Not So Fast

Mark Steyn again.

BUSH HAS gone along with Sharon because it accords with his post-9/11 assessment of the Middle East: The biggest gamble can’t be worse than Moussa’s stability. Indeed, the Israeli government’s new Hamas Assassination-of-the-Month program usefully clarifies the bottom line: A high rotation of thugs is better than the same thug decade in, decade out. Poor Rantissi, killed this weekend, seems unlikely to get the glowing send-off from European obituarists they gave to his predecessor, the “revered quadriplegic spiritual leader,” Sheikh Yassin. Already, bigshot terrorists in Gaza are said to be reconsidering their applications for next month’s vacancy.

via Instapundit, who has tons of good links today.

“If their money is green and there’s enough of it, OK,” station owner Frank Kovas, a self-described political conservative, told the Tribune.

And that, boys and girls, is what makes America great.

The always entertaining Mark Steyn.

I happened to watch the speech from the United States Naval Academy where I was taking part in their foreign affairs conference and I can tell you the questions I got from the midshipmen were a lot smarter than the ones the President got from the blow-dried blowhards. What do you think your biggest mistake was? Are you going to apologise to the American people? Do you think you’ll lose the election? If you had to name the most pathetic loser to occupy the Presidency, would you have difficulty coming up with a name other than your own? Etc, etc.

I, Robot featurette with the director. And speaking of movies that are nothing like the book, Around the World in 80 Days. Why even use the name when the plot and the main characters are completely different? Pay off the copyright owners and name it something else.

I think that’s Greek for “the cattle are dying”. But Volokh Conspiracy has this excellent point.

via Joyful Christian, who had more to add.

Okay, this annoyed me.

Answering only questions in English, Mr Vanunu said he was “not totally free” because of the restrictions Israel had placed on him, including a ban on travel outside the country.

Speaking briefly in Hebrew, he accused Israel of being a dictatorship and an apartheid country because of restrictions imposed on him preventing him speaking to foreigners.

Real dictators kill traitors. And oppressing one person is not apartheid. Let’s not be tossing these words around so much.

Also, when you break the law because that’s what your conscience demands of you, don’t be upset that you are forced to suffer consequences for your decision.

Common sense rears its head. Yes, contrary to popular belief, we don’t need rules to regulate every little thing that annoys us.

A rocketpack that works. When will they be available commercially?

Baskin Robbins free ice cream night is coming. Woohoo!

via Fark

Mini-tornados could be a problem on Mars. I suggest fresh-scented Bounce to fight that nasty static cling.

Hey, Bob’s on To Every Man an Answer. If you can hear footsteps that’s me stomping by his office so I can be supercool and on the radio.

We Built This City is rated as the worst. song. evar. Yet even now it’s going through my mind. It’ll be stuck for days.

And DDT. I want to see some outrage about the genetically modified foods that aren’t being used to save people’s lives too.

All that jive.

Toshiba’s HD-DVD stores up to 30 gigabytes, but can close the quality gap with the Blu-ray by using more efficient compression software than the MPEG-2 standard already used in DVDs and planned for the Blu-ray. One of the several compression schemes that may go into the final HD-DVD standard is none other than Microsoft’s Windows Media 9 software.

I was all for HD-DVD, but now I’m torn. I’m still not buying my DVDs again.

Okay, I have to tell you something. Secretly, I want a 12″ Powerbook, with the Superdrive. They’re just cool. And now, an even better deal.

A big date in history. Waco, Oklahoma City Bombing, Lexington and Concord, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, lots of stuff.

A liberal critiques Air America, which would be the new liberal talk radio network, not a Disney movie about a dog that saved a platoon in WWII.

And thanks LA Times for sharing, without your really, really, really annoying signup that I haven’t managed to force my way through yet.

via National Review

Out of work? Worried about outsourcing? Auto repair is teh new hotness.

via Slashdot

Thoughts on what justice is at the Volokh Conspiracy.

