Month: September 2006

While Clinton’s finger-waggingpoking moment speaks for itself, I’m surprised that he’d think the public is so dumb as to forget the crucial role played by al Qaida operatives in Mogadishu. Is Clinton counting on the so-called “short memory” of “the public”? If he is, maybe he ought to revise his thinking, as the public memory…

Via Alan Sullivan I found something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime — a specially bred hypoallergenic cat! US biotech firm Allerca says it has managed to selectively breed them by reducing a certain type of protein that triggers allergic reactions. The cats will not cause the red eyes, sneezing and even asthma…

When Mel Gibson made his bizarre anti-Jewish remarks, many of his defenders assumed it was the alcohol talking. Was it? If we assume he stopped drinking, to what can the latest remarks be attributed? In describing its portrait of a civilization in decline, Gibson said, “The precursors to a civilization that’s going under are the…

Coco has been watching too much television. (Hell, for all I know she’s been watching too many videos like these.) I suspect that she may have internalized some of the tabloid trash they put on TV, and I thought it would be nice to get take her on a nice trip to a wholesome, family-oriented…

Chavez also said Bush may be seeking to kill him for calling him “the devil” at the U.N. — Via Adelphia.net I hate to say this, because it may be taken the wrong way, but I think Hugo Chavez’s apparently psychotic attacks on Bush constitute political astuteness of a higher level than is commonly believed.…

Or is it a war against jihad? That depends on whether bin Laden is dead. If he’s dead, the “war” is over. If he’s alive, then Bush is an idiot and we’re in a war we’ll never win but which the Democrats would have won by really going after bin Laden. The Anchoress has an…

Ann Althouse wrote a very fun post about Alice Cooper which not only recalls her fondness of his music, but which discusses his ongoing nonconformism — especially of the political variety. I very much enjoyed it, as I used to love Alice Cooper but haven’t thought much about him lately. (I originally learned of him…

Anyone remember the slogan “FOOD NOT BOMBS“? Pennsylvania gun control activists have come up with one of their own, and a T-shirt to go with it: “JOBS NOT GUNS.” Outside a busy Sneaker Villa store downtown, Qayyum, wearing a T-shirt that read “Jobs Not Guns,” addressed a crowd of men milling around the neighborhood. “This…

I found the following signs posted in a Daily Mail article about so-called “viral emails”: I’m skeptical about the first one, which strikes me as a deliberate parody of inane legal antics, and not a sign anyone would actually post. But the second one strikes me as downright possible. That’s because an ever-growing number of…

Some Pentacostalists are running a fundamentalist-based Christian camp, which has been featured in a current film called “Jesus Camp.” The film has many critics upset — not so much about the film, but about the subject matter. Stephen Holden’s “movie review” in the New York Times is hardly that. Without pausing to glance at style…

Be sure to check out T.J. Marshman’s new book, Jacob. Chapters 1-3 were posted last week, and today up went chapters 4-6. It’s looking great! But hmmm…. What if people don’t believe me? Oh hell, here are a couple of paragraphs, just as a tease: Eight plastic surgery operations had transformed Salahuddin?s face and body,…

Splendor in the grass! On my lawn I noticed a little wispy tent-like structure which closer examination revealed that it tapers into a funnel resembling a tornado. Peering deep inside, I saw a bug of some sort, so I ran inside for my camera. By the time I got outside, a spider had emerged, and…

A post by Clayton Cramer titled “The Death Worshippers” has forced me to entertain very peaceful thoughts. Here’s Cramer: A recurring difference between Islam and the West is that Islam worships death. If you think that I am painting with too broad a brush, consider this recent question of textbooks: As if things weren’t crazy…

In the years I’ve spent being bicoastal (a category which neither finds legal protection nor elicits much sympathy) I’ve noticed that a primary difference between the coasts lies in the ability to get around. In California, driving 350 miles is not all that big of a deal; on the East Coast, driving the same distance…

I’m going on a long trip for the next couple of days, and the problem with traveling is that it interferes with blogging. Might check in if I have time, but meanwhile there are several things worth reading. This week’s RINO Sightings Carnival is hosted by longtime favorite jd at evolution, and the theme is…

On Friday I opined that the demonstrations against the Pope might help the Republicans, but I couldn’t explain why. To my mind, the very fact of the Pope’s apology explains why. Regardless of what anyone might think about his naivitee or lack of political acumen (perhaps he’s a lot smarter than he appears), the fact…

Bill Clinton did not invite me to the famous Harlem blog party that got all the attention last week. And I retaliated by not blogging about it! Nyaah Nyaah! But there’s been a huge amount of attention focused primarily on the breasts of one particular blogger, Jessica something or other. I carefully examined the picture,…

But maybe I should apologize for the title of this post, because it might be taken as implying that Islamic extremists are violent. I’m thinking that more apologies are needed. This article on the Pope’s apology (by Ian Fisher of the New York Times) appeared on the front page of today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, but it…

The “Currents” section of today’s Philadelphia Inquirer has a huge piece by psychologist Steven C. Hayes titled “Surviving Emotions.” Unfortunately, the piece itself survives nowhere except in the Inquirer’s hard copy, which makes it rather hard to comment intelligently on it in a blog post. But there’s such a pretty picture accompanying the piece that…

I don’t do Christianity any better than I do atheism (nor am I Jewish), so I may not be the right person to propose something like this. But it occurred to me that the best way to honor Oriana Fallaci might be with some sort of alliance between religious and non-religious (or irreligous) people who…