Thursday, June 30, 2005
Just In Time For The Fourth (04:36 PM) - It’s another ridiculous scandal….
virgo hec penna; meretrix est stampificata (02:07 PM) - Some blogs are spontaneously becoming ‘online magazines’ for FEC reasons. Heh. But something tells me that the word ‘blog’ isn’t going to be a nasty pejorative for too long. Think of what a ridiculous word ‘website’ is. The cant of…
Stanley Greenberg: Democrats weakening more (10:51 AM) - The Democrats’ own opinion poll shows them in dire straits in our nation’s ongoing popularity contest. It won’t be big news, of course, because the message of the week is: Republicans Going Downhill. But it nonetheless reinforces the notion that…
Blogospheric Ravings: War of the Worlds (10:29 AM) - I have described myself as “crotchety” when it comes to flashy new Hollywoods pics (and the flashy new prices- $10.75 at my theater- that go along with them). But War of the Worlds is getting some good non-MSM press. Justin…
NYT: Troops’ Silence at Fort Bragg Starts a Debate (10:21 AM) - Behold the power of David E. Sanger. Because the troops’ silence (they behaved as instructed) did not cause any debate. The Times’ lordly reporters, however, did….
Upon Revisiting The Near Past, A Humble Inquiry (08:43 AM) - On the evening of September 11th, 2001, President Bush addressed the nation. He said, in part, “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” Nine days later, he said, “…And we…
Pack Your Toothbrushes And Stylebooks (08:39 AM) - Two magisterial reporters- one at the New York Times and another at plain old Time- are going to prison for revealing the covert status of one of our spies at the CIA and then refusing to cooperate in a federal…
Ron Beland of Roslindale, Mass. (08:00 AM) - He is nothing more than a lucky fellow who got a letter printed in the Boston Globe. But thank God nobody elected him….
Thank Goodness For Commentary (12:03 AM) - Featured on MSNBC right now: Why Cell Phones and Driving Don’t Mix: Commentary by Lee Dye. For all of its obviousness, the article doesn’t make any good point about cell phones. It argues that the brain only has a certain…
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Democrats Convicted In Illinois (11:53 PM) - Of massive vote fraud. Will murder follow?…
Army Recruitment Surpasses Goals, Expectations (11:40 PM) - General Richard Myers has confirmed….
The New Freedom Tower Design: Images (04:48 PM) - I am working on getting full-quality images of the Freedom Tower, but for now this is the best I can do. That photo mock-up is actually useful- it shows the Tower in context. I do like the design, with one…
Polite Graffiti (03:45 PM) - On my way to Panera, where the last two entries were blogged and which is in a decidedly affluent area of town, I saw some unique vandalism:They rule, alright?…
Dick Durbin Explains Why He Apologized (02:55 PM) - As transcribed by Katherine Lopez, here is Senator Durbin on CNN:”Well, I think there were a lot of critics who’s tried to blow my remarks up as much as they could, and to run them in some aspects of our…
Does Hayes Know Something We Don’t? (02:39 PM) - As vice-chairman of the House subcommittee on terrorism, Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) does have access to ongoing investigations which are off-limits to news agencies. But if he expects to be taken very seriously during the next few news cycles, he’ll…
Good Economic News (10:37 AM) - Economic expansion is on firm footing, with a GDP growth of 3.8% in 1Q 2005. Job creation remains positive and the housing market is still a simmering cauldron of activity. May the gods of real estate continue to smile upon…
This Morning’s Dose Of Reality-Based Fibs (09:55 AM) - Provocatively titled, “President Bush’s Speech About Iraq,” the New York Times editorial delivers some thundering sallies.President Bush told the nation last night that the war in Iraq was difficult but winnable. Only the first is clearly true.The Times hasn’t the…
Freedom Tower Redesign To Be Released (09:40 AM) - The new, more “bomb-proof” design will be unveiled today….
Rosett Responds To Kofi Annan’s Wag-the-Dog (09:17 AM) - Claudia Rosett:This is a moment at which there is much to be learned about the U.N., though less from Mr. Annan’s epistles than from the realities that have engendered them. We’ll skip lightly past the footnote that Mr. Annan’s articles…
Front Pages From Around The Country (09:03 AM) - How is the day’s news playing around the nation? Use Newseum’s Front Page tool to see the front page of hundreds of American newspapers each morning. Pretty neat….
Ouch. (08:46 AM) - Obviously, “Mars Projects” don’t happen overnight. But this is rough:SCOTT McCLELLAN: …But, again, we’re not talking about any weapons-grade plutonium. And I think the Department of Energy can probably talk to you more about why we need to produce it….
Cable News Ratings (08:30 AM) - The question is no longer, “Which cable news channel is number one?”. It is “Which Fox show is at the top?”…
Conceit of Government (08:08 AM) - Peggy Noonan:What’s wrong with them? That’s what I’m thinking more and more as I watch the news from Washington. A few weeks ago it was the senators who announced the judicial compromise. There is nothing wrong with compromise and nothing…
The Inevitable AP ‘Newsview’ (12:00 AM) - If the lush verbiage of AP dispatches from Iraq doesn’t give it away, and if the insertion of unrelated IED-death reminders at the tip-top of breaking alerts on major captures and operational successes don’t give it away, well, the AP…
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
A Fort Bragg Eschewal (07:54 PM) - I am off to watch the President’s remarks, but I recognize that there are those readers who prefer to focus on lighter subjects in the evening. So, in Mr. Bush’s stead, I offer a photo of a pretty Russian tennis-playing…
The Natalee Holloway Case (07:21 PM) - If you are interested in the Natalee Holloway case, Scared Monkeys is providing excellent coverage and discussion….
Gossamer Ploy: Attacking Pro-War Civillians (06:55 PM) - I never thought I’d say this, but Andrew Sullivan has got the right idea….
The Speech the President Should Give; And I Helped! (06:41 PM) - John Kerry tells George Bush what to say. His ideas range from non-existent to unoriginal to just plain disastrous. The absent: the entire first half, which rehashes old election bickering. The status quo: “…announce immediately that the United States will…
An Insurgency Of The Bribed And Coerced (06:37 PM) - US News and World Report, in a piece of investigation not getting nearly enough attention:Who’s funding the insurgents in Iraq? The list of suspects is long: ex-Baathists, foreign jihadists, and angry Sunnis, to name a few. Now add to that…
When David Met Dalloway (06:16 PM) - Larry David’s midnight thoughts:I haven’t had a good quilt in a long time. Where’d this quilt come from anyway? Tomorrow I’ll mention the quilt. She’s not gonna like that. She’ll say there’s nothing wrong with the quilt and that’ll be…
You Don’t Need Talent, Just Cocktails (05:36 PM) - So The Huffy Post- a pretty young blog and an appropriately dull one- has gone and gotten itself a deal with Yahoo!. On behalf of the blogosphere, I’d like to thank the proprietors for porting the caste system to our…
An Interview With American Director Woody Allen (05:21 PM) - I’ve never really laughed at anything Woody Allen did- although I’ve always enjoyed varied mockeries of his neuroses- but he seems to have reached ‘icon’ status without my approval. That’s ok. I think his mind is going downhill, anyway….I don’t…
Instead of a Gideon’s Bible each guest will receive a free copy of “Atlas Shrugged.” (04:49 PM) - Logan Darrow Clements is quite the agitator, but his idea isn’t bad. I especially like the Just Desserts Cafe.Weare, New Hampshire (PRWEB) Could a hotel be built on the land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter? A new…
An NRO Timewaster (04:37 PM) - So I don’t really get the point of this, but aren’t the physics great?…
Live From Fort Bragg (03:09 PM) - Tom Temple has the drinking game for the President’s evening address. President Bush’s oratory has improved fivefold in the last five years. The quality of his speeches, of course, was always excellent. But I have low expectations for tonight. In…
Italy Is Trying To Nab CIA Agents (10:59 AM) - Italy is attempting to extradite 13 purported CIA officers who may have abducted in Milan a suspected terrorist- Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr- and brought him to Egypt….
