election year propaganda.

Someone should start a campaign to send 10,000 copies of this book to our troops.

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.: posted by Dave 12:43 PM


Had an abortion? Does that fact make you proud? Well, why not advertize it?



I must say that I have never known a woman who had an abortion who was proud of it. But, if there's a T-shirt, they must exist, I suppose.

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.: posted by Dave 12:33 PM


Government Corruption, Palestinian Style:

London's Telegraph reports that businessmen in the Palestinian communities have been making money hand-over-fist by supplying cement for Israel's security wall.

Legislator and Arafat detractor Hassan Khreishe calls for cabinet resignations:

"Wealthy Palestinians with connections at the highest levels have been making millions helping Israel build this wall while Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have been urging people to fight against it... Why Arafat did nothing about it, we just don't know. These people are traitors who have brought shame on us, and they should be punished."

Why he did nothing about it is because the whole Israel-Palestine situation is nothing more than a way for Arafat to empower and enrich himself and his family. Anyone who thinks Arafat is concerned about the fate of the Palestinian people is kidding themself.

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.: posted by Dave 12:22 PM


Starz comes to the Web? I hope more pay services begin to offer this as an option. I would pay for several a la carte channels via the web.

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.: posted by Dave 11:14 AM


A Happy Ending:

On Saturday, I echoed an Amber Alert that was posted by South Knox Bubba. Here's how that story turned out:

A Halls 13-year old is the reason a Maryville one-year old was safely returned to her parents last night.

Knoxville Police issued an Amber Alert after Cheyenne Byrd was allegedly abducted by her baby-sitter.

Knox County deputies found her safe at a bar with the baby-sitter last night after a tip to 9-1-1.

That tip came from alert teen, Zachary Vaughn.

"I feel like a million dollars," says Vaughn.


The Amber Alert system works again, thanks to people like Zachary Vaughn.

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.: posted by Dave 11:09 AM


A Soldier's Story:



It is April 26, 2003. Sgt. Williams and his platoon’s two vehicle convoy are in the northern city of Mosul, home of hundreds of former Republican Guards. The unit is on red alert status. Down to only two Humvees from the four the platoon had originally, they need additional transportation to carry out their military mission. Their platoon leader, whose vehicle had broken down weeks before in Najaf, instructed the men to find another vehicle suitable for the mission. They spot a Toyota Land Cruiser with a military-style trailer hitch perfect for the mission. It is being driven aggressively by a young Iraqi male, weaving between and cutting off the convoy. Is this a set-up by insurgents? The lead Humvee stops the vehicle. Sgt. Williams’ vehicle pulls up to assist and to secure the position. A crowd of Iraqis gathers on the street and surrounding rooftops. The street is narrow and the smell of danger powerful. The vehicle is quickly impounded and removed. Nobody is injured in the incident. They drive it back to unit headquarters where it is used by the platoon leader for military purposes. As it turns out, the vehicle contains an AK-47 ammo clip and an identification card suggesting that the driver may have been a member of Saddam’s Republican Guard.

Under official Army Rules of Engagement issued to all soldiers involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom, civilian vehicles may be appropriated for military necessity, subject to certain procedures and reasonable compensation rights. But the Army says the Rules were changed prior to April 26, 2003 to prohibit the further appropriation of civilian vehicles. To date, the Army’s position is not backed up. Certainly Williams was not told about any such changes. As platoon sergeant, he monitors and keeps up with all policy changes to the Rules of Engagement. Williams even taught classes on these very procedures to recruits back at Fort Campbell and in Kuwait. Brigade Commander Anderson asserts these changes were made, but the evidence indicates they were not made until days after the fact - - after President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003.

A local, powerful regional leader - Sheik Ahmed Watban Al-Faisal – filed a claim, stating that he owned the Toyota. His son was driving it at the time. Consistent with procedures and sensing a public relations meltdown, the Army reimbursed the Sheik $32,000 in cash for the SUV.

The Army has now charged Williams with armed robbery for taking the vehicle. He faces up to 15 years in prison, a dishonorable discharge, and the lifetime brand of felon, all for doing what he thought was right and what he knew was necessary for his unit and, of course, his country.

What is really going on here? Is Sgt. Williams being used as a scapegoat?


It sure sounds like it to me. If the Army cannot substantiate that the Rules of Engagement were changed prior to Sgt. Williams' actions, then the Army has apparently no basis for the theft accusation. This seems more like an attempt to appease an Iraqi leader with some influence in the region than anything else. The Sheik was compensated for his vehicle, the R.O.G. were followed, so Sgt. Williams did what he knew to be right under the circumstances. I find this case absolutely appalling.

There is a defense fund for Sgt. Williams. To find out how to help, click here.

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.: posted by Dave 10:19 AM



Sunday, July 25, 2004

The Left's Next Best Seller?

On Aug. 10, Alfred A. Knopf, America's most distinguished publishing house, is bringing out a novel by Nicholson Baker, winner of the 2002 National Book Critics Circle Award and a darling of the New York intelligentsia. Baker's bestseller, "Vox," which Monica Lewinsky gave Bill Clinton as a gift in 1998, was about phone sex between two "obsessive, yuppie masturbators," according to Kirkus Reviews.

Baker's new book, called "Checkpoint," eschews kinky sex for political murder. It is a long conversation between two men about assassinating President Bush. Yes, killing the sitting president of the United States.

One of the characters, named Jay, says of Bush, "He is beyond the beyond. What he's done with this war. The murder of the innocent. And now the prisons. It's too much. It makes me angry…. I'm going to kill the bastard…. I'm going to assassinate the president."

Jay calls Bush "an unelected [expletive deleted] drunken oilman" who is "squatting" in the White House and "muttering over his prayer book each morning." He says Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have "fought their way back up out of the peat bogs where they've been lying, and they're stumbling around with grubs scurrying out of their noses."

Jay then describes methods of murdering the president, including radio-controlled flying saws that are "ultrasharp and they're totally deadly, really nasty." Other methods: a gun and a remote-controlled boulder.


