« March 2005 | Main | May 2005 »

Saturday, April 30, 2005

All The News Fits (10:36 AM) - You may have noticed the new top navigation bar up there in light yellow. It should ease moving about the site. I also created a simple news aggregation page that automatically checks the AP, Reuters, and a few other wires…

My Girlfriend Is A Possum (08:48 AM) - Explication, from Barely Legal, in the extended….

TV Spots In UK Prime Minister Race (08:45 AM) - They are Oscar-worthy….

Don’t Panic (08:40 AM) - I saw The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy last night. It was pretty good. It doesn’t stand up to one’s own voice as directed by Douglas Adams, of course. But as an insular film it was rather enjoyable….

It’s Just Tough Duck! (08:36 AM) - Heard in the White House briefing room…Q. In recognizing reporters last night, it appeared once more as if the President were following a script of pre-selected names. And my question, does the President believe that the American people really want…

Oops, Bill Tripped On The Science Power Cord (08:13 AM) - Over at Daily Kos, they are blaming the Republicans for the downfall of science.The Republican war on science is not always obvious. There is a subtle and disturbing trend toward the propagation of what I call “GOP pseudoscience”. One example…

Paris Hilton Is Totally Podcasting (08:10 AM) - Listen to the podcast, which is as offensive-yet-inexplicably-attractive as Hilton herself….

Friday, April 29, 2005

The Trauer Symphony (10:16 PM) - Haydn asked that the third movement from his Trauersinfonie- the number 44- be played at his funeral. When you hear it, you will know why. Somehow, this is a piece of music that you already have in your heart. It…

A ‘Mac guy’ I Am Not… (09:59 PM) - But judging from my server logs, a healthy population of Mac users read Dartblog. If you are one of them, I highly recommend Jeff Harrell’s site, where he has been posting some very interesting stuff about the new operating system….

Disgusting (08:56 PM) - Posted without comment….

Outsourcing [Can Be] Good… Seasourcing Is Not (04:22 PM) - While outsourcing is likely a net gain for the US, I’m not so sure about this: (and it is probably not true!) “Outsourcing” – which has become synonymous with sending American jobs to India or China – could soon mean…

Found In Food Court (04:15 PM) - An intrepid pundit/artist had some fun with this morning’s New York Times, transforming a photo of the President into some conglomeration of Hitler and Mephistopheles: take a look. Now that there is no longer a speech/rhetoric department here at Dartmouth,…

Oil Drops Below $50 (04:12 PM) - And, clearly, it is because of the shabby US economy:NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - NYMEX crude for June delivery ended below $50 a barrel on Friday amid signs of a slowing U.S. economy and with ample supplies of oil…

I’ve Always Wanted A Small Snack (12:50 PM) - A friend in my government class just sent me this…i have to meet with my arabic prof at 3 and need to make up a lot of homework, so if im not there could you take really good and detailed…

Harry Reid: Democrats Need A Miracle (10:30 AM) - From an article in the Washington Times:Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid raised a few eyebrows yesterday on the Senate floor when he said it would take a “miracle” for Democrats to win enough races next year to take back the…

Princeton Students Filibuster For Frist (09:49 AM) - Fearing the scary real world that drives past Princeton on Route 1 every day, Princeton students are taking to their leafy arcadia within the gates to stage a mock filibuster. Live video webcam coverage is here. They have been going…

In The Dartmouth This Morning (08:27 AM) - Michael Belinsky reminds liberal college students that conservative views are not antithetical to the academic mission of colleges. And Rob Butts inveighs against the demise of Dartmouth’s speech department….

Are You Ready To Scream? (07:57 AM) - Bloomberg reports that art thiefs may have destroyed “The Scream.”…

A Flood of Crimson Ink (07:53 AM) - Opinion Journal: “Sick of hearing about Harvard? So is everyone else— except Harvard-educated journalists.”…

The Dartmouth Trustee Election (07:33 AM) - Power Line reader and Dartmouth alum John MacGovern sent a message to Scott Johnson, and it is reprinted in the extended for your convenience. Balloting ends on May 6th: just seven days left. Make them count….

New Yorkers Are Weird (07:25 AM) - I can never understand their voting patterns. All of a sudden, the hated Bloomberg is bounding ahead in mayoral polls.NEW YORK - Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg has pulled ahead of his Democratic challengers and would win another term if voters…

Abortion Fanatics In Kansas (07:21 AM) - What, indeed, is wrong with Kansas?TOPEKA, Kan. - Anti-abortion lawmakers failed Thursday to override Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto of a bill imposing additional regulations on clinics that perform abortions. The state House vote was 82-42 — two votes short of…

The Death Penalty For Akbar (07:16 AM) - Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who I wrote about early on this week, has been sentenced to death for attacking fellow soldiers with a rifle and grenades. He killed 2 and wounded 14. He was worried that the soldiers would unfairly target…

Not Just For Beta Zoids Anymore (07:14 AM) - Everyone reads minds, scientists say….

Ex-Popemobile For Sale (07:12 AM) - Oversears eBay users are bidding Pope Benedict’s old 1999 Volkswagen Golf up to $1.3m, calling it a Popemobile….

The CBS Headline After Presser (07:10 AM) - “Bush Nods At The Little Guy” I kid you not. Making Social Security benefits regressive is actually a terrible idea. This is the most popular social program in American history- the only one consistently agreed to by a majority- precisely…

Reminder (07:06 AM) - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy opens today! Bring a towel!…

Revenge Of The Sith Update (07:05 AM) - A positive review of the final Star Wars film. Huzzah!…

Neutral Economic News (06:58 AM) - There have been positive signs on our economy over and over for months and months. I post about them under the headline, “Good Economic News” because they very rarely are reported in the mainstream media. This is a Republican administration,…

Tony Blair’s Own Memo (06:52 AM) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair received a memo from his top attorney before the Iraq war which advised that other countries could possibly sue the UK and some case could be built that the war was illegal. (Has there ever…

Schwarzenegger Supports Minutement (06:47 AM) - Rather tactless for a California governor, I think, but he is exactly right:SACRAMENTO — Calling the nation’s borders dangerously porous, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday praised the private “Minuteman” campaign that uses armed volunteers to stop illegal immigrants from crossing…

The Drudge Report On TV (06:46 AM) - Matt Drudge- fedora and all- will be on C-SPAN this morning at 8a….

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Comparing Dictators (05:47 PM) - I got some guff for opining that there have been other Hitlers in the past. Steve O’Brien, a Dartmouth alum, e-mails in and agrees with me, but notes that Hitler had a key advantage:It seems to me that the main…

This Just In. (05:04 PM) - Tom Brokaw will be speaking at Dartmouth’s 2005 commencement on June 12th. Of course, he’ll be receiving an honorary degree. I’ve always liked Brokaw, hopefully his remarks will be good. If I stay up here long enough to hear them,…

Choice When It Is Convenient (03:48 PM) - Debra Saunders notes some Democrat hypocrisy:How can feminists — read Boxer — say they support “choice,” as they conspire to outlaw the right of pharmacists to make a choice they don’t like?…

Yahoo Returns Fire (03:30 PM) - Yahoo News has just been redesigned, and it looks/works great. I’ll be using it more now. UPDATE: Some college major advice….

Woodruff Out (03:21 PM) - Sassy CNN anchor Judy Woodruff is calling it quits.Judy Woodruff, the anchor of CNN’s “Inside Politics,” is leaving the network when her contract expires in June. Woodruff, 58, said Thursday that she hoped to teach, write and work on long-form…

The UN’s Oil-for-Food Investigation (03:18 PM) - Roger L. Simon:According to Niles Lathem in the New York Post, two Congressional committees have approached Robert Parton - the recently-resigned UN Oil-for-Food investigator - to elicit testimony, but his former bosses aren’t happy. But sources said lawyers for the…

A Heart-to-Heart On Social Security (03:15 PM) - WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is ready to begin talking with Congress and the public about specific steps he supports to ensure the future of Social Security and will announce his ideas during a prime-time news conference Thursday. Bush was…

The Hilarious Prison Paradox (02:13 PM) - If you subscribe to the wild-eyed theory that criminals are criminals- not society’s victims- you might make the assumption that, when criminals are caught and put in jail, the crime rate would fall commensurately. Others have observed newspapers that aren’t…

One Of Those Girlfriend Posts (02:05 PM) - A rare type of woodpecker, thought extinct for six decades, has been rediscovered….

Reading In The Bathroom (01:54 PM) - Let me tell you a tale. A few months ago, it became very clear to the handful of denizens who live on my floor that the men’s room in our hall was exceedingly dull. And one of the key activities…

We’re Readable! (01:46 PM) - Dartblog.com has a Gunning Fog readability index of 10.47, which is halfway, according to the benchmarks on this site, between Time and the Wall Street Journal….

Being All They Can Be (01:20 PM) - The Center for Military Readiness has long been trying to keep homosexuals out of the military, a policy I lukewarmly support. Today, president Elaine Donnelly has an op-ed in USA Today which, at its end, puts a pretty good spin…

Engage. (01:06 PM) - Those mysterious dilithium crystals that have seen the USS Enterprise through thick and thin (emphasis on the former) may not be Roddenberry’s imagination after all:In an announcement straight out of the pages of a Star Trek techno-babble script, Seth Putterman,…

The Abolition of Oratory (01:00 PM) - Voices in the Wilderness comments on the soon to be nonexistent department of speech at Dartmouth: “To eliminate this storied department citing lack of funding — only to hire a Director of Sustainability the next week — is unspeakable.” While…

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

L’Examen, Bien Sur (11:55 PM) - Blogging may be light tomorrow morning, as I have a 10a-12p exam….

The Reckless Abandon Of Those Pro-Lifers (10:44 PM) - I couldn’t let the New York Times’ take on the latest abortion legislation go unnoted:The House passed a bill on Wednesday making it a federal crime for any adult to transport an under-age girl across state lines to have an…

Second Thoughts On Pataki (09:31 PM) - Steve Koch e-mails in:I hate to tell you, but as someone unfortunate to have lived in the ridiculously liberal state of NY for about 20 years, Pataki doesn’t impress me at all. He’s bland and low profile. I doubt he…

Stop The Presses (08:03 PM) - Tom DeLay smokes cuban cigars! I remember when political scandals used to be real meaty ones. Like sex or larceny. So far this year, all I’ve heard from outraged Democrats is that one guy is too mean to be an…

Diversion From Studies (06:04 PM) - I took a study break to use my camera at dusk (and in rain) for the first time. Lesson: flash must be on, or low-light pictures are extremely blurry. Forgive me, I’m new. Here are the stairs behind my dormitory….

Brosnan Stays On As Bond (05:27 PM) - I think Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond is a close second to Connery, so I’m glad he’s staying on the job, as it were….

Aux Armes! (04:59 PM) - Well, not quite. But Alston B. Ramsay, former editor of The Dartmouth Review, provides an excellent survey of the trustee election thus far over at National Review: “Getting Hell from Hanover”….

The GOP In 2008 (02:59 PM) - I am increasingly leaning toward a right-moderate guy for the nomination in 2008, and it is looking increasingly necessary given recent GOP foibles. Giuliani is one such fellow, and he is pulling away bigtime in Patrick Ruffini’s informal poll; he’ll…

Midterm Update (02:54 PM) - First one wasn’t too bad… it was on national security policy, and I’d be lying if I said the blogosphere didn’t help me out a bit!…

A Handel Night (01:26 PM) - Blogging has been light because I have been studying all day for midterms… and I’ve another tomorrow. It’ll be a Handel night tonight, for relaxation. I just bought the new recording of Dixit (on a hybrid disc, too) and I’ve…

Roadmap To Peace (12:13 PM) - Thousands of Israelis are in the Gaza Strip protesting the coming withdrawal of Israel from there. While the withdrawal is probably still a positive step toward peace, the Israelis are right to be discomforted, especially because the Palestinians have made…

Best Headline Of The Day (08:11 AM) - Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Pete Du Pont pens “Sen. Strangelove. Or: How Democrats stopped winning and learned to love the filibuster.”…

Dartmouth Hires Sustainability Director (08:01 AM) - Not a director of sustaining the College, its finances, its reputation, its student body, or its academics. No. A director of making Dartmouth more environmentally-friendly. The Dartmouth reports:After sustainability expert Jim Merkel completes his environmentally-friendly book tour of Spanish universities,…

The Iron Curtain At Apple (07:25 AM) - First they sue bloggers for giving them free publicity. Now they are doing the same for an unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs. (Who, yeah, has a number of skeletons in his closet.)…

Debunking The Hitler Myth (07:13 AM) - Richard Cohen, writing in The Daily News and reflecting on Hitler after seeing the new German movie on his final days:In the movie, as in real life, Hitler is nice, considerate, thoughtful and incredibly cruel. He is a mass of…

The Oxygen Thins (07:11 AM) - Byron York is very bearish on Air America Radio….