For New Jersey Readers (09:57 AM) - The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra does a series of outdoor concerts each summer. The offerings are limited and the sound isn’t exactly ideal, but it is a fun night out, especially when the weather is nice. Tomorrow evening the orchestra…
Dartmouth Shifts — to the Right? (08:29 AM) - Inside Higher Ed thinks as much. Their only evidence, though, seems to be the recent abolition of the moratorium on new Greek houses and some extra funding for athletics. Positive steps, both; but there is much more to Dartmouth’s liberal…
On How To Present The Wrong United Front (12:55 AM) - On the AP wire right now:Army Recruits Quickly Abused in Training FORT KNOX, Ky. — The recruits of Echo Company stumbled off the bus for basic training at Fort Knox to the screams of red-faced drill instructors. That much was…
Monday, June 27, 2005
The Intended Market (11:44 PM) - Jeff Harrell e-mails to say I’m sideways on Grokster:Joe, I respect you a lot, but I really think you’re wrong on the MGM decision. Did you read the opinion? How can you wade through the mass of evidence as to…
But Can It Deploy A MIRV? (11:35 PM) - A giant space ring could save the Earth from global warming, according to LiveScience….
Still Conservatives (08:50 PM) - Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is doing his job. He has introduced legislation that would impose limits on the suddenly statist doctrine of eminent domain. From his office’s release: In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that government may seize the…
How Goes The “Third Way”? (05:34 PM) - EUobserver sees some trends in foreign investment in Olde Europe:Foreign investment in France and Germany, the two largest economies of the European continent, fell sharply in 2004, according to figures released yesterday (23 June) by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation…
The Downfall Of AFL-CIO (05:22 PM) - The labor megalith is on the verge of having its membership of 13 million halved. A splinter group of discontents- including the Teamsters and now the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America- is breaking away from AFL-CIO. [AFL-CIO…
T.J. Rodgers: Social Security “a scam” (04:11 PM) - Dartmouth trustee T.J. Rodgers ‘70 appears in a Freestar Media video called “Monkey Beats Social Security” in which he denounces the current program. The video features a monkey throwing darts at a board full of conservative investments, with consistently better-than-SocSec…
A Photo Post (03:58 PM) - I was experimenting with the long shutter feature a few days ago and took this shot of a streetlight and sky. This is without flash, and the sky was pitch-black. The only light was from the lamppost, but I closed…
“If The War Is Right, Why Don’t You Go?” (03:19 PM) - It is the classic slight-of-hand argument used by war opposers. If one supports a war, the trick goes, one must actually be in the theater. Otherwise, one’s position is not credible. Jay Tea does a good job deconstructing the argument…
Iraqi Prime Minister: Security In Two Years (03:00 PM) - “I think two years will be enough, and more than enough, to establish security in our country,” Ibrahim al-Jaafari is saying….
NYT: George Pataki’s Sense of Decency “Alarming” (02:28 PM) - Yesterday, I reported with approval Governor Pataki’s comments on the World Trade Center memorial. “We will not tolerate anything on that site that denigrates America, denigrates New York or freedom or denigrates the sacrifice and courage that the heroes showed…
Republicans Love Puppies (02:15 PM) - Strange news of the day:[Rick] Santorum, R-Pa., has won high praise from the Humane Society of the United States for pushing legislation aimed at ending breeding facilities known as puppy mills. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also finds…
Let’s Adjudicate Intent! (01:47 PM) - I think the Grokster decision was a good one. It is quite correct in declaring that file-sharing companies ought not have legal immunity. Some software is created expressly to facilitate crime, and that is wrong. However, Grokster was not. This…
O’Connor’s Eventual Retirement (01:37 PM) - It could be coming up, and Bob Novak says the Bush White House is looking for a female (or a non-white, non-male) replacement. No woman has ever retired from the Court, so none has ever been replaced. Must it be…
Displaying The Ten Commandments On Government Land (12:54 PM) - The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of showing those holy laws on government land and in government buildings. However, each case is to be given unique scrutiny: especially displays in courthouses. So while the practice is permissible in theory,…
Keller: ‘Times’ Must Go Beyond Its Urban, Lib Base (12:40 PM) - Editor and Publisher:In a lengthy memo published on the newspaper’s Web site, Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, announced several new policies in response to a recent report by the paper’s Credibility Committee. Among them is a…
Blogging Update (12:30 PM) - Indeed, it was the late shift again last night:…
Sunday, June 26, 2005
MIT’s 2005 Weblog Author Survey (10:13 AM) -
June Supercomputer Update (09:41 AM) - Dartblog has occasionally been reporting on the ongoing supercomputer race, which exists in thousands of twists and turns over the course of months and years that aggregate to position-shifting on the Top 500 list. I am happy to report that…
Pataki Means Business (09:11 AM) - Though Jeff Jarvis is not impressed (“Pataki can’t win — because he’s a loser.”) I thought highly of Governor Pataki’s strong comments against the ultra-leftst Tower of Moral Relativism slated to be constructed at Ground Zero. It would investigate such…
Kofi: “Reform the U.N.—but don’t use a “big stick” approach.” (07:22 AM) - I’m relatively certain that Kofi Annan’s op-eds are generated by a computer script these days. His big reformist statement in the latest op-ed: “All of us would like to see a Peace Building Commission created within the U.N.”…
Campus Progress, Indeed (07:15 AM) - A college Democrats organization posts covert pictures of a college Republicans event and adds Ana Cox-ish captions, but not as funny. All of the stupidity is brought to you by the upstanding Center for American Progress….
Waxing Libertarian On Eminent Domain (01:18 AM) - A comment at SCOTUS blog: “I actually worry that political opposition to eminent domain may go too far, as it has in Japan, where completion of the second runway at Tokyo’s Narita Airport has proved to be impossible.” I wonder…
The Simpsons (01:11 AM) - I think it jumped the shark a long time ago, and Ann Althouse’s observation, “I think, once again, I should watch that show. But the fact is, for the longest time, I haven’t been able to. I just can’t stand…
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Blogging Update (08:30 AM) - Posting will be light this Saturday as I am doing some kind of water sport on the Delaware River. While I don’t quite understand what it is, or why I am driving an hour to get there, Lauren has assured…
Our Dear Dear Court (07:51 AM) - Opinion Journal:The Supreme Court’s “liberal” wing has a reputation in some circles as a guardian of the little guy and a protector of civil liberties. That deserves reconsideration in light of yesterday’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London.As…
Hawaiian Pets Gain Right of Inheritance (07:48 AM) - Surrounded by an audience of dogs (and a rabbit), Governor Linda Lingle of Hawaii signed into law the right pets’ right of inheritance….
AP: U.N. to Press Rwandan Genocide Case (07:45 AM) - UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations will ask France to take legal action against a former U.N. employee accused in the killings of 33 Rwandans in the 1994 genocide, after an internal review found the world body bungled his…
Windows And RSS: Perfect Together (07:35 AM) - While I don’t think RSS is quite the revolution others have made it out to be, and I disagree with the Microsoft statement that, “RSS is key to how people will be using the Internet in the future,” it is…
Lady Justice Denudated; Carnal Embrace With Majesty of Law Avoided (01:28 AM) - John Ashcroft’s silly decision to put drapes on some nude statues in the Justice Department has been overturned by new Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.The drapes, installed in 2002 at a cost of $8,000, allowed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak…
Michael Dell, Are You Listening? (01:16 AM) - As Jeff Jarvis has been angrily alluding to, Dell has a serious and widespread problem with shoddy manufacturing. The home computing/Wintel sector as a whole, in fact, is afflicted. (Shush up, Apple fanboys. Your team can do it because it…
The Draft That No One Is Talking About (01:14 AM) - The Associated Press hasn’t forgotten: “WASHINGTON - Most Americans don’t want to see the return of the military draft, although men, older Americans and Republicans were most likely to say it’s a good idea, an AP-Ipsos poll found.”…
Friday, June 24, 2005
Pushing The Wrong Button (09:18 PM) - Roger L. Simon posts a series of harrowing photos….
Karl Rove’s Remarks to the Conservative Party (02:07 PM) - Via friend Jeff Harrell, here is the complete text of Karl Rove’s ‘controversial’ remarks to the New York Conservative Party on 6/22/05. [PDF] The entire media-relevant section is in the extended….