Remember how conservatives supposedly had an irrational loathing for Bill Clinton in the 90s? I remember rumors to that effect, but what I don't recall is anyone proporting to be a conservative calling for the assassination of President Clinton, either in reality or fiction.

The reality of 2004 is that there is a segment of society that simply wants President Bush out of office, no matter what the cost. They have tried everything in their arsenal, and now it is the moviemakers and writers giving it their best yeoman's efforts. While I am all for protection of free speech, I am also a supporter of the rights of others to deplore speech that crosses the line. Nicholson Baker, like Michael Moore before him, has done just that.

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.: posted by Dave 8:20 PM


Daryl Cobranchi links to an interesting article about teacher's unions and contract negotiations:

Mario Mancieri's 25-year tenure in Portsmouth's central administration earned him the informal title of dean of Rhode Island's school superintendents.

[...]

He says, "Every year in February or March, we'd sit down [with the unions] either to settle a new contract or review current issues. On our side, we'd be wanting to discuss education issues. But they'd want to talk about benefits. Often they wouldn't even stay at the table unless there was something to give.

Of course you'll never have enough money to solve the real problems in schools if the money is constantly diverted for these growing benefits."

[...]

Mancieri says, "My colleagues and I were very frustrated. As soon as one community picked up a benefit, it was only a matter of time before it would gravitate to your community. I tried so hard to bargain down the benefits to deal with some of the education problems, but it was impossible. The unions might even sacrifice on salary money to get benefits that would last beyond retirement, for example. The people who controlled the union were aging, and their primary goal was to enhance the benefits for themselves when they left.

"The truth is that you would do a lot to win three years of labor peace."

[...]

These many years of the unions playing the districts off of one another is one reason Rhode Island developed the dubious distinction of being number one in the nation as the state that pays its teachers the largest amount over and above the state's median income.

Mancieri notes, "Once they got their money or benefits, they were more willing to acquiesce on education issues."

Sounds like blackmail to me.


But it's all about the children, isn't it? Yeah, sure it is. This is yet another reason why homeschooling is by far the most plausible choice for me and my family.

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.: posted by Dave 8:08 PM


I'm just wondering... why is the commissioner of baseball not upset about the antics of Carlos Delgado, yet he was more than happy to oblige Cassius Clay... er, Muhammed Ali, with an appearance to throw out the first pitch of the All-Star Game?

And I am reminded about Selig telling Keith Foulke that he couldn't wear an American flag on his uniform. What is it with this man, anyway?

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.: posted by Dave 8:00 PM


The search for virility has taken researchers to a rare jellyfish:

A potent cocktail of toxins in a rare species of deadly jellyfish could hold a remedy for impotent men, researchers say.

The sting from an irukandji tentacle can cause irukandji syndrome, entailing severe pain, anxiety, paralysis and a potentially fatal rise in blood pressure.

Researchers have found that one rare species also causes an extra symptom of prolonged erections in male victims.


However, researchers warn...

But men should not try to bypass medical research and swim around the Whitsundays seeking to be stung.

"Irukandji syndrome is something that happens to you that might kill you," she said. "Preparing for a date involves not having irukandji syndrome."


I am predicting that someone wins a Darwin Award for intentionally getting stung by one of these things. Mark my words.

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.: posted by Dave 6:58 PM


Have you ever worked as a waiter, bartender, pizza driver, or in any field where your living depended on the generosity of others? If so, this website will amuse the hell out of you.

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.: posted by Dave 6:56 PM


The ever-insightful Michelle Malkin contrasts Linda Ronstadt and Toby Keith:

The difference between Ronstadt and Keith? He knows and respects his audience. Keith wouldn't feel entitled to sold-out crowds if he took his act to Berkeley.

By contrast, Ronstadt has conducted a bait-and-switch with her middle American fan base, drawing them in with her wholesome schtick, then using the stage to peddle her anti-war propaganda. "This is an election year," she huffed to The Los Angeles Times. "I want people to get their head up out of their mashed potatoes and learn something about the issues and go and vote."


Exactly.


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.: posted by Dave 6:51 PM


The Lunatic Fringe:

A new community activist group, calling itself The New Black Panther Party, marched in front of the Dallas Police Department Thursday. The group demanded a meeting with interim Dallas Police Chief Randy Hampton or organization members would violently take to city streets.

[...]

During the demonstration, members of The New Black Panther Party called police racists and violent. They also called Anglos "devils" and threatened to get guns if the group fails to have its demands met.

"We are fighting for the freedom of our people," New Black Panther spokesman Derick Brown said through a bullhorn. "We're ready to die in self-defense."

Brown also turned the group's attention toward media members covering the demonstration.

"Put that on your camera," he said through the bullhorn. "Write that up in your newspaper. Did you copy that story? Did you get the truth of everything? Y'all half the damn street's problem."


Maybe Cynthia McKinney can be their spokeswoman.

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.: posted by Dave 6:37 PM


Iraqis everywhere can live vicariously through a St. Louis soldier named Samir:

Samir says, "I was like, 'I got him.'" We all reached him and pulled him out. And we say Saddam Hussein he looks really old. He looks disgusting." There was also anger. "You want to beat the crap out of him. He destroyed millions in Iraq. I'm one. I left my family 13 years ago because of him."

Saddam couldn't fight back, but he did speak out. "He called me a spy. He called me a traitor. I had to punch him in face. They had to hold me back. I got so angry I almost lost my mind. I didn't know what to do. Choke him to death. That's really not good enough."

For Samir, this was sweet justice. One of Iraq's own, now a U.S. citizen, helping arrest one of the world's most wanted fugitives.

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.: posted by Dave 6:32 PM


[yawn] NPR is doing RSS feeds now. I hope it's not as boring as their on-air feeds.

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.: posted by Dave 6:24 PM


Dave Winer says that the song of the 2004 DNC is "Johnny B Goode." Anything is better than that infernal "Don't Stop Thinkin' 'Bout Tomorrow" drivel that was played ad nauseum during the Clinton years.

