On the Move!

Well, it looks like I'm going to be getting some new software to play around with in the area of web publishing (namely Macromedia Studio MX - I hope), so I've decided to actually work at making something of this whole web thing. As such, keep your peepers peeled for a new site to be developed soon. New look, new address (www.perihelion.net) and same old lousy content!

Actually, I'm excited about the whole thing. I've always wanted my own domain, my own site, something that I can take pride in rather than just slapping up there. So I hope I can improve my content to the point that it's actually worth reading, improve the look so it's actually worth looking at, and generally improve at this whole weblogging and webmastering thing. I've come a long way in terms of skill since I started with a basic html page in 1998, but I have a long, long way to go. I'm excited to see where it leads.

VDH

Victor Davis Hanson is, as always, well worth the read:

These are weird, weird times, and before we win this messy war against Islamic fascism and its sponsors, count on things to get even uglier. Don't expect any reasoned military analysis that puts the post-9/11 destruction of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein's evil regime, along with the liberation of 50 million at the cost of 300 American lives, in any sort of historical context. After all, in the current presidential race, a retired general now caricatures U.S. efforts in Iraq and quotes Al Sharpton.

Do not look for the Islamic community here to acknowledge that the United States, in little over a decade, freed Kuwait, saved most of the Bosnians and Kosovars, tried to feed Somalis, urged the Russians not to kill Chechnyans, belatedly ensured that no longer were Shiites and Kurds to be slaughtered in Iraq, spoke out against Kuwait's ethnic cleansing of a third of a million Palestinians — and now is spending $87 billion to make Iraqis free.

That the Arab world would appreciate billions of dollars in past American aid to Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority, or thank America for its help in Kuwait and Kosovo, or be grateful to America for freeing Iraq — all this is about as plausible as the idea that Western Europeans would acknowledge their past salvation from Nazism and Soviet Communism, or be grateful for the role the United States plays to promote democracy in Panama, Haiti, the Balkans, or the Middle East.

No, in this depressing age, the real problem is apparently our support for democratic Israel and all those pesky Jews worldwide, who seem to crop up everywhere as sly war makers, grasping film executives, conspiratorial politicians, and greedy colonialists, and thus make life so difficult for the rest of us.

The Genius of Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg on how dumb John Kerry appears to be:

Of course, the administration does have a plan. And central to that plan is, well, spending money to rebuild Iraq. The Democrats make it sound like all the U.S. Army is doing in Iraq is having one giant-sized Chinese fire drill every day. One can just imagine John Kerry going to the local garage:

Kerry: I won't pay you to fix my car until you have a plan.
Mechanic: Um, I do have a plan: You pay me. I replace the engine I just took out. Your car works. That's the plan.
Kerry:How can you say you have a plan? Look at the terrible shape my car is in. It's worse than before; there isn't even an engine.
Mechanic: You're an idiot.

Goldberg is a comic genius. But he also makes some very good points here (emphasis mine):

Instead, even as we are fighting a guerilla war where the enemy defines victory not in military terms but in its ability to weaken American resolve at home, Democrats are crassly undermining the safety of our troops, the credibility of our nation, and the integrity of their own political philosophy. Every single good thing about liberalism in foreign policy would have the Democrats seeking more money for Iraq. Liberals should be the ones demanding that we send more teachers, more doctors, more librarians, and more troops to protect them. They should be standing on the tarmac helping to load another shipment of soft-ice-cream machines and ping-pong tables bound for Fallujah, Tikrit, and Basra.

It's all politics for the Dems, baby. That's all it boils down to. They seem to have completely lost sight of 9/11, the threat from radical islamists, and the good that will come from a strong, stable, democratic Iraq. They just want the White House. That's all. And that's bad for America.

Wireless!!

Well, I'm now typing on my brother in law's father's powerbook G4 (conviluted, eh?) which is on his wireless network in his house. It's groovalicious!

But I don't like the keyboard. It's a pain to use.

Boy, aren't you glad I have this weblog so you can read all my important, significant thoughts?

The most remarkable statement of the year...

Made by an "advocate for the poor," as quoted in the Seattle Times:

Advocates for the poor say the premiums are too expensive for some people and the government may have overestimated the ability of people to mail a check.

'It's an enormous barrier,' said Ellen Pinney, director of the Oregon Health Action Committee. 'Let alone the $6, there is the whole issue of writing a check or getting a money order, putting it in an envelope with a stamp and putting it in the mail to this place in Portland that must receive it by the due date.'

(blink.....blink.....JAW DROPS OPEN....)

The Madness of Wesley Clark

As usual, Taranto is right on:

"And," he added, "we've got to say again and again and again, until the American people understand: strong rhetoric in the aftermath is no substitute for wise leadership."

