DNF at Ironman

DNF at Ironman

The weather was punishingly hot, but that's not an excuse. I normally thrive on heat.
So the conditions that knocked many people out of the race had nothing to do with my DNF. My bike failed me. From the first turn of the pedal, I could tell something was dreadfully wrong. There was a clicking and ticking sound coming from the cassette/ rear derailleur and I could not stay in one gear. The chain kept jumping all over the cassette. Plus, my front derailleur was very balky too. It wanted to stay only on the small chain ring and would shift to the big ring or the granny only with great difficulty. Even so, I did the first 40 miles in two hours. But then the bike began to act as though the brake pads were rubbing. I was pushing very hard to keep my speed up. It was very much like riding into a stiff wind. This really became a problem when I did have to climb hills or ride into a stiff wind. And so I began to slow down. I did the first loop in 3:18. I had expected sub-3:00.
On my second lap things really started to go bad and on the last big climb of the day, I finally got off my bike as I could barely make enough headway to keep the bike upright. Plus, the clicking and rubbing sounds were much louder. I discovered that the chain had jumped off one on the cogs on the rear derailleur. I reset it, but the rear wheel still would not turn freely. It would only turn as I applied pressure and the rubbing sound was still very loud. On a hunch, I checked and discovered that somehow the wheel had become misaligned and the clicking and rubbing was my chain wearing a grove into my frame. Once I straightened that out, the wheel turned freely.
But I also discovered that I had a very low rear tire. I tried to pump it back up, but the compact pump I brought simply would not put more than 30 or so pounds into the tire. I got fed up and just rode on the low tire. I got to the 86 mile aid station and set to working on my bike again. I removed the little nut that supports the stem and set it carefully on my gloves so I could find it again. I took out the old tube and discovered that the problem was faulty construction. The stem had separated from the tube and allowed a slow leak. As I was changing the tube, a volunteer came over to lend assistance and inadvertently kicked my gloves, launching the little nut into a wheat field, where it still lies, unfound. I tried and tried, but there was no way I could get even 10 pounds into my new tube without that nut. Finally on a hunch, I checked the box containing my patch kit and found that I had an old nut in there.
I got the bike rolling, with low pressure was on my way. I had probably lost an hour on the side of the road by this time, not including the speed l lost when my bike was giving me so much resistance.
I got about 2 miles down the road, when I found one of the bike tech vehicles and borrowed on of their pumps and got my pressure up to 120, where it belongs.
My bike worked fine now, but I was totally dispirited and could not muster much energy or enthusiasm. I had been aiming for a good time and now I was just looking for a tee-shirt.
My luck failed me again, just six miles from the finish. I went totally flat at the 106 mile mark. Now I was in danger of missing the bike cutoff. Riders arriving after 5:00 PM are disqualified. I removed by tube and left it hanging on the 106 mile sign and again waited for a tech support car to come by. I had no replacement tubes and my pump didn't work. Another rider gave me one of the two spare tubes he had so I was able to repair the tire so far as I could without a pump. Maybe ten minutes later the support guys came by, pumped me up and sent me on my way. When I got back to the transition area, I was just half an hour ahead of the bike cutoff and thoroughly bummed. I couldn't face 26.2 miles with my enthusiasm so low, so I just dropped out. That was definitely a mistake. One should not make decisions in the heat of passion. I should have started the run and just let my emotions cool down.
Oh well. There's always next year. I've already signed up for next year's race so watch for me again.

No Blogging For a Few Days

No Blogging For a Few Days

I'll be away from my computer for a few days as I'm heading out of town to compete in Ironman Idaho Sunday. You can track my progress on http://www.ironmanlive.com.
My bib number is 1402.

How to Mend and End Affirmative Action

How to Mend and End Affirmative Action

I find it hard to believe that the same constitution that protects blacks from having to sit in the back of the bus will permit publicly funded colleges and Universities to force People of Pallor, Jews and Asians to stand at the back of the admissions lines. In fact the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution specifically forbids unequal treatment. So how in the world did a majority of the Supreme Court decide that college admissions may be treated unequally depending upon a person’s race?
If I understand the Supreme Court’s split decision Monday, and there’s an outstanding chance that I don’t, then race based preferential college admission systems are permissible, as long as there is no actual program or policy to implement it. Quotas are out. Awarding extra points in competitive admissions is out. But nebulous, unwritten and unexplained extra credit for being black is just fine.
As I said, it’s entirely possible that I misunderstand the decision. Very often legal precedents are composed so that they defend themselves from being understood by normal people. But the majority opinion seems to rely upon “compelling interest” to ignore the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment. This is probably worse than presidential candidate Richard Gephardt’s campaign promise to overthrow unfavorable Supreme Court decisions by executive order.
Is compelling interest the new interstate commerce? Article 1 of the Constitution confers upon Congress the power: “To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” For decades Congress would slither its way around constitutional limitations upon its authority by declaring its unconstitutional laws “interstate commerce.” A decade ago, the Congress issued its finding that violence against women is an impediment to interstate commerce and so gave itself unconstitutional authority over state and local law enforcement. More honest and clearer thinking Supreme Courts began overthrowing such laws, so a new crack through which amorphous, unrestricted governmental power can escape had to be opened. Presumably, all that Congress has to do now to exempt itself from constitutional limitations is to declare that it has a compelling interest in doing so.
How then can we, the great unwashed majority, finally rid ourselves of legalized racial inequality? Common sense hasn’t worked. The very idea that a coven of deep thinkers can decide which ethnic group may be discriminated against and just how much discrimination is enough is ludicrous on its face. We are no longer protected by the supreme law of the land as the Supreme Court has established itself above that law. The United States Constitution has just been declared subordinate to “compelling interests” as defined by whomever happens to be sitting on the court.
I say, let’s apply it to its natural conclusion. If equality of outcome is the overriding objective, then we have a compelling interest in making everyone equal.
I, for example, am about two inches shorter than the average American male. Study after study has shown that height is strongly correlated with income and professional advancement. Short people make thousands of dollars per year less than their taller peers and rarely ascend to positions of leadership and power. On average, a man standing 5’6” tall, will earn $6,000 less per year than an equally qualified 6 footer. According to economist Steven E. Landsburg, discrimination against the short is every bit as pervasive and costly as discrimination based upon race and sex. Legislatures should immediately begin passing laws to correct this disparity.
And when we’re done with that, let’s take up the case of the ugly. Recent research found that a woman judged ordinary in appearance earns about 5% less than an equally qualified woman considered beautiful. Being genuinely unattractive costs another 5%. This disparity grows even wider among men. Good-looking men earn far more than their equally qualified dumpy looking peers.
Fat people have their own problems that deserve special treatment.
As you can see, equality is difficult business. If some politician out there had a scintilla of courage, he or she would expose the logical silliness of affirmative action by proposing legislation aimed a achieving at truly egalitarian society.
Or, we could all just fill out those little Human Resources card and declare ourselves “black, Spanish-surname, women.” They have to take our word for it and they’d have to give us all the same benefits.

Belgians Want to Euthanize Children

Belgians Want to Euthanize Children

Legalized physician-assisted suicide before the age of consent? Some in Belgium think it's a good idea

Lawn Chair Larry

Lawn Chair Larry

About 21 years ago, Larry Walters tied balloons to his lawn chair and floated above Los Angeles for a couple of hours and made himself a legend. Here's a great Lawnchair Larry website.

Liberals Still Love Fascism

Liberals Still Love Fascism

Like Mussolini, Saddam kept the water running and the trains running on time. For this liberal, that's better than freedom.

