And we got the asking price. So now we switch back into "condo-shopping" mode, and we are likely to make a really good deal; it's truly a buyer's market down in Glendale.

The buyer's paperwork will take a week to complete, and the contingencies will be removed in 17 days. Once those two watersheds are behind us, we'll know that this deal is solid; if it goes through, we move in early June.

Thanks so much for all your prayers!

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Remember that you want to either sign up for a local screening of Indoctrinate U, or buy the DVD. Or both!

And not just because Evan Coyne Maloney is that cerebral kind of good-looking.

(Yeah, yeah: I'm the one that once dubbed him "the thinking teeny-bopper's heartthrob." It got me an Instalanche, and a nice "aw, shucks" sort of note from Evan, whom I've been running into at Libertas-related events for years now; oddly, he never forgets which blog I write for. Of course, I've heard some MSM people try to use Maloney's looks against him, as if the actors and actresses they fawn over weren't often attractive as well . . . the whole thing is quite maddening, of course.)

The fact is, moviemaking costs are going down every year, and the monopoly enjoyed by my friends in the entertainment industry is slipping away even as we speak.

Meditate on that one, studio execs. And have a nice day.

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And it tells me that gambling is bad.

Bad.

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"After all, it's the same offense Don Imus committed." (Not verbatim, but close; no. I do not intend to watch the video again to get it exact.)

Yeah, well. Imus didn't say that about white women. He said it about a group of predominantly black women.

Rhodes only said it about white women. See the difference? Also, you can say it about black women if you're a black man, you make it rhyme with something else (sort of), and you call it "rap music."

Via Stop the ACLU, via Hot Air.

Also, you can sever a woman head if she's white and you're black, and you're a football star.

What . . . the rules are too complicated for you?

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The Cotillion update page therein now contains MK Ham (goodness knows how we'd managed to omit her, but I'm not complaining, since I tend to leave the hard lifting to others in this arena) and new Cotillionite Nice Deb.

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Who knew that this might happen?

Allam, author of numerous books and deputy editor of Milan’s Corriere della Sera, joins a list of converts from Islam which includes many other public intellectuals and millions of average people from all over the world. This is more than the normal flow between two large religious communities. Islam can point to little in the way of recent conversions. Its claim to be the world’s fastest-growing religion stems mostly from the high birth rate in Islamic countries, whose infant mortality rates have been cut by the introduction of Western medicine. Christian growth is based on adult conversion. As leading Christian evangelist Wolfgang Simpson writes, “More Muslims have come to Christ in the last two decades than in all of history.”

Although al-Qataani points to Africa, there is another phenomenon based on repulsion from Islamist dictatorship, corruption, and terrorist violence. In Iran as many as 1 million people have surreptitiously converted to Evangelical Christianity in the last five years. Pastor Hormoz Shariat claims to have converted 50,000 of them through his U.S.-based Farsi-language satellite ministry. He contrasts the upswing to the efforts of evangelical missionaries in Iran between 1830 and 1979, whose 149 years of work built a Christian community of only 3,000. One Iranian religious scholar believes youth are abandoning Islam because it is identified with the corrupt Iranian government. Now the Iranian Majlis (parliament) is debating the death penalty for conversion.

After years of al-Qaeda war on Iraq, a similar phenomenon is growing. The New York Times March 4 reports: “After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach.” A high school girl tells Times reporters: “I hate Islam and all the clerics because they limit our freedom every day and their instruction became heavy over us. Most of the girls in my high school hate that Islamic people control the authority because they don’t deserve to be rulers.” A 19-year-old man says: “The religion men are liars. Young people don’t believe them. Guys my age are not interested in religion anymore.” A Baghdad law professor explains that her students “have changed their views about religion. They started to hate religious men. They make jokes about them because they feel disgusted by them.” A 24-year-old female college student says, “I used to love Osama bin Laden. Now I hate Islam. Al-Qaeda and the Mahdi Army are spreading hatred. People are being killed for nothing.”

Via Memeorandum.

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Instapundit:

I don't believe in intelligent design. The case for not-very-bright design, however, remains open.

