"But the reality is that the Internet plus the radical Islamic diaspora now means that there is no neat distinction between the battlefield and 'home'. Fighting al-Qaeda has become like staying at the Hotel California. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave -- the conflict -- that is. The Telegraph article continues:"
The threat facing troops in Britain became apparent earlier this year when the security services uncovered an alleged plot to kidnap a British Muslim soldier recently returned from service abroad and to behead him on the internet.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
But there is no threat.....
The Belmont Club: Faceless on Facebook:
Still #1...Go Blue!
AnnArbor, Mich:The top-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team rebounded from a two-goal deficit to pull out a 3-2 victory over No. 8 Notre Dame Friday (Jan. 18) at Yost Ice Arena. In front of 6,984 fans -- the second-largest crowd since Yost's renovation in 1996-97 -- Louie Caporusso (Woodbridge, Ontario) sealed the U-M win with just 20.3 seconds remaining in the game.This is just a great team to watch. They are fast, skilled and very snarly - I wish the Rangers showed this kind of passion. With only 2 seniors on the squad, nobody, even the coach, thought they would be this good. In 2 weeks they go up against #2 Miami, Ohio - my alma mater - for a home and home weekend. It should be a doozie.
This doesn't foster confidence...
PC World - CIA Says Hackers Have Cut Power Grid
Criminals have been able to hack into computer systems via the Internet and cut power to several cities, a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency analyst said this week.Speaking at a conference of security professionals on Wednesday, CIA analyst Tom Donahue disclosed the recently declassified attacks while offering few specifics on what actually went wrong.
Crushing dissent....
Belarus editor jailed for Islam cartoon
A Belarus court sentenced a newspaper editor Friday to three years in prison for reprinting a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked worldwide riots when it was initially published in a Danish newspaper.Instapundit: When American celebrities complain about crushing of dissent in America, remind them that this is what it really looks like. And if you don't want your religion dissed, you might as well start blowing people up. Obviously, it works. Nice incentive structure, there.
Ass Backwards - as usual
The Americans With Disabilities Act was passed to give disabled people better opportunities in the labor market, in transportation, healthcare, and other arenas. But the economists Daron Acemoglu and Joshua Angrist found that the A.D.A. actually worsened the job opportunities for disabled workers. Their seminal paper is called “Consequences of Employment Protection? The Case of the Americans With Disabilities Act.”The Times Magazine explores how maybe the laws we pass to try and help, don't REALLY work the way we thought. What a surprise!!!!!
So does this mean that every law designed to help endangered animals, poor people and the disabled is bound to fail? Of course not. But with a government that is regularly begged for relief — these days, from mortgage woes, health-care costs and tax burdens — and with every presidential hopeful making daily promises to address these woes, it might be worth encouraging the winning candidate to think twice (or even 8 or 10 times) before rushing off to do good. Because if there is any law more powerful than the ones constructed in a place like Washington, it is the law of unintended consequences.Read the whole article...very interesting.
Steve Austin comes home....
Researchers Develop Bionic Contact LensScientists have taken the first step toward creating digital contact lenses that can zoom in on distant objects and display useful facts.
For the first time, engineers have installed an electronic circuit and lights on a regular contact lens.
Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories
An Oil Quandary:
The food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, based on export prices for 60 internationally traded foodstuffs, climbed 37 percent last year. That was on top of a 14 percent increase in 2006, and the trend has accelerated this winter.Read the whole story. This has only gotten worse with the use of ethanol, too.
Jerk update....
Michelle Malkin: Guilty troop-hating lawyer Jay Grodner to serve probation, donate to Semper Fi Fund:
"Long story short, he has to pay $600 to a Semper Fi Fund (Marine [Corps] fund for the wounded) and he has to report for Social Services probation once per month for a year. Judge told him if he screws up and misses any he will be arrested and will serve 364 days in jail! He told Grodner that the reason the courtroom was so full was because Sgt. McNulty belongs to The Band of Brothers and this is what he can expect when he mistreats a Marine (not his exact words but the same meaning)…"
Uncomfortable? I think so...
Official Taliban Websites Hosted in US:
"Several official websites belonging to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the group better known as theTaliban, are back up once again and operating on US soil. The websites are named the 'Voice of Jihad'.
Again the Taliban webmaster, Adil Watanmal (aka Murchal), has opted to use a Yahoo! Geocities (California) and Freewebtown (Georgia) accounts. All those millions from heroin sales and you can't afford to pay for a website Adil?"
The fault, dear Brutus...
Victor Davis Hanson thinks that maybe, just maybe, California is looking at its budget problems from the wrong angle
But lost in the furor is any self-reflection, such as why would UC Davis recently pay John Edwards, multimillionaire trial lawyer, $50,000 plus to give a brief lecture on poverty? Such questions are never answered, much less raised, since the problem is always framed as a matter of a shortage of income, never a surfeit of unnecessary expenditure.
