Eh, it's Friday

If I had to choose one song to sum up everything I hate about Radiohead after 'Ok Computer", that song would be "Treefingers" off of Kid A.

Do good

Jeff Harrell has a great post about a charity called War Kids Relief. Check it out and give if you can.

Perfection takes time

If you purchased a kitten on the day that Use Your Illusion I & II arrived in stores, it's probably dead by now.

-From Spin Magazine's review of "Chinese Democracy", the first Guns-N-Roses album in 15 years.

Via Ken Wheaton.

Comment Problems

I hear some comments aren't being posted. There is something really wrong with my spam blocker and I hope to have it resolved shortly.

UPDATE: Joe Grossberg is the man. Thanks Joe for fixing my comment section. Things should be working correctly now.

Benefit of the doubt

My father called me last night and was all worked up after having heard on the radio that freed US hostage Jill Carroll was praising her captors and their treatment of her. Turns out, her praise was recorded by her captors prior to her release. No one can fault her for saying anything she needed to say in order to remain alive.

"It seems this interview was being conducted under duress," Bergenheim said. "When you're making a video and having to recite certain things with three men with machine guns standing over you, you're probably going to say exactly what you're told to say."

It is what she will say now that she is back safely that will really count. She's not off to the greatest start, admittedly, but give the woman some leeway, please, she's been through a lot and it is not uncommon to identify with your captors. We'll see where she ends up, let's go easy on her until then.

Just for, uh, fun.

How will you die?

Me? I die while in a hardware store. A strange man picks up an axe and attacks me with it, dismembering my body.

H/T Polina.

Everyone's favorite guest-blogger

Allahpundit is guest-blogging for Michelle Malkin.

Quote of the Day

"I, for one, am inclined to think that the best way to treat it is with a certain amount of contempt."

-Cheney on Feingold's censure motion

It's not enough that she's a nut, now she's a violent nut

Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney slaps cop.

Well, at least he's consistent in his inconsistency

John Kerry: Flip-flopper until the end.

Heh

Via Yonkers Tribune.

Hilarity ensues

Ace discovers a Muslim dating site.

Does loving the subject make you a good photographer?

Petitedov says yes.

Quote of the Day

"What a shock! It seems that men look for different qualities in an airline than they do in a buffalo-wing joint."

-Ace of Spades on Hooters Airline closing shop.

Fight to the death in the Senate over immigration

Or something.

With or without Sharon

Kadima Party Projected As Winner in Israel

Blogroll Update

In the NY section:

*Ben Smith, who edits the must-read NY political blog Politicker, has started a side project called Room Eight.

*My friend Mark English has started a sports-related blog called American Legends.

UPDATE:

In the California section I'm adding Sky Watching My World, a blog by the genius daughter of Cathy Seipp.

Not a bad idea

Hmmm...this raises an interesting question: If illegal immigrants "do the jobs that Americans don't want to do," exactly who will be available to build these border walls?

Will illegals be hired -- but told they can only work on one side of the walls?

-Robert George on the idea to build a wall on the Mexico-US border.

Illegal immigrants living in the shadows of society?

I don't think so.

What it takes to succeed as a politician in Europe

London:

Ken Livingstone's jibe that the US ambassador was like a "chiselling little crook" for avoiding the congestion charge landed him in further political trouble today as he was reported to the standards board.

The London mayor is currently appealing against an existing ruling from the local government watchdog for likening a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard.

Personally, I'm not for 'standards boards', I think the standard board should be the voters though I have zero confidence that the European voter would find anything objectionable about what 'Red Ken' has to say. The tax in question is a local tax, making foreign diplomats exempt from paying it, but who cares? If he can make a jab at America, and specifically President Bush, then Red Ken is the man. And, of course, he can:

The mayor said: "Since this new ambassador took over in July they have not paid.

"When British troops are putting their lives on the line for American foreign policy it would be quite nice if they paid the congestion charge.

"We will find a way of getting them into court either here or in America. We are not going to have them skive out of their responsibilities.

"This new ambassador is a car salesman and an ally of President Bush. This is clearly a political decision."

And calling Jews Nazis? Bonus!

Give us death! We want death!

'Sick' does not begin to describe this culture:

Hundreds of Afghan civilians in the northern province of Balkh demonstrated Monday against the possible release of an Afghan national who is on trial for having converted to Christianity, officials said.

Under Afghanistan's strict Islamic code, Abdul Rahman, 40, could be sentenced to death after admitting that he converted from Islam to Christianity.

Ok fine, I'll give them one more week

Click on for a Sopranos post

I hated last night's episode. Another hospital episode with the wacky dream sequence thrown in? It's all just so obvious. Tony walking toward the light but deciding not to let go. Carmella running into Dr. Melfi and going to her for a session. The whole Purgatory thing in the dream. I mean, c'mon. I'm not one of those people who are like 'rah, more violence, please.' but I do think the lack of action and overdramatization has gotten out of hand.

The only redeeming part of the episode was the return of Tony B. I love Steve Buscemi, why'd they have to kill him off?

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means

"There is no state with a democracy except Libya on the whole planet."
-Colonel Muammar Gaddafi

Quote of the Day

Illegal immigrants as individuals just trying to make a better life are sympathetic. Illegal immigrants as a mass movement making demands on the polity are considerably less so.

-Instapundit on the recent mass rallies by illegal immigrants.

Uh, what?

"You're in the Republican meetup picture on the subway"- Text message from my friend Lisa at 1:47pm today.

Me, me, me

I'm going to be on the Lars Larson show tonight at around 7pm to talk about the 'Bring Em Home Now' concert. I don't believe it airs in NYC but you can see if it does in your state here.

Eh, it's Friday

I mentioned the fact that I have a recurring nightmare to my friend Fischalicious yesterday and he suggested I see a psychologist to exorcise it. I ran it by my resident therapists SMVP and MR yesterday, two strapping young men with not a psychology degree between them, and while they both agree it's definitely my subconcious trying to tell me something, no one is sure exactly what. I figure I've got a bunch of readers and some of you have to know something about this (or hey, even if you don't, take your best guess in the comment section).

So here it is: I've been having this dream for about 2 years. In it, I wake up and there's someone in the room, a male stranger, and definitely someone there to do me harm. Sometimes I try to scream but nothing happens and I always wake up screaming in real life. Psychoanalyze me, baby.

Love that mainstream media

Unabrewer alerts me to the fact that the Reuters article I mocked the other day has been completely rewritten. I quoted from the article:

"There have been no riots or sackings of Afghan embassies, unlike the violence that marked the uproar in Muslim countries after the Danish cartoons were published, but the shock and mutual incomprehension expressed in both cases are similar.

The difference lies in the issues at stake. In the cartoons row, Muslims stressed the sanctity of Mohammad, whom they say nobody -- even non-Muslims -- can criticize. The subtext was resentment against perceived Western prejudice against Islam.

Now, Western governments and societies are speaking out for religious freedom and against the death penalty. The fact many Western troops now help defend the Afghan government against al Qaeda and Taliban remnants heightened the outrage in the West."

Now the same article, by the same author reads:

Two months ago, political and religious leaders in the Muslim world were rounding on Western European media and governments for printing and defending caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that they considered blasphemous.

The cases are clearly different. Western leaders from President George W. Bush down have spoken up to save the life of a man whose religious freedom is a universal human right which his judges say is secondary to Islamic law.

In the cartoons case, demonstrators sacked Western embassies in Damascus and Beirut, lives were lost in unrest and Muslim leaders demanded apologies and curbs on Western press freedom.

For all the scoffing at blogging, can you imagine a blogger completely rewriting a post to change its entire meaning and never noting that anywhere on the page? The writer's point was that the cartoon riots and the outrage over the possible death of a Christian are similar. In fact, they could not be more different, a point he acknowledges in the rewrite. How does Reuters get away with this, exactly?

Funny that

Kathryn Jean Lopez quotes Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Kate Looby on the South Dakota abortion ban:

"When you take things to the courts you don't have the opportunity to engage the public in the process. You don't have the ability to build a movement."

Photo of the day [posted by Allah]

May he continue along this path

George Soros just wasted 6 million dollars in Florida on a redistricting proposal that the FL Supreme Court found unconstitutional. More of this, please.

Good Times

Segueing from the post on depression, I've been meaning to commemorate, on this sometimes-personal blog, 2 years since the darkest time of my life.

How bad was it? Well, my mortal enemy Dawn Summers was nice to me and wrote me poems. That's bad. People always look back and remember the happy days, the moments where everything was wonderful, anniversaries of happy occasions. I think it's important to look back and say 'wow, that sucked' and be so happy to be through it.

C'mon get happy

Dawn's new boyfriend Superfischel has a post on depression and whether people unhappy with their lives should actually be that way.

Quote of the Day

"This test was done at Berkeley?

You would be whiny and insecure too if you had to grow up surrounded by dirty, hostile, unkempt, snotty, intolerant, angry, spaced out left-wingers."

-Jake over in Clareified's comment section on the study done at Berkeley proclaiming conservatives are whiny as children.

Reuters is wrong

Peter sends along this Reuters article titled "Afghan convert controversy mirrors cartoons row". In case you don't know, a man named Abdul Rahman converted to Christianity in Afghanistan and has been sentenced to death for possessing a bible and being open about his conversion.

Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor of Reuters writes

"There have been no riots or sackings of Afghan embassies, unlike the violence that marked the uproar in Muslim countries after the Danish cartoons were published, but the shock and mutual incomprehension expressed in both cases are similar.

The difference lies in the issues at stake. In the cartoons row, Muslims stressed the sanctity of Mohammad, whom they say nobody -- even non-Muslims -- can criticize. The subtext was resentment against perceived Western prejudice against Islam.

Now, Western governments and societies are speaking out for religious freedom and against the death penalty. The fact many Western troops now help defend the Afghan government against al Qaeda and Taliban remnants heightened the outrage in the West."

