December 21, 2005

One Day I'll Just Scream

I meet a friend at a mutual friend's house. I've never been there before. I'm thrilled by his collection of Buddha statues, because they come from several vastly different Eastern traditions: one is Indian, another is southeast Asian. Yet a third is Chinese. He has a laughing Buddha; I love laughing Buddhas.

We stop there for tea, and I hit it off with my host, he of the many Buddhas. The topic of taxes comes up, and he remarks, "you have to pay taxes, unless you're Halliburton." He winks at me; his meaning is clear.

He's a nice guy, but like everyone else in artistic L.A. he takes it for granted that we all hate the Bush administration and the war and the nasty capitalists and the dirty republicans, and the rich. (Oh, wait: what about the rich in the entertainment industry? Do they get a special dispensation?)

We—creative Republicans—are the Last Minority. In the 1970s one used to be able to get buttons at the Sisterhood Bookstore in Westwood that asked "how dare you presume I'm heterosexual?" Others queried, "how dare you presume I celebrate Christmas?"

If neither my husband nor I ever needed to work again, I'd get us buttons that read "how dare you presume I hate the President?"

It would blow a lot of people's minds to know up front that we don't.

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Mark My Words

Steyn:

The Democratic Party have contrived to get themselves into a situation where bad news from Iraq is good for them and good news from Iraq is bad for them. And as there's a lot more good news than bad these days, that puts them, politically, in a tough spot—even with a fawning media that, faced with Kerry and Murtha talking what in any objective sense is drivel, decline to call for the men with white coats but instead nod solemnly and wonder whether Bush is living "in a bubble."

Oh, wait, and this, too:

George Clooney, the matinee idol, made an interesting point the other day. He said that "liberal" had become a dirty word and he'd like to change that. Fair enough. So I hope he won't mind if I make a suggestion. The best way to reclaim "liberal" for the angels is to get on the right side of history -- the side the Iraqi people are on. The word "liberal" has no meaning if those who wear the label refuse to celebrate the birth of a new democracy after 40 years of tyranny. Yet, if you wandered the Internet on Thursday, you came across far too many "liberals" who watched the election, shrugged and went straight back to Valerie Plame, WMD, Bush lied.

Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers. That's what this is about: Millions of Kurds, Shia and Sunnis beaming as they emerge from polling stations and hold up their purple fingers after the freest, fairest election ever held in the Arab world. "Liberal" in the American sense is a dirty word because it's come to stand for a shriveled parochial obsolescent irrelevance, of which ''Good Night, and Good Luck,'' Clooney's dreary little retread of the McCarthy years, is merely the latest example. (Clooney says he wants more journalists to "speak truth to power," which is why I'm insulting his movie.)

Isn't he precious? Read the whole thing.

Via good ol' Whathisface.

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The Latest from Michael Yon!

Today's dispatch covers the election, and includes some meditation on the last two elections held in Iraq. How is it, Yon wonders, that we've often had so much less courage for and confidence in the Iraqis than they've had in themselves?

Read it all: "Third Time's the Charm."

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Privacy Is as Privacy Does.

Via Malkin:

Democrat Rep. Jim McDermott of Seattle, who leaked the contents of an illegally recorded cell phone conversation between former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. John A. Boehner, is complaining about the NSA's warrantless surveillance progam.

Her commentary is brief: "chutzpah." Yup. Here's the audio.

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"Wouldn't It Be Nice."

I wish I could imagine that Saddam had been beaten by his captors. As it is, I'm left hoping that some enterprising MP accidentally swung a rifle butt in the wrong direction when no one was looking. Ah, well.

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Oh, For Crying Out Loud

Could we get ANWR drilling passed if we simply prohibited northeasterners who've never even been to Alaska from voting on any bill that includes such drilling?

This can be done in such a way that the ecosystem is protected. Alaska needs it, and the country needs it. Drill.

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December 20, 2005

Well, That's One Book

. . . I won't read unless I feel a burning desire—and can get it on inter-library loan. Like Michael Moore, he won't see a dime of my money.

UPDATE: Against my better judgment, I've fixed the link.

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The Sky Is Falling! And Our Civil Liberties Along With It!

