Infinite Monkeys
"...a sparkly blog..." - James Lileks"Read them only with extreme caution."- Hugh Hewitt
Infinite MonkeysAn obscure radio personality has some excellent advice for the new LA Times editorial page editor.
I'd add that this is Kinsley's opportunity to return to his New Republic glory days. No, he can't write editorial like the truly iconclastic TRB columns (for example, the one where he argued that Roe v. Wade was bad law and abortion would be legal without it). But he can be more thoughtful than he was on Crossfire (his Slate days were somewhere in the middle).
Last night I was uncharacteristically listening to the BBC radio news. They were cordially beside themselves over U.S. soldiers' treatment of some incarcerated Iraqi POWs. One newsman mentioned to the other that the pictures that had been released were depressing and humiliating beyond words, but that the American papers seems to have almost no coverage it. Having just heard several minutes of slanted news of the war (it was the Beeb...), I didn't know what to think of the report of the abuse. Hadn't heard anything on regular U.S. talk radio during my short drive times today.
Well, I finally had my first free minute this afternoon, and something on the Bear Flag League headline scroll thing caught my eye. It was called We Just Lost Iraq. Read that. Wasn't sure what to think. Then I followed the link in the post's update. [Warning: it's a disturbing set of images.] Oh, man... (chin drops to chest, head shakes slightly.)
Drudge carrying it didn't mean that much to me. Now it's also on Instapundit, who links to LT/Citizen Smash.
Isn't denial one of the first stages of grief? I keep hoping that this is going to turn out to be some sort of hoax, some kind of photoshoped propaganda op. But as that denial gets more and more worn away with each new credible and dependable pundit chiming in, I'm getting very close to anger.
It's that time of year again...time for colleges and universities to invite controversial figures to bore, er, address graduating students at commencement. I'll never forget—even though I wasn't actually there at the time—the hullaballoo that erupted at UC San Diego when President Bill Clinton and then Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich were invited to address an all-college commencement. Clinton used the occasion to announce his preposterous "conversation about race." Gingrich called for doubling federal spending on scientific research. Two years in a row, UCSD had quite the tempest in the old teapot. Students were irritated, mostly, at the security and media overexposure.
Well, there's controversial, and then there's downright repugnant. I'm thinking of a couple of colleges playing videos of cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal at graduation several years back. Now, in a similar vein, Claremont's Pitzer College has invited Bernardine Dohrn to deliver its commencement address next month. Pitzer's website describes Dohrn as a "leading child advocate." But nowhere in the PR is there any mention of Dohrn's terrorist past as a leader of the Weather Underground.
The Claremont Institute's Ami Naramor has the sordid details, and draws a parallel to a recent case of campus "terror."
Update: Powerline's Big Trunk elaborates on Dohrn's terrorist past and sounds a call to action.
Lileks bleats today: "I wouldn’t be surprised if domestic leftist terrorism made a comeback this decade. It only takes a few, after all. And it only takes a few sympathizers here and there to shield them."
It's just possible that some Bleat readers may have missed a few of our past Lileks photoshop posts.
My blogging friend Paul Cella has a provocative essay on the First Amendment at TCS today. It's provocative, I think, because his argument, though old, would be considered novel today. Cella takes the original, small-r republican view of freedom of speech. He believes, in short, that Howard Stern and his ilk are getting what they deserve. Cella observes:
Someone will reply with shrill bombast by citing the First Amendment, as if the issue were beyond debate. Very well, but let him first acquaint himself with the debate as it unfolded in American history. Let him read of the history of loyal oaths and censorship in this country; and of which side usually had the upper hand and why. He can begin with Leonard Levy's The Legacy of Suppression. Let him reflect on the fact that most of the same lionized legislators who passed the Bill of Rights also passed the Alien and Sedition Acts...
One small quibble: Levy revised The Legacy of Suppression and toned down the thesis somewhat. But the point remains:
...today's First Amendment jurisprudence grafts depravity upon liberty; and puts liberty at the mercy of those most likely to abuse it and despise its authentic fruits. For who, if he really treasures Liberty, would countenance the relentless invasion of the precious liberty of the family, of which the Super Bowl half-time show was merely a conspicuous example? There is no greater liberty than that which is embodied in the mother and father who raise their children as good citizens of a Republic, in the love of the truth as that love is reflected in an ongoing public conversation or dialogue which begins with the ringing phrase: "we hold these truths."
