Not So Fast

Best of the Web Today was great, I mean, it’s always great, it’s just greater today.

Puerto Rico gets just what they asked for.

Bad dolphin.

Provocative article on the animal rights activists one-sidedness.

via Instapundit.

This might not be a parody.

Our internet was working well, so naturally we put a stop to that. Posting will be sporadic until something good happens.

The lady that starred in all those telephone recordings died. My favorite was, “The number you are trying to reach has changed. The new number is —please make a note of it.” Cracks me up every time.

via Inoperable Terran

In a never-ending effort to educate mankind, Not So Fast brings you How Our Laws Are Made of the House of Representatives. And then there’s the Senate and the Enactment of A Law. It’s a wonder anything gets done at all.

The Lemon is back.

No, not just really lame. Gay. Apparently, it’s okay to be biased against straight students.

“Is there a different way to teach homosexuals? Is there gay math? This is wrong. This makes absolutely no sense,” Long said. “There’s no reason these children should be treated separately.”

Long said there are city and state discrimination laws on the books and that authorities should enforce them to stop gay-bashing.

“What next? Maybe we should have schools for chubby kids who get picked on. Maybe all kids who wear glasses should have special schools. It’s ridiculous,” he said.

UPDATE: Scrappleface.

Died at 100. Go rent Road To Morocco.

Pot farming in the National Forests!

via Drudge Report

Scrappleface is on a freaking roll. GO!

Matt Jefferies, the man who designed the original NCC-1701 died. Obviously, Jefferies tubes were named after him.

Or your money back. General Franks predicts Saddam’s capture in the next couple of months.

And this is just a rad quote:

“When I was growing up in Midland, Texas, I was free to do whatever I wanted. And I’ll be damned if we’re going to sit back and let something from across our shores change that for our grandchildren.”

via WorldNetDaily

Arabs Shocked by TV Images of Saddam’s Sons. Strange, they weren’t shocked by TV Images of Americans.

via Drudge Report

UPDATE: LGF seems to have an opinion on this also.

This is beside the point of this post in The Corner, but would you take a look at this:

Despite a general bias in our field toward thinking that self-esteem is important, meta-analysis has suggested that self-esteem is not so important (there’s a small correlation between happiness and self-esteem, and little else).

Science catches up to the Bible again. Didn’t Jesus say something like, “Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me”?

Over at Right Wing News. Yeah, I finally got around to reading it after everyone said how great it was. And it is really good.

School like it used to be.

My prediction: The kids will hate it until it’s over. Then they’ll wish normal school was more like it.

Remember the farmer that got jailed for killing a burglar in his house. He’s got bigger troubles.

Victor Davis Hanson:

These are still perilous times. But if anyone on September 12, 2001, had predicted that 22 months later there would still be no repeat of 9/11; that bin Laden would be either quiet, dead, or in hiding; that al Qaeda would be dispersed, the Taliban gone, and the likes of a Mr. Karzai in Kabul; that Saddam Hussein would be out of power, his sons dead, and an Iraqi national council emerging in his place; that troops would be leaving Saudi Arabia, Arafat ostracized, and Sharon seeking negotiations; that new Middle East agreements under discussion — and all at a cost of fewer than 300 American lives — then he would surely have been written off as a madman.

In addition, Knox said anyone going into the woods will be required to carry a bucket and shovel.

from the CdA Stress.

Go to this site (amazon) and read the very last review….

Drudge Report says Kemp is looking into California residency requirements so he can run for Governor. Tacky, tacky, tacky. “Let me come in from back East and run your state for you…”

This here is very interesting. Cloning is not creating life, it’s just copying it. I’ve heard a lot of Christians who can’t tell the difference.

This article (evil registration required) is worth it just for the title.

Making these people cranky.

Here‘s a shocker!

Common sense rears its head in the lawsuits against gun manufacturers.

Scrappleface also here, and here, IMAO, WaPo also here, The Corner also here. That’s probably enough.

Isn’t missionary work fun? I have no idea who this guy is, but he’s on a mission trip with my brother. And enjoying every minute I’m sure.

Here.

via Volokh Conspiracy. They’re the smart ones.