The New Scarebus Lifts Off (07:05 AM) - I admit I do not quite understand why the media have been fawning over the new Airbus flying machine. As I noted a few months ago, it is functionally inferior to the 747 in some major ways. In any event,…

And An Exoneration That Never Was (06:57 AM) - “I thought we criticized [Mr. Annan] rather severely. I would not call that an exoneration,” says Paul Volcker in the pages of WashTimes. Perhaps those words would have been more effective in reinforcing the conclusions of the man’s report if…

The Abu Ghraib Exoneration (06:54 AM) - It was an overhyped story, not a whitewash, says today’s WSJ editorial, which observes:We’d have thought every American would be relieved to learn that 10 major inquiries, sworn statements from 37 high-level officials, and information gleaned from dozens of courts-martial…

Natalie Portman Update (06:48 AM) - Natalie Portman, who doesn’t look like she’s over 21, by the way, is now filming a cinema adaptation of V for Vendetta which will likely be on the same stratum as Sin City. Her next movie seems more interesting: it…

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Whither My Dear Montana? (09:43 PM) - Bradford Plumer notes that a blueish haze is decending upon infamous “frontier” Montana. This is bad news for me, on a personal level. It has always been a weird dream of mine to live in Montana when The Time comes….

Stanfordshiresbury Has My Number (07:47 PM) - W. Thurston Stanfordshiresbury, fellow tony Dartmouth student, is on to my urbane airs. But, alas, I can’t help it if I am an opera-goer who doesn’t fancy a trip to the UK. At least I avoid the game of cricket….

Must Credit Simon (07:39 PM) - Roger L. Simon has the inside scoop on the Huffington Report….

AOL’s New Metablog Feature (06:49 PM) - Blog aggregators are all the rage, primarily, I think, because they are very easy to set up and cheap to maintain. AOL is now running one right here. It is actually edited, rather than robot-controlled. I noticed it in my…

Bert the Turtle Says, “Duck and Cover!” (05:31 PM) - The famous Cold War educational video- and we should be eternally grateful that we can laugh at it now- that advised kids to ‘duck and cover’ can be downloaded in several formats at the Internet Archive’s new moving picture database….

Cable News Race Update (05:19 PM) - Fox is still on top quite solidly, with Hume, Shep, O’Reilly and Greta all getting better ratings than the other news programs airing in those timeslots combined. But CNN’s NewsNight is moving up the charts, and CNN says that Fox…

Who Needs Republicans Anymore? (01:06 PM) - Kos offers a brilliant new moniker for the Democrats:Democrats are the party for people who work for a living.So in other words: everyone. Capital. What I found especially amusing was the first comment to that post, from a fellow called…

1984: The Opera (11:28 AM) - I had no idea that Lorin Maazel has a new opera coming out. It’s 1984, after Orwell’s classic. I’ve never heard the music of Maazel, and sadly won’t be in London (it premieres on May 3rd at Covent Garden) anytime…

The King Of Drool (10:37 AM) - Be happy that the only monarchy in our fine country is that of the mutts.DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - He’s a mutt with a mug only a mother could love. No matter. Tiberius, a 2 1/2-year-old English bulldog, was crowned…

A Boon For Boeing, US (10:04 AM) - I think this [WSJ $] is a sign that our increasingly intimate relationship with India is a good move, especially considering that China is sidling up also. Wall Street Journal reports:India’s state-owned carrier, Air India, said it will buy 50…

The Year Of The Nerd (09:50 AM) - This e-mail is spot-on: 2005 is the year of the nerd, at least as far as the entertainment industry goes….

Prospectives For 2008 (09:18 AM) - Patrick Ruffini wants to know what you think of possible GOP nominees for President in 2008….

Floridians Can Defend Selves, State Decides (08:29 AM) - Of course, WaPo puts it in a partisan ‘retro v. metro’ light:It is either a Wild West revival, a return to the days of “shoot first and ask questions later,” or a triumph for the “Castle Doctrine” — the notion…

On The March To Define Marriage (07:36 AM) - Texas is on its way to joining the 36 states with Defense of Marriage Acts- often in the form of constitutional amendments. Texas’ definition of marriage amendment passed the state House by 101-29 and will then go to the Senate…

Serious Journalism Aside (07:34 AM) - ABC News is looking for Twinkie eaters….

The Incipient Huffy Blog (07:30 AM) - The Associated Press is kind enough to grace us with the silver-plated words of Arianna Huffington, who is of the upper echelon of people. She explains the new paradigm which her blog is set to create:”The two most interesting things…

“Keep Vermont Civil!” (07:24 AM) - With mass-honking of the horns of all the Subarus, decade-old Saabs and Volvos, and, of course, Volkswagons, Vermont celebrates five years of politically expedient half-measures: civil unions….

A Supreme Ignorance Of Causality (07:19 AM) - AP: “Oil Prices Drop After Bush Meets With Prince” It’s better than the alternate, which would have been, “Despite Bush Meeting With Prince, Oil Prices Don’t Budge”….

And Over In Chaiwan (07:12 AM) - In Taiwan there are two key parties: that of President Chen Shui-bian, who wants formal independence (war, probably) from China, and that of Lien Chan, the opposition leader, which still takes a relatively nationalist view of things, but is more…

Putin Machination Update (07:08 AM) - Rice has some choice words for Comrade Putin, calling his power grip “worrying”. Putin himself, meanwhile, says that Democracy is Russia’s top priority….

They’re Out (07:05 AM) - BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) — The last Syrian soldiers are reported to have left Lebanon, surrendering to international and Lebanese popular demands and ending its 29-year military presence in its smaller neighbor. Of course, it was, as the lead graph says,…

No More Ideas In Hollywood (06:57 AM) - They are remaking The Birds, ugh. Hey, I’m sure Huffington’s blog will be chock full of brand new ideas!…

Monday, April 25, 2005

Still With The WMD? (11:59 PM) - Associated Press:WASHINGTON - In his final word, the CIA’s top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has “gone as far as feasible” and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported…

Another Near Capture (11:56 PM) - Of Z-man….

CBS Headline: “Bush Pushes; Will Oil Costs Budge?” (11:42 PM) - Yes, tying a President’s diplomatic meeting today to the worldwide price of oil tomorrow and expected major dips is standard operating procedure for this administration….

Polls Do Not A Sound Thesis Make (11:33 PM) - James Taranto notes that famous shrinking violet Paul Krugman is shirking his original duties as NYT columnist: When the New York Times announced in 1999 that it was hiring former Enron adviser Paul Krugman as a columnist, it promised “The…

Quote of the Evening (07:08 PM) - “You have no idea how much it contributes to the general politeness and pleasantness of diplomacy when you have a little quiet armed force in the background.” - George Kennan…

Conservative Audiophile Alert (04:02 PM) - Tom Bozzo is testing my allegiances: the GOP or high-fidelity:This… goes out to Joe Malchow. PRESIDENT BUSH: Offering young workers a 1930’s-era retirement system is like trying to persuade them that vinyl LPs are better than iPods. One thing that…

Halbert v. Michigan (04:00 PM) - Taylor Buley visits the Supreme Court and has a recounting at the Editorial Board….

The Incredible Blogging Tony Elites (03:41 PM) - Nick Desai has high expectations for Arianna Huffington’s blogging foray:Finally, finally we’ll get to find out the answers to such questions as: What do celebs really think of Bush? Maggie Gyllenhaal, how would you combat the illicit trafficking of fissile…

In Need Of A Good Trounce (03:26 PM) - Comrade Putin: “The demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” A crazy few might opine that the rise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century….

Matt Drudge Is Fun (01:42 PM) - Don’t miss this WaPo article on Matt Drudge. He’s enjoying life, and he should. He says he doesn’t read blogs (He does.) and muses over why the mainstream media doesn’t give him heat anymore. Hint: He is part of the…

Clarity On Taiwan, Please (12:53 PM) - Talking straight about Taiwan is a big no-no in Washington. I agree with Kalb that more clarity is needed and that quietly underwriting a nuke program there shouldn’t be ruled out. I have written an op-ed to that effect and…

Good News From New York (12:49 PM) - We’ve nabbed a major Afghanistan drug kingpin who was a supporter of the Taliban….

More Google Speculation (12:39 PM) - Variety.com reports:The stock, sold to the public at $85, rose $11.59 to close Friday at $215.81 in Nasdaq composite trading after earlier surging to $224. That surpassed the previous record of $216.80 after last quarter’s earnings report. Yahoo, which this…

The Deansanity Continues (12:36 PM) - Washington Post rounds up Dr. Dean’s latest feats of Democrat-cannibalization, namely the tactic of calling the majority of the country “evil” “brain-dead” and “corrupt.” It’s a can’t-miss tactic!…

Soylent Rice (12:31 PM) - In “a dramatic extension of genetic modification,” scientists are putting human genes into crops, The Independent reports.In the first modification of its kind, Japanese researchers have inserted a gene from the human liver into rice to enable it to digest…

Podunk College Towns (10:47 AM) - I just discovered that Hanover, NH is college town numero uno. That’s pretty neat. In the words of Michael Dorris, “Hanover and its environs will probably make you dissatisfied and grumpy with wherever you live, because it’s one of those…

Time For DeLay To Go? (08:50 AM) - In The Dartmouth, Editorial Board contributor Rob Butts opines that “it’s high time for Tom DeLay to step down as House majority leader.”…

Good Economic News (07:05 AM) - College graduates this year walk into the best jobs picture in four years….

More Ultra-Urgent News (07:02 AM) - This monkey can drink soda and smoke cigarettes. That’s cooler than Coco!…

You Knew It Was Coming (07:00 AM) - FrontPageMag profiles ‘peace activist’ Marla Ruzicka….

Couric Today (06:58 AM) - I used to like Katie Couric, but she long ago turned into a weird congelation of anchor and talk show host. The New York Times picks up on the ‘cult of personality’, as you likely have seen….

Bush Cancels Earth Day Visit (06:54 AM) - He must hate the Earth….

And They March In Mexico (06:43 AM) - It is amusing, if not scary, that Americans often have a better idea of what is going on politically across the Atlantic than the situation south of the border. But here is a tip: Vicente Fox isn’t exactly un gran…

Ultra-Urgent News (06:41 AM) - The Dartmouth Review has it….

A Substantive Complaint Against Bolton (06:26 AM) - This is the first one I’ve heard. Recall that Libya voluntarily renounced its nuclear weapons program in December of 2003. It was clearly a result of the Iraq War (an impetus basically agreed upon by both sides) when the Libyan…

Another Mass-Transit Disaster In Japan (06:23 AM) - A commuter train crashed into a building, resulting in 50 dead and more than 300 injured….

Andy Rooney Update (06:21 AM) - He asks: “Are neckties out?” No, but I know something that is….

If An iPod and a TiVo Mated… (06:20 AM) - And switched reception to the AM/FM radio spectrum, you’d have this….

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Inaugural Photo Blogging (03:45 PM) - Here are some of the photos I took today with the new digital camera- a Canon SD110. These were all taken in manual mode and various settings, but all were 2048x1536 before I resized them to 800x600 for posting. Since…

Spongeworthy Once Again. (12:48 PM) - The sponge is back, ending millions of references to that hilarious Seinfeld episode….

British Broadcasting Company In News-Making Flap (10:34 AM) - Like many American media outlets, the BBC has charged itself not only with reporting and analyzing news, but with creating it:The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging general election row after it admitted equipping three hecklers with microphones…

Chinese Communist Absorbs Power (08:05 AM) - “Every time history repeats itself the price goes up.” Chinese President Hu Jintao is taking enormous strides towards consolidating and maximizing the Communist party’s power.BEIJING - More than two years after taking office amid uncertainty about his political views, Chinese…

The Breakdown of Volcker (07:56 AM) - Robert Parton, one of the two ex-investigators on the Volcker committee looking at UN graft has released a statement disputing MSM reports that he resigned simply because his work was finished. As bloggers knew- and the liberal media tried to…

Pushing Bolton (07:52 AM) - William Kristol on Bolton: “I suspect even the anti-Bush Doctrine Republican senators on the Foreign Relations Committee will ultimately be too embarrassed to hang a “No” vote on such flimsy scaffolding. And do the Democrats—the party of Richard Holbrooke and…

They’re Getting Dyspeptic (07:34 AM) - Donate a bottle of Tums to your favorite Democrat, because, as Lawrence S. Eagleburger writes in the Washington Post, “President Bush’s nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has generated a bad case of dyspepsia among…

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Blogs To Log (07:11 PM) - Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, in its May/June 2005 issue, has a nice sidebar on page 27 (no internet version, sadly) called Blogs to Log. Five Dartmouth-related blogs are mentioned, and I’m flattered that Sue DuBois, who put the sidebar together, included…

ConfirmBolton.com (07:06 PM) - A new one-shot blog supporting John Bolton is ConfirmBolton.com. I think the jury is still out on these single-issue weblogs, but this one looks interesting, and the cause is right….

The Smog Of Sarcasm (02:06 PM) - Cliff May is sure that Maureen Dowd didn’t write her latest column….

Connections! (09:27 AM) - I find it terribly funny that The New School is an advertiser on Wonkette….

A Hillary Endorsement; A Fuming Kerry (09:22 AM) - Power Line has the story of Senator Mark Dayton’s encouraging nod to a 2008 Hillary run, and Monsieur Kerry’s reaction:A fuming John Kerry had “daggers in his eyes” after a fellow Democrat promoted Hillary Rodham Clinton for president — suggesting…

Not Insurgents, When You See Them (09:14 AM) - D’apres Jeff Jarvis, Grand Central froze when Fox aired the video of the three terrorists who shot down a US helicopter, killing 10, and then killed the lone survivor of the crash. (After describing all this, CNN called them insurgents.)…

Friday, April 22, 2005

Out On The Town (11:09 PM) - Lauren and I have returned from our night out. It got dark quickly, so although the surroundings in Woodstock, VT were wonderful, we weren’t able to grab many good photos. Here, though, is one of the better arm-extension self portraits….

