Posted 7/22/2002 03:54:00 PM by Justin
I'D LIKE TO SEE MORE OF THIS:

'A father of four told last night how he beat up a man who he said had abused him for six years as a child.'

Posted 7/22/2002 03:46:00 PM by Justin
THIS WOULD BE SAD IF IT WEREN'T SO FUNNY: Lindsey found this startling graphic, from an article on Vegsource.com, on "What Americans Are Really Eating"-

Posted 7/22/2002 03:09:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ(S) OF THE DAY: Strictly for the sports nuts.

The New York Times Magazine put together an interesting article on the cult of sportcasters and sports news. Why do legions of males who follow their every word? There are profiles of John Madden, Tim McCarver, Charles Barkley and more.

'And as was obvious to Disney when it bought ESPN in 1995 and to anyone who has been to Bristol and has seen the Pentagonian girth of its headquarters, hard-core sports fans are not a fringe cult. With the odd allowance for extreme mathematical or artistic ability and eccentric parenting, they include pretty much every heterosexual male in America.'

As a compliment to this article, check out ESPN.com's Bill Simmons, who recently took an all-access trip behind the scenes of "Inside the NBA," the "postgame show that occasionally improves on the ratings from the actual game."

RELATED NOTE: Jim Caple of ESPN.com lists his 30 worst moments in baseball history. And Page 2 has the 10 most shocking moments in baseball history.

Posted 7/22/2002 11:31:00 AM by Justin
BAD BAD BAD:

'The Major League Baseball Players Association has tentatively targeted Sept. 16 as a strike date, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.'

If all those greedy shits deny me the chance to experience another Yankees' World Series run, I will seriously consider abandoning the sport...

Posted 7/22/2002 11:14:00 AM by Justin
CALL ME SODJU ROFOR: Why? That's my "Star Wars" name! What's yours?

Take the test.

Posted 7/22/2002 11:05:00 AM by Justin
THIS IS VERY INTERESTING:

'Baseball teams would play better if coaches did away with the traditional batting line-up, suggest mathematicians. They say that putting the best batter second, rather than the customary fourth, can substantially improve team performance. Surprisingly, the weakest hitter should not bat last.'

(Link via GeekPress)

Posted 7/22/2002 11:01:00 AM by Justin
WHAT IS LAW? BABY DON'T HURT ME...: Steven Den Beste has written a nice post on law and his problems with the International Criminal Court-

'And that's the problem with the ICC, too. The whole point of it is to create a body of law which applies to those who don't agree to it. The whole point of it is that there is no consent, because "criminals" as such clearly will never consent to the laws that are applied to them. The process by which those laws will be made is liable to corruption and subversion, and there are no checks on the power of the process. The makers of the law will not face those to whom the law applies on a regular basis for reaffirmation; the trials will not be based on juries, and there is no judicial nullification. This is lawmaking by a star chamber without any limits, and it claims universal jurisdiction.

In short, it is tyranny.'

Posted 7/22/2002 09:49:00 AM by Justin
"SEX AND THE CITY" IS BACK TOO: Last night's season-opener was entertaining, and a bit more somber, as expected. I kind of liked the more mature, less ridiculous storylines... we'll see if that keeps up or not. TV Tattle has a ton (and by that I mean a TON) of articles about the show. Check them out.

Posted 7/22/2002 08:56:00 AM by Justin
IT SEEMS THE POLICE CAUGHT HIM: Now let's kill him.

'Prosecutors are deciding whether to seek the death penalty against the man arrested in the murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, the district attorney said Sunday.'

Bill O'Reilly thinks that children are now targets, of all the sick and depraved people in this country, and they must be better protected.

Posted 7/22/2002 08:54:00 AM by Justin
"JUSTICE THESE DAYS COMES DOWN TO THE FACTS": Brendan Miniter writes in today's WSJ that shamed (and convicted) politician James Traficant shouldn't be mocking our judicial system. Americans aren't tolerant of that anymore.

Cathy Young writes in the Boston Globe that John Walker Lindh's parents are as bad (if not worse) as Lindh, with their ignorant, blind support for their son.

Posted 7/22/2002 08:35:00 AM by Justin
INSTAPUNDIT IS BACK: And he has some thoughts on the TIPS plan-

'I don't think it will be much use against terrorism. Our current domestic-security apparatus has shown itself utterly unable to cut through the data fog -- it can't even process tips from freakin' FBI agents! who think they've spotted a terrorist, as the Moussaoui case demonstrated. It can't possibly handle the vast quantity of low quality data produced by a million active participants, and there's no indication that anyone is addressing that issue, making the whole thing basically an exercise in PR.'

Posted 7/19/2002 01:00:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: The latest from Peggy Noonan, a call to dreams-

'To respect is to record. There is a response function at the end of this column, and you can use it to send in your Sept. 11 related dream--recurring, unusual, striking, whatever. (If you are a psychiatrist, send as many as you like--without identifying your patients, of course.) I will read them, and appreciate them and possibly weave them into a piece on what Sept. 11 has done to our dream lives and to our imaginations, when our imaginations are operating on their own, unfettered, unstopped, spanning.'

I've had a few dreams involving airplanes and people fleeing in panic, but (thankfully) nothing too intense. It's my daytime thinking, though, that covers most of the really grim and frightening stuff...

Posted 7/19/2002 12:56:00 PM by Justin
SCUMBAG OF THE DAY: A slight revision on my theme, but justified-

'A public inquiry announced Friday that family doctor Harold Shipman — Britain's worst serial killer — murdered 215 of his patients.'

What in God's name is wrong with people???

Posted 7/19/2002 09:34:00 AM by Justin
EASYGOING ON THE POSTING TODAY: I'm pretty beat, it's a Friday, during the summer, lots of people out and about, I have a bit of work to do today, so... posting will resume early this afternoon.

Wow, it's odd to not have Blogger to blame for my limited posting. Keeping my fingers crossed...

Posted 7/19/2002 09:32:00 AM by Justin
GOT PLANS FOR TONIGHT?: The Yanks and Red Sox open a 3-game series at the Stadium tonight. Pedro vs. Mussina. Rapture!

Posted 7/19/2002 08:54:00 AM by Justin
THEM'S FIGHTIN' WORDS: Toby Harnden of the Daily Telegraph sits down for lunch with "Angry Ann" Coulter. And did you know that she's a Cornell graduate?

Posted 7/18/2002 03:45:00 PM by Justin
THE HAPPY COUPLE: As promised, now you all know what I (and my beautiful fiance) look like...

Posted 7/18/2002 02:55:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: It's actually more like a must-see. In light of IFC's recent "Weekend of the Living Dead" movie marathon, I tracked down this Culturedose.com review of George Romero's classic (and probably in my top 3 favorite horror films of all-time) "Dawn of the Dead." I still have recurring dreams about zombies, at least one per year...

'When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.'

See this movie, the thinking man's horror movie.

Posted 7/18/2002 01:11:00 PM by Justin
YOU WILL BE MISSED: Green Bay Packers veteran defensive back LeRoy Butler is retiring after 12 seasons-

'He also is known as the inventor of the "Lambeau Leap.'' In a game in December 1993 against the Raiders, Butler forced a fumble that Reggie White recovered and lumbered with 10 yards before pitching it to Butler, who scored his first career touchdown and celebrated by jumping into the stands.'

Posted 7/18/2002 01:05:00 PM by Justin
DOUCHEBAG(S) OF THE DAY: The U.S. State Department, for this fairly shocking story-

'High-level State Department officials have circulated e-mails accusing Rep. Dan Burton and Bush administration officials of McCarthyism and neo-Nazism for criticizing the visa system's failure to keep the September 11 terrorists out of the country.'

Do these thick-browed imbeciles realize the State Department is supposed to be protecting the United States? So many jerkoffs, so little time to ridicule them... (Link via Little Green Footballs)

Posted 7/18/2002 11:25:00 AM by Justin
NONSENSE 'R US: John Hawkins wearily asks, "Whatever happened to personal responsibility?"

'Are you overweight? It's not your fault, it's the companies that actually made the food you ate who are responsible.

Did someone get shot? It's those gun manufacturers who are responsible, not the people who pulled the trigger.'

The people who endorse this kind of thinking are truly, completely, full of shit. People who constantly cry "victim" do not deserve respect or pity, they deserve our scorn.

Posted 7/18/2002 10:55:00 AM by Justin
THE BUSH BACKLASH: The Wall Street Journal is reconsidering the promise of the Department of Homeland Security (registration required).

In addition, Robert Levy of the Cato Institute is leery of the new Terrorism Information and Prevention System. Good points to be made all around.

It's strange to see a growing call by conservatives (both in government and in the media) for more and more government programs and oversight, ranging from anti-terror initiatives to legislation to protect children and investors...

Posted 7/18/2002 10:21:00 AM by Justin
IF BLOGGER SUCKED ANY MORE, THEY’D HAVE TO CALL IT VACUUM.COM: I haven't been able to post or anything this morning until now. I mean seriously, what the fuck are they doing over there? Are they trying to single-handedly build up and then destroy blogging all in the same calendar year? I don’t know if I can put up with much more of this.

Wait a second- maybe some old media company has secretly infiltrated Blogger.com and is trashing their servers and infrastructure to turn bloggers off. Well, it’s working…

Posted 7/18/2002 09:43:00 AM by Justin
THANK YOU, WILLIS HAVILAND CARRIER: He's the inventor of the air conditioner, my best friend during these humid summer days. Carrier's eureka moment?

'One of Buffalo Forge's clients, the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographic and Publishing Co. in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, had a problem: The paper it used in its printing jobs, including the popular humor magazine Judge, was expanding and contracting in the heat and humidity. The printers were finding it impossible to align the ink.

So Carrier came up with a simple solution. If the plant was heated by blowing air through coils pumped full of steam, why not cool it by blowing air through coils full of cold water? Water in the air would condense on the coils, the way it does on a glass of iced tea in August; as a result, the air in the plant would be both cooler and drier.'

Posted 7/18/2002 09:22:00 AM by Justin
THE CREAM RISES TO THE TOP: Emmy nominations were announced this morning-

'The HBO series "Six Feet Under" led all nominees with 23 nominations, including best drama series. "The West Wing," the winner the last two years for best drama series, picked up 21 nods, including one for best drama.'

And, Michael Chiklis was nominated for "Best Actor" for his work on "The Shield."

Take a look at all the nominees here. Unless I'm overlooking something, it looks like the "Buffy" musical episode got shafted...

Posted 7/17/2002 04:46:00 PM by Justin
COMING UP TOMORROW: The first (and quite possibly only) online photograph of Justin Sodano, your humble blogging host...

Posted 7/17/2002 02:47:00 PM by Justin
I DON'T HAVE THE WORDS TO EXPRESS MY HATRED FOR THIS MONGREL:

'The nude body of a little girl found in a California forest was identified Wednesday as that of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, and police warned that the man who kidnapped and murdered the little girl was likely to strike again.'

He should be executed on sight.

Posted 7/17/2002 01:55:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: The latest article from Malcolm Gladwell, who asks: Are smart people overrated? He uses Enron and the consulting firm it worked with, McKinsey and Company, to illustrate.

'The broader failing of McKinsey and its acolytes at Enron is their assumption that an organization's intelligence is simply a function of the intelligence of its employees. They believe in stars, because they don't believe in systems. In a way, that's understandable, because our lives are so obviously enriched by individual brilliance. Groups don't write great novels, and a committee didn't come up with the theory of relativity. But companies work by different rules. They don't just create; they execute and compete and coördinate the efforts of many different people, and the organizations that are most successful at that task are the ones where the system is the star.'

Posted 7/17/2002 01:30:00 PM by Justin
MAYBE THIS IS WHY THE LEFT IS KEEPING MUM ON IRAQ: Because the level of discourse is as ignorant of recent history and public opinion as this Sacramento Bee editorial. Yes, many American soldiers will die if we go to war with Iraq. Yes, it could have been avoided if Bush senior had finished the job back in 1991. I’m not happy about that. And, it will most likely destabilize the region for a (finite) period of time. But Christ, what kind of evidence do you need to accept that Saddam Hussein is evil, and is a direct threat to the United States and its interests? How is it that 9/11 did not even slightly alter these editors’ perceptions about the Arab world and American vulnerability? 3,000 dead Americans don’t faze them. What will it take, 30,000 (or even 300,000) dead from the next attack? And then the left can blame Bush for not taking enough steps to prevent such a tragedy. This is high-minded, passive bullshit.

It’s almost as if the editors are speaking out against war with Iraq simply because the Bush administration is strongly supporting it. Most people who still possess common sense could say with confidence that Saddam Hussein will not hesitate to attack us with weapons of mass destruction when he acquires them. At what point can we defend ourselves?