Goodness, Clark is threatening to tell us 'again and again and again, until the American people understand,' that the cause of Sept. 11 was decisions made in the White House, but only in the 233 days between Jan. 20, 2001, when Bush took office, and Sept. 10, 2001.

Marc's Christmas List VI

Probably a long shot due to price, but hey, I might as well ask. The Complete Far Side: 1980-1994

New on the Bolgroll

Jihad Watch:

Jihad Watch is dedicated to bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology plays in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern-day conflicts. We hope to alert people of good will to the true nature of the present global conflict that radical Islam is waging against the rest of us.

I'll be checking this site out regularly. Hope you will too.

Marc's Christmas List V

Another U2 product for the U2 nut: U2's Propaganda

Well, Duh!

Congress needs to get moving on this - I want my high speed access and cheap cable! Stephen Moore on Cable TV on National Review Online:

I don't know if land-based transmission systems are the future of TV and high-speed Internet or not. But I do know that only the market can fairly and efficiently make these decisions, and by locking out new hopeful technological advances through government regulation, consumers lose and monopolies win. The shame here is that this fight isn't being fought in the jungle of the marketplace where survival goes to the fittest. It is being fought in the halls of Congress, where the most politically fit survive.

Which politician does this refer to?

"This is almost certainly a lie."

Certainly an interesting idea...

Bush Rice '04: Ensuring America's Future (BushRice04.org)

The Death of Minds

A great post over at Belmont Club...

Ted Rall - No conscience, or just no brain?

Here's a goodie from Ted's blog Search and Destroy:

Gitmo IS a concentration camp; if the Administration has its way and begins executing the inmates there, it'll become a death camp. But it is a concentration camp; there's no other term that fits, regardless of your politics. So a Nazi comparison is certainly applicable.

Yeah, Ted, Gitmo is exactly like Auschwitz. Those Taliban guys were just innocent shopkeepers or businessmen or women and children who were rounded up for no other reason than W's vicious intent to slaughter them based on their racial characteristics. Sure, Ted, the taliban fighters housed there are as morally innocent as the Jews were during World War II. There's absolutely no rational reason why those people would be detained. At all.

Rall is a completely irrational man, driven by irrational hatred. He is no longer able to distinguish between reality and his own fevered fantasy because his hatred of George W. Bush is so overwhelming. In his effort to tar the President with the big, rancid "Nazi" brush, he demeans all who are fighting this war, all who have given their lives in the defense of his right to spew this excrement, and he diminishes the true tragedy of the holocaust. I'd say that Rall should be ashamed, but he's long since give up his capacity for that emotion, so I'll just present this as a cautionary tale of what can happen when you let your rage get the best of you.

Rall goes too far

Hey, Ted Rall - if you can't make a distinction between the actions of the Bush administration and Nazi Germany, you're a moral idiot.

If you want to consume his swill, click here: Yahoo! News - Ted Rall

Marc's Christmas List IV

Rich Lowry's new book Legacy is the first book on the Clinton years that I actually have an interest in reading.

Why did we go to war?

I missed this when it was posted, but Jonah Goldberg is great on the reasons for war in this G-File:

I doubt Saddam had anything to do with planning 9/11 and frankly I don't give a damn. The lesson of the 3,000 dead was that we're going to take our responsibilities seriously again. And that means cleaning up unfinished business and telling the rest of the world we are serious. Nobody — nobody — has made a remotely persuasive case for why it would have been good to keep Saddam in power. Nobody dares make the case that Saddam and his regime didn't deserve everything they got — because that would be like arguing you shouldn't fix the shot brakes on your car because your last accident was the result of bald tires.

Panther!!

Lileks on Panther:

Installed Mac OS Panther. Verdict: I now have the best OS on the best computer ever. End of story. It’s all so pure and simple and intuitive it almost makes me weep.

A sad day

Via the Washington Post: 'Price Is Right' Announcer Rod Roddy Dies

LOS ANGELES - Rod Roddy, the flamboyantly dressed announcer on 'The Price is Right' whose booming, jovial voice invited lucky audience members to 'Come on down!' for nearly 20 years, died Monday. He was 66.

When I was in college, most of the guys on my floor in my dorm would gather on weekdays at lunchtime to watch The Price is Right. We were something like the cult of Bob Barker. Those were good times. It's sad to know that Rod is gone. He's a part of the pop culture of my youth, and it's somewhat unsettling when pieces of that are chipped away. At least Bob is still going strong.

Wildfire

I have a friend who lives north of San Diego. We went out to visit her in March - my first trip to California. I was struck by the beauty of the region - the Pacific Ocean, the bluffs, hills and mountains, the cities of San Diego and Los Angeles and the open spaces between them. I was also amazed (as I always am when I travel to large metropolitan areas) by the sheer amount of development and the size of the local population.

