Month: June 2004

  • Terrorizing the First Amendment

    Here’s a fascinating example of people who just don’t get it: The first time she felt numb. The second time she cried. Lillian Glass, a Beverly Hills psychologist, was stunned at the barbarity of terrorists beheading their hostages, right there on her computer screen. Equally surprising was how easily she found the video online. “You…

  • The UN is at it again … and by “it” I mean “doing nothing.”

    Nat Hentoff, with his usual perspicacity, once again slays the UN for it’s (non-)reaction to Sudan, and closes with this bit on one American’s response: On May 4, American ambassador Sichan Siv, walking out of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in disgust after it had re-elected Sudan to membership, said to The New York Sun,…

  • Easy to admire from afar….

    Jim Dunnigan: It’s easy to admire terrorists from a distance, rather more difficult when they are terrorizing you. (Via GlennReynolds.com.) While Dunnigan was speaking of popular perceptions in the Mideast, I immediately found myself thinking about popular perceptions in the United States, where terrorists, loathed after 9/11, are now finding respect. Even admiration. Or whatever…

  • Gracious sakes!

    Via Andrew Sullivan, I found quite a book review by Gary Indiana. The following is just an excerpt: [I]t’s impossible to actually read this book without missing Clinton, for unlike his predecessor and his successor, the Spook and the Born-Again Cokehead/Booze Hound, he isn’t mean-spirited, homophobic, racist, or idiotic, never confuses himself with Jesus Christ,…

  • This is just to say something that isn’t about war or politics.

    I don’t know why I had William Carlos Williams in my head, but I did and I stumbled across this bit of nonsensical criticism: “It is interesting that Williams himself never quite understood the workings of his own prosody. Thus when, in an interview of 1950, John W. Gerber asked the poet what it is…

  • A Chip Off the Old Block

    There’s been a spate of statue smashings in Venice and despite published reports, I hardly think a vandal is on the loose. Officials credit “an isolated lunatic,” and the case of course brought to the reporter’s mind Laszlo “I am Jesus Christ!” Toth. What it brought to my mind was something others apparently see as…

  • If elected I will not serve!

    I’m running in an election I can’t really claim I want to win, because if I win I lose. Besides, the only reason I’m in the election is that my keyboard was broken, which wasn’t my fault, so I’m a true victim of circumstance. I refuse to campaign, and I refuse to debate. I decided…

  • News you won’t see — from Le Monde

    Here’s a report (by Olivier Guitta of The American Thinker) which isn’t getting much attention, so I thought I’d link to it here. As far as I know, the following story has not been picked up by the US media, and that is definitely a mistake. You will see why shortly. Out of all places,…

  • Whose blog is this?

    After a long litany of being spammed with many hundreds of SPAM-comments, being publicly taunted and challenged by a spammer (or spam defender), and after months of abusive comments, I am now almost ready to turn off comments, because it is taking too much time and distracting me both from blogging and from life. It…

  • WORDS ARE NOT TRUTH!

    As Varius Crispinus reminds, the idea that anyone’s mind can be changed by an illogical slogan on a bumpersticker is astonishing. Yet people obviously believe in the power of nonsense slogans, proudly displayed. One of my favorites: “POVERTY IS VIOLENCE.” A demonstration that the driver of such a car does not think logically (something I…

  • Of War and Sophistry

    Returning from lunch today I saw a bumper sticker that read, “WAR Doesn’t Decide Who’s Right – Only Who’s Left.” I couldn’t help but think that the world is better left without the likes of Hitler. Beyond that though there’s something very naive in the logic. It presupposes that support for a given war effort…

  • Will bin Laden have a public defender?

    The Supreme Court’s ruling on the seizure and detention of suspected terrorists is in. The ruling reportedly is that “both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals seized as potential terrorists can challenge their treatment in U.S. courts.” There are a number of tricky angles on this thing. I certainly wouldn’t want to be locked away on…

  • What terrorism?

    People expecting to find public declarations or documents linking al Qaida to its supporting countries are a bit naive, for they forget that al Qaida is inherently a clandestine organization. The following letter from the Iranian leadership is illustrative of the elusive nature of the clandestine relationships enjoyed between al Qaida and its patron states.…

  • Friendly fire isn’t

    Mistakes are human. At least, so goes the conventional wisdom. But here’s a story I found via my blogfather which just makes my blood boil: Two officers of the Beaumont Police Department found one such danger when they entered a yard while responding to a call, and were surprised by a large rottwieler. Feeling threatened,…

  • Why not just blame the victim?

    Arthur Chrenkoff reported an interesting quote: “[t]he U.S. is not going to invade Sudan. That’s not a plausible option. But we can pass a tough U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing troops, as well as more support for African peacekeepers. If Germany, France and Spain don’t want to send troops to Iraq, then let them deploy…

  • Take that phone and stick it….

    Here’s a news item that ought to be great for the cell phone industry: Mobile phones cut sperm up to 30pc By Helen Tobler June 28, 2004 MEN who regularly carry a mobile phone could have their sperm count reduced by as much as 30 per cent. Those who place their phone near their groin,…

  • More shame mongers

    In this blog, I have long complained about sexual shame. Michael Moore has reminded me that there now exists a growing, very different kind of shame, of the sort which normally is against all common sense, against national interest, and possibly even less logical than sexual shame. Moore and those who think like him want…

  • Moore terror in the aisles….

    Lots of bloggers are mad as hell over Michael Moore’s piece of anti-American, Hezbollah-supported propaganda, Fahrenheit 911. Christopher Hitchens’ and Jeff Jarvis both do an excellent job of fisking Moore and the film, and countless other bloggers (too numerous to list) have spoken up. I am getting a lot of non-blogger traffic right now, and…

  • “Rock the vote, indeed.”

    A friend has pointed out this piece by one of my favorite writers, Christopher Hitchens. It should be required reading for anyone who comes away convinced by Farenheit 9/11 (such as Howard Stern, who I’m pretty sure spent a sizeable portion of yesterday’s show tongue-kissing Michael Moore). Here’s an excerpt, and not even the most…

  • Michael Moore Beheading video?

    Is Michael Moore guilty of making Islamic-style snuff films? Read this and decide. Or this. Or how about his latest film? Scenes include a public beheading in Saudi Arabia, Iraqis being burned by napalm, and the grisly sight of an Iraqi man dumping a dead baby into a truckbed filled with corpses. One of these…