Well, so much for that argument I’ve been making about an active attempt to win the viral meme war… On the bright side, though, at least now we won’t have to hear about how the US hegemon is marinating the world with its pro-capitalist, materialist propaganda.  Instead, all we’ll have to do is put up with those same carpers noting (correctly, if this turns out to be the case, and

From “Brickbats” (Reason, March 2006): When the Olympics come to London in 2012, members of the “Olympic family,” including athletes, government officials, and corporate sponsors, will have special traffic lanes set aside for their use.  Ordinary drivers will be herded into the remaining lanes, and those who attempt to drive above their station will face 5000 (British Pounds) fines. That’s five times the maximum fine for most other traffic offenses

From NZ Bear: Right about now, Senators Coburn, McCain, Feingold, Bayh, Kyl, Ensign, Graham, Sununu, DeMint, and Cornyn are formally announcing the Pork Barrel Reduction Act. And right about now, the real fight against pork and for earmark reform is beginning. According to the sponsoring Senators, the bill does the following: – Creates a new point of order against unauthorized earmarks and policy riders. This point of order allows for

From CNN: Shortly after 9/11, al Qaeda began planning to use shoe bombers to hijack a commercial airplane and fly it into the tallest building in Los Angeles, President Bush said Thursday. The details were the first about the West Coast airliner plot, which was thwarted in 2002 and initially disclosed by the White House last year, Bush said. The plot was set in motion by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the

You and me both, Alabama.  You and me both… …Say, I sure could use a cold one right about now.  Y’all?

me: “Why do you insist on coming untied all the time?” shoe:  “Why should I knot?” me: “Well, is there something wrong with the way I walk, some oddity in my gait, that’s causing you—and not my right shoe—to come untied so frequently?” me: “Is there knot?” me: me: me: “WHAT IS SO GODDAMNED FUNNY?” me: “STUPID SHOE!”

Allah directs my attention to what I’ve come to expect will be the typical response to Muslim rioting over cartoon depictions of Mohammed from the “progressive”, soft-socialistic side of our contentious philosophical divide over autonomy vs. group identity here at home.  From University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy research associate Reza Aslan, concluding his Slate essay, “Picturing to Depicting”:

CNSNews: John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is one of two Americans who have been nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Last year, Democrats and a few Republicans refused to confirm Bolton to the U.N. post, forcing President Bush to resort to a recess appointment. Bolton and Kenneth R. Timmerman were formally nominated by Sweden’s former deputy prime minister Per Ahlmark, for playing a major role

In the WSJ, “inauthentic” Iranian Amir Taheri offers his insights into the current (manufactured) cartoon controversy: “The Muslim Fury,” one newspaper headline screamed. “The Rage of Islam Sweeps Europe,” said another. “The clash of civilizations is coming,” warned one commentator. All this refers to the row provoked by the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper four months ago. Since then a number of demonstrations have

Once I’d settled down enough to regain my composure, I’d planned to write a long and scathing piece on the ugly political partisanship that erupted at Coretta Scott King’s memorial service—from Jimmy Carter, a former US President, shamefully straining to connect the Hoover-era wiretapping of Martin Luther King (approved, ironically, by Bobby Kennedy, whose brother Ted received a warm reception, his being a Demcrat and all) to the current and