Read the whole thing, by all means.
Update: Richard Reeb continues the discussion at The Remedy.
I've been wanting to write more about the Sazerac cocktail (I mentioned it before in my Vegas write-up). But I hadn't been drinking it, because it's so hard to find Peychaud's Bitters, and I really didn't want to pay the shipping. Fortunately, at our recent Monkey Summit, Ben gave me a bottle for my birthday.
I also convinced the guy at Wine Time, an outstanding La Jolla liquor store, to start stocking it. I buy most of my wine there now, and quite a bit of booze (including a Korean liquor made from sweet potatoes and green tea that I'll write about soon). I believe he's also going to stock the Herbsaint, but that's a bit easier to find.
I found an excellent discussion of the Sazerac cocktail, so I'll focus this discussion more on another of the long list of things Ben has taught me: the proper glassware is just as important in cocktails as in wine. And the amount per drink is much more important (in wine, it's mainly relevant in that you want room to be able to swirl your wine in the glass). So what's the right size glass for the Sazerac, martinis, and most other cocktails served straight up?
It's a four ounce glass. This is the old school martini glass size, so when you heard about "three martini lunches" back in the 50's, it was a lot of drinking, but certainly not like it would be with the monster glasses restaurants use today. As we've discussed before (back on Blog*Spot), a bigger glass means you have to drink fast or the cocktail will become warm. Also, I think the smaller glass makes for a better proportion of ice in the shaker, to get the 25% dilution Ben recommends.
Note that the recipe for the Sazerac in the article I linked to above would barely fill one of the new trendy glasses, nor would Ben's recipe for the magical Hpnotiq Martini. Your goal with this glass is to end up with 2.5 - 3.5 ounces of cocktail, which leaves room for an olive or lemon twist.
The smaller glass also allows you to enjoy the ritual of mixing a drink more frequently (if you don't like that ritual, just make a pitcher--trust me, everyone will be happy.
P.S. The glass shown above is from Libby, and while the shape is classic, there's a lot of other good shapes. The key is the 4 ounce size.
P.P.S. I've made the Sazerac with the rye from the Sazerac Company, with Old Overholt, and with Cognac (I just realized all of those bottles were gifts from Ben, at least originally--some have been restocked). All resulted in an excellent cocktail.
The L.A. Times reports that security was beefed up around several west Los Angeles shopping malls today after authorities received an anonymous threat. "It's not the kind of threat that we attach any more credibility to than any other anonymous call," John Miller, the LAPD's counterterrorism chief, said Wednesday. "But because it mentioned a specific kind of target on a specific day, we felt compelled to share it with the public."
I just read the Fraters post on the D.C. Abortion Rally, and it reminded me of an old Chris Rock routine, which is still part of his act:
"I like to go to abortion rallies to meet women. 'Cause you know they're f***in'. You don't meet a lot of virgins at the abortion rally."
Roll Call (web article available only to subscribers, alas) reports on Media Vote, a new consulting firm specializing in TV viewer demographics. Among of the more interesting findings of the firm's research is this:
Fox's 'The Simpsons,' long considered a staple of the hip and urban, is actually a Republican stronghold, with 47 percent of viewers Republican, 20 percent Democratic, and 22 percent Independent.
So does that mean that "The Simpsons" is no longer hip? Or that Republicans are secretly hip? Or merely wanna-be urban hipsters? Neither Media Vote nor the Roll Call article offer an answer. Only Birch Barlow knows for sure.
(Cross-posted at The Remedy.)
Back in our Blog*Spot days, we never utilized a Comments service. Now that we're using MovableType, some folks are still baffled over our practice of rarely enabling comments on our posts. (You'll find that most comments on InfMonks these days are restricted to those from the other Monkeys. That's our version of adding an update to another Monkey's post; sort of like on Power Line when you'd read "Hindrocket adds:")
Why do we limit comments from readers? Well, beyond SPAM, here are two good reasons.
I'm probably the only Monkey sober at this hour, so I guess it
falls to me to say welcome, and we're glad you found us.
I'm guessing it's the jet lag, but I've been watching a really lame Chris Rock movie solely because one of the small supporting roles is played by the hot blonde girl who used to be the DA on Law & Order: SVU. Wine & sleep deprivation are a recipe for disaster, I tells ya.
