. . . on LiveLeak, Fitna, Islamic violence, Islamic gynophobia, and how "pathetic" we are in the first half of the 21st Century.

He seems . . . irritated. But maybe that's me.

Thank you, AllahP.

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Everyone gets tired now and then.

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Read the whole thing; I'm quoting his conclusion, which I hate to do—but in this case it's a terrific encapsulation of his argument:

It's hardly necessary for me to point out that the United States did not receive national health care in return for its acquiescence in the murder of tens of thousands of European civilians. But perhaps that is the least of it. Were I to be asked if Sen. Clinton has ever lost any sleep over those heaps of casualties, I have the distinct feeling that I could guess the answer. She has no tears for anyone but herself. In the end, and over her strenuous objections, the United States and its allies did rescue our honor and did put an end to Slobodan Milosevic and his state-supported terrorism. Yet instead of preserving a polite reticence about this, or at least an appropriate reserve, Sen. Clinton now has the obscene urge to claim the raped and slaughtered people of Bosnia as if their misery and death were somehow to be credited to her account! Words begin to fail one at this point. Is there no such thing as shame? Is there no decency at last? Let the memory of the truth, and the exposure of the lie, at least make us resolve that no Clinton ever sees the inside of the White House again.

I know, I know: Hitch is a Marxist Athiest. He drinks too much whiskey. He has a funny accent. He imagines that he is funnier than he really is. But I like him; he does call matters as he sees them.

And that is cool.

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. . . College Campuses.

Why can't we admit that there is no safety to be had without the use of force, and without the right to self-defense?

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I'm ready for my close-up. book deal.

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I couldn't even get through that "Obama bowling" thread. Is this why no one pays attention to Scarborough Country?

Why, why . . . it's machismogate!

What a tool Scarborough is. And I don't mean a hammer. I mean, like, maybe a foam hair roller or something like that.

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"You and your anti-Semitic friend . . . ."

Via Insty, via Frank J., who remarks, "Being a They Might be Giants fan, I can't believe I didn't think of this song myself as soon as the Wright scandal popped up."

A lot of us were asleep at the switch.

I'm laughing so I don't cry.

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one realizes one's deepest unconscious longings are actually for the right kind of extermination method:

Originally found at November Fire, and brought to you via David Linden.

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And then, it's a crime.

This is worse than most cyber-stalking. Worse than those fucktards who call up people's employers and try to get them fired because of some idiotic disagreement on a fuckin' discussion thread.

It's about on a level with those assholes who remove the stop signs at intersections, to see whether someone will die, or whether there will just be massive bodily harm.

See why that's funny, Mommy? It happened to someone else! That makes it hilarious!

h/t: Ace.

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He's running excerpts from Obama's memoir:

"You Obama men are all the same," snapped Aoma testily as I climbed into the Land Rover. "Always abandoning your village, alway chasing after something on the horizon. What is it you need that you can't find here? Why must you leave your home?"

I thought for a minute, and looked into my half-sister's eyes. "I have to go," I said. "The video arcade in Nairobi just got Mortal Kombat II."

She rolled her eyes, unable to understand that deep longing that compelled me on the arduous two day journey across the Serengeti. When I finally arrived again in Nairobi, amid the dusty bustle of the market and the bloobidy-bloobidy-bloop of the arcade, I experienced an intense personal epiphany. It occurred to me that no matter their skin color, no matter their station in life, all humans have a deep-seated need to hog the Mortal Kombat machine. In that sense, the Kenyans at the arcade were no different that the white kids at the Galleria, although there were probably fewer Goths.

Read the whole thing.

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Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

Via Rachel Lucas, who appears to have obtained a more realistic evaluation.

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The Cotillion will be sponsoring a promotion of conservative male bloggers, because the male sector of the b-sphere is under-promoted.

Please try to remember that just because a guy has a pretty face, it doesn't mean he's qualified. We'd like to see some fresh analysis as well.

We're not just looking for conservative bloggers who are male, by the way: we'd also like to see some thoughtful coverage of men's issues: football, baseball, getting grossed out by the leavings of makeup and menses, power tools, weak beer, misunderstanding things women say, pretending not to be able to feed oneself, and the like.

Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

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1 It's the least we can do; I have a feeling of noblesse oblige about this.

Posted by: Attila Girl at March 31, 2008 04:20 PM (BYH4x)

2 Justifying John's opinion, I see... ;>

Posted by: Desert Cat at March 31, 2008 05:40 PM (Q8AsJ)

3 Noblesse Oblige? Doesn't it always trend toward the Chippendales when the Cotillion is involved?

Posted by: Darrell at March 31, 2008 07:29 PM (ocnUJ)

4 Those poor, poor dancers. Forced to do that to make a buck. We always tip as much as we can. If we have anything left after the drink tab's paid, that is . . .

Posted by: Attila Girl at March 31, 2008 07:56 PM (Hgnbj)

5 Like if there's EVER anything left! You're not fooling me! You tip in pennies just to make those costumes fall apart faster. Is it any wonder that those poor guys usually enroll in trade school or the seminary after a Cotillion night out? No wonder your pictures are posted at the door! Or so I've read. . .

Posted by: Darrell at March 31, 2008 08:08 PM (ocnUJ)

6 We're wanted, dead or alive. But mostly alive.

Posted by: Attila Girl at March 31, 2008 08:39 PM (Hgnbj)

7 Always! Either way I think the gin tab would be the same! That may be why they're building two new distilleries in Heaven, btw. Or so I've read. Or did I see it on Benny Hinn?

Posted by: Darrell at March 31, 2008 09:14 PM (ocnUJ)

8 I used to see "Benny Hinn" in the TV Guide and assume it was a typo, and they meant "Benny Hill."

Posted by: Attila Girl at March 31, 2008 10:15 PM (Hgnbj)

9 Yipes! Stay away from the Woundup! If "men's issues" are defined as "football, baseball, getting grossed out by the leavings of makeup and menses, power tools, weak beer" and such, I'm not a player. I DO misunderstand what women say, but it's usually because they say it while I'm wasting ti... thoroughly engrossed in a highly important thing involving my computer, and I sometimes don't quite catch what was said. I have one (count 'em) power tool that helped me build the cheap Home Depot bookcases that currently adorn our home. Otherwise, my views are, essentially, that professional athletes are overpaid whiners and drug abusers, my wife is menopausal and never wears makeup (doesn't need any), and I have never in nearly 50 years had an alchoholic beverage (unless you count the old Robitussins). Good luck finding male conservatives who are thoughtful about anything. Especially when they've been drinking weak beer. Talk about setting the bar a titch high...

Posted by: Woody at April 01, 2008 08:59 AM (G9/8V)

10 It's possible that I distorted the intent ever-so-slightly, for comic effect. What I say shouldn't be taken as a gospel representation, therefore, of the Cotillion's intent . . .

Posted by: Attila Girl at April 01, 2008 01:09 PM (BYH4x)

11 Well, that makes me feel better.

Posted by: Woody at April 01, 2008 02:56 PM (cq3pU)

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on why the "plight" of the Palestinians gets so much more ink than the plight of the Tibetans:

The long-suffering Tibetans have been in the news. This happens perhaps once or twice a decade. In a more moral world, however, public opinion would be far more preoccupied with Tibetans than with Palestinians, would be as harsh on China as it is on Israel, and would be as fawning on Israel as it now is on China.

But, alas, the world is, as it has always been, a largely mean-spirited and morally insensitive place, where might is far more highly regarded than right.

Consider the facts: Tibet, at least 1,400 years old, is one of the world's oldest nations, has its own language, its own religion and even its own ethnicity. Over 1 million of its people have been killed by the Chinese, its culture has been systematically obliterated, 6,000 of its 6,200 monasteries have been looted and destroyed, and most of its monks have been tortured, murdered or exiled.