Network News Is Dead (01:51 PM) - With this, I officially pronounce the time of death of Network News to be 10 am on Friday, June 24th, 2005. MATT LAUER: So, postpartum depression to you is— TOM CRUISE: Matt— MATT LAUER: —kind of a— TOM CRUISE: —don’t—…
More Diversity In Washington (12:24 PM) - Ignore calls for superficial diversity, I’ve always thought. Just pick the right tool for the job (my father’s words) and the right man for the job (a logical extension). I don’t think I’ve ever attempted to adjust the seat on…
Happy Graduation (10:19 AM) - My sister graduated from high school last night, so congratulations to her and all other graduates this year!…
A Minor Concern At Best (09:15 AM) - Yes, as many have e-mailed, I have given a lot of thought to this. My conclusion is that I wouldn’t want to work for anyone who would dismiss me out-of-hand for my politics, and in any event I should hope…
More Kelo Kommentary (08:29 AM) - Professor Samwick on Kelo:Here’s the ironic part. The 5-4 majority was the liberals on the court (the 5 who aren’t O’Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas). I would think that most liberals—vanguards of the poor and disenfranchised—will be the ones to…
The United Nations: An Anecdotal Summary (07:56 AM) - The United Nations and the ancillary aid agencies it controls have suspended all travel in the tsunami-ravaged city of Aceh, grinding work to a halt and effectively freezing all aid operations. The cause? A single Red Cross van was fired…
Another Example of Liberal Bias in Academia? (07:29 AM) - Brett Theisen, writing in The Dartmouth, says:I stumbled into a lecture sponsored by the War & Peace Studies Program entitled “U.S. Policy in the Middle East: Where To Go From Here.” This lecture was organized and moderated by Prof. Allan…
Thursday, June 23, 2005
“It Needs To Be Discussed On This Floor” (04:22 PM) - John Kerry is on the Senate floor right now evoking 9/11 and condemning Karl Rove for his comments… and -time check- 60 seconds in, Kerry has informed the Senate that Bush is questioning his patriotism!…
2nd I.D.; second to none (02:56 PM) - Dartmouth ‘05 Welton Chang, a reader and sometime correspondent, is heading to Korea in December to serve his first tour of duty with the 2nd infantry division, 4th brigade. He’s getting started in military intelligence and has started a blog,…
A Humble Query (02:43 PM) - The United Nations took a nice little spot of land on the East Side and made it international territory. We could have had a Gap there by now. Why, then, is the US Congress being asked to foot more than…
Kelo v. New London, 04-108 (12:54 PM) - This strikes me as an especially awful decision. As Glenn Reynolds says, “Our statist Supreme Court strikes again.”…
Total Synaptic Disconnect (12:22 PM) - When Dick Durbin by logical deduction called American soldiers Nazis, Republicans responded by demanding an apology. When Karl Rove, in a speech to the Conservative Party of New York State, said: “Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks…
Got One. (12:17 PM) - Saudi Terror Suspect Said Killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq - One of Saudi Arabia’s most-wanted militants was killed by a U.S. airstrike in northwestern Iraq, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq said. This is particularly good news because it came…
Darfur Divestment Update (11:20 AM) - The University of Washington has decided not to divest, and instead plans to “raise an internal commotion” with some of the companies in which it is invested. The Seattle Times calls this “a responsible move.” Substantially richer Stanford, meanwhile, has…
Poorly Engineered Sandwiches (10:41 AM) - They annoy me, and probably you, too. Uneven sauce distribution, inadequate bread girth, mismatching the top and bottom of a bun, over-localized pickle application, condiments precariously close to the fringes, interior build structure such that gripping the sandwich on one…
So This Family Walks Into A Talent Agency… (09:45 AM) - The Aristocrats joke is an old shared article among comedians. It is basically a framework for comedians to show off their story-telling and improvisation skills. A man and his wife and kids walk into a talent agency and say they…
‘War of the Worlds’ Review Embargo (09:25 AM) - Evidently Spielberg and Paramount have enacted a worldwide “embargo” on reviews of the film until after it is publicly released, so that the film is still assured a mega opening day unsullied by movie critics talking about how awful the…
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
The Real Two Americas (03:13 PM) - The Tax Foundation:One of the biggest obstacles facing President Bush’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform is the fact that America has become divided between a growing class of people who pay no income taxes and a shrinking class of…
Dick Durbin’s Apology (11:24 AM) - I viewed the video here, and I thought it was sincere, appropriately brief, and that it deserves to be accepted, even as criticism of the Democrats (whose substance has not changed with this mea culpa) continues. I do not, however,…
Foxnewsinsecticidegate (11:02 AM) - This is a very strange scandal….
The Same Old Song (09:11 AM) - Mon dieu! Nothing changes with today’s Democratic Party. Nothing.WASHINGTON - Two days after announcing his intention to seek the presidency, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden on Tuesday accused President Bush of “misleading statements and premature declarations of victory” in Iraq and…
Breaking: U-2 Down In Middle East (08:38 AM) - BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — A U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane has crashed in southwest Asia, the U.S. military announced Wednesday, and one official said the location has not been released because “host nation sensitivities” are involved. The cause of…
Perhaps Communism Works After All (08:18 AM) - At least Fidel Castro seems to be having a good time….
Snapple’s Attempt At World Record Fails (08:05 AM) - I suppose the “stuff” just wasn’t good enough: NEW YORK (AP) — Snapple’s attempt at a new Guinness world record has ended in a sticky mess. The idea was to create a two-and-a-half-story, 20-ton ice pop in New York City’s…
The AFI’s Top 100 Movie Quotes Of All Time (07:59 AM) - “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” is number one, and coincidentally, is precisely how I feel about the list. But be sure to shower AFI with attention because they, you know, made a list and all….
Revisiting The Great Deal (12:05 AM) - James Taranto is helping himself to a slice of humble pie. He got behind The Deal, thinking Democrats would hold some sense of fealty towards it in the transition from judges to diplomats. Today he writes:OK, we guessed wrong again….
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
What Will Seinfeld Do? (11:46 PM) - With this news, the whole orgasm set might be rendered irrelevant….
More On The Filibuster And Related Verbiage (11:36 PM) - Carl has a roundup of who used what in obfuscating the fact that Senate Democrats “filibustered” John Bolton today.So, avoiding the “F-word,” the papers held a euphemism contest, with “block” or “blocked” most often blessed (NY Times, WaPo, LA Times,…
Hedonics and Computer Prices (06:26 PM) - In a neat freakonomics post, Tom Bozzo looks at deflation in computer prices. I especially enjoyed this addendum:The most expensive RAM I ever purchased was the 16 KB RAM expansion pack for the Sinclair ZX81, $50 as I recall. At…
Viral Videos Around The Net (05:51 PM) - Three amusing videos around the blogosphere… Andrew Dice Clay (He’s over there, now.) unloads live on CNNfn for their reporter’s shoddy research. Howard Dean tries to raise money by making some jabs at his mother, or Dick Cheney’s mother, or…
Man, Oh Manischewitz (05:27 PM) - Dick Durbin is without a core, it seems….
An inside view of Fox News (05:21 PM) - Liberal’s liberal Susan Estrich, in her latest column:I work for Fox News as a commentator. I say whatever I want. I’m the blonde on the left, figuratively and literally - the one who’s usually smiling because it’s TV, not the…
Kofi Annan: “There’s Progress In Iraq” (04:16 PM) - Writing in the Washington Post, the Secretary-General admits things are getting better….we recognize how much progress has been made in the face of daunting challenges. Elections were held in January, on schedule. Three months later the Transitional National Assembly endorsed…
The Most Frequently Shoplifted Items (11:37 AM) - What gets stolen most often? There is actually a lift list. Here are the top few:Organized Retail Theft Product Name………..UPC Number Advil tablet 50 ct……30573015030 Advil tablet 100 ct….30573015040 Aleve caplet 100 ct…32586610506 EPT Pregnancy Test…5280032957 Gillette Sensor 10 ct..4740011505…
Expensive House (11:27 AM) - The record for the largest residential house/property deal in the United States has been broken: $90 million in the Hamptons. I had thought the Hamptons were done with. I guess not….
Rebuild, Rebuild, Rebuild. (10:15 AM) - Andrea Peyser writes about 9/11 families, their recent protest against a “Freedom Center,” and what that center means:The idea is to build an educational center — more like an indoctrination center, it seems to me — with exhibits examining unrelated…
It’s Still A Two-Paper Town (10:10 AM) - The Washington Times has a nice new web design, and this wonderful story about a rescued hostage in Iraq, and the lessons he learned….
John Bolton Up In The Air (10:03 AM) - Democrats wouldn’t want to be seen as breaking The Great Deal, so the Associated Press made sure not to use the word ‘filibuster’ in this morning’s dispatch describing Senate Democrats’ opposition to John Bolton. (A political ideological opposition; not one…
Hot Fun In The Summertime (09:55 AM) - David the German media critic is organizing a protest in Washington for the final visit of Gerhard Schroeder….
