joyfulchristian

I'm not sure I buy this whole argument

... but in my experience, Christopher Hitchens should generally be paid attention to.  Here he makes the case that Mel Gibson wasn't being out of character at all the other night. 

I don't know, maybe I just don't want to believe it, but I'm having trouble buying all of this.  I know I don't buy a few of his examples, especially some of those relating to scenes in Passion, but he's certainly got a lot of material here.

I first heard about this

... on Fox News, but they foolishly didn't link to the website.  It seems that an Alaskan cop invented caffeinated lip balm.  He sells it online, and even has a FAQ:

Was Spazzstick tested on animals?

No, Spazzstick has never been tested on animals.  The only animals in the area are Arctic Fox, Caribou, and Polar Bears.  We can't catch the Foxes, and putting lip balm on a Caribou is no picnic, so we don't even try.  No one was willing to get close enough to a polar bear to put lip balm on it.

Except for Dwayne.  He once tried to put lip balm on a Polar Bear.  He said the Polar Bear looked like he had chapped lips.  He also thought the Polar Bear wanted to be his friend.

We miss him.  Not real smart, Dwayne, but he loved to hug stuff.  Like Polar Bears.

Enjoy.

No true Scottsman

Joe Carter points out a logical fallacy that I have often found fun in jest, but absolutely abnoxious when meant to be serious.

I can't fathom this

So what should be the punishment for this?

Police say they are still trying to find a man who is alleged to have put a lit cigarette into a child's eye at Dulwich Hill in Sydney's inner-west.

The 18-month-old boy was taken to hospital for treatment.

I've got some thoughts. I hope they catch this guy.

Interesting

So exactly how long does it take to crank out a 30-foot banner with Condi Rice's picture one it?  Powerline asks an interesting question.

Remarkably

... this won't change Kofi Annan's view of what's going on over there one bit.

Protesters angry over an Israeli airstrike that killed more than 50 people broke into the main U.N. building in the Lebanese capital Sunday, burning U.N. and American flags and damaging some offices.

[...]

A handful of protesters broke into the building. Arab TV channels showed footage of the protesters inside, breaking down doors and pounding the walls with bats or broom handles.

It should, but it won't.

I must confess

... that the main reason this story about a protest of the recent Mexican Presidential election interested me was that the protester pictured looks more like a professional wrestler.  For some reason leftists seem to think costumes get their point across better. 

I wonder if they had any giant puppets.

More on Hezbollah's contemptible behavior

David Bernstein has been all over this.

They got me on that one

Heh.

I beg to differ

So I was watching Craig Ferguson on DVR from Friday and he mentioned Cop Rock.  That prompted me to relive old memories by looking up the horrible show on IMDB.  I came across this comment:

I liked this show and never did understand why people thought it was stupid for people to be breaking into songs,  you never hear that used against other musicals!

I personally have this complaint about most musicals. In fact, the only musicals I can ever remember liking were the Sound of Music (in which it actually made sense for people to be breaking into choreographed numbers all the time) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which is just stinking hilarious.

On balance though, this is what bugs me about musicals. Well ... not specifically that people break in to song.  Lots of people do that.  But most people do not spontaneously break in to rehearsed song and dance numbers. 

It drives me bonkers!

Of course those of us in the know

... undestand that this is just part of a clever subterfuge to hide this.

More monkey business

Note to self: Don't tear down the baboon's house.

Good for him

When celebrities screw up, they tend to obfuscate and try to scatter the blame.  It's somewhat refreshing, therefore, to see Mel Gibson take all the blame for the actions leading to and after his arrest:

Gibson also apologized for what he said were "despicable" statements he made to the deputies who arrested him early Friday on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

"I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested," he said in a statement issued by his publicist. "I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse."

[...]

Gibson also apologized Saturday for what he called "my belligerent behavior" when he was taken into custody.

"The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person," he said, adding he "said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable."

Of course, only Gibson and God know if he's severe sincere.  Still, I'm glad to see a celebrity stepping up and accepting the blame. (Edited for content based on sk's helpful comment.)