My ignorance of meteorology is profound, but why let that stop me. It seems from what little I’ve read that weather operates in macro patterns. So all this concern of the temperature over the last 100 years or so seems a little, oh, silly. So I found this interesting.

This is making the rounds.

Here, here, here.

Freaking hilarious.

Gotta love those Dimocrats.

Thus MIT and Boston College:

‘We’re not trying to protect our students from the consequences of copyright infringement,” he said. ”Once the subpoenas are properly filed, we will comply with the subpoenas.”

Thus RIAA:

‘We believe we don’t need to refile,” he said.

Oh, no. Whatever will happen? Will the entire world be forced to dance to the RIAA tune in everything?

I guess the president made a speech this morning, but he did it so freaking early I don’t paticularly care. Maybe people that were awake at the time have more to say on the matter.

Instapundit points out that some on the Left see through the hype. And he’s much more clever about it.

via Fark

Biometric passports.

As a neocon warmongering Bush suck-up, I yield to no one in my contempt for the French, but, that said, cheese-wise I kinda sorta feel they have the edge.

Very important stuff from a brilliant writer.

via Inoperable Terran

morally, ethic’lly, spiritually, physically, positively, absolutely, undeniably and reliably Dead!!

UPDATE: Saddam to deliver eulogy.

Kansas really is flatter than a pancake, researchers find.

via The Corner

From buy.com. Except for the freaking WMA (we are Borg) format. What’s with that? Like we want to pay each time we put it on a different device, if it happens to support WMA (resistance is futile). Los estupidos. (Man, that two years of Spanish I was forced to take is coming in handy now.)

Much as I hate large birds, this is pretty funny.

via Inoperable Terran.

While their methods leave something to be desired, Morocco is cracking down on the Religion of Peace.

Naked paintball a hoax, sort of.

From the Washington Times Inside Politics:

Both Democrats and Republicans have their “crazies,” says liberal author Todd Gitlin, but the difference is that Republican extremists “are tremendously disciplined, and they turn out to vote.”

As Republicans become more and more “big government” party (look at Bush’s domestic policies), Libertarians look better and better. Which is not to say Libertarians are going anywhere, but Republicans don’t need the split. Which is sorta the point of the blurb.

Another interesting article at NRO.

Andrew Stuttaford, whose gratutious Dr. Pepper crack did not go unnoticed, has this interesting article on Berlusconi.

NRO has this article.

This is an involved discussion (okay, not really, but you do have to follow a couple links), but I whole-heartedly agree with A Nickel’s Worth. Muscle cars are white-trash cars. Unless cleaned up and in show condition, even then, they’re just interesting, not particularly cool.

Besides being a great name for a band or a cartoon, Scott Ott explains “Q-Force”.

Even Michael Jackson thinks the RIAA has gone too far. And he’s not normal.

This page would be full of fun and informative news and commentary except I decided to upgrade my Zaurus ROM. Here’s a lesson kids, don’t ever upgrade a ROM when everything is going fine. Just don’t try and fix what ain’t broke. Don’t say I never warned you.

I think the Register has an opinion on the RIAA and their latest tactics, but I’m not quite sure. If only they would state their position clearly.

Great Frank Answers yesterday. Which I think is more a tribute to the good question askers, but hey.

This review of Switchfoot brings up something I’ve been saying for a while. And it’s not like it’s my idea. But, in this post-modern, wishy-washy, grey world no one can have anything to say. The “let’s just accept everyone’s beliefs as equal” line precludes any sort of judgment. And the paucity of that worldview is starting to become clear as Christians are starting to stand out, first in prog-rock and now even in mainstream rock. Because we have something to say. We have real questions and real answers.

From Iraq.

What do we need an Islamic army for?” said Riad Abu Al-Awady, one 23-year-old Najaf resident. “Many members of my family fought in Saddam’s wars and they are all dead. What Iraqis need is water, electricity, security and we want to work.

“And we want to work,” give people a chance to make a living and suddenly, constant turmoil is an annoyance. Capitalism rocks.

via Instapundit

Spanning the globe from Bly, Oregon to London, England via the internet.

This from AP via Yahoo!, via Drudge Report. You saw it here earlier.

Washington Times has this article on RFIDs, pointed out here and here earlier.