Today it struck me just how close these wildfires in Southern California are to those very urban population centers. My friend said that the fires were only ten to fifteen miles away from her, and that her car was covered in ash this morning. Suburban neighborhoods of San Diego are burning right now, and the fires are still out of control. It's hard to believe that something so devastating can happen in a place so densely populated. In March, when I was there, I never would have even imagined that such a thing would be possible.

It's so tough when you have a friend far away that you care about a lot. There's really not much I can do other than pray, which I'm doing, believe me. And I know and believe that prayer is powerful and means everything, but you still wish there was something you could do on your own, you know?

Anyway, no real point to this post, I guess. Just a reminder to keep praying for those in the path of the fire.

Overpriced?

That's the question that many are asking about this auction...

Breaking the stranglehold

Check out this really interesting article over at City Journal - We’re Not Losing the Culture Wars Anymore (via Instapundit) on how conservatives are starting to make inroads on public opinion by circumventing the conventional media. A sample:

The Left’s near monopoly over the institutions of opinion and information—which long allowed liberal opinion makers to sweep aside ideas and beliefs they disagreed with, as if they were beneath argument—is skidding to a startlingly swift halt. The transformation has gone far beyond the rise of conservative talk radio, that, ever since Rush Limbaugh’s debut 15 years ago, has chipped away at the power of the New York Times, the networks, and the rest of the elite media to set the terms of the nation’s political and cultural debate. Almost overnight, three huge changes in communications have injected conservative ideas right into the heart of that debate. Though commentators have noted each of these changes separately, they haven’t sufficiently grasped how, taken together, they add up to a revolution: no longer can the Left keep conservative views out of the mainstream or dismiss them with bromide instead of argument. Everything has changed.

Read it all - it's worth the time.

Marc's Christmas List III

Well, it looks like the iPod is off the list (that's ok, because my lovely wife has stated that if I meet my weight loss goal, I can buy one as a reward! Such a lovely wife...), but I'm going to add this to replace it - U2 Go Home - Live From Slane Castle. Why? Because it's a U2 product and I'm a U2 nut. No further reason needed as far as I'm concerned.

A morning at the happiest place on earth

This little sweetie was parked at GRR this morning (a Boeing 737-522). Not often that we get the Shuttle by United livery in here. At least not often that I see. Also saw this lovely little Airbus depart for DTW (I presume - it turned east).

It's nice to be at the airport early, catching the sunrise and enjoying the crisp autumn air. It was a beautiful morning, that's for sure. I was even eye to eye with one of the ubiquitous seagulls that always hang around anywhere where there's a trash can.

Anyway, I've always loved the airport. GRR has always had a nice viewing area along the main runway, which is a good hangout for the occasional birdwatcher as well as average folks with only a passing interest in aviation.

When I was young, the airport was even cooler for looking at planes close-up because they had the Observation Deck open. The OD was an open air deck sitting atop concourse A. You could go upstairs, wander outside and look at the DC-9s and 727s that populated the airport in those days right out in the open. There's nothing like having the smell of fresh jet fuel in your nostrils while a classic 727 shatters your eardrums on takeoff.

I've always been a pretty big Boeing booster, although most of my personal air travel has taken place on Douglas or Airbus products. But I have to root for the domestics, you know? I have taken a shine recently to the Airbus A340 ever since Northwest added them to their fleet. Nothing looks as good as the Boeing 757 and 777, though. And I admit to being fully geeked about the 7E7, even though they gave it a goofy name like "Dreamliner."

All this to say that the airport is probably the place where I'm most like a kid at heart. I just love being at a place where people pile into huge machines, leave the ground and touch down hundreds or thousands of miles away. There's just no other place like an airport.

Suprise, Suprise, Suprise...

Rumsfeld's memo was entirely consistent with his previous public statements. Try again, lefties.

The day that everything goes wrong

Another Saturday at work, and it's the day - there's one every football season (at least) - where nothing goes right at all. I arrived on time, all ready for an afternoon of quality broadcasting, and settled into the studio only to find that for some reason the Hotline unit that we use to get a signal from the booth to the studio isn't connecting to the remote unit. So the game didn't get on the air on time, the announcers are passing a phone back and forth between them to do the broadcast, it sounds pretty crappy, and I can't do my normal highlights show. What a week.

There seems to be a game like this every year, though, so I shouldn't be suprised. No matter how good every other broadcast is, no matter how smoothly they run, there's always one that just doesn't go right at all. The equipment fails, or the phone lines are bad, or the announcers spill coffee on their crotch (actually, that was funny when it happened) and the broadcast just falls apart. And it doesn't matter how good the network is, either. There's always that one broadcast per season that just takes a dump.

Today is that day. For some reason even Internet Explorer isn't even working right - I can't seem to open more than two windows at a time for some reason. I can't wait to go home.

For those who doubt the success of the Afghanistan campaign

Wizbang: Did We Win? You Be The Judge...