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.: posted by Dave 6:22 PM


Dolphin Back Ricky Williams pulls a Barry Sanders:

Ricky Williams has decided to retire at the peak of his career, stunning the Miami Dolphins and leaving an enormous void in their backfield less than a week before the start of training camp.

The 27-year-old Williams, who rushed for 3,225 yards in two seasons with the Dolphins, told head coach Dave Wannstedt of his decision before leaving the country to begin several months of travel.

"I was completely surprised," Wannstedt said Sunday. "My main thought process was to try to get Ricky to come back here, sit down, talk about some things and see if we can get this thing back on track. He obviously chose to go another direction."


Says Williams, "I'm finally free." Yeah, that NFL lifestyle is a bitch, huh, Rick? It has to be tough to handle those millions of dollars and high paying endorsements for playing just 16 games per year (oh, don't forget preseason, and playoffs... sorry, I choked while laughing about typing Dolphins and playoffs in the same blog post, but I digress.) I'm not convinced that this isn't a holdout tactic, but we'll see. In the meantime, I guess I should delete Williams from my fantasy draft list.

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.: posted by Dave 6:15 PM



Saturday, July 24, 2004

AP: Bush Leads Kerry in Electoral Votes

John Kerry (news - web sites) narrowly trails President Bush (news - web sites) in the battle for the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, as he makes his case at the Democratic National Convention this week to topple the Republican incumbent.

With three months remaining in a volatile campaign, Kerry has 14 states and the District of Columbia in his column for 193 electoral votes. Bush has 25 states for 217 votes, according to an Associated Press analysis of state polls as well as interviews with strategists across the country.

[...]

Both candidates are short of the magic 270 electoral votes. The margin of victory will come from:

_TOSSUPS — Bush and Kerry are running even in 11 states with a combined 128 electoral votes. Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan and West Virginia are the toughest battlegrounds. Two other tossups, Pennsylvania and Oregon, could soon move to Kerry's column.

_LEAN KERRY — Maine, Minnesota and Washington (a combined 25 electoral votes) favor Kerry over Bush by a few percentage points. Gore carried them in 2000.

_LEAN BUSH — North Carolina, Colorado, Louisiana, Arizona, Virginia, Arkansas and Missouri (a combined 73 electoral votes) give Bush modest leads. He won all seven in 2000.


So that would give President Bush a 290-218 margin, if the status quo holds. But, a lot can (and probably will) happen between now and November.

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.: posted by Dave 9:49 PM


Looking for a list of all the bloggers at the DNC. Look no further than Convention Bloggers. Seems like a slight left lean to the blogs in attendance, but that should be expected, I guess. Some of these "blogs" aren't really blogs at all. But I guess a traditional journalist can take a website, post something insightful, and call themselves a blog, now can't they? Anyway, it's nice to see that there will actually be people blogging the conventions. Let's hope that they make things interesting.

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.: posted by Dave 9:36 PM


From starwars.com:

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith is the full title of the next Star Wars film, scheduled for release on May 19, 2005.

T-shirts are now available. Woohoo!


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.: posted by Dave 8:10 PM


via South Knox Bubba...

Knoxville KPD has issued an Amber Alert...

Amber Alert Issued for 1 Year Old Tennessee Girl
Posted: Saturday July 24 6:00 PM CT
The Knoxville Police and the Knox County Tennessee Sherif's office issued the Amber Alert after the baby was abducted on Saturday afternoon. Cheyenne Marie Byrd, 1 yrs., white female was abducted in Knoxville Tennessee on Saturday July 24. Police are looking for Becky Jane Sparlin, a white female, 5\' 8", 150 lbs. with blonde hair. The suspect vehicle is a silver 1986 Mercury Cougar, with rust spots and Tennessee tags QAR-488.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Knox County Sheriff at 865-215-2432 or dial 911

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.: posted by Dave 7:00 PM



Friday, July 23, 2004

Humor Before Bed:

9/11 Report: 'Clinton too busy getting laid. Bush too busy planning for Iraq.'

The report also includes recommendations for the prevention of possible and probable future attacks. Below are the top 10 recommendations by the panel:

#10 - Forget Saddam and Iraq
#9 - Concentrate on getting Osama bin Laden. Forget Saddam!
#8 - For God's sake don't vote for Kerry.
#7 - Forget Saddam, get Osama bin Laden.
#6 - Fire Bush if he can't get over Saddam.
#5 - Get Osama Bin Laden
#4 - Check everyone that looks like a terrorist at the airport. Forget about being politically correct. Little old white hair ladies are not terrorists. Skip them.
#3 - Get Osama Bin Laden.
#2 - Throw away the color-coded terror alert system. It's worthless.
#1 - Get Osama Bin Laden.

The report did not state whether the U.S. is safer or not for attacking Iraq, but did mention that "we really scared the shit out of the Middle East by taking over Iraq in less then 1 month."


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.: posted by Dave 10:11 PM


Microsoft is hiring 7000 new people in the next year. And I thought all of the IT jobs were evaporating. Apparently not.

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.: posted by Dave 10:08 PM


Anyone interested in investing in the Iraqi stock market?

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.: posted by Dave 10:07 PM


Posting has been light lately because, well, I am reading several books at the same time. I just finished the Rule of Four, and Kill the Messenger (both entertaining), and I am currently reading Airframe (I'm trying to catch up on my Crichton) and the inimitable Michael Moore is a Gargantuan Obscene Waste of a Human Life.*

So far, I have to say that I am honestly appalled by the work of Moore. How anyone can take him seriously is beyond me. Well, come to think of it, I can. If you are partisan, and you want to believe something about someone you hate, then Michael Moore definitely appeals to your populist tendencies.

I haven't finished the Moore book yet, but when I read the way he manipulated the Charleton Heston interview, it reminded me of the movie, the Running Man. In the movie, the footage of police officer Ben Richards (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) is manipulated to make him appear to look like the bad guy. When there were food riots by starving people, Richards wanted to help them, but was rebuffed and he was subsequently sent up for insubordination, or something akin to it. What happens when Richards goes on the "Running Man" gameshow is that his character is made to look as if he is the one who wanted to fire on the innocent people. This was accomplished with the help of video editing, sound dubs, and some magic pixels.

