Saturday, January 10, 2009

Oh, well....

PEACE LOVERS LOVE HATE
"In our nation, even twisted extremists are welcome to express their opinions.

Take, for instance, the young Muslim woman in Florida who used her constitutional right to tell Jews to “go back to the oven!” last week. Or the more befuddled protester in New York who brandished a sign that read, “Death to all Juice.” (And I thought we Jews ran the country. Clearly, someone is sleeping on the job.)

These rare but revolting displays of hate do offer the “Juice” a valuable reminder that a secure Jewish state in Israel is a historic imperative.

Nevertheless, it is distressing to hear the large number of supposedly peace-loving critics of Israel in essence defend Hamas, one of the most virulently un-intellectual, illiberal, bellicose, misogynistic, hateful and violent brands of religious fanaticism on Earth."

And don't forget:

"It was the Zionists' fault"

Suggested reading...

The “Oldest Hatred”
"It didn’t get that way without an ability to adapt."

Friday, January 9, 2009

Perhaps so...

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years

From The Belmont Club

Partners for peace:
Every nightmare begins with a dream. Salman Rushdie, who Christopher Hitchens once described as “Kashmiri by family, Muslim by birth, and Indian by partition” wrote about the transformation of his almost comically pacific birthplace into one of the world’s great trouble spots. That transformation is embodied in the character of Shalimar the Clown, a fictional creation in one of his novels, who eventually becomes a Jihadi and assassin. Explaining why the sinister Shalimar was always referred to in his novel as “the clown”, Rushdie said “I wanted to stress the sweetness of his beginnings.”

Never forget though, that in the novel Max Ophuls, a U.S. diplomat who has worked in the Kashmir Valley, is murdered by Shalimar the Clown.

Oh, the whining!

What’s Harder, Marriage or Parenting?

Read this and wonder how much better off these people would be if they would devote the same energy to being mothers and wives as they do worrying about it. No wonder the rest of the world hates us....

It's easy to fool fools....

The Madoff scandal shows why bigger government isn't the answer
In fact, as The Wall Street Journal reported the other day, the Securities and Exchange Commission had been suspicious of his methods for a long time. It had even heard in 2005 from a competing investment executive who drafted a 21-page report arguing that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme.

The government had actually investigated him—not once or twice, but "at least eight times in 16 years," according to the Journal. Yet it "never came close to uncovering" the operation, which may have begun as early as the 1970s.

So what makes anyone think that future bureaucrats, no matter how vast their authority, will be able to do better? Advocates of stricter regulation often talk as though the choice for protecting investors is between imperfect market mechanisms and foolproof government regulations. In fact, governments, like every other institution, are staffed by fallible individuals who can be fooled as easily as anyone else.

Just do it!

Obama Team Seeks Delay in Switch to Digital TV:
"The nation’s broadcasters may not complete their long-awaited switch to all-digital TV next month, after all.

On Thursday President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team urged Congress to extend the Feb. 17 cutoff date for analog broadcasting, injecting new uncertainty into a switch that has confused customers and cost the government more than $1.3 billion in subsidies.

Several television networks and high-ranking Democrats supported Mr. Obama’s proposal, although it remains unclear whether a change will be made."

The perfect example of how the government is incapable of getting absolutely ANYTHING done. This has been going on for almost a dozen years, and we have put off the conversion 3 or 4 times for the last 5 or 6 years. Makes you wonder.....

A good lesson for us all...

36 Hours - Reykjavik, Iceland

Amazing, isn't it?

Gaza Bedfellows UNRWA And Hamas:
"Once upon a time, terrorists had to hide from the forces of the free world and filch their living on the sly. That's changing, thanks to long-running efforts by the United Nations, bankrolled most prominently by the U.S.

In the current violence of Gaza, we are seeing the fruition of one of the most bizarre creations of modern diplomacy: a UN-supported welfare enclave for terrorists."

Quote of the Day:

Via Instapundit:
“The bad thing is that the federal government has figured out that it can borrow a lot more money than it previously thought.”

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Swine for all!!!

No Silence Here:
"Candied bacon martini"

Did you know there are bacon-of-the-month clubs?
The Pig Next Door
Zingerman's
Coastal Vineyards
The grateful palate

OMG! That's it. I'm toast. Bacon beer!


The price of action?

Althouse:
It's Barack Obama, scary us into accepting whatever it is he thinks must be done.
"I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible. If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits."

If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years.... and if something is done?

Infrastructure we should stimulate:

What Should Obama Do First? Modernize the Electric Grid

You think the "media" gives a hoot if their numbers are correct?

Reporting Palestinian Death Tolls: A Math Question:
...In reporting these death tolls, does the media include the dozens of Palestinians executed by Hamas as suspected collaborators? I suspect they do. Is anyone besides Power Line asking?

Because, if the death tolls include those executed by Hamas, then it’s not the “Israeli assault” that killed them. I mean, that’s sort of obvious . . . but Big Media doesn’t seem to understand it, regardless.

Quote of the Day:

GayPatriot
"The Israeli military has clear plans. It has a strategy for victory. Something which Norm Coleman lacked in the Minnesota recount. And John McCain in the most recent presidential campaign."

Amen...

When politicians declare war on something, it's not usually a good sign.
"Politicians are fond of comparing things that aren't war to war. It's both an abuse of language and a rhetorical trick. We hear about war, and we think whatever bold actions this politician is asking us to take must be worth it because, well, it's war. But a lot of the things presidents have declared war on are still with us."

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Gotta have one!

The Ultimate Flying Machine: Sexy as a Sports Car, Portable as a Jet Ski:

It is ALWAYS about goaltending!