At some point we Californians should ask ourselves, how we inherited a state with near perfect weather, the world's richest agriculture, plentiful timber, minerals, and oil, two great ports at Los Angeles and Oakland, a natural tourist industry from Carmel to Yosemite, industries such as Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and aerospace—and serially managed to turn all of that into the nation's largest penal system, periodic near bankruptcy, and sky-high taxes.
Bloomberg and the Nanny State
This isn't a very good idea, is it?
This week, the mayor proposed that everyone arrested for any crime in New York City — before the case has been judged — should be required to provide a sample of DNA. The mayor wants a change in state law, which now requires DNA testing only after a conviction.
“ We’re going to have DNA testing for someone picked up for a busted taillight and computer error about tickets?” asked Mr. Blum, who had been a reporter for The New York Times in the 1980s and who wrote about his experience last April in the paper.
Who Needs Two?
Internet Puts a Sugarcoat on Scalping:
"But wait — isn’t this what we used to call, you know, scalping? And isn’t it supposed to be disreputable, unseemly and maybe even illegal? As recently as 2002, Greg Aiello, the longtime public relations guy for the National Football League, said of the growing Internet resale market: “We view it as unethical and in some cases against the law. It suggests a desire to profit personally and perhaps illegally on the coattails of either the N.F.L. or the team.”If we could just ignore that pesky "supply and demand" thing, life could be SO sweet!
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Advice Goddess.....
Amy Alkon
She's making a snow angel, retards. For people who are supposedly about seeing women "as people first," these feminists sure are all about pussy!
She's making a snow angel, retards. For people who are supposedly about seeing women "as people first," these feminists sure are all about pussy!
The Suicide of Reason in Canada
Pajamas Media discusses the Ezra Levant Case:
Ezra Levant was one of the few publishers in Canada to reprint the notorious “Mohammed cartoons” in 2006. Two years later, he’s been hauled before a “human rights officer” to explain why offending the delicate sensibilities of sharia-minded imams is legal, legitimate and necessary. Heather Cook reports on Levant’s video-captured testimony.
Read it all and watch the video testimony. Once again, free speech is being hijacked by a wingnut who is "offended" by something someone said. Once again, government pukes think it's their job to keep citizens from being nasty to each other; and once again, Muslims think that they are exempt from ridicule because they don't want to be. This a long running story that deserves following even though it's technically not the US; but you can bet your bottom dollar that it's going to happen at one of our own ridiculously PC universities (if it hasn't already).
Sounds like she was the Good Humor man...
THE NEW REPUBLIC :
Hollywood super-agent AriGoldEmanuel has a few questions about Hillary Clinton's "35 years of experience making change"
Lileks is chilly....
Coldest Day in History Ever Period End of Story
The National Weather Service is telling everyone to wear their hats and gloves. What are they, our MOM? I hate wearing hats in the winter; they produce fly-away hair that makes you look like you just experienced frottage with Reddy Kilowatt. At least adults have better glove options than kids; the latter are forced to wear thick nylon things that convert your clever nimble hands into cold insensate slabs that won’t even soak up nostril juice. Adults get supple leather gloves, but we know that any glove useful for driving will be useless in the elements. If you get stuck in the hinterlands with only driving gloves, might as well saw of your fingers with the Swiss Army Knife and throw them as far as possible to draw the wolves away.
Just in case you’re curious just how much the planet hates us today: it’s around 40 below with the wind chill in the north, and it’ll be the same statewide tonight. Of course we can take it; we have 75-year-old guys spending half an hour in the lake and surviving just fine. This does not mean that buzz.mn endorses crashing through the ice today. Thirty below is one thing. Forty below is another.
Why college kids never get sick....
Yet Another Reason We Should Be Able to Drink at Work
A recent article reports that German researchers just announced that drinking beer promotes good health. How could this lovely dream be possible?
What's good for the noose....
Golfweek Fires Editor Over Noose Cover
Golfweek magazine, which published a cover with a noose set against a purplish sky to illustrate its coverage of a controversial comment about Tiger Woods, announced Friday that it had fired Dave Seanor, the editor who approved the cover.I can't say I'm sorry about this (except people loosing their livelihoods is never a good thing); and you can bet your booties that Golfweek's intention was to get Tilghmen fired anyways. What I cannot understand for the life of me, though, is why something like this has to drag out when all parties concerned were satisfied that it had been resolved. It's not like Tilghman or anyone connected with the Golf Channel are Klan members; or that Tiger wanted his pound of flesh from the incident. Al Sharpton wanted her fired - who cares?
What's New In Diversity?
John Leo at Minding the Campus:
"Yale's burgeoning diversity program has another announcement: it wants to 'incorporate the role of ethnic counselor into that of freshman counselor, who will become responsible for providing enhanced community support for cultural affairs on campus,' according to the Yale Daily News."Read the whole thing (it's short), and wonder what in the world is going on in these schools....