I'm sorry, but what? WHAT!?!? The shock and mutual incomprehension expressed are similar? One group lost the plot over cartoons, pictures, drawings. The other over freedom, and a man's life that could end for having the wrong beliefs. The former burned downed embassies, declared freedom unnecessary, demanded that the world bend to their will. The latter planned peaceful protests and demanded that thought and beliefs not be penalized with death anywhere in 2006. There is no similarity here and trying to draw this parallel is absurd. Murder and mayhem over cartoons is NOT the same as criticism and anger over the killing of an innocent man. If Reuter's religion editor doesn't get that, how can we expect any understanding from the off-the-reservation Muslim world?

Hair

The newly bearded Allah sends along this article about the current hipness of beards. I like the look of beards, myself, but as I have the world's most sensitive skin I rarely let anyone bearded kiss me. In fact, I've worked out arrangements with my male bearded friends that involve kisses hello and goodbye on foreheads and apples of their cheeks to avoid the beard burn. As that chick said in Pulp Fiction 'what's pleasing to the eye and pleasing to the touch is seldom the same thing.'

Just to make you smile

Muslims get down.

Hat-tip to Frank White.

I can't wait

South Park to address Isaac Hayes departure from the show:

A synopsis of the new episode says that the boys notice "something about Chef that seems different. When Chef's strange behaviour starts getting him in trouble, the boys pull out all the stops to save him", according to the BBC. Hayes left 'South Park' over an episode entitled 'Trapped in the Closet', which satirised the Church of Scientology and questioned the sexuality of Tom Cruise, the world's most famous Scientologist.

Remember all your yesterdays

Ivan Lenin is all over what's going on in Belarus. Freedom is on the march.

A rock star feels he has more environmental 'credentials' than the leader of Britain

Yet another reason to hate Radiohead:

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke says he turned down the chance to discuss climate change with Tony Blair because the British prime minister has "no environmental credentials."

Quote of the Day

"Who wears scarves? It's not cool since, I believe, late 70's?"

- My MD father upon my telling him that I was getting a skin reaction from my scarf. Always awesome when your dad makes fun of your clothes.

You say you want a revolution....

If you had told me a year and a half ago, during the most contentious election of my life, that I would be standing in a concert hall for an anti-war show called "Bring 'Em Home Now!", surrounded by people in 'Impeach Bush' buttons while listening to political messages from the great minds of our time, such as Peaches (pictured below, whose most famous song is 'Fuck the pain away'), I might've believed you but probably would have wondered for how long I was able to control myself and who was the first victim of my confrontational nature.

Turns out, I was completely unfazed and limited my own political message to my new 'Poker is not a crime' t-shirt (yes, really).

Part of it was that I was helping cover the event with my friend (who was there for Michelle Malkin, his post and pics are up on her site now) and so I was scribbling notes in a little notebook the whole time while he took pictures. But mostly, it was the feeling that I was surrounded by the politically impotent who felt, I mean really felt, that a rock concert would help them further their political goals. It was laughable. So, I laughed.

We have this contingency of people, who actually believe they are the majority. It was mentioned several times last night that most Americans have come around to their view, that the troops need to come home now. How do they know? Well, polls say so! Which, fine, you want to believe polls, that's ok with me. But how come their elected officials don't believe those same polls? Why aren't their Senators and Congressmen calling for withdrawal en masse? If the majority agrees that immediate withdrawal is necessary, why is it a touchy political issue? It should be so simple. In fact, I highly recommend that Democrats follow the polls and run in '06 on the idea of immediate withdrawal. I want to see how that would go down, exactly.

The whole concert was something straight out of South Park. Susan Sarandon was there. Cindy Sheehan, of course. A random anti-war veteran of this war. Chuck D. Margaret Cho. Everyone took themselves extremely seriously. Steve Earle, some old hippie looking sort-of country singer kicked the night off with a song called 'Fuck the FCC' the lyrics of which are the extremely insightful "Fuck the FCC, Fuck the FBI, Fuck the CIA, Livin' in the motherfuckin' USA." Cindy Sheehan proclaimed herself a 'rockstar' and led the crowd in a chant of "Violence and occupation/Do not bring liberation/That's bullshit/Get off it/This war is for profit". Chuck D. came up with some cockamamie scheme to get everyone in America to have a passport. This would somehow throw off Homeland Security but also would serve to have Americans spread the message into the world that we're not all like Bush. Except, of course, that a majority of Americans voted for him. But don't let logic get in the way of Chuck's big idea.

All in all, it was a collection of hasbeens and publicity seekers. The worst of the spotlight whores was actually the anti-war vet, Geoff Millard (pictured above, note the upside down flag on his shoulder: he's like so subversive, man.). He was just basking in the adoration. He was also easily the most pretentious, dumb person up there (and, c'mon, with this collection, it's a feat). He's this white guy who is an African-American studies major (of course), quotes MLK and Malcolm X, and said some of the stupidest things of the night such as "my rights aren't being trampled by Al Qaeda" and "Saddam Hussein never tapped my phone." Idiot. While he was talking, I heard someone scream out 'Why did you join in the first place?' Phenomenal question. I wonder if it was a Protest Warrior or just some person that came for the music and couldn't take it any more.

Looking around at these middle to upper class white kids who had come to a rock concert to fight the power, I couldn't help but let any hate or anger I would've had towards them fade away. They have zero consistency in their opinions. America is at once a land of freedom (what else can they be implying when they say 'this is America!' in righteous indignation when asked to stop blocking traffic with their 'free speech') but also founded by murderers and oppressors who should return this land to the Native Americans. They say they support the troops but that makes zero sense. Support the troops doing what, exactly? Fighting in a war that they oppose? Taking orders for a man they despise? These were some of the most priveleged people on earth. They had never struggled, never known actual oppression, and probably never would. If a concert makes them feel like they're doing something, whatever, no skin off my back.

The highlight of the night was seeing Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes). He only sang three songs, one of which was the unbearable 'When the President Talks to God' but he still has a boatload of talent and the political stuff only detracts from it. And he remains pretty to look at:

Thanks to the excellent guy who took these pics.

My Saturday as told by my nemesis

Dawn Summers and I entertain Mr. and Mrs. Gib around NYC. Hilarity ensues.

Update: The poker part of the night is now up on 'I Had Outs', the poker blog I co-write with Dawn Summers. Go read it, you know you want to.

Unholy Alliance (by guest blogger Dorian Davis)

Gays, Lesbians, and the U.S. Supreme Court

"The totalitarian mind," warned Revel, "can reappear in some new and unexpected and seemingly innocuous and indeed virtuous form." In 1917, it was Communism. In 1923, it was Fascism. In 1933, it was National Socialism. And, in 1937, it was a silent, nearly invisible revolution in the United States: the New Deal. This introduction of socialism, in the midst of the Great Depression, sapped our Constitution, replacing it with a "living" document, divined sometimes from nil, by the magistrates of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Five years ago, Janice Rogers Brown—who was, at the time, a justice of California Supreme Court—explained the spirit of '37 in a speech to the Federalist Society, and spoke of a "judicial priesthood," a cult of our fellow citizens who believe, religiously, in the infallibility of judges, as a Catholic might believe in the infallibility of the Pope. Certainly, this is our conventional wisdom —that judges are smart, and "enlightened" and, therefore, the only proper arbiters of the Constitution—but is it the truth?

One wonders, with a glance at the modern courtroom, whether we are actually advancing toward secular, pluralist society, or regressing toward primal, uncivilized chaos. Each courtroom is governed by a tribal ceremony, replete with primitive costumes, and primitive titles, such as Chief Justice. Is this, itself, indicative that something has gone horribly wrong in our society, and that we—especially we in the gay community—have put our faith into an institution that is completely undeserving? Our freedom has retreated in all sectors—economic, social, and political—since the 1930s, coinciding, of course, with the advance of the U.S. Supreme Court.

This is a manifesto, as opposed to a news piece, because it is urgent for me and for all gay people to recognize the pitfalls in our relationship with state courts, appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. My community, the gay community, is a final frontier in civil rights; a group whose relationship with society remains, largely, unresolved. We have gone to court for this resolution, and developed, in recent years, a kinship with the court, becoming, in some cases, its ultimate defenders.

In fact, our allegiance to SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States), particularly in the wake of its pro-gay ruling in Lawrence vs. Texas, harkens back to allegiance by blacks after Brown vs. the Board of Education, and, again, by women after Roe vs. Wade. Each group became grateful for the social progress that it saw in the wake of a court ruling and ceded its decision-making authority, permanently, to SCOTUS. This accumulation of groups, each eager to surrender its own vote in return for a favorable ruling, has, subsequently, accorded wider power to SCOTUS, allowing it to infiltrate sectors of society previously governed by the popular vote.

Thus far, our attempt to institute gay marriage through courtroom proceedings has resulted in favorable rulings, regardless of public opinion, in Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Washington, and, a few weeks ago, in New Jersey. Yet, our peril is clear: a court capable of conferring such rulings upon us is capable of rescinding them. Once we have pawned off our democratic responsibility to campaign for issues that are important to us, to persuade the public, and to vote as a nation, we are unable to recover this responsibility without upheaval.

Magistrate, in Middle English, means Master. This is precisely what the court has become: our Master. We, in the gay community, worship it because we hope it will save us from the “bigotry” of the "Religious Right.” In this, we are mistaken. The court is not a secular entity; it is a religion, with a book (the law), a ceremony (the process), and a priest (the judge). Today, it is re-making society, in its own image, as if it were God.

The 'will Karol be able to control herself in a room full of lunatics' test

I'm going to this tonight because a friend of mine is covering the event.

What the hell was that?

Is anyone still watching Sopranos? Oh, that's right, we all are because we are all suckers. Tonight's episode was the worst ever. I give them another week before I decide that making me wait 2 years between seasons and then coming out with this crap is unacceptable.

A man after my own heart

This is a little old but still news to me. Peter sends along an article about David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party in Britain. In it, Cameron names The Smiths, Radiohead, Pulp and Blur as some of his favorite bands. Those four, in particular Pulp, are some of my favorite bands too. Cameron also confessed to having been a poker player in college.

In support of gay marriage [posted by Allah]

Vanderleun on the inalienable right to be miserable.