Tonight's cheap bottle of delicious foreign wine is another Italian gem: A 2000 red wine named "Col di Sasso" from Banfi in Tuscany. It's a blend of 70% Sangiovese and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. Great stuff. And it was about $9 at the nearby Tampa-area wine & spirits shop. If your budget is small, it's hard to go wrong with Italian wine.
Smith, that is. I don't really like most of her stuff, either, with one notable exception: "Dancing Barefoot" is divine. One of my favorite songs ever.
And I'm a huge fan of the Velvet Underground and its post-punk stepchild, The Dream Syndicate.
But in support of his premise, and in honor of the recent re-release of Camper Van Beethoven's back catalogue (with bonus tracks!!!), I offer these classic lyrics by David Lowery:
Gonna move to the city (down and out)
Gonna read a lot of William Burroughs (down and out)
Gonna practice being depressed (down and out)
And I think I'll go to film school (down and out)
Live in a scummy part of town (down and out)
All my friends will think that they're junkies (down and out)
And I don't know what it is I want, but I can get it from my old man
And I don't know what it is I need, but I can get it
Gonna move to the city (down and out)
I'll join a rock and roll band (down and out)
Gonna dress and act like Lou Reed
And I think I'll go to film school (down and out)
Live in a scummy part of town (down and out)
Read a lot of William Burroughs and be depressed
And I don't know what it is I want, but I can get it from my own bed
And I don't know what it is I need, but I can get it
I'm acting (down and out)
(thanks to Mungo for his fantastic Camper etc. website, The Van)
In reference to the title of Ben's post below (Where Did All The Heroes Go?), I was wondering the same thing. As in the material he cites, it seems to be more a matter of shifting perspective than a decline of courage and character. See the "23apr2004 -- Heroism Quiz" (scroll down just a bit) on this DOC page, and its Addendum just below it.
I'm left wondering how Deuce or Mr. Taibbi would even define a hero, or whether they could provide an example of someone who they might find heroic under their terms.
Their naysaying positions, standing against the tide of more proletarian interpretations and presuppositions, to me amount to just so much socio-political gnosticism. But what they are advancing as some deeper level of insight or understanding, appears to me to be even more one-dimensional and simplified than that of the dupes and sheep they wish to deride.
I'd be pleased to be written off by such mindsets as one lost, brainwashed, having taken the soma.
A minute ago, a caller to a radio show many of us Monkeys listen to mentioned how Kerry needed to keep his record focused on the brief period time that he was on the swift boat in Viet Nam, since the other 25 years or so of his public service offers nothing but bad votes and flip-flops, nothing worth campaigning on.
Again, it all comes back to Apocalypse Now.
After his encounter with the tiger, Chef kept ranting, "Never get off the boat, man. Never get off the boat." Willard's voiceover: "Never get out of the boat. Absolutely g**d*** right."
I think that's got to be John F'n Kerry's campaign mantra.
Well, this is certainly news: Kinsley Named to Head 'L.A. Times' Opinion and Editorial Section. As Ken Masugi notes, "It will be easy for Kinsley to improve what is probably the worst and reliably uninteresting editorial and op-ed section of any major paper in the country (save Michael Ramirez's cartoons). The question is whether he will make it truly worth reading." (Hat tip: The Remedy.)
Captain Ed points to an interesting commentary at the Naval Institute about the apparent disappearance of battlefield heroes in favor of victims. The Captain writes:
One of my ongoing gripes about the White House approach to the war is the lack of continued and consistent communication about the purpose and the progress of our efforts. But it's not just the White House, or at least the problem doesn't exist in a vacuum. Thirty years of popular-culture indoctrination of the idea that nothing is worth fighting for has eliminated the idea of violence as anything except evil...
It's a bad sign that Jessica Lynch, who certainly suffered, is the household name of this war, "celebrated for being the war's most pre-eminent victim, in a nation that has made victimhood the highest state of being."
Look, just because the fledgling liberal radio network is losing a couple of its big suits, that doesn't mean everything isn't going just great otherwise. A couple of bumps in the road, sure. Happens all the time. But all is well... all is well... all is well.
Sir Elton John thinks the American Idol voting process is "incredibly racist" because Jennifer Hudson got voted off last week.
"The three people I was really impressed with, and they just happened to be black, young female singers, and they all seem to be landing in the bottom three," John said at a news conference on Tuesday. "The fact that they're constantly in the bottom three—and I don't want to set myself up here—but I find it incredibly racist."