Lamenting my lack of links

I was just thinking back to when I was in college and I had just discovered the power of the internet and electronic communications and stuff, back when mirsky's worst of the web was the funniest thing going and it was exciting to have a basic page of html, and really heartstoppingly cool to figure out how to put a basic image on your webpage.

Back then, when the brave new world of streaming audio was in its infancy and mosaic was the browser of choice, there always seemed to be something new and exciting to look at on the web.

But alas, those days have gone. The novelty of reading the New York Times for free has long since worn off, and now I go on a futile search for links that interest me. Oh, sure, I like the weblog world, but it's very rare nowadays that I find a regular site that tickles my fancy enough that I visit regularly. Homestar Runner is the last site I found that fits that bill. Perhaps my standards are too high. Perhaps I should devote myself to designing a really sweet website of my own. Perhaps I just have too much time on my hands to complain about stupid stuff like this.

Well, kaliber 10000 is cool. I guess I'll muck around there for a while.

And you wonder why California's buddget is shot...

Contractors send state the bill for rush job to finish bridge (hat tip - Instapundit)

The Terrible Secret of Space

Only go here if you have a high-speed connection. If you do, I hope you find this as disturbing as I did.

JonathonRobinson.com | The Terrible Secret of Space

Your Friendly Union Representatives!

2 pickets face charges in attack

No further comment needed.

On that feeding tube case in Florida

I was reading this article and this quote jumped out at me:

'This particular administration has not yet understood why we have separation of powers,' said former Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan. 'They seem to believe that the governor and the Legislature can do whatever they want and the courts should not interfere and that's not right.'

Ummm, isn't this guy serving on a court that in 2000 ran roughshod over the election laws that the people of the state of Florida put in place via their elected legislature and governor? Who is he to talk?

UPDATE: I just now realized that he's a former supreme court justice. But I think the point still holds.

CBS and Reagan

So CBS is planning to do a tv movie on Reagan. And it appears that they're planning a hatchet job. Not that we'd expect anything less. Naturally, one of the old canards that's raised from time to time on Reagan is that he didn't care about people suffering from AIDS. Douglas W. Kmiec, a former Reagan advisor on this topic, writes this today on National Review Online:

It was the Reagan administration that cut through this misinformation and, after careful deliberation, concluded that AIDS patients were entitled to be treated as 'handicapped' under federal laws that protect such individuals from discrimination.

This would have been a courageous act for any president, but it was even more so for President Reagan. Given the medical uncertainty and the fact that AIDS was transmitted largely through sexual promiscuity, President Reagan not only needed to educate the public, but also to encourage his core political base to have charity toward those who consciously engage in morally questionable behavior.

So let's just put that whole topic to rest now. The accusation isn't true

But beyond that, I already know what CBS thinks of Reagan, and I don't trust them at all to do a fair portrayal of the man. And who's the genius who cast Barbara Streisand's husband as Reagan? Is that really the best choice of actors to portray one of the most popular and best loved presidents of modern history? A better title for this movie would probably be Reagan - by the people who hate him, for the people who hate him.

Good point

From Best of the Web Today:

What's curious about the partial-birth debate, though, is that although journalists feel compelled to add the disclaimer that only 'critics' or 'foes' use the term 'partial-birth abortion,' the other side of the debate doesn't seem to have a term of its own. The New York Times does provide one synonym, referring to 'a procedure that doctors call intact dilation and extraction but critics call partial-birth abortion.' But 'intact dilation' is just a clinical way of saying 'partial birth'; the Times' formulation is the equivalent of saying 'a condition that doctors call melanoma but critics call skin cancer.'

Gross vs. O'Reilly

Well, I listened to the interview with Al Franken, and I listened to the Bill O'Reilly interview as well (which you can find right here), and it's hard to deny that Terry Gross threw softballs to Franken while going after O'Reilly pretty hardcore.

Now, I'm not a huge O'Reilly fan, but I've watched the Factor from time to time, and I have to admit that he doesn't take any crap. And I appreciate that to a certain extent. It can't be denied, however, that O'Reilly and Franken are both lightning rods for criticism from the left and right, respectively. So Terri, why not be hard on both of them? Why not go for the jugular with Franken too? With people as high profile and controversial as these two, surely you can find ways to nail both of them to the wall, right?

Well....no. Facts are facts, folks - no matter what you think of those two guys, NPR is a leftist organization that pursues a leftist agenda. Terry Gross, in all likelihood, has far more in common ideologically with Franken than she does with O'Reilly, and that's why Franken got a pass from this "great interviewer." She probably sees no reason to go after Franken, because he's just a comedian and he's so ... sensible. But O'Reilly? He's a dangerous guy! He's ... (haunting music) ... CONSERVATIVE!!! And according to Terry and your average NPR hack, that's just not normal.