Posted 7/17/2002 11:45:00 AM by Justin
DOUCHEBAG OF THE DAY:

'A man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly burning a kitten on a barbecue grill as several other people stood around and watched in amusement.'

Fuckhead.

Posted 7/17/2002 10:40:00 AM by Justin
THE WORD IS THE DERB: John Derbyshire makes some observations about working for the government, and he lays out some unpleasant truths about our corpulent, ever-expanding Congress. Hmm. Could we say then that Ted Kennedy is the walking embodiment of our nation's awful do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do leadership?

'While senators and congressmen hyperventilate over accounting scandals in a handful of big corporations, the U.S. government itself squanders, wastes, loses, and misappropriates hundreds of billions without a blush. Congressional accounting is a joke, auditing is an entire comedy routine, and all government "budget" and "expenditure" figures, including any I may have quoted in this article, are science fiction. Corporate bosses who swindle their way into private fortunes while their companies go under, end up disgraced and/or in jail. The congressional crooks and shysters who hose public money into sinkholes like Haiti, farm subsidies, home-district pork projects or the Department of Education, go on to ever greater political triumphs, and eventually to colossal pensions and lucrative speaking engagements or prestigious academic posts.'

Posted 7/17/2002 10:19:00 AM by Justin
HUMOR BREAK: The Onion is back! It even has a new format.

'Stoner Mike "Gonzo" Dornheim, 37, a freelance carpenter and part-time drummer, is the favorite uncle of his six nephews and nieces, family sources revealed Monday.'

Meanwhile, Mike Hendrix (you know him as Cold Fury) has compiled Al Bundy's greatest hits, such as

'The Ferguson is the Stradivarius of toilets. And my dad could play it like a violin.'

Don't miss it.

Posted 7/17/2002 08:36:00 AM by Justin
SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT: Jonah Goldberg writes about the surprising lack of a national debate regarding war with Iraq, which he attributes to silence from the left-

'Conservatives and other hawks have been making the case for war for months, though some conservatives, most notably Robert Novak and Patrick Buchanan, disagree. What is shocking is the inability or refusal of the doves to argue back. If one boxer shows up for a fight and the other is a no-show, you can hardly blame the guy in the ring if the bout gets canceled.'

Meanwhile, Saddam is running his mouth off again...

Posted 7/17/2002 08:33:00 AM by Justin
THE EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE: John Walker Lindh pleaded guilty because he's still a rational human being, says Dahlia Lithwick in Slate today. Most hardened terrorists won't play along with the U.S. justice system, which is still ill-equipped to prosecute terrorists. Interesting read.

Posted 7/17/2002 08:27:00 AM by Justin
NOT SURPRISING:

'Pentagon leaks of military secrets to news organizations are hurting the war on terrorism and endangering American lives, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told senior officials.'

I for one don't understand what these people are hoping to accomplish by leaking information to the press. What possible good can come of it?

Posted 7/16/2002 04:12:00 PM by Justin
"THE BETAMAX OF WORLD HISTORY": It's France, of course. Jonah Goldberg has written his annual French-bashing column, and like past entries, it's a good one.

'Why is French-hating so popular today? It's not like they've denied us fly-over rights recently. We haven't had to liberate Paris again (yet). French forces haven't fired on us like they did during Operation Torch in North Africa. They haven't stuck us with Vietnam, or propped up Carrot Top's career the way they kept Jerry Lewis going all those years.'

He does move beyond the ribbing to point out some unpleasant hypocrisies regarding French disdain for the United States-

'The assumption that France is more "progressive" than America is widespread among American liberal cosmopolitans, even though France in many ways represents everything American lefties are supposed to dislike about America. France was a colonial power, and still is far more of one than America. If you think dropping bombs in Puerto Rico was bad, consider that the French dropped a nuclear bomb in a minority neighborhood of the globe not too long ago. The French use nuclear power, torture animals to make their food tastier, laugh at sexual harassment, and have absolutely no racial affirmative-action programs whatsoever. French families are abandoning their older relatives at French hospitals so they can take extended vacations. French schools have been forced to issue "bully insurance" because playgrounds have become so dangerous. Over a hundred candidates in France's parliamentary elections were under criminal investigation.'

Posted 7/16/2002 02:55:00 PM by Justin
PIPING HOT: The latest column from Daniel Pipes considers the differences between the United States and Europe-

'The differences, in brief, are stark: Americans are from Mars; Europeans, from Venus. Europeans spend their money on social services, Americans continue to devote large sums to the military. Europeans draw lessons from their successful pacifying of post-1945 Germany; Americans draw lessons from their defeat of Nazi Germany and of the Soviet bloc.'

Posted 7/16/2002 02:47:00 PM by Justin
THE SUN IS A MASS OF INCANDESCENT GAS: A gigantic nuclear furnace. And Space.com has this great article, you can learn about the mysteries of the sun...

Posted 7/16/2002 01:39:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: George Carlin has spent a lifetime compiled more dirty words than you can imagine. And he's gathered them all on one handy web site!

Take a look, it's The Weigh In's must-read of the day.

Posted 7/16/2002 01:34:00 PM by Justin
FROM THE TIME CAPSULE: Bill Simmons celebrated the 15th anniversary of the 1986 World Series by penning this outstanding column about the immortal finish to Game 6...

'Schiraldi gets two strikes on Ray Knight before Knight fists a little bloop single -- damn him -- that practically hits second base. Base hit. Carter scores, Mitchell to third, Mets trailing by one. I am frozen. I cannot move. I am frozen. I cannot move. I am frozen. I cannot move.'

Read the entire thing, you'll thank me later.

Posted 7/16/2002 11:01:00 AM by Justin
USE YOUR IMAGINATION INSTEAD, LOSER:

'A quadriplegic has sued a strip club, charging that it violates the Americans with Disabilities Act because the lap dance room does not have wheelchair access.'

Posted 7/16/2002 09:28:00 AM by Justin
TIGER WOODS IS TOO GOOD: John Feinstein writes today that Woods is so dominant, and lacking a true rival, that golf could suffer as a result-

'It is never healthy, long term, for any one person to be bigger than his sport. The NBA is still dealing with the fallout from post-Jordan malaise because it became too dependent on Jordan's stardom to carry it in the 1990s.'

Posted 7/16/2002 09:12:00 AM by Justin
LEAVING IN DROVES: Bloggers are running for the Moveable Type hills in the wake of Blogger's inability to clean up its template and server problems. (NOTE: Blogger, you suck.)

While a move seems mighty appealing, I will unfortunately need to stick around, not having the financial resources to commit to another web hosting company at this time. And I'm not switching to Blogger Pro either, I'm not padding their increasingly unresponsive and ineffective pockets.

Several bloggers are changing domain names, which means that some of my permalinks (on the left hand side of this page) may be outdated. I assure you all that I will try to update them at some point later this month.

Posted 7/16/2002 08:49:00 AM by Justin
TO HELL WITH HIM: John Walker Lindh plea bargains his way to eventual freedom. Charles Johnson puts it best- "Just get him out of my sight."

And would someone please talk (or preferably kick) some sense into his deluded parents?

Posted 7/16/2002 08:35:00 AM by Justin
THE DOMESTIC INFORMANT PLAN: May or may not be a good idea, and it is an expansion of government power (which I'm inherently opposed to), but I do feel strongly that more everyday citizens should be given something to do to fight potential terrorist attacks. "Going shopping" or "investing in stocks" doesn't count. I would rather be scared and vigilant and "let the terrorists win" than to wait around for my bloated, inefficient government to protect me and my family. I respect that the current administration is at least trying something beyond the status quo to protect U.S. soil. If this program fails or is abused, I believe that the citizenry will raise the stink necessary to remove it.

Of course, I think that more rigorous enforcement of existing laws (especially regarding immigration and citizenship) should be undertaken before any new government powers are established.

UPDATE: Charles Murtaugh has a post on Operation TIPS (The Terrorism Information and Prevention System).

Posted 7/15/2002 04:12:00 PM by Justin
WHERE DO I SIGN UP?:

'The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups.'

If you are interested in learning more about this, visit the Volunteer for America web site.

If it can be handled and implemented responsibly and carefully, this kind of program could be an effective means of locating and fighting terrorist activity. A mighty big IF...

Posted 7/15/2002 03:05:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: A voice from the intelligent left. This recent piece from The Stranger's Dan Savage points out the challenges that the common sense left must overcome in our post-September 11 America. A telling excerpt-

'This is what we're up against these days, and it depresses this Gore voter past the point of despair to write this... but... uh... the recently unveiled Bush Doctrine (rough translation: If we think you're coming after us next Tuesday, we'll be bombing your ass flat this Tuesday) is a necessary evil. Ask yourself this question and answer it honestly: If it was within your power in August of last year to order a pre-emptive strike that would've prevented the attacks of September 11, would you have done it? Of course you would. That's the Bush Doctrine.'

Posted 7/15/2002 01:10:00 PM by Justin
RANDOM FUN: Here are some items of interest I've come across today...

Phil Rosenthal is desperate for new "The Sopranos" episodes-

'By the time Tony Soprano and the gang return to HBO this fall, "The Sopranos" will have been gone 483 days.

That's 69 weeks, nearly 16 months or, as the die-hards are all too keenly aware, 11,591 hours--a long time to go unseen and unheard in the prime time equivalent of witness protection.'

-----
Jim Lefsetz misses Eddie Van Halen dearly, much more so after seeing a performance of the awful Sammy Hagar-David Lee Roth tour...

-----
Do you know how computer viruses are named? You will after reading this...

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And lastly, my friend Patrick pointed me to this, a new way to kill time at football game tailgating parties...

Posted 7/15/2002 11:53:00 AM by Justin
POWER-MAD: Steven Den Beste writes that Yassir Arafat has gone the way of the classic power-mad tyrant (or CEO) who doesn't know when to let go. We are very fortunate that our system of government provides peaceful transfers of power. Much of the world is not like this-

'Executive power is intoxicating, and there is no drug as addictive. Many if not most executives understand that they have a job to do, and dedicate themselves to that job. But the experience of leading is heady. Being able to give orders and have them carried out, of being able to do large things which could not be done by normal people, of having subordinates kowtow and peers at other companies hobnob, these things become a part of someone's life.

They don't want to give it up. While doing their job, and advancing the cause of whatever organization they lead is definitely important, at a certain point maintenance of their own power also becomes an end in itself.'

Posted 7/15/2002 09:54:00 AM by Justin
GOOD NEWS:

'A court in Pakistan on Monday convicted four Islamic militants of the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl earlier this year, sentencing the British-born leader of the group to death by hanging.'

Let's see those Islamoidiots make a video of that...

Posted 7/15/2002 09:50:00 AM by Justin
"SURVIVOR GUILT": Andrew Sullivan has been fending off AIDS for several years, and he sometimes feels guilty about it, but he's still practical and realistic about how difficult it will be to stop the epidemics spreading throughout Africa. Awfully brave of him to write so openly about his trials...

Posted 7/15/2002 09:14:00 AM by Justin
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?: The latest from John Leo-

'A Zogby International poll of college seniors came up with a fascinating finding. Almost all of the 401 randomly selected students around the country -- 97 percent -- said their college studies had prepared them to behave ethically in their future work lives. So far so good. But 73 percent of the students said that when their professors taught about ethical issues, the usual message was that uniform standards of right and wrong don't exist ("What is right and wrong depends on differences in individual values and cultural diversity").'

I also found this somewhat disturbing (from Bill O'Reilly's own column on this topic)-

'A large majority of the 400 students polled also report that they've been taught that corporate policies furthering "progressive" social and political goals are more important than those ensuring that stockholders and creditors receive accurate accounts of a firm's finances.'

Leave it to elitist intellectuals to take perfectly reasonable ideas like postmodernism (not to mention "government", "education", and "free speech" as well) and run them into the ground...

Posted 7/15/2002 08:26:00 AM by Justin
FROM OVER THE WEEKEND: George Will celebrates the influence of Milton Friedman, as well as free market capitalism, in his latest column-

'Many intellectuals disdain the marketplace because markets function nicely without the supervision of intellectuals. Their disdain is ingratitude: The vulgar (as intellectuals see them) people who make markets productive make the intellectual class sustainable.'

-----
Jonah Goldberg writes that if we aren't going to blame Islam for the current war, we at least need to blame Wahhabism, the perverted radical sect of the religion.

-----
And, Mark Steyn criticizes European nations for their traction and inability to accept the new world order-

'But that's Europe's problem all over, isn't it? There's a terrible reluctance to change the script: The old jokes are the best, and so are the old policies.'

Posted 7/12/2002 02:19:00 PM by Justin
BLOGGER'S ACTING ALL SCREWY AGAIN, I'M CLOSING UP SHOP EARLY: I think the Professor may be on to something, what with all the Blogger problems lately. Blogger, why don't you get your shit together, before we all ditch your ass?

In any case, have a nice weekend...