The point is Richards was neither complicit in the killing of innocent people, nor was he the evil character which was depicted by the networks, which had a stake in maintaining their ratings by killing the most heinous villains of their day, and doing it on the barbaric "Running Man" game show. Similarly, Moore (as the network) has done his best to manipulate the images at his disposal (in this case, the interview with Heston) to make him look as terrible as possible. Something tells me Moore was born a few decades too early; the Nazi propaganda machine could have used his skills to further their message of Aryan supremacy.

It is unfortunate that this tripe even has a market, albeit one which already subscribes to Moore's visions of conspiracy.

* Note: If Moore can paraphrase and misinterpret, so can I.

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.: posted by Dave 9:27 PM


I would have never guessed this, not in a million years:

Short-tempered country star Toby Keith doesn't back down from anything. He has feuded with the Dixie Chicks, quarreled with ABC anchorman Peter Jennings, stood up for rednecks, bashed the Taliban, and furthered his hawk credentials by taking a swipe at terrorists in the radio hit, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)." Sample verse: "This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage/ And you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A."

But Keith has a confession to make.

"People don't realize that I'm a registered Democrat," he says. "They automatically assume that I'm a chest-banging, war-drum-pounding Republican with my military stance."


Keith compares himself to Joe Lieberman, Connecticut democrat who takes a hawkish view of the war on terror. I have to admit, Lieberman is one of a few Democrats with whom I can agree on many issues. I guess I have to add Toby Keith to that list too.

Hat tip to OTB

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.: posted by Dave 9:23 PM



Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Here's an outstanding piece by Steven Zeitchik about the latest in left-wing "documentaries":

The documentary form is serving a political purpose at the moment. (You might even say that a point of view is driving it.) And why not? The form, at least as it is practiced here, is perfect for the task. It favors emotion over logic, helped along by shrewd editing, manipulative music, clever graphics and gonzo stunts. For their creators, such documentaries allow for "reporting" without the messy business of fact-checking or the checks and balances of beat journalism. For the audience, they serve as, well, echo chambers.

[...]

Movies like "Outfoxed," "Control Room" and "Fahrenheit 911" work differently. They begin by knowing their thesis -- and their audience -- and operate backward. In the process, artists keen to point up the propagandistic efforts of others show themselves all too willing to take part in such efforts themselves.

Yet to call these films propaganda is also to misunderstand them. They don't seek to convince the unconvinced or herd the untamed. They aim directly at the sheep. Little wonder that the main means of distributing "Outfoxed" is through house parties organized by MoveOn.org, the group whose Bush-bashing is at least as bald-faced as anything on Fox. Call them flockumentaries, movies people attend en masse, to nestle together in easy confirmation of their most cherished beliefs -- to learn, really, what they already know.


Flockumentaries. Heh. Where I come from, we call that "preaching to the choir."

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.: posted by Dave 4:15 PM


Funniest comment I've seen all day:

"Never trust averages. The average American has one breast and one testicle."

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.: posted by Dave 1:20 PM


Hollywood Republicans? Who knew?

In addition to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tinseltown rebels include Bo Derek, Bruce Willis, Tom Selleck, Dennis Miller, Mel Gibson, Chuck Norris, Ben Stein, Pat Sajak, Kelsey Grammer, Danny Aiello, Patricia Heaton and James Woods. "I love George Bush right now and I always have," Mr. Woods told Jay Leno in 2001. "I'm the only guy in L.A. who voted for him."

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.: posted by Dave 9:46 AM


I wonder if this will pan out...

Iraqi security reportedly discovered three missiles carrying nuclear heads concealed in a concrete trench northwest of Baghdad, official sources said Wednesday.

The official daily al-Sabah quoted the sources as saying the missiles were discovered in trenches near the city of Tikrit, the hometown of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.


Of course, Reuters says differently...

Iraq's Interior Ministry dismissed as "stupid" a report in a local newspaper Wednesday that said three nuclear missiles had been found near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

A senior U.S. military official told reporters he had no information on the report in the Iraqi newspaper al-Sabah. He said officials were checking the report.

Asked by Reuters about the report, a spokesman at the Interior Ministry said: "It's stupid."


Stay tuned.


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.: posted by Dave 9:41 AM


Soccer moms, NASCAR dads, and now... security moms. So says Michelle Malkin...

I am what this year's election pollsters call a "security mom." I'm married with two young children. I own a gun. And I vote.
Nothing matters more to me right now than the safety of my home and the survival of my homeland. I believe in the right to defend myself, and in America's right to defend itself against its enemies. I am a citizen of the United States, not the United Nations.

I want a president who is of one mind, not two, about what must be done to protect our freedom and our borders. I don't care about the hair on his head or the wrinkles in his forehead. I am not awed by his ability to ride a snowboard or fly a plane. Nor does it matter much to me whether his wife speaks four languages or bakes good cookies.

What I want is a commander in chief who will stop pandering to political correctness and People magazine editors, and start pandering to me.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks shook me out of my Generation X stupor. Unlike Hollywood and The New York Times and the ivory tower, I have not settled back casually into a Sept. 10 way of life. I have studied the faces on the FBI's most-wanted-terrorists list. When I ride the train, I watch for suspicious packages in empty seats. When I am on the highways, I pay attention to large trucks and tankers. I make my husband take his cell phone with him everywhere — even on a quick milk run or on a walk to the community pool.


There are more of these types of voters than the Democrats would like to think. Michelle has some advice for our next president:

To paraphrase the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher: Gentlemen, this is no time to go warm and fuzzy. Security moms will never forget that toddlers and schoolchildren were incinerated in the hijacked planes on Sept. 11. Murderous Islamic fanatics will stop at nothing to do the same to our kids. As they plot our death and destruction, these enemies will not be won over by either hair-sprayed liberalism or bleeding-heart conservatism.

Neither will we.


Exactly.

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.: posted by Dave 9:26 AM



Tuesday, July 20, 2004

WTF?