Who's your hero?

David Bernstein offers some perspective on Hezbollah:

In any event, Kuntar came to mind because I received an email from a reader suggesting that I try to understand things from the perspective of the supporters of the Palestinian and Party of God terrorist groups. Sorry, but while I'm reasonably well read on the radical Arab perspective, whatever someone's grievance I refuse to "understand" those who idolize cold-blooded murderers of children. [Remember the exhibit at a Palestinian university celebrating a mass terrorist murder at Sbarro's Pizza in Jerusalem?] The fact that Kuntar is a hero to the Party of God and to the Palestinian terrorist groups reveals just about all one needs to know about them.

Read the whole thing.

No real surprise

Here's a very interesting story.  It talks about e-mails sent by the Canadian Major who was stationed at the UN outpost recently hit by Israel:

"What I can tell you is this," he wrote in an e-mail to CTV dated July 18. "We have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both (Israeli) artillery and aerial bombing.

"The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters (sic) of our position and the closest 1000 lb aerial bomb has landed 100 meters (sic) from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but rather due to tactical necessity."

Those words, particularly the last sentence, are not-so-veiled language indicating Israeli strikes were aimed at Hezbollah targets near the post, said Maj.-Gen. MacKenzie.

"What that means is, in plain English, 'We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the (Israeli Defence Forces)," he said.

That would mean Hezbollah was purposely setting up near the UN post, he added. It's a tactic Maj.-Gen. MacKenzie, who was the first UN commander in Sarajevo during the Bosnia civil war, said he's seen in past international missions: Aside from UN posts, fighters would set up near hospitals, mosques and orphanages.

I'm shocked!  Hezbollah was using UN observers as human shields?  This couldn't possibly explain why Israel was bombing the area, could it?

No, that's not a crime

Glenn Reynolds calls for legislation that would include stiff penalties for cops who arrest citizens just for taking pictures of them.  There does seem to be a lot of this going on lately.  I'm not sure I go along of all of his proposals, but we've got to start somewhere.

I'm not sure what I think about this

In Andrea Yates's new trial, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity.  My best guess is that this was probably the right conclusion.  Ultimately, I find it hard to believe anyone who could do this was sane.  I realize there's a slippery slope in that thinking, but sometimes it's unavoidable.

Gimme!

Cashless Monopoly?

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A British version of the classic Monopoly board game released this week substitutes a Visa-imprinted debit card for the stacks of yellow, blue and purple play money long hoarded by children worldwide.

"We started looking at what Monopoly would look like if we designed it today," said Chris Weatherhead, a Britain.-based spokesman for Hasbro Inc., which makes the best-selling board game. "We noticed consumers are using debit cards, carrying around cash a lot less."

Works for me! One of the biggest hassles of Monopoly is keeping track of the cash.

Frank's right

This is hilarious.

NEW YORK—Wikipedia, the online, reader-edited encyclopedia, honored the 750th anniversary of American independence on July 25 with a special featured section on its main page Tuesday.

Read the whole thing. 

This is just weird

Apparently Ken Jennings has soured on Jeapoardy:

We regret the insinuation that Mr. Alex Trebek is a robot, and has been since 2004. Mr. Trebek's robotic frame does still contain some organic parts, many harvested from patriotic Canadian schoolchildren, so this technically makes him a `cyborg,' not a `robot.'

Read the rest. Weird.

Very telling

I think this story tells us a lot about the problems with the historic method of dealing with terrorists in the middle east:

A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrillas did not expect

Israel to react with an all-out offensive after the capture of two soldiers, the first acknowledgment by the group that it had miscalculated the consequences of the raid two weeks ago.

[...]

He said Hezbollah had expected "the usual, limited response" from Israel after the two soldiers were seized by guerrillas on Israel's side of the border on July 12.

In the past, he said, Israeli responses to Hezbollah actions included sending commandos into Lebanon, seizing Hezbollah officials and briefly targeting specific strongholds in southern Lebanon.

