Participants in a Civics Class

Dec. 31 - To all of you, both readers and those I read, thank you for sharing the challenges of 2003 and bringing your insights and perspectives.

I remember reading a post (or maybe a comment?) where someone wrote that people in the blogosphere are participants in a civics class. Doesn't that just hit the nail squarely on the head? The degree of political debate going on in this medium is like the whole town showing up for one heck of a stormy meeting.

The internet has given a voice to some of the finest minds I've ever encountered: Lileks, Den Beste, Wretchard, Whittle, and Currie.

Some of the most prolific: Glenn R. and Charles J

And the funniest: Frank J., ScrappleFace and Allah.

I'd wax all eloquent and go on about the Renascence but heck, you already know it or you wouldn't read blogs.

Goodness to all of you in this new year, and enjoy the party!

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Year end punditry

Dec. 28 - Okay, these round-ups happen as every year ends, but Michele Mandel's take of events captured both the Biblical and the Absurd:

We must have done something very, very bad to deserve the year that was. We were smote by the biblical 10 plagues -- we had wind, fire and darkness, we had cattle disease, plague and pestilence. All we were missing were the frogs.

I suspect she already knows that the frogs were busy in Colorado. It's not all funny, as we recall Holly Jones and still-missing Cecilia Zhang, but invokes hope as we recall Elizabeth Smart.

Before any posts in the comments, I know that Mandel remains opposed to US action in Iraq. That's her right, and doesn't change the fact that she's right on so many other issues.

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New Blog Showcase

Dec. 27 - Time to vote in the The Truth Laid Bear's New Weblog Showcase.

I enjoyed viewing (and reading!) Reality's Angry Howie and "the point". I can't recall a similar photojournal in the showcase, and it's a good innovation. He makes some pretty shrewd guesses about "the point" too.

Dan K. O'Leary highlights one of the things I admire most about President Bush in the post Bush, Saddam, and Howard Dean and that he knows what is priority is even if his opponents don't. While Dean prattles (and points!) away, the president is committed to doing the job with which he is entrusted and ignores the slights and slurs aimed his way because protecting Americans is his concern.

Dan says the president delivered a smackdown by reminding Dean that the primary focus right now is to defend our beloved country. GWB is more concerned with that than with defending himself against spitballs from the opposition.

Give Justin full marks for research! He read the NR piece with John Rhys-Davies and set about discovering the political views of the cast of the LoTR and found that Sean Astin considers supporting the troops a duty and another Rhys-Davies gem in which he explains his views on Tolkien's LoTR Politics of the Lord of the Rings. I think Justin would agree that dropping The Scouring of the Shire made JRRT roll over in his grave. (I am not voting for this because it's about the LoTR. No, I'm not. Really. You'd think I'm obsessed with the collected works of LoTR or something. Sheesh.)

Eric adds another layer to the interview with Rhys-Davies in Someone in Hollywood is FOR Western Civilization? adding emphasis on the fact that slavery was and continues to be one of those things about which the UN talks but does nothing. And Rhys-Davies' father saw the contradiction way back when.

Read these and enjoy, and remember, you too can vote simply by linking the posts on your own blog.

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Kids demand equal time

Dec. 26 - Actually, they are right behind me, and they would really, really like this computer. (It's the DSL, you see.)

I'll be back later, so take care.

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It's only one mad cow, for heaven's sake

Dec. 26 - When the single case of mad-cow disease hit Canada, the Daily Telegraph was full of interesting links about the history of the disease and the degree to which the science was speculative, but they haven't the links up (yet?) this time around (Nations bar American beef after first mad cow case.)

The same questions will be raised in this investigation as were raised when the disease hit Canada: How did the cow contract the disease?

I'm going on memory here, so correct me if I'm inaccurate or downright wrong, but as I recall, the speculation was that the cow contracted it through contaminated feed, it got it from infected elk (even though prior evidence indicated it wouldn't) or the disease occurred spontaneously.

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Linky links

Dec. 22 - Two more days to go until I'm off for Christmas. I'm sorry I haven't had time to answer any comments (although it looks as though everyone is doing fine without me!) but you've all been spared any, you know, deep and insightful posts from me so there is indeed a bright side to everything.

I'm just catching the local news on Global, and give them their due: they are broadcasting messages from the troops in Afghanistan back to their families.

A dominant feature of the media on both sides of the border is the elevation of the threat level to orange. Please: is anybody surprised?

Jack has some posts that make excellent reading: Illusion, which Canadians and Americans should read and I'm still pondering, and Justice - Canadian Style about his feelings about the recent sentences handed down in the Matti Baranovski case and his feelings - as a cop- about the failure of the judicial system in general.

