The Last Ephor

Mark Shea unleashes a brutal broadside against the MSM. Key quote: "But if, like the mainstream media, you are going to paint yourself as the valiant defenders of “the people’s right to know” and the “paladins of free speech” every time you de-pants a Christian, then for heaven’s sake at least have the courage of your convictions. If the mainstream media had a consistent policy of simply not pulling the noses of religious believers, I would not arraign them for their rank cowardice. But the reality, as we all know now, is that their long habit of ignorant, cowardly bullying of Christians is rooted in the fact that they know Christians will seldom fight back with violence since their Lord has forbidden them to do so. But that same media, which portrays its bullying of Christians as “courage in the face of theocrats” is now on record as curling up in a cowardly little ball when we really need it to do the work of defending free speech in the face of thin-skinned bullies from the B

USS Clueless was one of my favorite sites on the web and the one I miss the most. Stephen's insight into a vast array of topics was always staggering and his engineer's brain made him one of the most logical, organized writers around. His writings are precient and just as topical today as they were 3 years ago when they were written. I was rereading Deadly mushrooms for logic supporting the war in Iraq. Read the whole thing as they say. It's worth your time.

Michael J. Totten: Guilty as charged posits that there is no doubt that Saddam's Iraq was supporting terrorism. That makes them in clear breach of 687 and supports casus belli. This post will be met with sputters of rage and denial by some and a "yeah, we already knew that" shrug from the rest of us.

Dappled Things has the following quiz: The answers to the questions are by putting your iTunes on random and clicking forward with each question. How does the world see you? Resta Qui (Bocelli) Will I have a happy life? Everybody's Free (Baz Luhrmann) What do my friends really think of me? Insensitive (Jann Arden) Ha! What do people secretly think of me? M'apparte Tutt'amore How can I be happy? Why do I always want you (Saw Doctors) What should I do with my life? High-Wire Stunts (Jurrassic Park/John Williams) Will I ever have children? Macnas Parade (Saw Doctors) What is some good advice for me? Into The West (Howard Shore) How will I be remembered? Litle Star (Solas) What is my signature dancing song? No Rain (Blind Melon) What do I think my current theme song is? All Of Your Might (Jay Farrar) What does everyone else think my current theme song is? Don't Let Me Down (Saw Doctors) What song will play at my funeral? I've Got You Under My Skin (Old Blue Eyes) What

San Francisco City Government Calls Catholics 'Hateful, Discriminatory, Insulting, Ignorant' . Very nice. The supposed seat of tolerance decides to get all judgmental about Catholics because they are judgmental. This is the first shot across the bow. They will make every effort to compromise the principles of the Church. If they cannot stop them from exercising their religion, they are going to make them pay for birth control and abortions. Same sex partnerships and anything else that is anathema to the Magesterium. I don't know whether to be sad or angry.

Huge blast rocks French college . Too early to tell anything but like most people, my first thought was of terrorism. However, the article states the explosion was in a lab. More likely this was an experiement gone wrong or just an accident. Here's hoping.

Did Russian Ambassador Give Saddam the U.S. War Plan? asks ABC News. It's pretty clear he did. It's also clear that it didn't matter for several reasons. 1. Saddams army had no will to fight. Most were conscripts who didn't want to be there in the first place so they quit as soon as the shooting started. 2. Coalition forces changed their plans throughout the campaign. 3. They were hopelessly outmatched. I think we can firmly put Russia in the "traitorous snake" category. Not too long ago Bush was reassuring us the he knew Putin's soul and knew he wanted the same thing. The vast chasm that has emerged since then can only be due to the realization that while Russia has a problem with Islamic terrorists, they have more interest in keeping their business contacts in Iraq than anything else. Any way we can punish Russia for it's treachery should be fastracked and approved.

Darfur Eyewitness is a photo essay of the ongoing horror in Darfur. It is genocide but Kofi can't be bothered to call it that. Doing so would require him to act. He'd rather go to another meeting, be feted at another event and go on covering his tracks in the OFF scandal. This is precisely the sort of thing the UN is supposed to prevent or step in to end. They did neither. They are feckless and criminal. Nobody in Euroe or America knows or even cares. Iraq is the only thing on the radar. Where are the self-annoited black leaders? We're talking about the wholesale slaughter of tens of thousands of black people. If they had any sort of principle, they'd be carping endlessly on about it. The lefties out there are ready with their: "too bad they don't have oil". Indeed, too bad they don't.

Before they were Lost. I love when this happens. People who become famous magically appear in the past. I remember seeing Patrick Stewart appear out of nowhere in the movie Dune. I had seen the movie several times before but only noticed him after he was famous for Star Trek. P.S. The last video of Naveen Andrews reminds me of a bollywood version of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" thing that we did in high school.