The Catholic School Offer Still Stands

The Catholic School Offer Still Stands

A few years ago, the Catholic schools in New York City offered to take the worst students in the New York City school system and educate them for half of what the public school system pays per student. New York turned the offer down, knowing that the Catholic schools would deliver on its promise to do a better job at lower cost.
The New York schools are failing its students. The courts have ordered them to find a solution. Even though the Catholic schools have offered them a solution on a silver platter, you can bet they'll decline it again.

Hate Crime?

Hate Crime?

If the driver were a person of pallor and the victim a black, don't you know that this would be called a "hate crime." The New York Times would be condemning all America on its front page and it would be an irrestible camera opportunity for Jesse Jackson.

Jayson Blair, We Can't Even Tell You're Gone

Jayson Blair, We Can't Even Tell You're Gone

I, for one, didn't know what the big deal was about Jayson Blair. The New York Times published fiction before he was on the staff and they've continued to print ideologically driven fiction. Here's another post-Blair example.

Perhaps We Should Ban French Fries Instead

Perhaps We Should Ban French Fries Instead

With great fanfare, and not a little class warfare breast beating, New York banned cell phones in cars, claiming that drivers distracted by cell phones were a traffic hazard. The result - a big nothing. Driving is no safer today than it was before the ban.
Maybe they should try banning drive through fast food. It's well known that eating in a car is more distracting than a cell phone.

I Agree With Michael Kinsley?

I Agree With Michael Kinsley?

Michael Kinsley and I rarely agree on anything. In fact, I can count all the times we've agreed on the thumbs of one hand. That one time is now. I write a weekly column for the Lewiston (Idaho) Morning Tribune and this week's column remarks upon the recent Supreme Court decision on the University of Michigan's racial preference policy.
He devotes an entire column to a point I spend on paragraph on, but he's right. I know that, because he agrees with me.

Snoop Dogg's Scruples

Snoop Dogg's Scruples

Hey! Even raunchy rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg's got standards man. He just ended his association with the "Girls Gone Wild" video series. These series shows girls flashing what they shouldn't to video cameras. Snoop Dogg has hosted some of these videos, but no more. They've offended him. All white girls, it seems.

“IF YOU NOTICE, there hasn’t been no girls of (ethnicity) at all on none of those tapes,” Snoop Dogg complained during a recent interview.
“No black girls, no Spanish girls — all white girls, and that (stuff) ain’t cool.”

So, until the producers of "Girls Gone Wild" start degrading black women, he won't have anymore to do with them.

Bin Laden Escaped Three Times Before 9-11

Bin Laden Escaped Three Times Before 9-11

Three different times prior to the World Trade Center attacks, US officials spotted Usama Bin Laden with predator surveillance planes. But this was before the US had deployed armed Predators. The first successful test of a hellfire-armed Predator was just one month before 9-11. How would the world look today if Bill Clinton had been more supportive of the CIA and national defense? What if we had made more progress on armed Predators during the Clinton years? Hmmm.

I don't like blaming Bill Clinton for everything that happened after he left office, but I just know that Democrats will be blaming Bush for not getting Bin Laden in the few months he had in office before 9-11.

Speaking of predictions, let's all try to guess how many who criticized Bush's pre-emptive war against Saddam Hussein, will find fault with his administration's failure to attack Bin Laden before 9/11/2003.

No Place for Miss Cleo in Chile Either

Chile is no Place for Miss Cleo Either

Fortune tellers are getting run out of Chile's capital city, Santiago. If only we could do the same with economic prognosticators here.

Hope For Bill Clinton

Hope For Bill Clinton
At last, the perfrect girl for Bill. She won't babble to friends

Who Can Understand This?

Who Can Understand This?

As far as I can tell, it's okay to have a system of racial preferences, as long as you don't have an actual policy that can be scrutinized and overthrown. Paul Craig Roberts seems to have come to have arrived at the same interpretation.

How Can We Educate Children in This Environment

How Can We Educate Children in This Environment?

Democrats say that, if your child is in a school like this, you cannot move him or her to another school. Do Democrats really care for children, or are the simply totally loyal the institution of government education.

Make Nice With Commies, or They'll Get You

Make Nice With Commies, or They'll Get You

With even Oliver Stone having some second thoughts about Fidel Castro, it's remarkable that there are still people is the United States Senate who kiss his butt.

European Union to Ban Politically Incorrect Programming

European Union to Ban Politically Incorrect Programming

Programming and commercials deemed "sexist" will be banned within the European Union. Fascism will always always be welcome in its birthplace and incubator.

British Soldiers Killed by Mob

British Soldiers Killed by Mob

Among other things, Iraqis were angered that soldiers pointed their rifles toward children. Maybe if Arabs didn't strap bombs to their children, British soldiers would not find them threatening.

Are Reporters Supposed to do This?

Are Reporters Supposed to do This?
"New York Times reporter Judith Miller played a highly unusual role in an Army unit assigned to search for dangerous Iraqi weapons, according to U.S. military officials, prompting criticism that the unit was turned into what one official called a "rogue operation."

When the United States Army wanted to withdraw the unit Judith Miller was embedded with, she threatened to write harshly critical articles in the New York Times. Of course, the New York Times, being the impartial and unbiased observer and reporter of the news that it is, would never have published vindictive pieces, but it tells us something about the attitude of another of its reporters.

After all, newspapers aren't supposed to affect the news, just report it, right?

This Just in, Hillary's Got a Big Behind

This Just in, Hillary's Got a Big Behind
Some people are just wrapped way too tight. The reed thin Anne Coulter mused that, in a fight, Hillary Clinton would have a 3-1 weight advantage over her.
People were shocked, SHOCKED that Ann Coulter would make such a disrepectful comment about the broad beamed icon.
No doubt, the National Organization for Women will blame Coulter for causing multiple cases of anorexia nervosa.

Feeding the Hungry Equals "Exploitation?"

Feeding the Hungry Equals "Exploitation?"
Environmentalists are exposing themselves for what they really are, simple-minded opponents of progress and resenters of success. The United States is trying to feed the starving with genetically engineered foods. These foods have a number of advantages that should appeal to environmentalists. They require far less insecticide as they have their own defenses engineered in. Secondly, they can produce more food per acre, allowing marginal land to return to a wild state.
But the green weenies are fighting genetically engineered crops and European protectionists are allying themselves with these lunatics. They claim that GMO's (genetically modified organisms) have not been proven safe. How much proof is required? Nobody has ever been injured by a GMO, which gives them a far better safety record than peanuts or unchlorinated municipal water.
The United States is trying to give GMO's to nations ravaged by famine and the Eurogreenies are fighting it. Why? Because if millions of African consume GMO's without detriment to their health, it will drive the final nail in the coffin of their arguments against GMO's.
The Eurogreenies would rather see Africans die than GMO's on grocery store shelves.
Are they racist?

Stand up for the Short and the Ugly

Stand up for the Short and the Ugly
Now that the United States Supreme Court had declared that the quest for equality of outcomes supercedes the Constitution, we may as well go all out on the diversity front.
It's well documented that people of short stature earn much less money than their taller peers and rarely ascend to positions of great responsibility. We need programs that will deny opportunities to all people so short people can take their place.
And then, we need to do something about ugly people too.

Bad News for Library Pornographers

Bad News for Library Pornographers

Librarians will have one less outlet to disseminate pornography from now on.
Libraries used to be a place where parents could safely leave children to the world of books. When I was growing up, there was a library branch at the nearby shopping mall. My mother would drop my brother and me off at the library while she shopped. When she picked us up, we always had a load of wholesome books to keep us busy for a week or two.
You'd have to be crazy to do that now. Libraries not only have smutty books, such as Madonna's dirty picture book of a few years ago, but lately libraries have allowed children to access pornographic sites and have fought local efforts to prevent that.
Now the Supreme Court says the First Amendment is not trampled by such filters.
Now, how librarians and Larry Flynt will have to find another way to corrupt children.