Posted 7/12/2002 01:07:00 PM by Justin
HOW MUCH COVERAGE DO YOU THINK THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA WILL GIVE THIS?:

'Turns out actress Candice Bergen really did agree with Dan Quayle.

Ten years ago, then-Vice President Quayle criticized Bergen's Murphy Brown TV character for "mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another 'lifestyle choice."'

"I never have really said much about the whole episode, which was endless," Bergen said Tuesday. "But his speech was a perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable and nobody agreed with that more than I did."'

Posted 7/12/2002 12:50:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: Tony Pierce has a memorable photo essay on the MLB All-Star Game held this past Tuesday.

Note: Check out his solid recommendation for a new baseball commissioner (the guy's gotta end up somewhere, right?)...

Posted 7/12/2002 12:47:00 PM by Justin
AN ATHLETE WHO REALLY IS A ROLE MODEL: Peggy Noonan applauds Pat Tillman, the NFL player who is joining the U.S. Army-

'Pat Tillman joins a similar line, of stars who decided they had work to do, and must leave their careers to do it. They include, among others, the actors Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable and Tyrone Power in World War II; sports stars Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio in the same war; and quarterback Roger Staubach in Vietnam. It is good to see their style return, and be considered noble again.'

Posted 7/12/2002 11:37:00 AM by Justin
HOPE YOU READ THIS DAD: ClassicGaming.com looks back at the video game "Lady Bug"--

'Lady Bug finally got some recognition when Coleco bought the home rights and released it on the ColecoVision, Atari 2600 and the IntelliVision. (Coleco always had a good eye for small arcade licenses - other great but relatively unknown arcade games that would find popularity on the home console market were Mr. Do!, Ventura, and Cosmic Avenger, among others.)'

I lived in a Colecovision household growing up; Cosmic Avenger was one of the coolest games ever.

Posted 7/12/2002 09:53:00 AM by Justin
THE SECOND-BEST MOVIE ABOUT HUMANITY ENCOUNTERING ALIENS: James Berardinelli ranks "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" number 74 on his list of All-Time Top 100 films.

The best movie about humanity encountering aliens? For me, it's "Contact."

Posted 7/12/2002 09:26:00 AM by Justin
DOUCHEBAG OF THE DAY: Another no-brainer. Today it's deposed Tyco CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski, who spent the July 4 weekend partying in Nantucket and irritating his neighbors. I sincerely wish "Oz" was an actual place, where we could send Kozlowski and related pasty white criminals to experience some genuine suffering. I'm all for swashbuckling, win-at-all costs capitalism, but when someone breaks the law, how about actually being punished for it?

Posted 7/12/2002 09:19:00 AM by Justin
A WELL-MADE POINT: John Hawkins has a "random thoughts" column of his own, including the following bit of wisdom-

'If you believe that your skin color is the most important thing about a person, that people of your race deserve special privileges under the law, and that anyone of your race who disagrees with you is a "race traitor", then couldn't you just as easily be a member of the NAACP as the KKK?'

Posted 7/12/2002 09:13:00 AM by Justin
SAD NEWS:

'Dennis Miller's long-running rant on HBO is ending next month.

The acid-tongued, high-brow comedian is quietly calling it quits after nine years of Dennis Miller Live.'

Posted 7/12/2002 09:07:00 AM by Justin
ON APPRECIATING AMERICA: Victor Davis Hanson persuasively calls for a renewal of civic education in America, and a need for Americans to be proud of their country's history and accomplishments-

'Ask a high school student to define an “American”—you will be met either by silence or by cant: “diverse,” “multicultural,” “nonjudgmental,” allowing others “to do their own thing” or “just hang.” Or worse: “bully,” “exploiter,” “racist,” “imperialist.” Such confusion is more than mere intellectual incoherence. Youths who feel no national sense of who they are also lose a valuable spiritual element of social cohesion, which, along with familial and religious ties, encourages them to take emotional pride in their school, community, and country. More important still, they will enter college without either self- or national confidence—and thus ready to accept all the current untruths about the American experience so readily voiced by an often out-of-touch professorate.'

Posted 7/11/2002 04:20:00 PM by Justin
LEAKS LEAKS EVERYWHERE: Now we've uncovered some possible Iraqi plans in response to a U.S. attack. I don't like the looks of it. There's too much information being thrown around regarding this potential Iraq invasion. This is what talking and talking and talking about fighting, but not actually doing any fighting, gets you. (Link via Little Green Footballs)

Posted 7/11/2002 04:16:00 PM by Justin
WORTH A LOOK: Jonah Goldberg on the "tyranny of cliches" in our country-

'Because I'm skeptical about slippery-slope arguments, because I've argued that America is largely immune to becoming a totalitarian state, and because I don't particularly care if Jose Padilla, John Walker Lindh, or Richard Reid ever get a lawyer, a lot of people keep telling me that when one person loses his freedom we're all a little less free.

You wouldn't believe how many famous people have offered or repeated this observation. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Eli Wiesel, Captain Jean Luc Picard, as well as countless politicians have said something to the effect of "we are only as free as the least free among us." It sounds nice, of course. Unfortunately, it's also a crock, factually, logically, and morally.'

Posted 7/11/2002 03:25:00 PM by Justin
THIS IS FUNNY: Thanks to GeekPress for the link to this piece, titled "Then and Now: Wasting Time at Work." My favorite observation?

'THEN: Hid copies of magazine inside corporate document so boss thought you were a diligent worker.

NOW: Keep fingers on Alt-Tab to switch to that Excel spreadsheet so boss thinks you're a diligent worker.'

Posted 7/11/2002 12:12:00 PM by Justin
POSTING WILL BE... SPOTTY TODAY: I'm in meetings and a training for the past few and the next few hours.

But here's a thought I've been poring over recently- Why is it that perhaps the two most important fields or topics that adults must deal with, finances and parenting, are not taught at all in the American education system?

Can you imagine how much more productive, happier, and less prone to poor decisions we would all be if every student was introduced to money management and child-raising techniques in school, as opposed to the fly in the real world? Feel free to weigh in with comments...

Posted 7/11/2002 09:35:00 AM by Justin
THE "NO SPIN ZONE" DOESN'T EXIST: Cathy Young highlights her problems with Bill O'Reilly-

'At its worst, O’Reilly’s black-and-white approach to complex issues translates into a tendency to demonize the opposition. After his appearance on The Factor , Nadelmann received an obscenity-laden e-mail accusing him of promoting drug use and threatening to "break every bone in your worthless useless body." While O’Reilly is hardly responsible for the ravings of his less stable fans, Nadelmann believes that "he does play to such sentiments."'

Posted 7/11/2002 08:42:00 AM by Justin
GLENN REYNOLDS' LATEST FOXNEWS COLUMN IS UP: And it's excellent. He discusses the LAX July 4 shooting, and our government's refusal to categorize it as a terrorist act. Why not? Because then it can't be called an anti-terrorist failure. Thankfully, the Israelis are not hypocritical, supersensitive wusses like we are. They killed off that scumbag good and dead-

'The clearest lesson of the Los Angeles International shooting is that diffuse threats like terrorism are best answered with diffuse defenses: lots of people, preferably armed, who are ready to respond in a hurry. Despite being heavily armed, Hedayet managed to kill only two people. That's because armed El Al security guards — and one courageous bystander who happened to be standing in line next to Hadayet — immediately tackled him and killed him.'

Posted 7/11/2002 08:32:00 AM by Justin
JUST ASKING FOR A BEATING: Who else but Saudi Arabia. Andrew Sullivan asks, "We still have diplomatic relations with these nut-cases?"

And I found this related piece via Little Green Footballs.

For a refreshing, sobering look each day at "Our Friends the Saudis," go to James Taranto's Best of the Web. You won't be disappointed, though you may become quite angry...

Posted 7/11/2002 08:21:00 AM by Justin
D-BAG OF THE DAY: Another no-brainer. Today's douchebag is Michael Jackson, for his recent spewing to the press about what a victim he is... and for 10+ years of being a total classless act.

John Hawkins has a great takedown of this hapless, pathetic, synthetic creature over at Right Wing News.

Posted 7/11/2002 08:10:00 AM by Justin
WORDS OF WISDOM: Stephen Green lays into the WWF for its hysterical, unprincipled report-

'Don’t blame the West if you think there are too many humans. The population explosion is happening in the Third World, the Arab World, and the Totally Messed-Up World. You say you want to decrease global population? Don’t “decrease consumption” – that’s Environmental Wacko code for “make people poor.” Poor people breed like. . . well, they breed like poor people – not even unsupervised teenage rabbits with a hot tub, a plate of oysters, and a stack of Barry White records can outdo the happy humpers of Egypt, Nigeria, India, and Indonesia.'

Posted 7/10/2002 02:43:00 PM by Justin
AU REVOIR: Until I'm back tomorrow, check out this nice piece on a truly impressive individual, Lance Armstrong, who is gunning for his 4th straight Tour de France victory.

Posted 7/10/2002 01:51:00 PM by Justin
THE REAL AGENDA: Steven Den Beste opines on the WWF-International the-world-is-ending report just released-

'Certain activists think that the US is too successful, and want to force us to do less, use less, be less than we are. They tried to use Kyoto as a backdoor way of turning down the volume on the US economy by starving it of energy, and the US government refused to play.

So now, finally, they're saying what they really think: the people of the United States are too rich, and too successful.'

Posted 7/10/2002 12:52:00 PM by Justin
OPENING OF EYES: James Higgins writes that the real decade of greed was the 1990s. And check out the startlingly hypocritical Bill Clinton quote that opens the article (although, when it comes to Bill Clinton, being hypocritical is par for the course)...

I hope people are beginning to understand that the accounting and corporate scandals currently in the news all developed and grew into their current form during the Clinton Administration. They've only come to light during Bush's presidency. Can we really trust the media to convey that?

Posted 7/10/2002 11:08:00 AM by Justin
WHAT'S THE GREATEST MOMENT IN BASEBALL HISTORY?: Major League Baseball has started a poll of the game's most memorable moments, with the Top 10 Moments to be announced prior to Game 4 of the 2002 World Series (if there is one... sigh).

Take a look at the nominees here. Their list is somewhat odd... some strange candidates. Ichiro's rookie season? An all-time baseball moment?!? Speaking of which, there aren't many true "moments" - several of the nominees are season-long accomplishments! Look, I know that minutes seem to pass as hours when one is watching a baseball game, but does anyone over at MLB remember the concept of time?

I don't have a greatest baseball moment, too many to choose from, and also I'm biased towards recent history, having only watched baseball games from the early 1980s on...

Posted 7/10/2002 10:53:00 AM by Justin
HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOU'VE HIT A NERVE: Debbie Schlussel, guest writing at NRO today, asks-

'"Why are Muslim and Arab "civil rights" groups the only ones protesting new FBI rules to fight terrorism?

Why aren't mainstream Christian and Jewish groups protesting the new guidelines handed down by Attorney General John Ashcroft and his Justice Department? Or Hispanic groups?'

It seems the new guidelines are working...

Posted 7/10/2002 10:44:00 AM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THIS SHORTENED DAY: I'll be leaving for a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so the posts will come fast and furious until then. Today's must-read is from Mark Steyn, commenting on the U.S. government's refusal to classify the July 4 LAX shooting as an act of terrorism-

'I quote from The New York Times headline: "Officials Puzzled About Motive Of Airport Gunman."

Hmm. Egyptian Muslim kills Jews on American national holiday. Best not to jump to conclusions. Denial really is a river in Egypt. "It appears he went there with the intention of killing people," said Richard Garcia, the Bureau's agent in charge. "Why he did that we are still trying to determine."'

Posted 7/10/2002 10:40:00 AM by Justin
WE HAVE A WINNER: City Journal has deemed Noam Chomsky "America's Dumbest Intellectual." Read it for yourself.

Posted 7/10/2002 08:30:00 AM by Justin
DOUCHEBAG OF THE DAY: I'm considering adding a quasi-regular feature to this blog, called "Douchebag of the Day." I believe the intent behind this feature is apparent, as there are just so many foolish, ignorant and dangerous people populating our planet nowadays, all angling for our attention. Please let me know what you think about this idea, and I strongly encourage submissions for candidates to be posted about.

Today's douchebag? Ignorant old white man Hootie Johnson, Augusta National golf club chairman, who lashed out at a national women's group Tuesday for urging the club to have female members before next year's Masters. Read his statement here. Nice guy. It's good to know that some stereotypes still exist, so that I can continue to ridicule them. Golf is sure to prosper in his sexist, racist, capable hands...

Posted 7/10/2002 08:03:00 AM by Justin
JESUS H.: The MLB All-Star Game ended in a TIE?!?! How pathetic. Jim Caple says baseball fans should get used to feeling cheated, especially with another strike looming. John Donovan says the game got on just fine, despite the finish.