So long, and take care. And for crying out loud, make sure there are no pedestrians in the driveway before turn left into mall parking lots. Sheesh.

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Belmont Club

Dec. 20 - The blogosphere has graced us with the presence of writers and thinkers whose works inspire and challenge. Steven den Beste at USS Clueless and Bill Whittle at Eject!Eject!Eject! are two such, and efforts to post individual essays or quote sections are near-impossible due to the overall sweep of their incredible essays.

Another is Wretchard of Belmont Club. The problem with him, as with den Beste, is that it is impossible to read just one, and that in turns leads to the impossibility of posting about only one.

Today he cites from Victor Davis Hanson's latest column at National Review Online, which leads to a post about European apathy which, as it did between WWI and WWII, hid a deeper antipathy which may be a very clear danger sign.

Before that is an analysis of the strategy of pursuit (a nice word also known as annhilation) which follows a broken line in a defensive formation using the information we get from Saddam as the starting point.

Even before that is an analysis of the post-war period which uses the Yalta Conference as a starting point.

See what I mean? How do you isolate one post when each flows seamlessly from the previous one?

Add him to your daily reading.

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New Blog Showcase

Dec. 20 - Time to vote in the The Truth Laid Bear's New Weblog Showcase.

I enjoyed viewing (and reading!) Reality's Angry Howie and "the point". I can't recall a similar photojournal in the showcase, and it's a good innovation. He makes some pretty shrewd guesses about "the point" too.

Dan K. O'Leary highlights one of the things I admire most about President Bush in the post Bush, Saddam, and Howard Dean and that he knows what is priority is even if his opponents don't. While Dean prattles (and points!) away, the president is committed to doing the job with which he is entrusted and ignores the slights and slurs aimed his way because protecting Americans is his concern.

Dan says the president delivered a smackdown by reminding Dean that the primary focus right now is to defend our beloved country. GWB is more concerned with that than with defending himself against spitballs from the opposition.

Give Justin full marks for research! He read the NR piece with John Rhys-Davies and set about discovering the political views of the cast of the LoTR and found that Sean Astin considers supporting the troops a duty and another Rhys-Davies gem in which he explains his views on Tolkien's LoTR Politics of the Lord of the Rings. I think Justin would agree that dropping The Scouring of the Shire made JRRT roll over in his grave. (I am not voting for this because it's about the LoTR. No, I'm not. Really. You'd think I'm obsessed with the collected works of LoTR or something. Sheesh.)

Eric adds another layer to the interview with Rhys-Davies in Someone in Hollywood is FOR Western Civilization? adding emphasis on the fact that slavery was and continues to be one of those things about which the UN talks but does nothing. And Rhys-Davies' father saw the contradiction way back when.

Read these and enjoy, and remember, you too can vote simply by linking the posts on your own blog.

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Precision Guided Humour

Dec. 18 - I not only failed to complete the last Precision Guided Humor Assignment on time (it was to come up with nifty campaign slogans for the Democrat candidates) but I can't come up with a danged thing even now.

My lame excuse is that we've all been dazzled and awed up here by the coronation up here of newly installed PM Paul Martin and saying Adios (ok, au revoir) to Jean Chretien, debate over the reconstruction contracts in Iraq and shoveling snow as well as fighting a losing battle against the ice (I live in a hilly area.) Okay, the dazzled and awed part is a lie. The snow and ice parts aren't.

The only thing I could come up with was "He's President Bush and I'm not" which is not witty but accurate as that seems to be about the extent of what they offering the electorate.

What can I say? If the endorsement of Madonna for Wesley Clark doesn't inspire me, I'm hopeless.

OverlordQ of Pinto's Blog came up with this.
Susie of Practical Penumbra came up with these.
Fly Killa has of Ripe Bananas these.
Dogtulosba of dogulosba.ink provides good snark.
homicidalManiak of The Rantings of a homicidalManiak produced more.
Dan of Dan K. O'Leary's Blog has pictures with his slogans.
CD of Semi-Intelligent Thoughts lets them show their true feelings.
Nick of The Conservative Cajun even visited the DU for inspiration and came up with this plus an excellent explanation for the DU. (Ctrl+F "Another Assignment")
Physics Geek of physicsgeek has these and a very apt picture atop the post (we had a calandar with that cartoon, Far Side, I think?) Count the heads.
Graumagus of Frizzen Sparks gets full snark marks with these
Bow Down! The Emperor Misha of Anti-Idiotarian Rotweiller graces us with this (and the commenters supply more.) [Is this mike on? Bow down is a play on, oh, never mind. It was lame, like my sole contribution.]
Harvey of Bad Money finds their groove with these. I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you.
Mercenary Sniper J of Quibbles and Bits kindly provides footnotes for these which are as funny as the slogans.