Lileks takes Sullivan to task on his gas tax idea. Good stuff.

This is classic.

I am Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major Abacha Tunde. He was the first African in space when he made a secret flight to the Salyut 6 space station in 1979.

Exciting new stuff on the shape of the universe.

If they are, then our Universe is curved like a Pringle, shaped like a horn, and named after a Star Trek character. You could not make it up.

via Slashdot

Australia’s government is actually getting rid of a commisssion that failed. And they aren’t kowtowing to the race card either.

South Korea and North Korea might be getting along better soon. Won’t that be nice.

Okay, what I’m getting from this article is we need some sort of Centeral Intelligence Agency chief. I’m pretty sure we already have one.

Under the proposal, management of the government’s 15 intelligence agencies, and control of their budgets, would be put under the direction of a single person. That authority is now scattered across a number of departments and agencies.

Isn’t this what the Dept. of Homeland Security is supposed to be doing? What are those slackers doing over there?

So, the CIA didn’t hack it, we get the Dept. of Homeland Security. The DHS doesn’t hack it so we get another new thing. Great, but ditch the old ones first.

I thought chopping trees down was bad, but this article says that paper is better than plastic for the environment. Also, doesn’t oil come from all the dead organic material? All we need is a catastrophic flood or chopping down more trees and viola, more oil.

And blu-ray is evil. I’m not buying my DVD collection again.

Some Klingon movie is coming out at Cannes in May.

Everyone stop emailing the freaky chicken website to everyone you know. We’ve seen it.

Oh, how did this get here? The UN notices Iraqi nuclear material is showing up in Europe.

I still wouldn’t rely on McDonalds to provide me with a healthy diet.

And on a related note: McDonalds is trying to help your lifestyle.

From taking over the world, Osama’s willing to back down to just being left alone. It doesn’t seem to be working though.

Sedna’s rotation is baffling scientists.

“I’m completely lost for an explanation as to why the object rotates so slowly,” Brown said.

There remain some possibilities for a rational explanation.

And if those prove false, they are going to go with the irrational explanations. I suggest space monkeys.

The Mars rovers get a software update and keep looking at even more rocks.

And you probably should run your Windows Update if it so applies.

I don’t understand all the uproar over the AdWords. It’s not like you have to use Gmail or you’ll die. But Google is looking into changing their AdWords policy.

Arafat is talking nonsense.

Such a United States commitment, Mr. Arafat said, would destroy all hope of Middle Eastern peace, Reuters reported from Ramallah, in the West Bank.

Because Palestinians have been so committed to peace before, right? I mean, you could hardly tell they were wanting to drive Israel into the sea because they were so dedicated to the peace plan until now.

Volvo unveiled a car (last paragraph) made of Legos at the New York International Auto Show.

Attempting to duplicate this Lego vehicle? Lego officials admit that it would take the gross domestic product of a small country to attempt. The upside? Volvo figures if it did sell the vehicle, it could be offered with the industry’s first 100-year rust-through warranty.

Drudge’s headline for this story is a crack-up. “TENET STUNS WASHINGTON: WE’RE STILL NOT READY!” Stunned? Really? Surely no one who works with government expects to be able to turn huge bureaucracies around in a year or two.

It just gets more and more wrong. I’ll go see it though.

And the site is not for the bandwidthly challenged.

The US military is pulling out of the DMZ. I hope the South Korean protestors are happy with us now.

via Drudge Report

Babylon 5: Season 5 is available today.

Just like Victor Davis Hanson says, Western armies will smash the living daylights out of non-Western armies in a head-to-head battle.

Which wasn’t the point of the article, but still.

John Hawkins brought up the Hampster Dance, which I haven’t thought about since, uh, 199something, and look at the frightening thing they have going. And that is not the original music.

Is there just too much excitement for you here? Try the Dullest Blog in the World then.

Answering his email.