NYPD cops blasted a federal judge’s ruling aimed at stopping them from searching demonstrators’ bags outside the Republican National Convention, saying the decision gives “an open door to terrorists.”

So Boston can set up a surveillance state for the DNC, yet the NYPD can't search demonstrators at the RNC? You have got to be kidding me.

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.: posted by Dave 8:28 PM


Read this. Then ask yourself what kind of self-absorbed person could even consider what the author is considering?
 
I look at my beautiful son, watching him sleep, and I get very angry at people that even ponder this sort of thing. Life as a mother in the 'burbs ain't so bad, missy. Ask my wife, and hundreds more like her.
 
Children are a GIFT, not a liability. It's time adults either start looking at them that way, or stop screwing.
 
Hat tip to Cam Edwards.

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.: posted by Dave 8:19 PM


In response to the Governator's pejorative "girlie men" directed toward Golden State Democrats, here are the T-shirts.


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.: posted by Dave 8:00 PM


Talk about a bad flight...

Seeing that the crew were intoxicated and were not fulfilling their duties, Chernopup asked to be served by a sober and competent flight attendant, Ms Dannenberg said.

He was then beaten up by two crew members.

On Russian flights, attendants often have to struggle to keep intoxicated passengers under control.

But on this flight, Ms Dannenberg said flight attendants were so intoxicated that they "behaved improperly" and only began catering to passengers one-and-a-half hours into the four-hour trip.


Yikes.

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.: posted by Dave 7:58 PM


Things that make me wish I was not a Microsoft developer:

A couple weeks ago, Microsoft hired Jessica Simpson to entertain the geek hoards at its annual TechEd in San Diego. Sitting in the front row (don't ask) watching Jessica serenade a privileged ubergeek in a chair on stage (admonishing him with "Don't touch my butt!") I couldn't help but hearken back to the good old days and wonder if it's time to belly back up to the bar.

Note to self. Avoid future Tech Ed events.



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.: posted by Dave 4:03 PM


Once again, it appears an online retailer may have pre-empted a major announcement from a publisher. Earlier today, EBgames.com began listing both the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions of ESPN NHL 2K5 and ESPN NBA 2K5 for $19.99. The new price point is the same as ESPN NFL 2K5, whose discounting sent waves through the industry when it was announced last month.

That's a far cry from the usual $49-59 price tag for new release games. In fact, at that price, I might just go and get another XBox (I liquidated my old one last year).

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.: posted by Dave 4:00 PM


There is an interesting discussion on Slashdot about RSS.

Infoworld's CTO Chad Dickerson says he has a love/hate relationship with RSS. He loves the changes to his information production and consumption, but he hates the behavior of some RSS feed readers. Every hour, Infoworld "sees a massive surge of RSS newsreader activity" that "has all the characteristics of a distributed DoS attack." So many requests in such a short period of time are creating scaling issues.

From personal experience, I can say that I have seen this happen when the RSS aggregator either has no options for limiting feeds, or the user has improperly configured the software. When running a local RSS aggregator, my 400 or so feeds can really bog down my system, especially if I haven't updated in days. That's really why I went over to the web-based aggregator (BlogLines) instead.

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.: posted by Dave 3:41 PM


Luke Hutteman's fine .NET-based RSS aggregator, SharpReader, has been updated. New features include text autocomplete, and a Send via Email option.

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.: posted by Dave 12:12 PM


The Wall Street Journal now offers RSS feeds.

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.: posted by Dave 12:09 PM


From the AP:

Singer Linda Ronstadt (news) not only got booed, she got the boot after lauding filmmaker Michael Moore and his new movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" during a performance at the Aladdin hotel-casino.

Of course, this comes the day after a report that Sir Elton John has been ranting about some ostensibly Draconian artistic censorship on the part of the Bush Administration.

The truth is that the government has had little to do with the floggings given to performers like Ronstadt and the Dixie Chicks. The ire has come from none other than the paying public, who, believe it or not, prefer to see performances and not soapbox grandstanding.

So don't start accusing the Bushies of instigating some process of stifling free thought in this country. If this country was indeed the "Amerika" that John proports it to be, Michael Moore would be spending his nights on Riker's Island instead of in SoHo, Ted Rall would be dropping the soap with Saddam Hussein, and Gore Vidal would be six feet under courtesy of a sniper bullet. No, this is not "Amerika". This is America, where we boo self-righteousness off the stage. Ms. Ronstadt learned that last night. Mr. John should learn that, too.

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.: posted by Dave 11:24 AM


"sometimes things they don't turn out quite exactly how you planned.

72 hours ago there was not a single, solitary hint that kris and i would be thrust into the most emotionally wrenching experience that any parent-to-be could ever go through. what looked initially like a bad migraine turned far, far too quickly into a life threatening, early, undetectable and freakishly aggressive case of preeclampsia.
in 48 hours kris went from a healthy, happy mother-to-be, to a woman who was frighteningly close to having a stroke and seizure and whose kidneys and liver were failing. and so, at 7:00 p.m. on july fourth 2004, the impossibly hard choice was made to deliver eric at a time when the odds aren't in his favor to help kris survive."


Thus begins a very interesting day-by-day account of a family who has unexpectedly given birth to a premature baby boy named Eric. If you are a parent, will soon be a parent, or plan to be in the future, I think you will find this story very compelling.

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.: posted by Dave 11:12 AM


MoveOn.org and Common Cause are suing Fox News for using the slogan "Fair and Balanced". Think about that for a second. Two of the most liberal organizations out there are suing Fox News for partisanship. The irony is thick indeed.

It should be noted that Fox News Channel never claims that some of its shows aren't partisan. It does, however, differentiate between partisanship and news, and it does so very clearly. Hannity and O'Reilly shape events to conform to their own view. Anyone would be an idiot to claim otherwise. But if you really think that Laurie Dhue, for example, is reporting biased news, then you're just being silly.

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.: posted by Dave 11:01 AM


The blogosphere has been all over this one today:

Sandy Berger, former President Clinton's national security adviser, is the focus of a Justice Department investigation after removing highly classified terrorism documents and handwritten notes from a secure reading room during preparations for the Sept. 11 commission hearings.