King Kaufman has some thoughts on the tacky pregame show...

Posted 7/10/2002 08:01:00 AM by Justin
INTERESTING: I came across this article in the American Prowler, regarding what "the big disconnect in America" is-

'It's this: Some people are obsessively driven to do the same thing again and again, and other people -- most people -- just couldn't care less.

The obsessives include the media, the entertainment industry, the leaders of business and finance, politicians, and all their assorted flacks and hangers-on. The rest include everybody else.'

Posted 7/09/2002 04:10:00 PM by Justin
ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS: In the tradition of Thomas Sowell's excellent series of "Random Thoughts" columns, ESPN.com's Bill Simmons tries his hand at some random musings... my favorites?

'Why didn't Fox's "Beyond the Glory" special on Hakeem Olajuwon mention his four-year stint as Adebici on "Oz"?'

'When boxing broadcaster Barry Tompkins dies, what gets mentioned first in his obituary -- the Hagler-Hearns fight or the Drago-Balboa fight?'

Posted 7/09/2002 03:25:00 PM by Justin
FROM THE NATIONAL REVIEW: John O'Sullivan wonders why the U.S. government won't come out and state that Hesham Mohamed Hadayat was a terrorist. (Daniel Pipes rightly asks the same question.)

Elsewhere, Jonah Goldberg criticizes Stanley Fish for alternately defending and shunning his intellectual baby, postmodernism.

Posted 7/09/2002 02:40:00 PM by Justin
TAKING ON THE BIG BOYS: The Economist has an article on the blogging phenomenon and wonders how old media will respond to it-

'Blogging, the publication of running commentary on personal online weblogs, has in the past couple of years exploded from a cultish techie activity into a cottage industry churning out increasingly compelling content. In 1998, there were about 30,000 weblogs; today, there are some 500,000, according to Cameron Marlow, who runs blogdex, which tracks them.'

Posted 7/09/2002 02:37:00 PM by Justin
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...: Victor Davis Hanson has written a thorough essay on why the United States needs to reconsider its relationship with Saudi Arabia. Here's a link to the piece, definitely worth your time. If only we had less reliance on their oil reserves, we could treat them as the hostile adversary that they wish to be...

Posted 7/09/2002 01:35:00 PM by Justin
MAYBE I SPOKE TOO SOON YESTERDAY: When I said that there are no current-day athletes who would make the sacrifice to defend their country...

Posted 7/09/2002 12:20:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: It's The Truth Laid Bear. First, check out his updated Blogosphere Ecosystem, where The Weigh In is moving on up, now ranked as a Slithering Reptile!

And then check out his outstanding post "The War of the Memes," where he explains how the United States is in reality at war with an idea-

'Now take a step back, and think about the current war facing the United States. It’s commonly called the War on Terrorism. And if you look closely, you’ll realize that for perhaps the first time ever, a nation-state has declared war on: a meme.

This is new. Traditionally, you declare war on another specific group of people; whether its an opposing tribe, a neighboring city-state, or another nation. Historically, wars are generally declared and prosecuted against a static enemy: you declare war on Germany, and when you’ve defeated or obtained surrender from all the German people, well, then, you’re done. Our current war, however, is against “terrorism”, which certainly isn’t a nation, and doesn’t inherently define any static group of people to point at as the enemy. It simply identifies that we are fighting a meme; and therefore, we will fight any individual people who happen to be running that meme. This is a confusing concept to many folks; nobody’s used to declaring war on memes; a situation not helped by the rather poor job our leadership has done of explaining it to people.'

Posted 7/09/2002 09:38:00 AM by Justin
THIS IS CUTE... MY SUPERHERO NAME: Strangely appropriate... click on the image to try it yourself.

Villains fear me. Heroes envy me. Justin Michael Sodano is... The Sarcastic Observer

Posted 7/09/2002 09:01:00 AM by Justin
IT'S THE WOMEN, STUPID: It's become obvious to historians and social scientists that nations which harm and subjugate their female population are destined for collapse. Obvious to all civilized and prosperous and forward-thinking nations. So, by extension, this idea hasn't taken much of a hold in the Islamic world. Charles Johnson's got the goods, take a look. Of course, the Arab nations have room to grow, and they need our help. More brave people writing like this is a good sign...

Posted 7/09/2002 08:54:00 AM by Justin
DAVID HALBERSTAM ON TED WILLIAMS: A nice piece in the New York Times today, on the Splinter's greatness and propensity for absolute perfection (registration required)-

'Once when he was younger he was called out on strikes at Fenway. He came back to the dugout ranting and raving about the injustice of the call, and more, the fact that home plate was out of line — that, he said, was why the umpire had blown the call. Some of the Boston pitchers teased him about it, a serious mistake on their part. So the next day Joe Cronin went out and measured the lines and as ever Williams was right — it was out of line.'

Posted 7/09/2002 08:44:00 AM by Justin
THE SUREST SIGN OF IRRELEVANCE: This is the work of people with nothing better to do, and nothing productive to add to the world anymore-

'The Rev. Jesse Jackson yesterday called President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft "the most threatening combination in our lifetime," at the 93rd annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.'

This jackoff was alive during the reigns of Mao and Hitler. Unbelievable.

And I'm not the only one who's on to what a sick joke the NAACP is...

Posted 7/09/2002 08:23:00 AM by Justin
RESULTS OF THE LATEST WEIGH IN POLL: We had a tie! If you recall, the question posed was "Who would you like to drop into an active volcano?" And here are the tallies, with 66 people voting!

Saddam Hussein- 14 votes (21%)
Michael Moore- 10 votes (15%)
Yassir Arafat- 8 votes (12%)
Noam Chomsky- 17 votes (26%)
Osama bin Laden- 17 votes (26%)

Well, being that all of these individuals are walking piles of excrement, the real losers are the rest of us, who must continually hear about and deal with them regularly.

Thanks again for voting! And be sure to vote in the latest poll question...

Posted 7/08/2002 03:51:00 PM by Justin
IT'S GOOD TO HATE: Brendan Miniter writes in the WSJ today that he's finding new ways to hate Osama bin Laden every day-

'Everywhere I go, I seem to find more reasons to hate Osama. I've long wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty, climb the stairs and see New York from the torch. So I took the ferry out to Liberty Island a few weeks ago. At the security checkpoint, I encountered long lines, X-ray machines and armed guards. It might have been worth it to see Lady Liberty up close. But on reaching the Island I learned that you can't get too close. No one is allowed inside the statue, which has been closed since Sept. 11.'

Posted 7/08/2002 03:20:00 PM by Justin
THE NEW POLL QUESTION IS UP: The latest Weigh In poll question can be found on the left hand side of the page. Please take a look!

Results of the previous poll question will be posted later this evening...

Posted 7/08/2002 01:34:00 PM by Justin
SELLING THE DRAMA:

'A study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), to be released on Tuesday, warns that the human race is plundering the planet at a pace that outstrips its capacity to support life.

In a damning condemnation of Western society's high consumption levels, it adds that the extra planets (the equivalent size of Earth) will be required by the year 2050 as existing resources are exhausted.'

Posted 7/08/2002 11:34:00 AM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: Glenn Frazier received an email from a self-proclaimed "young Socialist" asking to trade links. He posted a reply to the reader, and then asked for a response in return. Click here for the entire string, quite enjoyable and informative.

Posted 7/08/2002 11:24:00 AM by Justin
OBSCURING THE OBVIOUS: NRO has a guest column today from the L.A. Police Department ("Jack Dunphy") regarding the LAX July 4 shooting. It accurately details the bureaucratic circus and endless political correctness that we have come to expect from our nation's law enforcement...

Posted 7/08/2002 11:22:00 AM by Justin
OBSCURING THE OBVIOUS: NRO has a guest column today from the L.A. Police Department ("Jack Dunphy") regarding the LAX July 4 shooting. It accurately details the bureaucratic circus and endless political correctness that we have come to expect from our nation's law enforcement...

Posted 7/08/2002 11:16:00 AM by Justin
AND HE'S GOT A COMMENTING SYSTEM NOW!: Eric Raymond has another couple of essays discussing the West's conflict with Islam, the most recent of which outlines how to defeat militant Islam-

'The war against Islamic terror must be fought on three levels: homeland defense, military power projection, and cultural subversion. We must foil terrorist acts; we must imprison or kill the terrorists who plan and execute them; and we must dry up the pool of potential recruits before they become terrorists who can only be stopped by being imprisoned or killed.'

Posted 7/08/2002 10:47:00 AM by Justin
DID THE NY TIMES COMMIT TREASON?: When it recently published plans for attacking Iraq? David Horowitz thinks so. Charles Johnson thinks it's pretty deplorable as well. I can just see those smug boys and girls over at the Times, thinking so highly of themselves, such independent thinkers, such objective reporters, such rebels against the system and the Bush administration...

Posted 7/08/2002 10:37:00 AM by Justin
CAN WE PLEASE BOMB IRAQ NOW?: Then we can take out this scumbag as a bonus.

Posted 7/08/2002 08:43:00 AM by Justin
ON TED WILLIAMS:

Any genuine baseball fan knows about Ted Williams, his incredible eyesight, the power he could generate from such an average-looking physique. But I didn’t know much more than that about him, sadly. I followed the Yankees, and honed my chops on DiMaggio, Mantle, Ruth, Gehrig. But my knowledge of other giants of baseball history was (is) slight.

With all the reading I’ve done this weekend, I now know that Williams truly was an American hero. He sacrificed a great deal for this country, including the prime years of his career. He flew missions in World War II and the Korean War. He was closely associated with the Jimmy Fund. He was an intensely proud and stubborn individual. Can you imagine a player in this day and age giving up their spoiled, cushy life to participate in the upcoming invasion of Iraq? You can stop laughing now…

Ted Williams was a patriot. I didn’t know him at all, but I sincerely miss him. There are very few people around like him anymore. Check out Boston.com and ESPN.com for very nice and detailed tributes to the Splendid Splinter. Lots of great op-eds on his life and baseball career, including the classic John Updike short story "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu."

NOTE: Williams’ manipulative son John Henry is well-known for riding on his dad’s coattails. But his latest scam, storing Ted Williams’ body in a cryogenic freezer, is completely irresponsible. Someone should knock that guy’s teeth out.

UPDATE: Found this Salon.com article from 2000 on Williams being the last man to hit .400.

Posted 7/08/2002 08:30:00 AM by Justin
GET YOUR VOTES IN: There will be a new Weigh In poll question this afternoon... so make sure to vote in the current poll right away! (Results of the current poll will be posted sometime later today as well...)

Posted 7/08/2002 08:22:00 AM by Justin
PURPLE HAZE: Morning all. Boston and its suburbs were bathed in a preternatural, soupy light this weekend, due to wildfire smoke from Canada being pushed down into the Northeastern U.S. I haven't been able to find any pictures, but the sun seems the color of a rusted streetlight, and yesterday everything was a tacky green-yellow vomitlike mix...

Posted 7/06/2002 07:40:00 AM by Justin
COMING MONDAY: Thoughts on Ted Williams, who died yesterday at 83 years old.

Below are some of the posts I had put together for Friday reading...

Posted 7/05/2002 03:12:00 PM by Justin
WHY BLOGGER WAS DOWN ALL DAY FRIDAY: Apparently they lost a server. Those with Blogger Pro weren't affected (paying customers get all the breaks, huh?). Whatever. I'm pissed. They ruined my day. I'm not in the mood for their server problem bullshit excuses. Light posting over the weekend is possible, but I'd expect the Justin you all know and love to return on Monday for sure.

Posted 7/05/2002 03:11:00 PM by Justin
PLANS FOR IRAQ: Is there a reason that the entire goddamned world needs to know about this in such detail? Shouldn't there be just a teensy tiny bit of SURPRISE in this friggin' attack? I guess I'm the idiot...

Posted 7/05/2002 02:16:00 PM by Justin
VOLCANIC ERUPTION: I'm talking about Ann Coulter's latest column, in which she states that liberalism and terrorism are different stages of the same disease-

'Like everything liberals oppose but don't have a good argument for, all reasonable national security measures are called "unconstitutional." Whenever liberals are losing on substance, they pretend to be upset about process.'

Posted 7/05/2002 02:13:00 PM by Justin
JUSTIN'S PICK: This week Culturedose.com reviewed one of my favorite horror films, "Cemetery Man"-

'Francesco Dellamorte is the groundskeeper at the local cemetery. He's worked the job for some time, along with his brainless assistant, Gnaghi, and he seems to enjoy his work. However, there's something a little unusual about Dellamorte's particular cemetery: The dead keep coming back to life.'

Very stylish movie, as the director (Michele Soavi) is a protege of Dario Argento. Quite thought-provoking too. Trust me.