Look, I'm not asking for anyone to go easy on O'Reilly. If you don't like Bill, tear into him. He can give as good as he gets, and I'm not worried about him. But for goodness sakes, please go after the left as well as the right, especially if you're supposed to be an "objective" journalist.

Master of Committee

I just completed my first attempt at testifying before a real live legislative committee (Senate Finance) and it went well! Truly, I am a smooth talker. Granted, it helps when you're testifying in favor of a bill that had unanimous support in the other chamber (105-0 in the House), but I'm chalking it up to my great pipes and wizardry with words.

I JUST ROCK.

Back to work.

Ray Vander Laan is a stud

If you haven't heard of Ray, check this out: Follow the Rabbi - That the World May Know

AD FREE, BABY!

A big "thank you" to the good folks at blogger who have kindly upgraded marcland to ad-free status for free! I've been trying to do so for a while now, but always seemed to run into tech problems. So I finally wrote in and they upgraded me! Very kind. And no more Howard Dean ads! So nice.

I'm going to have to check this out...

Terry Gross vs. Bill O'Reilly

Marc's Christmas List II

Well, this is interesting - a nice piece of history for a Tigers fan in the wilderness. "The Year of the Tiger -- '68" narrated by Ernie Harwell and Ray Lane.

Poem of the Day

Der Panther

Sein Blick ist vom Vorübergehen der Stäbe
so müd geworden, daß er nichts mehr hält.
Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe
und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt.

Der weiche Gang geschmeidig starker Schritte,
der sich im allerkleinsten Kreise dreht,
ist wie ein Tanz von Kraft um eine Mitte,
in der betäubt ein großer Wille steht.

Nur manchmal schiebt der Vorhang der Pupille
sich lautlos auf -. Dann geht ein Bild hinein,
geht durch der Glieder angespannter Stille -
und hört im Herzen auf zu sein.

[Rainer Maria Rilke]

Marc's Christmas List I

I've found that as I've gotten older, it's a lot harder to come up with a decent Christmas list (or birthday list or any list of gifts that I want in general) because I have so much more ability to simply go out on my own and buy the stuff that I want. That's changed a bit since I've gotten married, but not so much that it makes it much easier to come up with a list.

I'm usually left with a list comprised of stuff that falls into a catch-22: things that are expensive enough that they would amount to a "special purchase" requiring explicit spousal approval, making the item hard to obtain on my own, but which are also expensive enough that I can't really put them on a Christmas list without feeling guilty or stupid. I have this dilemma again this year, as the only thing I've been able to come up with that I'd really like so far is an iPod, which starts at $299.

I love peripherals for my computer. Not so much my scanner and printer, but more my Palm (a IIIc, which is inexplicable missing right now) and especially my new digital camera. I like plugging the camera in and having the computer instantly recognize it and open iPhoto to start downloading my pictures. I love that! It's just so cool. And I love the thought of having an iPod, which just seems to keep getting more desirable as it becomes increasingly handy to me - it would give me access to my entire 1,300+ song collection as I drive to and from work every day (2 1/2 hours daily in the car), it would let me carry my calendar with me again, it would provide extra space when I fill up my camera memory card, etc. It's just so cool.

But it's certainly expensive in the universe of Christmas gifts, so I feel bad to ask for it. But it's also the only thing so far that's jumped out at me as something that I'd like. I can buy myself socks and underwear and pants any day. An iPod? That'd be special. And goodness knows with baby coming I'm not going to have a lot of opportunities to buy this sort of thing, that's for sure.

I suppose I'll throw it out there for consideration, but somehow I doubt my efforts will be fruitful.

Oh well

It was a valiant effort, but apparently I'm just not disciplined enough to lose weight on my own. I need some sort of accountability. So, it's back to Weight Watchers for me, although I think I'll try the online plan this time because I really hate those meetings.

for my future reference...

Y Ted K?

VDH

Ever read Victor Davis Hanson on NRO? If not, you should.

On that whole "general who wants a Christian Jihad" thing...

I refer you to The Bleat and to Hugh Hewitt.

Where the real fascists are

Michael Ledeen on Fascism & War on Terror on National Review Online.

Season Over

Oh, except for that crappy Yankees/Marlins World Series. I hope they both lose.

Baseball can be torture

Now this game is starting to remind me of those nights when I ran Tiger games at the radio station during west coast road trips. Detroit would be at Seattle or something like that, so the game wouldn't even start until 10:05 eastern. Those games would just drag on and on and on. Extra innings on those nights were killer.

Granted, it was the Tigers, so it wasn't like it was game 7 of the ALCS or anything, so this game has a bit more merit, but this is still tough considering I have to get up in the morning.

Extra innings - awww...

This would happen on the night that I decided to take my wife to work tomorrow morning - early. For me anyway. Anytime I have to get up before six...

A thought

You know, if the Yankees win, it'll probably give Jason Giambi more of an opportunity to star in deodorant commercials where he pretends he's a stud who's popular with the ladies...oh, goodness, please win it, Sox...