[...]

Berger served as Clinton’s national security adviser for all of the president’s second term and most recently has been informally advising Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Clinton asked Berger last year to review and select the administration documents that would be turned over to the commission.

The FBI searches of Berger’s home and office occurred after National Archives employees told agents they believed they saw Berger place documents in his clothing while reading sensitive Clinton administration papers and that some documents were then noticed missing, officials said.


This seems to be a trend within former Clintonians - hiding and/or destroying documents. One has to wonder what John Kerry is thinking today after having Berger sign on ("informally" as the A.P. puts it) as a national SECURITY advisor.

UPDATE: Mick at Fishkite asks:

Imagine if the standard-bearer of "honesty" for the Bush campaign was exposed as a liar by the Senate Intelligence Committee and if Condoleeza Rice, his national security adviser, was the focus of a criminal investigation for stuffing classified national security documents into her clothing and briefcase, and then losing them.

Would this not be huge news, dominating the headlines for weeks? Would it not become content for a MoveOn.org or Michael Moore film?


You bet it would, and we'd never hear the end of it.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Berger is no longer associated with the Kerry campaign. Gee, I wonder why.

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.: posted by Dave 10:53 AM


Duke freshman may have an interesting surprise awaiting them: new iPods.

According to one anonymous source, Duke University is in talks to provide each incoming new student with an iPod, or an iPod mini. While the deal is not necessarily tied to the iTunes Music Store, the iPods should be used for various educational content purposes, as well as for new student orientation.

Well, it is a private school, so they can do with the tuition money whatever they want. But I hope the school isn't fooling itself into thinking that the students will use the devices for "educational content". The thought of that idea makes me laugh out loud.

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.: posted by Dave 10:46 AM


For my wife (via rexblog) comes this Google hack:  Cookin' With Google.

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.: posted by Dave 10:44 AM


Mozilla now has a plug-in that ties directly to the BugMeNot database, allowing users to bypass compulsory website registration. Heck, I might be persuaded to try Firefox or Mozilla yet.

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.: posted by Dave 10:41 AM


I was initially encouraged when I read about the "unification" of the three major IM clients (AIM, MSN, and Y!) until I noticed that it was only for the ENTERPRISE. When are these bozos going to come together with a common framework where any IM user and message any OTHER IM user? Probably never. They don't have incentive to do so, except... yes, for the ENTERPRISE.
 
The best solution for me has been Trillian, which allows me to run all three IM clients in one user interface. However, that still doesn't solve the problem of IMing someone on AIM when I am only logged onto MSN, and vice versa... or having a conference with an AIM user, 2 MSN users, and a Y! user. Sigh.

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.: posted by Dave 10:31 AM


Incident at Times Square:

Police officers armed with automatic rifles and flanked by bomb-sniffing dogs flooded midtown Monday night, after a device exploded in the heart of Times Square.

Investigators say the device contained gunpowder and b-b's.

Police do not believe the incident was an act of terrorism but the United States Secret Service and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are both investigating the incident.


Lileks speculates that it could be another "dry run". I'm not so sure. The device was not very incendiary, as it was composed of BBs and gunpowder. My wife speculates that perhaps someone was just trying to see if they could get away with detonating ANY explosive device. I concede the possibility, yet I hope that I am right, and not Lileks and my wife.

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.: posted by Dave 10:24 AM



Monday, July 19, 2004

Hhmph. Well, now the Blogfather has tied me in appearances in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press.

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.: posted by Dave 3:00 PM


Read this wonderful essay on the fundamental differences between Americans and Canadians, using the Alaska-B.C. border towns of Hyder and Stewart as a backdrop.

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.: posted by Dave 2:31 PM


Arthur Chrenkoff's roundup of good news from Iraq is now appearing on OpinionJournal. Now if only the major media outlets would pick up on that theme.

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.: posted by Dave 2:14 PM


Annie Jacobsen's Terror in the Skies Again piece took off in the blogosphere like wild fire last week. Today, she posts a follow up. Asks Mrs. Jacobsen:

Political correctness has become a major road block for airline safety. From what I've now learned from the many emails and phone calls that I have had with airline industry personnel, it is political correctness that will eventually cause us to stand there wondering, "How did we let 9/11 happen again?"

Let's hope we never have to ask that question.

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.: posted by Dave 1:51 PM


Via AlphaPatriot:

According to new figures released Friday by Arbitron, Air America has slightly improved WLIB's ratings in the 10 A.M. to 3 P.M. period but has not managed to gain ground on Limbaugh and WABC. In the April/May/June period, WLIB earned a 1.7-percent share of the New York audience in the late morning and early afternoon, putting it in 23rd place in the overall market. For its part, WABC earned a 4.8 share of the audience, making it tied for second place in the market.

If you are an upstart liberal programming network, and you cannot garner any higher share than 23rd in the New York market, you have more problems than just the vast right wing conspiracy.

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.: posted by Dave 1:30 PM


From Gersh Kuntzman via Newsweek:

The USDA is so beholden to American agricultural producers that a report it commissioned in 1999 didn't address the health needs of Americans, but merely the concerns of the agriculture industry. For example, if Americans cut their consumption of sweeteners to healthy levels, it would translate "into a 4.8-million-ton reduction in domestic sugar output" in Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho, Michigan, and California. If Americans cut their world-leading consumption of fats and oils, the "reductions will have the largest impact on the soy bean sector...translating into 20 percent less acreage." If we were to cut our intake of meat, the shift "would have a measurable effect on the grain sector."

But if we were to eat more fruit, the report said, "imports would likely take up the slack, as land, labor and climatic constraints limit expansion of domestic fruit production." In other words, the USDA can't afford to encourage healthy eating. No wonder nutritionists think the USDA and the agri-industrial complex are part of the problem, not the solution.


It took so-called fad diets like the Atkins' Diet to illustrate this point.