Komati said his group had anticipated negotiations to swap the Israeli soldiers for three Lebanese held in Israeli jails, with Germany acting as a mediator as it has in past prisoner exchanges.

I think this story shows the problem very clearly. Hezbollah believed that they could continue this insane give and take indefinitely.  That is to say, they could hurt Israel knowing that Israel would strike back, but they were in control of how much they'd get hurt.  This is why "proportionate response" is such a stupid idea.

Open letters

John Hawkins begs Condi to save Israel ... sorta.

The Trilemna

Lord, Liar, or Lunatic.  Joe Carter summarizes the classic apologetic point.

If I'd set up a category about John Kerry's ego during the election ...

... this would have been the time to break it back out.

"If I was president, this wouldn't have happened," said Kerry during a noon stop at Honest John's bar and grill in Detroit's Cass Corridor.

It's tempting to take a shot about John Kerry speaking at a place called "Honest John's". Oh wait, I guess I just did.

Anyway, given John Kerry's ego trips during the campaign, statements like this aren't really a surprise.  I'm not sure I understand his thinking though:

The president has been so absent on diplomacy when it comes to issues affecting the Middle East," Kerry said. "We're going to have a lot of ground to make up (in 2008) because of it.

Absent on middle east issue?  Are we talking about the same George Bush?  Cause the one I see in the White House focuses on the mid-east almost to the exclusion of all else.  Now in fairness, elsewhere in the article there are indications that Kerry was saying that Bush was focusing so much on Iraq that the rest of the region was being ignored.  That would be more understandable, but still awfully wrong-headed.

Here's a news bulletin for everyone.  The problems between Israel and Hezbollah are not the results of too much or too little attention by any US president.  The problems between Israel and Hezbollah are caused by the fact that Hezbollah wants to drive Israel into the sea. 

It's not about "engagement."  It's not about the "peace process."  It's not even about "occupied territories."  Israel exists.  As far as Hezbollah is concerned, that's the problem.  From Israel's point of view, the problem is that Hezbollah expresses their feelings on the subject by kidnapping their soldiers and launching missiles into their cities.

Unless we're willing to force the Israelis to evacuate the region, the only way to deal with this issue is to destroy Hezbollah's ability to wage war.  Strangely, Kerry and I seem to agree on this issue:

This is about American security and Bush has failed. He has made it so much worse because of his lack of reality in going into Iraq.…We have to destroy Hezbollah," he said.

It's hard to tell since some of the context was nixed, but he seems to be saying that we wouldn't need to be destroy Hezbollah if Bush weren't so incompetent.  Still, at least he admits that Hezbollah needs to be destroyed.

That's something, I guess.

Really, that many?

I actually found this surprising:

Only 4 percent of Massachusetts adults would feel "very" safe driving through the tunnels of the Big Dig, according to a poll taken in the aftermath of a collapse that killed a motorist.

I find it shocking that it's this high.

 

I understand the frustration, but ...

I have my doubts about this legislation:

Judy Vincent learned last year that Cpl. Scott Vincent's name is among about 1,700 included on a T-shirt being sold by an Arizona man over the Internet. The front of the shirt reads "Bush Lied" and the back reads "They Died."

The woman, whose son was killed in April 2004, pushed for Oklahoma legislators to pass a law that makes it a misdemeanor to use a soldier's name or likeness for advertising purposes without consent. The law goes into effect this November.

I certainly see why someone would be upset that her dead son's name is being used to advance a cause she doesn't believe in.  However, unless we're going to say that this law is couched in protecting the soldier's right of celebrity I don't see how this doesn't run afoul of the 1st amendment.  Also, Oklahoma doesn't exactly have jurisdiction over a guy working out of AZ, do they?  I guess they could control sales in OK, but what about direct sales?

This law may make Mom feel better, but I doubt it will accomplish much. And it may be unconstitutional to boot.

Sordid tale

The great-great niece of the Red Baron was just convicted in the conspiracy that left her parents dead.  Apparently she talked her boyfriend and his brother into beating her parents to death so she could get their money.