Posted 7/05/2002 02:06:00 PM by Justin
ROUNDUP: Had a very relaxing 4th. Super hot in Boston, Lindsey and I took it easy. Shopping. Watched some "Twilight Zone" episodes, watched parts of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Grease" in the evening (two of my favorite movies), grilled veggie burgers, drank homemade milkshakes. Quite nice.

Aside from the LAX shooting incident (the suspect was... Egyptian, surprise), I was very relieved that there wasn't any large-scale terrorist activity. But I agree with Dave Tepper - it's a good thing the scumbag was killed, so our infuriating legal bureaucracy can't spin his way to freedom.

The D.C. celebration was fantastic, as usual. I spent the 1998 holiday there, it was brutally hot, much like yesterday. 10+ hours in the heat, totally dehydrated. My friends and I ate lunch on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Watched the fireworks underneath the Washington Monument. Attended a pro-marijuana rally next to the Capitol. Caught an IMAX film. Unforgettable time. Highly recommended...

Posted 7/03/2002 02:43:00 PM by Justin
HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY: There will be no posting on July 4th. I will be back on Friday with some more to say.

In the meantime, take a look at Peggy Noonan’s latest, a celebration of some positives from this year… (and note the props to blogging!)

And don’t forget the annual “The Twilight Zone” marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel! A tradition like no other. Here’s a link to the schedule.

Thanks,
Justin

Posted 7/03/2002 01:57:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: The latest column from Victor Davis Hanson, on the revival of military history-

'We should all promote the teaching of military history precisely because we wish to avoid wars and seek to preserve lives. Instead of listening to lectures about the snows of Afghanistan, the graveyards of the British and Russians, and the horrific nature of warlords, Americans should rediscover that their own record of war-making, far more than that of others, has been frighteningly lethal and effective. The Taliban and al Qaeda have never turned out geniuses such as Stonewall Jackson, W. T. Sherman, Nathan Bedford Forrest, or George Patton. And the world has rarely seen armies arise like Sherman's Army of the West, Patton's Third Army, Ridgeway's reconstructed Korean forces, or the American armada in the Gulf. I think I would still place bets on Sherman's Midwesterners with muzzle-loading cannons marching against the combined high-tech forces of the current Gulf States.'

Posted 7/03/2002 12:39:00 PM by Justin
HAS ANYONE TRIED THESE?: If so, please send me a review. Damn, they're 24-proof!

Posted 7/03/2002 12:09:00 PM by Justin
TWO KINDS OF TERRORISTS: According to Ralph Peters, a retired United States Army intelligence officer and author of more than 14 books, we need to distinguish between practical terrorists and apocalyptic terrorists. Nice piece, with a great closing-

'"What matters is that the world is getting an unexpected lesson in American resolve. It is the primary task of our present and future leaders not to let that resolve weaken," Peters has written. "The lesson must be lasting. And ferocity is the ultimate guarantor of peace."'

Posted 7/03/2002 12:01:00 PM by Justin
FIGHTING THE AIDS EPIDEMIC: Steven Den Beste has an interesting post today, with an explanation of the medical concept of triage and how it may be applied to the AIDS crisis rampaging through the underdeveloped world...

'The UN wants vast amounts of money to help fight the disease. I think that more should be spent than is now, but is there really any point in doing everything that the UN says it wants to do?

What if we were to ship in anti-retroviral drugs to Zimbabwe or Botswana in vast quantities, for free, to be given to everyone who needs them. Those drugs generally improve the health of those treated, and delay the onset of the worst symptoms.

Which means that you've increased the number of HIV-positive people who will continue the sexual practices responsible for the disastrous spread so far. In some of these nations there's good reason to believe that providing them with retroviral drugs will increase the long term death-toll.'

I think he's right that medical intervention won't save these people in the long run. Only changes in their sexual habits and behavior can possibly slow down the spread of HIV. And that's an internal job; another nation can't be expected bring about that kind of change.

Posted 7/03/2002 10:10:00 AM by Justin
JONAH GOLDBERG NEEDS YOUR HELP: Bastille Day is approaching, you know...

Posted 7/03/2002 09:27:00 AM by Justin
DON'T YOU HATE IT WHEN JERKOFFS MAKE A GOOD ARGUMENT?: Case in point, the latest Rick Reilly column, which put Sammy Sosa on the hot seat for his recent willingness to be tested for steroids.

I get so conflicted sometimes; should I read the columns, or listen to the music, or watch the movies and sporting events, of people whom I find reprehensible? To list one example of many, I really want to see "Minority Report," but I f%*king hate uneducated ingrate Tom Cruise. In most cases, I do anyway, because they often are worth reading/ listening to/ watching. You need to separate the ideas to be learned from the carrier of those ideas. But it genuinely pains me to do so.

Posted 7/03/2002 09:17:00 AM by Justin
PROPS IN ORDER: Dave Tepper has the headline/ thought of the week. Check it out.

Posted 7/03/2002 09:10:00 AM by Justin
WHAT TO DO WITH THE ARAB WORLD?: According to this article from Barbara Crossette in the NY Times, the Arab world is isolated and misogynist-

'The use of the Internet is low. Filmmaking appears to be declining. The authors also describe a "severe shortage" of new writing and a dearth of translations of works from outside.'

This entire culture has closed itself off from the rest of the world, and is caught in a feedback loop. Dangerous, no?

Thomas Friedman's latest column discusses these disturbing findings (registration required for both links).

Posted 7/03/2002 08:55:00 AM by Justin
COULD IT BE ANY HOTTER TODAY?: Jesus, give us a break. This frickin' humidity is wearing me down. It's been unrelentingly stifling for over a week now. I'm getting less and less sleep each night. I'll be building a big hatebasket for the powers that be if we have another night of lows in the 80s...

Posted 7/03/2002 08:48:00 AM by Justin
AND DON'T VOTE FOR AL GORE: If it's true that he's going to seek the Democratic nomination in 2004, please use common sense and select another candidate to represent that once-great party. Jonah Goldberg has a new column on recent comments made by Gore, who is sadly still blinded by his own self-love. Remember, he and Clinton weren't saints-

'I think Gore would lose in the primaries, even if he weren't the weird man he is. His only two issues - the war on terrorism and the ongoing business scandals - are great for any Democrat but him. Unfortunately, both al-Qaida's rise and big business' irrational exuberance for financial chicanery took hold while he was the No. 2 man in the White House.'

Visit the Junk Yard Blog for a thorough Clinton/ Gore takedown, regarding the missed opportunities to apprehend Osama bin Laden in the late 1990s.

Posted 7/03/2002 08:30:00 AM by Justin
DON'T LINE WILL SMITH'S POCKETS: Don't see "Men in Black II." Please. Aside from all the shameless whoring of merchandise (Rockport, you wench), check out some reviews.

Roger Ebert-"This is a movie that fans of the original might enjoy in a diluted sort of way, but there is no need for it-- except, of course, to take another haul at the box office, where the 1997 movie grossed nearly $600 million.'

David Edelstein (Slate)-"If it isn't the worst sequel ever made, it's only because it has too much competition."

James Berardinelli is a bit kinder.

Posted 7/02/2002 04:55:00 PM by Justin
BACKWARDS-ASS ARAB NATIONS AND THEIR BACKWARDS-ASS PEOPLE:

'A Pakistani tribal council ordered an 18-year-old girl to be gang-raped in order to punish her family after her brother was seen walking with a girl from a higher class tribe, police said Tuesday.'

(Link via Right Wing News)

Posted 7/02/2002 03:24:00 PM by Justin
A STRANGE SUCCESS STORY: Swingline didn't produce bright-red staplers when one was famously depicted in the 1999 film "Office Space." But demand for it was sizable, and now Swingline has the new "big deal in the stapler community."

Posted 7/02/2002 01:34:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: Rodger Schultz has outdone himself, with his fantastic new office game "Bullshit Bingo." I can't do this any justice, you simply have to see it for yourself.

Posted 7/02/2002 12:31:00 PM by Justin
FIGHTING OFF THE SAVAGES: WeekendPundit has a meditation on how fragile civilization actually is-

'I think that’s a hard thing for modern folks to grasp, particularly modern Europeans, and to a somewhat lesser extent Americans. We have become so accustomed to the trappings of a civilized society that it becomes a bit difficult to imagine that it may not be there some day.'

Anyone who has been frustrated by a simple traffic jam, or a long line in the supermarket, can appreciate the restraint that all of us use in order to not upset society in general. And it frustrates me to no end watching Palestidiot suicide bombers and Al-Qaeda drones attempting to destroy what countless people have worked so hard to create and sustain.

Posted 7/02/2002 12:25:00 PM by Justin
TOO MUCH WISHFUL THINKING: Seth Shostak of Space.com (try saying that five times quickly) asks an interesting question about extraterrestrials and Earth-

'When it comes to alien activities, visiting Earth seems to be pretty high on the "to do" list. But does that make sense?'

He doesn't think so, and he presents a pretty convincing case. I also find it hard to believe that aliens would travel billions of miles just to look up our asses.

Posted 7/02/2002 09:50:00 AM by Justin
ON RECENT CHANGES TO THE SAT: Jonah Goldberg argues that the SAT is objectively unfair to the stupid.

'The College Board's decision wasn't made entirely out of the goodness of their hearts. Many schools have rightly elevated self-esteem as the sine qua non of higher education and have accordingly moved to drop the anachronistic test. The University of California's president, Richard Atkinson, has been a pioneer in this effort. Last year he declared that an "overemphasis on the SAT is distorting educational priorities and practice." Also, he added, "the test is perceived by many as unfair" and its results "can have devastating impact on the self-esteem and aspirations of young students."'

It's frightening that this kind of imbecile can rise to such a position of prominence, but not surprising. Why don't we just ban all measurements of achievement and forms of competition altogether? Then we can all have a great big group hug and wonder aloud why China is now the world's superpower...

Posted 7/02/2002 09:33:00 AM by Justin
THINKING OF STARTING A LEFT-WING BLOG?: Talk to the Pejman, he's got the goods.

Posted 7/02/2002 09:19:00 AM by Justin
TAR-AND-FEATHER-WORTHY: Andrew Sullivan examines the roots of the corporate corruption scandals we're witnessing lately, and Gregg Easterbrook wonders why these pathologically self-important old white men CEOs were paying themselves so much money while their companies were built on sand. We need a giant nutcracker and an angry mob about this time...

Posted 7/02/2002 09:07:00 AM by Justin
UM, THIS IS WHY WE HAVE THE DEATH PENALTY:

'Tarajee Shaheer Maynor, 25, of Detroit is sitting in a jail cell charged with two counts of felony murder in the deaths of her 3-year-old son, Adonnis Dominque, and 10-month-old daughter, Acacia.

Police said Maynor, a single parent supporting herself on loans, intentionally left her two children inside a locked black Dodge Neon for more than three hours in 80-plus-degree heat as she relaxed in a chair in a hair salon, never once checking on the children.'

Posted 7/02/2002 08:51:00 AM by Justin
ON THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: Steven Den Beste makes a powerful argument for why the United States cannot sign the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, which formally opened this week.

'The one argument that Americans will never accept with respect to any governing body anywhere is to give it power, and trust that it won't be misused. All power will eventually be misused; it's only a matter of time. The reason we remain free is because in our system such grants of power are never unconditional or irrevocable.

The United States will never grant sovereignty to any external court which does not answer directly to the people of the United States. The government of the U.S. cannot sign any treaty which creates such a court, and it cannot accept jurisdiction by any such court. This is based on the most fundamental principles we hold sacred about our nation and the relationship between its citizens and its government. We will never give this up.'

Posted 7/02/2002 08:28:00 AM by Justin
A REMINDER OF OUR INSIGNIFICANCE: Click here.

Posted 7/01/2002 03:19:00 PM by Justin
ON FOURTH GENERATION WARFARE: Congrats to Joe Katzman over at Winds of Change - his first TechCentralStation column is up today! It discusses fourth generation warfare, and stresses that the United States must develop a more unpredictable, nimble brand of warfare and national security. Much like Israel has had to do. Check it out.

Posted 7/01/2002 02:56:00 PM by Justin
GREAT...:

'Checkpoint screeners at 32 of the nation's largest airports failed to detect fake weapons -- guns, dynamite or bombs -- in almost a quarter of undercover tests by the Transportation Security Administration last month, documents obtained by USA TODAY show.'

I can't wait to see what federalizing these workers does for their success rate. And, is it absolutely necessary to publish the results of these kinds of tests? Aren't fliers jittery enough without having to worry about airport employee incompetence? How about some training / information for all travelers regarding what they can do personally to spot guns, bombs, and the like? You could air such a television special after "Friends." You could print out some information to be distributed with your airline ticket. That way the responsibility doesn't fall solely on the airline idiot brigade... Do something original. Anything, please...