He's set himself up here.
The other two singers he refers to, Fantasia Barrino and La Toya London, are not, in fact, "constantly in the bottom three." Barrino and London are favored to win the thing (I'd put my money on La Toya). In reality, John Stevens, America's young crooning sensation, has been whistling past the graveyard for the last four weeks. The shock was that Stevens wasn't in the bottom last week. No doubt the producers of the show got together after the Hudson debacle and said, "OK, this Stevens kid has been on long enough. What can we do to make sure this thing is nipped in the bud?" Since Chuck D wasn't available, they went with the next best thing: Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine.
Anyway, Elton John is clearly no expert in voting behavior. Why did Hudson get booted from the show? For the perverse reason that most voters thought she was safe. Millions voted to shore up their favorite weak contestants, at the expense of the strong ones. That's how Ruben Studdard wound up in the bottom two one week last season. And we all know how that worked out.
"We do hope that we shall not be obliged or forced one day to go back to those days when we ... put explosive belts around our beds and around our women so that we will not be searched and not be harassed in our bedrooms and in our homes, as it is taking place now ..."
Now, is Col. Muammar (G)(K)Qaddafi referring to:
B) Gay rights
D) John Ashcroft in general
(Hat tip: Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost)
"...the monkeys are highly unpopular with the unions, and have been the target of a small but highly vocal protest group centered in Minnesota."
While you're there, be sure to try the Virtual Scotch.
Yesterday there was a lot of talk on the radio about the idea of the Arizona Cardinals naming their new stadium under construction after Pat Tillman. (Instead, they're planning on pinning his name on the plaza out front.)
During the discussion, Hugh Hewitt picked up on some Phoenicians' references to Arizona's Governor Napolitano changing the name of one of the three prominent mountain peaks within the Phoenix metro area. Hugh heard some Phoenix callers point to the change as a bad move, but he repeatedly supported the action, saying it was a fine and admirable things to do. Well, that's the sort of position I might expect an out-of-towner to take. But had one been here during the machinations of the change, a different opinion may have been reached.
In the preceding paragraph, I worded the line about Napolitano changing the name very carefully. Arizona's Governor doesn't have the authority to do such things. But that's what she did. Such changes are only to be made by
Now, all of the usual disclaimers about my appreciation for the service of Pfc. Lori Piestewa notwithstanding, here are a few newspaper excerpts from the mishandling of the issue
(from an archived copy of what Marianne Jennings wrote in our local paper):the Board's name change ran roughshod over law and policies. Both the U.S. Board of Geographic Names and state boards require that changes in honor of a person be proposed AFTER the person has been deceased for 5 years. To stop heat-of-emotion naming, these boards have, for 100 years, adhered to the five-year wait. Even Barry Goldwater's ghost had to sit it out until we named just about everything after him. ...When the chairman of the state board, Tim Norton, reappointed in January by Gov. Napolitano for another five-year term, pointed out the five-year rule to his demanding governor, she suggested[*] that he resign. He didn't, but he also didn't go to the meeting. Richard Pinkerton, a member of the board for 19 years resigned [in protest] prior to the meeting. A portion of his letter read, "[t]here have been implied threats from within the board's membership that I should sacrifice and prostitute my integrity in the interest of satisfying a particular political leaning."
With Pinkerton out, and the chairman not in attendance, there remained only the sycophants of state government, trembling in their French Shriners. One public member of the Board, and the representative from the Arizona Historical Society, my friend, Lloyd Clark, weathered the meeting and rose to defend the rule of law. A near-octogenarian, this life-long fan of Casa Blanca knows more about Arizona names, sites and history than the Gila monsters. He has a love of everything Arizona from Penny's Pies at the Rock Springs Café to the true origins of the name of Bumble Bee, Arizona.
Lloyd asked the same questions he would ask at any hearing. To the mayor of Phoenix, "Did the city council approve this?" Nope. To a member of the county board of supervisors, "Did the board endorse this?" Nope. To the head of the Arizona Department of Transportation, "Did your board approve this?" Nope, but they'll ratify it at the next meeting. The usual suspects were rounded up, but had nothing to offer. They came without endorsements.