Fiddlesticks

Remember the swear jar episode of The Simpsons? When Homer hits his thumb with the hammer and steps on the nail and can't use bad language? For some reason, right now, in the eighth inning, I feel that way about the Yankees.

All I'll say is, boy, the eighth inning has been tough for my teams of late, hasn't it?

No predictions tonight

Wow, those Red Sox and Yankees have a good game going here. Who can say who'll win?

On Rush's Addiction

Byron York does a pretty good job summing up my thoughts on Rush Limbaugh's addiction problem on National Review Online. Like all of his other listeners, Rush is in my thoughts and prayers right now. I'm glad he acknowledged his problem, and I hope he's sincere in his efforts to kick the painkillers.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Spinsanity takes a good look at our friend Michael Moore.

Uh, Debbie? What is this crap?

Yesterday, Michigan's brilliant senator Debbie Stabenow (a true bright light of genius in the Congress) produced this legislative brainfart during the debate over spending on Iraq. Her great idea? To divert $5 billion from Iraq rebuilding funds to domestic pork. But of course, that's not how she puts it. She describes it thusly, as a provision "to provide emergency relief for veterans healthcare, school construction, healthcare and transportation needs in the United States, and to create 95,000 new jobs." So five billion in government pork is going to solve those problems and in the process create 95,000 jobs? Gee, let's get right on that!

No, Debbie, I'm not stupid. I know that this is simply a maneuver to allow you to accuse Republicans of voting against the creation of all these imaginary jobs while simultaneously perpetuating the litany of crises that your party likes to claim are happening whenever the GOP is in power. Sorry, saw right through it. Try again.

The Dream

Heartbreak II

OK, this sucks. I hate the idea of a Marlins vs. anyone World Series. I hate that an expansion team that's barely 10 years old goes to the Series twice while classic teams with long and wonderful histories get shut out for 20, 30 or even 95 years. I hate the fact that the Tigers haven't been able to put together a real winner since '87 and haven't been back to the Series since the 1984 win. And poor Chicago - that city deserves something more than it's gotten over the last century, for goodness' sakes. Not to mention Boston, although the windy city's got it worse with two teams that can't win.

But credit where credit is due - the Marlins are a good ballclub. They took advantage of the Cubs' mistakes, they play great defense, got great performances out of their starting pitching, and in general proved to be the better team in this series. I wish them well (in that I hope none of their players are arrested or involved in tragic car accidents) but I hope they get clubbed in the series. Every true baseball fan is dreaming of this tonight. Except in my dream, it's Pedro and Johnny Damon in the picture.

Heartbreak

Yippee. Another World Series at ProPlayer Stadium, one of those great classic parks. And hey, the Marlins, that's great, what with their storied decade-long history and all.

It's pretty clear now - if the Red Sox lose tomorrow, THE SEASON IS OVER. There will be no baseball of interest to anyone anymore. I would put money on it that a Marlins/Yankees World Series will be a big ratings loser for Fox. No one will care.

Man, I'm bitter.

three outs left...

...to pick up three runs. I remember now why baseball is such a great game. But boy, this will be cruel for Cubs fans and their team if they end up losing. I'm starting to think of the '97 Red Wings though. They may need something to make them mad, give them purpose - like Claude Lemieux and Kris Draper. Or this could just be the curse. Who knows.

Just in case...

I wanted to offer this link for distraught Cub fans should the worst happen.

(sigh)

Going to the ninth - going to have to be one heck of a comeback. No clock in baseball, but man this is rough. Please, oh please - no Marlins in the World Series. Anyone with any dignity and compassion doesn't want the Marlins in the Series over the Cubs...

Good start...

OK, home run, three run game - now we need some defense. We'll claw our way back into this one yet.

ummm...

Well, as of the 7th inning, I'm willing to concede that I may have jumped the gun on the whole "cubs in the series" thing, but all hope is not lost, so....

KERRY - FREAKIN' - WOOD

I am STUNNED. I am ECSTATIC! Cubs = WORLD SERIES. The momentum has SHIFTED once again, baby.

OOOHHH YEAHHH!

HOW YA LIKE THAT, NEW YORK? STICK THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT!

Go SOX!

OK, I'm feeling better right now considering that the Red Sox...ahem, pardon me. I'm feeling better right now considering that the Crimson Jihad are up in the eighth and seem to have found the ability to score on the great satans.

Wanted...

...for crimes against humanity...

I can't sleep

Here's the story from the hometown paper: Unlucky 8th shocks Cubs. Still can't believe it.

stunned

I just can't believe it. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight.

The curse is real???

After that eighth inning, I'm beginning to believe that it is. The Cubs may actually be cursed. I am stunned.

But worse, far worse than the general disappointment of seeing the Cubbies lose game six is the awful dawning reality that my worst case scenario may be coming to reality - a Yankees/Marlins world series.