"Containers on two legs" [posted by Allah]

Ten, count 'em, ten pages in tomorrow's Times on a subject near and dear to Allah's heart: sisters who are doin' it for themselves. They're single and they want kids, but they're not willing to marry some loser they don't really care about just to get from point A to point B. They're genuinely inspiring.

But, they're also a little weird. Choice excerpts follow.

Karyn said she hoped to join a population of women that everyone agrees is expanding, although by how much is hard to pin down because single mothers by choice (or choice mothers), as they are sometimes called, aren't separated statistically from, say, babies born to unwed teenagers. Between 1999 and 2003 there was an almost 17 percent jump in the number of babies born to unmarried women between ages 30 and 44 in America, according to the National Center for Human Statistics, while the number born to unmarried women between 15 and 24 actually decreased by nearly 6 percent....

The Internet is also a factor; as well as holding meetings through local chapters around the country, Single Mothers by Choice hosts 11 Listservs, each addressing a different aspect of single motherhood. Women around the world pore over these lists, exchanging tips and information, selling one another leftover vials of sperm.

***
She was also attracted by the idea of a [sperm] donor of another race. "I believe in multiculturalism," she said. "I would probably choose somebody with a darker skin color so I don't have to slather sunblock on my kid all the time. I want it to be a healthy mix. You know how mixed dogs are always the nicest and the friendliest and the healthiest? If you get a clear race, they have all the problems. Mutts are always the friendly ones, the intelligent ones, the ones who don't bark and have a good character. I want a mutt."...

As I sat across her desk, she pulled up the donors' descriptions on her computer. One was Indian: "He's got black straight hair," she told me, "brown eyes, he's six feet but he only weighs 150. Which is good. If I have a girl, she wants to be skinny, and if she can eat what she wants, that's perfect. You don't have to get in fights about food."...

So it was early January when I finally met Daniela at 8 a.m. outside the Empire State Building, where her sperm bank is located, to pick up two vials of sperm from her Chinese-Peruvian-Italian donor. She had hardly slept the night before from excitement, she told me. At the bank, a nondescript lab, Daniela paid $450 and was given an 18-pound white canister with an orange "Biohazard" sticker on it. She had been there once before; her donor friend had had to go out of town and left frozen sperm for her. "You walk out on the street, and you've got the container in your hand," she said, "and then there's all these containers on two legs."

***
These women's independence of male partners in their family-making often brings a corollary reliance on one another — for sympathy and information, for companionship (Single Mothers by Choice sponsors vacations every year for single mothers and their kids) and the chance to show their children other families like their own. At times, the relationships can become even more enmeshed: one mother I spoke with, whose twin sons were conceived using both donor eggs and donor sperm, gave her leftover frozen embryos to a friend who was having fertility problems. The friend is now pregnant with a child who will be this mother's own sons' full sibling.

***
While many women, like Karyn, relish their emancipation from the grind of dating and pursue motherhood with a single mind, others are intrigued by what romance could mean, absent the imperative of finding a father for their children. One woman, a 40-year-old graduate student in biology in the Midwest, told me shortly after her first insemination: "One of the things that was so powerful about deciding to have a baby on my own was saying, I'm taking charge of this piece of it; I'm not going to wait around for a guy to give it to me. And my feelings about what I want from men right now are really changed. I don't actually want a big relationship. Now I want occasional companionship and sex."

On a recent date, between inseminations, this woman noticed the difference. "It was one of these dates where the guy's just telling you his sad story and his complicated relationship with his mother. In my previous dating life, I would have been, like, I'm not going to get seriously involved with a man like this. I'm going to get rid of him. This time I was, like, I think he's hot, so if I just keep listening, maybe eventually we'll have sex. And we had great sex. It was really hot." At one point, she had sex with two different men in the same weekend (both times using condoms) not long after an insemination. Observing her own behavior, she said: "Maybe in six months or a year I'll have more insight about it, but something radical is going on in my brain about my relationships with men. O.K., so I'm not going to keep trying to have this picket-fence-y life. I'm waving the white flag. And now I have permission to directly pursue what I want. It's a very curious and ambivalent liberation, because I would rather not be single. It's not my first choice."

***
The fact that a child born of an anonymous donor knows only half his biological family concerns single mothers with more robust families than Shelby's, too. The Donor Sibling Registry, a Web site where families can register children conceived by donor insemination in hopes of being matched with half-siblings or even the donor himself, has proved a boon for many single mothers....

Last fall, [Q] went to the Donor Sibling Registry and got a shock: the Aryan bodybuilder with the leaping sperm [who fathered Q's child] has fathered 21 children (and counting — he is still an active donor), including four sets of twins. These children are all 3 and under, and their families — four lesbian couples, three heterosexual couples and six single mothers — have formed their own Listserv, where photographs of the children (all blond, with a strong familial resemblance) are posted, and daily e-mail messages are exchanged about birthdays, toilet training and the like. They are planning a group vacation in 2007.

***
I was humbled by the grueling ordeals many women had undergone on their paths to single motherhood: years of trying to conceive, hormone treatments, hospitalizations, miscarriages, untold thousands of dollars spent — all without a partner to buffer the strains and disappointments. And being a single parent is no easier: whether it's a matter of trying to get a photo taken of you with your child or finding a way to shower without worrying that you won't hear your baby cry or accommodating a difficult work schedule, being a single parent can require compromises and jury-rigging that might awe a person with a partner. A longtime employee of New Jersey Transit spent a year working the 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. shift, which meant waking her daughter at 4 and walking her across the street in her pajamas to a neighbor's house. Her daughter slept on the sofa until the neighbor woke her and took her to school with her own children. "It's probably harder than you ever think it's going to be," this mother told me. After a moment, she added, "My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner." It is a measure of how deep the pull toward motherhood can be that thousands of women from many different walks of life are making this choice, using reproductive and communications technology in ways that not only break with tradition but also make it seem obsolete.

De facto asexual reproduction. The Singularity is near.

Human handbags [posted by Allah]

Here's one for my pal Karol, who just can't seem to get her mind around this whole "beta male" concept. From the shit-everyone-knows-but-pretends-isn't-true file: "love" as conspicuous consumption.

"Everybody has a quantifiable value on the open market," says Leil Lowndes, author of Updating: How to Date Out of Your League. "And everybody wants to get the best deal possible -- in love as well as in life."...

"Many people like to impress others by their looks, their possessions -- clothes, cars, homes, money. Their romantic partners can be seen as status symbols as well," says Rita Benasutti, a Florida sex therapist and psychotherapist....

It's a throwback to an older definition of social strata, says Kathryn Alice, a Los Angeles-based relationship expert who teaches workshops on dating and love through the Learning Annex. "People are comfortable with pecking order, knowing where they place in society, including in the dating realm," she says.

Points for honesty to author Kristi Gustafson, who starts off selling the standard female bullshit about how a man's status supposedly doesn't matter -- and then, ten paragraphs later, admits that it's never mattered more:

Alice doesn't believe leagues are a big deal in the dating world any more, but I think they couldn't be stronger. We live in a society obsessed more than ever with money, looks and education. So it's near impossible not to notice leagues.

And the big finish, in which the beta male's appeal, such as it is, is finally explained:

Dating down is safe (although, of course, if one person dates down, the other dates up), though not as fun or exciting. I've dated down, and never worried about the other person cheating or losing interest. Hey, he's lucky, I figured. Date up, though, and daily thoughts of "What does he see in me?" surface.

Sure, some couples are on a par with each other, but when the balance isn't there, trouble starts, says Lowndes: "Inequity sets in, and the top person can in small ways start to take advantage of the relationship," she says. "They figure the bottom person has such a great deal anyway."

Good luck, fellas.

Legal, rare and...wait, what was the other one?

US reports two more deaths after abortion pill

To further confuse her with Ali G

Sasha Cohen may try hand at acting career

Surreal life

Airports Fail Bomb Test: Out of 21, Not One Passed

Passengers now allowed to carry small scissors on airplanes

How much do I love Trey Parker and Matt Stone?

Facing obvious pressure from powerful Scientologists, Comedy Central will not air a repeat of the 'Tom Cruise in the closet' episode of South Park that makes fun of Scientology. The creators of South Park respond:

While the "South Park" creators didn't directly comment on Comedy Central's decision to pull the episode, they issued an unusual statement to Daily Variety indicating the battle is not over.

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

The duo signed the statement "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."

Portrait of a lady [posted by Allah]

You've come a long way, baby.

Beta males exude loserdom [posted by Allah]

Literally.

Hey Scots,

I think there's an English guy making fun of you guys.

Open letter to Adam Morrison

Dear Adam Morrison,

You are totally my type:

and could, maybe, turn me into a forever Gonzaga fan (I'm very loyal that way).

But you have to, and I do mean must, shave the moustache:

Your potential fan for life,
Karol

Don't like a rule? We'll change it!

What the hell?

There’s good news for city Catholics who want to enjoy their corned beef Friday, despite the fact that it's a Lenten Friday. The New York Archdiocese and the Brooklyn Diocese have granted dispensations allowing Catholics to eat meat for the day.

Flashback (as Drudge would say): Catholic Church does away with purgatory.

Turning Japanese [posted by Allah]

First the "group suicide" shit, now this.

I'm telling you: it's the radiation.

On one hand, the otaku worships technical sophistication, tapping into the national appetite for artifice embodied by bonsai, rock gardens, robots and devices such as smart vacuum cleaners.

On the other hand, the otaku is a recluse with a hankering for innocence and a fondness for indulging in fantasy to alleviate loneliness. Confounding the Asian herd mentality stereotype, he or she lives at home, is rather short on work experience, or indeed experience of any kind, and unable to handle the cut, thrust and tedium of office life.

Although Japan's estimated 3 million otaku do communicate electronically, they have very little physical contact with other human beings. Apart from occasional visits from mummy, who pushes meals through the door, the otaku is intensely isolated.