Nancy Pelosi’s Tricky Travels (10:44 PM) - Concerns are rising over how a 2001 Puerto Rico trip taken by Pelosi and other Senate Democrats was funded.House Republicans yesterday called on Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to provide documentation to prove that a Washington lobbyist firm did not pay…

Those Damn Kids 2.0 (10:41 PM) - Ignore the opening jab at Herr Mozart and read this ABC News Original Report, which details how violence and hip-hop go hand in hand. I used to think these sorts of correlations- like video games to schoolyard killings- were bunk….

Dartmouth Lets Speech Department Go (10:30 PM) - I cannot more strongly disagree with this decision:Speech professor Jim Kuypers, long the only faculty member in the office of speech, announced his resignation effective the end of the term, citing frustration with 10 years of administrative neglect. The College…

The Frostee Cometh (10:19 PM) - The Wendy’s finger hullabaloo: a farce….

Military Elites Exonerated In “Abuse” (10:00 PM) - Abu Ghraib (the top recruiting tool for terrorists!) was heavily and single-mindedly discussed in my national security class today. Visiting was this questionable character, who intoned that the US has so bungled the occupation of Iraq that those interrogating (he…

Life Calls (05:16 PM) - Things are moving quickly around these parts. I’ve an op-ed to deliver Sunday afternoon- and which I’ve not yet started- a big anniversary date tonight, huge amounts of economics to digest, an associated problem set, and a brand new digital…

Coalition of the Bribed (01:44 PM) - Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Saddam Hussein: Whodathunkit?…

Spec-u-lation (11:00 AM) - Google is trading at 219!…

Brother, Can You Spare $2 Billion? (07:20 AM) - Amtrak is a disaster. Anyone who has ridden it knows. So Bush had the right idea when he told the government department/corporation to shape up. Amtrak’s response is pretty funny though:WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amtrak yielded to Bush administration pressure on…

The Bush Administration Goes Sideways On Annan (07:15 AM) - NEW YORK (Washington Times) — The Bush administration said yesterday that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s future in the office “is not certain” despite the U.N. chief’s assertion that he had been cleared by investigators probing the huge Iraq oil-for-food scandal….

Extending Education (07:10 AM) - Ever heard of ‘Spanish as a First Language’ classes in American high schools? Neither had I.EMPORIA, Kansas (AP) — Rosa Perez chats easily in Spanish, but the 15-year-old — having arrived in the United States more than a decade ago…

Unbelievable Linguistic Skylarking (07:05 AM) - CNN’s writers have engaged in the most embarrassing, most shameful bit of politics-by-vocabulary yet. Here are the first three paragraphs of this horrible story. Take note of the very last word.BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The Islamic Army in Iraq claimed…

If Walking Into Traffic, Choose A Honda (06:59 AM) - Driven by bits of logic such as, “You want as soft a surface as possible when you’re hitting your head into anything,” (A quip from a chief Honda engineer.) Honda is trying to make its cars softer so that people…

O, What A Tangled Web We Weave (06:49 AM) - The famous ‘flower’ portrait of the Bard is a fake. The BBC is reporting that the painting, usually attributed to the year 1609- the date on the painting itself- was actually created almost 200 years after Marlowe Shakespeare’s death. Art…

A Sergeant Convicted (12:11 AM) - A former sergeant- a Muslim- in the US Army has been convicted of “premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days…

The Anti Wal-Mart Sect (12:06 AM) - “After weeks of speculation, our campaign is underway in the pages of the New York Times, across the blogesphere [sic], and here on our new website.” The opening words of WalmartWatch.com, where it is alleged that Wal-Mart costs tax-payers billions…

Overheard In The Briefing Room (12:03 AM) - From yesterday’s press briefing: Q. Scott, getting back to Bolton for a minute. You’re obviously — SCOTT McCLELLAN: You jumped ahead of four people who had their hands up in your row. Q. Sorry. MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead. Q. I…

Has a pregnant woman ever said, “The fetus is kicking”? (12:00 AM) - That, and other spot-on linguistic notes at James Taranto’s place. I am only recently anti-abortion, but the media is using some of the same left-wing wordsmithery on abortion as on other issues. Things rarely change……

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Sniffing For Scandals On Barren Land (11:54 PM) - A trio of anti-Bush hecklers are booted out of a White House PR rally and a left-wing blogger extracts this:I got word that the Secret Service is flying to Denver tomorrow to open a criminal investigation on the fools involved…

Powell’s Subsersive Campaigning (11:48 PM) - Washington Post is reporting that Colin Powell is campaigning against John Bolton, trying to shore up GOP defectors.Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell is emerging as a behind-the-scenes player in the battle over John R. Bolton’s nomination as ambassador…

Big Brother Alert (02:59 PM) - You can’t have an open container of food or drink while driving in Fort Wayne. Actually, it is a comic miswording of an existing statute:There’s a problem with the open-container law in Fort Wayne. Officials have discovered that the ordinance…

Opposition At Any Cost (12:56 PM) - Even if it means allying with imperial communist China against independent and democratic Taiwan.During a state visit to China, French Premier Raffarin threw support behind a law allowing China to attack Taiwan and continued to push for a lift of…

Advice For Kofi: Do A ‘Stingy’ Report (12:49 PM) - Canada’s promised aid for tsunami victims never arrived in Sri Lanka. Who’s stingy? I propose Kofi Annan put together a triad of his best buds in order to enact sweeping reforms in the appellation process for ‘stingy’ member nations….

“The Hegemonic Superpower” (12:36 PM) - Hey!, exclaims Juan Antonio Fernandez, Cuban delegate to the United Nations. What happened, guys? We hate those Americans, right? His voice reverberates off empty walls. They torture everyone, and are evil. Bush drinks blood! No guffaws of ‘stupid Americans’ or…

Old Regimes Do Die, And Then Fade Away (12:32 PM) - And as two more senior Taliban officials have surrendered, that is happening with verve in Afghanistan.Two senior members of Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime surrendered to the government on Thursday under an amnesty offer, a provincial governor said. The officials —…

The Wheels Turn (11:18 AM) - Talabani is saying that a formalized government could be formed today, Reuters reports. Of course, this good news must be repelled with accounts of violence.BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq may finally get a new government on Thursday, its president said, offering…

Good Economic News (11:03 AM) - The biggest unemployment claim drop in three years:The Labor Department said Thursday that the huge decline pushed applications for jobless benefits down to a seasonally adjusted 296,000 last week, marking the third straight week of falling claims. But department analysts…

“Trey Parker Really F–ing Hates Liberals” (09:54 AM) - Taylor Buley over at Fresh Politics read South Park Conservatives- I’m going to sojourn to the Dartmouth Bookstore today and try to obtain my copy- and gives it a positive appraisal….

The Virgin Mary On The Freeway (09:47 AM) - I don’t see it. (…via Argonautical Ramblings)…

Apple Sales Update (08:14 AM) - Unabashed Apple fanboy (I confess I am no better on the opposite side.) Jeff Harrell directs me to this positive analysis of Apple’s Q1 2005 sales. No link, but here are some excerpts, in the extended….

Linguistic Thought of the Day (07:54 AM) - I never thought I could ever hate the word ‘meme’. But the blogosphere has forced me to. Last time, it was ‘disingenuous’. Well. A wooden shack in Montana, then?…

And Over In New Haven… (07:34 AM) - Yale Grad Students who work as teacher assistants are trying to unionize and it is getting just a bit ridiculous. Makes me pleased that, at Dartmouth, every class every day is taught by a professor….

Don’t Worry About Bolton’s Policy (07:24 AM) - The Wall Street Journal says that Democrats are attacking Bush nominee to the UN John Bolton purely via smear avenue. I haven’t heard a peep about his actual substantive policy for a month now. Except for the old standby, “He…

Age-Old Mystery Solved (07:19 AM) - These days do not come often. But when they do, some stand-up comedian, somewhere, sobs. Everyday little curiosities can be explained. Light shed upon the vagaries of life. This time, those unpopped kernels in a bag of popcorn.Eat your way…

True Color Alert (07:07 AM) - Democrats have rejected the Senate Ethics Committee proposal that Tom DeLay be investigated for alleged unethical practices.The Republican chairman of the House ethics committee offered on Wednesday to begin an investigation of Majority Leader Tom DeLay to end a stalemate…

AP: Connecticut Approves Civil Unions (07:03 AM) - And, setting a landmark, via the legislature.“The vote we cast today will reverberate around the country and it will send a wave of hope to many people, to thousands of people across the country,” said Sen. Andrew McDonald, who is…

Progress For Energy Independence (07:00 AM) - The House passed the bill that allows for drilling in Alaska. From NBC News: The bill’s sponsors said oil from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as much as a million barrels a day, will be needed to help curtail the…

Two New Googles (06:55 AM) - Continuing its quest for world domination, Google has two new products in beta today: an opt-in search history feature, which records, server-side, all searches you make. (Prediction: will not be very popular.) And the Google Ride Finder, which tracks via…

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

A Slow Blog Day. (08:58 PM) - Ann Althouse, ever the arbiter of the ‘sphere, declares it a slow blog day. She’s right. Just one of those days. (I earlier declared it a Winston Churchill sort of day, but I’m still not sure what I meant by…

Confirmed: Volcker Loses His Team (06:26 PM) - AP confirms Roger L. Simon’s rumor:Two senior investigators with the committee probing corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program have resigned in protest, saying they believe a report that cleared Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion operation was too…

The Hillary Watch Never Stops (06:23 PM) - With major world events keeping her out of the news for a few weeks, Mrs. Clinton has had little time of late to moderate herself. So Scott Rasmussen’s ‘Hillary Meter’ has, thankfully, gone up. She is now 47% liberal, up…

Volcker Falls Apart (01:42 PM) - Roger L. Simon reports (so far, no news agencies confirm) that 2/3 of the Volcker Investigation group have resigned, ostensibly because the committee refused to follow up on important leads….

The End of Madaen (10:49 AM) - Fifty bodies of hostages taken by Iraqi terrorists have been recovered from the Tigris river. Iraqi president Jalal Talabani had this to say:”More than 50 bodies have been brought out from the Tigris and we have the full names of…

What is a Pharmacist? (09:45 AM) - To me, nothing more than an intelligent and well-trained individual who happens to be in the employ of a private company which happens to be in the business of dispensing medicine. So this pro-coercion libertarian rant in the din over…

Hardly Fit To Give Pep Talks (08:45 AM) - Reform has been weighing heavily on Kofi Annan’s mind lately. Just a few weeks ago, he proposed what were widely hailed as “sweeping changes” in the way the United Nations operates. Along with this pronouncement came assurances that it had…

Winston Churchill in 1946 (08:10 AM) - “A world organization has already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war. UNO, the successor of the League of Nations, with the decisive addition of the United States and all that that means, is already at work. We…

Common Sense (And Science) Trump Sensationalism (07:21 AM) - Confirming what common sense intimated all along, the government had been wildly overstating the danger of obesity in America:The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that obesity accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in the United States. As recently…

United Nations: Hurting You In Mysterious Ways (07:15 AM) - It is an axiom in Washington- aisle-blind- that nuclear proliferation is a bad idea. And it is an especially bad idea when that proliferation occurs in the veiled Middle East. In other words, this is bad news.VIENNA, Austria — Saudi…

DSW Shoe Warehouse Data Breach (07:12 AM) - It was much larger than anticipated- 1.4 million credit card numbers and associated names have been stolen. Suddenly ‘skimming’ doesn’t seem all that pressing an issue….

Cardinal Ratzinger Not a Nazi (07:04 AM) - One of the more absurd declarations of the far-left yesterday was that the new Pope is a Nazi. Ed Koch, with an eye towards large-scale history, ably debunks that idea in this op-ed today….

When Empowerment Becomes Too Powerful (07:01 AM) - Zachariah Lakel e-mails in regarding the ‘men are evil’ operations going on at colleges and suggests this for the poor male souls also attending the plagued institutions….

The Inevitable Turnaround of Democracy (06:56 AM) - When a Democracy goes up, it is unpreventable that some sect of the governed will quickly turn around and, with their new power, denounce some part of the establishment.BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi lawmakers adjourned in protest Tuesday and demanded an…

Watching the Mexico Border (06:52 AM) - FoxNews has a good piece up on the current state of the US-Mexico border. LOS ANGELES — America’s borders with Canada and Mexico stretch more than 6,000 miles. Border Patrol agents are often outnumbered by illegal immigrants and smugglers 100…

Wouldn’t Want To Use The C-Word (06:50 AM) - Channeling Hillary [almost], Tom DeLay is calling his political prosecutors a “left-wing syndicate.”“These people are all hooked up. The same people that went after George W. Bush have just changed their focus onto me. They are running ads, they are…

The Next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (06:47 AM) - Marine Gen. Peter Pace! The announcement will be made today. The previous chairman was Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers….

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Hillary Watch (09:54 PM) - Scott Rasmussen will have an updated ‘Hillary Watch’ tomorrow. Will she shed some points off of her current 43% liberal rating?…

The Breakdown of Volcker (09:44 PM) - Roger L. Simon is hearing rumors that some resignations may be coming from key Volcker Committee analysts. This doesn’t sound good for the man whose restrained and vague reports permitted a blaze of inaccurate ‘Innocent’ headlines….

