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Showing posts from March 5, 2006
The Unit premiered the other night. Fabulous. Mamet's fingerprints are all over this one. The plot was tight and believable. If they keep this up, it's sure to be a hit. This is the show that "The Agency" wanted to be. It's also the show that I wanted ALIAS to be. Sadly, the former was too much fluff and silliness and the latter drown in it's own weepy emotion and repetition (SD-6, The Alliance, The Trust et al.).
Brilliant! I've seen this one before but never tire of it.
U.N. Union: 'No Confidence' in Annan . That's right. Nobody likes Kofi. The Union hates him because he's threatening their jobs. Americans hate him (those paying attention anyway) because they know he's corrupt to the core. He will go down in history as one of the worst Sec. General in ages.
Sen. Brownback Floats Flat Tax 'Experiment' . Senator Brownback wants to try out the Flat Tax in Washington, DC. IMNHO, it is THE PERFECT place to try this. The population is small and the populace is already on the federal dole w/o a state one to fubar the experiment. It is the perfect labratory for this type of thing. Unfortunately, this is a non-starter. Look for this to go absolutely nowhere.
Setting the stage for hardball with North Korea. We're focused on Iraq and Iran right now but the DPRK is on the radar. The big difference here is China. They have considerable influence over North Korea and no solution is possible without them. They will not abide a unified, nuclear, democratic Korea on their border. On the other hand, Kim is a pain in the ass. He's always threatening and making demands. He is a master of brinkmanship and possibly a little unstable. China also wants to avoid a collapse of the North which would lead to a flood of refugees across the border. Many times more than they can handle. I think the US is going to have to keep the DPRK issue on the back burner until the Iraq and Iran situations are sorted out (not to mention Afghanistan).
My Dad hates video games. He thinks they have absolutely no value and we fought about it for years. From the first day of the Atari 2600, I wanted one. I never got one. I begged, pleaded, cajoled and threatened. Nothing worked. It wasn't until recently that I bought an XboX. First console I ever owned. My counter arguement was vague inferences that it would be good for hand/eye coordination and later, spacial relations and problem solving skills. Now it seems, video games can save your life . Digital age kids can do this with ease thanks to being raised on games. How much further removed will soldiers be from the battlefield in the future? Will unmanned combat be the norm? Will fighter jocks be teenagers far removed from the battlefield and out of harms way? Certainly too soon to tell, but this looks like a step in that direction.
New York Daily News - Home - Poll: NYers think Hil will run for prez; won't back her Ah...that has the makings of a good morning.
Please don't tell me this is a coincidence.
NB: many of today's posts are a bit stale as I didn't have time to blog them but rather saved them all as drafts. Old, stale content is better than none I suppose. The upside of zero readers I suppose. Sloth and laziness matter not.
More on education in Delaware: Latest data shows we are spending $8000+ per student . What could you do with $160,000 per classroom per year? This mean there is a hell of a lot of wasted money in there somewhere. Especially when you consider that doesn't include physical plant spending.