What Went Wrong at the World Juniors
"The failure in Ottawa was simple. They had average goaltending, couldn’t overcome some adversity against Canada and Slovakia, and their depth was exposed. To complicate this further is unfair."

A great article, though, that should be read by anyone really interested in hockey. At least, the NY Times always has good and balanced junior coverage.

It's a free service....

Reuters: In the Service of Hamas

Ain't THAT the truth...

The World's Pornographic Interest in Jewish Moral Failure
"Okay, yesterday I was depressed. Today, I'm just pissed off. It's absolutely astonishing to me how interested the world is in Israel's failings. This is the source of a bitter but hilarious observation I once heard a Kurdish leader make: He was complaining to me that his people were cursed, and I asked him what he meant: Cursed by geography, cursed by their proximity to Kurd-hating Arabs, what? He said the Kurds were cursed because they didn't have Jewish enemies. Only with Jewish enemies would the world pay attention to their plight."

Via Instapundit...

SO DON’T GIVE ‘EM ONE: Hamas Desperate for Lull.

Remember: "We're going to attack this army, cut it off from its supply lines, and then kill it."? This is no time to be nice....

This is the stuff that real, BIG wars are made of...

Russia Cuts Gas, and Europe Shivers:
"Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, halted nearly all its natural gas exports to Europe on Tuesday, sharply escalating its pricing dispute with neighboring Ukraine. The cutoff led to immediate shortages from France to Turkey and underscored Moscow’s increasingly confrontational posture toward the West.

Across Europe, countries reported precipitous drops in gas pressure in their pipelines at the peak of the winter heating season in a bitterly cold January."

Who are you rooting for?

Iran's Postmodern Beast in Gaza:
Israel’s attack on Gaza is, in effect, an attack on Iran’s empire, the first since its offensive on Iranian-backed Hezbollah in 2006. That attack failed for a number of reasons, not least of which was Israel’s poor intelligence on Hezbollah: historically, its intelligence on the Palestinians has been much better. Moreover, this attack seems more deliberately planned, with narrower, publicly stated aims – all in all, a more professional job. But there is a fundamental problem with what Israel is doing that goes to the heart of the postmodern beast that the Iranian empire represents.

Very much in line with what Tom Friedman has to offer this morning.....

Nancy Pelosi - War criminal?

What Congress Knew About 'Torture':
"Barack Obama's choice of former Congressman Leon Panetta to lead the CIA at least puts a grownup, if also an intelligence rookie, in that crucial job. It also means that Mr. Panetta and Director of National Intelligence-designate Dennis Blair will soon have to decide if they want to join the left-wing crusade to purge their agencies of anyone who had anything to do with 'torture.'

In particular, at their nomination hearings they're likely to be asked to support a 'truth commission' on the Bush Administration's terrorist interrogation policies. We hope they have the good sense to resist. And if they need any reason to push back, they could start by noting the Members of Congress who would be on the witness list to raise their right hands."

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

More and more of the same....

Clinton's Iranian Connection
"On Dec. 19, 2008. at 2 p.m., the New York-based Alavi Foundation, which supports Iranian causes, contributed between $25,000 and $50,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation. This can be best described as the ultimate chutzpah, for on the very same day, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York indicted the president of the Alavi Foundation, Farshid Jahedi, 'on a charge of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying documents required to be produced under a grand jury subpoena concerning the Alavi Foundation's relationship with Bank Melli Iran and the ownership of a Manhattan office building.'"

"Change" to make you nauseous...

So Glad It’s a New Political Era:
"We are the party of Barack Obama and the Daley Machine; the party of the Clintons and their amazing alchemistic Library, which turns Saudi dross into altruistic gold; the party of Tony Rezko and Norman Hsu; the party of vaporizing fundraisers, absconding bagmen and sitting New Mexico governors (and a recent presidential “candidate”) currently under federal investigation for allegedly steering a state contract in the direction of one of his big backers, David Rubin of CDR Financial Products in Beverly Hills. Now comes word that Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state-designate, Congress and the Emoluments Clause willing, got millions of dollars for a mall in Syracuse shortly after the developer coughed up a hundred grand for the Bill Clinton “Foundation.” That’s what I call commerce!"

Monday, January 5, 2009

Give 'em a country!

The Brave Resistance

From the JPost:

[IDF officials] said that it was likely that a number of senior Hamas operatives and terror chiefs were hiding and conducting their operations from within Shifa Hosptial in Gaza City.

“Hamas operatives are in the hospital and have disguised themselves as nurses and doctors,” one official explained.

Now the Israelis have done it — they’ve forced Hamas leaders to dress up like nurses. Zionist cruelty knows no bounds.

He'll be bankrolling MoveOn, too....

Look Who's Buying IndyMac
So much for history. George Soros is in on the deal to buy IndyMac from the FDIC. Soros has a long history of making loads of money by first creating a financial crisis and then stepping in to grab up the bargains. Perhaps the most famous example of this tactic is "Black Wednesday," when Soros nearly sunk the entire economy of Great Britain through currency speculation.

George Soros has helped bankroll the campaigns of the Democrats in Congress who created this mess. Now, it appears, he is cashing in on his investment.

Get me the 10 pack!!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Worth the long read... but scary

Portrait Emerges of Anthrax Suspect’s Troubled Life
"Dr. Ivins, who had helped develop an anthrax vaccine to protect American troops, had spent his career waiting for a biological attack. Suddenly, at 55, he was advising the F.B.I. and regaling friends with scary descriptions of the deadly powder, his expertise in demand.

One recipient of his e-mail message, however, a graduate-school colleague, looked at the photograph of Dr. Ivins and leapt to a shocking conclusion.

“I read that e-mail, and I thought, He did it,” the fellow scientist, Nancy Haigwood, said in a recent interview."