Here’s the best part:

“We didn’t cancel anything. We just didn’t follow through with this particular idea,” said Mr. Williams.

Could someone get Orwell in here to translate please?

Now available in Mexico.

Too much water can kill. There’s another article in Runner’s World.

Some sport is being played somewhere. I don’t know.

Volokh Conspiracy has this. And you better enjoy it.

Getting rowdy at the Capitol. YEAH!

Legos and Star Wars all in one big ball-o-nerd at Slashdot.

In other Lego news: Biff and Sandy still in space

* Just like the llama, the North Koreans need a constant intake of oxygen to survive; thus, they are susceptible to strangling.

* If a North Korean bites you, you become one.

* In a fight between the North Korean military and the Flash, the Flash would run away really quickly to a tropical resort in Thailand and drink a Mai Tai.

Or, maybe you can. From IMAO.

The problem is not really, as alleged, our sudden “unilateralism” — much less Mr. Rumsfeld’s supposedly impolitic use of terms like “Old Europe” or the shunning of hurt leaders. After all, the real gaffes and trash-talking in the recent crises mostly emanated from abroad — and in a manner not quite seen before.

The Bush administration was right to question why there are over 35,000 American troops on the DMZ targeted by 10,000 heavy guns — especially as we pay blackmail to neighboring butchers to behave. That strange policy too was the abnormality, not our new efforts to relocate our troops southward, apprise the South Koreans of the risks of their triangulating policies, and inform China, Japan, and South Korea that a nuclear creep was loose in their neighborhood — not ours. Such a past untenable condition called for such a restoration of sanity, and thus for a move back to the mean that was not imprudent, but long overdo.

Well, there’s lot’s more, but you can go read the whole thing here.

Okay, just a little more:

Instead, in the upcoming months — given the fact the new liberators are offering the gift of democracy, while the old murderers are offering more of the same death and mayhem — the attacks will taper off, the story about the Husseins’ whereabouts will unfold, the mystery of the missing WMD will be solved, we will navigate through the uncharted waters of Iraqi reconstruction — and, once more, the present peddlers of gloom will be refuted.

Scott’s on a roll. Go now.

Non-profits aren’t so good with accounting.

via Instapundit

Want to check out your favorite charity? charitynavigator.org

You know I wasn’t sure before, but this has convinced me. And the Bishop Knut Andresen is a dope.

Another good one from Best of the Web:

“A New Mexico family is suing its local Catholic church over a funeral Mass at which the priest allegedly said their relative was going straight to hell,” the BBC reports:

The family of Ben Martinez, 80, allege that Reverend Scott Mansfield said he was “living in sin,” “lukewarm in his faith” and that “the Lord vomited people like Ben out of his mouth to hell.” . . .

Nine members of the Martinez family are seeking punitive and compensatory damages for severe emotional and physical suffering.

They say Mr Martinez had been a practising Catholic all his life, but was too ill to attend church in his last year.

Unfortunately, the plaintiffs are in one of those Catch-22s. If Martinez is in heaven, no doubt he’d make a sympathetic witness–but where would he find a lawyer to take his deposition?

Nostalgia for Soviet-era East Germany. Go read Gulag and tell me how much fun they were having. Idiots.

More trouble in Hong Kong.

Apparently those closest to you can make your life miserable if you are forced to spend time with them. I believe it.

This from the NY Observer concerning a speech to his editors and managers by the new guy at the Times.

Looking at the group, according to sources present at the lunch, Mr. Keller said that he knew there were people in the room who had done “extraordinary work under extraordinary duress,” adding: “I admire people who can lead under duress.”

Huh? They were being coerced and threatened? The pay must be really good there. I’d go find another job. One that didn’t resemble a prison camp.

via WorldNetDaily

And the commies will take over. If online song-swapping continues. From this article.

In a series of hearings on Capitol Hill last spring, lawmakers condemned online song swapping and expressed concern the networks could spread computer viruses, create government security risks and allow children access to pornography.

Yeah, if you’re stupid.

The Conyers-Berman bill would operate under the assumption that each copyrighted work made available through a computer network was copied by others at least 10 times for a total retail value of $2,500. That would bump the activity from a misdemeanor to a felony, carrying a sentence of up to five years in jail.

So every song is worth $250? That $17 for a CD is a steal.