Sort of a Menendez brothers thing I guess.  Note to wealthy people: If you don't raise your kids right, you're putting yourself in danger. Sad, but true.

Making stuff up

Matthew Hoy explains the problems with Paul Krugman:

Now that the New York Times has locked its nutty columnists in the sub-basement known as TimesSelect, the likes of Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and Paul Krugman have become far less influential in our public debate.

This is a good thing, since Krugman continues to just make stuff up.

Read on as points out the absurdity of a Krugman claim.

Islamic Thinker's Society

Umm ... thinking isn't exactly what I'd call this.

Different kind of road rage

Carport destroyed by golf cart.  Vodka was involved.

Chutzpah

You've got to admit that these guys think big:

Fraudsters faked title deeds to a 13-storey Sydney building - headquarters of the Australian Rugby Union - and nearly got away with $14 million in gold bullion.

Using the fake title deeds to claim ownership of Australian Rugby House in North Sydney, the conmen secured a cheque for $14.4 million from a Uniting Church lending fund, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

They went on to use the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds to order $14 million in gold bullion.

Of course, thinking big turned out to be their downfall too:

You don't get $14 million bullion orders every day," Mr Moffatt said. "We've been doing this for a long time and we know when something doesn't smell right.

Evolution of thought

Perry de Havilland explains that when conflict first broke out between Israel and Hezbollah he thought it very important that Israel be careful not to destablize the fledgling liberty movement in Lebanon.  Now, he feels somewhat differently:

In short, I find myself inescapably drawn to the notion that not only is the Israeli action warranted, I now think there is no good reason the IDF should avoid attacking targets of strategic value to Hezbollah which are located in non-Hezbollah areas. Moreover, I would urge them to follow the logic of that position and start striking targets in Syria and (above all) in Iran in order to impose a cost on those governments for their actions in enabling Hezbollah.

His reasoning is very interesting.

This article may not be terribly helpful

... but it reminded me to bring up the issue.

Local anti-abortion activists defended their use of graphic images of aborted fetuses on Baltimore’s busiest streets Thursday afternoon, saying the pictures provide a face to a glamorized practice.

“The images cut through the rhetoric,” said Chrissy Walsh. “Those that support abortion hide behind the term ‘pro-choice.’ They don’t want the country to ask itself what they are choosing.”

The argument about whether pro-life activists should use graphic images, or sometimes even actual fetuses, in their protests have gone on for some time.  This article doesn't give much detail about what these activists were actually doing so it's hard to analyze their specific acts. 

It does give me an opportunity to discuss my view on the subject.  There's no doubt that abortion activists tend to describe the process in as clinical manner as possible to try to remove the natural emotional reactions we feel regarding children.  Many people, when faced with graphic descriptions or images of the process reconsider their position.  Graphic images do make a difference.

Of course, so do sonograms.  I've seen many stories about how the more modern sonograms have convinced women who were considering abortions to change their minds.  They simply made it impossible to think of what they were carrying as anything other than a child.

I don't think there's any doubt that the major reason abortion activists object to graphic images in protests is that they work.  That being said, it doesn't necessarily follow that it's a great idea.  There's no doubt that there's also a percentage of the population who will only be offended and will immediately turn you off.

Graphic images can certainly have a place in protests, but they are not a tool that should be used in all circumstances.  I worry that some activists use them purely for shock value without any thought given to whether they are the best tool for the given circumstance.

 

This is just wrong

The state of Virginia is going to force a 16 year-old cancer patient to undergo chemotherapy against his will and over his parents' objections:

            A judge ruled Friday that a 16-year-old boy fighting to use alternative treatment for his cancer must report to a hospital by Tuesday and accept treatment that doctors deem necessary, the family's attorney said.

The judge also found Starchild Abraham Cherrix's parents were neglectful for allowing him to pursue alternative treatment of a sugar-free, organic diet and herbal supplements supervised by a clinic in Mexico, lawyer John Stepanovich said.