Tom Harkin, Imperious Elitist

Tom Harkin, Imperious Elitist

Remember Tom Harkin? When he ran for president a few years back, he always made a big show of taking off his jacket and tie for the cameras. He wasn't one of those Washington insiders! He was a man of the people - the quintessential common man.
Of course that was all a bunch of Barbra Streisand.
Now we have a fine example of where Tom Harkin views his place in the hierarchy of humanity when he scooted around a long line of travelers waiting to be searched at the airport.
Naturally, his office assures us that it was not as it appeared.
"He was supposed to be on the 10:30 a.m. Midwest Express direct flight to Des Moines, and he had a full schedule of events there," Dobson said. "If he missed that flight, he would have had to cancel a full day of meetings with officials. There were a lot of people who would have been disappointed." Dobson added that as the senator marched to the front of the line in full view of his lessers, he realized that he was risking exposure. "But we were more worried about getting the job done for the people of Iowa than about getting a call from a gossip columnist."

Switzerland Dictates the Menu

Switzerland Dictates the Menu
Switzerland has banned the consumption of giant water bugs within its borders. The bugs, which can grow to more than 3 inches (8 centimeters) in length are considered by some to be a delicacy.
In reality, eating an insect is no different from eating a salad shrimp, but apparently Swiss authorities believe that they have the right to ban others from eating whatever makes them queasy.
On the other hand, I'm glad that the Swiss exercise some authority over their nation's diet. Why would anyone want to eat this?

Well Trained Lap Dogs

Well Trained Lap Dogs
Down boy! Down! Good puppy. Hillary has the press so well trained, she can even dicate what question it may ask of her.
Why does the press let her get away with this? I know of only two politicans who can dictate to the press like this, Hillary Clinton and Jesse Jackson. Neither are ever expected to give direct answers to tough questions. Hillary even forces the press to bid for interviews with her. The currency being, who will ask the most powder puff questions of all. And the winner is, Barbara Walters. The only person I can think of who ever conducted a more groveling interview of Saint Hillary was Eleanor Clift in Newsweek back in the early days of the Clinton Administration.

America's Heading Down the Tubes Again

America's Heading Down the Tubes Again
I can remember back in the late 1970's, a Scientific American article arguing that America's ascendancy was a consequence of a coincidence of several unique historical events (such as World War II) and mineral riches. Further, the article predicted that the influence of those historical events was declining and that America would soon be in decline.
Prominent politicians of the age agreed. Jimmy Carter stated that America would have to adjust to lowered expectations, a sentiment echoe by his primary rival within the Democratic Party, California Governor Jerry Brown. I have no doubt that, if America had not exercised the good sense to send Carter Back to Georgia and keep Brown bottled up in California, we would have continued our descent into Europeanism.
Now, the doomsayers are back. But I will predict that they'll be just as wrong this time as they were last time. As long a America has the good sense to keep Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich and all other like-minded nitwits out of the Oval Office.
America can only stop itself. Nobody else can stand in our way.

No Distraction Here

No Distraction HereThe Greeks discovered that a ship destined for an east African nation was loaded with explosives. I'd bet that someday soon, it will be revealed that the Greeks were tipped off by US intelligence.

Is This It?

Is This It?
According to The Observer, the United States believes they got Saddam. A convoy believed to be carrying the dictator was attacked and blasted to bits with Hellfire Missiles and human remains are being tested for Saddam's DNA.
There have been many false alarms, but this one has the ring of truth. For one thing, it's not on the BBC or in the New York Times?

Opportunistic Morality at the University of Washington

Opportunistic Morality at the University of Washington
In the lowland terrain of college sports, one can occupy the moral high ground and still stand waist deep in a swamp. The University of Washington's Athletic Director, Barbara Hedges, fancies herself a paragon of virtue after firing football coach Rick Neuheisel for alleged untruthfulness regarding his participation in an NCAA Championship basketball pool. As a paragon of honesty herself, she could never tolerate less from a subordinate - particularly after that subordinate has had a bad season.
Ms. Hedges conveniently forgot that Neuheisel's Husky career was launched by deceit. Colorado Buffalo fans were shocked and outraged when Neuheisel was announced as the new Ewe-Dub head football coach at an annual salary of $997,000 per year. Undoubtedly, he had given his Colorado overlords the same pledges of eternal loyalty that he showered Barbara Hedges with when he signed a contract extension early last season.
After facilitating a deception at Colorado, Barbara Hedges was so enamored with her golden boy she has since given him two raises and contract extensions, even though accusations of misconduct at Colorado emerged just weeks after he moved his shingle to Seattle. That misbehavior resulted in Colorado being placed on two years probation. He and UW were also penalized for violations that began immediately after his hiring. After two seasons under this moral cloud, but with an 11-1 season and a Rose Bowl win on his resume, Hedges expressed her moral outrage by giving him a raise to $1.21 million. Dishonesty goes down easier when diluted by victories.
Hedges rewarded another good season and more shady behavior with a contract that was worth about $1.8 million annually. But, after winning ESPN's "bonehead-of-the-week" award, and recording only 7 wins in 13 tries, Hedges' capacity for moral forgiveness was nearly exhausted.
Whether or not a lie is offensive depends upon the motivation for lying. When Rick Neuheisel deceived the University of Colorado to the benefit of the University of Washington, that lie was okay. It is not such a good idea to sneak off to San Francisco to interview for the head coaching position with the San Francisco Fortyniners after a 7-6 season. Such results tend to stoke moral outrage, so it was not a good idea for Neuheisel to claim that he was only in the Bay Area for a round of golf.
Even though Ewe-Dub is the source of most evil and corruption in the western hemisphere, selective outrage at deceit is not unique to Huskies and their fans. A similar scenario played out at old Wazzu when Sam Jankovich, former WSU Athletic Director and later the University of Miami AD began making goo goo eyes at WSU's head football coach Dennis Erickson. On an almost hourly basis, Erickson assured anyone who would listen that he had always been a Cougar, and had no aspirations to coach anywhere else on the planet. He even wiped away a fake tear during an awards ceremony at halftime of a basketball game.
"That means a lot," he wept as the crowd chanted, "Stay, stay, stay..."
At the time, he was only hours from boarding a private jet to the Sunshine State and the riches that Sam Jankovich had squeezed from Miami boosters.
Cougars were outraged. How could he lie to us like that? Well, as I recall, the same people who were so outraged at his deceit were encouraging him to lie to the University of Wyoming. Before signing his contract with WSU, he was right where he wanted to be. He didn't want to coach anywhere else. He had been a Cowboy all of his life and so on.
Coaches lie to their recruits and their parents all the time. To the recruit, coaches will all but promise that they intend to develop the team around his talents, knowing full well that the kid is destined for special teams and the practice squad. Coaches will tell parents that academics come first, and will personally guarantee that their son will graduate with honors, when the real goal is to satisfy minimal requirements for eligibility.
Don't weep for Rick Neuheisel. As good as he is at picking winners in basketball pools, why would Rick Neuheisel want to work for a living anyway?
Weep for a society that is so easily bought off. A two-bit whore has more dignity than the average fan.

Was the Market Place Explosion of Iraqi Origin?

Was the Market Place Explosion of Iraqi Origin?