Posted 7/01/2002 01:47:00 PM by Justin
"THE GANDHI OF JACKASSERY": Jonah Goldberg gets it just right at the Corner today, reviewing the NY Times' fawning piece on Mike Newdow (registration required), who's been in the news lately. Um, Socrates was an iconoclast, not this arrogant cocksucker. Why can't normal, common sensical people ever bring up the important national debates?

Posted 7/01/2002 12:58:00 PM by Justin
IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT I LOVE: Few things get me more excited than finding a new writer or columnist to get into. Especially when they have an online archive of pieces he or she has written (Roger Ebert, Jonah Goldberg, and others).

Therefore, much thanks to Marc Weisblott for turning me on to Bob Lefsetz, a music industry insider who pens very incisive articles on the biz. And yes, there's an archive. Check out his latest piece, on the commercial asswhupping that Moby is currently receiving.

Posted 7/01/2002 11:54:00 AM by Justin
INTERESTING: Salon.com interviews David Simon, author of "Homicide" (yep, the book that the TV show was based on) and creator of the new HBO series "The Wire." Here's one of several informative points he makes-

'One of the best detectives I knew in Baltimore was a racist. He'd catch 12 murderers a year and all the victims would be black. But if a black family moved in next door, he'd run the father through the computer to find out if he had charges. It's who he was. Whenever the cop lifts the blanket and looks down at the body and says, "Jesus, what a waste" -- they never say that. [Laughs.] They never fuckin' say that. I think most cop shows think the guys are doing it because it fixes the neighborhood: "I care that the world gets better, therefore I police." Bullshit.'

Posted 7/01/2002 10:04:00 AM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: Check out Curmudgeonly and Skeptical, possibly the funniest blog I have come across...

Rodger Schultz linked to a fascinating Reason.com article on the true story of Jaime Escalante, the math teacher immortalized in the film "Stand and Deliver."

He's also got the goods on American advertising of the future...

Posted 7/01/2002 09:17:00 AM by Justin
TAKE THE SIMPSONS QUIZ: Here are my results... did you expect anything different from your nerdy host?

Take the quiz here!

Posted 7/01/2002 08:41:00 AM by Justin
GOTTA LOVE THE NEW YORK TIMES: They never, ever, have a problem advocating the spending of other people's money (registration required)-

'Last week's promise by Washington and other rich countries to increase their aid budgets for Africa is welcome, but even better would be an increase in the pitifully small share of those aid budgets that goes toward expanding access to primary education worldwide.

The amounts needed are not impossibly large. The World Bank estimates it would take around $5 billion a year from all aid donors. America's fair share would be about $1 billion. Washington now contributes roughly $200 million a year.'

Oh, okay, our own country doesn't have any need for that $800 million dollars...

Posted 7/01/2002 08:39:00 AM by Justin
FUNNY: Howard Stern is running his own version of "Beat the Geeks" on his show right now... very funny. Howard is "Superman Geek." Great show, if you haven't seen it before. The new season begins July 8 on Comedy Central.

Posted 7/01/2002 08:28:00 AM by Justin
BLOG LITE THIS WEEK: Boy, Matt Welch is off, Ken Layne, GeekPress, Glenn Reynolds too, what's a blogger to do? Well, it's that time of year. I'll be posting this week, maybe a little lighter than usual, depending on the news and what else is circulating around the blogosphere...

Posted 6/28/2002 04:36:00 PM by Justin
HAVE A NICE WEEKEND EVERYONE: Possibly some posting on Sunday...

Posted 6/28/2002 03:52:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: Dave Barry rips the 2002 Farm Security Act a well-deserved new a--hole (Link via Juan Gato)-

'The purpose of the Farm Security act is to provide farmers with ''price stability.'' What do we mean by ''price stability?''

We mean: your money. You have already been very generous about this: Last year alone, you gave more than $20 billion worth of price stability to farmers. Since 1996, you've given more than a million dollars apiece to more than 1,000 lucky recipients, many of which are actually big agribusinesses. Some of the ''farmers'' you've sent your money to are billionaires, such as Ted Turner and Charles Schwab, as well as major corporations, such as Chevron, DuPont and John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance.'

Posted 6/28/2002 03:38:00 PM by Justin
THE 2002 AMY AWARDS: Zap2it.com's TV Gal reveals the results of the 2002 Amy Awards, comprised of reader categories and nominations. "Buffy" fans seem to have taken over the entire proceedings... and enough with the James Marsters ogling, please!

Posted 6/28/2002 02:34:00 PM by Justin
THE LATEST FROM PEGGY NOONAN: In her latest column she bemoans the amoral men who are damaging capitalism-

'Those who invested in and placed faith in Global Crossing, Enron, Tyco or WorldCom have been cheated and fooled by individuals whose selfishness seems so outsized, so huge, that it seems less human and flawed than weird and puzzling. Did they think they would get away with accounting scams forever? Did they think they'd never get caught? Do they think they're operating in the end times and they better grab what they can now and go hide? What were they thinking?

We should study who these men are--they are still all men, and still being turned in by women--and try to learn how they rationalized their actions, how they excused their decisions or ignored the consequences, how they thought about the people they were cheating. I mention this because I've been wondering if we are witnessing the emergence of a new pathology: White Collar Big Money Psychopath.'

Allow me to suggest another means of white-collar crime deterrent.

Posted 6/28/2002 02:18:00 PM by Justin
BABY BOMBER UPDATE: The family responsible says it was just a joke. Some f%-king joke.

Posted 6/28/2002 12:10:00 PM by Justin
WHAT WAR ARE THEY WATCHING?: James S. Robbins is irritated by America's pessimistic state of mind regarding the war on Islamists-

'Ten months into America's war on terrorism, with no major enemy attacks since September 11, the terrorists' host government in Afghanistan overthrown, the al Qaeda network disrupted, its leadership either dead or on the run, nearly half the American public thinks the war is at stalemate, and 14 percent believe the terrorists are winning. Which leads naturally to the question: Are you kidding me?'

Just another day in short-attention-span land.

Posted 6/28/2002 11:01:00 AM by Justin
FIGHTING FOR PEACE: Orson Scott Card has his reasons for supporting the ouster of Saddam Hussein; he also thinks that the Islamists are intentionally prolonging the conflict in Israel to delay a U.S. attack on Iraq. Sometimes war is the most effective way to negotiate for peace.

Posted 6/28/2002 10:24:00 AM by Justin
ON THE SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAM DECISION: I'm not very knowledgeable about this subject, but I do feel that a shift to greater privatization of the American school system (and hence more school choice) is a necessity, and this decision is a step in that direction. Off-wing Opinion has a thoughtful post on the ruling. Eugene Volokh also thinks the decision is correct.

And George Will thinks that "socially disadvantaged children had their best day in court since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954."

Posted 6/28/2002 09:29:00 AM by Justin
SEE TO BELIEVE: This is a photo circulating around the Blogosphere, found by IDF soldiers in Hebron-

UPDATE: Surprise! The Palestinians are claiming that the photo is a forgery.

Posted 6/28/2002 09:14:00 AM by Justin
WEEKEND AT OSAMA'S: Mark Steyn writes in his latest column that Osama bin Laden is dead. But, it suits the United States to believe he is still alive.

So he may be dead. Well, the masses in the Arab world aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, as you probably know. Can't you see Al-Qaeda putting together another couple of videos in which a re-animated bin Laden is shown speaking to his foot-soldiers, praising Allah, etc., a la "Weekend at Bernie's?" I wouldn't put it past them...

Posted 6/28/2002 08:49:00 AM by Justin
I'M HOOKED: After watching 3 episodes of NBC's "Scrubs" last night, I'm officially hooked. What a riot. It's very kinetic, very unpredictable, much in the vein of shows like "Malcolm in the Middle" and even "The Simpsons." And how can you ignore a show that forces its writing staff to do homework? NBC is moving "Scrubs" to Thursday nights at 8:30 PM, after you-know-who. (Which raises a question: Why, instead of running 3 years of just awful shows in that time slot, didn't NBC just run repeat episodes of "Seinfeld," or "Cheers," or some other stud show? Are they legally prohibited from doing so? I wonder. The ratings would be there, I guarantee it.)

Posted 6/27/2002 08:27:00 PM by Justin
READING FOR YOUR MIDNIGHT SNACK: Bill Simmons of ESPN.com has a hilarious pick-by-pick recap of yesterday’s NBA draft. You have to read the whole thing. Here’s a snippet-

'7:51 p.m. Picking fourth, Memphis takes Drew Gooden, who was shut down by Holy Cross in the NCAAs three months ago (apparently all game tapes have been destroyed). With some luck, he has a chance to be the next Juwan Howard. Meanwhile, Dad and I have this exchange:

Me: "What do you think of that pick?"

Dad (staring at Gooden): "That suit has no buttons."'

Posted 6/27/2002 03:14:00 PM by Justin
THOUGHTS ON WORLDBOMB: Boy, have I read some interesting articles regarding the WorldCom book-cooking today. Daniel Gross of Slate.com discusses the accounting metric known as EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization), and how overreliance on it to gauge a company's financial health has led to the current accounting scandals.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution editors are quite angry at all this deception, calling for harsher punishments for white-collar crime. (Too bad these smug, pasty white men can't be drawn and quartered, that seems a reasonable deterrent. Don't mean to pick on old white men here, I'm sure most males in these positions of power would behave exactly the same way.)

Most provocative of all is Bob Hiler, from Beyond Value Investing, who claims that WorldCom was participating in a massive corporate pyramid scheme-

'In other words, accounting fraud is often just the last act of desperation by companies frantic to prop up a collapsing pyramid scheme. The core problem is not generated or caused by accounting fraud - it's caused by something entirely different, and entirely legal.'

Posted 6/27/2002 02:10:00 PM by Justin
I'M FINISHED WITH LIES: Jonah Goldberg is relieved that President Bush's outline for peace in the Middle East faces up to the truth - that Yassir Arafat is no man of peace. He also points out that we put up with Saudi Arabia more than anyone else in the Middle East. I will take great pleasure in watching that country's eventual demise.

Posted 6/27/2002 12:54:00 PM by Justin
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES: Martina Navratilova criticized the U.S. and the Republican Party in a German newspaper yesterday. You have to read what she said, it's hilarious. This is why athletes are roundly stereotyped as idiots. Thanks to Eric McErlain for picking up on this.

Eric Olsen has a very interesting rationale for her behavior - "freedom fatigue"-

'I am prone to tread lightly upon, if not excuse Navratilova's statements because I think she suffers from an affliction common to many who flee repression for the good life in the U.S. of A.: freedom fatigue.

Upon exposure to the embarrassment of freedoms available here, it seems that the memories of truly horrifying repression recede and soften in the minds of some, and over time the inevitable results of the sheer exuberance of America's culture of freedom - consumerism, materialism, cacophonous speech - grate on those raised in a system devoid of such exuberance and turn otherwise intelligent, even brilliant people into babbling idiots.'

Yes, she was (is) a great tennis player, and a brave individual to be so openly homosexual, blah blah blah but I will stick to my original thesis that she's a moron. She doesn't seem to comprehend that she would be terrorized, beaten or killed for uttering such comments in other countries.

I also think that freedom fatigue might accurately apply to other anti-American attention-seeking clowns.

Posted 6/27/2002 11:57:00 AM by Justin
GLENN REYNOLDS IS RIGHT: In his latest FOX News column, he argues that we all need to trust the government more. But at the same time, the American people need to be kept in the loop regarding what is working and what isn't. This is where he grows pessimistic-

'Unfortunately, there is little reason to think we can expect such accountability. The FBI's record in the past has demonstrated an Arthur Andersen-like enthusiasm for keeping damaging information out of the hands of critics and overseers. Conspicuously absent among the many reforms introduced in the wake of Sept. 11 is anything that will address this problem.'

Posted 6/27/2002 10:39:00 AM by Justin
MORE ON SADDAM HUSSEIN: Mark Bowden has an Atlantic Monthly article on Saddam Hussein. Why we need to debate killing off this sick SOB is truly beyond me.

Posted 6/27/2002 10:31:00 AM by Justin
A POOR CHAMPION FOR CONSERVATIVES?: Salon.com wonders- do conservatives really want Ann Coulter as a spokesperson? I'm not sure anymore, to tell the truth. She's way too loud, angry and hysterical regarding some issues. She seems as frantic as the many liberals that she (correctly, I will add) condemns. Read this excerpt from her new book "Slander" to see what I mean.

Posted 6/27/2002 09:55:00 AM by Justin
ON THE NBA DRAFT: Stan McNeal of the Sporting News has analysis on last night's NBA Draft. It's good to see that the Knicks are actually unloading some dead weight.

UPDATE: Chad Ford of ESPN.com has graded all the teams.

Posted 6/27/2002 08:21:00 AM by Justin
MORE ON THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL PLEDGE: Instapundit has collected several bloggers' posts on this subject into one handy post.

Tony Pierce has an amusing screed.