Battle of the T-Shirts (09:42 PM) - My favorite t-shirts are the ones that say… nothing. But I guess a thunderdomic battle of the t-shirt messages is fun, too….

What Would We Do Without New York Times Style? (09:32 PM) - Fashion and Style reporter for the New York Times Jennifer 8. Lee reports on the new social dictum for urban hipster metrosexuals: the man date.Simply defined a man date is two heterosexual men socializing without the crutch of business or…

Mr. Speaker In New Hampshire (03:24 PM) - Well, I’m back. More posting later on today; I’m taking a little time off right now. Short story: Newt Gingrich is making himself Reagan redux….

Bolton Vote Update (09:58 AM) - Dems are trying to postpone, as predicted. Biden is leading the effort. UPDATE: Success. Republican George Voinovich, at the last minute, said he was uncomfortable voting for Bolton, so the confirmation will not leave committee today. MORE: And these insider…

Liberals and Faux Tans (09:53 AM) - Tony Blair deserves re-election, but how silly that he has followed in John F. Kerry’s footsteps and is sporting an orangeish fake tan for the election….

Newt Gingrich (08:08 AM) - Is up here in New Hampshire, and in The Union Leader, he’s talking like a candidate:MANCHESTER — The challenges this country faces are its greatest in 25 years and business as usual will not solve the problems, said former U.S….

A Terrible Way To Die (07:17 AM) - Luckily, everyone survived. But those aboard the maelstrom-throttled Norwegian Dawn, which was hit with 70-foot waves on Monday, probably thought they were going to their graves with The World’s Most Offensive Singer in their minds:In a panic, Clark, his wife…

Maximus Prime (07:14 AM) - Intel has been a leader in spreading both awareness and the infrastructure for wireless-fidelity networking. Now the company is moving towards WiMax:”Wherever you see WiFi today we envision seeing WiMax tomorrow,” said Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel’s broadband wireless…

‘Men Are Evil’ (07:01 AM) - At Stanford. They are murderers, even. To the benefit of those who would engage in such nonsense, nothing of the sort has yet transpired here. Although there are about one hundred t-shirts hanging in Collis explaining how all men are…

Majority Rules (06:56 AM) - The dominant political party in Iraq- the ‘United Iraqi Alliance’- is demanding the death penalty for Saddam Hussein.Leading members of the Shi’ite Muslim-led United Iraqi Alliance, which holds 140 seats in the 275-member national parliament, insisted that Saddam must be…

Diseconomy of Scale (06:54 AM) - An interesting story in the Wall Street Journal [WSJ $] about small energy companies usurping the bargaining power of “Big Oil.”The surge in oil prices and continued high global demand are helping Big Oil reap record profits. But they also…

Air America Radio Running Out Of Oxygen (06:50 AM) - Brian Anderson in the LA Times takes a negative view- the same one I’ve had for a year now- of Air America radio:The liberal Air America Radio, just past its first birthday, has probably enjoyed more free publicity than any…

Best Headline Award (06:46 AM) - Goes to the New York Post: KOFI’S MAN TIED TO OILY KOREAN’S RAFT OF GRAFT. And indeed, through Maurice Strong, a Canadian businessman, Annan may know Tongsun Park, the South Korean indicted by the Department of Justice last week. Interesting…

To The Ballots (06:43 AM) - John Bolton is up for vote today in the Senate. On a party-line vote, he gets confirmed. And if it is looking that way- though some from both sides of the aisle are moderate on him- the Democrats may try…

Zacarias Moussaoui Pleads Guilty (06:41 AM) - Moussaoui, the French citizen charged with conspiracy in the 9/11 attacks, has plead guilty. There is some jockying about his mental status but it is likely his plea will be accepted. Even with a guilty plea, does anyone believe that…

Monday, April 18, 2005

What’s That About ‘As Goes California’? (10:33 PM) - 24-year-old William Cottrell, a doctoral candidate (but no more) at the California Institute of Technology, has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for spray-painting “Fat Lazy Americans,” “No Respect for Earth” and “SUV Terrorism.” on more than 100 SUVs…

Rove Speaks For Executive (10:31 PM) - And says the White House stands behind Tom DeLay. Not sure if this is the best strategy, especially considering the ability the media still has to demonize and rarefy DeLay’s median-corruption….

A Rare Victory (10:29 PM) - Newsworthy on Daily Kos: In the Los Angeles mayoral race, the Democrat is outpolling the Republican. “This thing won’t even be close,” says Kos. No, it won’t. Congratulations….

Do You Want Green? (05:56 PM) - I have created a small button for college bloggers and webmasters who want to express their desire for freedom of speech and due process at their school. You can link this image to: http://www.thefire.org or http://www.speechcodes.org. And please do e-mail…

More Trustee Ballot Issues (05:08 PM) - Nat Ward reports on even more missing ballots in the Dartmouth Trustee Election. UPDATE: One of the alums with whom I have been in contact has decided to cease donating to the College until FIRE grants Dartmouth a ‘green’ rating…

Oh, That Liberal Media (01:26 PM) - Everyone knows that the DNC is financed by hard-working Americans donating whatever scraps they can find. That all Democratic candidates need to mortgage their homes (Even the ones in which they summer!) in order to run. But, oddly, AP reports…

Don’t Smoke, Mmkay? (10:23 AM) - Everyman, a few decades my senior, still has not made up his mind on marijuana. That doesn’t augur well for me, as I have not either. There are convincing arguments both for and against legalization. On the one hand, this…

Digital Camera Purchase (08:18 AM) - I’ve had a bit of extra cash in the coffers lately and resolved upon getting a digital camera, since photoblogging is an attractive idea to me, and because up here in New Hampshire there are all sorts of odd/beautiful things…

More On Japan and China (07:56 AM) - Over at The Editorial Board, Rob Butts says, “Beijing may have even taken a more active role in sponsoring the demonstrations. However, the underlying Chinese-Japanese tensions that the demonstrations hint at are very real.”…

Blogosphere Alert - Iran (07:46 AM) - Read this post from Roger L. Simon….

Finding Terra Firma For DeLay (07:42 AM) - Trent Lott is urging President Bush to give Tom DeLay “aggressive support.” Bush can’t; and there probably isn’t much hope for DeLay, even though his crime is shared by most congressmen, left and right….

Illegals Maintain Jets (07:37 AM) - USA Today has the story of a major bust- at least two dozen illegal aliens were found with jobs of maintaining jetliners in North Carolina.They passed through criminal background checks and Social Security screenings. Six held the Federal Aviation Administration’s…

After Suing Microsoft, EU Throws Up The Shields (07:28 AM) - I was very critical of the European Union’s harsh and politically-motivated treatment of Microsoft, and it was fascinating confirmation to read today that the EU is taking steps to help its own companies avoid filings with the SEC [WSJ $]….

On Past Mistakes (07:18 AM) - Victor Davis Hanson, writing on a popular topic these days- and one which will be an important factor in the 2008 presidential election- explains the wrongheadedness of America’s pre-9/11 foreign policy. Hillary Clinton, if she runs and attempts to make…

A Little Introspection From WaPo (07:08 AM) - It is a positive step that the Washington Post is engaging in a little self-reflection. This piece in today’s paper, “For Every Story, An Online Epilogue,” by Howard Kurtz, examines the post-publishing life of a story, and the earful that…

The Media Creation Mecca (07:07 AM) - Adobe and Macromedia- Photoshop and Flash- are now one. Should be good….

Watch Out, Jetsons (07:03 AM) - The flying-car dream may yet become a reality….

The Hostage Situation In Madain (06:55 AM) - The AP is now saying of the standoff in Madain, Iraq, where it initially reported that 100 Sunnis had taken 70 Shiites hostage, that “there were growing indications the incident had been grossly exaggerated.” The story continues:An AP photographer and…

Riots In China (06:51 AM) - The [likely] Bejing-backed anti-Japan protest in China have turned into riots. The Detroit Free Press is reporting:BEIJING — Anti-Japan protests swelled to their largest size yet in China on Sunday as relations between the two Asian powers continued their downward…

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Hairless Natalie Portman (10:12 PM) - One last post for the night- a leisure one- and then begins another week, sure to be an eventful one. “Extraordinarily flexible” [her words] Natalie Portman will be shaving her head for a forthcoming WWII film. This is because one…

A Solicitation (09:36 PM) - As Editorial Board readers know, I will be having lunch with Newt Gingrich this coming Tuesday. Anyone who has good ideas for questions to ask the Fmr. Speaker is welcome to e-mail them in, and I’ll see if I can’t…

O, Woe Is Capitalist Afghanistan (06:08 PM) - Kos and the “reality-based” contributors at his website, reading like pocked thugs and insipid drones in the thrall of a socialist dictum long ago abandoned by sense, are shedding crocodile tears over Afghanistan’s free-market economy. In earnest, what is bad…

OTB For Politics (04:08 PM) - TradeSports.com, the betting website that correctly predicted every state in the 2004 Presidential election and likely will predict the next Pope, also has a site set up for the New Jersey governor race. (No inside link, sorry.) Right now, Corzine…

We Get Mail: Ballot Bumbling (02:42 PM) - Another e-mail from a Dartmouth alum:I’m a member of the class of 1982, and still have not received a ballot in the mail. A few days ago, I got tired of waiting, and phoned up the college to get instructions/passwords…

Fourteen Years (07:04 AM) - The Yankees have not played this poorly in 14 years….

Taliban On Verge Of Collapse (06:42 AM) - According to a US Commander….

Oil-for-Food Updates (06:36 AM) - Financial Times, which had some good (but ignored) reporting on Oil-for-Food several years ago, is offering further details into the four people recently indicted. Meanwhile, the indicted South Korean is saying he’ll likely testify against the UN….

Kasparov Hit Over Head With Chessboard (06:26 AM) - MOSCOW (AP) - Garry Kasparov, the world’s former No. 1 chess player who quit the professional game last month to focus on politics, said Saturday he had been hit over the head with a chessboard in a politically motivated attack….

Iraqi Security Forces Take Action (06:21 AM) - Iraqis have begun raiding the small village of Madain, where the hostage situation is taking place, and have so far freed at least 12 families and captured five of the terrorists. No casualties have been reported. UPDATE: Reuters in saying…

Saturday, April 16, 2005

California Dems Denounce Arnold (10:19 PM) - What was it that I was saying about the goodwill evaporating?LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Democrats lashed out at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during their annual convention Saturday, vowing to block his administration’s agenda in an extraordinary reversal of good will…

Another TWIG (07:07 PM) - Here is a Time Wasting Internet Game for your enjoyment….

‘About the Author’ Update (06:40 PM) - I’ve been told that I looked “angry” in the photo on the ‘About the Author’ page. I thought I looked neutral. But now there is a new one there, which is hopefully better….

Learning Peace Firsthand (03:00 PM) - A while ago- just as democratic revolution was breaking out in a handful of ex-Soviet states- I passed a (very) liberal friend on the street. “Can you smell that?” he asked. “What?” “Civil war in Iraq.” I shook my head…

Life Causes Cancer (02:51 PM) - Another thing you use everyday is going to give you cancer. Don’t sweat it….

Associated Press Follows in AFP’s Steps (02:35 PM) - The AP is a bit miffed at the presence of its reports in auto-generated Google News pages. From an LA Times article on the state-of-the-internet: Executives from Associated Press are also concerned about Google and other news aggregators that pluck…

The Nonsense Of Hating The Rich (10:27 AM) - Weekend Pundit links to some quality debunking of the richy-rich specter….

Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt (09:30 AM) - …a new Secretary-General will be needed, the Wall Street Journal editors opine. Quoted is an especially important portion of the indictments, illustrating how the scam worked in at least one way:”From at least in or about 2000, up to and…

More On The Dartmouth Trustee Election (09:10 AM) - Voting continues until 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 6. As a casual observer, I continue to support Todd J. Zywicki ‘88 and Peter Robinson ‘79. Writing in The Weekly Standard, Duncan Currie notes “the Dartmouth insurgency” - though the petition…

So Sad For Arnold (09:01 AM) - Those mercurial California Democrats. They hate Arnold now, and his poll numbers are, as the common parlance goes, tanking. Eleanor Clift, overthinking it and writing those thoughts at Newsweek.com, says:April 15 - Observing from afar, I had the feeling that…

Ground Lasers To Aircraft: A Security Feature (08:51 AM) - Perhaps those terroristic reports of high-powered ground lasers being fired into airplane cockpits were just a test for this new system, which sets up a lighted perimeter around Washington DC’s restricted airspace….

iPod = Soul. (08:49 AM) - The cult of Apple gets sillier everyday. Witness this WaPo article about grad students having their “souls” stolden when their iPods go missing….

Give Him A Break (08:46 AM) - John Stossel says let gay soldiers serve. They are allowed to serve….

Continuing Evidence Of Saddam’s Brutality (08:13 AM) - Via Carl at NofP, who has the relevant links: Two new mass graves have been unearthed in Iraq, one containing the remains of a “large number of women, children and elderly people.” Both sites have been dated “back from the…

Friday, April 15, 2005

Television Contract Extensions (10:47 PM) - I don’t watch too much TV these days, but AICN has a list of the TV shows making it back for another season. One of our favorites- The King of Queens- is returning….

If You Dare (10:32 PM) - You may enter Tom DeLay’s House of Scandal! Honestly, how do they come up with these things? For the record, here is a partial list of Congressmen who pay their family a salary. I don’t like it, and I suspect…

More Chirac Haut-jinks (01:26 PM) - I wrote yesterday on Jacques Chirac’s having ignored his citizens in advocating a ‘yes’ vote on the EU constitution. Now, in an effort to sell the constitution to the French, Chiric is saying that a ‘no’ vote would help America….