Way back during the war, there was a much publicized explosion in a Baghdad open-air market that killed scores of Iraqis. The media parroted the official Saddamite line that the explosion was caused by an American missile. Protestations from the US military that all oridinance dropped that day could be accounted for were ignored.
One look at the damage was enough to convince me that this was not an American bomb or missile. Frankly, our bombs make bigger holes.
I suspected that the bomb was detonated by Saddamites who were looking to win a public relations victory, knowing that the leftist media would blame the United States.
This story from a Nicholas Kristoff column in the New York Times tells me that the Iraqi hierarchy was certainly capable of conceiving such a plan. Please note that Nicholas Kristoff is no friend of the Bush Administration, the military or the United States for that matter.

"The hospital staff also said that on the night of March 27, military officials prepared to kill Ms. Lynch by putting her in an ambulance and blowing it up with its occupants — blaming the atrocity on the Americans. The ambulance drivers balked at that idea. Eventually, the plan was changed so that a military officer would shoot Ms. Lynch and burn the ambulance. So Sabah Khazal, an ambulance driver, loaded her in the vehicle and drove off with a military officer assigned to execute her.

"I asked him not to shoot Jessica," Mr. Khazal said, "and he was afraid of God and didn't kill her." Instead, the executioner ran away and deserted the army, and Mr. Khazal said that he then thought about delivering Ms. Lynch to an American checkpoint. But there were firefights on the streets, so he returned to the hospital. (Ms. Lynch apparently never knew how close she had come to execution.)"

Public Opinion Poll Backs United States

Public Opinion Poll Backs United States

While the Democrats and the BBC goes on endlessly about how low an opinion the rest of the world has toward the United States, the people of Iraq like us.

The European Union Leaps Ahead of Reuters

The European Union Leaps Ahead of Reuters
Reuters ("one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter") still resists labeling an organization that sends suicide bombers onto crowded buses and bar mitvahs as "terrorists," but, the European Union is now considering officially applying that label to Hamas.
Such courage!

Oops, this just in, Europeans are considering condemning the holocaust as excessive.

Religion of Peace Update

Religion of Peace Update

The wave of suicide bombings in Israel is being fueled by fatwas from prominent Islamic Clerics.

Arnold Beichman at National Review Online nails it.

"Assuming that each of these terrorists has been a willing accessory, this kind of suicide must come out of a cultural pattern centered on a cult of death worship. And it may be interpretation by Muslim clerics of the Koran that is responsible for this wave of Arab suicides and other acts of terrorism. For example, the Imam Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa, in his Friday, June 6, sermon at the Grand Mosque of Rome, asked for "Allah's help in the destruction of the homes and destruction of the enemies of Islam, for their annihilation, and the victory everywhere of the Nation of Islam."

Orin Hatch Would Approve

Orin Hatch Would Approve
If Orin Hatch thinks it okay to destroy the computers of those who violate copyright laws, then I'm sure he would approve of this too.

The Democrats, Addicted to and Repulsed by the Clintons

The Democrats, Addicted to and Repulsed by the Democrats.
The Democratic Party cannot give up its addiction to the Clintons. Nobody in the party can raise money like the Clintons and everybody seeks out the Clintons for political advice. The Clintons have managed to intall their groupies at every level of the Democratic party apparatus.
But, the rank and file who actually put marks on ballots find both Clintons repulsive.
This addiction should help maintain the Democrats in the minority indefinitely.

Be Afraid Mullahs, Be Very Afraid

Be Afraid Mullahs, Be Very Afraid
What better time than now? We are on Iran's eastern border, and its western border. We don't have to waste months building up our forces. And, the Iranian people want us to liberate them.
Let's get it over with. Then, we can turn our full attention to North Korea.

Pryor to Feingold: "Kiss my Butt!"

Pryor to Feingold: "Kiss my Butt!"
Feingold demanded information. Pryor told him where to find it and to go get it himself. Feingold is outraged.

New Zealand to Tax Flatulence

New Zealand to Tax Flatulence
If any more evidence that the Kyoto Protocols were just an excuse to raise taxes, consider this news item from New Zealand - the government there plans to impose a tax upon cattle because their flatulence contributes to global warming.
Will somebody explain to me how taxing farts will reduce their incidence.
If this works, I want to tax stupidity.

Saddam is Dead

Saddam is Dead
The proof is here.

Piss Off a Liberal, Buy Ann Coulter's Book

Piss Off a Liberal, Buy Ann Coulter's Book
Ann Coulter is outselling Hillary Clinton. And Ann Coulter didn't even get a powder puff interview with Barbara Walters.

Whiteness Studies

Whiteness Studies


I have often said that any college or university that has a Women's Studies department cannot legitimately claim to be short of operating funds. Every year my alma mater calls me pleading poverty and asking for a donation. I always ask if it still has a Women's Studies department. The answer is always yest. So, I reply that UC Davis already has more money than it nees. When a university spends the money it has so frivolously, how can it say that it needs even more?

I would add "Whiteness Studies" to that list.

To give you an sense of the paucity of scholarship that goes into this politically correct drivel, consider Arlene Avakian's thesis that Thomas Jefferson invented racism.

To prove it, she dredges up this quote from Jefferson's writings: “I advance it, as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.”


By the way, Avakian doesn't just teach Whiteness Studies, she is the chair of the University of Massachussetts' Women’s Studies department, proving that idiocy liberates one to be ignorant in as many of these politically correct academic disciplines as you want.

“Jefferson believed in majority rule, but what majority was he in?” said historian James O. Horton of George Washington University. “He wasn’t in the majority in terms of gender. He wasn’t in the majority in terms of class. The only majority he was in was race.”
These idiots are so blind that they cannot comprehend that Jefferson was referring to a majority of opinion.

This is where your tuition money is going mom and dad.

Thou Shall Not Speak the Truth About the French

Thou Shall Not Speak the Truth About the French
In the end, everyone will know about French corruption, except the French.
If memory serves, a journalist was recently fined for criticizing the French government. Now, a judge has blocked publication of a book detailing corruption in the French government managed oil company ELF.
Liberals love France, where political correctness rules.

Iranian Revolution

Iranian Revolution
Frustrated by the lack of network coverage on the Iranian Revolution? Help is here.

Racism? What Racism?

Racism? What Racism?
When Austria briefly had a racist prime minister, the country found itself an international pariah. Will Malaysia suffer a similar fate? Of course not. We have much lower expectations for both Muslims and non-whites.

Two Good Bits of Information

Two Good Bits of Information
One post, two interesting stories. First of all, Howard Dean is pretending that he's not as close to the homosexual lobby as he really is. Why?
Secondly, Hillary Clinton is making bulk purchases of her book from retail stores a prerequisite for her appearance at fundraisers. In other words, she wants to put money in her pocket just at the fringes of Senate ethics rules. This woman is a snake.

Why Doesn't This Iranian Revolution Rate Coverage?

Why Doesn't This Iranian Revolution Rate Coverage?
In the late 1970's, the Shah of Iran was overthrown by the Islamic revolution. Every night, we were treated to network coverage of Iranians chanting, "Death to America!"
It turned out that much of that chanting was actually orchestrated by the networks.
But now, Iran's on the brink of another revolution, but you'd never know it by watching CBS, NBC or ABC.
Why is that? Shouldn't it be of some interest if the second member of the Axis of Evil was about to fall?
The answer is obvious. But read this anyway.

What's Hotter Than Teenaged Love?

What's Hotter Than Teenaged Love?
Nothing that I know of. I was once a teenager, and somehow, I don't think teenagers have changed enough in one generation to make this a good idea.

Crap as Art

Crap as Art
It's no longer hyperbole to say that modern art is crappy.