A price hike looks likely. Good luck with that.

Kerry says:

“We cannot and we will not pass America’s problems on to your generation. But the fact is, this election is not just about what we’re going to do, it’s about what you’re going to do,” Kerry said in remarks prepared for an appearance at the University of New Hampshire.

Great. End Social Security, that’ll help me tremendously.

I found it interesting how partisan the economic cycle is.

The report listed a drop of five points during President Reagan’s two terms, a decline of 12 points during the presidency of Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, and a 23-point improvement under Clinton.

I wonder if this holds true over a hundred years or so, or if it’s just a fluke.

Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results

Davy Crockett, libertarian. I hear he killed himself a bear when he was only three. Plus, Ron Paul, whom more polititians should emulate, gets a mention.

I would have put it all on black.

via Fark

Whoa. Instapundit has a new look. I like it.

And he has a bunch of stuff on the whole 9/11 commission thingy. Here’s my favorite part:

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Neal Boortz:

Lost in all this is how the Clinton administration, which did virtually nothing to fight terrorism for 8 years, is getting a complete pass. Clinton turned down a direct offer to hand over Osama Bin Laden and yet Bush is the one that is being raked over the coals for somehow not doing enough. The reason is we are in an election year, and the Bush-hating Democrats want to politicize the tragedies of September 11th. Where’s the outrage about that? The Republicans wouldn’t be able to get away with that for a second.

Yeah, what’s with that?

Hybrid SUV coming soon.

Some potential hybrid consumers have balked at sticker prices, unsure how much the technology will cost. Ford has not yet released pricing for the SUV, but J.D. Power and Associates reported this week that the premium for a hybrid vehicle averages approximately U.S. $4,000 over the standard-model price.

Such purchase costs could take years to recoup, even with significant fuel savings. Yet hybrid vehicles offer other benefits, including buyer tax breaks, single-driver use of high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes in some commuter markets, and a cleaner green conscience.

I can’t afford that clean a conscience. Pave the planet.

Clinton and Gore testified to the 9/11 Commission privately. Where’s the uproar? They had 8 years to do something. I want public hearings. Okay, I don’t really, I just think the lack of uproar is a bit biased.

via Drudge Report

Easter, being a rather important holiday for the church and requiring more time and attention than usual, is going to seriously curtail posting for the rest of the day, probably.

UPDATE: Or if you want a cool 3 CD set of the bible–NKJV for no apparent reason–and messages from Pastor Chuck, Pastor Bob, and Kay Smith, lovingly hand assembled by yours truly, just let me know. Free swag is good stuff.

Big old Windows exploit discovered.

There’s a trojan horse for the Mac now. It’s all downhill from here.

via Drudge Report

For those that know just enough to be dangerous, here’s a little program I stumbled across that will examine video files and let you know what codecs are being used.

I passed my CPR class. They’ve dumbed it down a lot since the last time I took it. If you need CPR or a Heimlich just let me know.

I’m reading the Command Post today. Any time there’s major geo-political trouble they are the place to be.

VDH.

This probably isn’t a good thing.

Sabine Westphalen, a court spokesman, said the “urgent suspicion” against Motassadeq on the murder charge had now been downgraded to “adequate suspicion”. There was still “urgent suspicion” that he had belonged to a terrorist organisation, she said, although this was insufficient to keep him in investigative custody.

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal agree. My suggestion for reform is knocking the building down and putting in an outdoor skating rink.

via Inoperable Terran

Geez people, learn to take a joke. Yes, I know, how insensitive of me. Perhaps I need reeducation.

via WorldNetDaily

Apparently, the US music market is doing fine. I’m confused.

So sorry, please try evolving into something useful.

Why even smart people believe dumb things.

For the purpose of this article dumb=non-scientific.

via Fark

It’s one song after another. And there’s some Jerry Sienfeld/Superman stuff too.

Yeah, we’re a classy bunch here in Idaho.