Famima: The New 7-11 (09:33 AM) - We probably have enough in WaWa, 7-11, and Quick Chek, but more minimarts are forthcoming!TOKYO (AP) — Japanese convenience store operator FamilyMart Co. said Tuesday it plans to open 200 stores in the U.S. over the next four years. The…
Taiwanese Defense In The East China Sea (09:08 AM) - To the surprise of many Taiwanese fishermen, that nation has taken a more hard-nosed posture in the East China Sea, a very significant economic asset for Taiwan for its valuable fish.SUAO, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan dispatched two warships Tuesday to…
Dartblog Exclusive: The Saddam Magazine* (08:49 AM) - In the extended, get a glimpse of the June 2005 issue of Saddam Magazine, the dictator chic glossy every budding mass killer mustn’t be without! *Not a real magazine, but you already knew that….
Monday, June 20, 2005
Clinton, Klein, and the Crack Investigation (07:44 PM) - Drudge is uppity about Clinton’s latest affair:BOOK CLAIM: HILLARY HUMILIATED AS BILL HAS NEW AFFAIRS **Exclusive** Klein will sensationally claim Bill Clinton is flagrantly cheating on his senator wife. “Hillary’s aides noticed that Bill seemed to grow even more reckless…
The Fastest Twenty-Two Minutes In TV News (01:06 PM) - Howard Kurtz profiles the immensely successful Fox Report with Shep Smith….
AP: Bush May Bypass Senate on Bolton (11:51 AM) - If the President appoints John Bolton as UN ambassador while the Senate is in recess, will he be “destroying democracy” again? It seems as if things are trending that way……
…And Never, Ever Mention Hanslick (12:11 AM) - I try not to get into music arguments with musicians (preferring, in genuflection to my prematurely graying hair, to debate fellow casual listeners) but an e-mail came in that piqued my interest. A music student consumes 600 words railing- really!-…
The Fall of Downing Street (12:03 AM) - It strikes me as relatively minor news that the famed Downing Street Memos are either forged or that they are altered copies of originals which don’t exist anymore. The end of the memos came weeks ago, when it became clear…
Sunday, June 19, 2005
The Live 8 Update (11:52 PM) - Organizer Bob Geldof seems to be going about things the right way: he has ordered the talent involved not to engage in Bush-bashing and not to devolve into global warming-obsessed celebrity syndrome. Indeed, Geldof is crediting Bush with doing more…
Just Bought An AP Stylebook (06:06 PM) - It was discounted so I picked up a copy of the book that guides the writing of all Associated Press reporters. Flipping through it, I found the entry for ‘abortion’ amusing:abortion Use anti-abortion instead of pro-life and abortion rights instead…
New Jersey Considers Divestment (01:23 PM) - A bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Thomas H. Kean Jr. of Union would, if passed, have the state of New Jersey sell positions in companies operating in the Sudan because of the [not-UN-recognized] genocide being prosecuted there with the blessing…
The Terri Schiavo Issue (07:46 AM) - It is certainly over, I think, and for that I am glad. But if you have never read a medical examiner’s autopsy report, the one for Terri Schiavo is located in PDF here and is fascinating to read- forget the…
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Commander Data, Meet AIBO (10:29 PM) - Sony’s AIBO has always been a neat toy, but the ongoing project is also leading to some pretty major revolutions in the field of artificial intelligence (an idea minted at Dartmouth and a term coined by Dartmouth mathematician John McCarthy):…
Congratulations (10:24 PM) - To Peter Robinson and Todd Zywicki, who are now officially trustees of Dartmouth College. I’m excited!…
Did Reuters Stage An ‘Insurgent’ Photo? (10:22 PM) - Worse: did it pay a terrorist group for the staged shot? A Captain’s Quarters reader asks the questions….
Operations Spear and Dagger Move To Action In Iraq (05:01 PM) - Iraqi forces, combined with US support, are launching Operation Spear and Operation Dagger, which are stabs at foreign fighters coming in from Syria.Operation Spear, or Romhe in Arabic, was in its second day in Karabilah, about 200 miles west of…
The Tactics Of Amnesty International (04:51 PM) - I certainly hope that my former high school has dropped its sponsorship of the Amnesty International group there, if not for its recent anti-American lingo than for the motivation behind that lingo:Several days ago I received a telephone call from…
Technoscience Research On: Annoyances (02:47 PM) - Engadget reports:Jonah Brucker-Cohen is hoping that his latest project, BumpNet, will determine if people’s behaviours can change by simply attaching rules to communications infrastructures, and he’s doing it in a way that’s sure to test the patience of its participants….
Globalize Cascading Style Sheets! (02:32 PM) - Some blog news: every tweak I make to tighten and speed up this website results in it looking worse and worse in Internet Explorer. The end of patience is nigh, and I will soon stop caring about what Dartblog looks…
Speaking Of Lancet (02:26 PM) - The British scientific community is lashing out against the bastion of hyped science that has in the past called for a worldwide smoking ban and which created the fantasy death count of 100,000 in Iraq, as the Times reports:BRITAIN’S premier…
Larry Summers Is Welcome To Revise And Extend (02:10 PM) - Via Powerline, I see that the male and female brains are different.In an era when people probe the thought process with scanners, radioactive tracers and super-conducting sensors, Witelson’s approach was deliberately old-fashioned. She measured her brains. She weighed them. She…
Someone Explains Durbin (01:48 PM) - And doesn’t do such a great job. Here is the rationale: “The issue isn’t whether or not we are the same as the Nazis, the issue is that we aren’t different enough.” That is from Israeli historian, quoted by Armando…
Blogging Update (01:45 PM) - Slow blogging was the result of a visit to beautiful Bethlehem, PA and Lehigh University. Luckily, on this father’s day weekend, the news is slow anyway….
Friday, June 17, 2005
Drink Your Big Black Cow (03:47 PM) - Years of Babel may be coming to an end as the US House has passed a bill that will make US funding of the UN contingent upon performance.The 221-184 vote, which came despite a Bush administration warning that such a…
Senator Durbin’s Floor Comments (11:53 AM) - Here are his entire comments in PDF, and in the extended is the relevant excerpt. [PDF] UPDATE: Trey Jackson has a video clip as well….
More Durbin Backlash (11:37 AM) - Nancy Pelosi is being asked, “Does the speech made by Senator Durbin also reflect your views as the House Democratic Leader? In not, we respectfully request that you renounce Senator Durbin’s comments.” [PDF] I can’t imagine what the strategies at…
Of Principals and Politics in Judiasm (11:26 AM) - Jewish groups are being pressed to support John Bolton’s nomination (all but a lock at this point) to the post of UN ambassador. On one hand, his personal politics, which are of no particular import as he deals with very…
What Is Sean Penn Doing, Exactly? (11:08 AM) - Actor-cum-journalist Sean Penn is reporting for the San Francisco Chronicle. During a recent visit with Iranian film students who were chanting “Death to America” (You mean there’s a group more annoying than American film students?) Penn said to them that…
Move Over, Ward (11:03 AM) - The White House is demanding an apology from a Democratic Senator who labeled US soldiers ‘Nazis’:The White House and Senate Republicans on Thursday assailed a Democrat for comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Khmer Rouge…
The President’s Problems… Or Just The Cycle? (12:08 AM) - Much has been made of President Bush’s recent low approval ratings. This tenuously suggested that he no longer had the winds of the masses behind him on policy issues. Now that it seems the Congress as a whole is also…
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Kingda Ka’s Uppance Komes (05:48 PM) - The biggest, tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world at Six Flags in Jackson, New Jersey is… not working so well….
“Is There A Doctor In The House?” (04:51 PM) - Ann Althouse, stream-of-consciousness blogger extraordinaire:A man walks into the café and says “Is there a doctor in the house?” Everyone looks over. We see he’s just a guy who’s got a funny way to say hi to a friend of…
Breaking News (03:53 PM) - Following up on the investigative work of Al Franken, the ACLU, Michael Moore, Ted Kennedy, and Howard Dean, the Associated Press is on top of a new story with their report, “Bush’s Top Aides Have Significant Wealth.”WASHINGTON - They’re on…
About Those Ball Bearings (09:36 AM) - Earlier this week I posted on the Massachusetts middle school students whose Science Fair project on BB gun safety was 86’d by an overzealous administrator named Nancy G. Degon. “The scientific review committee does not consider science projects involving firearms…
On The Lack Of First-Person Plural In AP War Dispatches (09:18 AM) - This Associated Press “Newsview” gives a helpful glimpse into the newsroom tenor of that organization:Now, with nobody else to blame, Bush stands alone. He can’t deflect voter concerns about the economy and other pressing domestic matters. With the death toll…
There Will Never Be Another Mozart (08:59 AM) - But this Slate article, I think, doesn’t correctly explain why. It isn’t the absence of market value. A classical composer won’t necessarily find sympathetic souls in the academy (where “experimental” music is the name of the game) but he does…
Blogging Update (08:03 AM) - Blogging has been slow lately because I have been working on another website. Things should pick up soon….