A Conyers staffer said the bill had won the backing of many Democrats but Republicans had yet to endorse it.

And which is the party of “Big Business”?

via Drudge Report

So I have learned that having the words “naked paintball” on your site really brings in the hits from search engines. But so apparently does “pasta and rfid” One of my favorite summer dishes. “al sharpton and pepsi” is my favorite though. There’s two things I never put together.

Glenn has a great conspiracy theory going over at Instapundit.

I’ll say it backwards, “Wow.”

Rich Lowry’s article on colonialism by any other name.

The countervailing force necessary to seeing the enterprise through is moral self-confidence, which the British had in buckets.

Just say it aloud a couple times. Rolls off the tongue.

More From Those Freaky Kittens

Spam Banned. Like that’ll help. It’s a nice thought though.

The bill to get the US out of the UN went down in a flaming ball of fire. 350-74. Thank you to the 74, one from Idaho BTW, who were willing to try.

“No one is ever so busy they don’t have enough time to watch a documentary on penguins,” Bush answered.

from IMAO

Very Interesting. The most reasonable (meaning most likely I would agree with) thing I’ve read on this matter.

This from Porphyrogenitus (Greek for “the cattle are dying”).

via Instapundit, likehe needs the inbound link…

Also from BOTW:

What Would Jesus Pay?
“A judge ruled Monday in favor of Deion Sanders in a lawsuit over repairs made to his vintage 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible, saying the former Dallas Cowboy paid the full amount he had authorized for the work,” the Associated Press reports from Dallas. “The owner of the repair shop had sued Sanders, saying the former All-Pro cornerback wanted to pay only $1,500 of the $4,265.57 bill after Jesus had informed him that was all he needed to pay.”

This raises an interesting theological question: How much would God the Father, or for that matter the Holy Spirit, have instructed Deion to pay? We’re guessing it would have been more than $1,500. After all, Jesus saves.

Best Of The Web has this:

“Iraq’s first postwar national political body decided Tuesday to establish a tribunal to try former members of Saddam Hussein’s regime and others accused of crimes against humanity,” MSNBC reports. This is an excellent development; such tribunals should reassure nervous Iraqis that the Saddam’s rule is really over.

“But a Human Rights Watch official challenged the council’s plan saying it would put former victims of Saddam and his regime in the position of judging their tormentors and might not result in justice.” The heart bleeds.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports on the reaction of Arab League chief Amr Moussa to the establishment of the interim governing council: “If the new council had been elected, Moussa said in a statement released Sunday night, ‘it would have gained much power and credibility.’ ”

The Arab League has 21 members aside from Iraq, including such exemplars of democratic rule as Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Syria. Moussa’s own country, Egypt, has been under “emergency rule” since 1981. Hmm, is there an Arabic word for “chutzpah”?

To coin a phrase: Heh.

Can it be true? Even if it is, it won’t pass. It’s a nice thought though.

This latest “Bush and Iraq” thing is as interesting as the other ones: It’s all about oil; they’re stealing 300,000 antiques that no one can live without; Where’s the WMD?. They can’t come up with anything to pin on Bush, but they keep trying. But here’s a good look (well, I like it) at it if you care.

There’s this. If you want to pray against the Supreme Court justices, go for it, but don’t do this wag the dog thing, okay? Who’s in charge of this guys PR?

Whatever happened to survival of the fittest?

Lasagna. Who invented it? Does it matter? I don’t think the nation that invented Marmite should be allowed to discuss food at all.

Naked paintball. On top of the perversion, that’s just stupid. I’ve been hit (fully clothed) with paintballs and it’s no fun.

via Drudge Report

and Politicians don’t mix.

If anything qualifies as incredible, it’s McCain’s understanding of the Constitution. The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.” It does not impose any obligations on radio stations.

Crazy Eastern Europeans. They better hope it doesn’t catch on with Americans. No more “2.9 from the Russian judge” to help them out. But there’s always the French now, isn’t there?

Those wacky French.

In a case where /. mod points are actually working, they have an interesting set of questions to ask the DOJ concerning Intellectual Property theft, sharing, etc. I’m excited to see the answers.

Wow. I had no idea you could get away with stuff like this. I guess it’s because he’s not an elected official.

via Drudge Report.