Jay and Rose Cherrix of Chincoteague on Virginia's Eastern Shore must continue to share custody of their son with the Accomack County Department of Social Services, as the judge had previously ordered, Stepanovich said.

Now I will be the first to say that this proposed treatment is just nutty. That being said, a 16 year-old and their parents should be allowed to make these decisions on their own.  The state should never have been involved in this.

Disproportionate response?

Ben Stein takes on the claim that Israel's response in Lebanon is "disproportionate":

Look, if the Israelis wanted to inflict a lot of casualties from the air, they could. They have the second best air force in the world. Clearly, they are showing restraint. Three hundred dead is a lot, and every human's death is sad unless he's a terrorist, but we were killing 30,000 in a few hours in World War II and glorying in it. No news shows were showing German civilians getting fried and saying how sad it was. It was war against butchers and war is horrible, but it's war, and to defend human decency, sometimes war is necessary.

By any historic measure, Israel's response to a decade of torment is extremely restrained -- maybe too restrained. And it can stop any time the Hezbollah says they will use peaceful means to get their aims. I don't hear them saying that. What I hear is a thousand Hezbollah rockets falling on exclusively civilian targets in Eretz Israel. There's your answer about whether Israel's response is disproportionate.

The fact that civilians, even innocent civilians, are dying is tragic.  It doesn't mean the actions aren't necessary.

On another note, I dislike the whole idea of "proportionate response".  It gives your enemies the idea that they can control your response.  If they think they know how bad you'll hurt them, it makes them think they can control their own damage.  The cure to future attacks is a vastly disproportionate response.

Isn't this immoral, some will ask?  It's troubling, I admit.  Ultimately, such a response forces enemies to back down.  With an enemy like "The Party of God", that's the only way to save lives in the long run.

Opiate of the elite

Jonah Goldberg coins a new phrase. A rather apt description of the UN.

I knew she was weird, but

First Cynthia McKinney skipped some debates.  Now she's skipped a whole week of votes (and other Congressional business):

Rep. Cynthia McKinney was a no-show this week in the U.S. House, as WSB Washington Correspondent Jamie Dupree reports that the Georgia Democrat missed all four days of legislative business and every vote on the House floor as well.

[...]

McKinney missed 19 votes over four days on the House floor, including an attempted override of President Bush's veto of a bill dealing with embryonic stem cell research, a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage and a bill designed to prevent federal courts from ruling on the constitutionality of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

For someone running for re-election, she has a strange way of showing it.  The story does note that she had taken an official re-election for two of these days, but even so, this seems like strange behavior for someone in a tight re-election bid.

Oh, those Baldwin boys

You've got to love them. Or something.

He's got a point

Well, he does.

What about science

Perry de Havilland is sure to tick some people off with this post:

But within the meta-context that constrains Francis Harris' views, to oppose tax-funding for certain types of research on moral grounds is to turn your back on 'science' rather than turning your back on what you may regard as 'murder'. Just as a thought experiment, ponder this: if Bush managed to get a law enacted that allowed for the testing of dangerous experimental drugs on the inmates in Guantanamo Bay, would the title of Francis Harris' article be "Bush backs laws supporting the advancement of science"?

Somehow I do not think so, yet logically it should be.

He's got a point.

Party of God

David Bernstein asks a good question, "how much of the sympathy that Hezbollah is receiving from the far Left would dissipate if the media referred to "Hezbollah" by its English translation "Party of God," the way it refers to Israel's "Mafdal" party as the "National Religious Party?"

I never even knew that was the translation. I don't know if it would help or not, but it tells you something about the press, doesn't it?

Shows ho much attention I've been paying

I just noticed that Sarah moved my link to "Missing."  We'll see if I stick around long enough to change that.

$30,000 date

Yes, but will she protect you from vampires.

Save the environment by killing it

Jonathan Last makes the case.

Killing the environment will take time. This big ball of mud is pretty resilient. But if we love our planet--and really, who doesn't?--then we have to show corporate America how little we care about it. Only then will it be safe to be an environmentalist again.

Warning

One of my dogs freaked out while I was watching this.

This seems like a bad idea

The House has passed legislation that would prevent the courts from ruling on the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance.

The pledge bill would deny jurisdiction to federal courts, and appellate jurisdiction to the Supreme Court, to decide questions pertaining to the interpretation or constitutionality of the pledge. State courts could still decide whether the pledge is valid within the state.

There's no doubt that Congress has the authority to deny jurisdiction on a subject to lower courts.  However I seriously doubt they can deny jurisdication over any legal matter to the Supreme Court.  I haven't researched that issue, it's just my off-the-cuff reaction.

Beyond that though, is this really a good idea?  There's no question that militant atheists are after the pledge, but I've never really seen this as a fight worth fighting.  But then, I've never had any great love for the Pledge anyway.

Even if I grant that this is a good fight, do we really want to start changing the rules like this?  Even if we have the numbers now, it's likely that we won't always be in that position.  How will we argue against our political opponents pulling the same tricks when they're in our position?

Update: A less charitable take.

Another: I'm really not sure what the point of this post is though.  While he's probably right about the motives of many people behind this bill, I'm really not sure what a history of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge adds to the discussion of whether the phrase should be removed from Constitution review.

Pre-emptive arrests

I'm all for stopping terrorist plots in the early stages.  However, stories like this make me wonder:

Both men developed contacts with other supporters of jihad, traveling to Toronto, Canada, and made video clips of "potential terrorist targets" in Washington including the Capitol building, the indictment said.

"Ahmed, Sadequee and another person known to the Grand Jury engaged in physical and rudimentary paramilitary training including activities with paintball guns in northwestern Georgia," said the indictment filed at Atlanta district court.

It said Ahmed traveled to Pakistan to get paramilitary and religious training with the aim of fighting in Kashmir, while Sadequee went to Bangladesh in part to support jihad.

I certainly hope there's more "there" there.  Unless we've got them for more than this, I have trouble seeing how the charges are going to stick.  While it certainly sounds like these guys were up to no good, I'm not sure there's enough of an overt act here to justify the arrest.

My fear that the charges won't stick isn't my only concern.  As the government begins pre-empting conspiracies earlier and earlier, don't we risk picking up people who weren't actually planning anything at all?

North American Union nonsense

John Hawkins tries to take on some of the nonsensical rumors swirling about that the Bush administration is trying to merge the US into some sort of superstate.  I'm afraid that he's not going to have much impact. As he notes, it's difficult to reason people out of ideas they weren't reasoned into.  He tries to address the rumors head-on, but his best point is probably this:

...then believe your own knowledge of how the U.S. Government works. To merge the United States into a North American Union would obviously require a whole host of Constitutional Amendments. In fact, so many would be necessary that the only possible way to accomplish it would be through a Constitutional Convention, an event that hasn't occurred in over 200 years and that would require the support of 34 state legislatures to be possible. So, even if George Bush or any other U.S. President were so inclined to create a North American superstate, he would be powerless to do so unless he were able to rally 2/3 of America's state legislatures to his side.

People, even if this was going to happen, it's not going to happen without anyone knowing about it.

Laying it on thick

On balance, despite disagreeing with him on many issues, I tend to like Bill Quick. He does tend toward hyperbole though, doesn't he:

I'm sure Bill would be okay with that, given that most polls indicate public preference would do away with much of the Bill of Rights, starting immediately with the First - and probably "save" marriage by making homosexuality a crime punishable by death.

Sure, I know he's not being literal, but this is going a bit far with the rhetoric, isn't it?

I want some of this action

You've got to like this plan:

People understand that athletes need a little assistance in the writing department, so it’s no big deal when they use co-authors. But as a writer, I wonder why I can’t try out for the NFL using a co-athlete. I’d bring the intangibles, such as my desire to make my co-athlete work extra hard in the off-season to stay in shape. I’d also be willing to make him play hurt. The jumping and running and catching are the easy parts. It’s the “competitiveness” that I’d bring to the mix, and you can’t put a price on that.

Personally, I'm looking for my co-Bill Gates.