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.: posted by Dave 1:26 PM


Engadget leads a host of sites regarding the release of the new iPod. Apparently, it's thinner, has a longer battery life, and is cheaper than its predecessors. Also the 15 GB version is no more.

Even so, I am sticking with my Dell Digital Jukebox, if for no other reason than it's not an Apple product.

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.: posted by Dave 9:46 AM


From today's Wall Street Journal:

When it comes to Canadian identity, Fox News Channel is apparently a threat. Al-Jazeera, on the other hand, is just another point of view enriching Canadian culture. That's the message sent last week when the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) granted the Qatar-based, anti-American al-Jazeera a Canadian license. Fox has wanted into Canada since 1999 but has so far been shut out -- except in Ottawa, at the Canadian Parliament, which requested and got a Fox feed last August.

[...]

The darkest interpretation of all of this is that Canada's liberal political elites find al-Jazeera's view of the world more compatible than Fox's.


I think all but the most staunch liberals in America would have to agree with that.

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.: posted by Dave 9:41 AM



Saturday, July 17, 2004

Grace Marzioli blogs about the difference between adult and embryonic stem cell research.

If you don't know the difference between the two, I'll give you a quick run down. Human embryonic stem cells are a type of pluripotent stem cell derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst. Pluripotent means a cell that can give rise to many different types of differentiated cells. Adult stem cell are found in all tissues of the growing human being and also have the potential to transform themselves into practically all other cell types, or revert to being stem cells with greater reproductive capacity. President Bush has placed a ban on embryonic stem cell research, except in the case of 11 already existing lines, because of ethical reasons. However, adult stem cells are open for research and use, since they do not involve the destruction of a human embryo. However, the media and celebrity endorsers of ESCR only tout one angle. In doing this, they severely damage the public's opinion of SCR by keeping vital information about ASCR from them.

As it turns out, ASCR is much more fruitful than ESCR. (Emphasis mine.)


Admittedly, I have not been well-informed about this subject. Thanks to Grace's link-filled post, I have a lot to read on the subject.

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.: posted by Dave 6:53 PM



Friday, July 16, 2004

President Bush meets with a serviceman who lost a leg in battle, then goes running with him more than a year later. Why haven't we seen any typical photo-ops of this? Answer: Because President Bush is President Bush, and not Senator Kerry, or President Clinton.

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.: posted by Dave 7:41 PM


Any geeks up for some DOS attacks on the ISPs listed here?

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.: posted by Dave 7:31 PM


It seems that Blogger has added an actual editing tool to its interface today, complete with keyboard shortcuts, lists, image uploading, etc. I didn't even think about commenting on it until now.

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.: posted by Dave 7:29 PM


Even though there is lots of skepticism about the Annie Jacobsen story noted below, I am much more skeptical about this:

Jessica Simpson's mother has told Vanity Fair magazine her daughter is a genius whose IQ is in the 160s.

Tina Simpson is so proud of singer Jessica - famed for making a series of ditzy comments on reality MTV show Newlyweds: Nick + Jessica - that she told the American publication about her incredible intelligence.


Um, OK.



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.: posted by Dave 7:10 PM


The blogosphere is ripe with opinions about the Annie Jacobsen article on WomensWallStreet.com. I listened to KVI 570 tonight where she was interviewed, and it certainly didn't seem hysterical or implausible to me. Everyone remembers the James Woods incident in August 2001... what if someone had spoken up, and we had been prepared then for what happened the following month?
 
A captain for Northwest Airlines appeared on the same radio show and spoke about how difficult things are going to be for the airlines as long as they continue their politically correct attitude, where they examine everyone's laptops, cellphones, and shoes, but they cannot take aside a group of Syrians with one-way flight tickets, half of whom are preboarding. He has a very good point. The airlines are going to be wary of discriminatory lawsuits, and loss of customers in a very tight market.
 
But let's analyze that a little further. What if an airline decided to truly let the market dictate the service? To wit, let's say JetBlue Airlines decides to market itself as willing to ethnically profile its customers. They announce publicly that they will now meticulously check the credentials of every Middle Eastern passenger. They pledge to implement security procedures akin to those of the Israeli el-Al Airlines. Every flight is guaranteed to carry one or more air marshalls, and every pilot is armed. Now think about this: which airline are you more likely to fly? The secure, discriminatory one? The less secure, less discriminatory one? Assume that a premium is also added to the ticket price of JetBlue because of the added security measures. Would you be more likely to fly with them? I would, without hesitation.
 
One other point... if these 14 Middle Easterners weren't indeed doing something suspicious, fine. Let's hear from them. Interview them; give them a platform to recount the events of the flight, so that the public will hear their side of the story, to know what really happened. Prove to us that this was nothing more than Ms. Jacobsen's paranoia, and nothing more.
 
ADDENDUM: Apparently Ms. Jacobsen will be appearing on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw on Monday.

UPDATE: Maybe this is what really happened. Heh.

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.: posted by Dave 6:49 PM


Laurence points us to a website that tells us who General Tso was. I have to admit; I always wondered, but I have never been around Google at the very moment I wondered.

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.: posted by Dave 11:51 AM


Martha Sentenced:

Domestic icon Martha Stewart was handed a prison term of just five months today for lying about a stock sale. After asking the judge for leniency, she emerged defiant from the courthouse to say she was being persecuted and declared, "I'll be back."

"I'm not afraid. Not afraid whatsoever. I'm very sorry it had to come to this," she told a crowd of media and supporters afterward, speaking in a strong voice on the courthouse steps.

Stewart, who was also ordered to serve five months of home confinement and fined $30,000, did win a key victory when U.S. District Court Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum stayed her sentence pending appeal, a process that could last many months.


Such contrition, Martha. By the way, those of us in the real world... yes, the normal, everyday Joes... we would have gotten a far more severe penalty than 5 months in prison (probably a country club in Greenwich)  and 5 months AT HOME and a fine LESS THAN what we made off of an insider trade.

Says Martha, "I'm not afraid." Way to be brave, Ms. Stewart. We couldn't be prouder. Now shut up, and go serve your "sentence".
 