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
In Today’s ‘Day by Day’… (07:41 PM) - The mainstream media’s idea of “abuse” deserves some… well… abuse. Chris Muir does an excellent job….
Eleanor Clift, What Did I Have For Breakfast This Morning? (03:01 PM) - This quote, attributed to Eleanor Clift, was e-mailed to me:”Conservatives will have to decide who they hate more in 2008, Hillary Clinton or John McCain. … The religious right loathes Hillary, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and they love Virginia Sen….
Florida’s Seminole Community College and P.E.T.A. (02:47 PM) - I received a surprising press release from FIRE- which fights for freedom of speech at college for both sides of the political spectrum- in my e-mail this morning.Florida’s Seminole Community College (SCC) has forbidden student Eliana Campos to distribute literature…
The 2005 Report on the Index of Dependency (02:34 PM) - The folks at Heritage have evaluated the Government Dependency Index for the year 2004. The marginal increase between 2003 and 2004 is minor: just about 1 percent. “But the bad news is that, since 2000, the Index of Dependency has…
When Desecration Is Protected (08:24 AM) - The House is set to vote on another Flag Protection Act- they have already passed six which went on to be rejected by the Senate- and there is a greater chance of the bill becoming a law this time around…
Well, If A Taliban Commander Says So (08:07 AM) - This top-of-the-wire Reuters dispatch says that bin Laden is doing well.ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden is in good health, a Taliban commander said, dismissing speculation the fugitive al Qaeda leader was sick. The commander, Mullah Akhtar Usmani, also said…
Senators Consider Boosting Retirement Age (08:01 AM) - Or… getting honest on Social Security:WASHINGTON (AP) - Work till you’re 69 before getting full Social Security benefits? That’s one possibility - for Americans who retire two decades or more into the future - as Republicans on a key Senate…
Tom Cruise: Still Super-Excited About Life (07:49 AM) - Someone needs to get this joker away from the cameras. Preferably before Katie Holmes contracts that disease….
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
A Conservative Film Festival (11:29 PM) - I, for one, never thought I’d see the day. But via Trey Jackson’s fine website, I see that there is something called The Liberty Film Festival which will be running its second year soon. Pretty neat, and certainly better than…
Breaking News: Blonde W.A.S.P. Kidnapped (08:40 PM) - Duncan Black has a fair enough comment on the recent coverage of abductions:Wolf the Beard just informed his viewers that (rough quote) “A recent string of abductions have some grandparents concerned and wondering what they can do to keep their…
Threats To Canada: Bush, bin Laden, Global Warming (04:23 PM) - Our neighbors to the north have an interesting take on the state of the world:TORONTO — Canadians believe U.S. President George W. Bush is almost as great a threat to our national security as Osama bin Laden, according to a…
N.J. Court Refuses To Legislate On Gay Marriage (03:53 PM) - A New Jersey appeals court ruled that the state constitution does not mandate recognition of gay couples, which would pave the way for gay marriage in New Jersey. It seems that this gay marriage attempt- once again through the courts-…
Minority Whip Durbin Travels On Private Interest Dime (03:02 PM) - In response to the new information regarding the Senate Democrat’s activities, the Associated Press headlines with, “Private Groups Often Fund Senators’ Trips.” The piece begins: WASHINGTON - Senators traveled to exotic foreign capitals and fabulous resort towns with beaches and…
Signs of Sensationalism At The Times (02:33 PM) - Stephen Spruiell has posted photos of a New York Times editorialist hanging outside a chemical refinery plant that he went on to condemn in the Old Gray Lady as dangerously insecure, an somewhat unfair charge refuted here and here….
Orenthal James Version 2.0 (02:20 PM) - Gallup is fast. Their latest poll shows a “major racial” divide on the Michael Jackson verdict. While an overall plurality- 48%- disagree with the not guilty verdicts, white disagree with the verdicts 2-1 and blacks agree with the verdicts 2-1….
Constructing A Classical Music Blog (11:48 AM) - From time to time, as the graphic to the right indicates, I blog about classical music here. The postings are sometimes reviews of new compact disc releases, sometimes concert previews and reviews, sometimes commentary on audio equipment. While this is…
AP: Jackson Won’t Share Bed With Kids Again (08:38 AM) - Hey, that’s a good idea….
John Edwards On Campaign Trail Of Both Americas (08:08 AM) - Because, well, he seems to be the only guy who has access to the secret second America of which he speaks so often. From the Chicago Sun-Times:Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) is back on the road, testing the waters in…
Oil for Food Update: Kofi and Cotecna (07:36 AM) - When all the facts are out, I don’t think the Cotecna facet of UNSCAM is going to be the most damning on balance, because the Cotecna story, so far, involves less money than the oil option gifts given by Saddam…
Flag Day (06:00 AM) - Today is flag day, so if your home or business displays Old Glory, ensure that she is straight, clean, flown high on the marching right and, at night, lit.On June 14, 1777, in order to establish an official flag for…
Political Correctness Alert: Daisy Edition (01:04 AM) - Two Massachusetts eighth graders have been DQ’d from a state middle school science fair because their project was about BB guns and their dangerous power. The kids spent months working on the project, and even engaged in actual research. They…
When The Lights Went Off On Downing Street (12:40 AM) - The minor flurry of British memos, by their use of the ambiguous word ‘fixed’ (As in: ‘intelligence was fixed.’ Doctored or corrected? We will never know.) delighted many who saught to prove that the Bush Administration from its infancy was…
Monday, June 13, 2005
France Loves You, Michael (11:36 PM) - I saw this fellow and his posters on CNN directly following the Jackson verdict. So… why does France support and love Michael Jackson? I’m not sure I understand the connection. Very strange….
Eschew Lecture Halls For Mobile Networks (03:05 PM) - Coventry University in the United Kingdom has begun broadcasting lectures to students’ cellular telephones on the high-speed big-pipe 3G mobile network. More… Lessons are filmed using digital cameras, edited down into 15-minute segments, then sent to students with 3G phones….
In New Jersey, “We have a race.” (01:12 PM) - Jon Corzine, in the latest Star-Ledger poll, is looking rather weak in his should-be-a-lock run for Governor of New Jersey.Registered Voters: Corzine (D): 43% support Forrester (R): 33% support Undecided: 17% Independent Voters: Forrester: 35% support Corzine: 29% supportA good…
Bad Headline of the Day (11:46 AM) - This example of poor thesaurus usage is offered by Reuters: “Iraqi tribunal quizzes Saddam on 1982 massacre” Hussein was quizzed on the summary executions of over 100 innocent Iraqis?…
Governors Highway Safety Association: Saying The Unsaid (11:41 AM) - A new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association says that highway patrol officers gives cars a margin of 10 MPH over the speed limit before pulling them over. And it calls for that standard to end.This practice creates an…
Al Franken Fills Talker Shoes (11:31 AM) - Drudge is, hilariously, reporting that Al Franken used a talk show award as a platform to read a multi-page rant against Fox News and the Iraq War. What is a purported talk show host (and an award-winning one at that)…
Movie Tickets Are Up To $9.75 In New Jersey (11:19 AM) - And this Hollywood Reporter article by Anne Thompson gives a view to the internal silliness that lets The Vapid Industry perpetuate itself….
Sunday, June 12, 2005
When Political Correctness Becomes The Norm (05:10 PM) - A mounted bobby sat upon his steed. A churlish youth- an Oxford student, naturally- saw the cop on the horse and was heard to quip, “Is that horse gay?” The police officer immediately arrested the boy for “causing harassment, alarm…
Tom Brokaw At Dartmouth Commencement (04:53 PM) - “I’m especially privileged to be here at Dartmouth - it’s a great relief, frankly. In recent years I’ve given commencement addresses or class day speeches at Penn, Harvard, and Yale and at those institutions…hear me out…at those institutions I…
The Cat And The Ceiling Fan (04:48 PM) - This file is going around. As someone who has nearly died because of a cat allergy, I love it. My girlfriend: not so much. (…via Financial Rounds)…
Conservatives Against USA PATRIOT (04:45 PM) - It doesn’t surprise- or disappoint- that some conservative Republicans are not supporting the decision of the Senate Intelligence Committee to allow administrative subpoenas under the USA PATRIOT act….
The Real Watergate Coverup (07:36 AM) - Frank Rich writes that, perhaps, no one ever said, “Follow the money,” even though in the days since Felt’s big reveal many media outlets have attributed that quote to him….
