Ken Layne has skewered Cornel West nicely (and extensively). He also mentions J.P. Donleavy (one of Jeff’s favorites, I believe) in reference to a fine Lileks’ bleat. Curioser and Curioser…

Just because I find his work so remarkably irritating, I’ve “responded” to Ted Rall’s latest offering, “Snappy New Jeer” — another shallow dish of fetid word salad that’s light on the lettuce and heavy on the crumbled cheese. Actually, I suppose I haven’t so much responded to him as I have “reacted” to his bilious twaddle — by way of smarmy rejoinders of my own. Rall’s bunk will be block

My wife’s been working on the new site design all day — cool, ain’t it? — so I haven’t done much posting today. I did receive a nice bit from the wonderful Dr. Anne, which I’ll post soon. In the meantime, hope you enjoy the new design.

Robert Fife of the National Post reports that Canada will send between 700 and 900 troops to Afghanistan as part of a U.S.-led stabilization force. Newfy blogger Damian Penny presumes Canadian soldiers are well trained, but he fears for the state of their equipment. Still, if a skirmish breaks out on a skating rink, we’re covered… [link via Daimnation!]

Jacob Sullum, writing in Reason, discusses some troubling anti-gun litigation making its way through the Illinois appellate courts: “Briefly put, the plaintiffs argue that gun makers make too many guns. Since criminals use some of them, they say, this overproduction constitutes a ‘public nuisance.’ (Related: Prescient bean growers and Taco Bell franchisees brace for the worst.)

From the WSJ Opinion Journal’s “Best of the Web“: The real purpose of World War IV is to increase property values, according to John Stilgoe, a Harvard professor. ‘The federal government was badly shocked after Sept. 11,’ he tells the San Francisco Chronicle. ‘The elites thought they had to get the American people focused on something else. And so we’re bombing the hell out of Afghanistan. I’m sorry to say

Rich Lowry’s NRO column revisits the oft-asked question, “why no military tribunal for Zacarias Moussaoui?” — and offers an answer (albeit a speculative one): “It seems clear,” Lowry writes, “that the Moussaoui trial is a kind of reverse show trial, a way for the Bush administration to demonstrate to the Democrats and the op-ed writers that it isn’t so dictatorial after all.” Moussaoui — an out-of-uniform al Qaeda soldier intent

I had planned on writing something up about the Arab-American Secret Service agent and American Airlines Flight 363, but both Christopher Caldwell of The Weekly Standard and Charles Johnson on Little Green Footballs have beaten me to it (in Charles’ case, twice — and boy, is he steamed!). Just a few things I’ll add, then: “Good Morning America” ran a segment on this story today, using as the sources for

An unnamed U.S. official is admitting that the first U.S. military member has been killed by hostile fire, FOXNews reports. This is the first enemy-precipitated military casualty in an operation that began on October 7th… [update: still no name released, but Fox is reporting that the dead soldier was a member of Army Special Forces; also seriously injured was a member of the CIA’s paramilitary unit]

From Reason Magazine writer Michael Lynch’s column, “Boondoggle.gov”: The bill Congress passed never required employees to have high school diplomas. It said they needed to have experience that meets the approval of the ‘Under Secretary.’ And that