Another Government For Italy? (12:48 PM) - I cannot pretend to understand how things work in Italy, but evidently, when four ministers leave the cabinet, as they now have, the Prime Minister- Silvio Berlusconi- ought to resign and resubmit to parliament inquiry in order to be reposted…

“Snoop Dogg” Rejected By Harvard (12:41 PM) - The feckless rapper won’t be dropping any beats at Harvard this year as slated. I hear rap is all the rage these days, so why would Mr. Dogg be bumped from his college show? Criminal activity, drug use, gang connections,…

They Killed Kenny (09:44 AM) - Edward Driscoll, at TechCentralStation, writes on South Park Conservatives….

The Expansion Of UNSCAM (09:41 AM) - The UN Oil-for-Food scandal grows, as two “high-ranking” UN officials have been cited in the US DoJ’s complaint against the South Korean businessman indicted yesterday.The reported involvement of the two unidentified U.N. officials was likely to cast a new shadow…

Required Retort (08:48 AM) - In this post at The Editorial Board, I expressed my displeasure with the revisionist definition of ‘gender’- namely, the proposal that the word can be used to express the sex of a human. It cannot; ‘sex’ is the only word…

Internet Alert (08:15 AM) - Dow Jones on the net makes more than Dow Jones on paper. Heh….

Live From A Megachurch (08:07 AM) - Jeff Jarvis is right about congressional Republicans’ overuse of religion in framing public debate. But he’s wrong if he presumes that all, or even most, Republican voters occupy the far-right fringe that equates the filibuster with an attack on faith….

A Glimpse Of Dean (08:00 AM) - Since being elected chairman of the DNC, Howard Dean has been in silence and darkness. His first interview is published in USA Today this morning. In it, there is a glimpse of the new Democrat strategy: stop assuming that red-staters…

The Matrix Award: Cool Name, Dull Rigs (07:55 AM) - National Review’s Myrna Blyth reports on the Matrix Awards, an event for women in communications to honor themselves. The usual male-bashing, she notes, was toned down this time. And despite Hillary’s presence, politics were quiet. With one exception: CNN’s minority…

Amtrak/US Cancels Acela Trains (07:49 AM) - The fancy Amtrak/US Acela service, which, for double the price of a regular train fare will get you from Boston to New York 30 minutes sooner, is down today as Amtrak/US officials repair break problems. This is how train service…

Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Preview (07:16 AM) - Another preview review at AICN, another satisfied viewer:The one thing that really surprised me about the film was how much I found myself laughing out loud.I’m very excited to see it….

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Annan: Blame US and Britain (09:22 PM) - Kofi Annan is little more than a comedy now. In my mind, at least. I can scarcely bring myself to offer a single corpuscle of serious analysis on anything he says. It is all just too amusing and enraging at…

Defending Murderous Dictators (09:11 PM) - There is always someone who will do it. It’s US attorney Ramsey Clark now, who says that Saddam can’t get a fair trial. The AFP brings us the story of Ramsey “not the sharpest knife” Clark and his claim that…

A Madison Protest (09:05 PM) - Read Ann Althouse’s account of an anti-war protest at her college. And whichever sophomore girl made the [sophomoric] statement that she ‘supports the insurgents in Iraq, until the US gets out,’ would do well to pen Prof. Althouse a thank-you…

Well, Maybe Another Vacation Island Or Two (08:59 PM) - The world’s most ignored truth: America is darn happy with the amount of land she has. So John Tomakin, who e-mailed me and called me on a mistake, was right:I was a little disappointed with your 4/13 piece about “Professorial…

Who Let The Blogs Out? (08:41 PM) - My article in the April 2005 Dartmouth Beacon on blogs can be read right over here. I promise I did not create that title. AND: Non means no. In The Dartmouth Independent, Jeff Fielding looks at trouble in the European…

Read It Early, Read It Often (05:22 PM) - The little .net venture that I mentioned a few days ago is editorialboard.net. This is a group blog written by a coterie of thoughtful, conservative college students from Richmond to Harvard to Tufts to U. Chicago and others. The focus…

Where Are They Now? Edwards Edition (02:28 PM) - Over at The Editorial Board, Sean Barrett discusses John Edwards’ recent visit to Harvard. Also, scroll on down for talk of Natalie Portman and Star Trek, from the geekier days. (Read: yesterday.)…

The Big Green Bus (01:08 PM) - 15 Dartmouth students plan to traverse the nation in a converted school bus, running entirely on waste vegetable oil! Find more information at thebiggreenbus.org. Pretty neat, eh?…

Oregon Supreme Court Nullifies Gay Marriage Licenses (11:39 AM) - AP’s dispatch:SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday nullified nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples by Multnomah County a year ago. The court said while the county can question the constitutionality of laws governing marriage,…

Indictments In UNSCAM (10:58 AM) - Three indictments have been issued to an American, a Bulgarian, and a Brit in connection with illegally giving Saddam Hussein kickbacks. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, all of the forthcoming prosecutions are by the US DoJ. No ICC. No UN court….

Good Economic News (09:23 AM) - Jobless claims fall by 10,000….

Kyrgyzstan To Rumsfeld: Keep Your Military Base Here (09:21 AM) - FoxNews has the details….

Speech Codes And Soft Stifling (09:18 AM) - In The Dartmouth this morning, Richard Roberts, class of 1983 and President Emeritus of the Alumni Association of Zeta Psi, writes on Dartmouth’s speech codes and their inherent inconsistencies. His fair conclusion:The danger of speech codes is that they are…

Lethal Injection: Cruel And Unusual? (09:17 AM) - I had never heard that argument made, but now I have….

Same Sex Marriage And 1900 (07:00 AM) - (Bumped up) Many thanks to those who wrote in with positive comments about this piece. I’m sticking it up on top for at least a little bit… This is post number 1900 here on the Dartblog. In just over six…

An American Hostage (12:51 AM) - In Iraq. This time, it looks real….

Craving Counterbalance, Chirac Ignores Les Citoyens (12:44 AM) - In a shockingly unilateral move, President of France Jacques Chirac is personally backing a ‘Yes’ vote on the EU constitution “amid fears of an EU crisis within weeks if voters in France or the Netherlands reject the treaty in national…

Cleared Of Any Wrongdoing (12:19 AM) - It was dark when the Italians turned onto a ramp leading to the airport road where the U.S. military had set up a temporary checkpoint. The investigation found the car was about 130 yards from the checkpoint when the soldiers…

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Newsweek’s Lordly Poets Sing For Reid (10:52 PM) - The hefty verbiage comes out for this glowing profile of Senate Democrat Harry Reid:There’s nothing fancy about Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate. Sartorially, he is a symphony in brown. He hails from a Nevada eye-blink called Searchlight,…

One That Didn’t Meet The Media Test (05:40 PM) - I could have sworn Tom DeLay did the same thing as this guy. But I haven’t heard a peep about the latter….

Professorial Restraint Always Welcome (05:28 PM) - Julia Bernstein, who has kindly agreed to begin calling me by my first name, relates an unusual classroom experience, wherein the professor forwent a chance to pounce on President Bush….

That Capitalist Rag! (05:09 PM) - Via Kate Schuerman, I learn of The Epoch Times, an anti-Communist newspaper somehow staying under the radar of “The People’s Republic”. Much of that, no doubt, is owed to its location, which is New York. But it also operates a…

It Was A Very Good Quarter (05:03 PM) - For Apple Computer, according to earnings reports released today:Apple Computer Inc. said its profit surged more than sixfold in the latest quarter as revenue jumped 70% amid continued strong demand for its popular iPod digital music players. The Cupertino, Calif.,…

John Bolton Delayed, Sighs Heard (04:59 PM) - Democrats have invoked their single time-out in nomination hearings for Bolton, delaying the vote until next week. Rich Lowry has some insight:Until then, Democrats will hunt for other incriminating information about Bolton’s conduct—such as audible sighs, impatient finger-tapping, eye-rolling, vigorous…

When Is Discrimination Not Discrimination? (04:56 PM) - Homosexual couples in prison cannot be wed in Massachusetts….

That Is What Happens… (04:52 PM) - When you come up with a really clever title….

Barely Legal, Very Funny (09:41 AM) - Via MaroonBlog, I have discovered the Barely Legal blog. It’s hilarious. Read it….

“Give Voice To Our [Anti-Military] Values” (09:32 AM) - John Kerry’s website is seeking negative stories about troops in Iraq. Oddly, the title of the website is “Kids First”. I’m not sure if we have any children serving, but if we are to put them first, perhaps convincing their…

In The Dartmouth (08:44 AM) - Jon Wisniewski’s Jon Stewart-esque (but actually funny) rebuttal of conservative caricatures. And administrators blast- BLAST!- Bush budget cuts for hurting higher-ed entitlement programs for underprivileged students. The extra money goes to fund No Child Left Behind, which, as we all…

Robin Hood Democrats At It Again (08:20 AM) - With a stronger majority in Congress, the Death Tax (also known as the Estate Tax) might finally be eliminated this year. As Rep. Kenny Hulshof says, “Death should not be a taxable event.” Obviously, Democrats want to keep the tax…

Sandy Berger’s Ground-Breaking Plea Deal (08:12 AM) - The Washington Times sums it up quite nicely:As we noted last week, Sandy Berger stole some of the nation’s most highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives. He scissored them to pieces in his downtown Washington offices. Then he…

Fearing Diversity; Opposing Progress (06:57 AM) - Even more unseemly campaigning by professors in the Alumni Trustee Election. Michael Ellis has learned that another mass e-mail went out specifically opposing Peter Robinson and Todd Zywicki. It warns “Someone way more scary than Larry Summers could get the…

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

The Envelope, Please… (11:38 PM) - I may be too close to it all to fully appreciate, but Everyman offers some sage advice for those awaiting college entrance notifications….

Taranto Hath Decreed (11:34 PM) - The gay-baiting by Democrats, as I noted here, is now officially a trend. Huzzah….

The Great Cat Hunt Of 2005 (11:30 PM) - I must admit I do not understand the quarreling about Wisconsin’s feral cat hunt. Presumably, these wild untamed animals are dangerous to small children and pets. And I doubt anyone seeks to torture the cats; just protect their families. Why…

The Continuing Saga Of The Cannibal-RIAA (11:18 PM) - The Recording Industry Association of America has long saught to end all forms of file transfer that could potentially be used to possibly violate their tenuously established intellectual property. Under the guise of protecting the many starving artists under its…

California GOP Questions Governor Poll (11:12 PM) - Arnold is slipping in the polls, and the regional media is quick to jump off the bandwagon, letting it surely slip off a cliff. But from Fox News, we learn that California Republicans are questioning the fairness of the polling…

Bonjour, Laziness! Goodbye, Growth! (11:02 PM) - Frenchwoman Corinne Maier is the author of Bonjour Laziness: Jumping Off the Corporate Ladder. It is a self-help book about how silly and naive it is to work hard. It’s a bestseller in Europe. Maier is bringing her slacktastic roman…

Folding In And Upon Itself Again (10:53 PM) - The crudely named Fartblog offers quality parody of Nat Ward’s Dartlog. And Julia Bernstein, to my dismay, entreats the purveyors of the former to mock the Dartblog. Lots of “Darts.” Not surprised Dartmouth counts Dr. Seuss among its alumni….

Unimportant, But Contemptible (10:43 PM) - Power Line on “Kill Bush” postage stamps. UPDATE: On a similarly base note, what word comes to mind when you read on Wonkette that the President of the United States plays two hours of video games every day?…

Speculation On A Gingrich Run (08:36 PM) - John Fund:Newt Gingrich may still be disclaiming any interest in running for president, but you wouldn’t know it from his travel schedule. The former House Speaker will be in New Hampshire — site of the nation’s first presidential primary —…

Bolton Confirmation Imminent: Shocking, But True (07:05 PM) - Read the first two grafs of this AP story; you can cut the righteous indignation with a knife.WASHINGTON Apr 12, 2005 — John R. Bolton appeared a step closer to confirmation as ambassador to the United Nations despite scathing testimony…

Those Cool New Robots (02:31 PM) - …that AP is reporting on- the Nuvo housebots- look neat. But reading the product’s webpage, I worry about the build quality. Here is the description:Nuvo - Short for “nouveau” in French.The theme is slow robot like that slow life which…

On The New Scholastic Aptitude Test (02:00 PM) - Which is no longer an exam of Aptness for college, but rather one of secondary school Achievement. Hugh Hewitt has some fascinating thoughts on the new SAT, and it seems as if he foresees legal action against the College Board,…

Feingold Getting A Divorce (01:55 PM) - Sen. Russ Feingold is getting a divorce from his wife Mary. But worry not- they “intend to remain very good friends.”…

al Qaeda Arrests In New Jersey Plot (01:54 PM) - Good news from MSNBC:WASHINGTON - Three suspected terrorists on Tuesday were indicted on charges that they targeted financial buildings in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., in a plot that prompted federal authorities to raise the terrorism threat assessment…

My Truth. (08:27 AM) - Blogging has been a bit thin of late because I have been working on a new project. It is big, shiny, and it has a .net domain name. The shroud of mystery that surrounds this digital contraption, I know, is…

The Suitcase Incident (07:57 AM) - The Political Teen has video of the controlled explosion….