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Cornell President Steps Down (05:59 PM) - Citing “differences with the [trustee] board regarding the strategy for realizing Cornell’s long-term vision,” Cornell’s 11th president, Jeffrey Lehman, is resigning….
An Alternate View Of The 60s (12:05 PM) - Mark in Mexico e-mails to inform me of this comment:Paul Krugman says he remembers the economic good old days of the 60’s, sustained for a generation by social norms that favored equality, strong labor unions and progressive taxation. That’s strange….
Crucial, Indeed (11:52 AM) - Weekend blogging, example the first: Brad Plumer asks “Is Big Bird getting too old for this shit?”…
Have A Baby For The Ma(Pa)ternity Leave (11:46 AM) - Evidently, 40% of French men would, science permitting, like to become pregnant. Carl, linked above, feels better knowing that it is mostly to get time off from work.Eighty-six percent of the fathers queried said they were ready “to take a…
Junior Democrats Draw A Line In The Sand (04:28 AM) - Howard Dean, it seems, has already crossed it:WASHINGTON — When Howard Dean was chosen to head their party, Democrats looked forward to the benefits of his bristling energy and zest for political combat. But at a private meeting Thursday on…
“Good afternoon my fellow white Christians.” (02:38 AM) - Ken Mehlman greets Jewish Republicans, mocking Howard Dean’s silly assertion that all Republicans are white and Christian. Tory Fodder: “There’s nothing like addressing ridiculousness with absurdity.”…
Yes. (01:43 AM) - Everyman:”Near Miss” is a silly title, since it means exactly the opposite of what it is intended to mean - a near miss, after all, is a hit, people, and not a miss at all…Annoys me, too….
Working The Night Shift (01:21 AM) - With buckets of coffee, I’m working the night shift at New Jersey 101.5. 70% chance of slow blogging this morning….
Friday, June 10, 2005
Public Confidence in Papers Falls to All-Time Low (12:59 PM) - A new Gallup poll has the trust numbers for the mainstream media dwindling:Those having a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers dipped from 30% to 28% in one year, the same total for television. The previous…
Taking Back The Memorial (11:58 AM) - Debra Burlingame, whose article in Opinion Journal shed light on the 9/11 memorial that may “have more about Abu Ghraib than New York’s heroic firemen” and who is the sister of Chic Burlingame, pilot of American Airlines fight 77, which…
I Love To Poke Fun At Soccer (11:38 AM) - And I suspect I am in good company in thinking that it is a boring sport. But when I made this post, joking that no one goes to soccer games in the US, I knew fans would have something to…
Tales Of A Flailing Union (10:51 AM) - France in a tizzy about the UK’s EU rebates. Jacques Chirac has demanded that Tony Blair make “a gesture of solidarity” to the European Union by giving up the £3 billion rebate that lets Britain pay less into EU coffers….
Descent Resumes: The Charlie Rangel Outrage (10:33 AM) - The gruff-voiced Representative from New York is comparing the Iraq War to… the Holocaust. And the United States is the oppressor. The Rangel incident happened on Steve Malzberg’s radio program, and he has posted audio of the exchange, complete with…
Nerds make better lovers (07:33 AM) - The New York Daily News reports the obvious….
Revising The Sixties? (07:14 AM) - I didn’t live through the 60s, but I have to admit Paul Krugman’s overview seems a bit glass-eyed:Baby boomers like me grew up in a relatively equal society. In the 1960’s America was a place in which very few people…
Reid Says Democrats Will Filibuster Bolton (07:07 AM) - I suppose this is an ‘extraordinary circumstance.’WASHINGTON (CNN) — Senate Democrats will not allow a vote on President Bush’s choice for U.N. ambassador unless the White House hands over records of communications intercepts Bolton sought from the secretive National Security…
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Republican Prudes (04:32 PM) - A porn star will be a guest at an upcoming GOP fundraiser featuring President Bush:WASHINGTON (AP) - The annual President’s Dinner, a Republican Party fundraising event featuring President Bush, could get an extra dash of spice this year with porn…
Fissures In Universal Healthcare (04:12 PM) - The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that private insurance companies- previously banned from offering insurance for anything the State covers- can sell insurance to whomever they like.The justices took a year to rule on a case that began in…
Was It A Good Deal? (10:58 AM) - James Taranto thinks the filibuster deal is working out nicely, saying: Fourteen Democratic senators voted for cloture on Owen then cast what amounted to protest votes against cloture on both Brown and Pryor (15 if you count Wisconsin’s Herb Kohl,…
Bad Headline Of The Day (10:45 AM) - The honor goes to Reuters for… “Judge queries tobacco remedy cut reasons.” Blog queries news headline obfuscation reasons….
If There Were A World Cup Game In The US… (10:41 AM) - …it’d look a lot like the qualifier between Japan and North Korea: no one in the seats.BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) — Political rivals Japan and North Korea are set to play in a World Cup football qualifier in an empty stadium…
Oil Oil Everywhere (10:10 AM) - In the demesne of Crown Prince Abdullah, there is evidently enough oil for the world.WASHINGTON (AP) - Saudi Arabia has plenty of oil - more than the world is likely to need - along with an increasing ability to refine…
Dick Hippie: The Hybrid Candidate (09:36 AM) - I think I’ve seen this fellow up in Hanover a few times……
Anonymous Sources On The Way Out (07:46 AM) - A survey conducted by AP indicates that, of 419 responding papers, editors at 103 do not allow anonymous sources, ever. Not surprisingly, those papers are all small ones. Anonymous sources have a place, of course, but their use needs to…
Army Headed to Recruiting Shortfall (07:31 AM) - For the first time since the Clinton administration, the Army is facing a failure to reach its year-long recruiting goal. The Washington Post and the Army pins the blame on a strong economy. (Which, historically, does have that effect.)The Army…
Happy 30th Birthday, VCR (07:06 AM) - You don’t see the old-top loading videocassette recorders around much anymore. Come to think of it, you don’t see tapes of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape much anymore. Come to think of it again, you just don’t see VCRs or their…
U.N. Loses Critical Nuclear Weapon Plans (12:45 AM) - Winston Churchill, in his Iron Curtain speech of 1946:It would nevertheless, ladies and gentlemen, be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, great Britain, and Canada now share, to…
Dominique de Villepin Envisions A Brave New World (12:26 AM) - The suave, dashing, silver-haired intellectual who just happens to be the new Prime Minister of Glorious France has an idea for fixing the broken French economy: “Gallic genius,” as the Guardian reports:France’s new prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, refused yesterday…
When Comportment Meets Decorum (12:14 AM) - Peggy Noonan writes on the new sophomore-wing in the United States, concluding:The comportment of Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean is actually not worthy of America. Their statements suggest they are in no way equal to the country they seek to…
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
The Ranks of the Hyphenated (05:26 PM) - Duncan Black:I can’t help but wonder if Asian-Americans will ever stop being considered to be “foreign” by a large chunk of our country. It’s a very insidious manifestation of racism which is far more damaging than is often acknowledged.Perhaps the…
Paging Jennifer 8. Lee (05:22 PM) - The Paris culture circuit is always in touch.”Move over Rambo, you’re cramping new man’s style” PARIS (AFP) - Macho man is an endangered species, with today’s male more likely to opt for a pink flowered shirt and swingers’ clubs than…
Flying Under The Influence (05:06 PM) - Two commercial pilots have been convicted of operating an aircraft while under the influence and possible penalties range from a probationary period to five years in prison. Defendants Thomas Cloyd and Christopher Hughes both bowed their heads when the verdict…
In Memoriam: Emptiness (02:30 PM) - I can think of no response other than “rebuild them” to the catty and awful fights going on in regards to what should be built at Ground Zero in New York.We should be ashamed of ourselves. The great tragedy of…
“Dean noted that he, too, is a white Christian.” (09:21 AM) - Howard Dean defends his daft digs at the GOP….