Coming Soon, A Network for Insomniacs

Coming Soon, A Network for Insomniacs
Please God, make this happen!
I would like nothing better than for a bunch of liberals to pour all the money that they might have donated to Democrats into Al Gore's new network.
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Igraham, and G. Gordon Liddy will have material to keep us laughing for many, many years, until the Left runs out of money.

John Kerry Has a Big But

John Kerry Has a Big But
You can always tell by the tone of voice, when somebody has a big but coming. what do I mean by that, well John Kerry has a big but.
John Kerry is glad that Saddam Hussein is out of power and he's glad that the United States won the war and of course, he supports our troops, but.........

Jetliner Missing?

Jetliner Missing?
Intelligence services have been seeking stolen Boeing 727 for about 3 weeks now. The plane would make a particularly lethal weapon as is was fitted as a tanker, rather than a passenger plane. It could carry a lot of fuel or explosives and would make an efficient missile if a suicide terrorist were at the controls.
A number of explanations have been offered for the plane's disappearance, including that the heist was actually a repossession.
I have my own, based upon Democratic Party reasoning. The plane never really existed in the first place.

Is Iran Next?

Is Iran Next?
According to the Evening Standard, United States Special Forces are already operating inside Iran, preparing for regime change there.
Is it true? I hope so.

azadi, arak, eshgh!

Delicious Irony Department

Delicious Irony Department
I find myself in partial agreement with French Foreign Minister and John Kerry look-alike, Dominique de Villepin. He refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization, preferring to describe them as a "mass movement."
Now I disagree with Villepin with Villepin regarding whether or not Hamas is a terrorist organization. Hamas clearly is terrorist. If an organization that bombs crowded buses is not terrorist, then the word has no meaning. But, I do agree that Hamas is a "mass movement," in the gastroenterological sense.

Economic Specialization

Economic Specialization
It's usually a good idea to find what you do well and concentrate your efforts on doing that one thing as best you can. But this might be overdoing it.

Freedom is Our Fault

Freedom is Our Fault
Iran's Islamo-fascist theocracy is blaming the United States for encouraging pro-democracy demonstrations in Tehran.
What has them so upset? It's statements like this: “This is the beginning of people expressing themselves toward a free Iran which I think is positive,” Bush said.
Gee, how does that compare with Iran's mullahs calling us "The Great Satan" or advocating, "Death to America."
I think we have the moral high ground here. I hope to see the day when Iran's mullahs are hanging by their heels, rather like Mussolini.

How Can "The Passion" be Anti-Semitic?

How Can "The Passion" be Anti-Semitic?
It's no secret that Mel Gibson's conservative Catholicism rubs the politically correct the wrong way. And so, it's hardly surprising that he is being accused of anti-Semitism with his new movie, "The Passion," which represents the last hours of Christ's life.
In case somebody has forgotten, Jesus Christ was a Jew.

I Say, Let's Get it On!

I Say, Let's Get it On!
Patrick Leahy believes that, for the good of the country, George Bush should surrender his authority to nominate judges to - Patrick Leahy.
If Patrick Leahy wants to nominate Supreme Court justices, perhaps he should try doing it the old fashioned way, by winning a presidential election.
What Leahy really wants is for Bush to spare Democrats having to expose themselves as the fools, extremists and obstructionists they are. Leahy knows that his party lost seats in the last election because middle America saw them for what they are.
They can't change their behavior without alienating their far-left wing base. So, they want Bush to simply surrender both his legal and moral authority to them so they won't get beaten quite so badly in 2004.
As I say, let's get it on. After 2004, Leahy and his boys won't have enough votes to sustain a filibuster.

Lake Woebegon Dreams

Lake Woebegon Dreams
A Sacramento City Councilwoman is upset because half the kids in California score below the 50th. percentile in standardized statewide tests. Think about it.

Canned Hunts in China

Canned Hunts in China
If you see an animal in a Chinese zoo that you'd like to take home with you? Well, give the zoo some money and they'll let you shoot it.

The World's Worst Job?

The Worlds Worst Job?
Get an education, or you might be doing this for a living.

Was Rachel Corrie Murdered?

Was Rachel Corrie Murdered?
Rachel Corrie posthumously graduated for Evergreen State College (Washington) today. She accomplished this for supposedly being murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces. Was she? Check the evidence.

The French Libeate Themselves

The French Libeate Themselves
The French are on a humanitarian mission in the Congo. And as they are doing in Liberia, they are only interested in protecting themselves.

Hamas Marches

Hamas Marches
Notice how big and brave Hamas terrorists are? They strut through the streets, but use their own children as human shields.

Pregnant Woman Impaled, Unborn Baby Survives

Pregnant Woman Impaled, Unborn Baby Survives
If a fetus is just another body part, then why does this story matter?

Man Uses Bees to Rob Kmart

Man Uses Bees to Rob Kmart
Now we need bee registration

Oh, That Liberal Biased Media

Oh, That Liberal Biased Media
Tom Daschle has benefitted all throughout his political life from favorable coverage from South Dakota's largest circulation paper. Now we know why.

I Guess Bill Clinton Genuinely Loved Juanita Broderick

I Guess Bill Clinton Genuinely Loved Juanita Broderick
After Bill Clinton physically attacked and threatened to pummel political strategist Dick Morris, Hillary tried to smooth things over by telling Morris, "He only does that to people he loves."

Indonesia Needs Spear Registration

Indonesia Needs Spear Registration

A dispute over severance packages for laid off employees resulted in the employees attacking their Swedish supervisor with spears.
"Michael Olsson was stabbed in the back and slashed in the face at a meeting with the workers last week in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, police said."

Environmentalism Kills

Environmentalism Kills

The European Union's irrational prejudice against genetically modified crops is now killing Africans. Europe's campaign against United States food exports has essentially forced starving nations to decline free food offered them by the United States.

"They basically are saying it is better a million people starve to death than eat perfectly nutritious genetically modified food from the U.S. where people have been eating it for 10 years without negative effect," said Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore. Moore has since broken with Greenpeace.


Other nations have also rejected GM food. Thai government officials refused to accept "golden rice," which has been cross-pollinated with daffodils to add pro-Vitamin A to Asian diets, helping to prevent blindness in children. Rice is a major staple of the Thai diet but detractors say golden rice seed, made by British and German companies for export, has not been proven beneficial.

Moore said no science backs up claims that genetically modified foods can cause disease, and said scare tactics are inexcusable.

"They refuse the corn because of scare tactics by environmentalists. They say it's poisoned and contaminated, that's the way GM is described in the developing world," Moore said.

France and Germany Gave us the War

France and Germany Enabled the War
A long time ago, I wrote that France, Germany and for that matter, all anti-war protesters were increasing the probability of war by encouraging Saddam Hussein. He actually believed that he could be saved by the doves. Hans Blix, in his warped way, agrees with me

List of Liars

List of Liars
A great many Democrats are trying to paint George W. Bush as a warmonger who lied to the world about Iraq's weapons of indiscriminate slaughter program to justify the war. If it's true that Bush lied about the WMD program, then here's a list of other liars.

Is France Dead?

Is France Dead?
No, but it's dying. Since Louis XIV, France has struggled to preserve the purity of its culture. Unforturnately, as demonstrated in two wars last century, that culture includes behaving as a cheap whore when circumstances ask her to. And, behaving as a cheap whore is what she's doing now, lying down and spreading her legs for Islam. I actually heard a French diplomat during an interview with Bill O'Reilly say that Chirac had to behave as he did toward the United States because 10% of all voters in France were Muslim. Chirac was selling out for electoral expediency. He's a whore exceeding Clinton's proportions.
Yes, France is dying. And though it may be hard to believe, something even worse is growing in its place.

