Month: April 2005

  • New tactics, new heroes!

    Jeff Soyer (God bless him!) has sounded the alarm about a horrendous new piece of proposed legislation which would require ten year mandatory minimum sentences for anyone who so much as passes a joint to someone under eighteen: As the Republicans continue to self-destruct and also continue the “war on drugs”, along comes Wisconsin Congressman…

  • Old and in the way

    Out and about today, I found a curious old cemetery (obviously abandoned, but dating back to the Colonial period) abutting a school. The gravestones are mostly illegible with many of them broken, and a couple of the above-ground crypts have been vandalized and emptied by ghoulyard brats. The interplay between the school buses and the…

  • Deadly precursors and eliminationist rhetoric

    My blogfather Jeff Soyer picked up on this story about the now notorious “burrito lockdown” incident: CLOVIS, N.M. – A call about a possible weapon at a middle school prompted police to put armed officers on rooftops, close nearby streets and lock down the school. All over a giant burrito. Someone called authorities Thursday after…

  • When reality sucks, time out for the surreal!

    I finally went and saw the Dali exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It’s very, very impressive, and I am glad to see this much maligned artist finally getting the appreciation he deserves. There are as many views of Dali’s life and politics as there are critics, and he remains a very puzzling, very…

  • Enabling politically correct shame?

    I’ve always enjoyed Andrew Sullivan, and in many ways I consider him an inspiration. He’s always embodied non-conformity, and while I haven’t always agreed with him, I’ve always respected him. (I’ve only been blogging two years, so I guess I can’t always expect “always” to be that way always.) The other day, Andrew Sullivan crossed…

  • Finding and widening gaps

    Are iPods causing crime? Some people think so. …..[I]f thefts of iPods and cellphones are excluded, serious crime has actually fallen 3 percent so far this year, compared with last year, according to Michael J. Farrell, the deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives, who gave a presentation to the transportation authority’s board yesterday. That’s like saying…

  • Cosseting the corseting of culture?

    A noted libertarian blogger has linked to this infinitely painful, absolutely shocking group of pictures. His comment? Whatever turns you on, I always say. As a moral conservative, I take a very different approach. I say “Ouch!”

  • Parting shots?

    Via Jeff Jarvis, I see that Air America is not doing well in Washington DC’s talk radio ratings: WRC, which turned to a liberal talk format in January by adding Al Franken and some of his “Air America” crew, was nowhere to be found. It captured less than 0.1 percent of the audience, too low…

  • Mean business

    Interesting story here about man’s best friend: (WBZ) A Revere woman landed in the hospital Wednesday night, protecting her dog. 63 year-old Helen Lovell walks her purebred pug every night on Walnut Avenue. Around 8 p.m. Wednesday night, a man with a knife approached Lovell and her dog, Benjamin. The armed man demanded she turn…

  • Occupational hazards

    Nick Packwood (the great Ghost of a Flea) has told me I’m “it” — by passing along the following challenge: “Following this is a list of different occupations. You must select at least five of them. You may add more if you like to your list before you pass it on (after you select five…

  • Carnival 136

    I was out all day today but I just got back to discover that the Carnival of the Vanities has been posted. This week’s host, John C. A. Bambenek, living up to the best traditions of the Carnival, reviews more posts than I can count, and does this in spite of the fact that his…

  • Death can destroy your credibility!

    Speaking of dirt digging and background checks, this lesson in morality occupied three-quarters of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s front page yesterday. Stanford A. Douglas Jr. told police that, for seven years, he thought about killing William L. Berkeyheiser over a perceived racial slur when the two men worked together at a care facility in Philadelphia. On…

  • Reporting the digging before it’s been dug?

    Are Republicans digging up irrelevant dirt on Melody Townsel? According to Ms. Townsel (who wrote a letter to Amy at Daily Kos) post, they are: Hello, Daily Kos-ers: Tonight, my deepest fears regarding my pending testimony in the John Bolton nomination process have come true: Republicans have dredged up un unfortunate chapter of my life…

  • Coverups always involve cycles of shredding

    I don’t know why, but my dog Coco does not like my nice new document shredder. In fact, she hates it with a passion. Whenever I shred anything, as soon as she hears the noise, she charges in from wherever she is — apparently in the hope of putting an end to the shredding process.…

  • A hellishly hair-raising coverup?

    On August 20, 1994, a white buffalo was born on a farm in Janesville, Wisconsin, fulfilling ancient predictions of many Native Americans tribes that peace will come to men of all colors when the white buffalo returns. As a white buffalo matures, it’s hair changes colors, becoming yellow, brown and black – the colors of…

  • Spraying into the campfire . . .

    This week’s Bonfire of the Vanities is burning brightly at Boxing Alcibiades, whose blogname alone qualifies him for a blogroll link. His threat to deploy Diazanon against Classical Values is being taken most seriously, and is being submitted to our panel of resident scientists for further study, after which it will be referred to committee…

  • Abortionists Ensorcell Pharmacists, Murder Eggs

    “The battle over pharmacists’ consciences has been building for some time…”. That’s how the Christian Post spins the Illinois governor’s order that pharmacists comply with requests for emergency contraception. You see, it’s a little abortion everytime. In cases of rape, broken condoms — what have you. The law, we’re meant to believe, forces Christian pharmacists…

  • Vigilante: An ill-defined Spanish word . . .

    As Darleen Click points out, semantics are being used to cloud the debate over illegal immigration — with ordinary words being much misused: Read almost any story on illegal aliens and the MSM almost without fail refers to illegal aliens as “migrants” or “undocumented workers.” The supporters and advocates of open borders engage in the…

  • But when is it fair to be fair?

    In a recent discussion of Pope Benedict XVI, John Aravosis asks a “fair” question: When is it fair to call a Nazi a Nazi? I’m in a generous mood (and not interested in lengthy analysis), so I’ll disregard the possibly rhetorical nature of the question, and treat it with the logic and respect it deserves.…

  • Merry Earth Day Mr. Kunstler

    Well, Earth Day has come and gone. I suppose some sort of ecologically relevant sermon is in order, and I may actually have just the ticket. I?ve been idly musing about the impending Peak Oil crisis, a crisis that may eventuate this year, or fifteen years from now, or perhaps never. I won?t deny that…