Senator Bill FristC gets it. Excerpt: " During the course of the interview, Harry Reid said: 1. The wiretapping of Al Qaeda terrorists by the NSA was illegal. 2. That he, as leader of Senate Democrats, would not rule out impeaching President Bush over the wiretapping program. 3. He would seek to filibuster the border security legislation, Secure America’s Borders Act, that I introduced in the Senate last Thursday because it focused only on border security and interior enforcement. 4. He is in favor of “fair track” amnesty for the estimated 11 million illegal aliens. 5. He does not believe in improving the physical security of our borders, because with better interior enforcement of employers, illegal immigration would stop (Harry forgot about the very real possibility of drug runners and terrorists crossing our porous borders…I imagine they wouldn’t be looking for jobs). Comments like this make very clear what is at stake in November. " He points out, correct

So very cool . I wish I had half the imagination these guys do. Bravo!

Hobbes in Sudan . The author posits what a world would look like if the US was truly isolationist. The best piece I've seen on this one was published ages ago by John Hawkins. Find it here. I don't want an isolationist US though it would, in many ways, be easier and cheaper than what we're doing now. We would still be roundly hated and ridiculed the world over. That is our lot in life. If we were to withdraw back home as many a Democrat would like to see these days, we would be at war very quickly. The Middle East would, as Hawkins noted, explode. I mean in the most real sense. If we came home from Iraq tomorrow, the vacuum would lead to a failed state like Haiti or Somalia. It would be permenantly fractured and broken. It is unlikely they would every export oil in any significant quantity. Whomever held the fields would be constantly defending it from sabotage and attack. Iran would spill over and try to reclaim them. Who knows what success they would have.

Pulse24 - Toronto's News : "'We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end." You ungrateful assholes would still be in captivity and ultimately dead if it weren't for those Mulitnational Forces.

I'm probably one of maybe 6 Formula 1 fans in the US. I don't watch the races live b/c they're usually run from far flung reaches of different time zones so I'm usually sleeping when they're happening. No problem, I have Tivo. I'm watching the Malaysian Grand Prix the other day and stepped away to referee the latest impromtu Ultimate Toddler Fighting Championship (part MCMXLVII in a seemingly endless series). I come back and the announcer is polling the audience asking; "If Kimi Raikkonen hadn't retired, where would he have finished today?" My jaw dropped. RETIRED !? Why would he retire? WTF? He's one of the top drivers in the world. I could only surmise he was injured. I rewind and see what I missed. He crashed on the opening lap. The announcer meant retired for the day ! Shaw was correct, the Americans and Brits are two people divided by a common language.

Army of Davids defeats China . No doubt Kim Jong-Il is paying attention.

This is just too weird for words. I have to hand it to her. She didn't do this without thinking it through. Anyone who can get that kind of score from Parker is a serious winemaker.

One thing I've noted in the last few years is a fundamental difference between left and right vis a vis, foreign policy. On the left, it seems they want a humble US working in concert with the world as peers and on equal footing. On the right, they want a president who puts America and her interests first. Especially when those interests are threatened. I don't understand the former view at all. Why should we, as a nation, care what countries like Cameroon or Moldova think of our policies? Why should they have a veto over us? I want a president who "walks softly but carries a big stick". Why is that wrong? If America's interests clash with Russia's, why should we meekly submit? Why should we engage in endless diplomacy? One thing I like about our president is that he spends very little time what other countries think about us. Rather, they should be worrying what we think about them. That is not to say we should run roughshod over everyone and bul

Note to Commenters and visitors: I havent' been ignoring you. I'm thrilled that people are actually visiting. Oddly, Sitemeter isn't registering any of you. I literally have ZERO hits for the last two months which makes no sense. Also, I'm supposed to get an email telling me somebody left a comment. Hasn't been happening. I'll check the comments more frequently. I hope to have some dialog rather than simply diatribe.

Will Wilkinson has some excellent ideas for healthcare reforms. Someone put this guy on a committee in Congress.

In America, we're obsessed with our diets. Diet books top the best seller lists week afer week. Adkins, Jenny Craig, Slimfast, Richard Simmons and others have made billions. Why? It is undisputed that what you take into your body, what you eat affects your health. Were you to say otherwise, people would think you an imbicile. And they would be right. However, tell someone that a steady diet of sex and violence in the media affects people's mental health and the way they think about things and they'll call you a rube and a puritan and so on. Why? You put junk in your body and you get fat, weak and unhealthy. Put junk in your brain, same thing. You know there are two types of people. The American Idol/reality TV person and normal people. Do you have any doubt that the people on Jerry Springer's show aren't avid viewers? Do you think they're watching reality TV or, say, the History Channel? I like mindless distraction as much as the next guy but the