*The strongarm tactics used by the Governor and her staff went far beyond "suggestions." Their actions went so far over the line as to inspire legislation "to give members of boards and commissions the same protections they have against unfair outside pressure." From the Arizona Daily Sun:I don't really have the time to go into the political motives behind why Napolitano had political motivations for the name change, but I think they were there. I don't think it was just about honoring someone. Nor do I have the time do go into measuring Piestewa's status as "hero" against that of Tillman, and the issue of her, as a single-mother of two, leaving her kids to go to war. Maybe I'll post an update.Sen. Dean Martin, R-Phoenix, is introducing legislation today to make it a crime for anyone to improperly seek to influence the vote of any board member by contacting that person's regular employer. Violators would be guilty of a misdemeanor, facing six months in jail and a $2,500 fine.Martin admits his legislation is in direct response to the actions of Mario Diaz, a top aide to Gov. Janet Napolitano.
Diaz, seeking to get the state Board on Geographic and Historic Names to approve renaming Squaw Peak, was pressuring board Chairman Tim Norton to put the measure on the board's agenda or resign from the unpaid position if he would not.
But Diaz did more than that. Diaz also called Sil Ontiveros, an assistant Phoenix police chief to whom Norton reports in his regular paying day job.
"Mario wanted us to encourage Tim to change his position," confirmed Andy Anderson, who heads the police department's public information unit. Anderson said the department refused to get involved.
Martin said he would have thought it unnecessary to tell people not to try to pressure board members by going to their employer.
"But now we have to make it perfectly obvious this is improper behavior," he said.
"Why would anybody give up their time to serve on mostly unpaid boards and commissions when you could possibly have your own employment, your livelihood threatened?" he asked. "Our whole system starts breaking if this type of activity persists."
Martin's legislation is patterned after existing law which makes it a crime to pressure legislators to vote a certain way by contacting their private employers. That law was enacted in 1974 after lawmakers, most of whom hold outside jobs, complained about the practice. ...
Because any law would be prospective only Diaz could not be prosecuted for his actions last month.
Mayes said Napolitano has acknowledged that what Diaz did was "a mistake" and that the governor "has accepted responsibility for it." But the governor has refused to say how she intended to discipline him, if at all.
Pat Toomey, that is. The Pennsylvania primary is happening as I type this. Toomey, a conservative congressman, is running neck and neck with the contemptible, Scottish-precedent citing Senator Arlen Specter. Living in California, I knew the election was coming, but I didn't realize until just a few minutes ago that it's today. A victory for Toomey would be a victory for limited-government, which (sadly) may be one reason why the White House decided to back Specter. Hope that doesn't come back to haunt the President in November.
"If this 15-year-old kid in Prosser is perceived as a threat to the president, then we are living in '1984'." Perhaps. I'll leave it to you, the reader, to decide.
On the bright side, there may be a new job opening for Professor Dunn once her legal troubles are resolved.
Assuming, of course, Air America is still solvent by then...
(Shamelessly stolen from an e-mail from P. Michaels)
I wish I could think of a better headline for this story, but I can't. It's just too strange. (Via Rambling's Journal.)
The lookout has gone high-tech. Partyers in N.D. Staving Off Raids: "Police say they believe some party houses are using scanners to monitor radio traffic and get advance warning about impending raids." Sounds like something Lileks would have done back in the day.
At long last, Claremont Professor Charged With Falsely Reporting a Hate Crime: "False accusations that imply hate crimes prey on the legitimate concerns of the public who truly abhor violence based on race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. And those who make false claims should realize there is a penalty for doing so."
I only wish they'd charged her with an actual hate crime. She did (allegedly!) spraypaint the car with racial slurs, after all. What good are hate-crime laws if they aren't enforced, even if she did commit it against herself? You say it would make a mockery of hate-crime laws? Hadn't thought of that...
(See also the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times.)
The lesson: Next time, make sure there are no witnesses, Professor Dunn.
Police Stop Drunk Bulldozer Joyrider: "German police stopped a 17-tonbulldozer weaving through Berlin's streets at 3 a.m. by jumping onto the excavator, smashing the window and spraying mace into the driver's face."
The lesson: Never trust a German to operate heavy machinery.
Teens Steal Skull, Use as Puppet: "Two Scottish teenage boys . . . were put on probation for three and two years respectively under the ancient crime of 'violation of sepulchre' -- the first such trial for over a century, newspapers said on Saturday."
