With some shameful borrowing from around the blogosphere, plus some of mine own, here’s the list of New Year’s Resolutions for the entire American citizenry: Become intelligent-thinking during political campaigns so as not to be deceived by jingoistic and meaningless phrases such as "Compassionate Conservativism," "I’m an outsider," and "Mission Accomplished" Learn to distinguish between facts and opinions (including, "expert … Read More
John Avarosis Is Thinking Today
You can read his post here, or my summary below. John points out that proponents of intelligent design argue that, even if ID is flawed, schools should "teach the controversy". And to do that, they argue, schools need to inform students as to what intelligent design actually is. "Give the students all the arguments for Darwinism and intelligent design, and … Read More
It’s Not Really A “Ceiling” If You Can Raise It At Will
WaPo: Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said yesterday that the United States could be unable to pay its bills in early 2006 unless Congress raises the government’s borrowing authority, which is now capped at $8.18 trillion. … The last time Congress agreed to boost the debt limit was in November 2004 — from $7.38 trillion to the current $8.18 trillion. … Read More
Speaking Of Whistleblowers…
Craig Murray was once Britain’s Ambassador to the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan. At the time, he objected — loudly — to the U.S. use of "extraordinary rendition" (and Britain’s complicity in it). Specifically, Iraqi and Afghani war detainees were transferred by the Americans and Brits to Uzbek security forces, who extracted "torture-tainted" information. No longer serving in the British … Read More
One More For The Road
As you probably know, there were so many hurricanes and tropical storms this year that the National Weather Service used up all of its pre-selected names and had to go to Greek names (Tropical Storm Alpha, Hurricane Beta, etc.). Mother Nature’s still at it though, and is determined to eat her way through the Greek alphabet before the year’s end. … Read More
Cry Me A River
Reuters is reporting that Lynndie England, the U.S. soldier incarcerated for abusing detainees in Iraq (pictured right), was badly burnt in a prison kitchen accident. Terrie England, Lynndie’s mother was very upset. England works in the prison’s kitchen, where she suffered second- and possibly third-degree burns from being splattered with grease over her chest as she removed chickens from a … Read More
On The Leap Second
Yes, we’re getting an extra second this year, or . . . um . . . next year. Well, in between years. Or something. Today, Steve Martin (yes, that one), speaking in the voice of Bill O’Reilly, reacts to the leap second: “Look, look, look, look. A leap second is a denial of everything American, of everything good, of everything … Read More
The Religious Wars Get Fashionable
Two stories: (1) "Devilish" Jeans A Hot Seller In Sweden Cheap Monday jeans are a hot commodity among young Swedes thanks to their trendy tight fit and low price, even if a few buyers are turned off by the logo: a skull with a cross turned upside down on its forehead. Logo designer Bjorn Atldax says he’s not just trying … Read More
Wrong Investigation
The Justice Department is starting an investigation into the leak about the secret illegal NSA wiretaps. Once again, the investigation isn’t about the wiretaps themselves, but about the leaking of the fact of the wiretaps to the press. You know …trying to determine who the whistleblower is. Oy. This is all a nice segue to a guest post at Bradblog … Read More
Vote Early And Often
World O’Crap started off with something like thirty "candidates", and through voting, it has whittled the pack down to five. The election? The "Ultimate Wingnut of 2005". They are John Hindricket (of Powerline), Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Pastor J. Grant Swank, Jr., and Dr. Mike S. Adams, Ph.D. You can read samples of their work, and vote, here.
Forever Stupid
From conservative Powerline blogger Paul Miregoff’s post "Forever Young": Vietnam and Watergate are seminal events for almost all liberals my age. Vietnam taught them to distrust the use of force by our military, and to despise leaders who aggressively use military force in the name of the national interest. Watergate confirmed that a leader who projects military force overseas for … Read More
This Is Just Plain Mean
Some college-age guys pull a fast one on their friend. They TIVO the winning lottery numbers announcement from the week before. They then buy a lottery ticket for the next drawing with those old winning numbers. On the day of the drawing, they tell a friend (the "victim") to come over, and — oh, yeah — buy a couple of … Read More
Valerie Plame Is Outted Again
The Washington couple at the heart of the CIA leak investigation had their cover blown by their small son as they tried to sneak away on vacation on Thursday. The former spy, who just retired from the agency, and the diplomat have been at the center of a CIA leak scandal that has reached into the White House. They said … Read More
Woman Marries Dolphin
But don’t worry, moral evangelists. Even though the dolphin’s name is Cindy, he’s a dude. And so on Wednesday afternoon, the thrilled bride, wearing a white dress, walked down the dock before hundreds of astounded visitors and kneeled down before her groom, who was waiting in the water. Cindy, escorted by his fellow best-men dolphins, swam over to Tendler and … Read More
The Year In Blogging
National Journal’s Blogometer has a wrap-up of the year in political blogging, including the ever-increasing influence that blogs have on media and politics. A must-read.