Supporting Bloggers In The Apple Case (07:51 AM) - From Tribune to Los Angeles Times to Hearst to Knight Ridder: Some major media players are supporting the bloggers who reported Apple product secrets….

Another “Team America” Remix (07:43 AM) - This one uses the in-itself-hilarious America: We Stand As One video but changes the tune to the Team America theme song….

Massachusetts v. New Hampshire (07:39 AM) - Jay Tea and the Weekend Pundit compare Mass to New Hampshire….

Andy Rooney: Whiny Even Under Oath (07:19 AM) - AP: Leading a parade of celebrity witnesses who claimed they were stiffed by a speakers bureau, Andy Rooney began his testimony Monday by questioning the wording of the oath to tell the truth. The CBS newsman later got a lecture…

A Bump In The Road For AIG Prosecutors (07:15 AM) - NYT: Maurice R. Greenberg, a former titan of the insurance industry who is at the center of a wide-ranging investigation into possible financial manipulation, will not answer regulators’ questions today, his lawyer said yesterday.It is just as well; his testimony…

Senators Unite Against Internet Tax (07:10 AM) - Sen. George Allen, R-Va., joined with other Republicans and some Democrats to oppose a possible 3% federal excise tax (FET) on Internet communications. The tax was proposed by Congress’ joint tax committee. CBS Marketwatch reports:”I will be introducing legislation to…

Americans Want Tax Code Reform (07:09 AM) - WASHINGTON (AP) - Most Americans think federal income taxes are too complicated, but they’re not eager to simplify tax preparation by getting rid of some deductions and tax credits, according to an AP-Ipsos poll. But I don’t care as much…

The New Gameplan: Point At Gay Conservatives (06:55 AM) - First John F. Kerry, in a presidential debate, prefaces his argument with, “If you were to talk to Dick Cheney’s daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you…” Besides the unseemly speculation, it was a “cheap and tawdry trick,”…

Why The Long Face, Mr. Kerry? (06:46 AM) - Perhaps because he may have blown the cover of a CIA agent, identifying him for the world to see, and endangering his life and possibly those of his family. Richard Lugar, a Republican, also mentioned the name.During questioning on John…

The Hardest-Working Blogger Around (12:08 AM) - Has got to be Patrick Ruffini….

A Substantive Response From Columbia (12:02 AM) - In response to the media attention paid to Columbia professor Joseph Massad, the university has made its complaint system “more robust, readily accessible and clearly understood.” What remains to be observed: A more robust, ideologically accessible, and fair-minded faculty….

Monday, April 11, 2005

The New York Times: Dodgin’ For Votes (11:59 PM) - Did the old gray lady fish for anti-DeLay op-eds? Novak is convinced….

Did Senator Byrd Raise A Statue Of Himself? (04:13 PM) - And did he use tax money to do it? Either way, it looks bad for the senior Senator from West Virginia….

Jonathan Klein To America: You Are Rabid (03:22 PM) - Eugene Volokh has posted a partial transcript of Charlie Rose’s interview with CNN President Jon Klein. In response to the question, ‘Would a liberal news network be as successful as Fox?’ [Discount, for the moment, the pregnancy of the question.]…

Maybe This Is Judicial Tyranny (02:47 PM) - I have not joined the ranks of those crying about activist judges and judicial tyranny. But this gives me pause.Tobacco CEO’s Testimony Self-Serving -U.S. JudgeWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday discounted as “self-serving” the testimony of Philip Morris…

Another View On John Bolton (01:43 PM) - Though I’ve been told different- I cannot mention specifics- the Wall Street Journal, in an editorial today, calls accusations against Bolton “long-discredited,” and wishes that the double jeopardy law applied. Matt Laquer e-mails in, advising me to read it. And…

Michael Moore’s Influence (11:13 AM) - Time Magazine called him a moral leader of 2004. Byron York, as cited by Roger L. Simon, has a more critical appraisal.At least for a while, the plan appeared to be working. Fahrenheit 9/11 did an impressive business, earning far…

Two Years (11:10 AM) - That is how much longer American troops will occpy Iraq, at least according to president Jalal Talabani. It doesn’t sound unreasonable, but ending the occupation does not mean ending our presence….

More China and India (11:09 AM) - Beijing is supporting India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council….

South Park Conservatives (10:57 AM) - This book looks just brilliant. (…via Instapundit)…

The World DNA Database (07:57 AM) - A crazed British scientist wants everyone in the world to submit to a DNA database. No thanks….

Man Oh Manischewitz (07:49 AM) - Roger L. Simon and his daughter made some matzah: neat. This will actually be my first uncelebrated Passover, as there is no break in school for the occasion and the 6 hour drive just isn’t worth it. Maybe I’ll eat…

EU Subsidies To Airbus; US To Boeing (07:40 AM) - The Journal says, with both parties unwilling to make a WTO case against the other, a trade war is inevitable….

Iraqi Security Forces and Americans Pick Up 65 Suspected Terrorists (07:36 AM) - A great story, showing both our success in Iraq and the increasing strength of the Iraqi Security Forces.BAGHDAD, Iraq — Hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi forces on Monday launched their biggest Baghdad raid in recent weeks, moving on foot through…

The Prime Minister’s Questions (07:31 AM) - The Economist has a backgrounder up on this year’s executive elections in Britain. Howard seems like an interesting fellow with some good ideas. Is he the natural choice for American conservatives? I suppose so. But for his pre-war silver tongue…

Not Quite A Ringing Endorsement (07:29 AM) - The Washington Post endorses John Bolton this morning! But, quite literally, only because he’s just-as-bad-as-Bush.Senators have the obligation to weigh such questions and to ask how Mr. Bolton’s record squares with the president’s stated intention to work cooperatively with the…

Wen Jiabao Sidling Up To India (07:23 AM) - I think that increasing Chinese influence in India is a fairly serious economic threat, and one that the government should move quickly to counter. The countries’ leaders met in New Delhi today, and discussed border agreements as well. But the…

Bolton In The Hotseat (07:15 AM) - John Bolton gets grilled today, largely because he isn’t the pie-eyed internationalist liberal that a President Kerry might have hired. But the Democrats may have dug up a few substantive critcisms, too:Senate Democrats have circulated a portion of a two-year-old…

Sunday, April 10, 2005

“A Relatively Low-Level Staffer” (09:03 PM) - Reuters reports on the fallout from earlier reports that Eliot Spitzer’s campaign had purchased Google AdWords so that, when one searched for ‘AIG’, links to Spitzer’s campaign website came up. Now, that little media buy is done with.”It wasn’t appropriate…

The Never-Ending Arena Of Flag Politics (04:20 PM) - I am not entirely convinced that the decision to fly the flag at half mast for the Pope’s death was the right one. But reactions from the left-wing “freedom from religion” faction were quite funny. Carl at NOfP rounds them…

Kofi’s Last Stand? (03:43 PM) - I think this Cox & Forkum cartoon sums it up very well. (…via Speed of Thought)…

Tiger Woods Charges Ahead At Masters (09:11 AM) - On the periphery for a long while, Tiger Woods just conducted something of a coup at the Masters Tournament. UPDATE: During that last posting, I saw that ESPN, oddly, takes trackback pings from blogs. No display on the website, though….

The Prospects Of Having A Female President (08:49 AM) - Rasmussen Reports always has the most fascinating polls. Most news outlets probably shy away from asking the non-PC question, “Would you even consider voting for a female President?” (perhaps it offends the LGBTQA community) but Rasmussen did, and gets some…

The Most Influential People Of Our Time (08:37 AM) - Time Magazine has its list out of the 100 most influential people. Michael Moore is on it. Why, one might ask? For exposing the brazen stupidity and blind recklessness of the left-wing fringes? For making it clear that the party’s…

More “If You Give Them An Inch” (08:31 AM) - A month ago, Iran annoyed Americans and confirmed their worst suspicions when its government announced that every single concession made by the EU and, grudgingly, by the US, were simply a given and meant absolutely nothing to the Iranian government….

The Secretary Will Disavow… (08:23 AM) - How does CBS see the capture of its terrorist cameraman? This is from their lead story on it:A cameraman carrying CBS press credentials was detained in Iraq earlier this week on suspicion of insurgent activity, the U.S. military said Friday….

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith (08:21 AM) - I have to admit, I’m getting excited for this film. The latest bit of news: this will be the first and only Star Wars film to carry a PG-13 rating. The reasoning blurb from MPAA: “Sci-fi violence and some intense…

One Of Those Girlfriend Posts (08:17 AM) - At the San Diego zoo, two giant pandas mated over the weekend. It was a rare occurance- and the first instance in the United States in a year. It was the second mating for Bai Yun and Gao Gao at…

Left Of The Dial, Rightly Boring (08:06 AM) - I still have not had the pleasure of seeing the Air America documentary Left of the Dial, but Ann Althouse has, and the verdict: “awfully boring.”…

Smoking Kills Your Grandchildren (01:54 AM) - I think the government campaign against the still-legal tobacco industry is rather misguided, and this isn’t going to help….

Saturday, April 09, 2005

A Humble Inquiry (10:28 PM) - A banner hanging in Dartmouth’s Food Court entreated diners to help end the abuse of the LGBQTA community by participating in a day of silence. (“Visible silence,” the poster called it.) My question: What is the Q and the A…

Frenchman Inveighs Against Foreign Entanglements (06:02 PM) - Jean-Marie Le Pen calls the European Union “an instrument of destruction of nations.” He wants politicians and the French to reject the EU constitution when the vote comes up at the end of May. So far, as noted in the…

The Best Proposal For The World Trade Center (05:34 PM) - In any given room of New Jerseyans and New Yorkers, I am in the minority that advocates the exact rebuilding of the original World Trade Centers I and II. I think most feel that it would be a provocation of…

An Exodus To The Blogs, Maybe (04:55 PM) - Any reader of Editor and Publisher is bearish on the newspaper industry. With bias increasingly limpid, readers increasingly wired, and blogs taking the wheel of internet traffic, there is plenty of reason to be. Now, Editor and Publisher warns: “Anyone…

The Public Relations Aspect Of Drinking (04:48 PM) - Sara DelNido has a worthwhile op-ed in The Dartmouth, wondering if the mass drinking and rampant immaturity (especially in certain ice sculpture contests) sometimes exhibited at Dartmouth might contribute to the the College’s lower-than-ideal public profile. (…via Out Vox)…

Drudge On His Ploidic Competition (04:38 PM) - A passage from the New York Observer:”It’s not a wonder that newspaper front pages have their agenda set by him,” Mr. Denton said, but “he has some blind spots. Occasionally, there’s a story that takes on the Bush administration that’s…

A Few Dartmouth Pics (11:17 AM) - Two photos from the Green, and our breakfast destination, in the extended….

Finding The Lost River (10:29 AM) - So far, my innate navagational abilities- workable in the suburbs and urban areas- have proven somewhat lacking in New Hampshire. They’ll be put to the test today, as my girlfriend and I attempt to find The Lost River. UPDATE: Alright,…

Productive, Settled Go For Bush… Inequality! (07:22 AM) - The Progressive Policy Institute comes to the conclusion that… The 2004 election revealed a striking gap in the political leanings of people who are married with children: They favored the Republican, President George W. Bush, over the Democrat, Sen. John…

We All Look So Small From Their Skyscraper (07:18 AM) - From a New York Times article on Wal-Mart’s adding of high-end products:Wal-Mart is upgrading a lot of its merchandise, while trying to maintain the loyalty of its core customer - the woman who is struggling to provide for herself and…

Gitmo Tribunal Judge Has Sense Of Duty (07:07 AM) - Within a horrid little AP piece about “stoic” prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and scheming Bush who had saught to keep their “voices and faces” from public view is this exchange between a tribunal judge and an arrested al-Qaeda operative (who…

Manifold Sins And Wickedness (06:56 AM) - Dartblog shall remain a royalty-free zone (hah!) but if you want discussion of this Bowles lass and her incipient sleazy husband, have a look at this site….

MIT: Seeking To Re-Invent Bluetooth? (06:55 AM) - That is what this sounds like:BOSTON Apr 8, 2005 — Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Inc. and the Massachussets Institute of Technology said Friday they are teaming up on a $20 million, five-year project to get PCs, laptops, cell phones, and handhelds…

CBS Employs Terrorist Cameraman (06:50 AM) - From CNN, one of many in the newsmedia pile-on:BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A CBS stringer has been arrested as a suspected insurgent, U.S. military officials said Friday. The video cameraman was wounded during a firefight in northeastern Mosul between U.S….

Friday, April 08, 2005

The Amusing Airliner Industry (09:13 PM) - Forget the airlines. Even more wackiness is taking place in regards to airplane manufacturers. This BBC report, “US warns EU over Airbus subsidies,” describes a tenuous foursome. The EU is ready to sue America over its subsidies for Boeing, and…

So Many Democrats, So Little Time (09:00 PM) - The Dartmouth Review takes its own look at campus bias….

The United Nations Finally Investigates (03:14 PM) - Sensing few political repercussions now that the tides in Lebanon are clear, the United Nations has finally consented to investigate the death of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which a prime factor in the Cedar Revolution….