UPDATE: I originally missed the part about the 5 months of non-home based confinement, so I edited the post.
 
Also, some people seem to think that Martha shouldn't get any prison time at all. I disagree. These people in positions of power and knowledge (people like Lay and Kozlowski) should have to serve time for their crimes. I'm the last person to jump on the capitalists in the world, but to abuse the system is wrong, and should be punished accordingly.

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.: posted by Dave 11:42 AM



Thursday, July 15, 2004

Eight soldiers flying home from Iraq for two weeks of R&R flew in style instead of coach after first-class passengers offered to swap seats with them.

"The soldiers were very, very happy, and the whole aircraft had a different feeling," flight attendant Lorrie Gammon told The Dallas Morning News in Thursday's editions.

The June 29 seat-swap on American Airlines Flight 866 from Atlanta to Chicago started before boarding, when a businessman approached one of the soldiers and traded his seat.

When the swapping was done, "the other two first-class passengers wanted to give up their seats, too, but they couldn't find any more soldiers," Gammon said.

Another flight attendant, Candi Spradlin, said she was impressed with the acts of good will.

"If nothing else, those soldiers got a great homecoming," she said.


I applaud the passengers for showing this level of respect for our soldiers. This is how the defenders of our country should be treated. The sad thing, though, is that we should even have to report this sort of behavior as if it is some sort of anomaly. The truth is that, well, it IS an anomaly.

Oh, and thanks to CNN for burying this story way back in the Southwest section of their website. Idiots.

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.: posted by Dave 2:04 PM


Picture of the Day:



What a d***head.

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.: posted by Dave 2:02 PM


In reference to the earlier speculation that former Bears' coach Mike Ditka was going to run for Senate, apparently, he has reconsidered.

He acknowledged that the sometimes fiery temperament that prompted him to answer taunting fans with obscenities in the days when he coached the floundering New Orleans Saints might not be a perfect fit on Capitol Hill.

"I don't know how I would react on the Senate floor if I got in a confrontation with somebody I really didn't appreciate or maybe didn't appreciate me," Ditka said.


Too bad. I was getting used to the idea of Ditka yelling "f*** off" to Patrick Leahy. Heh.

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.: posted by Dave 10:07 AM



Wednesday, July 14, 2004

According to engadget, eBay will soon be allowing auctions of downloaded music.

eBay is conducting a 180-day pilot in the Music category with pre-approved sellers of downloadable digital music files. During the pilot, only pre-approved sellers will be able to list in eBay’s Digital Downloads category. After 180 days, eBay will evaluate the pilot and determine whether to enable other copyright owners or resellers of downloadable media to list in eBay’s Digital Downloads category if they meet certain criteria. Approved sellers in this pilot have represented to eBay that they are the rights owner or have contractual permission from the rights owner to resell the listed media. A buyer of downloadable media through eBay cannot re-list or resell the media on eBay.

The sound you hear is the RIAA screaming.

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.: posted by Dave 2:00 PM


Cam Edwards quotes part of a Bush speech last week:

"(Senator Kerry) voted for the Patriot Act, for NAFTA, for the No Child Left Behind Act and for the use of force in Iraq. Now he opposes the Patriot Act, NAFTA, the No Child Left Behind Act and the liberation of Iraq. If you disagree with the senator from Massachusetts on most any issue, you may just have caught him on the wrong day.

[...]

My opponent now has a running mate. I look forward to a spirited debate. Senator Kerry is rated as the most liberal member of the Senate. And he chose a fellow lawyer who is the fourth most liberal member of the Senate. Back in Massachusetts, that's what they call balancing the ticket."


I'm sorry I missed that speech. Heh.

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.: posted by Dave 1:58 PM


Michelle Malkin is not happy with her Filipino progenitors:

Add the flag of the Philippines to the International Hall of Appeasers. Sign this pitiful nation up for a lifetime membership to the Axis of Weasels. And remind me never again to brag about the proud fighting spirit of my ancestors.

Ouch.

UPDATE: Virginia Postrel thinks the Filipinos have now made themselves targets for future attacks.

The way I see it, it's like the bully you hope won't bother you on the way home from school. You cut and run once, and you're in for a long spell of harassment by the bully.

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.: posted by Dave 1:54 PM


Headline: DVDs will be obsolete in 10 years: Bill Gates

In other news, the personal computer will never need more than 640K.

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.: posted by Dave 1:52 PM


Wired on the future of cable a la carte:

Several lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), already support mandated "a la carte" carriage. Under such a system, people could pick only the few channels they want rather than have to buy large "tiers" of cable programming that include 70 or 80 channels.

The cable industry argues that an a la carte system would destroy the economics of the business.

[...]

"Even if consumers were to choose just 17 channels, their bills would go up considerably," said Brian Dietz, spokesman for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. "Bundles of programming provide the best value for consumers."

Consumer advocates, however, charge that the cable industry just wants to preserve its power to squash any independent networks in which it doesn't have an ownership stake.

"I think that's a lot of it," said Kenneth DeGraff, a policy analyst at the Consumers Union. "If you ask the smaller cable guys, they're in favor of (a la carte). It's the big media companies that are opposing it."

Indeed, the American Cable Association, which represents small rural cable operators, said it would voluntarily offer a la carte programming if the big program networks would let it.


How much influence do the big conglomerates have? No one seems to be sure, but consider the number of similarly affiliated channels that come on your cable package (i.e. Fox Family, Fox News, FX, Fox Sports Net, etc.)

From the looks of things, the media companies actually dear the very market in which they operate - niche channels would indeed have trouble in a marketplace where purchasing them as part of a package was not mandatory. Even so, I don't know if I will ever approve of a mandate from Big Brother directing the companies to provide options that allow the consumer to choose just a handful of channels.

However, I do agree with allowing those options into the marketplace. That is why I buy content on the internet, such as MLB.TV, where I can see exactly the programming that I want to see, and nothing else. Furthermore, I will continue to do so as long as the market does not allow me to have the a la carte option - $40 for a bundle of useless channels is just too much to pay.

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.: posted by Dave 1:42 PM





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