In his extensive free time, he quietly immerses himself in E-mail, chat rooms and instant messaging, obsessed by the violent and often erotic comic books known as manga. He also seeks solace in the quasi-human presence of life-sized dolls.... The typical otaku treats his mannequin like a goddess and has no plans to get a girlfriend, let alone a wife -- which would be too messy. Also, there is the risk of rejection -- always a likelihood given the otaku's notorious indifference to his appearance.

What do you call an otaku without the tech fetish? "Allah."

Here's the kicker:

If only half the otaku fell in love, an economic argument goes, the financial implications would be momentous, with dating alone likely to add about 330 billion yen (US$2.8 billion) to Japan's gross domestic product. That said, you wonder exactly what kind of she-geek is likely to fall under the spell of someone whose sexual experience is limited to trysts with replicants.

Some of us don't have to wonder, buddy. But hope springs eternal over at Seduction Insider. Fellas, if you've ever raped or killed a woman, take the confidence you gained from the incident and make it work for you!

How many licks does it take to get to the center of your tootsie pop? [posted by Allah]

Allah can "name that tune" in fifteen to twenty "notes".

Fun fact: "When asked what was used to limit the mess, 394 used their hand, 73 used an old sock, 141 used a handkerchief, 12 did it in the sink and amazingly 43 used a plant pot."

All the rage [posted by Allah]

Birth rate going down, death rate going up: Japan plagued by group suicides.

Four people suspected of committing group suicide were found dead inside a parked car Wednesday, officials said. The report follows a surge of such deaths arranged over the Internet....

There have been several previous cases of group suicides in Japan set up between strangers over the Internet — though it wasn't immediately clear how the latest group of people met.

The bodies of nine people were discovered in two separate cases of group suicide last week. In one case, three people died after inhaling charcoal fumes in a car.

Ninety-one people died in 34 Internet-linked suicide cases last year, up from 55 people in 19 cases in 2004, the National Police Agency reported last month. The number of Internet suicide pacts has almost tripled from 2003, when the agency started keeping records.

In a simpler time the Japanese did this sort of thing alone, by flying their planes into our aircraft carriers.

Repulsive

Tell me again why we can't kill their whole families on TV?

Anybody But McCain

John Hawkins lays out all the reasons why McCain is a no-go in '08.

Talking back to Drudge Headlines

How does one almost spit at someone? BONO: 'GELDOF ALMOST SPAT ON BLAIR'...

Now there's a shocker POLL: Republicans Are Happier In Life Than Democrats...

Dude. JESSICA SIMPSON SET FOR REPUBLICAN DINNER...

I knew she was a Johnny Cash fan! Rice: Terrorists want 'ring of fire'...

It's a bad situation when you have to trick people into reading your blog: CLOONEY: I DID NOT BLOG [at Huffington Post]....

Good morning

Whatever else happens today, and no matter what goes wrong, my day got off to a great start when someone called me 'the Crowned Princess of Outlaw Conservatism!' I'm not entirely sure what it means, but I like it. (Thanks Texas Tom).

Dating advice [posted by Allah]

If you want to score higher-quality tail, you should:

(a) stock up on novelty t-shirts;
(b) lie to yourself until you believe your own bullshit;
(c) be careful what you wish for.

LOWERED EXPECTATIONS RULE!

Memory Lane

The 'hoisting' appears to have come to an end. You guys better be at least as sad about it as Ace's commenters!

We had a seriously incredible line-up of guests. I'm not entirely sure how it all came together but it worked. I remember our very first time and Dawn's first live-blog. In our 10 months of doing the show we spoke to (and I'm doing this pretty quickly so sorry in advance if I miss anyone):

James Taranto
Michelle Malkin
Brian C. Anderson
Deroy Murdock
Scott Johnson
Daniel Pipes
Herman Cain
Charles Johnson
Evan Coyne Maloney
Rich Lowry
Jay Nordlinger
Thomas Lipscomb
Julia Gorin
Dorian Davis
Randy Barnett
Hugh Hewitt
Charmaine Yoest
Bridget Johnson
Jonah Goldberg
Brian Maloney
Heather MacDonald
Robert Spencer
Captain Ed
Greg Gutfeld
Robert Avrech
Annie Jacobsen
Jack Kelly
Andrew C. McCarthy
Jeff Goldstein
Neal Boortz
Steve Forbes
Dick Morris
JP from Milblogging.com
Tim Worstall
Peter Schweizer
Tom Maguire
Jim Geraghty
Glenn Reynolds
Julian Sanchez

Ah, maybe we'll be back sometime when Ace and I are back to living in the same state and only having to go cross-town to do the hoisting. Anyway, it was fun while it lasted.

Photo of the day [posted by Allah]

Daily affirmations [posted by Allah]

Is your sex life bad? Maybe it's because you're ugly.

Of 70 women who [had plastic surgery], more than 95 percent reported improvements in body image regardless of the type of cosmetic surgery they had undergone. After surgery, 81% of the 26 breast surgery respondents and 68 percent of the 25 body surgery patients said they experienced improvements in sexual satisfaction, compared to 32 percent percent of the 19 facial surgery patients.... What's more, women who underwent body-contouring surgeries reported having an orgasm more easily following the procedure.

"Being able to achieve orgasm and have a satisfying sex life has a lot to do with sexual fantasy. And if your fantasy life is very hampered by feelings that you really dislike your body or breasts, then certainly creating an creating an image for yourself that’s more akin to your sexual fantasy will help improve your sex life," she says.

Has your career stalled? Maybe it's because nobody likes you.

Sanders told Marcus all the things he was doing to prepare himself: He was trying to make himself intellectually attractive to business partners. He was trying to make himself financially attractive. Then, as they got up to leave, Marcus stopped Sanders and said, "Son, don't forget one thing: Make yourself emotionally attractive. Good things happen to people who are emotionally attractive."

Super.

Funny guy

Check out Andrew Breibart's guest-post over at Cathy Seipp's, it's hilarious.

I met him during the Pajamas Media launch in NYC and he cracked me up then too. I like Breitbart.com for news but I wish he had a blog

Weigh in: Crazy v. Stupid

Dawn: So, are you all done with [new acquaintance]?
Me: Yeah, he's kind of....
Dawn: Crazy? [Dawn has had him on the top of her list of 'people most likely to kill Karol' for several weeks.]
Me (at the same time): Stupid.
Me: Well, both crazy and stupid but I can deal with crazy. I prefer crazy over stupid any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Dawn: Really? Not me, I'd rather someone stupid over someone crazy.
Me: Nah, I'd never knowingly befriend someone dumb but crazy could be fun.

So, for the most important opinion you'll offer today: Assuming you had to choose one, do you prefer people that are crazy or people that are stupid?

No, chef, no.

Isaac Hayes leaves South Park over Scientology beliefs.

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.

"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, saying, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology. . . . He has no problem -- and he's cashed plenty of checks -- with our show making fun of Christians."

Spot On

Via Dawny, I just took this cool personality test. Apparently, I'm high on spontaneity, confidence and openness and low on empathy and trust in others. Interesting stuff. Take a look at my entire report, and make one of your own, here:

My Personal Dna Report

"No. 5 is a way to 'get their partner to do something they want.' " [posted by Allah]

Top ten reasons why women hit the sheets.

Poem of the Day (for Allah)

In keeping with the relationship-y posts of the day.

The Choice by Dorothy Parker

He'd have given me rolling lands,
Houses of marble, and billowing farms,
Pearls, to trickle between my hands,
Smoldering rubies, to circle my arms.
You- you'd only a lilting song,
Only a melody, happy and high,
You were sudden and swift and strong-
Never a thought for another had I.

He'd have given me laces rare,
Dresses that glimmered with frosty sheen,
Shining ribbons to wrap my hair,
Horses to draw me, as fine as a queen.
You- you'd only to whistle low,
Gayly I followed wherever you led.
I took you, and I let him go-
Somebody ought to examine my head!

Update: Speaking of poetry, I'm totally the 'she' in this poem!

More than one

I caught 'Big Love', HBO's new drama about polygamy, after 'Sopranos' on Sunday night and I quite enjoyed it. The hoopla around it is a bit overblown. No one is going to become a polygamist after watching this show any more than they will become a gangster from watching Sopranos or a funeral director after watching Six Feet Under.

The most fascinating discussion about the show, and about polygamy in general, is going on at Vox Day. Make sure you read the comments. I stayed up till 3am reading them and couldn't tear myself away.

Dating Disaster (by guest blogger Dorian Davis)

GAY DEMOCRAT: You make life miserable for millions and millions of people.

DORIAN DAVIS: Not since my TV show.

The checklist [posted by Allah]

You know exactly what she's talking about. And yes, in light of this post, it's officially a meme.

Strauss blames the pandemic of pickiness on a number of variables, one of the most heinous being our "multiple-choice culture," as she deems it. The instantaneous obsolescence and hairsplitting refinement of communications and entertainment technology, from cellphones to BlackBerrys to iPods, have created a mentality of one-two disposability, split-second upgrading and blind acceptance that the more specialized the device, the more coveted it is. Translation: There's always a better model, whether wireless or woman, on the horizon.

Add to that the horizonless offerings of online dating, and the traditional desire to settle for one person is doomed. The ever-revolving Internet postings of new faces are constantly reviving dashed hopes - even pre-empting them. Most people won't pull their profiles after singling out a prospective mate. Why? Options, options, options, baby.

In semi-related news, scientists discover why fat chicks are easy and why men look askance at promiscuous women -- all thanks to one study!

The littlest homo [posted by Allah]

A Danny Pintauro for the new millennium.

The bedrooms of 9-year-old twins Adam and Jared couldn't be more different. Jared's room is decked out with camouflage, airplanes, and military toys, while Adam's room sports a pastel canopy, stuffed animals, and white horses.

When Stahl came for a visit, Jared was eager to show her his G.I. Joe collection. "I have ones that say like Marine and SWAT. And then that's where I keep all the guns for 'em," he explained.

Adam was also proud to show off his toys. "This is one of my dolls. Bratz baby," he said.

Adam wears pinkish-purple nail polish, adorned with stars and diamonds.