The lesson: Booze and grave-robbing don't mix.
Something bothers me about this. I'm gonna have to dig a little to figure out what it is exactly, because I'm sure it's about seven lost arguments deep.
Well, I've been meaning to say something about our recent site updates, but haven't had a chance to go into detail. The short version is, we've made changes to the right side of the page to (hopefully) improve "blog ergonomics" and to reflect our new membership in the Alliance of Free Blogs.
Next project: Update our "Manus Manum Lavat" section to reflect more of the blogs who have linked to us (apart from BFL and AFB blogs, which are already listed). If you've linked and would like a reciprocal link, please feel free to send us an e-mail letting us know, and we'll make sure you're on the list.
Well, thanks to PowerLine I now know what Bob Dylan Song I am:
| Which Bob Dylan song are you? Tangled Up In Blue
|
| Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests. |
Yeah, this one's pretty dead on. They didn't tell me what the other song options were, but this one's good. One of my favorites, too, along with "Stuck Outside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again".
And catching up with Brad (and Mitch), I'm "New York City", which doesn't seem particularly right, but there weren't a lot of good choices. Frankly, my favorite among the cities listed was San Francisco. I love finding any excuse to go there, particularly when I'm going on someone else's dime. Great food, great music, great drink. Screwy politics, but in the places where I hang out, they're not as "in your face" as you'd think. As I've said many times before, if I didn't have kids there's no city where I'd rather spend a year or two.
While visiting a new Sprouts Farmers Market in my neighborhood, I happened upon a major discovery. The folks who make Hansen's All Natural Sodas have switched their line of Diet sodas over to my favorite new sweetener, Splenda. Woot! The cans even spell out clearly that they're "aspartame free" in addition to having no carbs and no caffeine.
So far I've had the Tangerine Lime and the Black Cherry. How do these compare with my beloved Diet Rite? Well, it's not even close. The Hansen's Tangerine blows away the Diet Rite Tangerine. And though they're not exactly matched head to head, the Hansen's Black Cherry does a much better job filling the niche that the Diet Rite Raspberry tried to fill in my life. (Yes, Diet Rite's website shows that they offer a true Black Cherry, but I've never seen it available in any store.)
It appears that Hansen's does not offer a cola, and I will be happy to get by with my old fried Diet Rite, for whom I will probably always have a soft spot. It's like a friend who helped me through rehab as I broke my sugar addiction. But as I put together my carb-smart, limited-sugar life, I'll be branching out and trying the other Hansen's flavors. Of course, I'll be reporting reviews and developments here.
UPDATE: Now if I could just convince the folks at Blue Sky to stretch their definition of "All-Natural," we might be able to see the delightful Cherry Vanilla Creme soda with Splenda. [insert Homer Simpson coveting noises here]
Far be it from me to ever be considered any kind of baseball blogger*, but I've gotta ask: isn't it a bit early for 2004 All-Star voting? I finally watched my first game of the season on Thursday night, and caught another last night. (Unrelated observation: the Padres' road uniforms feature a color disturbingly close to "flesh tone," especially when they wear the light pants with the dark blue tops. It's just weird. And David Wells does not look good in the all flesh tone get up.)
I have no idea if the paper ballots are available in the actual stands, but the team websites have already had the nominees listed for some time, and you can already cast votes. Is this a new development? Has it ever started this early before? Is Howard Dean still on the AL ballot? Can I write in Hugh Hewitt? Is George Soros behind this? Will Franken still even be playing come the mid-season break?
*see also the Baseball category in Robert Tagorda's blogroll.
Okay, I know we all want to cut folks slack when we can, but just because John Kerry went to Vietnam and won medals doesn't necessarily mean his service was honorable. He claims atrocities were committed. Free fire zones, burning villages, etc. He said he participated in some of these activities. That's not honorable, it's horrible. He likes to blame Nixon and "the government", but he held the gun in his hand. He pulled the trigger. He followed the immoral order. He could have said no, but he didn't. John Kerry, by his own account, participated in an immoral war and performed unthinkable and atrocious things. That doesn't sound like "honorable service" to me. It sounds like cowardice.
It's a shame only four of us could make it to the summit. You'll have to keep imagining what Dr. Monkeystein looks like.
