Author: Dennis

Rumor has it that William Kennedy Smith’s accuser admits to a relationship following the alleged rape. My source tells me that Soulias, the accuser, says she didn’t realize at the time that Kennedy Smith was in a power position and that what he did was abuse. I haven’t been able to substantiate this yet by…

A while back (when I was still posting under the name Varius Contrarius) I was getting tired of my own posts, and wanted to try something new. I dashed out a critique of a critique quoted on a website, and even though at the time I was hesitant to post it, I followed through to…

No one seems to be reporting the fact that Kerry’s daughters were greeted with boos last night when they appeared at the MTV video music awards, as reported to me by my faithful colleague Jason. No word on how the taped appearance of the Bush girls was received. ABC News notes that the daughters appeared,…

Could it be that Bush is unfairly undertaxing the poor and working classes, to Kerry’s pampered disadvantage? Here‘s a graph from the Detroit News (courtesy G.R.) showing that while everyone’s taxes went down, the percentage of the tax burden decreased for the bottom 60% of tax payers, while it increased for the top 40%, which…

Carl Lewis wins this week’s Idiot Award: Criticising Bush for linking his foreign policy with the two countries being allowed to compete here, Lewis said: ‘I felt that was disingenuous. It is funny that we boycotted the 1980 Games [in Moscow] in support of Afghanistan, and now we’re bombing Afghanistan,’ he told the Athens News…

Reading about Douglas Brinkley (thanks to Glenn Reynolds), I was led to this fascinating bit of revelation: Iraqi Sheikh Mahdi Saleh Al-Sumide’i, identified as a participant in the Battle of Falluja, was interviewed by Syrian television on August 23, as follows: SUMIDE’I: [W]e believe that Allah protects the believers, and indeed, Allah stood beside Falluja,…

Here’s a description of part of Kerry’s appearance on the Daily Show (which I didn’t see because I don’t have cable): As Kerry launched into a monologue about why President Bush avoids talking about issues like the economy, jobs and the environment, the comedian interrupted. “I’m sorry,” Stewart said. “Were you or were you not…

Like reading about the crisis in Darfur, which the U.N. would probably like to ignore: Rerum status in Sudania 27.8.2004 In Sudania discrimen gravissimum de provincia Darfur possidenda ortum est. Sunt in illa civitate duae partes rebelles inter se dimicantes, quae ab administratoribus flagitant, ut regioni Darfur amplior autonomia concedatur. Pugnis in Sudania commissis iam…

One of my favorite actors, Peter Falk, is interviewed over at the Onion AV club, and he has a lot to say about John Cassavetes, one of my favorite directors: Well, the entertainment industry is loaded with extraordinarily talented people. But the true, genuine originals, they’re rare. Cassavetes was a true original. His contribution to…

Victor Davis Hanson, the eminent classicist and historian of ancient warfare, has an excellent piece on John Kerry at the National Review, rife with classical allusions and the wisdom of Thucydides: And so now we have the present mess that will go on for weeks and can only hurt Kerry. He is earning a reputation…

My friend Eric from Why Dave Bergman is Neat just showed me Al Franken’s Great American Shoutout: What’s going on? On September 2nd, 2004, at approximately 10 pm, George W. Bush will appear on television screens nationwide. For some of our fellow citizens, this will be a moment of joy. But for most of us,…

Here‘s some more fuel both for people who think we need to be protected from ideas and people opposed to the death penalty: Two Children Die Imitating Rare Execution Wed Aug 25, 2004 08:29 AM ET BOMBAY (Reuters) – India’s first execution in 13 years has claimed an additional toll of at least two children…

It seems every time I turn around columnists are echoing the blogosphere. Here’s Nat Hentoff on Moore’s Iraqi ‘insurgents’: The divisions in this nation have become increasingly surreal as the elections approach. Many jubilant Democrats venerate Michael Moore. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe were at the Washington premiere…

Here’s a column that doesn’t say anything you haven’t seen in the blogosphere for weeks, but at the very least it shows that commentary in the press hasn’t yet quit on the Cambodia story (there’re more recent pieces here, here, here, and here where bloggers are respectfully credited with pushing the story, though referred to…

When Eric invited me to blog here he set up the name Varius, and I had fun with it for a while, but to be honest I’ve never much cared for Romans and it takes about 2 seconds longer to log in with a name like Varius Contrarius. So from now on I’m just Dennis,…

Not really … not even close. But I’m running out of clever titles. The following is from Axis of Logic, a cute play on Axis of Evil: Some people look at the situation in Iraq and profess to believe that things are going just fine. But they are looking through a retro-lens; when they see…

Here’s another gem from my favorite news site: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sen. Ted Kennedy, the archetypal liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, is often called names by Republicans. But until this year he had never been viewed as a threat to U.S. air travel. Kennedy — one of the most recognizable figures in American politics — told…

Is there a media bias in the things that are left unsaid? Consider this excerpt from the BBC: Little guys come last The idea of the national conference had been promoted by the UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. He had organised the loya jirga, or grand assembly, which chose the post-Taliban administration in Afghanistan. The…

It seems Bush can do nothing right, if we listen to Kerry who says that the President’s plan to realign the military and shift 70,000 troops to U.S. soil was “vaguely stated” and “hastily announced.” Did you hear what I just said? (Okay, wise guy. Did you read what I just typed?) Not only did…

Sometimes the internet is so behind the times… I saw a news story last night about a police officer surfing in Atlantic City (courtesy tropical storms which kicked up the surf) who was approached by a shark. As the shark came in for a bite, the officer (a former boxer who stands at 6′ 4″)…