Month: July 2005

Any Muslim that denies that terror is a part of Islam is kafir [an unbeliever] So claims the militant Islamic organization al-Ghurabaa. On his talk radio show the other day, a frustrated Michael Graham made the following statement: Sadly, as it is constituted today, Islam IS a terrorist organization, but the good news is that…

The Inquirer’s Tom Ferrick (a staunch supporter of mandatory African American history for all Philadelphia school children — a subject I posted about here) is asking his readers to test their black history IQ. Intrigued by this, I took the test, and received a perfect score of 100% correct. I’m not sure how to interpret…

Coco has a small friend — a full-grown Shih-Tzu named “Tristan” — who’s known her since she was four months old. Tristan is a neutered adult male (and less than one-third Coco’s size), which is why I am surprised and shocked to see that his once-meek habits have clearly turned from friendly to blatantly amorous.…

One of the young men charged with murdering male-to-female teenager Gwen Araujo (with whom he’d had sexual relations) explained to the court what was on his mind: “Your whole life you think you’re a heterosexual. Then you get pleasure from a homosexual. It disgusted me,” he said. “I thought it was impossible to derive pleasure…

Samizdata’s Guy Herbert made such a brilliant remark that (despite the fact that I’m out for dinner and shouldn’t even be using this computer right now) I can’t resist sharing it. Otherwise I might forget. It’s about freedom versus so-called “rights.” Freedom has no natural place in a “hierarchy of rights”. Freedom used to be…

Virginia Postrel’s reporting (via Glenn Reynolds) of this shocking display of anti-book triumphalism reminded me of what I saw done to the San Francisco Public Library: a drastic reduction in the number of books, with the former stacks of books replaced by huge uncluttered spaces with Internet terminals here and there. (Plenty of space now…

Charles Krauthammer, noting that one-quarter of all British Muslims sympathize with the recent bombings (and one-fifth have little or no loyalty to Britain), observes that these trends are worse among younger British Muslims. For this he blames a “massive failure of assimilation.” Massive failure of assimilation? Excuse me, but isn’t that the whole idea of…

For all my Inquirer-based criticism (much of which is over what happened, not the way it was reported), I wish the other MSM outlets showed the Inquirer’s foresight where it comes to blogs. Not only does the Inquirer feature a regular column about blogs, they have their own blog called Blinq. It’s liberal, (and honest…

This just in from Drudge: Helen Thomas will kill herself if Dick Cheney runs for president: Veteran wire reporter Helen Thomas is vowing to ‘kill herself’ if Dick Cheney announces he is running for president. The newspaper HILL first reported the startling claim on Thursday. MORE “The day Dick Cheney is going to run for…

According to a headline in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, Air America Radio’s ratings are down — to the point where the network is “stuck in the cellar”: Air America’s overall ratings, which rose initially after all the free publicity, faded before the November election and haven’t recovered. Still, it isn’t yet time to call the coroner…

I’m unable to resist these fascinating remarks by Beatles producer George Martin (a guy who once was young and hip): Legendary BEATLES producer GEORGE MARTIN disapproves of modern technology because now anyone can make a record in the comfort of their own home. Martin sealed his place in history by piecing together a string of…

Speaking of intimidation, this post from Joe’s Dart Blog has so upset the Guardian that they’ve not only condemned the New Jersey blogger, but the whole blogosphere for “obsessively personal attacks”: Rightwing bloggers from the US, where the Guardian has a large online following, were behind the targeting last week of a trainee Guardian journalist…

Via Glenn Reynolds, I see that Daily Pundit’s Lastango is encouraging citizens to get involved with self-help terrorist awareness training, and he’s citing such programs as the “Highway Watch” and “Eagle Eyes.” Concludes Lastango, We may one day decide we need to approximate Israel?s level of awareness, where even school children are given terror awareness…

Driving around I saw an improvised sort of bumpersticker, consisting of two slogans on a rear windshield sign: NOTE: The car and sign are real. The customized license plate was designed by Dennis. I must say, it’s a rarity, as these two slogans in juxtaposition are not available as a bumpersticker for sale anywhere that…

I should be more careful when I complain about things like pulling teeth, putting teeth in laws, etc. An important liberal blogger (I guess he’s liberal) named Billmon likened Dick Cheney to the sadistic Nazi dentist played by Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man, and he supplied a gruesome picture showing the ghastly tortures beginning as…

I finally saw War of the Worlds, and despite my concerns that it was about the war in Iraq, I think I can safely state that it was not. At least, I don’t think the Americans yet have anything quite as nasty as these….. Daytime view: And the same critters at night: They’re really mean,…

The 149th Carnival of the Vanities has been posted at Pratie Place. Host Melinama does an admirable job with innumerable posts, many of which are political in nature — this despite the fact that she doesn’t like political blogging: I don’t enjoy political blogging, but that’s the majority of what was sent to me, so…

There’s a big fuss being created right now over Senate Bill 397, which would exempt gun manufacturers from lawsuits based on the “criminal or unlawful misuse” of firearms. I’m getting a bit tired of opponents of this bill saying that it would protect manufacturers and gun dealers against ordinary negligence actions. Here’s today’s Philadelphia Inquirer…

I have been busy configuring my new toy, and it’s a time consuming process, because I bought it used. (Such a deal!) Anyway, I’m not given to following trends, so after my last MP3 player conked out for the last time, instead of buying a new Apple Ipod, I decided to buy a Creative Nomad…

Here’s Garrison Keillor, in 1997, on plaid pants: TR: Get into the mood of spring with a pair of bright, festive plaid pants – the fashion exclamation – plaid pants, one way of saying, “This is me, it couldn’t be anyone else.” GK: In primitive aboriginal tribes, the male who wore the brighest colors was…