So is allowing the Muslim call to prayer to be broadcast over the mosque's loudspeakers in a heavily Catholic and Polish community the right thing to do? The First Amendment and the founders' intent would suggest that to suppress it would be to stop the exercise of religion. But there's that old line about the right to swing your fist ends where it meets my nose--what about when your atonal (to Western ears) prayer meets my ears? Or is it like church bells?
Discuss.
This is the sort of the thing the Internet was invented for.
Really.
Stop looking at me like that.
So says Dan Henninger in The Wall Street Journal today. "The truly brazen authors of NBC's petition to the FCC say, 'Live and uncensored programming is the hallmark of a free society.' Oh please. It is the hallmark of NBC's need to produce quarter-over-quarter growth in the business it is in." Read the whole thing, as the sages say.
Unmentioned in the column, but equally relevant to the discussion, is the mainstreaming of pornography, about which I'll have more to say soon. Henninger believes that the political rumblings against broadcast indecency won't amount to much:
As to the "decency" police, the very notion is quaint. Decency died years ago and isn't coming back. The standards of the American people have been so beaten down that no public groundswell is likely unless something is really over the top. The argument now is over a social consensus on acceptable in-decency. Not being able to say "f------ brilliant" in front of 30 million people is a small price to pay to keep the gravy trains running.
One wonders what he means by "over-the-top." I'm not sure he's correct. I think a backlash is coming. The questions are when, how, and whether the entire First Amendment will be swept away in the bargain.
Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost takes a look at some of the presuppositions behind positions for and against reinstating a draft. I think that the model of foster parenting would fit his analogy better than adoptive parenting, since it more regularly carries payments from the state and limited time commitments upon which many participants base decisions of service.
As a former Marine, it's tugged a bit at my heartstrings to hear of my "brother" Marines who've fallen in service over in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it's been esoteric. There hasn't really been a face on it. Just a story here and there. AZ's first casualty was a Marine in his 30's who was called "grandpa" by his comrades. Much as I can imagine being in a similar position, today puts a more familiar face on such a loss.
I watched Pat Tillman play linebacker at my alma mater Arizona State. He was the heart of the defense. I was later pleased to see him get picked up as a hometown favorite safety and special teams player for the hapless Arizona Cardinals. He always played well beyond his size. Well beyond. He was a guy I repected for his intensity balanced with serious focus.
I was further impressed when he walked away from his seven-figure pro-football contract to join the Army Rangers with his brother in the wake of September 11th. I think his only communication with the press was an indirect announcement that there would be no interviews, no cooperation with journalists covering his story whatsoever. He had not been married long before he shipped out. I'd heard that he was serving with a Special Ops team somewhere in Afghanistan. Today the news broke that he was killed in action.
UPDATE(S): Hugh Hewitt cites appropriate quotations, and points out this excellent summary of Tillman. Big Trunk at Power Line has been following the Tillman story for some time. Luke Duke posts the Ranger Creed. Can't resist adding a link to what Wretchard at Belmont Club penned this day.
Phoenix and its numerous burbs have a broad mixed population of folks from just about everywhere, making it an oft-used test market for new products. So I'd heard the buzz that we were going to be first to experience low-carb Doritos and Tostitos (yep, you read that right). I looked in the aisles of the grocery stores week after week. Nothin'. But I finally found the Doritos. They're at Subway, in the little bags that get added to the combo meals. They're called Doritos Edge. Of course I just had to try them.
First bite – not bad. Odd that it seems to be a little light on the orange spicy nacho powder coating. I mean, spices don't add calories in themselves. Why skimp on the flavor? I continued with my low-carb turkey wrap (minus the bacon) and had another chip a few minutes later. Tastes pretty much like a Dorito... a little different, but not terribly so.
But then I decided to have a few more chips. What I noticed was that after putting about the third chip in my mouth concurrently (before the first two were swallowed), the distinctly different texture became notable. Not really unpleasant (though it may be to some) but less than... well, pleasing. It's weird. So it seems that these low-carb Doritos fill the niche of adding a crunchy diversion between bites of a meal, but they do not seem to be well suited to satisfying the pure (however controlled) snacking urge.
I've lost the nutrition info that I tore off the package for this post. But the protein is high: 6 net carbohydrates (with 3 grams of fiber), alongside 10 grams of protein per serving. Can't remember of the bag was considered 1 or 2 servings. But, as you know, I'm a Zone Diet devote, so I'm concerned more about the balance than anything else. What surprised me was that I found the fat total to be low. I can't find the number for that online, but I remember thinking that I'd have to add a little dip, or have a few nuts too, if I were to snack on them.