The Wall Street Journal calls it "silliness." (registration required)

The Washington Post mentions the point I was attempting to make yesterday regarding the timing of the decision-

' If the court were writing a parody, rather than deciding an actual case, it could hardly have produced a more provocative holding than striking down the Pledge of Allegiance while this country is at war. We believe in strict separation between church and state, but the pledge is hardly a particular danger spot crying out for judicial policing.'

Here's some info on the history of the pledge.

Here is a short bio on the man who brought this case to trial. (He seems like just another snotty elitist Californian who has too much time on his hands.)

John Hawkins disagrees with the ruling, but I'm linking to him also because he has posted a copy of President Reagan's famous "Evil Empire" speech from 1982.

UPDATE: I liked Vodka Pundit's take on this whole thing.

Posted 6/27/2002 08:11:00 AM by Justin
ON "BUFFY": It seems the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences sent out Emmy nomination ballots earlier this month, but there was an all-too-familiar omission on the list of contenders for the drama writing category: the Buffy musical, "Once More with Feeling." Once more Buffy gets the shaft is more like it.

Elsewhere, Jessica of the Blog of Chloe and Pete (a very cool blog, I highly recommend a visit) referenced some recent Season 6 comments of mine (much thanks!), and provides her own analysis of this past season of "Buffy." I agree with her points wholeheartedly. (This past season was good, but watching Season 2 episodes lately in syndication clearly shows how superior the early years were.)

Posted 6/26/2002 03:31:00 PM by Justin
ON WAR WITH IRAQ: John Hawkins has another commendable post today on why we need to take out Saddam Hussein. I'm noticing more and more people against such a war without "clear evidence" of wrongdoing or aggression from the Iraqi dictator. That's sad, because there already exists so much evidence proving what a despicable and dangerous person he is. Here's just one piece.

Even more saddening is when I hear people actually referring to President Bush and his staff as part of an "axis of evil," as though the United States has committed more willful atrocities than Iraq, or Saudi Arabia, or North Korea. When is the last time you read about Iraq or Iran giving food or money to third world nations? When is the last time the United States government intentionally hoarded food or so that millions of its own citizens went starving?

Can you comprehend the absolute denial of reality necessary to compare freely-elected American leaders (regardless of their flaws, which are many) to proven dictators and mass murderers who kill indiscriminately and pillage their own nations? I can't. I guess that's why I'm labeled a "conservative."

Posted 6/26/2002 02:52:00 PM by Justin
UPON FURTHER REVIEW:

'A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion and cannot be recited in schools.'

They may have a point; I don't understand why "under God" ever had to be included in the pledge to begin with (it was added in 1954 through an act of Congress). Just remove those two words and let's all move on. The timing of such a decision is very poor.

On a separate note, I was able to track down a web site which details the requirements for holding public office in California.

Posted 6/26/2002 02:22:00 PM by Justin
"THE ONION" IS ON VACATION: So I pulled a few of my favorites from their archive-

'Energetic Self-Starter Instantly Despised by Co-Workers'

'Columbine Jocks Safely Resume Bullying'

And one of my top 5 headlines ever-

'Area Bassist Fellated'

Posted 6/26/2002 11:59:00 AM by Justin
TAKEDOWN: PejmanPundit has a nice piece up at TechCentralStation pulling out the fact-checker on our favorite anti-American troll, Gnome Chomsky. Chomsky would make a great dictator - he can distort truths and enlist manipulable supporters with the best of them...

Posted 6/26/2002 11:54:00 AM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: Joe Katzman has a great post detailing the "7 (or 8?) Signs of Loser States." As you can imagine, the Arab nations fare quite poorly under such examination.

Posted 6/26/2002 11:12:00 AM by Justin
"BUMFIGHTS": Is a new video being sold on the Internet, called "Bumfights," starring homeless men and women. Its contents?

'The tape shows a man setting his hair on fire; a man who smokes crack and then defecates on the sidewalk; a man who pulls out a tooth with a pair of pliers; and "Rufus the Stunt Bum," a man who voluntarily rams his head through fast-food restaurant signs, jumps off a building into a Dumpster and rides a shopping cart down a steep hill.'

Sounds delightful. (I'm being sarcastic, honest)

Posted 6/26/2002 11:00:00 AM by Justin
A HERO FOR ALL OF US:

'Gary Wilke didn’t set out to become a symbol of people’s frustrations when he used a sledgehammer to vent rage over his daughter’s dysfunctional computer.

But after he trashed the machine April 1 in the lobby of the Gateway Country store in Grand Chute, he got calls and e-mails from around the world.'

Posted 6/26/2002 10:45:00 AM by Justin
FIGHTING OFF TERRORISTS AT HOME: The Village Voice has an article describing unconventional ways that terrorists might strike in the U.S.

Paul Hsieh of GeekPress considers such possibilities a reason to allow Americans to carry concealed weapons as a deterrent.

Posted 6/26/2002 08:59:00 AM by Justin
A BIT MORE ON BUSH'S SPEECH: Bill Kristol thinks the president is effectively advancing the Bush doctrine. Michael Kelly has some predictions for the future.

Say what you will about the speech, or Bush in general, but at least he's trying something different, in an attempt to stabilize the region. For that alone he deserves a tremendous amount of credit.

Posted 6/26/2002 08:29:00 AM by Justin
I GOT INSTALINKED TODAY: Well, actually last night. Thank you Professor, thank you. I'd been hoping and working for a nod from the blogfather since I started doing this...

Welcome to all Instapundit readers, glad to have you. Please check out my extended piece on "the Zen TV Experiment," or if you like more linking and less thinking, I'll be posting lots today and there are plenty of links below.

Posted 6/26/2002 08:15:00 AM by Justin
CROOKS 'R US: This just makes me sick-

'In what appears to be one of the biggest cases of accounting fraud in U.S. history, WorldCom Inc. revealed Tuesday night it had disguised nearly $3.8 billion in expenses, after an internal investigation uncovered that the company's books were cooked.'

And guess who their auditor was?

If there is no deterrent to white-collar crimes like this (and trust me, there isn't), then it will continue to happen. I lost so much money through Enron, this just frustrates me to no end. Criminals and liars everywhere, running all these powerful companies. The entire tech stock surge was a mirage, almost all these companies seem to be duplicitous to some extent regarding their earnings and growth potential. The thorough purging of all this scum must continue before our economy can recover.

I wonder how long before this actually happens.

Posted 6/26/2002 08:06:00 AM by Justin
SAME SHIP, DIFFERENT CAPTAIN: Jonah Goldberg argues today that the 1990s were no better than the 1980s, but are remembered differently (italics are mine)-

'...what bothers me is the selective application of outrage. The excesses of the 1980s were unfair and cruel because a lot of people in New York, L.A., and D.C. thought the president was unfair and cruel. The excesses of the 1990s were simply excesses because the president cared about midnight-basketball programs.'

Posted 6/26/2002 08:04:00 AM by Justin
MORE ON THE ZEN TV EXPERIMENT: Matt Moore has some intriguing zen experiments of his own. Take that, Adbusters!

Posted 6/25/2002 01:51:00 PM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: Outer space is not filled with majestic colors, this Space.com article explains.

'All Hubble images are created with black-and-white cameras. Ones and zeros are sent to Earth. Color is dropped in later with the popular Photoshop program.'

Even the immortal 1995 photo of the Eagle Nebula, also known as M16 or the Pillars of Creation, is not what it seems. Read this fascinating article.

Posted 6/25/2002 10:27:00 AM by Justin
THOUGHTS ON THE ZEN TV EXPERIMENT: At long last, as promised.

“The Zen TV Experiment,” created by the Adbusters Media Foundation, is at heart an attempt to make television viewers more aware of the physical act of watching television, presumably with the result of lowering their interest in doing so. I have copied passages of the article, to assist in my analysis.

Here are the guidelines of the experiment -

1. Watch any TV show for 15 minutes without turning on the sound.
2. Watch any news program for 15 minutes without turning on the sound.
3. Watch television for one half hour without turning it on.

Sounds easy enough, right? (Famous last words…) I will break down this analysis of the experiment and of television viewing itself into three parts. The first section includes a brief discussion of the experiment, as well as thoughts on Adbusters’ depressing view of television. The second section is comprised of notes I took while participating in the experiment. The final section makes an argument in defense of watching television.

I. Watching Television

Adbusters has much to say about television, and none of it is positive. But much of it is true. They believe that television is used for

“(a) training us to shorten our attention span, (b) making ordinary life appear dull, (c) injecting a hypnotic quality into our ordinary awareness and (d) coercing us into its reality”

(Why this is done -- and by who -- is not considered in detail here. Such a discussion could fill pages and pages, and I will briefly revisit these questions later on.)

Television also serves as a surrogate companion to the lonely. It unrealistically shows all subject matter as entertainment. People schedule their lives, even build their living rooms, around the television set, where they receive one-way transmissions of information, sight and sound. Accurate, and damning.

But I put forward that television has some inherent good, if watched in moderation. This is an idea I will address later, one that the author seems to overlook altogether.
Adbusters wants television viewers to be more aware of “technical events” when they watch TV-

“What is a technical event? We've all seen TV cameras in banks and jewelry stores. A stationary video camera simply recording what's in front of it is what I will call "pure TV." Anything other than pure TV is a technical event: the camera zooms up, that's a technical event; you are watching someone's profile talking and suddenly you are switched to another person responding, that's a technical event; a car is driving down the road and you also hear music playing, that's a technical event.”

An excellent lesson to take from this discussion is that television does indeed manipulate the viewer, at the most basic level of cognition. Much like motion pictures use advancing still images to give the appearance of movement, television programming uses various kinds of special effects to create the appearance of narrative. Even the simplest television commercial tries to tell a coherent story, through the use of jump cuts, a close-up, etc. Technical events allow a two-feet high box of metal and plastic to produce an illusion of reality, of authenticity. So, according to the author, by focusing our attention on these technical events, we will be unable to follow along with the program’s intended story and can more actually notice what we’re doing when we watch television.

“When you focus on the technical events you can’t focus on the plot or storyline…either you watch the program or count the technical events.”

This idea is the basis of narratological theory, which studies not stories, but the significance of how we tell them.

But consider that in most (if not all) cases, we are choosing to be manipulated, choosing to watch other people’s lives on television for a time instead of living our own. Adbusters doesn’t think too highly of this either

“When we seek media confirmation we acknowledge and assume that our personal experiences are not qualified as reality any longer. We lose the drive to pursue direct experience as well as the drive to participate in co-creating reality. We no longer do, we watch, and reality is someone else's creation.”

I am again in conflict with this idea; while it is accurate, it is only unhealthy if taken to an extreme measure. And shouldn’t we marvel at such a technological invention, if just for a minute? Where’s the sense of wonder? What an astounding device, what a wonderful machine! The writer would have you think the television is conscious and malevolent, intentionally attempting to overthrow its human overlords.

So, now that I’ve provided a description of Adbusters’ views on television, as well as introduced my objections to them, I will detail my results from the experiment. (Please don’t fret, reader, the notes below are worth reading through)


II. The Experiment

1. Watch any TV show for 15 minutes without turning on the sound.

Sunday, June 10, 2002 - Watched NBC’s “Dateline” from 7:45 pm to 8:00 pm

My Notes:
7:47 pm- Counting technical events; very aware of time passing; no ability to participate or follow along with news item; trying to read lips, pick up on non-verbal cues

7:50 pm- Stopped counting technical events after 60 (and this isn’t even MTV); noticing lots more cuts, editing

7:52 pm- First commercial break; the commercial events have dozens of technical events, and that’s just the visual ones

7:57 pm- The silence is affecting me; what’s the damn point of watching television without it? Is Adbusters going to have a “Zen Book Experiment” where you have to stare at a blank piece of paper for 15 minutes straight? Would that mean that all books are useless as well?

8:00 pm- Made it through


2. Watch any news program for 15 minutes without turning on the sound.

Sunday, June 10, 2002 - Watched CNN Headline News from 8:00 pm to 8:15 pm

My Notes:
8:02 pm- The silence is really irritating; I’m getting fidgety; looking for recognizable faces in the news and television commercials

8:05 pm- Very aware of the time; watching seconds tick by, slow, plodding, thoughts meandering, why the hell am I doing this? It’s a test of wills now; I will make it through this

8:08 pm- Who gives a shit about these people? They’re no better than me; Another commercial break; commercials are like candy bars, a sugar kick, a snack between meals

8:13 pm- Approaching (now passing into) painful status; the next part of the experiment is going to be very difficult

8:15 pm- Two down, one to go


3. Watch television for one half hour without turning it on.

Sunday, June 10, 2002 – Watched a blank television screen from 8:15 pm to ??