Matt of Froggy Ruminations:

The idea that the US should put its fingers in its own ears and repeat, “I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you!” when terrorists communicate with their agents in the US is one of the most ridiculous and silly ideas that I have ever heard.

Via Goldstein, who quotes a few intel experts at length here. A must-read.

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December 19, 2005

Okay. Problem Solved.

According to Scott Ott, the President has just started a national "Do Not Wiretap" list.

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The Hubris/Liberace Connection

Why didn't I ever notice the resemblence before?

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That Wascally Awdolino

Beautiful Atrocities has a fun little interview with fun little INDC Bill:

BA: What woman do you consider a guilty pleasure?

INDC: I used to feel guilty about Hermione Granger, but John Derbyshire disabused me of such silly artificial shame constructs.

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A New Map!

The latest cartography from The Commissar. Unfortunately, my little corner of Wingnery isn't shown, but I hope that will be fixed in the revision.

This effort is unique in that it displays the layout of Kostria (including Laurenthia and Jeralyn), as well as showing the relationship of Centro-Rinonia to Wingnery.

Check it out.

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Video Montage on the Iraqi Elections

It's available at Michael Yon's place; meanwhile, he's working on a dispatch about the elections. Stay tuned.

He's also still offering copies of his book, Danger Close, which would make a nice holiday gift for your favorite warmonger.

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How Do We Measure the Wealth of Nations?

Here's one way. The World Bank's approach underscores something that has been on my mind for years: the fact that producing wealth often hinges less on "natural resources" than it does on what Thomas Sowell calls "cultural capital." The obvious example is Israel, whose natural resources are nearly identical to those of the surrounding Middle Eastern states (or inferior to them, if one takes into account the oil reserves in the area). Yet the Israelis have built a strong economy out of little more than education, salt water, and . . . sand.

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Eugene Weixel's Slices of Life

I'm becoming addicted to the autobiographical vignettes over at Fat Old Jewish Guy Who Lives in the Projects. I know Eugene's politics are at odds with my own; they were shaped by who he is. He's a night owl like me, and he tells amazing, gritty stories about life in New York City. They deal with his past (driving a cab, not quite being sent to Vietnam) and his present-day life (dealing with the bureaucracy he works for).

I happened to discover him because he chose my blog to advertise on. You can discover him by clicking on his ad.

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December 18, 2005

Goodbye, Steven Malcolm Anderson.

Steven Malcolm Anderson died a few days after Thanksgiving, and I've been too preoccupied by the flu and Attila the Hub's marathon last weekend—not to mention our trip to Hawaii—to catch up at Dean's World and find that out.

I just feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me. Steven was my favorite commenter at Dean's World, and his perspective was badly needed.

Up with beauty. Up with color. Up with guns and gays. Thank you, Steven, for all your wisdom. Thank you for your style.

I'll say a prayer for you today. You restored my confidence in so many things that were so dear to my heart.

The online world will never forget SMA; he is an institution, and he will endure.

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Treason

Dean suggests public execution for those who leaked the surveillance story to the New York Times.

At any rate, those responsible must be tried. We need to send a message that exposing operations of this nature is not okay.

And, no: when it comes to plotting the murder of innocents, I don't see any reason to put off the gathering of intelligence.

UPDATE: More discussion here.

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December 17, 2005

Yep.

I've been there.

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December 16, 2005

I Keep Getting Up

and thinking, "that's it. I'll need to rest a lot, but I'm able to at least function now." Flu effectively over.

That conviction is generally followed within minutes by: "holy shit; I'm exhausted. I'd better get back to bed."

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Goodbye, John Spencer.

We'll miss you.


One wonders what The West Wing's producers are going to do about Spencer's death. A delicate matter, that, and dependent upon who the next president was going to be in the parallel universe the show occupies: if Alan Alda's character were going to win the election, they might not need to replace Spencer's character at all. If Jimmy Smit is destined to get the job, there are a lot of scriptwriters who are very busy right now.

I'm also starting to worry about whether middle-aged and elderly actors are going to be affected by the deaths of their brethren who die in the middle of acting commitments. After John Spencer, Jerry Orbach, and Richard Harris, I'm a bit concerned that casting agents are going to hire fewer seasoned actors and rely instead on makeup to make younger actors appear older. I certainly hope not.

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