Month: August 2008

As a long-time fan of the inimitable and controversial Kitchener, Ontario comics creator Dave Sim, I was intrigued when my girlfriend pointed out Judenhass on the rack at my favorite comic shop. Judenhass is a German term which means “hatred of Jews”. Sim chose the terms because he found antisemitism to be inaccurate in that…

The war is over in Georgia and it looks, from the oulines of the peace agreement that Georgia won. I predicted that this would be the outcome in Perhaps They Miscalculated and Winning. Let us start with a report by the Volokh Conspiracy on the main points of the agreement. Russian agreements to conclude all…

A lot of folks around the ‘net are saying Russia won in Georgia. So let me pose a question. If the Russians were winning in Georgia why would they stop after 5 days? It is not their way.

Anyone remember the “end of history”? I do, and I thought it was one of the most idiotic ideas ever floated by the intellectual classes (which is saying something). George Will offers a terse reminder that history has not ended again: WASHINGTON — Asked in 1957 what would determine his government’s course, Harold Macmillan, Britain’s…

There is an excellent discussion of the dust up in the Republic of Georgia going on at The Belmont Club. There is lots of news about an impending Naval Blockade of Iran. Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval…

According to The American Forces Press Service American planes are flying into Georgia. WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2008 – The U.S.-assisted redeployment of Georgian troops from Iraq to their home country should be completed today, a Pentagon spokesman said. American military aircraft began shuttling the brigade of Georgian forces yesterday, as clashes with Russian forces intensified…

Via an article in the Examiner (“Wine-and-Cheese Thuggery“) I learned that a new group of left-wing activists is playing the hardest sort of political hardball with people who give money to conservative (and presumably libertarian) organizations they don’t like: WASHINGTON (Map, News) – Tom Matzzie is mailing threatening letters this week to nearly 10,000 people…

Nick has left an interesting comment on my error in the post Blazing Economies. Seems to me the difference won’t matter once the winter comes and the Russians shut the lights off on Germany. I seem to recall that Secretary of State Rice warned the Europeans about getting too deeply dependent on Russian Energy supplies.…

Obama has a couple of statements on Gerogia. “I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected. All sides should enter…

AP Photo

Would Barack Obama ever dare to attempt a nationwide smoking ban? Richard Miniter thinks it is possible. It occurrs to me that if something like that were seriously proposed, it would take a considerable amount of time to implement. This might offer a nice business opportunity for some political guerilla marketing, and I already came…

From Matt J. Duffy H/T Instapundit Cross Posted at Power and Control

Bob Zubrin discusses the T. Boone Pickens plan to replace natural gas electricity with wind based efficiency. He seems a bit weak in understanding how wind and natural gas electricity are complimentary. So I wrote a comment: Bob, Evidently you don’t know what natural gas is used for in America. It is not for base…

It is interesting how the US news media describes the German economy of the last year. The Italian economy, chronically stagnant over the last decade, shrank in the second quarter by 0.3 percent, according to the government data. Another quarter of decline would mark the country’s fourth recession — defined as two consecutive quarters of…

The Financial Times of London has the story: US stocks soared on Friday as the dollar saw its biggest one-day jump against the euro in eight years and oil prices plunged. The moves marked a key reversal of a trend that many investors had followed profitably for months – betting that high commodity prices would…

It apprears that there is a group backing Obama that intends to scare the big money away from McCain’s campaign. Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week. The letter is an opening shot across the bow…

Dennis was absolutely right to observe that I “would have posted something on this story if [I] weren’t still hip deep in the big move to Michigan.” The story (involving a mayor and his wife who were apparently mailed a package of marijuana as part of a scam, then subjected to a gruesome home invasion…

From the comments at The Herald Sun in an article by Andrew Bolt. markusbondi replied to Rose of Rose Bay Fri 08 Aug 08 (01:42pm) Irrelevant Rosey. It is proven that all socialist powers fall 9 years after hosting an Olympiad. Despite any misgivings at the time…. It is written in the destruction of socialist…

Super snooping technology is on the rise, as I just learned via an emailed link to a piece about “Desi” — a new fingerprinting technology that can discern whatever you have touched: With a new analytical technique, a fingerprint can now reveal much more than the identity of a person. It can now also identify…