Asked if he went to school like that, Adam says, "Uh-huh. I just showed them my nails, and they were like, 'Why did you do that?'"

Adam's behavior is called childhood gender nonconformity, meaning a child whose interests and behaviors are more typical of the opposite sex. Research shows that kids with extreme gender nonconformity usually grow up to be gay.

Danielle, Adam and Jared's mom, says she began to notice this difference in Adam when he was about 18 months old and began asking for a Barbie doll. Jared, meanwhile, was asking for fire trucks.

Here's where I finally busted out laughing:

Not that much has changed. Jared’s favorite game now is Battlefield 2, Special Forces. As for Adam, he says, "It's called Neopets: The Darkest Faerie."

He's still not as gay as this guy, though.

UPDATE: "Fritz, I'm starting to think about vaginas and women. What's going on?"

I would totally vote for him (and not just because I have a thing for the Klitschko brothers)

Ex-Heavyweight Champ, Vitali Klitschko, Wants to Be Mayor of Kiev (my grandma's hometown) in the Ukraine.

The Libertarian Alternative

Cathy Young remembers Harry Browne. She writes that while she may 'vehemently' 'disagree with many of his positions', 'Browne was a rebel with a cause; and we need more of those, in the dreary landscape of today's American politics.' I agree.

Both of my bosses and I are wearing pink today.

High of 64 degrees fahrenheit in NYC today. If this is global warming, I like it.

Future misogynist begs women to take him for granted [posted by Allah]

Five years from now, this guy will be Vox Day's biggest fan.

The lucky ones [posted by Allah]

Deaf fans "enjoy" Bon Jovi concert.

The paradox of choice [posted by Allah]

I want him to be wrong, but I don't think he is.

Barry Schwartz, the author of The Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More, discussed the implications of having greater freedom and more choices than we know what to do with (such as 285 varieties of cookies, 175 salad dressing in a supermarket or a phone that has more features than a Swiss Army knife)....

Now you have multiple choice in other areas of life, such as where when and how you work. "Even personal identity is a matter of choice-–you can reinvent yourself in almost wide variety of ways," Schwartz said. The punchline: Paradoxically too much choice can be paralyzing, from buying jam and speed dating to mutual fund investing (too many fund choices, investment goes down). "With all the choice people may do better, but they will feel worse," Schwartz said. It's too easy to imaging the alternatives could have worked better–-regret and anticipated regret kick in. As you enjoy what you choose, you imagine attractive features of what you passed up–-the opportunity cost rising in consciousness can be completely debilitating.

Another problem is the escalation of expectations. With more choices, one of them must be 'perfect.' The result is disappointment because there isn't a perfect choice. When expectations were low, something could happen that exceeded expectation. That's not possible in affluent West, partly driven by having so much choice. The secret to happiness is to have modest expectations, Schwartz concluded.

Self blame is another way in which choice can be poisonous to people. When you have 200 pairs of jeans or 2000 colleges to choose from, its your fault if it's not a good choice, Schwartz said. He attributed the explosion of clinical depression to having too much choice.

Can't be a coincidence.

Semi-live blogging the Sopranos

After the jump

That's William Burroughs doing the voiceover, right?

For a second there I though Adrianna was still alive and was going to declare the season dead from cheesiness. But, no.

How dead is the guy that wants to retire from being a mobster? My guess is very dead.

How much weight did Vito lose, exactly? 10-15 pounds?

Hahahaha, I like the snitch keeling over in the Fed's car.

Well, my guess that the Florida-obsessed guy was dead was right-on but didn't see the suicide angle, wow.

WHOA. Good ending. Obviously Tony can't die in the first episode because then the whole season is for naught.

How do they not show scenes from next week? HOW!?

Out of their gords

Britain's Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator have dropped Mark Steyn, the best editorial writer on the planet. Charles Johnson suspects Steyn's clear writing on Islam was a motivation. If that is true, then the issue of whether or not to publish Mohammad cartoons becomes truly moot. What kind of bravery is it to publish a cartoon but fire an outstanding writer for having controversial opinions?

Tim Blair quotes leftist Guardian columnist Lionel Shriver:

However you may deplore his opinions, Steyn is funny. How often do you read comment pages and laugh aloud? He writes about big issues with tremendous energy, and he has a sensibility now more pertinent to British politics than ever: a refined sense of the absurd.

Thankfully Steyn is still available in many other publications. The British press has suffered a huge loss.

Via Instapundit.

Conversation

"When I was a kid, the only thing I would picture about adulthood was having a library. Not a husband, a job or children, just having a library full of books"-Me on why it was so important that my books, which had been flung into disarray during a recent securing of the bookshelves by a handyman, were re-organized on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

"Mine was getting to stay up late"-Peter

Battle of the Commies

"So, if Cuba is playing Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, who do you root for?"- Peter

Help me

I need some new music. I've been on a Bright Eyes kick the last few days, but I've been playing 'Lifted', which is 3 albums ago and I feel like I need some new stuff. What are all you cool kids listening to these days?

Sometimes it doesn't even look good in March

The Mets nay too smart.

H/T Peter.

Woke up this morning....

I am so ready.

Who will be first 'to go'?

Will Christopher find love after Adrianna?

Vito. Seriously, Vito?

I'm sad that Steve Buscemi's time on the show is over. He was hi-lar-ious.

Paris Hilton's uncle never killed anyone

Superfischel picks up the story of Wafa bin Laden's new reality show and wonders if it's appropriate that her fame is being gained due to the mass murders of Americans. I say no.

This weekend.

If you're in NY this Sunday, comedian and sometimes-blogger Charles Star will be performing in a comedy show. Do go check him out.

Something's gotta give [posted by Allah]

Depression breaks your heart, and broken hearts cause depression:

It's not unusual for depressed people to suffer from anxiety. The two go together like pretzels and beer, so well that scientists have given it a new name - the Type D (for distressed) personality. Such people are chronically gloomy, worried, pessimistic, and lack self-assurance. The Harvard article mentions research in Belgium that found that "over a 10-year-period, patients in a cardiac rehabilitation program were three times as likely to die or have a second heart attack if they had this kind of personality."...

Isolation makes things worse. One study concluded that men who survive heart attacks and live alone have twice the average death rate. Another study found that people who did not talk to their doctors and rarely contacted friends or family were more likely to die in the nine years after a heart attack, regardless of their physical condition.

Is that a bug or a feature?

One of those memes

Thanks a lot, Dawn.

My nickname: A lot of people call me K. My best friend Laurie calls me 'Ka'. A couple of people call me Special K and my friend Fisch shortens it to Speck. Peter calls me Kaitchka. It's a Russian thing.

My hometown: Brooklyn, put ya lighters up.

My team: The Yankees. I love Hideki Matsui and Bubba Crosby.

My theme song: Anything by Guns-N-Roses puts a bounce in my step. 'You Could Be Mine', 'Anything Goes', 'Locomotive' are all theme song possibilities.

My drink: Absolut mandarin with cranberry juice.

My occupation: Political PR.

My spare time: I play a little poker. I also play a Russian card game called Klabber. Dawn recently informed me that poker legend Stu Ungar used to play Klabber. I find that sort of fitting.

My hiding spot: Under my covers.

My book: I've decided that I am the way I am in life because of the book 'Lulu's Back In Town', a children's book I read when I was a kid.

My hero: I just did this on My Space, so I'll copy it here: Ronald Reagan, Herman Cain, Wayne LaPierre, Greg Raymer, My brother.

'What are you benching, buff guy?'

Drudge is reporting that Jack Abramoff gave an interview to Vanity Fair in which he described his meeting with president Bush. AP is running a story on the upcoming article with the headline:

Vanity Fair: Bush Had Ties to Abramoff

What kind of ties? It's all very damning. Apparently, Bush once remarked to Abramoff 'What are you benching, buff guy?' I don't know about you all, but I smell impeachment over this. Me? I want that on a t-shirt.

They have a big tent

Democratic candidate for U.S Senate in Ohio is in favor of the death penalty for homosexuals.

Only in NY

If you ever wanted to understand NY's weird third party system (the 'liberal' party is not that liberal and tends to support Republicans, for example), Daniel Peterson has a good starter post.

Not about poker

You're not interested in my poker obsession. I get it. I started another blog with Dawn mostly so I wouldn't bother you with it anymore. But I'd be remiss if I didn't point to Dawn's 4 posts over on I Had Outs about our last trip to Atlantic City. Yes, it's poker related but, as she writes on her own blog to trick, I mean convince, her readers to visit, it's also got lots of Karol-Dawn interaction that many of you seem to find amusing. So, go visit, leave us some comments and go ahead and skip the poker parts if you'd like.

Neo-Nazi converts to Islam [posted by Allah]

No comment.

Terry Jones (yes, that Terry Jones): God wants Saddam in power [posted by Allah]

He's writing in the voice of the Almighty -- admittedly, an attractive vehicle for satire:

According to Gabriel, God spake these words: "That George W Bush once had the nerve to say: 'God told me to go end the tyranny in Iraq, and I did.' Well, let me tell you I did no such thing! If I'd wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein, I could have given him pneumonia. I didn't need the president of the United States to send in hundreds of heavy bombers and thousands of missiles to destroy Iraq - even though I appreciate that Halliburton needed to fill its order books."

He's not saying that God condones Saddam's behavior, of course. He's merely suggesting that, in a just world, Saddam would still be in power. Which makes the irony of this earlier passage all the more shocking:

"If Tony Blair thinks his friendship with George W Bush is worth rubbing out a couple of hundred thousand Iraqi men, women and children, then that's something he can talk over with me later," said God.

Is he kidding? Or am I so out of practice with satire that I'm missing the joke?

Dragnet on the way for London cartoon protesters [posted by Allah]

Remember these turds? Scotland Yard does.

This stuff shouldn't be illegal, but I guess if you're going to criminalize impolitic sentiments, incitements to decapitation aren't a bad place to start.

UPDATE: An Orwellian nightmare from Al Jazeera, using leftist methods of argumentation to advance the interests of religious fundamentalists at the expense of free speech:

The truth is that today racism, intolerance, xenophobia, and hatred of the other hide behind the sublime façade of free speech, the defence of “our” values and protection of “our” society from “foreign” aggression.