As I write, I'm drinking a Boylan's Diet Birch Beer (powered by Splenda). It's one of the treasures I brought back from the MonkeySummit. I was very pleased to find a handful of fine bottled sodee-pops sweetened with my beloved Splenda. I have been proselytizing it, as it is in my interest that it gain marketshare and thereby remain available to me. But now there comes big, big news. The new "mid-calorie" Coke (C2) is going to be sweetened by a combo of High Fructose Corn Syrup and Splenda. And that's not all – the Frito-Lay folks who brought us Doritos Edge, are also heading onto this new front in the cola wars with their Splenda-mix mid-calorie Pepsi Edge. Woot!
Now, I'm not particularly excited about the products themselves. I don't want HFCS in my beverages, any more than I want aspartame or saccharine. But the scale of the mass production that Coke & Pepsi are likely to employ gives me hope that Splenda has a future spreading much further out toward the horizon. Must. Be able. To get. My Diet Rite.
As much as I'd love Infinite Monkeys to become your regular source for comprehensive Splenda beverage reviews, I'll have to defer to the folks at BevNet. I didn't like the Jones Soda Sugar-Free Cream Soda as much as they did, but they allow for user ratings as well. I should note that I'm awfully excited about the idea of Jones Soda Co. coming out with Splenda-based products. I've liked the Black Cherry so far. I should also note that you can direct-order cases from Jones, which ought to be more affordable than shipping from Galco's Soda Pop Stop. Of course, Galco's is cool beyond description and is certainly worth frequent visits when you're in the region. Just don't expect it to be as slick as the site.
Well, more like radio-sign (but no, I don't mean they've lined up the anxiously awaited webcast). The Northern Alliance Radio Network folks have lined up an interview with a temp by the name of Mike; just a regular joe they didn't like.
Somebody alert Croooow Blog.
Who knew?
I'm glad I work in a private school. (/Jackie Mason)
UPDATE: It appears another calendar event has nearly escaped me.
...never too busy for a quiz. (I blame King at SCSU.) It's not the best quiz ever but it's brief. You may as well...
I certainly don't think all the Monkeys are going to come out with the same results on this one.
The WebMD headline almost says it all: The Positive Side of Being a Pessimist. "Researchers found that a healthy dose of pessimism may come in handy in many real-life situations where optimists may be overly hopeful." Got that? I say the glass is half empty and if you don't like it, you can go straight to the place where Jesus doesn't live.
I was just telling the other Monkeys how much I miss TiVo when I travel. I wind up surfing the channels and wondering how I could possibly stop on a channel when BOTH Bill Maher and Jay Leno are on the screen at the same time. Then it hit me:
Apple and TiVo need to extend the relationship between iPod, iTunes, and TiVo beyond the current light-weight fluff. They need to develop an encrypted video codec (maybe a standard already exists?) that allows TiVo Series 2 owners with the Home Media Option (yes, I know somebody's got to make money for it to be worth doing) to sync a handful of preferred shows into their iPod/iTunes libraries to watch on their laptops while on the road for work, vacation, etc. You will only be able to watch the show on your Mac, and won't be able to edit, burn, or otherwise manipulate the video for non-TiVo purposes, thus avoiding the inevitable objections from the TV networks.
That said, why in the world hasn't Apple bought TiVo yet? It's a completely logical extension to its digital hub philosophy. And why won't Steve Jobs return my calls? I promised I'd stop hanging out in his alley and going through his trash.
I have made no such promise to Glenn Reynolds.
The WebMD headline is "Food: Cocaine for the Obese". Among the "enablers" cited in the story: "constant exposure to...advertising, candy machines, food channels, and food displays in stores." I suspect there is a great deal of truth to the study in question, yet I have a hard time resisting the urge to dismiss it, knowing that it will probably be Plaintiff's Exhibit A in the coming class-action lawsuit against Big Food.
Oh, dear. Looks like the Elder over at Fraters Libertas intends to follow Monkeystein's footsteps. Good luck, Elder. I hope you find what you're looking for.
One of the things I appreciate about William F. Buckley is that while he is brilliant and insightful, he doesn't imagine that he's got easy answers to problems that have plagued the Promised Land for millennia. Yesterday's column is no exception.
