Month: March 2004

Wow! This is the week for mistakes. (Ides of March and all that; maybe I should keep my fingers off the keyboard!) Unlike the New York Times, I try to correct my mistakes as soon as I notice them or as soon as others point them out to me. That last post was written on…

I just found out about something important that happened in my own state. Glenn Reynolds (who’s in Tennessee) does a better job of keeping me informed than the Philadelphia Inquirer, or the New York Times, or Dan Rather, or my local news. But here it is — Pennsylvania news (and it should be national news)…

Al Qaida should be very happy that it has influenced the Spanish elections: MADRID, Spain ? Voters punished Spain’s ruling party in elections Sunday, with many saying they were shaken by bombings in Madrid and furious with the government for backing the Iraq war and making their country a target for Al Qaeda (search). Does…

More “definitionitis” — this time in my local newspaper: [A]n edition of Merriam-Webster’s dictionary reprinted in 2002 has angered Arab Americans by linking anti-Semitism to Zionism and Israel. The Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, defines anti-Semitism as: “1: hostility toward Jews as a religious or racial minority group often accompanied by social, economic, and political…

Let’s see. According to the New York Times, we do not have enough information to know whether the latest terrorist attack was Marxist, or Islamofascist in nature. But at least they admit the ETA is Marxist. What I can’t help notice is that there already seems to be a political division where it comes to…

Here are a couple of pictures I took while visiting one of the uninhabited small volcanic islands in the Aegean Sea. I’m not an expert on the difference between “dormant” and “extinct” volcanoes, but what I liked about this one hole I photographed is that even though it was quite warm to the touch and…

Denied terrorism fascinates me, because it is so counterintuitive. Traditionally, terrorism is a tactic used by a small group to force a large group — the world, even — into paying attention. The goal is to dramatize the cause as well as make people fear the terrorists. Since Al Qaida, the old rule seems to…

Everybody is now talking about numbers. 9-11, and now 3-11. And 3-11 came exactly 911 days after 9-11. Etc. If this numbers game is intended as psychological warfare, it reveals how weak and superstitious its proponents are. Are they so medieval as to imagine that numerology will reduce the West to quivering obsequiousness, ready to…

Did you ever want to know your “Superhero Identity”? I didn’t, but this test found it for me, and it’s Friday, Online Test Day at Classical Values, where each week I share my innermost angst, and bare my most embarrassing truths. Here, then, is my Superhero profile: Your Superhero Identity For Today Is: Name: Black…

I always thought that if the Republicans had any sense (a mouthful in itself) that they’d hire Frank J. as a ghostwriter. Well I think they have! Dave Broder: “How would you accurately describe your role in this administration? Be honest.” I would say that I am a dark, insidious force pushing Bush toward war…

Yesterday, Jeff Jarvis reported the latest horror from the FCC: By a one-vote margin, the committee defeated an attempt to extend FCC censorship to cable and satellite. Listen: The First Amendment should prohibit what the FCC already does to TV and radio but, of course, its regulation and censorship is kept in place by the…

The 77th Carnival of the Vanities is up at Aaron’s Rantblog. Many gems, (which I am not so arrogant as to say includes my own offering, “Blood and Guts“) but here are some of my favorites: Solomon’s post about “media-manufactured piffle”; why Dean Esmay hates school; Blogs: the Next Generation Internet; how to stop SPAMbots;…

Hey, anyone new to this blog, be sure to check out my blogfather! He is a credit to the Second Amendment, and right now his famed weekly check on the gun bias is up. Take a look at the picture he has posted of the drooling anti-gun vultures, shown after their latest gun-grab vote. Kerry,…

Speaking of Savonarola, the 36th Bonfire of the Vanities is up at Dan K. O’Leary’s Pragmatic Conservatism. I like Dan’s style, wit, and and humor, and he did an excellent job despite cramming for finals at a school he hates! Read his entire “Roast of Repentance.” And repent aplenty!

The National Review features an opinion piece by Iranian activist Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi and his wife Elio Bonazzi which compares Khomeini to the Renaissance’s most famous enemy, Savonarola (viewed here — perhaps ironically — as a sort of prophet of the Protestant reformation): Girolamo Savonarola, an influential preacher, managed to create a theocracy that bears similarities…

I just learned that Timothy Noah was kind enough to link to my July 29 post about Leon Kass’s views on eating. My deepest thanks to Mr. Noah, and a big welcome to all visitors from Slate! Special thanks first and foremost to Glenn Reynolds for linking to the “ice cream post” (which I suspect…

Tonight I finally saw “The Passion,” and I don’t know whether this is a review, because I am not sure how I am supposed to analyze the film. (Should this be a review of politics? Religion? Or art?) Bear in mind that I like these types of films in general. I enjoyed “The Robe,” “Quo…

Here’s more on Howard Stern: This ain’t Orlando. Or Pittsburgh. Or Miami. Or Rochester. This is Washington DC. The city that gave Howard Stern his big push toward fame. It was Stern’s stint at DC101 in the early 1980s that caught the notice of some radio execs, who brought the “shock jock” to NYC –…

No time for blogging today, but I realized that I posted a couple of pictures — in draft form only, and they might be relevant to recent events. Mortality is of course natural. Laura at Oddly Normal was kind enough to link to my post on Leon Kass, and she adds a new observation: [Dr.…

Oh baby! (Via Glenn Reynolds.) I’m too wiped out to blog late last night….. Gone most of the day Sunday, but I’ll try to check back later.