I feel like I've been punched in the groin. It's gut check time for Chicago. They now have no momentum. Absolutely none. It dropped away when that fan knocked that foul ball out of Alou's glove. Deep in my heart, I don't believe they can come back.

I loathe the Yankees

I think it's clear that the hopes, dreams, and best wishes of all right-thinking decent people everywhere are with the Red Sox as they battle the cursed army of death. Go forth, brave crimson jihad, and slay the evil warriors. Remove their putrid stench from the earth! Game 5 was but a stumble in your just quest.

Canada - America Jr.?

When I was a kid, it was always a thrill to travel out of state. For whatever reason, there was a significant thrill involved in crossing over that line that divided Michigan, my home state, from Indiana or Ohio. A whole different state! Cool! But that thrill was multiplied whenever we went to Detroit, Port Huron, or Sault Ste. Marie and made the big hop across to our friendly neighbor to the north.

It was a strange place, this Canada. A whole foreign country, right next door. A place where all of the McDonald's restaurants have little red maple leafs in the middle of the golden arches. A place where signs are posted in both English and French, Etc. It was truly an exotic land of enchantment for a young lad from the states.

As I've grown older, however, I've found that Canada has become a source of amusement for me. I had the pleasure during the first year of college to have a Canadian as a suitemate, and learned a great deal about how different Canadian culture is from America. Or so he claimed. And now I notice when I go across the border that while Canadian culture really isn't that different from the US (the only really big difference is the dual-language thing, and that's becoming more and more common in the states nowadays anyway), Canadians will go out of their way to claim that it really is very different. In my suitemate Paul's case, he would always talk up all these supposedly great Canadian bands - groups that you've never heard of like 54-40 or Fight, a band that played pretty conventional low-grade rock, as I recall. And frankly, besides Billy Bragg and Midnight Oil, I can't remember any of the other bands that he said were so great, because in reality they really weren't that good. But it was a huge point of pride for Paul, which is fine, I guess, but seemed sort of silly to me.

When you actually go to Canada, you find out that the big Canadian media does largely the same thing - incessantly highlighting the hot new Canadian talent, doing features on Canadians who have made it big in entertainment, and generally acting like a small-town newspaper doing a feature on the local kid who made it big in Hollywood.

That's what's odd about Canada for me. It's the insistence that it's somehow different from the US in significant ways. It just isn't, and the fact that the whole country seems to be trying to argue that "yes, we are different" is just hilarious to me.

Look, Canada - you basically have an American culture. It's sort of different, but heck, New York City and central Nebraska are different too. You are more or less the 51st state, and the sooner you realize that, the better off we'll all be. In the meantime, I love you guys - you're good for a laugh.

It's a Bull (market)!! / Wacky Dean's "Foriegn Policy"

Check out RealClearPolitics for some good insights on these wildly divergent issues...

Smoove will make everything right

The smoove man is back, makin' every little thing all right.

Greatest. Game. Ever.

Smash the Kitty

Lileks is great today...

...as he takes a walk past the WTC site. Excerpt below, but read the whole thing.

I paused at the plaza on Liberty, took a picture of the empty sky, and turned around -

And there were old friends. The Trinity Building. The Equitable Building, God bless its unlovable bulk. I walked around and saw the other giants of lower Manhattan - 40 Wall, Cities Service. The Woolworth building. One after the other - giant monoliths old and new, gargantuan towers assembled in the sky by human hands, each one just another piston stroke in the motor of American commerce. You can’t begin to knock all these down. And if you managed to fell them all, you’d have to head north and work on that Olympian lance on 34th, and if you brought that down - it would take you years to make your way ten blocks.

The men who brought down the towers did nothing more than take a hammer to the tooth of a sleeping lion. Oh, you can do that.

But you can only do it once.

ARAFAT DEATH WATCH!

yourish.com

Perhaps Rush was more right than I give him credit for...

Michael P. Tremoglie raises some really good points about how race has been used in sports, even by poor victim Donovan McNabb himself:

All during the game made Collingsworth tangential references to L’Affaire Limbaugh. At the end of the game he finally said, “ after all the progress we have made why would anybody want to take us back.”

I know exactly how Cris feels.

I felt the same way when I heard that, according to some reports, Donovan McNabb apparently felt the Eagles would have paid him more if he were white.

I felt the same way when Chicago Cubs Manager Dusty Baker recently said that blacks play better in warm weather and whites in cold weather.

I felt the same way when I read a column in the San Francisco Chronicle that said the 2002 U.S. Winter Olympics team was 95 percent white and not diverse enough.

I felt the same way when I read that in 1995 Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon applauded NFL star Kellen Winslow for making a political speech during his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Winslow condemned Justice Clarence Thomas for opposing racial quotas.