It seems the caliber of student contributing to The Greyhound has gone up dramatically this year. I frequently read the paper to keep an eye on how things are there. The following letter hits the nail on the head. (Begin Old Codger Voice) I was present at the creation of the "special interest housing" at Loyola. It started off as a good idea. The concept was to group students by certain criteria. Languages, for instance. One dorm/floor was reserved for student taking French and only French was spoken when on the floor. Great concept. It forces students to practice at all times to improve their skills. Almost immediately the whole thing spun out of control. The president of the Black Student's Association wanted housing for Black students only. Yes, they wanted to self segregate! The school flatly denied their request as it would be unconsitutional. I think they later repackaged that turd as "African Studies" housing or some such. Open to all who w
My earlier post about friction between students and campus cops at Loyola seems to be a recurrent theme. The following writer expounds upon the theme already established. Student are not criminals and should not automatically be treated as such. If Loyola were smart, they'd start some sort of dialog between the students and the officers. These guys don't want to be parental and killjoys, they're just trying to get a paycheck. They'd be happier if they could look the other way when students are having a beer and a laugh. The problem is the administration requires them to be the bad guy. The students are breaking the law and the school has to comply with the law or face a lawsuit or loss of funding from the state. I had lunch with the late great Harold Ridley once. I asked him about the policy and he was staunchly against the students. I was both surprised and dismayed. He argued that the students studies were not sufficiently rigorous to merit such hooligani
Sadly, this is too true. Women didn't dress whorish when I was there, but that's largely a function of style. Loyola was nicknamed "J Crew U" for a reason. Student sexual liberation leaves little room for modesty - Opinion It's the middle of February; forecasts are calling for nightly lows of 20-25 degrees, and behind the never-ending chain of taxicabs stands an equally long chain of young women wearing little more than typical beach attire. It never fails. As though it is some sort of nighttime mating ritual, young female coeds await the yellow painted chariots in their most attention-grabbing outfits while shivering in their stilettos. This practice can be found on any given weekend at any given university in Mainstream, USA. We have all grown fairly accustomed to witnessing this scene on a regular basis, but it wasn't until I returned to campus from a late dinner with my grandparents that I decided to take pause. I don't remember the exact words that
The following letter from my alma mater struck a chord with me. I remember the same feeling when I was an undergrad. Their mentality was not "we're here to protect you" it was "we're here to keep you in line." Granted a great many of us were immature alcohol soaked kids but that doesn't mean you have to give us the hairy eyeball every time you see us. When I was there, most of the time we were really tame. We mostly wanted to play loud music, drink some beer and try to hook up with someone. Really. Fighting was a rare thing, drugs were even more rare (aside from the occasional joint) and vandalism was frequent but usually very minor. However, we couldn't just sit in our rooms and hang out. We were always dreading the Gestapo like (yes, I know Godwin's Law ) knock on the door with a gruff voice saying "Security". On some occassions, there were like three of us sitting around having a beer and listening to some music or playing
Watch this and weep. You wonder why things aren't any better 50 years later? These psychopaths have convinced their kids that suicide is the pinnacle of their faith.
Kimbo fight 3 is both highly disturbing and compelling. Watching two brutes beat each other senseless is like a throwback to bear knuckle boxing days of Rocky Sullivan. Watch if you're inclined, but be warned, it's not for the squeamish.
Publius has the goods on a quagmire update. This is the point I keep trying to make with Dana . Just because the reconstruction of Iraq is not perfect doesn't mean it's not succeeding or worth doing. Yes there are problems and some of them very serious problems but that doesnt' mean all is doom and gloom. Sully has fallen into the same pit. Every story he does is about systemic torture, Rummy as a failure and Iraq is a mess. Throw in a posts about gay marriage and you have his blog. Use those four stories in perpetual rotation and you have his blog. The problem is that there is no real balanced reporting. Pro-Bush blogs and, to a lesser extent, Fox News, gloss over the problems in Iraq and focus on the successes. They think they're equal time. They are highlighting the good as a counterweight to the bad news that the MSM churns out daily. The MSM is firmly against the President and love to report bad news. Moreover, it's how they act in every situation
WTOL-TV Toledo, OH: US Senate Candidate Wants Death Penalty for Homosexuals Tell me again, who is the "party of hate"? A good reminder to all, the most vile of your party's members does not indict the whole.