10 Million E-Mails A Day (02:23 PM) - Nine years in jail sounds about right….

Ebert and Roeper and National Review (01:50 PM) - Thomas Hibbs at NRO: Not a fan of Sin City. I think he shortchanges the film’s three plots. They aren’t great, but they are more than “occasion for what one character calls the ‘pure hateful bloodthirsty joy of slaughter.’”…

Nordic Employers Get Female Quota (12:44 PM) - Bad news for Norway and all of its trading partners:OSLO, Norway (Reuters) — Norway will shut companies that refuse to recruit at least 40 percent women to their boards by 2007 under an unprecedented equality drive, a cabinet minister said…

1984 Comes To Speeding Tickets (11:06 AM) - John Kalb: “Having speed cameras link up and calculate average speed is just evil.”…

Social Security Reform Not Looking Good (10:45 AM) - From a public relations perspective, that is. AP’s big SocSec story today is that Senate Republicans are backing away from privatization and moving toward a compromise purely on solvency. A necessary move? Yes. But I think this is getting to…

From Interview To Rejection (09:29 AM) - Voices in the Wilderness looks at the Dartmouth Class of 2009: none of the candidates they interviewed and were impressed by was accepted….

The City Of Bloggerly Love (09:05 AM) - Philly, PA is on its way to becoming the blogosphere’s mecca: it will offer city-wide Wi-Fi at a substantial discount over the inflated prices of T-Mobile et al. Reuters has more details….

Feminism Is A One-Way Street (08:32 AM) - University of New Hampshire student David Huffman was excluded from an on-campus public event sponsored by the UNH Feminist Action League, simply because he was male. Of course, on a theoretical level I think that is perfectly fine. Same for…

Low Stakes, High Tension (08:25 AM) - The campaign for Dartmouth Student Assembly “kicks off” tomorrow at midnight, and the sign-making and sidewalk-chalking is already underway. I have an idea: if you take a paper plate and put a handful of lima beans on it, then fold…

Summers’ Sorry Fest (08:21 AM) - Harvard President Larry Summers inaugurated the Symposium on the Advancement of Women in the Sciences yesterday. It must have been an exciting bit of humble pie, for the Symposium’s website welcomes visitors with not one but three exclamation points….

Can’t Keep The Rate Cards Up (08:12 AM) - CNN’s online video will soon be surrounded by advertisements….

Diversity Dems: No Room For DLC (08:03 AM) - It continually amazes me how closed minded Democrats can be, especially when they profess to be the precise opposite. Here’s a Kos post that tries to inspire anger at the Democratic Leadership Council. They’ve been doing it for awhile. You…

Academic Departments That Make Sense (03:47 AM) - In this post, I ask why departments such as “Women’s and Gender Studies” imbue Dartmouth students with the tools to be a true leader in the open market. The post referenced a study that showed that fewer and fewer CEOs…

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Blogging Update (09:49 PM) - Blogging will be light for a bit, as I have a lot on my plate. Pulling an all-nighter ce soir… But don’t be concerned!…

A Dell Problem (02:09 PM) - Current event lead-in: Michael Dell recently surpassed Bill Gates as America’s most admired CEO. My problem: Dell Latitude D600 notebooks have a flaw. It allows me to put two batteries in the thing (the stock battery and one in the…

I’ll Be Here All Week (12:29 PM) - E-mail: “for some reason i found the “Hey hey, they’re the monkeys. And they’ll be extinct in 20 years.” post just about the funniest thing i’ve read on your blog.”…

Saddam Hussein Is Sad (12:16 PM) - The Guardian breaks it to us: “Saddam Hussein watched the televised election of Iraq’s new president from his jail cell yesterday and was ‘clearly upset’, a senior official said.” Poor little Saddam, that deposed vagabond Who sits in his cell…

Introducing The Hillary Meter (11:06 AM) - Rasmussen has created The Hillary Meter, an ongoing measurement of the Senator’s pre-08 sidle to the center, and the public perception thereof. As of now, Hillary is 43% liberal….

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (09:49 AM) - Bi-partisan legislation is being considered that would extend daylight savings time by two months.”The more daylight we have, the less electricity we use,” said Markey, who cited Transportation Department estimates that showed the two-month extension would save the equivalent of…

Save The Monkeys (09:03 AM) - Hey hey, they’re the monkeys. And they’ll be extinct in 20 years, a new report warns.Without concerted action, great apes such as the Sumatran orangutan of Indonesia and the Eastern gorilla of central Africa are at risk of disappearing, according…

Does Europe Really Hate Us? (09:00 AM) - The Discovery Channel investigates tonight at 8p….

Good Economic News (08:38 AM) - WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped by 19,000 last week, the largest decline in two months, the government reported Thursday. The Labor Department said the decline pushed the level of unemployment benefits down to…

In The ‘About Time’ Department (08:30 AM) - The US is responsible for funding a huge portion of the United Nations. At least some of that funding is going to be cut now, as Congress has voted to reduce our funding of UN peacekeeping missions from 27.1% to…

Introspection of Protestation (07:51 AM) - Activist and outspoken liberal Kate Schuerman, on her blog, writes:I have participated in many different forms of protest in Hanover and other cities in the U.S. I am a person deeply disturbed by the events in Darfur and have joined…

Kofi Annan Proposes New Human Rights Body (07:39 AM) - Is anyone taking Korrupt Kofi seriously any more? GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations needs a new, permanent human rights body if it is to prevent appalling suffering around the world, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday. Speaking at the U.N….

Everyone Has AIDS (07:34 AM) - Thankfully, Bono is waging a war on AIDS. Obscure titular reference here….

Fewer CEOs Have Ivy Degree (07:15 AM) - I have noted this before, but USAT now has a nice table and an article featuring Brenda Barnes, CEO of Sara Lee, “the largest corporation with a female CEO.” Yes. Just gloss right over the Fiorina kerfuffle. The trend of…

What A Wonderful Track (07:12 AM) - With the exception of predicting elections, I think that the right track/wrong track poll question is probably the most useless ever conceived. So it does not bother me that “only a third believes the country is headed on the right…

The Power Of Krugman (06:55 AM) - This The Dartmouth op-ed repeats, practically verbatim, Paul Krugman’s column of yesterday. For a more trenchant analysis on elephants in academia, see Vox Baby….

From The Office Of Martinez (06:46 AM) - It has already been revealed in several quarters, but I will echo here that the clouds surrounding the purported Schiavo talking points have cleared. They evidently came from a staffer of Mel Martinez (R-FL). How it got out was just…

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

ASCII Animations Do Not Make A Coherent Argument (10:02 PM) - Reading a post at Attytood bemoaning conservatives’ disappointment that an AP photo of questionable origin won a Pulitzer prize, I saw the phrase “the 101st Fighting Keyboarders” used. Wondering what it meant, I clicked on the link and was directed…

All Your Wigs Are Belong To Us (09:37 PM) - The mathematically-inclined suggest that the human mind lacks the capacity for true randomness. I believe this blog disproves that assertion. (…via Althouse)…

Grilling The Potential Trustees (09:06 PM) - The Student Assembly is offering a thorough interview series of the candidates for Dartmouth College Trustee. I slogged through the horrendously formatted text and came out with a few overall impressions, none of which will surprise. The two candidates whom…

A New Scam For The UN (08:34 PM) - This one isn’t as much a scam as it is slipshod management and inept fact-checking. BBC is reporting that a key UN report contained false information about Rwandan aggression in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A former UN employee is…

No OTC Morning-After, No Vote (07:39 PM) - Reuters reports that Hillary Clinton and Patty Murray will block a confirmation vote on Lester Crawford, who President Bush picked to head the FDA. The duo want Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s “Plan B emergency contraception” pill to be sold over the…

Spring. (06:46 PM) - It is spring at Dartmouth. Weather was in the mid-sixties today. As I have no digital camera, I cannot provide photos. But my girlfriend is coming up for the weekend with hers and I’ll have some Reynolds/Althouse-esque campus photos at…

I Say “Peaceful Protest.” (03:53 PM) - Reuters says “Right-wing militia.” Which is more accurate?…

All Aboard Spitzer’s Gravy Train (03:06 PM) - Eliot Spitzer is quite a character. After embarking on his glorious crusade against corporate malfeasance (which has, admittedly, yielded good things) he is now parlaying those successes, as predicted, into a gubernatorial run. The newest tool: Google.SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -…

Same-Sex “Marriage” Update (02:56 PM) - Two from Kurtz at NRO: First, a USA Today/CNN poll which probably came out against gay marriage, is being suppressed by the media. Second, Kansas adopts an anti-gay-marriage amendment by 70-29….

The Forgotten War? (02:45 PM) - Some things make me regret the occasional adventure into lefty blogland. Like this post from Kos. Ever wonder how it might feel to fight and die in a forgotten war, while your country obsesses over Michael Jackson and Terri Schiavo?…

Always Low Prices, Always (02:04 PM) - Wal-Mart Waltons want lower taxes… heh![I]n a little-noticed move, the company’s founding family has plunged into a fight to pass income tax changes and other legislation that could preserve its grip on the USA’s biggest business and the family’s $84…

The Drudge Retort (01:04 PM) - Crazed Brit Nick Denton (of Wonkette fame) has created “SPLOID!”, an anti-Drudge site that uses large red letters in all-caps to Grab! Your! Attention!…

Reassurance From San Francisco (10:53 AM) - Chris Nolan quotes San Francisco official Sophie Maxwell, speaking about proposed electronic electioneering reform, as saying “Blogs are to be exempt.”…

Ignorant Braying Or Loyal Opposition? (08:42 AM) - MaroonBlog’s Andrew Dzwonchyk looks at USA PATRIOT Act haters and comes to a common conclusion: they don’t know beans about the act itself….

Another Take On Berger (07:47 AM) - In the Wall Street Journal, it is argued that Sandy Berger’s Guinness-worthy plea bargain was a good thing….

The Schiavo Memo Continued (07:35 AM) - Power Line remains on the case, as does The Washington Times, which reports that all 55 Republican Senators have denied authorship….

The TiVo Massacre Of 2005 (07:24 AM) - You knew it was coming. The unholy marriage of Comcast and TiVo has wrought ex-post-facto ad insertion! Engadget has the details….

More On Mid-Dems (06:58 AM) - Following Stephanie Herseth’s comments in the Rockefeller Center, Professor Samwick (director of said center) puts in his comments at Vox Baby. At the Rockefeller Center, we have started a New Voices in Washington series. One of my biggest disappointments with…

Slash-and-Thrash Op-Ed Edits (06:47 AM) - I am familiar with the gutting nature of opposite-the-editorial page editors at college newspapers. And so, it seems, is Sean, who is an undergrad at Harvard. At Vatican of Liberalism, he spins the yarn of an op-ed submission gone terribly…

Talking To The Candidates (06:41 AM) - Dartmouth’s Student Assembly has created dartmouthfuture.blogspot.com. Currently, the site has responses to a slate of questions posed each candidate by the SA. I will take a look at the answers later today. MORE: Kenan Yount, writing in The Dartmouth:It was…

Smart In Iraq (06:38 AM) - If you want the best five minute overview of Iraq, from culture to government to language, have a look at this PDF from the Marines, which was graciously sent to me by Zachariah Lakel. UPDATE: PDF fixed….

Look Back at Anger (06:36 AM) - It didn’t all start with the “Yeargh!”. Jacon Laksin, brother of a good friend of mine, looks at the left’s anger and why it failed during the 2004 election cycle at Opinion Journal….

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Inquiring Minds (09:20 PM) - Glancing at Drudge, it appears as if Tom DeLay is going to have a bad day tomorrow….

Ideology in Academia: Facts and Issues (05:39 PM) - For Hanover readers: Prof. Daniel Klein of Santa Clara University will be discussing the political culture and ideological orientation of academic institutions tomorrow at 6p in Rockefeller 3. Dartmouth College Republicans, The Dartmouth Review, and ISI are sponsoring the event….

To Stem The Tides (04:20 PM) - Alan Greenspan is offering some calming words on oil prices. Markets are reacting well….

A President For Iraq (04:13 PM) - The new Iraq parliament looks ready to elect Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, to the presidency. Another major step on the road to democracy. Oh, and a former Iraqi dictator will be watching the free and fair proceedings from his jail…

A Somber Confession (04:06 PM) - I have a confession to make. I suspect it shall lose me respect in some- many- quarters, but c’est la vie. My girlfriend and I are fans of the Music Television program Newlyweds, which chronicles the marital misadventures of Jessica…

Watch Out For Canadian Cheese (03:06 PM) - Reader Jeff Dwyer sends this comment on my recent postings in support of The Minuteman Project:You seem to be enamored of the Minutemen. Would you accept non-governmental patrols of other areas in the US? Say, random car checks on I-91…

New Jersey Joins the $2/gal Ranks (02:03 PM) - New Jersey was the last state in the union to have average gas prices below two dollars. T’was nice. Perhaps they could bed prices back down by doing away with mandatory full service….

When Americans Trip Sensors, Border Patrol Takes Notice (01:00 PM) - Evidently, the US Border Patrol is displeased with the Minutemen who are conducting their own brand of a neighborhood watch. AP reports:TOMBSTONE, Ariz. - Volunteers who have converged on the Mexican border to watch for illegal immigrants are disrupting U.S….

CEO Bloggers (09:45 AM) - NewPRWiki has a list of CEO bloggers from the US and all around the world. It’s neat….

Cute Librarian Loses Suit (07:52 AM) - Clearly, this is Larry Summers’ fault….