Let us not be deceived about this rhetoric of liberalism and free speech. The Danish cartoons have nothing to do with freedom of expression and everything to do with hatred of the other in a Europe grappling with its growing Muslim minorities, still unable to accept them.

Remarkable. They know who's on their side, and they know exactly how to talk to them.

For the punchline, click the link, scroll down and read the author's bio.

Saudis launch "moderate" Islamic satellite network [posted by Allah]

I can't wait.

Note who the man in charge is: Prince Alwaleed, the very same pantsload who said the U.S. had it coming on 9/11, then tried to buy off Rudy Giuliani with a $10 million check. Which Rudy kindly deposited in his asshole.

UPDATE: Elsewhere in the news -- "Alwaleed gets 'Legion of Honor'."

Unconfirmed: Iran uses Dubai company to acquire nuke component [posted by Allah]

A little more grist for the ports-deal mill. Quote: "GRDC is not the only Iranian front company operating in Dubai, according to the sources who spoke to Iran Focus."

Jacko undergoing sex change [posted by Allah]

From female to male.

Best line: "The Middle East was a 'very peaceful place', he said."

Old media placed on ventilator in UK [posted by Allah]

Won't be long now.

Brave, brave Sir Robbins [posted by Allah]

Brave -- and original:

The student newspaper at the University of Saskatchewan is apologizing for printing a cartoon depicting Jesus performing a sex act on a capitalist pig.

The comic, which was published in last Thursday’s edition of the “Sheaf,” appeared a week after the paper ran an editorial explaining why it would not publish controversial Danish cartoons picturing the Prophet Muhammad that have incited violence around the globe.

Editor-in-chief Will Robbins tendered his resignation to the paper’s board Sunday for the cartoon depicting Jesus.

Didn't anyone tell him that Muslims find depictions of pigs offensive?

UPDATE: Small Dead Animals has a scan of the cartoon.

Iranians go wobbly on nuke standoff [posted by Allah]

This'll get some attention in Tehran:

With Iran's nuclear program still in development after 20 years, many people say it's not clear what they stand to gain in the ongoing confrontation. The risks, however, are evident.

"Of course we're worried about sanctions," said Marieh Shariff, who like Asadi is looking for work, as at least 10 percent of Iranians are. Unofficial estimates suggest twice the rate.

"We don't have a strong economy, and now because of the confrontations of the last five or six months, the market is already down," said Samir Tabatabaei, 20. "Whenever some high official uses harsh words against foreigners, or foreigners use harsh words against us, the business just stops."

A dealer in wedding tiaras, Tabatabaei stood in a mirrored nook glittering with merchandise that costs more since Iran's tone turned belligerent -- and is purchased less, by a population wary of the future.

"Verbally, lots of people are saying they will stand firm, resist," Tabatabaei said. "But if something happens, I doubt people will really stand the pressure."

Could sanctions destabilize the mullahs? Like they did with Saddam in Iraq, I mean.

UPDATE: "Would it be possible for the Americans to invade just for a few days, get rid of the mullahs and the weapons, and then leave?"

Feminist surprised to find feminism doesn't lead to utopia [posted by Allah]

"The radical teachers, feminist mothers and all-persuasive media of the revolution failed to point out to its heirs that men and women would rather have domestic happiness than social justice."

Previously.

Left-wing circle jerk warrants sixteen paragraphs [posted by Allah]

Thank god for the AP. Imagine if this empty gesture had gone unreported.

This is fun, though:

Greg Record, a justice of the peace, said in an interview after the meeting that the town is made up of people from the "far left," and he criticized the amount of time and attention such advisory votes get.

"We spend more time on these things than on a million-dollar budget item," he complained.

I'm sure this is what Allah (the god, not the pundit) wants

Bomb attack at Sankat Mochan temple in India kills 15

Alrighty, then.

GOP US Senate candidate John Spencer accuses GOP US Senate candidate K.T McFarland of being backed by Hillary Clinton.

A funny little NY story

Starring Dawn Summers and her pothole.

Please see Amendment II

National Rifle Association Sues New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin

From their press release:

NRA has filed a motion for contempt against the City of New Orleans, its mayor, Ray Nagin, and the acting chief of police for failure to comply with a temporary restraining order handed down September 12, 2005, ordering an end to all illegal gun confiscations that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"With looters, rapists, and other thugs running rampant in New Orleans, Ray Nagin issued an order to disarm all law-abiding citizens," declared NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. "With no law enforcement or 911 available, he left the victims vulnerable by stripping away their only means of defending themselves and their loved ones. Now Ray Nagin thinks he's above the law, and that's just wrong."

...

"Ray Nagin is a colossal disappointment," said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. "During a federally declared emergency, he abused his power and abandoned the very people he was sworn to protect. He took away the victims' freedom and their basic means of self-defense during an ill-fated and perilous time."

The motion also includes a demand that the guns be returned to their owners.

I'm back!

Thanks so much to little-known ex-blogger Allahpundit for filling in during my insane last few days. I think he rocks 'da house' even if he doesn't seem to think so.

Will be back to normal-ish blogging shortly.

Link dump [posted by Allah]

I was going to do these as separate posts but I'm bored and you're bored and no one's reading anyway and my blogging licks balls. So let's just pinch them off and call it a night, okay?

+ The new Palestinian prime minister once set up a terrorist training camp with Abdel Aziz Rantisi and is considered an "intellectual disciple" of Sheikh Yassin. Which, naturally, makes him the "softer, pragmatic face of Hamas."

+ If you're British and your lady's drunk, get it in writing.

+ Baa baa rainbow sheep. "In keeping with the new approach, teachers at the nurseries have reportedly also changed the ending of Humpty Dumpty so as not to upset the children and dropped the seven dwarfs from the title of Snow White."

+ The bad news: Iraqi sectarian tensions go global. The good news: Sunni tribesmen are taking up arms to end the occupation. ""We are a group of the Anbar people who want to get rid of Zarqawi . . . because this is the only way to make the Americans withdraw from Ramadi or Iraq in general."

+ London police have few leads in the investigation into the July 7th bombings. There's a reason:

Not only are extremist networks murky and fragmented, but investigators also have run into resistance and radicalization on the street: In a recent poll of British Muslims, almost a quarter of respondents said they felt some sympathy with the motives of the subway bombers.

"The absence of hard data on 7/7 is striking," Shamit Saggar, a political science professor at the University of Sussex, said at the conference at the Royal United Services Institute think tank. "The only way we can explain that is as a significant circle of tacit support existing in that community."

They are pretty sure of one thing, though: the failed follow-up attacks of July 21st apparently weren't related to the 7/7 bombing. Just freelancers, trying to blow up some trains. Super.

One woman can't forgive.

Racial differences emerged within recorded history? [posted by Allah]

Mind-boggling:

Providing the strongest evidence yet that humans are still evolving, researchers have detected some 700 regions of the human genome where genes appear to have been reshaped by natural selection, a principal force of evolution, within the last 5,000 to 15,000 years....

The selected genes, which affect skin color, hair texture and bone structure, may underlie the present-day differences in racial appearance.... Dr. Pritchard's list of selected genes also includes five that affect skin color. The selected versions of the genes occur solely in Europeans and are presumably responsible for pale skin. Anthropologists have generally assumed that the first modern humans to arrive in Europe some 45,000 years ago had the dark skin of their African origins, but soon acquired the paler skin needed to admit sunlight for vitamin D synthesis.

The finding of five skin genes selected 6,600 years ago could imply that Europeans acquired their pale skin much more recently.

Expect the ID crowd to read this as lending credence to the story of the Tower of Babel.

Hollywood interested in autistic hoops star's story [posted by Allah]

If anything can restore retard roles to their place of Oscar-bait prominence, this is it.

Imagine if the kid turns out to be gay, too. Jim Carrey and Robin Williams will fight a fucking death match to play him.

If gay men can be queens... [posted by Allah]

...then it stands to reason.

Actually, I'm pretty sure the whole story's made up. Look at the names of the people interviewed. Wasn't Santo Provenzano the guy who killed Luca Brasi?

UPDATE: If this were the UK, Santo would probably be in jail.

Gitmo more humane than Belgian prisons, says Belgian [posted by Allah]

A "model" facility:

Grignard told a news conference that prisoners' right to practice their religion, food, clothes and medical care were better than in Belgian prisons.

"I know no Belgian prison where each inmate receives its Muslim kit," Grignard said.

I want to gloat, but the idea that we're being soft on these guys by Belgian standards isn't exactly cause for exultation.

UPDATE: Needless to say, European prisons aren't the only enviornments that compare unfavorably.

Saudis violate WTO treaty, continue boycott of Israeli products [posted by Allah]

Their admission to the WTO was contingent upon the boycott being lifted, but come on. Once those Jew cooties gain a foothold inside the country, how long would it be before you had women driving cars and a rudimentary educational system in place?

Christin Baker, the assistant US trade representative for public and media affairs, told the Post via e-mail that the US had "ensured that Saudi Arabia in its recent accession to the WTO has taken on all rights and obligations with respect to all WTO members, including Israel."

"Saudi Arabia," she said, "did not invoke the non-application provisions of the WTO agreement with respect to any member," meaning that it must treat all members equally, "including Israel."

Likewise, in hearings last month before the US Senate Finance Committee, US trade representative Rob Portman insisted that the Saudis "have a responsibility to treat Israel as any other member of the WTO."

"We've received assurances from Saudi Arabia," Portman said in separate testimony before the US House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee. "They will abide by their WTO commitments."
Nonetheless, the Post has found, Saudi customs officials continue to enforce the boycott, asserting that no Israeli-made goods be allowed into the country.

Next week they're hosting -- hosting -- the OIC's annual conference devoted to boycotting Israel. The arm of the OIC responsible for organizing the conference is called ... the Office for the Boycott of Israel. They've got an entire fucking department devoted to this shit.

Good thing they're a strong ally in the war on terror or else I'd be a little aggravated.