My Notes:
8:17 pm- Very stupid; a waste of my time; would be better served staring at the walls, at least I could use my imagination

8:19 pm- Angry now, as expected (and as the article indicated I would be); who wouldn’t be? This isn’t relaxing, and I’m not learning anything

8:21 pm- Okay, say there’s no more television – would people read more? Exercise more? Quite possibly, these may be better ways to unwind

8:24 pm- 9 minutes… that’s it?

8:26 pm- I quit. I could continue, but what’s that self-discipline worth? 11 minutes, clock it.


III. In Defense of Television

The author of the article seems arrogantly bemused that subjects in this experiment grow angry and resentful at being made to participate; yet his explanation for this anger quickly dissipates into nonsense-

“One expression of this anger that comes up repeatedly is "I wasted 30 minutes of my time." Is it possible that this is a very valuable waste of time? Is it possible that "wasting time" is a very valuable thing to do in studying society? Pursuing this experience puts us smack in the middle of the infamous Protestant Ethic in a very direct and personal way…”

Making someone stare at a blank television screen serves no useful purpose to that person. Is there really more to it than that? I’m not uncertain that a person irritated at having their time wasted is suddenly on the verge of a great Zen truth, but I am sure that it would apply to many everyday situations beyond watching television. I again consider a “Zen Book Experiment” - if I grow angry when forced to examine a blank sheet of paper for 30 minutes, should I conclude that reading is a waste of my time? Of course not. Why, then, pick on television viewing in this way?

As my notes indicated, I was unable to complete the experiment. Here’s the main point- I feel I am not Adbusters’ target audience. I watch television in moderation; I watch a few hours per day; I only watch what I consider “high-quality” television – programs rich with information or cultural awareness, shows that challenge me to think or draw on past experience or knowledge (Don’t smirk – there are literally hundreds of pop culture references strewn about any episode of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” – keeping up with them is quite a challenge). I watch news programs. I watch an occasional movie, or sporting event. I’m not glued to the television. I don’t write fan fiction. The Zen TV Experiment would better serve those individuals who truly feel lost without their hours-long fix.

I’m not going to stop watching television. Already aware of its limitations, its blatant attempts to manipulate me, I readily disregard its corrosive factors because I see several genuine benefits to television’s existence, which I will briefly describe here-

1. Television remains the predominant medium for cultural literacy and news in our country. It presents the information in the friendliest format, requiring the least effort on the viewer. While the Internet is gaining ground, people still primarily turn to television for information and entertainment (especially humor).

2. Television affords people the ability to witness events that they could never physically attend or observe otherwise. TV viewers were able to watch a man land on the moon. See horrible images from the Vietnam War. Watch a World Cup match in South Korea. Switch between three college basketball games being played simultaneously around the country. Observe the eating habits of killer sharks. The list of unique phenomena that have been broadcast on television is endless.

3. Television is a vehicle for introducing new ideas and viewpoints. Yes, laugh if you must, but you can learn much about world history and science by watching A&E, the History Channel, Discovery, and a host of related networks. This doesn’t begin to cover all the political analysis and news shows.

4. Television can effectively serve as a companion to lonely people, if temporarily. Adbusters bemoans television aiding people in this manner, but I disagree. What’s so bad about a television as a surrogate friend? At least you can turn your back on a TV. People work through difficult times in strange and novel ways, and so long as their ultimate goal is to rejoin the world of humanity as quickly as possible; there is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking the things you don’t have in your real life (the idea of a loving family, friendship, varied experiences) through television.

5. There are many highly involved, intelligently written, thought-provoking shows on television, if you know where to look. A small list for starters: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sesame Street, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, The Simpsons, and The West Wing. (And that’s just shows currently on the air- don’t forget to include Homicide, The Joy of Painting, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, The Wonder Years, and many more. And I haven’t even touched historical programs, science shows, cable miniseries and made-for-TV movies.)

6. Culturally speaking, television is just a baby. It’s barely 60 years old. It’s in a nascent phase of development. To consider it “evil” and write it off completely as a societal tool is hopelessly ignorant.

So that’s my case, with two final points to make. The main obstacle to higher quality, more instructive television lies with the companies that decide what types of programming actually make it to the airwaves. The information that is now being transmitted is increasingly uniform, lowbrow and overly vacuous. There are media conglomerates that can and do stifle or shut out altogether opposing views, independent thinking, and off-kilter shows and ideas right under our noses. (Just notice the proliferation of “reality” TV programs that came on the heels of the first “Survivor.” This sort of mimicry happens all the time.) Sadly, at this time there is more money to be made with this business model. More people will watch mindless entertainment. They want escape, but of a deadening kind.

Second, watching hours and hours of the same kind of programming, showing the same types of people dealing with the exact same kinds of problems, creates the oft-mentioned sedative effect of TV. “Beverly Hills 90210” = “Friends” = “Jerry Springer” and so on. You really need to search to find television stations willing to broadcast challenging, thought-provoking fare, which would in turn make television viewing more productive to individuals, along the lines of reading, for example. But it does exist; there is a market for it. You have to want to think, to be challenged, in the first place.

Like anything else, television can healthily be viewed in moderation. There is no need or cause to make someone feel guilty for doing so, as Adbusters attempts to do.

Here’s an experiment I would ask members of Adbusters to try –
1. Watch any televised event for 15 minutes, preferably one broadcast from a foreign country.
2. Revel in the sheer thrill of viewing something that is taking place at this very moment several thousand miles away.

There’s your moment of Zen.

UPDATE: JunkYard Blog has some thoughts on television viewing.

Posted 6/25/2002 09:41:00 AM by Justin
ANOTHER INTERVIEW: Entertainment Weekly interviews Anthony Stewart Head, who stars as Giles on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." (Link via Fresh Hell)

Posted 6/25/2002 09:12:00 AM by Justin
STALKERS WELCOME: The Washington Post's "Live Online" has an entertaining Q&A session with John Flansburgh, one half of the amazing They Might Be Giants. Check it out. They will be performing for free on June 29th in Washington D.C.

Posted 6/25/2002 08:29:00 AM by Justin
ON BUSH'S SPEECH: Bravo, I say bravo. Any progress depends on the Palestinians growing up and acting like responsible human beings. And without Chairman Arafat involved. But can they do this? I'm still not sure how this plan will suddenly stop thousands of people from wanting to exterminate all Israelis.

Here's the text of the speech. Steven Den Beste has several long posts on this subject today, all worthy of a look. Check out VodkaPundit too. This the kind of stern language and leadership that has been lacking in U.S. foreign policy for at least a decade. Can you imagine "Blow Jobs for All" Bill Clinton dealing effectively with all this?

For a more pessimistic take on the speech, check out Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo, and also visit the Spoons Experience.

UPDATE: Daniel Pipes has doubts about the Bush peace plan.

And so does William F. Buckley.

Posted 6/25/2002 08:20:00 AM by Justin
UNKNOWN NO MORE: Thanks to Right Wing News, which has included "The Weigh In" as one of its "10 Best 'Unknown' Political Bloggers." Of course, I wish I wasn't such a small fish in the blogosphere, but I'm having fun no matter what...

John Hawkins has a consistently insightful and humorous blog. I can't recommend it enough.

Posted 6/24/2002 04:09:00 PM by Justin
WHAT WILL DIAPERBOY SAY?: Now that President Bush is calling for his removal. Arafat is meaningless now. It has become clear that Hamas and the rest of the jihave-nots are running things in the Palestinian terrortories. Sorry for all the puns.

Posted 6/24/2002 04:08:00 PM by Justin
SCRATCHING THOSE PLANS TO MOVE WEST:

'Across the West, 17 large fires were burning on nearly 722,000 acres in seven states on Sunday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.'

I will be praying for all the brave individuals who are battling these wildfires. The destruction and damage being caused is astounding.

Posted 6/24/2002 02:47:00 PM by Justin
AMERICA'S UNPREPAREDNESS FOR WAR: Stanley Kurtz has another excellent column today, worrying about our nation's readiness for war and again calling for reinstatement of a military draft-

'Politics or no, we are not prepared for this war. The attack on Iraq could set off any number of unexpected military problems that would tax our already overstretched forces beyond their limits. Last week, I mentioned a few. Last month, on NRO, Adam Mersereau laid out several more. So either we go into Iraq on a bet that there will be no serious complications, or we fail to invade Iraq for want of military readiness, without even acknowledging to ourselves that this is the reason. And if we do go in and suffer an emergency in which only a draft can provide us with combat replacements, will there really be time to pass the legislation, resolve the tough questions about deferment and women, train the troops, and get them to the field in time?'

Posted 6/24/2002 02:34:00 PM by Justin
"PRE-COG AMERICA": Andrew Sullivan looks to recent movies to help describe what he calls a "weird tension" growing in the United States.

Posted 6/24/2002 12:59:00 PM by Justin
BACK FROM THE DEAD: The Pets.com sock puppet is back! Who said that there are no second acts in American lives?

Posted 6/24/2002 12:46:00 PM by Justin
TOM HANKS WAS THE FIRST "BUFFY": The American Film Institute has presented Tom Hanks with its "Life Achievement Award" this month. He's the youngest person ever to receive it. But some of us remember him as "Buffy," one-half of the cross-dressing "Bosom Buddies."

Posted 6/24/2002 10:50:00 AM by Justin
YET MORE FROM THE "ISN'T THIS OBVIOUS" DEPARTMENT: The Washington Post editors wonder why our government and related organizations aren't informing individual citizens on how to react to specific terrorist attacks-

'California Rep. Jane Harman suggested that Americans ought to be as ready as are Californians when the ground starts to shake. "I think it is probably true that 98 percent of Californians know what to do in the event of an earthquake," she said, "and I think that's the kind of place we have to get to with this . . . to empower individuals to know what to do. If they know what to do, they won't panic."'

Posted 6/24/2002 09:43:00 AM by Justin
MUST-READ OF THE DAY: Eric Raymond concluded his excellent three-part series on radical Islam yesterday, discussing why Americans don't really understand the threat of jihadism-

'Americans have always had the odd parochial habit of assuming that, down deep underneath, everyone is basically like us -- sharing our historically peculiar mix of pragmatism and idealism; valuing honesty and fair dealing; tolerant, materialistic, freedom-loving, open-minded, tempting to value comfort and success over ideology. We reflexively believe that everyone can be reasoned with essentially in our own terms. Most Americans don't understand fanaticism and violent evil. We have a tendency to be `fair' by assuming that in any dispute there must be some right and some wrong on both sides. It's telling that we use `extreme' as a political pejorative.'

He continues by pointing out the bastard children of such thinking-

'The see-no-evil tendency in American folk psychology created fertile ground for the rather less benign dogmas of multiculturalism ("all cultures present ways of living that are equally morally valid") and postmodernism ("there is no objective truth"). Originally constructed by Marxists (and one ex-Fascist) as part of a program to ideologically disarm the West against the radical evil of Communism, these dogmas have both outlived their original ends and seeped into American pop culture. Their effect is that many of us can no longer bring ourselves to think of any political movement, religion, or culture as radically evil unless it is safely part of history (and, for political correctness, was run by dead white European males when it was alive and kicking).'

He later suggests some formidable steps that our nation will have to take to survive. You should read all three sections; the links to the first two parts are included in this third piece.

Posted 6/24/2002 09:32:00 AM by Justin
FUNDAY: Spent yesterday watching the Sci-Fi Channel's post-apocolyptic future movies marathon - "Mad Max," "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (glowingly reviewed by Ebert), and (ahem) "Waterworld" (which wasn't that bad, honestly). The evening ended with a screening of "Willow." Went food shopping (the highlight of Lindsey's and my weekend), worked out, made my world-famous pizza, it was a good day. I'm so beat today- it's amazing how much energy you can expend watching television...

Posted 6/24/2002 09:15:00 AM by Justin
WE NEED HAND: David Horowitz argues that we need to understand our enemies, as it will help us to defeat them.

Posted 6/24/2002 08:30:00 AM by Justin
MORE FROM THE "ISN'T THIS OBVIOUS" DEPARTMENT: Jonah Goldberg writes about who the real Nazis are. And surprise, it's not Americans, it's the Arabs.

'In the West, in America, in "civilized" circles, there's a deep desire to deny the obvious out of shame or some other form of moral laziness. Sometimes the motive is to preserve Third World peoples as victims of the West. To these people "power" — specifically "Western" or colonial power — defines Nazism. But this is absurd. Power does not make you Nazi-like; if it did, America would be a Fourth Reich already — and again, it's not. No, what makes you Nazi-like is the worship of power, particularly the power to murder, especially when you don't have it. You don't have to commit genocide to be a Nazi; you just have to want to commit genocide. Does anyone doubt that if given the chance, there would be countless Arab groups or governments who would leap at the opportunity to wipe out all of the Jews? One need only take their word for it.'

I liked this column a lot, and will try to remember it when I hear some whackoff liberal refer to a U.S. politician or conservative as a Nazi.