Witty, pointed, and really unlikely to be used by the Dems, which is too bad because they aren't coming up with much on their own.

Funny how many came up with slogans for this miserable failure (not to be confused with this miserable failure which isn't. A failure, I mean.)

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Environmentalism as the new religion

Dec. 17 - ColbyCosh looks at Michael Crichton's speech at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club in which he which declares environmentalism to be a new religion and more.

Check out Jay Currie's post on Lazy Bison, too.

It does seem that we are unwise and arrogant) to fool with Mother Nature.

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Fly Our Flag web site

Dec. 17 - Fly Our Flag is having a vote on which flag Martin will hoist over the Peace Tower (for American readers, PM Paul Martin is a shipping magnate who runs his ships under flags of convenience rather than the Canadian flag.)

Neat descriptions under each flag explain why Martin might choose it.

A Paul Martin fact-file is here.

(Via Francois of Martin Watch, who kindly sent out an email with the links.)

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Jack's Newswatch

Dec. 16 - Good friend and respected Canadian blogger Jack has launched a news service for Canadians with a focus on items of interest to conservatives at Jack's NewsWatch.

He's already got links to recent columns by Bob MacDonald, Colby Cosh and David Warren for starters, as well as numerous articles at canada.com (National Post) Debka, Daily Telegraph (UK) and the IHT (Int'l Herald Tribune).

Keep it up, Jack!

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The gun that can shoot around corners

Dec. 16 - SAS issued with guns that can shoot around corners:

The system can be fitted to most commonly used pistols. It has a trigger attached by a cable to the pistol trigger, so that the handgun can be extended through a doorway while the soldier remains covered by a wall.

A small, high-resolution camera and monitor give a full view around the corner. The footage can also be transmitted to a command post. The soldier can tilt the pistol 60 degrees to the left or right, enabling him to angle his body and fire a shot at 90 degrees.

A sharp pull of the grip snaps the pistol back so that it points to the front and he can storm the room.

In the three months that the system has been on the market, Corner Shot Holdings, a Florida-based company manufacturing in Israel, has sold units to 15 countries including Israel, Russia, the United States and Britain.

Check out the photo.

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News bites

Dec. 16 - It's official: today's top stories are too weird and determined to devil me.

First, Real cop nabs fake fuzz. Actually, I think the guy is totally sane. He only put into action what many of us have wished we could do.

Client slugs own lawyer Okay, raise your hand if you never wanted to slug your own lawyer. Right. (Actually, this guy might be nuts. And I don't approve of men slugging women even if she is a lawyer.)

Keiko now 'at peace'. Details on the burial of a whale which, you'll be glad to know, went smoothly but in secrecy.

Doc will be 'threat' because he likes to perform unnecessary hysterectomies. Ya think? The question now is if he should be allowed to continue his practice excluding surgery.

'Alien entity' killed mom after which her daughter sat beside her decomposing corpse for 7 days and smoked cigarettes. The name of the alleged alien entity is "Devil Son Zellion."

"Now a judge will decide if 92-year-old Amy Ruth's daughter killed her with an aquarium rock."

And the social engineers obsess over kids playing video games?

Tobey Maguire thinks it's much more physically demanding to be a jockey than Spiderman. I always said Spiderman was only slightly better than Aquaman. How long before a super-hero who's a jockey by day and crime fighter by night makes the comics?

File this under "a rose by any other name ...:" Tory MPP (that's Member of Provincial Parliament) John Baird was asked by Liberal MPP Tony Wong to withdraw the phrase "Red" China. Baird said he would substitute the phrase "Communist" China.

The article notes that over 7,000 jobs in Ontario have been lost since Ont. Premier McGuinty (aka Reptilian Kitten Eater from another planet) and the Liberal Party took power here.

Ex-tyrant nearly blown to pieces because US soldiers were seconds from tossing a grenade into the spider hole that housed Saddam.

Yeah, me too.

Saddam's squalor:

The yard was a mess, the laundry wasn't done, the pantry was bare and the only art on the wall was a poster of Noah's Ark. Saddam Hussein's hideaway on a derelict farm property in northern Iraq was a far cry from the lavish palaces he had lived in for years.

Noah's Ark? That has got to launch a thousand interpretations. Where's a de-constructionist when you need one? (All busy with Return of the King, no doubt.)