Palestinians have none of these characteristics. There has never been a Palestinian country, never been a Palestinian language, never been a Palestinian ethnicity, never been a Palestinian religion in any way distinct from Islam elsewhere. Indeed, "Palestinian" had always meant any individual living in the geographic area called Palestine. For most of the first half of the 20th century, "Palestinian" and "Palestine" almost always referred to the Jews of Palestine. The United Jewish Appeal, the worldwide Jewish charity that provided the nascent Jewish state with much of its money, was actually known as the United Palestine Appeal. Compared to Tibetans, few Palestinians have been killed, its culture has not been destroyed nor its mosques looted or plundered, and Palestinians have received billions of dollars from the international community. Unlike the dying Tibetan nation, there are far more Palestinians today than when Israel was created.

None of this means that a distinct Palestinian national identity does not now exist. Since Israel's creation such an identity has arisen and does indeed exist. Nor does any of this deny that many Palestinians suffered as a result of the creation of the third Jewish state in the area, known -- since the Romans renamed Judea -- as "Palestine."

But it does mean that of all the causes the world could have adopted, the Palestinians' deserved to be near the bottom and the Tibetans' near the top. This is especially so since the Palestinians could have had a state of their own from 1947 on, and they have caused great suffering in the world, while the far more persecuted Tibetans have been characterized by a morally rigorous doctrine of nonviolence.

So, the question is, why? Why have the Palestinians received such undeserved attention and support, and the far more aggrieved and persecuted and moral Tibetans given virtually no support or attention?

The first reason is terror. Some time ago, the Palestinian leadership decided, with the overwhelming support of the Palestinian people, that murdering as many innocent people -- first Jews, and then anyone else -- was the fastest way to garner world attention. They were right. On the other hand, as The Economist notes in its March 28, 2008 issue, "Tibetan nationalists have hardly ever resorted to terrorist tactics..." It is interesting to speculate how the world would have reacted had Tibetans hijacked international flights, slaughtered Chinese citizens in Chinese restaurants and temples, on Chinese buses and trains, and massacred Chinese schoolchildren.

The second reason is oil and support from powerful fellow Arabs. The Palestinians have rich friends who control the world's most needed commodity, oil.

Read the whole thing. Please.

Via Photon Courier.

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Oh, sorry.

Hawkins asks conservative women about getting asked out.

I dunno: it seems to me that the more people concentrate on dating as dating, the more hung up they get on rituals, and form-over-function. So the more the guy concentrates on "being a gentleman" in terms of opening doors or paying the bill, the less likely he is to be a true gentleman in the arenas wherein it counts.

Politeness is oversold. And if you can't be friends with someone, why on earth are you trying to be lovers with them, much less marry them?

UPDATE: Hackbarth weighs in, and points out that some issues simply make for interesting discussion around the dinner table, whereas others are potential deal-breakers—e.g., abortion.

When I was dating a guy who was adamantly anti-abortion—when I was less so—we made a deal that if an unplanned pregnancy occurred, I'd carry the child to term (and most likely put him or her up for adoption). The boyfriend agreed that he would be asked to help generously with the costs of prenatal care, any time off from work, etc.

That worked for us, but it may not be common that two people can work something like that out on such a loaded issue.

Via Memeorandum.

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Jon Henke is filling in for Megan McArdle; that's kind of cool.

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I've only "seen" Ace this angry once or twice before.

How funny that I linked his post, but didn't even think to read through the comments. I felt that his elegant, simple Anglo-Saxon language had summarized the case against those who had attempted to censor Fitna, and didn't imagine that his commenters would do any better.

Besides which, I do not tend to agree with those who want to indict all Muslims as terror-sympathizers. After all, that's not just a moral problem, but a practical one as well: suddenly, you're declaring war on a larger pool of people than if you just stuck with the Islamo-fascists. Even if it were morally acceptable, why would I want to take on a significant portion of the world's population? (As Benny Hill put it in quite a different context, that's "like burning down the house to get a piece of toast.")

And, frankly, I don't like to wade through a bunch of bigoted crap.

Ace, on expressing oneself in a public forum:

I should say this is a difficult call because there are legitimate discussions to be had about precisely how complicit most Muslims are in terrorism, and how much Islam itself is to blame.