Disaster Area practices here.

via Slashdot

I’m guessing Cookie Monster is right out then.

More than 100 products feature BBC-owned characters, including cake mixes, pasta shapes, fromage frais, chocolate bars, jellies and Easter eggs. Under the new guidelines, drawn up with the Food Standards Agency, BBC characters will be used to promote only relatively healthy food.

Coming soon: Teletubby carrots and broccoli.

Bill O’Reilly says we should get out of Iraq.

Some people simply will not embrace freedom. We have millions of Americans in this country who are being abused one way or another and refuse to do anything about it. Freedom is never free. Freedom is hard.

And why haven’t the Iraqis got the hang of it yet? They’ve had a whole year. Losers, dump them. Oh, sure, it took hundreds of years for Western civilization to embrace the concept, but that’s different.

I say we give them another year or two.

I’d bet money this will come back to haunt Blix.

This puts it best, I think.

Jobs lost, blah, blah blah. But what does this quote mean?

“When we discuss job reductions, we are talking about positions not necessarily people,” said Marc Oken, transition executive for Bank of America.

So they have a lot of jobs that aren’t actually being done by people that they are going to get rid of?

Anne Applebaum won a Pulitzer for Gulag. You should read it. You can borrow mine if you want.

via The Corner

Here’s the “What?” post of the day.

And that would refer to the Oxblog post, not the EO post.

And if that doesn’t clarify it, forget it.

“Don’t worry my nationally challenged friend,” Bush stated, “We’re here to rid the town of those banditos.”

High Noon in Frank’s World.

Apparently, Europeans are turning into freakishly large mutants.

via The Corner

This is the most interesting quote in the whole article.

“You see, the Americans sent someone to call for negotiations. It is a sign of weakness,” said Sheikh Ali.

I’m convinced the US military could level the place if they chose to. And I’m sure that we will risk US soldiers lives to go in and take care of this with as few civilian casualites as possible.

UPDATE: Here.

Sharing knowledge is not necessarily a good thing. Why doesn’t Britian do something about that oaf?

A look from Stratfor.

Core NATO members such as France and Germany certainly disagree with this turn of events, but have lacked the influence to stop it. That has become — and will continue to be — the case because of the admittance of NATO’s newest members. All of the fresh blood can be safely grouped into the “new Europe” that U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld so charmingly coined in the lead-up to the Iraq war. These states all share historical experience in betrayal by France and domination by Germany and Russia.

Also, VDH’s friday column is somewhat related.

Trying to protect internet freedom.

Calculate your radioactivity. Your government is here to help.

Google really will give you a free gig of email. And by free, I mean, they will put ads in them for you. But compared to Hotmail or Yahoo ads, it can’t be that annoying. Plus if you are using their service, and you don’t have to, what do you expect. C’mon, I fully expect Microsoft to turn over my Hotmail info at the drop of a hat.

The Drudge Report is 9 years old! Astounding.

How many square feet of plastic wrap does Papa Murphy’s go through in a day? It has to be a phenomenal amount.

I-15 is my favorite freeway, so this makes me sad.

What? Like you don’t have your favorite.

This is a good one.

But what about the loss of sales? Poor Mel.

I love modern technology. One of the classics.

And there’s this one.

Our new goal is to “organize all the useful information in the universe and serve it to you on a lightly salted cracker.”

Scientists thing 1 in 20 stars could harbor planets suitable for life.

Check out Homestarrunner today. Don’t wait, this won’t last long.

And btw, Google is NOT going to give you a free gig of email. (or maybe they will. I will remain doubtful until tomorrow)

UPDATE: Thinkgeek is teh r0X0rs. And in other news, this font wreaks havoc on my l337 5p34k.

This is a refreshing change of pace.

Mr Sacranie made his appeal for tougher legislation after taking the unprecedented step of writing to every mosque in the country urging them to help fight terrorism.