It's Not Easy Being Green

It's Not Easy Being Green
It's much easier to be brown and to line your pockets with green.

"Ciaran Cuffe is a Green Party member of the Irish parliament, and its environment spokesman. It turns out that he has, according to the Irish Examiner (registration required) a $1.3 million stock portfolio:
The Green Party TD for Dun Laoghaire and environment spokesman has, according to his declaration of interests, shares in Chevron Texaco, which was fined for pollution offences in Angola; General Electric, which has a nuclear division and arms links and Procter & Gamble which was convicted of water pollution in Nenagh.
The environmentalist politician also earns dividends from the activities of Schering Plough, which was fined for breaches of drug manufacturing standards and Johnson & Johnson one of the world’s top five companies involved in animal vivisection.

The Times Long History of Ideological Truth Bending

The Times Long History of Ideological Truth Bending
It didn't start with Howell Raines or Jayson Blair. The Times has been twisting the truth to suit its ideology for a long time. Now, it might be losing a Pulitzer Prize for dishonest reporting - in 1932.

Those "Lost" Museum Pieces

Those "Lost" Museum Pieces
So, the world has not lost its heritage after all. Will the New York Times, under its new leadership apologize?

Housing Projects for Toads

Housing Projects for Toads
And no, this is not Davis, California. To keep environmental wackos and animal rights terrorists mollified, resort contractors are building little homes for toads.
By the way, in Davis, they built a toad underpass so that toads would not be squashed crossing roads. It didn't work. The toads didn't like that tunnels that were built for them at considerable expense and took their chances crossing streets on the road surface.

Weapons of Mass Destruction? We Don't Need No Stinking Weapons of Mass Destruction

Weapons of Mass Destruction? We Don't Need No Stinking Weapons of Mass Destruction
Mona Charen gets it right. Even if we fail to find a popgun in Iraq, we did the right thing by saving that country and that whole region of the world from Saddam Hussein.
By the way, the Dissident Frogman Agrees.

Don't Save the Muslims?

Don't Save the Muslims?
Nicholas Kristoff thinks the world would be safer if Christians would stop trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. Tell me how the world would be safer if we converted these people to a real religion of peace.

NPR's Anti-Semitism

NPR's Anti-Semitism
NPR is growing entirely too French. Apparently, they are happy to let Arabs exterminate Jews for them too.

Brad DeLong on Hillary Clinton as President

Brad DeLong on Hillary Clinton as President
Brad DeLong served on Hillary Clinton's Health Care Task Force. He recalls his experience and give his reasons why she should never be anywhere near the White House ever again.

Oh Hell! Here's the whole thing. I won't tell you to read evey word. You won't be able to stop anyway.

Time to Pound My Head Against the Wall Once Again
The Economist's Lexington correpondent devotes a full page to Hillary Rodham Clinton (with a time out for slams at Sidney Blumenthal for being a "brown-noser" and Paul Krugman for being "shrill"):
... wronged woman... staggering revelations... Clintonia... that bitchy, chaotic house party.... Since September 11th, the United States has had more important things to think about.... Mrs Clinton's past... future... an incredibly potent force... a heroine... a hate-figure... the most likely next Democratic president... "Draft Hillary"... conservative... capacity to elicit frenzied support from her core constituency... money... volunteers... Mrs Clinton's credibility with the left has also allowed her to move further to the centre... she does not have to buy the left's support... self-discipline... Senate campaign in 2000... impressively tank-like... broadening her experience... constituency work... Democratic givers... successful senator from a large and rich state... name recognition... support of many women... embodies the Democratic America that won the popular vote in 2000....
Read the column--it's a long column. Reflect upon several facts. First, almost all of the column is "inside political baseball" of little use to anyone who is not a serious political junkie. Second, "Lexington" doesn't like Hillary Rodham Clinton or Bill Clinton or Paul Krugman or Sid Blumenthal--but doesn't bother to say why. Third, there is nothing in the column to give the reader any information about whether Hillary Rodham Clinton would make a good president, or about whether "Lexington" thinks Hillary Rodham Clinton would make a good president. Is there anything else that readers--most of whom are Americans, most of whom vote--more need to learn than whether Hillary Rodham Clinton would make a good president? No, there isn't. So why does "Lexington" spend so much time on insider political baseball and trying to settel scores? Why doesn't he do something useful with his space--like tell us whether he thinks Hillary Rodham Clinton would make a better president than George W. Bush (almost surely) or would make a good president (almost surely not)?
We really do need a better press corps. We need one very badly. "Lexington" spends more time watching Hillary Rodham Clinton than almost every single one of his readers: almost all of his readers would value--and badly need to know--his judgment about whether she would make a good president. But this is the one thing "Lexington" does not talk about.
My two cents' worth--and I think it is the two cents' worth of everybody who worked for the Clinton Administration health care reform effort of 1993-1994--is that Hillary Rodham Clinton needs to be kept very far away from the White House for the rest of her life. Heading up health-care reform was the only major administrative job she has ever tried to do. And she was a complete flop at it. She had neither the grasp of policy substance, the managerial skills, nor the political smarts to do the job she was then given. And she wasn't smart enough to realize that she was in over her head and had to get out of the Health Care Czar role quickly.
So when senior members of the economic team said that key senators like Daniel Patrick Moynihan would have this-and-that objection, she told them they were disloyal. When junior members of the economic team told her that the Congressional Budget Office would say such-and-such, she told them (wrongly) that her conversations with CBO head Robert Reischauer had already fixed that. When long-time senior hill staffers told her that she was making a dreadful mistake by fighting with rather than reaching out to John Breaux and Jim Cooper, she told them that they did not understand the wave of popular political support the bill would generate. And when substantive objections were raised to the plan by analysts calculating the moral hazard and adverse selection pressures it would put on the nation's health-care system...
Hillary Rodham Clinton has already flopped as a senior administrative official in the executive branch--the equivalent of an Undersecretary. Perhaps she will make a good senator. But there is no reason to think that she would be anything but an abysmal president.

Russia Figures it Out

Russia Figures it Out
I guess Russia would prefer that Chechen rebels not set a nuke off in downtown Moscow. That's probably why they're withdrawing their assistance from Iran's nuclear program.

Racial Quotas Opposed by 80%

Racial Quota Opposed by 80%
An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that America is enriched by its diversity. An equally large majority oppose racial preferences as a means to achieve diversity. Nevertheless, the Democrats and their media lapdogs will always describe those who oppose racial set asides as "extremists."

The French Have it All Figure Out

The French Have it All Figure Out
The French have pampered their labor unions for decades. And this is what it gets them. France has been paralyzed by public employee strikes. Public school teachers have struck 12 times this academic year.
Another day in paradise. No wonder Democrats hold France up as the ideal state.

French Only Care About Whitey

French Only Care About Whitey
There's a civil war in Liberia. Innocents are being slaughtered. The French are on the scene, but only to evacuate Europeans. Then, they're going home and are going to allow the Liberians to slaughter each other.

Ve Are Only Doink This For Your Own Good

Ve Are Only Doink This For Your Own Good
First we learn that British politicians are trying to bail out their socialized medical system by forcing the obese to diet and exercise and smokers to quit as a condition of receiving medical care. Now we learn that they want to control everybody by taxing incorrect foods.

Let the Palestinians Do Europe's Dirty Work?

Let The Palestinians Do Europe's Dirty Work?
Those gas chamber are so 1940's. Today's modern European subcontracts his holocaust to the lower classes, the Arabs.