But for the love of God, please understand that when you broach these concededly-legitimate topics you should do so as thoughtfully as possible, and not in the white heat of anger.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I realize that that was part of the problem, and that he stirred some up by immediately (of course) claiming Christianity was the "real" problem.

But just because he's a terrorist symp is really not a license to write crap here that would get you fired at work were you to say it there.

This is a business. People do read this at work.

I am getting tired of having to remind people of these basic facts. You are threatening my very goddamned livelihood and no, your "right" to free expression is not going to trump my right to make a buck.

Here's a simple guideline: Before you spout off on a charged issue, ask yourself if someone reading this at work might be in trouble with Human Resources for reading the site if a coworker happened to read your commnent.

If the answer is "Yes," then do not hit publish. Take a breather, rethink, reconsider, rewrite. Or consider exiting the argument altogether if you find you're too angry to mind a respectful, respectable tone.

Either there's going to be some self-regulation here or there's going to be external regulation. Either way, there is going to be regulation.

That's just the way it fucking is.

Yeah. That's why I have my commenting policy: you can put me down all you want, and you can, for the most part, take on public figures who put themselves out there for criticism. But personal remarks directed at other commenters and other bloggers are off-limits, and I like people to keep the ad hominem to a minimum.

Of course, it's a good deal more difficult for Ace, because people actually read his blog. (That might reflect the fact that he has a work ethic when it comes to posting, of course. [Insert inane joke about sexism here, followed by equally inane remark about the bawdy humor at Ace's site—the difference being that playfulness and genuine anger are two different things, for those who don't get that distinction.])

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I still don't understand why the first three Queen albums never got much airplay back in the day: Mercury, May, Taylor, and Deacon never really got a lot of traction until Night at the Opera came out, but even prior to that "Killer Queen" (from the album Sheer Heart Attack) got some attention, and after they got big some DJs went back and played "Keep Yourself Alive" (from the first album, Queen).

But Queen II, which fell right between those two albums? I've never heard anything from it over the air, and it's good. "White Queen," "March of the Black Queen," "The Loser in the End," "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke." Even the version of "The Seven Seas of Rhye" on this album is terrific.

Undiscovered gold, here.

BTW, you engineering-types probably already know this, but Brian May and his father constructed the guitar he played as part of Queen in their garage, when he was young. It's one-of-a-kind, and of course a major engineering feat, given the tolerances involved in a project of that kind.

The first six or seven Queen albums all bore the legend "no synthesizers," or "no synths" on their covers; if you listen to those records, it's amazing what the boys were able to achieve without using synthesizers, and a lot of that has to do with Brian May's supernatural abilities as a guitarist.

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Writing in The Atlantic:

Peirce's film is certainly not animated by disdain for the troops. Rather, she seems to think of her subjects as overgrown children, complicated and tragic, yes, but not ready to withstand the rigors of adult decision-making. It's easy to imagine that she wants the adolescents in the audience to identify with her characters, and maybe even to think twice before accepting a military recruiter's pitch. This is a fundamentally protective instinct that is admirable in its own way.
It's worth reflecting on the fact that during the Second World War, America's conscript army was full of terrified young men, only 15 to 25 percent of whom ever fired their weapons in combat. A remarkable number were maimed, killed, or felled by disease, and a far higher number were paralyzed by sheer terror and dread while on the battlefield. Though the volunteer army seems less egalitarian, it is undoubtedly far more effective and in its own way far more humane. One wonders about the kind of film Peirce would have made about the poor grunts sent off to fight Hirohito and Hitler, most of whom were subject to physical regimens that would be understood as abuse in our own time. Would she have made a stirring film dedicated to the cause of draft resistance? Well, no.

No. Read the whole thing.

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"John McCain still needs to address this, and stop getting his health-policy advice from Don Imus."

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I can't imagine doing this.

I dunno: I'm pretty sure my ex was "upside down" in the mid-90s housing downturn, but he just stuck it out. I guess I see real estate as a "buy and hold" kind of thing.

Maybe not for us; we've only been at the house 11-12 years. But it's way too large for us, and we'll be happier in a smaller place.

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