Whither Chairs And Good Posture? (07:26 AM) - Ann Althouse photoblogs a warm Madison day, where dozens of co-eds are reading or sleeping on the university’s various grassy knolls. She wonders why no male students ended up in her photos. The expectation of civility among young boys in…

Elephants In Academia (07:17 AM) - The illustrious Paul Krugman kindly explains to the hordes why there are so few Republicans in United States universities. The short of it, so that you needn’t read Krugman, is that Republicans- rabid religious zealots and blind idealogues that they…

The Fortunate Sons Of The Waltons (07:10 AM) - Fortune has released the newest Fortune 500 rankings. Wal-Mart is on top, again. One general trend, noted in the above-linked report: “If a company’s taking stuff out of the ground, it was making money.”…

Honoring Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith (07:03 AM) - President Bush has decided to posthumously award the War on Terrorism’s first Medal of Honor to Paul Ray Smith. Here is an excerpt from the citation:Sgt. 1st Class Smith ordered one of his Soldiers to back the damaged APC back…

Monday, April 04, 2005

More Google Fun (11:48 PM) - At Google Maps, there is now a ‘satellite’ option, which converts any vector cartograph into a composite of actual satellite photos. Neat….

“Not Invented Here” (11:31 PM) - In The New Yorker, a profile of a most dictatorial electronics company: Sony. After reading it, one doesn’t wonder why few major technologies in our lives were invented by Sony, but rather by its competitors. A resistance to change, compromise,…

Be Honest (11:25 PM) - Roger L. Simon gets honest… he likes McDonalds. I do too, and I am mocked endlessly for it. But now I know there are others….

Newspaper Pulitzers (04:15 PM) - Two of my favorite papers: The Star-Ledger and the Wall Street Journal, have won Pulitzer prizes. More details here….

Jersey Gov Race (04:11 PM) - Joe Territo notes that both Corzine and Schundler are blogging. Whether or not that means something is yet to be seen….

Beware (04:01 PM) - Al Gore’s universe-ending monotony is coming to a television near you. UPDATE: And Google is a partner at the network. Quelle suprise, given the recent Google News flaps….

The Gentlewoman From South Dakota (03:35 PM) - Stephanie Herseth (D-SD) is speaking tonight at Dartmouth in Rockefeller 3 at 4:30p. Topic is “Securing Quality Education and Health Care in America”. The second-term representative isn’t likely to make any news, of course, but if any interesting discussions develop…

What’s All This Demurring About? (10:54 AM) - From a recent press briefing:Q. Scott, you demurred from answering this, this morning in anticipation of the report’s release, so let me ask you again, the report suggests — SCOTT McCLELLAN: I demur from answering again. Q. Not now. (Laughter.)…

Yush To Washington (09:57 AM) - WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is welcoming Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, with the White House expressing no hard feelings about Yushchenko’s plans to pull troops from Iraq and his predecessor’s sale of weapons to U.S. foes. Prime on the discussion…

Can a privatized Social Security system work? (09:47 AM) - It already does. The National Center for Policy Analysis looks at three counties in Texas were people have been putting money into the market instead of into Uncle Sam’s coffers for more than a decade….

More On San Francisco’s Blog Regulations (08:26 AM) - The actual proposed legislation is here. I don’t see the word ‘blog’ mentioned specifically, but from what I read the law certainly seems applicable to bloggers. (Especially those on the payroll of a candidate, like Kos.) Consider this portion of…

The Minutemen Off To A Start (07:15 AM) - The Minuteman- “vigilantes” to Bush and Fox- have already caused the imprisonment of 18 criminals. How do they do it? Not with guns or violence. They do it the neighborhood watch way: observe and report. From an NBC report:Participants in…

A Fledgling Democracy (07:07 AM) - Afghan President Karzai wants his country and people to start taking over the re-development process that has thus far been spearheaded by major western countries.KABUL (Reuters) - An annual meeting of donor countries contributing billions of dollars to Afghanistan’s reconstruction…

Necessary Gloat (07:01 AM) - I’m not as much of a Yankees fan as I am a non-Red Sox fan. So I’m happy….

A Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Brits (07:00 AM) - Daily Kos provides a useful overview of the British electoral system….

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Sin City (11:32 PM) - Just saw the film. T’was good enough but is certainly not appropriate for children of any age. I mention it only because a younger cousin of mine expressed interest in seeing Sin City. Not a good idea….

Keep The Government Out Of The Bedroom? (11:27 PM) - How about: out of our pajamas? San Francisco wants to regulate local bloggers:Just when you thought the Federal Election Commission had it out for the blogosphere, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors took it up a notch and announced yesterday…

You’d Think We Were The Borg (04:35 PM) - While Democrats are normal people and require no analysis, The New York Times dutifully provides “A Guide To The Republican Herd” in the weekend edition….

To Effectuate Change, D’Apres Washington (02:12 PM) - Thinking on gay marriage, right-to-die, the Constitutional-judicial quandaries they have conjured, and concurrently reading some old documents for a Government course, I am struck by a particular passage from George Washington’s “Farewell” address, delivered in 1789:The necessity of reciprocal checks…

With Affirmative Action, What A JD Means (01:34 PM) - 43% of black students in law school either do not graduate or fail to pass a bar exam. The number is below 20% for white students. I do not mention this because it tells a story about the innate lawyering…

Baseball (01:28 PM) - Warning: Bucking of New England Orthodoxy Ahead. Everyone ready to see the Yanks trounce the Red Sox tonight? Because I am….

Railing ‘Gainst Sleaze In NJ (11:33 AM) - The 2005 gubernatorial race in New Jersey is shaping up to be Bret Schundler versus Jon “Millionaire” Corzine. The worst liberal stereotypes apply to Corzine; I won’t re-make those arguments here. The problem unique in the Garden State is widespread…

Beheadings On The Other Side (09:21 AM) - Via And Rightly So, I see that the House of Saud has beheaded- in public- three convicted terrorists.The three men were beheaded in public in the northern Saudi city of al-Jawf where they carried out their crimes, the Interior Ministry…

Desires To Preserve Marriage At All-Time High (08:45 AM) - According to this CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, Americans are more opposed to homosexual marriage than ever.When asked whether they thought same-sex “marriages” should be recognized by the law as valid and come with the same rights as traditional marriages, 68 percent…

FEC Overview (08:34 AM) - Winfield Myers continues his FEC watch as the commission moves to, possibly, place limits on online political speech. Meanwhile, a great overview for those who haven’t been studying this issue in-depth is here, from K. Daniel Glover at National Journal….

Iraq’s Sunni Speaker (08:15 AM) - BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi lawmakers elected a Sunni Arab as parliament speaker and Shiite and Kurdish leaders as his deputies on Sunday, ending days of deadlock as they sought to balance the country’s predominant religious and ethnic groups in…

A New Line Of Attack; Similar Failure (08:06 AM) - Terrorists in Iraq have attacked the Abu Gharab prison (that’s the “Notorious Abu Gharib prison” to AP) at least partially to continue using the media’s hold on public opinion to undermine coalition efforts. The LEDE they’ve created is certainly to…

Lebanon Update (08:03 AM) - Timetable complete, Syria has announced when its oppressive presence in Lebanon will come to a close. Note also how eager AP is to credit the United Nations for Lebanon’s move toward independence, even though the UN was the biggest wrench…

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Evaluating Hospitals (10:32 PM) - Health Talk reports that the government has provided an online tool to compare the quality of local hospitals. The tool is here….

Non Vo Gia Che Vi Suonino (10:03 PM) - At La Scala, Riccardo Muti is out. The turn of events pivoted on the Scala players’ collective venom for the man. His orchestra, it seems, holds no fealty to the maestro that shepherded them through historic renovations and critical tribulations…

A Great Injustice (06:14 PM) - Sandy Berger faces a $10,000 fine, maximum….

AP: Pope Has Passed (03:02 PM) - This AP alert says the Pope has died. The Vatican sent out the information in an e-mail. UPDATE: See live video from St. Peter’s Square here. MORE: How embarrassing. MORE: Video of President Bush’s remarks here….

Engage. (12:33 PM) - I just finished watching season seven- the final season- of Star Trek: The Next Generation. What a fantastic show that was. Nothing before or since has come close to duplicating the intelligence, excitement, and camaraderie in each episode of TNG….

A Weird TV Spot (09:54 AM) - This spot, intended, somehow, to sell Volkswagen Golf GTs in Britain, is just the weirdest thing I have ever seen. It features Gene Kelly-but-not doing his classic “Singing in the Rain” scene, which promptly turns into a techno remix replete…

No Shortage Of Wrongness (09:16 AM) - At Different River, Sunni participation in Iraq is discussed. Per usual, the Iraq naysayers who predicted civil war are looking more and more blinkered….

Frank Perdue Dies (09:13 AM) - Everyman notes that the famous purveyor of fine chicken died yesterday, and gives a fine retrospective….

Robinson and Reagan’s Ghost (09:01 AM) - Suddenly he reined in his horse, shifted his weight in the saddle, and turned back to me. “I still love riding into the sunset,” he said. Former Reagan speech writer and Dartmouth trustee candidate Peter Robinson channels his old boss…

More SocSec Polling (08:53 AM) - This FoxNews/Opinion Dynamics poll (they have a fairly good track record) shows that 60% (and 76% of those under 30) support “giving individuals the choice to invest a portion of their Social Security contributions in stocks or mutual funds.” Tom…

Flap At FoxNews (08:43 AM) - At FoxNews, during Shep Smith’s blazingly quick-cut Studio B, an overzealous producer starting shouting “Pope is dead!” into what turned out to be an open translator’s mic. Her voice went out over the air, and forced Smith to somehow acknowledge…

Weekend Pundit: Better Than Weather Channel (08:31 AM) - Whenever something New Englandy is about to happen up here, I tend to find out from Weekend Pundit or Kevin Aylward first. (To say nothing of my girlfriend, who usually calls and tells me what’s up) In this case, something…

Mugabe Wins (08:25 AM) - A setback in Africa, as Robert Mugabe and his party win a dominating 74 seats compared to the Democrat Reformers’ 40. We are reminded of Mugabe’s “accomplishments” by Scott Ott:U.S. Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice today congratulated Robert Mugabe on…

Looking Back On 27 Years (08:20 AM) - Like a lot of people in the blogosphere, I do not share Pope John Paul II’s faith, but his contributions to the betterment of all humanity over the past three decades are undeniable. David McHugh does a piece for AP…

Friday, April 01, 2005

Berger’s Plea: America Loses (04:40 PM) - Roger L. Simon echos my initial sentiment, that Sandy Berger’s plea bargain is an outrage….

Hard To Argue With Libertarians (03:38 PM) - Nat Ward reports on local Libertarians who want to vote in Dartmouth’s Trustee election (for Robinson and Zywicki, of course) because Dartmouth students who do not come from New Hampshire “vote in Hanover and help choose my U.S. senator, congressman,…

But They Just Adore Google News (03:18 PM) - Via Fresh Politics, I see that Monsieur Chirac wants to get involved with the internets after seeing Google’s library project:[French P.M. Jacques Chirac] asked his culture minister, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, and Jean-Noël Jeanneney, head of France’s Bibliothèque Nationale, to…

Trustees Stonewall (10:33 AM) - The New York Sun editorial board notes a distinct lack of transparency in Columbia’s trustees on the anti-Semitism matter….

Seven Virgins And A Mule (10:24 AM) - It’s an Emerson, Lake, and Palmer-inspired Carnival of the Recipes….

Meet The Fox News Chief (10:20 AM) - Roger Ailes is a straight talking guy. Love FNC or hate it, this is the one news exec that anyone would want to hear speak. In the Daily News, Lloyd Grove reports on Ailes’ comments at a breakfast hosted by…

Fat Girls Yelling: Not Very Funny (09:47 AM) - Entertainment Weekly judges “Queen” Latifah vehicle Beauty Shop “not funny.” Its box office proceeds are not expected to be good. This brings up an interesting question. We already have some kind of affirmative action program in academia. And in the…

Good Economic News Roundup (08:17 AM) - Payroll increases 225,000; unemployment drops to 5.3% (!) (Projection) Incomes rise 0.3% and consumer spending rises 0.5% 2004 ends on a surge of corporate profits; GDP up 3.8% UPDATE: The first link, which was a pre-release projection, was wrong. Updated…

Mohawk-Laden Dood Attacks Pat (08:03 AM) - A hip and happening dude attending a Michigan lecture squirted salad dressing at Pat Buchanan yesterday, symbolizing the zesty Italian fervor with which Buchanan presents his evil ideas….

The Next Time They Make Your Burger Wrong (07:58 AM) - Call 9-1-1. (…via Ace)…

Another Nutty Professor (07:25 AM) - I think and hope there isn’t anyone quite this bad at Dartmouth….

A Strong Case For Annan (07:20 AM) - The Washington Post editorial makes the strongest case yet for Kofi Annan:Mr. Annan has indeed been personally damaged by the oil-for-food scandal, but many of the United Nations’ problems predate his arrival and will continue after he leaves unless they…

Bizarre? (07:17 AM) - Ah, what a jolly romp this Sandy Berger flap has been for the fellows at Associated Press. No, not illegal. Not dangerous or frightening. Not even wrong. “The plea agreement, if accepted by a judge, ends a bizarre episode…” Just…

College Admissions (07:10 AM) - The news from the Dartmouth admissions office is good:Thousands of high school seniors felt devastation or elation on Thursday afternoon with the posting of admissions decisions on the College’s website. Others nationwide will be finding out their fate over the…