I felt the same way when I heard Jesse Jackson’s comment about the hiring of Dennis Erickson as coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Jackson said, "While Erickson may be a fine coach, his hiring is indicative of the NFL's history of recycling White coaches and affording them two and three chances to be head coaches, while Black coaches continue to wait in the wings for opportunities to succeed or fail." (Incidentally, Rush Limbaugh during his very first appearance on the ESPN Countdown TV show said that the Erickson hiring might be an example of how African – American coaches may be used as pawns by white NFL owners. Limbaugh said that two African – American coaches were interviewed with much publicity. Yet Erickson was hired and nobody even knew the Seattle were interested in him as coach. Of course none of this was ever mentioned by the sportswriters who vilified Limbaugh).

Rush, after a weekend to think about it

Well, when it comes right down to it, I still have my doubts about Rush's timing and the wisdom of injecting anything about race into the discussion that was going on during that particular show, but I think it's pretty clear that you can't call Rush a racist for what he said. If he had tried to make the point that Donovan McNabb was incapable of being a good quarterback because he's black, that would have been a racist comment. And it would have been completely baseless, easily disproved, and claims of racism against Rush would be valid.

But that's not what he said. He simply expressed the opinion that McNabb was overrated as a quarterback (something that may or may not be correct, but sports commentary is all about opinions, isn't it?) and stated that the press might be willing to overlook some of his faults out of a desire to see a black quarterback succeed. Which, the more that I think about it, is probably a valid point. How often have we seen the race of a minority quarterback highlighted in articles and features? I'd say a lot more than with white quarterbacks. And why does that make a difference anyway? It obviously makes a difference to the people who write about it for some reason. See John Lott's article at NRO for more details on this.

I guess I don't think that anyone really cares anymore whether a quarterback is black or white, as long as they get the job done. I think Rush's point, or my extension thereof, is that for some reason there are people in the media that still feel that a minority quarterback needs to be "propped up" even though said QB's have long since proven that they don't need the help - they can do it on their own. It's kind of like a reporter trying to burnish the image of the Yankees so that folks won't think that New York can't get a good ball club together, in spite of the fact that the Yankees have more pennants than any other team.

In the end, though, it doesn't really matter how good Rush's point is because he made it in the wrong venue (in my judgment). I still like him, he's still a great commentator, he's still the best radio host ever, and he's certainly not racist. End of story.

This morning's dose of sane people

Jay Nordlinger is great today at NRO on Rush and preemptors
NRO also has John Lott with a statistical analysis of Rush's comments

Who is Joe Wilson?

An interesting article by Jed Babbin (again) at NRO.

Back Home Again

After a wonderfully relaxing weekend in Bar Harbor Maine, we're home again and it's back to the old grind for me. But what an unforgettable time. Acadia National Park is spectacular, and I already miss having it close at hand. But I have lots of pictures and a lot of great memories that I made with my wife on our weekend away.

More tomorrow, I'm sure.

Even more on Rush

RealClearPolitics has this comment, which I find insightful:

Rush's problem (which I think a lot of conservatives experience from time to time, including myself) is that he's become so hardwired with the idea that the media is rife with liberal bias that he assigned the motive of liberal bias to a situation where there obviously wasn't one. It made him look bad, insensitive, and in some people's eyes, racist.

More on Rush

Jed Babbin makes some interesting points in defense of Rush over at NRO. I can see his side of things, but I think it all comes down to a blunder on Rush's part for me - he injected race into an issue that didn't need to have race injected into it. There's a time and place to argue liberal bias in the media, and he picked the wrong time.

Bummed by Rush

It's not often that I'm disappointed in Rush Limbaugh. I believe that he has, by far, the best program on radio, and he has without a doubt revolutionized the AM band. I don't think he's a blowhard. In fact, I've always found him to be a very perceptive commentator, and more often than not he's right on.

But I have to admit that I think he screwed up on this whole Donovan McNabb thing. I just don't understand what good it does to introduce race into that discussion. It may well be that he's right, it may be that he's wrong, but why step into that bear trap? Why give people the opportunity to say things like this? Not smart.

OK, I just don't want to deal with this anymore. Too much of a bummer.

UPDATE: The Corner has a good discussion of this going, and Jonah Goldberg sums up my thoughts nicely.

Good stuff at NRO

Jonah Goldberg on whines and the whining whiners who whine them.
Jim Geraghty on when the torch took a leak.
James Robbins on the sweet tea method of verifying intelligence.

Straight from the horse's mouth...

I know it means nothing when the scandal machine gets rolling, but here's Novak's side of the story on the whole "controversy" in Washington. If only it would calm Tom Daschle's deep disturbance.

A couple years late...

Is it just me, or does Wesley Clark bear a slight resemblance to Kier Dullea as Dave Bowman in 2001 - A Space Odyssey?



Maybe it's just me. Or maybe it's the whole warp speed and time travel thing.