T.O. doc lost two chums to Saddam. He isn't wasting any tears for Saddam either.

Of course, not everyone is happy Saddam has gone from despot to prisoner: Many Palestinians lament Saddam's downfall. Yeah, blowing yourself up isn't half as attractive when $25,000 isn't to be paid to your families. Just think: what if the whole Straight Ticket For Paradise part is also wrong?

Vatican opposes death penalty for Saddam. Big surprise. The Pope also opposed deposing Saddam.

Saddam's family demands international trial. I agree: I think the world should be put on trial alongside Saddam.

According to Iraq The Model, the GC is making Dec. 14 a national anniversary and an official holiday. He also has a message from the former Iraqi Information Minister.

Except for the last bit, these really are news items from the Toronto Sun. Anyone who thinks Canadians are boring just isn't paying attention.

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General rant

Dec. 16 - To anyone in Toronto who experienced the blink-out (brief black-out) I confess: that was me. I was trying to tidy up the blog roll and the power cut off and then back on. You already know what happened to my work, and I apologize for what may have happened to your work.

Contrary to numerous cliches, things don't necessarily work out better the second time you do them. If I put somebody in the wrong category, mispelt a name or did something equally dumb, please email me and let me know. I don't proofread very well when words are surrounded by htlm as well as blogger code (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.)

I have a number of good reasons why I'd rather do housework than enter the Template Zone. It's not fear, it's justified caution because I have to go into the Template Zone unarmed.

The Blogger Template Zone and I have an relationship similar to that of the UN and US. If I have something it wants, we're the bestest of friends; if I need it to cooperate or at least not stab me in the back, it smirks and

a) goes down completely (second-to-the-last time I tried to tidy the blog roll)
b) refuses to re-publish the entire site and gives an error message that even Blogger doesn't recognize (last tidying)
c) the power packs up and leaves the building (today.)

Does it show? I just finished reading Kofi Annan's views on the fate of Saddam and my jaundice level is a-rising.

One thing struck me: I actually have something in common with jihadists and muhajadeen. They have contempt for Americans because they think we'll break and run at the first sign of trouble, and I look at the United Nations and Red Cross and, yes, I admit that I find them contemptible cowards.

Respect is something that has to be earned, or, in the case of the UN, re-earned. Their numerous lapses in confronting genocide and evil have caused many to wonder of what use they are except to give lifelong bureucrats like Annan status and well-paying jobs and pensions at our direct expense.

We have our own corps of life-long albeit homegrown bureaucrats, thank you all very much.

Again: who pays their salary? The very people they deign to lecture on courage and morals! Can we all say Pink Slip the lot of them? Of course we can.

The USA has a lot of bad as well as good. The difference is that we are continually working to eliminate the bad, and if we seem self-involved it's because helping and improving the lives of all our citizens is a priority. Are we really doing any worse than any other country? No, actually; we're doing better because we never give up.

It is really, really nice that everyone in the world wants to get involved with improving us and I can really, really see how that goal would be much more preferable to working to improve themselves.

Americans believe that actions speak for themselves, and regard all words with respectful skepticism. Nice words had better be backed by action or the speechifyers will be shrugged off.

Americans regard hostile nations allies who want us to use our taxpayer dollars to subsidize their economies with contempt. We see too many nations with their hands perpetually extended for a payout, and some of these are G-8 nations!

Cowardice and courage come in many forms. I merely listed a few examples and implied some others.

[N.B.: No bureaurcrats were harmed in the production of this rant.]

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Quick hits

Dec. 12 - All good things must come to an end, like my mid-week weekend. I return to work tomorrow for some more weird and wacky hours so I'm searching out the funny and witty (because I need to cheer up.)

Day by Day - always good.

Looks like Donald Sensing isn't the only one who sees the Little Red Hen analogy to the outcry over the Iraq reconstruction lockouts, but Dumbidity takes it a step further and gives the animals appropriate names. He explains CWISSLN and gives an inadvertant reason to be relieved that Martin isn't Chretien (other than the fact that he isn't, you know, Chretien): he doesn't have a silly sounding name.

That tale is getting a lot of play including some Very Special Versions over at Mudville Gazette.

I got that from Susie, who also gave me, no, just get them yourselves (where does she find this stuff?). It's her Monday, which was my Sunday, which means we're both depressed.

It's a freaking epidemic. Harvey picks up a really bad good joke to cheer everyone up from Sgt. Stryker's comments because he's depressed (the Sarge, I mean. Harvey's not depressed. I hope.)