More Evidence of European Anti-Semitism

More Evidence of European Antisemitism
Christopher Hitchens notes the obvious, that anti-Semitism is on the rise among European intellectuals.

The World is Doomed

The World is Doomed
This just in! The world is doomed. A scientist puts the odds of the world coming to a crashing end at 50-50. Unless we elect Hillary Clinton president, I think our odds of survival are at a minimum 80-20.

The Clintons Miss Their Stooge

The Clintons Miss Their Stooge
The New York Times doesn't like the book written by Hillary's three ghost writers. The reviewer sees it for what it was and frankly, for what most of us knew it would be. Howell Raines never would have permitted criticism of the Clintons to sully the pages of the Times when he was running the show. No wonder Bill Clinton tried so hard to save his job.

Two leitmotifs run through Hillary Rodham Clinton's wildly hyped new memoir, "Living History." One has to do with her changing hairstyles, which are discussed in detail at least a half dozen times, as they morphed with Madonna-like frequency from long to short, from frizzy to hair-banded to carefully coiffed.
The other has to do with Mrs. Clinton's penchant for blaming enemies, from political opponents to a "vast right-wing conspiracy," for her and her husband's failures and travails.
The first underscores the chameleonlike quality she's always shared with her husband, the belief, as he once put it, that character "is a journey, not a destination." The second underscores both the highly partisan atmosphere of the 1990's and the Clintons' reluctance to assume full responsibility for their own mistakes and evasions.

For this reason, I have no plans to buy or read the book. If I'm going to be lied to, the liar has to do it for free and make it brief. I value both my money and my time.

And, the reviewer sees understands that Hillary isn't satisfied with the $8 million she's being paid for this book. The point of this book is the political rehabilitation of her last name so that she may satisfy her insatiable political ambitions.

She is every bit as greedy for a place in history books as her husband is, she just doesn't talk about it all the time.

... "Living History," which for all its roller-coaster drama — all the political scandals, marital woes and startling comebacks and reinventions — radiates the faintly stale air (particularly unnerving in the audio versions of the memoir) of being the carefully rehearsed and elided statements of a professional pol intent on turning a book tour into the first leg of another campaign.

I Sure Hope This Is Tony Blair's Daughter

I Sure Hope This Is Tony Blair's Daughter
Lay off the vino Tony.

What Was That About a Religion of Peace?

What Was That About a Religion of Peace?
Hamas supporters, many of them obviously very young voiced their rejection of any peace settlement with Israel.
How is it that all those sophisticated Europeans, who are barely two generations removed from the Holocaust, are so enamoured with such murderous anti-semites as Hamas and the Yasir Arafat.
Oh, yeah! Maybe it's because they are only two generations removed from the Holocaust.

The Religion of Peace Strikes Again!

The Religion of Peace Strikes Again!
Muslims are threatening to assinate the pope.
"a Croatian Catholic news agency had received e-mails threatening to kill Pope John Paul II "in the name of Allah."
The e-mails, signed by the "Islamic Front of el-Mujahadeen" and addressed to "the infidels," appeared to have originated in neighboring Bosnia, said Interior Ministry spokeswoman Zinka Bardic."

Eric Rudolph's Career Options

Eric Rudolph's Career Options
With a resume that is crowned by a bomb detonated at a clinic that killed unborn babies, it makes perfect sense that someday, Eric Rudolph should step up into a career suing those who deliver babies. At least two famous bombers from the Seventies have found their way into law schools and have since embarked upon distinguished careers in the profession of law. So why shouldn’t Eric Rudolph schedule his LSAT exam?
Eric Rudolph is accused of setting the Olympic Park bomb in Atlanta in 1996. In 1998, he is believed to have detonated a bomb at an Alabama abortion mill, known euphemistically as a women’s health clinic. That latter bomb killed an off duty cop and maimed a receptionist. After a five year manhunt, Eric Rudolph was finally arrested while rummaging for a meal in a garbage dumpster. He has spent most of his time while on the lamb living off the land in the woods of western North Carolina.
Were he to choose a legal career, he would be preceded by a couple of other prominent bombers, David Fine and Bernardine Dohrn. Both of these Seventies radicals received their law degrees after confessing to bombings intended to protest the Viet Nam war.
Dohrn detonated dozens of bombs, including one in a ladies room at the United State Capital building. She was eventually caught, but served no prison time as part of a plea bargain. Afterwards, Bernardine Dohrn was accepted to the University of Chicago Law School. She is currently on the faculty of the Northwestern University law school where she serves as director of the Children and Family Justice Center, which she founded.
Along with three accomplices, David Fine exploded a car bomb against the Army Math Research Center in Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The blast killed Robert Fassnacht, a 33 year-old post-doctoral student who was working late that night. After a few years underground, Fine was captured, but served only three years in prison. He was later accepted to and graduated from the University of Oregon law school.
The path is not entirely clear for Eric Rudolph. One problem that will certainly hinder his career path are his imperfect motives. Violence committed in the cause of a leftist agenda is always given a presumption of good intentions. Crimes such as Dohrn and Fine’s are more quickly forgiven than something truly heinous, like voting for a tax cut or driving an SUV.
Presumption of good intentions is something liberals can always rely upon. After then presidential candidate Jimmy Carter famously announced in 1976 his support for neighborhoods that wished to maintain their “ethnic purity,” he was quickly excused by a press that would have torn a Republican to shreds. A declaration by Carter that he did not mean that blacks could be excluded from white neighborhoods was swallowed whole and digested easily. Compare the lifespan of Carter’s misstep to Dan Quayle’s misspelling of “potato.”
More recently, when the Democratic National Committee wanted to cut costs, it handed out layoff slips to 10 employees, all of whom were black. Was this racist? No, of course not. And how do we know that? Terry McCauliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee said it wasn’t and that’s all that needs to be said on that matter. Were the Republicans to commit a similar faux pas, no amount of explanation would do.
Although he is tainted by ideological impurity, Rudolph does have a couple of liberal marks in his favor. Living in the woods for 5 years gives him Theodore Kaczynski credentials. Theodore Kaczynski, otherwise known as “The Unabomber,” was hailed as misguided great thinker after the New York Times published his manifesto. Aside from his superior writing skills, the Unabomber’s ramblings are largely indistinguishable from those found in Al Gore’s, “Earth in the Balance.”
And by dining from dumpsters, Rudolph can claim to be a pioneer of the “freegan” movement. Freegans (rhymes with vegans) are notable for eating only food they can acquire free of charge from garbage cans. Their diet is a protest against food wastage in this country.
Nevertheless, if Eric Rudolph wishes to cash in upon his new celebrity, he will have more hurdles to overcome than the typical liberal. Or, he could just run for the Senate, like former Klansman Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia.

Anyone Suffering Karen Finley Nostalgia Should Check This Out

Anyone Suffering Karen Finley Nostalgia Should Check This Out
At least she's not getting any taxpayer money for this. Karen Finley last made the news when she was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for covering herself in chocolate syrup, inserting broccoli florets into various body orifices, and complaining about the first George Bush.
Now, she and her friends (called the Women's Action Coalition, or appropriately WAC) are planning to protest the current George Bush by, "One by one, over 250 women will condemn the Bush administration for destroying our basic American freedoms. Each accusation will be answered by the WACos with a scream of rage and resistance, fury and frustration."
The protest is expected to last for two hours. Should be fun. I'll wait for the condensed version.

Heal the Planet, Drive Your SUV!

Heal the Planet, Drive Your SUV!
And keep your thermostat up in the winter. Climate change is making the planet greener. Go for it!