His letter warned imams and community leaders to be alert to “mischievous elements” provoking “illegal activity”.

This is what it looks like to the three of us not currently on it.

It’s Sesame Street’s 35th birthday.

And as the kids say, Elmo is teh ghey. Ernie was the coolest.

I am more familiar with Alistair Cookie, but this obituary and this one are interesting.

It’s true, he’s done this so many times it’s not even a surprise.

Denmark takes one of Canada’s rocks.

“The nation of Denmark has laid claim to Canadian territory. Its military, from its warship, hoisted its flag on our Arctic territory without permission, without warning, and without any fear of being stopped,” Mr. Day said on Friday.

“The government’s utter disarray is underlined by the fact that the scandal has led to the recall of our ambassador to Denmark, the very nation that is challenging our sovereignty,” Mr. Day said.

Coming soon: Canada strikes back.

Mark Steyn on Germany’s woes.

La Shawn had a fun day yesterday.

Ha Ha. European countries that were all twitterpated at Bush about the environment are finding it hard to lead by example.

Cloning doesn’t bother me so much, but trying to actually create life causes me to look for lightning.

via Drudge Report

Dr. Rice is going to testify. Woohoo.

And what is with all the frowny pictures of her lately?

Wise am I.

Dear person parked outside 24 Hour Fitness, if you go to all the trouble of buying a hummer, for pete’s sake don’t put ricer wheels on it. Stupidest. Look. Evar.

Lawsuits against corporations for something that happened hundreds of years ago.

Descendants of slaves filed a $1 billion lawsuit against U.S. and British corporations on Monday, accusing them of profiting by committing genocide against their ancestors.

Sing it with me (warning: music), “Oh, the world owes me a living…”

Because communism sucks, but they are trying to keep that a secret.

Asteroids, disasters and the President.

Instapundit has tons, tons I say, of stuff on Clarke.

Sometimes it’s good to say NO! First they wanted Bush to testify, and they screamed and cried until they got their way. Then an hour wasn’t long enough, and they got their way. Now they want Rice to testify. Look them in the eye and firmly say, no.

There’s a time to rise above principles,” Republican John Lehman told NBC’s “Today” show, referring to Rice’s stand that national security advisers have never testified under oath before Congress because of a fear it would compromise their ability to have an open exchange of ideas with a president.

Maybe for politicians, but most normal people like to live by their principles.

How many tons of coffee beans does Starbucks go through a day? The reason I ask is because their cup says they “travel thousands of miles in search of these elusive beans.” I’m thinking that after a ton or two day after day they might settle for the slightly less elusive, but still tasty, beans.

Oh, I found this interesting article on Starbucks and its global hegemony. Still looking for facts, don’t worry.

Call me when they break Warp 1.

You have to admit, this isn’t surprising.

Iron Chef America update.

You don’t see many absolutes these days.

It is never wrong to be on the side of freedom — never.

The House passed some sort of budget thingy. 2.4 TRILLION dollars. Assuming 270 million people live in America that’s $8,888 EACH. I’m not convinced I’m getting my almost $9000 worth.

via Drudge Report

Instapundit has tons of links on Clarke. Why is it Clarke? This one was most interesting.

Hey, I used to live near there. And I used to live near the fires from last summer. Hmmm. Coincidence?

I could just see the vast field of lawyers. RIAA vs. SCO

If you were planning to attack or be attacked by Great Britian, now would be a great time.

Free shrimp for everyone!!!

Davis ended the letter by writing, “This is one small step for man, and one giant leap for Giant Shrimp.” He also again expressed interest in Long John Silver’s becoming the first seafood restaurant on Mars.

I’d probably be more excited if there was a Long John’s near me.

Terrorism is not funny, but I admit this made me laugh.

French authorities say a shadowy group that had threatened to bomb the country’s railway system unless authorities pay a huge ransom announced a suspension of its plans, but warned it will act later.