The death cult's nursery [posted by Allah]

Librarians in Ontario and Pennsylvania think ten-year-olds should be reading this book.

I'm not sure I disagree.

"Killing an Israeli will make me feel glad. It will make me feel strong," says Wafa, age 12. "I am tired of them making me feel small and weak. I want all the Israelis who are trying to take our land to be killed."

Twelve-year-old Hakim, interviewed in a hospital bed after being injured by the Israeli army, says: "I don't want to know any Israelis. They are not the same as me. They only care about killing. I fight the soldiers a lot. It feels good to throw stones at them. They should not be in my town, so I throw stones to make them go away. I have only one wish: to get well soon so I can go back to fighting the Israelis."

In one interview, 12-year-old Salam, the sister of Aayat, a suicide bomber, describes her admiration for her sister, and her willingness to follow her example. "She is a martyr and is now in paradise. I would like to join her there. I would have to become a martyr like her, to be able to be in paradise with her. I don't think it would hurt if I blew myself up."

In several chapters, Palestinian children declare open animosity for their Israeli contemporaries, insisting that Israelis are taught to hate them and that they have nothing in common. Many of the Israeli children, by contrast, offer more balanced, thoughtful insights.

"I know there are good people among the Palestinians," declares Yibaneh, 18. "It's impossible for a people to be all bad, every one of them. But the good people aren't talking loudly enough, or they're not being listened to or there are not enough of them."

"I don't know why the Palestinians are so angry with us. We're nice people," says eight-year-old Danielle. "If I could meet a Palestinian girl my age, we could play together. That way she could see that I'm nice and friendly and she won't want to blow me up."

Note the contrast in the photos on the cover. I don't know how it all ends, but it won't end well.

P.R. tips for Muslim leaders [posted by Allah]

The sort of shit you'd teach a five-year-old:

In the crash course on media management, the 14 members of John Howard's Muslim advisory committee ... are told: "Don't lie, don't bluff, don't panic and don't apologise."

Well, maybe not that last part. But I digress.

The group, which includes a range of community leaders picked by the Howard Government last year, is told in the manual: "If you know you will have to lie during an interview, don't do the interview.

"Sooner or later the truth will come out, and you will lose all credibility."

And the guidelines, prepared by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, have advice on how to deal with women.

"Times have changed - many journalists are women," the handbook says. "Deal with them in the same manner and with the same respect as you would their male colleagues."

Also, be sure to wash your hands after you make a cocky.

I like how these tips -- don't lie, be civil towards women -- are offered as things to do when you're on camera, not as, you know, basic fucking life lessons.

Good news for people who love bad news [posted by Allah]

Must be nice when even your political failures are evidence of intellectual superiority. Last night it was Clooney congratulating Hollywood for being out of touch with the unwashed masses, today it's Meghan O'Rourke, writing in Slate, lamenting the burden of enlightenment:

Last week, two sociologists at the University of Virginia published an exhaustive study of marital happiness among women.... [T]he most interesting data may be that the women who strongly identify as progressive—the 15 percent who agree most with feminist ideals—have a harder time being happy than their peers, according to evidence that has been provided exclusively to Slate. Feminist ideals, not domestic duties, seem to be what make wives morose.

The reason, according to O'Rourke?

Progressive women find themselves navigating marriage as a choose-your-own-adventure story, which raises the chances of feeling that they perhaps made the wrong turn along the way. A progressive-minded woman doesn't just have higher expectations; she's more likely to pay attention to every setback, and see her husband's failure to listen at dinner as evidence of larger inequity. Meanwhile, the paradox of rising expectations can make real differences seem bigger even as they grow smaller.

The crosses one must bear for raised social consciousness. Oh, to know the ignorant, slipper-fetching bliss of the Christian hausfrau.

In fairness, she does end the piece by telling feminists to lighten the fuck up.

The gamble [posted by Allah]

Cary Tennis climbs out on the ledge with a high roller.

Report: Helmut Kohl denies Holocaust [posted by Allah]

What?

The government-owned daily wrote that at a dinner gala with Iranian hoteliers and entrepreneurs, Kohl said that he “heartily agreed” with Ahmadinejad’s remarks about the Holocaust.

“What Ahmadinejad said about the Holocaust was in our bosoms”, the former German chancellor was quoted as saying. “For years we wanted to say this, but we did not have the courage to speak out”.

The report comes from a state paper, but still -- would they simply make up a quote?

Stay tuned for German media reaction.

I'm speechless.

The myth of female solidarity [posted by Allah]

No one hates women as much as women:

Barash, a gender-studies professor at Marymount Manhattan College, found tales of jealousy, man-stealing and job rivalry rampant among 500 women she interviewed.

"Despite how far the women's movement has taken us, there's still a sense there isn't enough pie - if someone else gets it, that means you don't," Barash said.

Barash found "hidden envy" among women for their beauty, relationships, lifestyle, children and careers.... Barash even found "divorce envy" - women jealous of friends who had the guts to ditch their husbands.

Note the stats related to workplace competition toward the end of the article, too.

Barash's book, "Tripping the Prom Queen: The Truth About Women and Rivalry," comes out tomorrow.

Lubavitch rapper breaks big [posted by Allah]

We live in interesting times, my friends.

Here's where I make a stupid joke about "kosher beats" or some other absurd hybrid of Jewish and hip-hop culture. But since I don't know anything about either, I'll let you come up with your own. Go on. Insert joke here.

By the way, his major-label debut? Four stars from the Post.

"Hippie chimps" disappearing in Congo [posted by Allah]

Disillusioned with the pace of utopian political reforms, they've traded their idealism for sports cars, stock portfolios, and cocaine.

Actually, they're being eaten by Congolese:

The animals are known for greeting rival groups with genital handshakes and sensual body rubs. Bonobo spats are swiftly settled - often with a French kiss and a quick round of sex....

Even provincial police who are supposed to protect the bonobo are mostly ignorant about dangers to its survival, and they are often sympathetic to those who eat it.

Some officers consume bonoobo meat, too, said Clerivent Kanyamba, deputy chief of the Equator province police.

"What can we do if bonobo meat is tasty?" Kanyamba said.

The bonobos reportedly are considering a mass exodus to Darfur, where they'll be systematically raped and executed by Arab militias.

Confirmed: "Brokeback" is porn for women [posted by Allah]

Ain't just us guys who find the other gender's same-sex hookups hot.

Graphic images from Lebanon [posted by Allah]

Brace yourself.

Iran's peaceful nuclear energy program [posted by Allah]

Oddly enough, it appears to involve equipment resembling the bomb we dropped on Nagasaki:

According to a Western diplomat familiar with the U.S. intel brief, a Farsi-language PowerPoint presentation on the laptop [stolen from an Iranian nuclear engineer] has "catchy graphics," including diagrams of a hollow metallic sphere 2 ft. in diameter and weighing about 440 lbs.... "Because of the size and weight and the power source going into it and height-of-burst requirements," says the diplomat, Western experts have concluded that the design "is only intended to contain a nuclear weapon. There's no other munition which would work." A report issued last week by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says Iranian officials have dismissed a number of the laptop documents as fabricated.

Speaking of fabrications, the big Jew-hate festival starts on Tuesday. State media says several "anti-Zionist rabbis" are in town to attend. Presumably not attending: slightly-less-wacko former president Mohammed Khatami, whose own willingness to whitewash terror at least doesn't extend so far as to include the Holocaust.

Our Enemies Are Laughing at Us [posted by Allah]

Well, I guess that depends on who you define as "us":

In a speech to a closed meeting of leading Islamic clerics and academics, Hassan Rowhani, who headed [nuclear] talks with the so-called EU3 until last year, revealed how Teheran played for time and tried to dupe the West after its secret nuclear programme was uncovered by the Iranian opposition in 2002.

He boasted that while talks were taking place in Teheran, Iran was able to complete the installation of equipment for conversion of yellowcake - a key stage in the nuclear fuel process - at its Isfahan plant but at the same time convince European diplomats that nothing was afoot.

"From the outset, the Americans kept telling the Europeans, 'The Iranians are lying and deceiving you and they have not told you everything.' The Europeans used to respond, 'We trust them'," he said.

Charles Johnson has been writing about Iran's Manhattan Project since May 2003.

Three. goddamned. years. And we're still not ready to do anything about it. But we're getting closer.

Obligatory NYT story downplaying the danger here, although they don't downplay it much:

By late this year, Iranian officials said, they would begin installing nearly 3,000 centrifuges at the giant Natanz plant, buried deep underground to withstand attack. That many centrifuges, international inspectors knew, could make fuel for up to 10 nuclear warheads every year.

In Washington and Europe, the announcement was dismissed as an empty boast. "Maybe they can move that fast," said a senior American official who tracks Iran's program but who declined to be named because it is an intelligence matter. "But they would need lots of help, luck and prayer."...

Estimates of just when Iran might acquire a nuclear weapon range from alarmist views of only a few months to roughly 15 years. American intelligence agencies say it will take 5 to 10 years for Iran to manufacture the fuel for its first atomic bomb. Most forecasters acknowledge that secret Iranian advances or black market purchases could produce a technological surprise.

Sleep tight. And if you can't, try a lullaby.

SadFabs [posted by Allah]

"Men are great, but they do not always fit into your timescale."

The Oxford Fertility Unit, for example, started offering private treatment to single women only four years ago on the grounds that refusing treatment could lead to potential legal action.

The clinic now reports that the number of enquiries from single women seeking artificial insemination, or resorting to IVF if sperm donation does not work, has quadrupled.

It's not just Britain, either. Women at the moment have a huge advantage in the battle of the sexes: the quality they've evolved to most desire in men -- status -- can now be acquired independently in the labor market. They've broken our monopoly while retaining their own over the quality we most prize, i.e., sex. For professional women, men have become a luxury; for men, women remain a necessity.

The playing field will level in a decade or two, but the larger trend, of individuals using technology to fulfill themselves in ways that used to require help from another person, is already in motion. Glenn talks about an army of Davids, but the beauty of what's on the horizon is that you don't need an army. You don't need anyone.