Church denies Communion to autistic boy . The headline is alarmist but mostly accurate. This story gives me agnst to the nth degree. There are serious constraints here that the Bishop needs to take into account. While the he is correct to maintain the integrity of the host, it seems there's a lack of knowlege here. Why not use sacramental wine here? It wouldn't be an ingestion problem (other than taste) and even "mustim" . That may even be problematic. Autistic kids have serious sensory issues. My son, for example, has a very narrow diet and requires a lot of sensory input. There is no way he would be able to take either the host or, in all likelihood, mustim. The only way I would know is to try. I don't relish the idea of him spitting out either one. Any clergy in attendance would likely have an apoplectic fit! I think the family would do well to meet with the Bishop and explain things in full and find some sort of accomidation. Couldn't he hav
Ninja Catholic Tom Monaghan (of Domino's Pizza fame) is creaing an Othodox Catholic encliave called Ave Maria in Naples, Florida. This has been in the news of late and has a great many people very upset. There have been wild accusations that it will be "Catholics only" (not true), Porn will be illegal (not true) and local businesses will have to adhere to the Magesterium (not true). None of these things are true because they are illegal. If they weren't, I have no doubt they would be true. They are going to try and encourage as many people who think and believe as they do to fill those open slots as quickly as possible to ensure their vision comes to fruition. I'm of two minds on this one. On one hand, I like the idea of people creating something out of nothing and doing so based on their own principles. They did not try to take over the legislature and force their views on anyone. Rather they are making a haven for themselves and others who believe as t
Rolling Stone : Inside Scientology is a fairly balanced article about a very unbalanced group of people. Fortunately, I've never run into anyone (that I know) who is a Hubtard but I have little time for them. How anyone falls for this tripe is beyond me (said the man who worships a carpenter who died 2,000 years ago).
US denies Iraq pullout plan for 2007 . The MSM always harping on bloggers as unsourced, unedited and unaccountable. Once again, they failed to do even the most basic duty of journalism. They repeated what they heard as fact because it fit the template. The template of "US loses in Iraq/Make W. look bad". If possible, my faith in major news outlets has sunk even lower.
The Bloody Borders Project aims to map the incidents of Islamic terrorism over the past few years. The phrase was coined by V.S. Naipul. It was something like, "Islam may be the Religion of Peace (TM) but it sure has bloody borders". Looking at the map, there's fire with that smoke. Islam stands on the edge of a knife. Which way will it fall? Into the hands of fanatics, never to return or to the secular, tolerant, sane side? I am not hopeful. Nor do I think this will be a monolithic event. One way or another, this is going to come in waves. One side is going to overrun the other. I know where I cast my vote. The danger, as I see it, is that if Islam becomes fanatical and Muslim countries become like Taliban ruled Afghanistan the West is going to have some real problems. An OPEC embargo would hurt them but it would cripple us. We would either have to bow and scrape before them in order to get oil. That puts us in bed with some very odious people (
Selective admission makes Charter too elite, critics say . This is absurd. These schools are not discriminating on the basis or race, sex, creed or color. The students who do not make the cut have other options that are equal to or even superior to charter schools. I fully admit my bias against government schools. That said, this is not the answer. The educrats are so desparate to save their income base they will stop at nothing to keep our kids imprisoned in their schools and keep their jobs safe. Schools operate on a budget based on the number of students. Parents that send their kids to parochial or private schools still have to pay the associated taxes for education but that money does not make it to the school system. Initially, I thought the increase in parents withdrawing from public education in favor of private, parochial or homeschooling was a boon to the education of Americans. Now it is apparent the Teachers Unions will kill the only two of those they can. Home
Weirdly compelling. .
Gateway pundit has a link to a Massive Muslim Protest in Bahrain Against Terrorism . Will you see this in any MSM outlet? No. It doesn't fit their template. If we're serious about building bridges to the moderate Muslim world, we need to capitalize on opportunities like this. Kudos to GP and moreover, those that protested.
How to Stop Time . I have no idea how this works. So very cool.
Cent com is podcasting . It's long overdue. If they really want to win the war for ideas, they need to be out front and this is a good start. This will help by providing bloggers and non-partisan reporters (if there are any left) with full quotes so they cannot be cherry picked as easily. More please.
ITAR-TASS quotes Iran's crazed president as saying that Islam will dominate the world in a few years. He claims it will be by peaceable means. Take him at his word. He intends to spread the faith. One way or another.