Senate Intel. Committee Approves USA PATRIOT Addenda (09:14 AM) - FBI detectives will soon be able to subpoena records without the approval of a judge or grand jury in terrorism investigations. The Intelligence Committee approved the revision today and it seems likely to pass on the floor. Democrats quoted in…
“It’s Pretty Much A White Christian Party.” (12:27 AM) - Howard Dean has some remarkably closed-minded and bigoted things to say about the Republican Party. Soon-to-be Dartmouth alum Tory Fodder, who isn’t exactly a white boy, says:For you moderates out there—be afraid. This rhetoric is the only vision the leader…
New Jersey Governor Race (12:13 AM) - The primaries were today and with 97% of precincts reporting, former Jersey City mayor Bret Schundler (in my view, Jersey’s best hope to defeat John Corzine) has conceded the GOP nomination to Doug Forrester, a private businessman. New Jersey 101.5…
Twilight For The Illogician (12:05 AM) - Perhaps the final logical err will be this, from the Globe report on Kerry’s finally having signed Form 180:”The call for me to sign a 180 form came from the same partisan operatives who were lying about my record on…
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Carter Calls on U.S. to Shut Down Gitmo (07:48 PM) - Former President Jimmy Carter, whose foreign policy has been roundly judged among the worst of any President- Republican or Democrat- is calling for the detention complex at Guantanamo Bay to be shut down. It’s the best argument yet for keeping…
Paging Amnesty International (05:35 PM) - The story of Taliban kidnapping, abduction, brainwashing, and forcing children to kill is just now seeping out, thanks to an AP FOIA request which, ironically, was made in an attempt to press blame on the US for detaining teenagers at…
A Rolling Panel Never Dissolves (12:33 PM) - Winfield Myers looks at the 9/11 panel, whose charge never seems to end….
Google’s Market Cap (12:25 PM) - Higher than Time Warner at $80.8 billion. Now can we call it overvalued?…
The G.P.A.s of future politicos (07:56 AM) - John Kerry’s work at Yale: of a lesser quality that that of George Bush Jr. The Boston Globe:In 1999, The New Yorker published a transcript indicating that Bush had received a cumulative score of 77 for his first three years…
Wal-Mart Fears Wrath of the Photog (07:47 AM) - The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Wal-Mart, in its clicks-and-mortar service for getting digital photos printed, is refusing to print files that appear to be professionally-taken photographs. The subjective decision is being made by managers of local stores. Amateur photographer…
The Dot-Com Boom, In Spine Form (07:32 AM) - Someone is auctioning off his set of Wired magazines: every issue ever, up until the present. Bidding is already up to $790. The seller says:Own the definitive record of the growth of digital culture! You can see the dot-com boom…
Monday, June 06, 2005
After Taking In Yet Another Episodic Nugget (11:51 PM) - Life lesson: if you are direly wanting for entertainment, turn on your television, because Law and Order is on. It is always on. The problem with Law and Order is that, if the show accurately depicts the vagaries of prosecuting…
Feting 9/11 With Chinese Novelty Lighters (05:44 PM) - That a firm would produce such an item isn’t wholly surprising. The reaction of one Canadian tourist to the Osama bin Laden commerative cigarette lighter, however, was a shock indeed.”I paid US$2 for it, in the old Soviet market in…
Previewing The Scrawls Of The “Washingtonienne” (04:52 PM) - “This Summer, one woman will bring Washington to its knees.” Give me a break!…
Washington Governor Fight Nears End (03:16 PM) - A judge ruled against Dino Rossi, saying, “Unless an election is clearly invalid, when the people have spoken their verdict should not be disturbed by the courts,” Bridges said. Nullifying the election, he said, would be “the ultimate act of…
Supremes 6-3 Decision: Marijuana Regulation Up To Congress (11:06 AM) - Effectively, this makes current medical marijuana open to prosecution even though their states have decided in favor of using pot for medicinal purposes. Washington Post:Eleven states have enacted laws allowing some form of marijuana administration for patients who, in the…
Club Soda And Salt Works Every Time (08:28 AM) - Tood Zywicki wants to see more Larry David on the Huffy-ton Post. Forget that. I haven’t seen a new episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm in a year. Was it cancelled? And why do I feel that Roger L. Simon could…
When Did Headlines Become Caveman Phrases? (07:09 AM) - I remember when headlines were either correct sentences or comprehensible, intelligent phrases. But the headline writers seem to be lazy now, because all I see is the lede with missing articles. Consider: “Key Democrats say likely can’t block Bolton.” Ew….
We (Almost) Have The Technology (07:05 AM) - I have been more liberal than most of my conservative contemporaries on the stem-cell issue, but this is good news for both camps:In recent months, a number of researchers have begun to assemble intriguing evidence that it is possible to…
The Contribution of Iraqi Security Forces (01:07 AM) - The Iraqis have made magnificent strides in recent months, as the slow power hand-off continues. The Dartmouth Young Democrats Blog links to this Reuters alert, which says:An Iraqi army unit has been disbanded after it refused to attend a U.S….
A Liberal Crackup? (01:03 AM) - Like the foggy delusion that religious zealots have taken over the GOP and are gunning for the country next, I think talk of major crackups inside the Democratic Party is premature, if not unwarranted. That said, Howard Dean is wildly…
U.S. Ready To Bring N. Korea Case To U.N. (12:55 AM) - And Kim Jong-il’s playground is already a victim, as indicated by the strange use of the word ‘isolated’:SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A decision is likely within weeks on whether to take the North Korea nuclear issue to the United Nations, where…
Setback in Lebanon (12:38 AM) - Hezbollah is claiming victory in some southern Lebanon elections, the first since Syrian dominance was put to an end. Hezbollah only occupies 9 of Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament, but the terrorist group has a slate of 14 candidates in this election….
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Irresponsible Amnesty International (05:44 PM) - The Amnesty International leadership is now “unsure” that the United States is running a gulag, as it previously asserted….
Taking A Look At The Mill-Worker Radar (07:43 AM) - John Edwards- a threat if there ever was one- is ‘undecided’ about running in 2008….
Twelve of Five Hundred (07:14 AM) - Saddam will face a dozen charges at his upcoming trial, prosecutors say, out of about 500 possible ones. To go through them all would be a waste of time, they say. UPDATE: Is the above title a Star Trek reference?…
More Weapons Caches and Bunker Found In Iraq (07:11 AM) - Another Iraqi weapons cache and underground bunker has been found in a joint operation by US and Iraqi forces:To the west of the capital, the 2nd Marine division said its forces had discovered 50 weapons and ammunitions caches over the…
Sense Meets Its Demise In Bolton Fight (06:45 AM) - Firings aren’t politically correct anymore. The latest AP headline: “Bolton Said to Orchestrate Unlawful Firing.” An unlawful firing, eh? Unless it was blatant discrimination, sounds ridiculous. What was the firing about?John R. Bolton flew to Europe in 2002 to confront…
Subtextuality And The Rarefied Neo-Native American Didactity (06:34 AM) - The Rocky Mountain News has Ward Churchill, who probably once wrote something with a title similar to the one of this post, between a rock and a hard place. I won’t quote the article here- many websites already have- but…
Britain As Europe’s Bastion (06:25 AM) - Tony Blair, according to the Telegraph, has given up on Europe.Mr Blair, who will seek to shift the focus of his administration on to poverty in the Third World this week during talks with President Bush, has told his closest…
Saturday, June 04, 2005
On The Codex Desecration (04:45 PM) - Ed Morrissey is right on the money: “I submit to you that this week represents the nadir of responsible thought about the war on terror.” The America Can Do No Right mindset is firming up over this trivia, and it…
Blogging Update (04:38 PM) - After an excruciating three-hour final exam this morning, I and my parents have packed up most of my belongings and we’ll be hitting the road tomorrow morning. Light posting tonight and tomorrow……
Damn, This Traffick Jam (06:54 AM) - The United States is accusing 14 nations of “failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers.” Kuwait, UAE, and Qatar were added to the list of usual suspects.”Trafficking in human…
Graduation Gown Scandal! (06:49 AM) - This one has a pretty clear-cut answer, I think: just wear both.Every year across the country the cap and gown remain the dress of the day for millions of graduating students. This year, however, the traditional dress of the graduate…
Friday, June 03, 2005
Properly, Spelled ‘Wheirwolf’ (10:47 PM) - Dinosaurs look at the etymology of the word ‘woman’….
Military Awareness At Dartmouth (08:03 PM) - The results of a recent Student Assembly poll are in, and with 686 respondents, the news is rather positive: Do you know that Army ROTC exists on Dartmouth’s campus? Yes 96.4% No 3.5% Do you support Army ROTC at Dartmouth?…
More Zarqawi Death Rumors (05:36 PM) - I would not be surprised if they are true this time….