US Soldiers Winning the Hearts of the Iraqis

US Soldiers Winning the Hearts of the Iraqis
You won't learn this if you read the New York Times, rely upon CNN, CBS or ABC for your news, but Iraqis are continuing to warm to American soldiers.

Performance Art in Washington

Performance Art in Washington
Is there a law against this in Washington? I'm not so sure. After all, a man who used a mirror to take photos up women's dresses had all charges dismissed against him when a judge ruled that no Washington law forbade the activity.

It's All About the Clintons

It's All About the Clintons
When will the Democratic Party stop worshipping the Clintons and recognize them for the selfish, personally ambitious people they are? At some point, this is going to cost the Clintons dearly. Not even the Democratic Party is a North Korean style cult of personality. At least I hope it isn't.

Is Support for Abortion an Extreme View?

Is Support for Abortion an Extreme View?
When the country was evenly split on the morality of abortion, a politician who espoused a pro-life view could expect to be labelled as an extremist by the ever-vigilent-and-unbiased press. So what will they say now that the pro-life view enjoys the support of a considerable majority of the population?

Kurdish Babies Buried Alive

Kurdish Babies Buried Alive
Do Liberals really want to challenge the justification for the war against Saddam Hussein. A mass grave containing the remains of 200 babies has been discovered in Iraq. It is believed that they were buried alive. Never again?

Yassir Arafat, Man of Peace

Yassir Arafat, Man of Peace
Expect Nobel Peace Prize winner Yassir Arafat to do all he can to obstruct peace.

Just How Stupid Is Barbra Streisand?

Just How Stupid Is Barbra Streisand?

Democrats treat Barbra Streisand as a great intellectual. She agrees. So why is she so dumb?

Hitler-Saddam Comparison

Apologists who sniff at comparisons between Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler, simply don't know history. The Baath Party is a direct descendent of Hitler's Nazi Party. But even those "don't know much about history" should have their eyes opened as evidence of Saddam's crimes against humanity are revealed.
Slobodon Milosevic's crimes were miniscule compared to Saddam's, but liberals cheered when Clinton attacked Serbia.
It just goes to show, it's the politics and not principle that animates Democrats.

Democrats Who Abandon Gun Control "Should be shot."

Democrats Who Abandon Gun Control "Should be shot."

Blaine Rummel, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence advises Democrats to stand by gun control. "The Democrats ran away from gun safety in the 2002 elections, and look where it got them," Mr. Rummel said. "Whoever is advising them on gun control should be shot."

Gee, that doesn't impress me as being particularly non-violent.

Will Eric Rudolf Become A Law Professor Someday?

Will Eric Rudolf Become A Law Professor Someday?
Now that the suspected Olympic bomber Eric Rudolf has been captured, we may speculate on his fate. Somehow, I don't think he'll end up on the faculty of a prominent law school as Bernardine Dohrn has. Brenadine Dohrn made a name for herself by planting mulitiple bombs, including one a the United States capital building.
Or, how about David Fine? He bombed the University of Wisconsin's Sterling Hall and killed one professor, did $6 million in damage, and served a couple of years in prison for the crime. He was awarded a law degree from the University of Oregon and now practices law in the Northwest.
Somehow, I don't think Eric Rudolf will be admitted to any law schools, let alone be hired on their faculties. Left-wing bombers are always given the presumption of good intentions, even if their means are just a little bit misguided.

Has Washington Finally Driven Boeing Out Of The State?

Has Washington Finally Driven Boeing Out Of The State?

Somehow the whole idea of Washington without Boeing is almost unimaginable. Boeing is a Washington institution. Boeing is as integral a part of Washington as is the Grand Coulee Dam or the Space Needle. But now Washington finds itself confronting the very real possibility that Boeing will be easing itself out of the state completely. Boeing will soon begin the manufacture of its latest model, the 7E7. And shockingly, it is considered probable that the plane will be assembled in a state other than Washington. If that happens, it's likely that at some point in the future, all aircraft manufacturing will leave the state.
Why would Boeing want to do that? Washington already has a skilled, experienced workforce in place. Were Boeing to move its manufacturing elsewhere, it would have to train new employees. Boeing already has extensive physical facilities in Washington. Assembling planes elsewhere would require a massive construction project. So why is Washington considered such a long shot to win the new 7E7?
It's no secret that Washington has exhausted Boeing Chairman Phil Condit's patience. Two years ago, Boeing moved its corporate offices to Chicago. That should have been a clue, but sometimes it's not all that easy to get a donkey's attention. So before leaving, Condit sat down for a palaver with governor Gary Locke and ticked off the issues he had with the state. His complaints ranged from a tyrannical regulatory climate, to oppressive labor laws, to a predatory anti-business and anti-institutional culture.
Indeed, this problem predates the present governor. Several years ago, Boeing threatened to leave after its building permits were stalled in the Department of Ecology's bureaucratic never-never land. It was only after Boeing threatened to move manufacturing to Kansas that then governor Mike Lowry grudgingly consented to call his environmental apparatchiks to heel. Recently the construction of a third runway at Sea-Tac Airport, a project very much desired by Boeing, has been mired for roughly a decade in similar environmental thumb twiddling.
As for the labor climate, of the ten states openly courting Boeing, seven are right to work states. Washington's Democratic Party knows very well that it would be nowhere without its union constituency. And politicians are infinitely more interested in their reelection climate than in the state's business climate.
And finally, there is the west side's cultural hostility toward tradition. Bedrock institutions, whether they be the military or Boeing, are held in contempt. This hostility manifests itself by the politicians that West-siders elect to office. Could Jim McDermott be elected to Congress if the voters did not believe that Saddam Hussein was more deserving of trust than George Bush? Could the venomously anti-military Seattle City Council have been elected in a city populated by people who honored a soldier's sacrifice? The Wahhabiism of the west side's cultural elite does more to nurture rock-throwing anti-WTO protestors and environmental terrorism than it does to nurture business.
During his interview with Locke, Condit reportedly cited a Seattle Times smear piece on Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as evidence of the state's attitude. Had the conversation occurred later, Condit could have included KIRO television's terribly dishonest attack upon the Washington beef industry. Washingtonians seem addicted to biting the hands that feed them. It's too bad that Seattleistas have so poisoned Phil Condit's view of the entire state. Boeing would find a more appreciative population on this side of the Cascades.
What does it take to get a liberal's attention? As Joan Colllins once phrased it, "you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone." Two years after Boeing moved its corporate headquarters out of Washington, the state has done precious little to create a more nurturing environment for business. It's very easy to take for granted those things that have always been. Boeing has been a part of the fabric of Washington since Bill Boeing founded the company in 1916. Since then, Washington's liberal politicians have treated Boeing as a powerless vassal from which it could extract tribute and upon which they could impose dictates.
And now, they've dealt what is likely a mortal blow to a huge sector of Washington's economy. Oh sure, 747's, 757's and 767's will be built here until they are obsolete. But someday they will be obsolete. And their successors will be built where business is appreciated.

Barbra Streisand's House

Barbra Streisand's House
Want to see Barbra one of Barbra Streisand's houses? She suing this website for $50 million for posting this. She says it invades her privacy. I say it exposes her environmentalist hypocrisy. I just wonder, did The Nature Conservancy get her a good deal on this place?

The Myth of Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes

The Myth of Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes
Although our Muslim brothers dance in the street after a suicide bombing, we in the United States generally abhor hate. And so, after 9-11, when liberals starting lecturing about not exacting revenge against all Muslims, I thought it was unneccessary. I have faith in Americans to be better people than that. It seems I was right.
Of course, the liberals who put these advertisements on the air will credit themselves with preventing a wave of hate, but I think that like me putting a scarecrow in my garden to keep the elephants out.