Month: January 2007

There is a discussion going on at Dean’s World about Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates. The folks there are trying to figure out if the jihadis of Jefferson’s day have anything in common with the jihadis of today. It is a very interesting piece and has lots of interesting quotes such as this one: …when…

Not having much profound to say at this time I’m going to quote our profoundist president, Thomas Jefferson on religious liberty. Virginia Statute For Religious Freedom Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of…

Via Glenn Reynolds, I see that Dinesh D’Souza has a new book. According to D’Souza, it is the “cultural left” which is responsible for the 9/11 attacks: “In this book I make a claim that will seem startling at the outset. The cultural left in this country is responsible for causing 9/11. … In faulting…

This is a really long piece by A. Jacksonian. He wrote this as a series of e-mail exchanges with me and I edited it making some minor corrections which A. Jacksonian has approved. It covers the outlook for oil production for the next 5 to 10 years. The short version: Iran and Venezuela will probably…

In a post I wrote in Spain, I mentioned the January 30 Madrid airport bombing by ETA (Basque) terrorists, and Jose Guardia’s coverage of it. Today I see (via Glenn Reynolds) that Jose has made a video of the blast available at his blog. It was a shock to watch — because I hadn’t fully…

For the umpteenth time, war blogging is an exercise in the unreal. Not the surreal (which I can handle, even enjoy). It’s because in war, unless you are “there,” there’s no there there. Information is inherently suspect. Even if you trust a reporter, how can you ever be sure that whoever gives him his information…

Ilan Pappe comments in the The Electronic Intifada about the Palestinian’s will for life. The earlier strategy in Gaza was ghettoizing the Palestinians there, but this is not working. The ghettoized community continues to express its will for life by firing primitive missiles into Israel. Ghettoizing or quarantining unwanted communities, even if they were regarded…

Among the highlights of my trip to Spain was visiting the various Salvador Dali museums including his house in Port Lligat, the official Dali Museum in Figueres, and the Castle in Pubol. I don’t know how many readers are Dali fans (and I hope those who are not will forgive this exercise in surrealistic love),…

I’m having trouble counting the the number of times the story over the existence of “Jamil Hussein” has changed. The twists and turns are unbelievable. According to a new post by Bob Owen, there is no such Iraqi police captain as “Jamil Hussein,” and the name was used as a pseudonym without disclosure by the…

The best way to deal with so called “third rail” issues is to focus not on the emotions but on the facts. Yet as a debate between M. Simon and others in the comments to this post shows, certain facts constitute a “third rail”: m. simon – Do you remember the shit storm that was…

Anyone who thinks Jesus is on the right, think again! Hugo Chavez thinks Jesus Christ was the ultimate socialist — “the greatest socialist in history.” And Bob Edgar, general secretary of the national council of churches, wants us to put Jesus in charge of war planning: I think it’s more important to put Christ back…

An interesting new phenomenon is the deliberate creation of designer mixed breed dogs. When I was a kid and a purebred dog managed to get tied up with another purebred dog, the result was called a “mutt.” There’s nothing wrong with mutts, and I say this as a mutt myself. (I’d never call myself a…

Never mind the Democratic majority in Congress. According to Chris Hedges (formerly of the NYT) it’s fascism that’s imminent. Robertson, Dobson and Bush have all apparently taken over — without any “countervailing forces” to stop them! (Via Pajamas Media.) Much of his argument reads like a blog post from David Neiwert. Hedges is admittedly very…

I was listening to Sen. Tom Daschle on the Ed Schultz show tonight. I found out a couple of interesting things. First, Senator Tim Johnson will not be back to the Senate soon. He is now undergoing rehabilitation, no mention of when he will be recovered enough to return to the Senate. This means Lieberman…

I’m partial to war stories and this is a really great one. Ynet News tells about the beginnings of the Israeli airforce. Almost 60 years have passed since that fateful day, but Lou Lenart still remembers every minute of it, as though it was yesterday. Those were trying times for the budding Jewish nation, and…

You would think they would teach that in sex ed classes. Oh. Wait. This is not that kind of story. Israeli Prime Minister Olmert says that pulling out of Lebanon and Gaza didn’t work. Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert now admits that Israeli’s unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip did…

Today’s Washington DC Examiner has a thoughtful common-sense editorial about how to fix the horribly broken immigration quagmire which so plagues this country. Excerpt: Job one on immigration reform is regaining control of America’s borders. Allowing millions of unknown foreigners to enter our nation illegally is foolhardy in the extreme in the post-Sept. 11 era.…

This morning’s report of the sentencing in Germany of a Moroccan man convicted of aiding 9/11 hijackers posed a vexing moral question: Who has the moral right to forgive other people for their crimes? Anyway, the son of a murdered flight attendant forgives the convicted Moroccan: HAMBURG, GERMANY — During an anguished exchange in a…

I was having an e-mail exchange with one of my commenters and the difficulties of life came up. My commenter was talking about his relationships and the “walking on egg shells” feelings you get in your relationships with some loved ones. Parents, siblings, offspring. Here is a little of what I had to say: I…

In a classic example of bullies playing victim, Saudi-assisted Muslims have been demanding the right use Spain’s Cordoba Cathedral as a mosque in the hope of reclaiming it: The recuperation of places and buildings that were once mosques or sacred Islamic sites is the primary method employed by Muslims to reconquer Al-Ándalus. So-called moderate Muslims…