Fact: Harvard Makes More On Endowment Than Tuition (04:49 PM) - Question: Then why does it charge tuition? Answer: Because it can make more money thereby. Second Question: Then why is it a tax-exempt non-profit organization? No answer to that one. At Different River, some fascinating numbers are crunched:Harvard makes almost…
John Kerry Ends Campaign For Presidency (04:39 PM) - Isn’t it a tad strange that John Kerry just sent out his ‘thank you’ e-mail to volunteers? Although he has a good idea in running a post-campaign Monster.com service:I know that many of you have found employment, decided to return…
The Eugene Katz Award (04:30 PM) - The Eugene Katz Award was created in honor of, not surprisingly, Eugene Katz, who started his career, after Dartmouth and Oxford, as a reporter for The Daily Oklahoman. The Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration is presented by…
Mister Means So Much (03:44 PM) - “Rare praise” coming from North Korea:North Korea has aired a rare positive comment about President Bush, praising his decision to use the title “mister” in referring to Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-il. A spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry says the…
Recruiting And Hand Grenades (10:42 AM) - The New York Times is uppity about recruiting:Rachel Rogers, a single mother of four in upstate New York, did not worry about the presence of National Guard recruiters at her son’s high school until she learned that they taught students…
Evaluating Affirmative Action (10:38 AM) - The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on two government studies that attempted to assess the representation of various minority groups at colleges. Roger Clegg notes some numbers:Women and Asians are, we already knew, considerably “overrepresented” (that is, their share of…
But When Academic Cant Rears Its Head… (10:34 AM) - …drawing lines between intellectual ability and biology is perfectly acceptable.A team of scientists at the University of Utah has proposed that the unusual pattern of genetic diseases seen among Jews of central or northern European origin, or Ashkenazim, is the…
Everybody’s Working For The Weekend (06:43 AM) - …including me, though, sadly, I also have a final exam on Saturday. Back later. UPDATE: One down, two to go. But any day when Drudge’s main headline involves Vaseline and Michael Jackson is a good day to stay away from…
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Rock The Hypocrisy (10:40 PM) - RTH is a counter-Rock the Vote group that is seeking to provide an alternate message to some of the (rather incredible) things RTV is saying about Social Security. Their “Ten Myths of Rock The Vote” document is pretty funny. (…via…
Corruption and Babel on the East Side (09:06 PM) - The new Dartmouth Beacon is online. My article on UN Oil-for-Food is also up right here. Excerpt: “Many observers, particularly financial journalists at the Wall Street Journal, have come close to calling Oil for Food the largest financial scandal in…
Those Painful Nielsens (07:04 PM) - Drudge:6-1-05 8PM RATINGS FOXNEWS O’Reilly Factor - 2,268,000 viewers CNN 25th anniversary special — 345,000 TVNewser has more numbers… The FM I work for in NJ cumes almost three times CNN’s 8p audience….
Slow News Day (11:11 AM) - Took a break from reading to catch up on things and what I do see but John Podhoretz beating into Star Wars: Episode III once more. In response to an e-mail accusing him of using the specious argumentative tactic of…
“Non” Partisan Amnesty International (09:25 AM) - From Amnesty International’s manifesto:AI is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it support or oppose the views of the victims whose rights it…
Why Are Press Briefings Never Productive? (07:06 AM) - Perhaps because the media present in the Brady room act like children. Read the extended for a laugh-out-loud presser clip from yesterday….
“Fear and Rejection” (06:55 AM) - David Brooks calmly and with much care injects into the New York Times the plainest point about the E.U.’s recent failings as they apply to America: Most of the policy ideas advocated by American liberals have already been enacted in…
Federal Investigation Into Toyota Prius (06:45 AM) - Is the hybrid engine not ready for primetime?WASHINGTON - The Toyota Prius, the gas-electric hybrid sedan that has generated waiting lists of environmentally conscious consumers, is the subject of a government investigation into reports that the engine can stall without…
Like A Horse And Carriage (06:43 AM) - LONDON (AP) - A British husband and wife revealed the secrets of the longest marriage of any living couple on Wednesday as they celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary — don’t sleep on an argument, always share a kiss and hold…
U.S. Student Population at Highest Level (06:39 AM) - Seems like good news. My favorite ‘expert analysis’ from the AP dispatch:”You could have predicted this back in 1970 when we had all those kids,” said Mark Mather, a demographer for the Population Reference Bureau, which assesses population trends. “We…
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Army announces Combat Action Badge (10:47 PM) - This story is a few weeks old, but was just e-mailed to me and I found it interesting nonetheless. The new Combat Action Badge “will soon be available to all Soldiers who engage the enemy in battle.” It doesn’t sound…
Questioning “Knowledge For The Sake Of Knowledge” (09:38 PM) - I have to agree with Everyman, who takes this Lileks bleat (on the New York Times’ recent reckless reportage) one step further by saying:…the self-defined role of the press is to lead, to persuade the public to its point of…
The Dutch Turn Down E.U. Constitution (04:31 PM) - Quite telling results:An exit poll broadcast by state-financed NOS television said the constitution failed by a vote of 63 percent to 37 percent, an even worse defeat than the 55 percent “no” vote in France’s referendum Sunday. Turnout was 62…
Haydn: Good For A Lark, Or Final Exams (04:10 PM) - I generally have to listen to jazz or bluegrass while attempting to internalize the data nugget du jour; anything that is not overtly discursive suits me. But as enough clinical research has shown, classical music stimulates the brain best. Searching…
Kofi Annan Fires Joseph Stephanides (02:45 PM) - …in connection to Oil-for-Food. It’s a sweeping reform!…
The Ten Most Harmful Books? (01:37 PM) - What a silly list to make. All of these books are important, for their folly merits the scorn of all mankind! Actually, come to think of it, there is one that just shouldn’t exist at all: Keynes. Government bloat is…
Bad Headline (01:34 PM) - “Iraq to Move Up Trial of Hussein and Start It in Summer” - New York Times…
Ben Stein Defends Richard Nixon (01:23 PM) - Nixon’s former speechwriter in the American Spectator:Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible? He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POW’s, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the…
The Patrick Factor (09:55 AM) - Chalk up two more race car drivers who are pointing out Danica Patrick’s weight advantage. Three days after NASCAR driver Robby Gordon and IRL driver Tony Kanaan sounded off on the racing benefits of lightweight driving, Indianapolis 500 winner Dan…
Rudy Giuliani Gets Ready To Relax (09:48 AM) - The gossip sheet this morning has Giuliani purchasing a $410,000 Palm Beach condo in Florida. It could be retirement, a ‘Floridian White House’, or perhaps he’s just getting ready to run for Senator from Florida, his “adopted home state.” Seems…
Elder Bush would like son Jeb to run for president (07:07 AM) - Well, he’s his dad! I just don’t know if I could stand another four years of ‘The Bush Dynasty!’…
The 2008 Presidential Wire (07:06 AM) - Patrick Ruffini has a neat new tool….
Judge Offers Convicts Choice Between Church or Jail (06:56 AM) - Only because of the word ‘church’ (Christians are taking over the country, didn’t you know?) is this news.A judge has been offering some drug and alcohol offenders the option of attending worship services instead of going to jail or rehab…
War On A Legal Industry (06:50 AM) - I am no supporter of all the money the government pours in to anti-tobacco television ads and high school organizations. Either slowly tax cigarettes out of existence or outlaw the product. What we do now expends maximal resources and receives…
Food Shortages In North Korea (06:46 AM) - I think North Korea’s serious food problem may, in part, underscore the overzealousness the media adopts when reporting that nation’s threat to the US….
Wolfowitz takes the World Bank helm (06:43 AM) - Paul Wolfowitz was officially hired today, and he is naming Africa his highest priority:”Africa has a dependence and need for the bank that stands out among all the many people who need what this bank has to offer” said Wolfowitz,…
No Google Logo For Memorial Day (06:38 AM) - I noted the oddity that Google didn’t recognize Memorial Day as it does almost every major holiday and many minor ones. Reader Steven Koch and, it seems, many other people, e-mailed Google to find out why. Google responded:…We have to…
World Worried U.S. Will Leave Iraq Too Soon (06:34 AM) - Hard to believe, and even harder not to scream at it. But it is true. Both Iraq’s foreign minister and the UN Security Council to which he made his case yesterday agree that the US’s mandate in Iraq must be…
The Dutch Go To The Polls For E.U. (06:32 AM) - Recent surveys have the ‘no’ side at 60%, so it is unlikely to pass. No matter what the people say, I’m sure the rulers will “take note.”…
The Smoking Man Revealed (06:25 AM) - Oh perhaps he’s just Deep Throat. Either way, here is W. Mark Felt’s media shot….
“Gitmo Detainees Say Muslims Were Sold” (06:20 AM) - It is a fairly gruesome-looking headline from the Washington Post but, in reality, the story simply says that bounty hunters captured some suspects and recieved the offered reward from the US in return….