This article on NRO points out that there are bad people in the world and on the web. And apparently we should be protected from these particular ones. Yeah. Uh, it seems to me that these sites would be helpful to keep track of what’s going on in the Religion of Peace. Just a thought.

Bloggers love blogging about blogs. This article ought to be making the rounds soon. She had me until the last sentence. I haven’t used big media to get my news for more than 5 years now. And I like the fact that I don’t have a big stack of papers always needing to be taken care of.

via The Corner.

Surprise!

UPDATE: And in a related story…

This article from Christianity Today. You know, he’s not really helping here.

Read this.

via Instapundit.

This article examines a recent study showing that speed doesn’t necessarily kill. I’m all for it. If only someone could explain it to whoever sets the idioticly low speed limits around here.

The end of an era. Does this mean parts are going to get more expensive?

Here’s one of the first signs.

From welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com:

Furloughed Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf (M.S.S.) makes a sudden appearance in Abu Dhabi, saying he might not return to Iraq. “When I leave I always have in my mind that I might not come down this road again, but I’m working and praying to God that I can return to Baghdad one day,” he said on Abu Dhabi Television. The Abu Dhabi Information Minister? Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it…

I can’t think of Abu Dhabi without the song from the Garfield cartoon going through my head.

Here.

It’s Friday!

Any time the Western way of war can be unleashed on an enemy stupid enough to enter its arena, victory is assured. And the antidote? Remember the Highway of Death or the insane evocation of “Dresden” on the first night of the three-week war. The way to combat the West is to appeal to either its generosity of spirit or its guilt in hopes that it will call itself off, and thus hand to terrorists and dictators a stalemate that will soon be seen as a victory of sorts, stolen from the jaws of assured defeat.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Africa.

This guy should head up the RIAA.

How to avoid the howling tin-foil hats, by Auto-ID, makers of RFID tags.

And The Register with their views.

Beijing has sent a team of officials here from security and intelligence agencies, the foreign ministry and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office to ask local leaders and residents why they are so upset and to collect ideas for what to do next, pro-Beijing politicians said today.

Did the NY Times (evil registration required) purposely make the Chinese leaders look stupid or did they do it on their own. We may never know.

This article via Reason’s Hit and Run.

Really, really fast RAM.

From the Washington Times:

At least one member of the all-Democrat Congressional Black Caucus is complaining that President Bush failed to consult them before heading off to Africa.

Even better:

“It makes me wonder how sincere this trip is, if you won’t meet with the leaders of African descent in your own country,” the Democrat said.

Given the snub, “I think we have a lot of reasons to have thin skin,” she added.

Earlier this week, black activist Al Sharpton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run against President Bush in the 2004 election, made a similar complaint.

“I think it is interesting that the president is going to meet with African leaders when he has not met with African-American leaders — the head of the NAACP, the head of the Urban League, the head of Rainbow/Push,” Mr. Sharpton said in a TV interview Sunday.

Mr. Sharpton did not mention that the NAACP had sponsored TV ads during the 2000 presidential election that suggested Mr. Bush, by opposing so-called hate crime legislation in Texas, somehow approved of the brutal murder of a black man.

I’m pretty sure these people aren’t from Africa. Have they done in-depth studies of African problems and policies? I don’t complain when the President goes to visit Europe without consulting me. Idiots.

Well, actually, there’s plenty of news, but it’s just not striking me as interesting. Bush is in Africa. Liberia is in trouble. The Iranian protests are interesting but go here (and scroll down) because they’re covered. Iraqis are selling beer freely. Some baseball player swung at the sausages running by (via The Corner). Speaking of which The Corner is bursting with new people, so at least there’s plenty of posting. Blah, blah, blah.

This is hilarious. From Volokh Conspiracy, who all just think too much for me.

Let your mind be as a floating cloud. Let your stillness be as the wooded glen. And sit up straight. You’ll never meet the Buddha with posture like that.

There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?

The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao is not Jewish.

Drink tea and nourish life. With the first sip, joy. With the second, satisfaction. With the third, Danish.

The Buddha taught that one should practice loving kindness to all sentient beings. Still, would it kill you to find a nice sentient being who happens to be Jewish?

Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes.