joyfulchristian

Great post about our courts

No, our courts aren't hopelessly broken.

Oh my

So are we sure The Onion is satire?

Heh

Freaky Liberal Blog Names - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

And this doesn't even get into the profane and stupid content, it's just the names of the blogs. In fact, take a random vulgarity, add it to a racial or gender group, and throw the word "angry" out there in front of it if you're so inclined, and you've just probably named another liberal blog.

That is John Hawkins conclusion after perusing a few liberal blogrolls.  He does have a point: the left likes to paint conservatives as angry and obsessed with race, but who is it that's always talking about these things?

Well, he's got a point.

He Lives: Best Advice. Ever.

Best headline I've seen in a while

Good post too.

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Sounds about right

Definition of the day.

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About right

This would still make more sense than a "stimulus package."

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Oh wow

Tim Blair, possibly one of the funnies people in the Universe, is about to have surgery for cancer. God bless.

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No kidding!

That would have been a kick in history's pants.

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The definition of insanity

... is often described as doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. Bill Quick notes such a pattern with middle east "peace talks".

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And I thought my Christmas was bad

At least mine didn't require a surgeon and our daughter was with grandparents so was not able to get anything from me.

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You better watch out ...

... Santa Clause is getting arrested tonight. Samizdata looks at regulation in Britain.

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Ahem ...

Harvey doesn't think we're running a very good empire.

Oh well.

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My blood is boiling

Read this.

If you can avoid puking, get angry. Do something. (Via DailyPundit.)

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Still relevant

John Hawkins celebrates thanksgiving by highlighting some of his older work. One of these is his Confessions of an Isolationist Wannabe. It's still spot on, other than the reference to Russia ass friend; by now it's pretty obvious that that was a transitory thing.

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Leaving it to the pros

Yeah, we leave all of our dog claw clipping to the professionals. Good luck with the peanut butter though. It does wonders for our boxer's medicine.

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Nice

Matthew Hoy:

So, remember, the Earth’s warmer than ever because of all our cars — except that the Medieval Warm Period was warmer.

I blame Medieval cows.

Good one.

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That's about right

Hillary granted time to rebutt herself.

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As the puppy blender Would say:

Heh:

It’s enduringly cute how these folk condemn money - and simultaneously condemn low wages in the third world. Click for further warmenist horror.

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Fortunately, my firm isn't that bad as Sarah's experience at PwC

And we're off:

You'd think the football field were a public accounting firm with the amount of turnover(s) we've seen on the field tonight.

*Badum-ching!*

And GO COLTS!

Hmm. That's more than I have to say about the Super Bowl so I'll let it stand.

On a related note, the way they rolled from the Super Bowl directly into a Super Bowl party on the new Criminal Minds was a nice touch of TV. Very fortuitous that the generic commentary they had from Phil Simms was about turnovers being key since, as Sarah noted, turnovers were a huge part of the game.

Sicko

Parents in Melbourne have to be on the lookout:

PARENTS have been warned to check their children's Christmas presents after it was revealed hundreds of hardcore pornographic images had been hidden in books, clothes and toys at some of Melbourne's major shopping centres.

Police fear children could open gifts on Christmas morning to find them lined with porn.

Information technology expert Kenneth Palliser, 53, of Mitcham, allegedly slipped pornographic images of children into merchandise at four major shopping complexes in the eastern suburbs between November 18 and 26.

The good news is that they caught the guy. The bad news is that they're by no means certain they've found it all.

Fallacious arguments

What do you get when you combine "Everyone else is doing it" with the "appeal to authority" argument? Joe Carter explains.

I stumbled across this

Some Darwin Awards are just disturbing.

Pretty revealing

The informal process? Ah yes, the public education system.

I want my dragon sausage!

You can't make this up.

The benefits of a group blog

So this is what I'm missing from blogging by myself:

JOHN adds: The great thing about when we disagree is, one of us is almost sure to be right!

Heh.

Give her some support

I was just over at SarahK's and reading about her newest symptoms and doctor problems. I'm all to familiar with having a serious medical problem that you can't get a diagnosis for (though I've never felt my doctors weren't taking me seriously). It's incredibly frustrating. Sarah's one my favorite people so swing by and offer some encouragement.

Organ purchasing as pre-emptive self-defense

Eugene Volokh has posted the introduction to a new article that he has coming out in a few months.  Essentially, he seems to be arguing that, based on other areas where people's lives are in danger and they are allowed to take extraordinary measures, even when they are harmful to others, the same should be allowed for organ purchases.

I, of course, would not have relied on the Roe and Casey abortion cases as I believe those cases were wrongly decided and should be reversed. Still, I find the argument interesting.

This of course ignores the policy arguments for banning organ sales, namely that the poor and desperate will be taken advantage. I presume in the actual article he'll address that to some extent.

Now that's a rhyme

Tim Blair get's creative on the Chicks.

Updated IMAO terrorist FAQ

The new and improved terrorist FAQ:

Q. The Democrats say they have a better plan to handle the terrorists.  Should we elect them?
A. What's their plan?

Q. I dunno.  You're the answering guy.
A. Well, I'll check with the Democrat FAQ...
...
No, it doesn't know the plan either.

Q. Maybe it's a secret.
A. If it were a secret that would be effective against terrorists, it would be in the New York Times by now.

Priceless.

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.

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.

They got me on that one

Heh.

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.

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. 

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.

He's got a point

Well, he does.

$30,000 date

Yes, but will she protect you from vampires.

Warning

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

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.

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.

Yeah, that explains it

Sure. That's probably the explanation for the S-word.

Maybe it is an old one ...

... but I hadn't heard it. Heh. Sometimes you just can't win.

Stupd peaceniks

Go here. Marvel. Laugh. Repeat.

Well, drat

Josh Chafetz is hanging up the keyboard.  He'll be missed.  Of course, it's not like doesn't have good reasons.

Why? The reasons are mostly positive ones. This has been a fantastic year for me. I finished my doctorate. I started law school, which I'd been looking forward to for a long time, and which I'm enjoying every bit as much as I thought I would. I did some teaching this past year, which I enjoyed tremendously, and will teach again this coming spring. I published a couple of short journal articles.  I got a book deal. And I'm dating a wonderful woman whom I adore. With absolutely no disrespect intended to my co-authors or our readers, those things all take priority over blogging. And those things have been taking up a lot of my time.

Still, he'll be missed.  For that matter, he's been missed already.  As Josh points out, he hasn't posted much lately.

By no means have I always agreed with Josh, but I've always valued his opinion and have generally found his positions to be well reasoned.

I've taken some hiatuses from blogging from time to time.  I've had health problems that have gotten in the way and sometimes I've just gotten burnt out.  But I've never been able to pull myself away entirely.  There have always been some blogs I'd read and I've always felt drawn back. 

I don't write as many long pieces as I used to and I don't put as much time into it as I once did, but I guess it's in my blood.  I seriously doubt I'll ever be able to completely give it up.

If Josh can be happy without the blog, more power to him.  Oh, and I hope someone in the blogosphere will be letting us know when Josh's book is out.

Political Humor

Frank J explains why liberal bloggers don't tend to find conservative bloggers funny. (You'd think this would be obvious, but apparently not.)

If there are some liberals reading this wondering why they don't find conservatives funny, let me explain this very simply: It's not fun to be pointed and laughed at.

Why make this complicated? Take liberal and conservative out of the equation. When someone has a completely alien viewpoint to your own, you won't find that person funny.

KEY HUMOR ASPECT NUMBER ONE: Humor involves shared, unsaid beliefs between who tells joke and who hears it.

If your shared belief is that Bush is Hitler, you will not laugh at the same jokes as people who believe Bush is not Hitler. Your viewpoints are just too askew to share a laugh.

Read the rest.

Insert your own commentary

Well, I can't let this pass without any comment at all:

Veteran wire reporter Helen Thomas is vowing  to 'kill herself' if Dick Cheney announces he is running for president.

The newspaper HILL first reported the startling claim on Thursday.

And here I thought the, "If W wins, we're leaving the country," crowd was extreme.

Turnabout

You know, I might pay real money to see this actually happen.

Skill

Yeah, that's the word for it. 

So what do you do when the Supreme Court makes a decision you don't like?  Well, if you're Howard Dean you blame the people who voted your way:

The president and his right-wing Supreme Court think it is 'okay' to have the government take your house if they feel like putting a hotel where your house is.

I love Pejman's response:

It really takes a special brand of . . . skill . . . to attack people for the sin of having done precisely what you wanted them to do.

Amen!

Short but sweet.