The Essay is no longer sick, is not depressed, and has an answer to the Eternal Question (and instructions for catching the next mothership.)

Chuck notes that this war has it's moments.

ScrappleFace has a report that DH Rumsfeld has left the door open for one thing the Weasels can contract for.

Of course, I doubt I need to tell you to read ScrappleFace every day much less him or him.

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New Blog Showcase

Dec. 12 - Time to cast votes for the The Truth Laid Bear: The New Weblog Showcase.

The Iraq war will be a success is an excellent look at not only Iraq, but Bosnia and Kosovo and a brief history of occupations.

There will be talk of a "Mesopotamian renaissance" (you heard it here first).

I read it, and I like it. What's more, I agree.

Maybe this is my day for nostalgia, but as I read this on plagiarism I found myself again thinking again "how times have changed" (and "this is getting depressing.") When I was in uni, committing plagiarism was grounds for expulsion. Period.

I don't find it surprising that parents are indignant when their kids are caught and try to avoid any punishment. We see that behaviour from parents too often in public schools too, although it takes the form of fretting over "self esteem."

One thing that hasn't changed is parental compulsion to get their kids into a good university, but wait, aren't these parents boomers? And didn't we drop all that phony comformity to the establishment stuff? Dang, I must have missed another memo.

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An excellent excuse

Dec. 11 - A story from Colorado Conservative: He had an excuse made me laugh, especially because I suspect the defense he suggests might actually have worked. Humans are a strange and wonderful species.

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Precision Guided Humour

Dec. 10 - The new Precision Guided Humor Assignment is to suppose I am Secy-Gen of the Useless Nations United Nations and can not only propose but pass resolutions!

I think mostly I would want to dissolve the danged thing (at a significant savings to US taxpayers, I might add) but would have to get members to think they thought of it themselves, so first I would have to propose and pass resolutions that would suddenly make driving New Yorkers crazy living in New York less desirable.

Obviously, the first I thing I would do is insist they drive - and park - in compliance with the laws of the city. There would be no diplomatic immunity for double-parking, unpaid tickets, and non-payment of restaurant bills. We'd request that the NYPD cooperate with us in enforcing those laws, and if jail time is required with someone named "Tiny," we would intone about human rights and equality under the law and tell 'em to throw away the key.

Next I would open the books of the Oil-For-Food program and have it audited. If companies that did business under that program wouldn't cooperate, I would ask the nation of that company to force them to comply. If any nation didn't cooperate in my search for truth, I would suspend them from the UN and they would lose all rights and privileges. (Guess which nations I'm thinking about? Heh.) After they cooperated, they would be reinstated but only as a lowly member nation. (Guess which three are off the security council?)

Of course, I'm completely fair. Nations tossed off the security council would have the right to show cause as to why they should be on the security council (having overly exaggerated self-important delusions of grandeur wouldn't cut it.)

Arafat is next. That audit will be done in painstaking detail. But I'm not heartless: I'll send him some fruitcake as a gift. If that doesn't kill him, I'll send him last year's fruitcake. Then I'll call the PA rep into my office and, while I'm cleaning my gun, tell him my "peace" plan.

By now most of those freeloading serving their countries at the UN have fled or stalked off in a pique. So far, so good.

The UN couldn't run without its bureaucracy, so naturally we'd have to reduce staff due to lesser duties. With less ambassadors and staff, we don't need that big honking building, so we'd move.

There's an unused airport way outside Montreal known as Trudeau's white elephant Mirabel Trudeau Airport. It's a bit cold in Canada, but I'm sure these dedicated people would not be off put by a little personal hardship in the pursuit of their lofty goal. Besides, they speak French in Quebec. Sort of.

For the stubborn ones still left, I'd improvise. I'm an early riser, so we start business promptly at 6 a.m. No free breakfast, so they'd better be sure to stop at the Tim Horton's Drive-Thru on their way to the HQ. I would provide coffee at $0.50 (see? I told you I'm not heartless.)

Ambassadors would be expected to brown-bag it for lunch. They only get a half-hour, and will be penalized if they are late.

In order to assist Canada in meeting their Kyoto targets, I'd reduce the heat in the winter. The delegtes would have to cope.

Alcohol would be forbidden because we wouldn't want to offend anybody. Smoking too. (Although what I do in my office is my own danged business. Besides, I wouldn't let anyone in there except friends.)

Anyone who remains is now compliant and totally subject to my will shares my goals.

Drinks on me (in Toronto.)

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Another miserable failure nomination

Dec. 10 - Another miserable failure nomination over at The Meatriarchy.

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