UK Pageant Finalist: "I'm Ugly" [posted by Allah]

I know a chick like this. I hate her.

As she stood on the stage under spotlights, Racheal Baughan should have been beaming with pride. Her eyes sparkled, her dark hair shone and judges had decreed she was one of the most beautiful women in Britain. But inside she was shaking with fear. For the striking 25-year-old is convinced she is ugly....

Racheal Baughan's teenage years were blighted by bouts of imagined ugliness. "There were times when I hated the look of myself so much that I couldn't face anyone," said Ms Baughan, who is from Sussex. "On a bad day I'd wake up and hide myself in my room.

"I'd have panic attacks and cut my arms. Once, things got so bad that I took an overdose and tried to kill myself. I was desperate to have plastic surgery."

Not-safe-for-work photo spread of Ugly here.

Infanticide Fever -- Catch It! [posted by Allah]

From pre-modern:

Police in Khurja say dozens of sacrifices have been made over the past six months. Last month, in a village near Barha, a woman hacked her neighbour's three-year-old to death after a tantrik promised unlimited riches. In another case, a couple desperate for a son had a six-year-old kidnapped and then, as the tantrik chanted mantras, mutilated the child. The woman completed the ritual by washing in the child's blood.

To post-modern:

The hospital began reporting cases of euthanasia in newborns with spina bifida between 2002 and 2004. Verhagen authorised and sometimes witnessed the procedure without any criminal charges being brought against him.

“It is in some ways beautiful,” said Verhagen, describing the moment when severely pain-racked children relax for the first time since birth. “But it is also extremely emotional and very difficult,” he added.

Another Biblical Mystery Solved by Science [posted by Allah]

Remember those Old Testament stories about the sky "raining blood"? According to one physicist, there's a perfectly logical explanation for it. It's just comets seeding Earth's atmosphere with alien life forms.

Investigations suggested the rain was red because winds had swept up dust from Arabia and dumped it on Kerala. But Godfrey Louis, a physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, after gathering samples left over from the rains, concluded this was nonsense. 'If you look at these particles under a microscope, you can see they are not dust, they have a clear biological appearance.'...

one analysis showed the particles were 50 per cent carbon, 45 per cent oxygen with traces of sodium and iron: consistent with biological material. Louis also discovered that, hours before the first red rain fell, there was a loud sonic boom that shook houses in Kerala. Only an incoming meteorite could have triggered such a blast, he claims. This had broken from a passing comet and shot towards the coast, shedding microbes as it travelled. These then mixed with clouds and fell with the rain.

The article goes on to say that other scientists are calling "bullshit." Literally.

Social Awkwardness Has Its Advantages [posted by Allah]

True story: I once convinced myself that the slight twitching I'd feel in my legs after sitting for hours in front of a computer was actually early onset of Lou Gehrig's disease. I lost some weight around the same time, which only confirmed my suspicions of systemic muscular atrophy.

In hindsight I'm pretty sure that I was wrong, based on the fact that I'm still alive. But as it turns out, the weight loss might have been no accident:

According to the results of an American experiment, the amount of small movements you make could be the difference between being fat and thin. Forget sweaty work-outs: fidgeting, cleaning, tapping your toes, walking – all these everyday things might be the secret of keeping off excess weight and staying fit....

When exploring the reasons for obesity, scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota used sensors to minutely examine the movements of both lean and obese people. They found that, on average, the overweight people sat for 150 minutes more each day than their lean counterparts. Thinner people simply moved, walked and fidgeted more than obese ones.

Ain't no such thing as a fat spaz.

A Jew Named Goering [posted by Allah]

No corruption of blood:

Other descendants of Nazis have trodden the same path. Katrin Himmler, who published a book last year about the war crimes of her great-uncle, the SS commander Heinrich Himmler, married an Israeli. "It was as if we were predestined to meet," she says.

Beate Niemann, daughter of feared SS Major Bruno Sattler, made an award-winning film, The Good Father, documenting her hopeless search for a man she could be proud of, and tried to apologise to camp survivors after discovering her father had ordered the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews.

Monika Goeth's father was Amon Goeth, the camp commandant played by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List, who shot Jewish prisoners from the balcony of his villa. She has spent years seeking rapprochement with camp survivors. "I am completely drawn to Judaism," she says. "Jews were the real heroes. I feel nothing but contempt for those who idolise the Nazis."

It's not just the descendants of Nazis, either.

You Want Me On That Wall [posted by Allah]

Harvey Mansfield on manly men and the women who enjoy washing the skidmarks out of their underwear.

"Men look down on women's work . . . not because they think it is dirty or boring or insignificant, which is often true of men's work; they look down on it because it is women's work."

*

Ultimately, he concludes that it is OK for men and women to be treated similarly in the workplace; but in private life, "it should be recognized that men will be manly and sometimes a bit bossy . . . and that women will recognize manliness with a smile by checking it while giving it something to do or, on occasion, by urging it on."

*

Though he thinks that his female students have become "more assertive than they used to be," he observes that "the very same women will be careful of the sensibilities of the men they wish to attract and not try to compete with them except in fun or ironically." "If not," his brow rises slightly, "I think they would have trouble getting married.

*

"What you see today at Harvard and elsewhere are a lot of liberal males who are trying to make women happy by trying to treat them as if they weren't women." "And that," says the man who never misses the chance to open a door for a woman or help her put on her coat, "doesn't work very well." So why didn't he simply write a book on gentlemanliness? "Because before you're a gentleman, you have to be a man. Gentlemanliness is a refinement. It presupposes that you have a certain superiority over women, but teaches you how to exercise it. It also teaches you that women are superior in their ways."

Reached for comment, this dude nodded real slowly and deliberately.

I kid. Mansfield says the hallmark of a manly man is that he's "confident in risky situations," which, not coincidentally, happens to be the stock answer of every woman I've ever met when asked what quality they find most attractive in a man. In fact, I'm tempted to read his argument as a restatement of the alpha male/beta male paradigm, but I don't think it works: the alpha/beta distinction turns on status, not confidence, and while the latter is certainly a component of the former, that's all it is -- a component. Take a rich man who's insecure and a poor man who's self-assured and see which one attracts a higher quality of chicks. I know who my money's on. No pun intended.

I told Karol I'd write more about alphas and betas and how I think betas are human garbage, but it's too late to do it tonight. Stay tuned!

Eat a Dick [posted by Allah]

You know the old saying about starving people in China? Well, turns out they're the lucky ones.

Restaurant review here. "The testicles were slightly crumbly."

More dick-eating news: too much in Ghana, not enough in Japan. Which is too bad, because any people that can turn cow shit into gasoline is a people we need more of.

How do they not walk into walls?

Remember that insane story about a phone call placed to a McDonald's that essentially caused the molestation of a teenage girl? The recap (including video) is here. The conclusion is here.

Why I don't watch the Oscars

I think Crash, which depicts Los Angeles as a segregated city of angry racists, has a good chance to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday — if the Academy decides the big message they want to send this year is "America Is Racist." On the other hand, "America Is Homophobic" is always a popular Oscars message too (remember Philadelphia?) as well as more buzzworthy right now. So probably the smart money should be on Brokeback Mountain.

"America Is McCarthyite/George Clooney Speaks Truth to Power" (Good Night and Good Luck) and "America Doesn't Understand the Human Beings Behind the Israeli/Arab Conflict" (Munich) certainly resonate with Academy voters, but don't have quite the same easy to understand snap. The fifth Best Picture nominee, Capote, is merely a brilliant character study with no obviously useful lessons for Hollywood to teach the unenlightened, so I'd say it's a longshot — although Phillip Seymour Hoffman is deservedly a shoo-in for Best Actor.

-Cathy Seipp

Iraq

I'm still finishing up a too long post about why I still support the war in Iraq. Someday, I will finish (and then edit!) it. In the meantime, stop what you're doing and go look at this. The picture of the little boy with the sign around his neck put a lump in my throat and brought tears to my eyes. We couldn't have been wrong to go into Iraq. Look at the pictures and read the words. This was wrong. We were not wrong.

MT Problems?

I had two posts up this afternoon and both have disappeared as well as at least one comment. Anyone else experiencing any problems?

Ultimate security mom will likely challenge Hillary

Two good pieces today in the NY Times and the NY Sun about K.T McFarland, who will likely be challenging Hillary Clinton for her U.S Senate seat.

I've had the pleasure of meeting K.T and she is really phenomenal- sharp, smart, warm and well-spoken. She was a Pentagon spokeswoman under Ronald Reagan and is being assisted in her campaign by Ed Rollins, a Reagan advisor. Her key issue is national security, essentially the only issue that makes an iota of difference to me in a U.S Senate race. She was Condi before Condi was Condi. I like her.

(Full disclosure- I do consulting work for the firm she has hired to handle her P.R, however this post is here because I am fascinated by K.T and her entrance into this race, and not for any other reason. Please review the 'notice' in my sidebar beneath the blogads for further clarification).

Union corruption? I could not be more surprised.

The NY Central Labor Council (which supports 'nearly 400 local unions from every trade, occupation and sector') was raided by the FBI yesterday. The Observer's Politicker is all over the story but here is the gist.

Clouds

This is the word cloud for Alarming News. What's yours?

Via Exit Zero.

I'm sorry about the lack of posting....

....I'm sick and miserable today.

Guess what's back, back again...

Senate clears Patriot Act renewal

Question for police: where was Dawn Summers at the time?

12-year-old sticks gum on $1.5M painting

Tonight

Keeping on the gun topic from the post below, Jinx Magazine is holding a debate tonight in NYC on the issue of gun control. That events, and all other events of interest to right-leaning NY'ers, can be found on my other blog, Rightevents.com.

Gun laws at work

Two people were shot at a Kanye West gig in England. Which is strange, see, because England has a nationwide no-handgun policy. I am completely shocked that criminals would break such a law. Perhaps a newer, more stringent law is order? Perhaps several new laws?

Quick get the 'fake' turkey

Bush makes surprise visit to Afghanistan