This in response to one of his readers, Raymond Eckhart, who suggests that David Berlinski (a Fellow at the Discovery Institute, and author of The Devil's Delusion: Athiesm and Its Scientific Pretensions) should debate I.D. with John Derbyshire. "Methinks the Derb would clean up."

The Intelligent Design debate I'd like to see would be between David Linden and Ben Stein. The first time I proposed this, it was an exercise in surrealism; I think I suggested Jonathan Rauch as the referee, because I loved (and love) Rauch's thoughts on free speech and freedom of ideas; he's a solid libertarian.

But now I'm serious about the Stein-Linden idea, probably because I feel that Stein and Linden are both sufficiently intellectual and pro-science to make the exercise worthwhile. After all, according to Stein's associate producer* on No Intelligence Allowed, Stein's movie reflected Stein's own quest for truth about the origins of life and humanity. When he asked Intelligent Design proponents whether I.D. wasn't merely "microwaved Creationism," Stein meant it.

His views evolved as the production rolled along and he was not able to get good answers to his questions.

UPDATE: Claire Berlinski explains that her dad isn't really an I.D. proponent, according to Reynolds. There's a subscriber-only link with details here. Claire Berlinski acts as Reynolds' "Istanbul correspondent" a good deal, and the Glenn and Helen Show interviewed her and her brother, Mischa, on their respective novels here.

* Mark Mathis, in a private interview with your favorite blogger.

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If you can't give up Bush-bashing for me and your other long-legged ponies, would you consider doing it for your male fans?

No?

Oh, Jim. Jim. You're breaking my heart.

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Yeah. We do have a problem in this country with health insurance. Not quite the one my statist friends imagine, but one nonetheless. Mostly, between the litigiousness of our culture and the activism of various special interests groups, it's hard to get basic care; the state tends to mandate that every possible health-care scenario be covered under any plan. Meanwhile, the insurance companies are subsidized, and few people feel like they are paying "real money" for their care.

So costs rise, and a lot of the self-employed are priced out of the market. My husband and I wouldn't have insurance at all if we couldn't get it through his corporation, but that means we have to keep the corporation open, though it's no longer cost-effective to have it in other arenas.

Therefore, I'm intrigued by the latest from Olympia Snowe's office about a new act that might (might) make insurance more affordable and portable, and put it within reach of some self-employed types who don't have catatrophic coverage right now:

SHOP Act One-Pager

Small businesses find it difficult to afford health insurance for their employees:

• SHOP will allow small businesses to band together in a statewide or nationwide pool to obtain lower health insurance prices by spreading their risk over a larger number of participants.

• SHOP will keep prices low by offering a range of private health plans that have to compete for business.

• SHOP will provide small business owners with a tax credit of up to $1,000 per employee ($2,000 for family coverage) if they pay for 60% of their employees’ premiums.

• SHOP will provide small business owners with a bonus if they pay for more than 60% of the premiums.

Small business owners pay higher prices when they have older workers and face large premium hikes when even one employee experiences a serious illness:

• SHOP would make insurance rating based on health status and claims experience illegal so that premium increases will be more stable and predictable.

• SHOP ensures that the variation in premium rates will be reduced so that small businesses will be better able to afford coverage without facing as much of a competitive disadvantage if they have older workers.

Selecting a health insurance plan is confusing and choices are often limited:

• SHOP will provide a web site with comparative information about a variety of private health plans.

• SHOP will allow new health plans to be offered nationwide but will continue to rely on state insurance commissioners to ensure that all health plans meet state requirements for financial solvency, network adequacy, and claims and appeal procedures.

SHOP helps the self-employed:

• Self-employed individuals face extremely high costs when trying to purchase health insurance in the individual insurance market:

• SHOP will allow the self-employed to purchase insurance in the same pool as small businesses.

• SHOP will provide self-employed individuals with a $1,800 tax credit ($3,600 for family coverage) to purchase health insurance.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Here's a snippet from the press release:

A bipartisan group of senators, with the support of small-business and labor union lobbyists, on Wednesday unveiled legislation they said would go a long way toward expanding healthcare coverage for the largest segment of the uninsured.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that he has been working since last January with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to develop the legislation. He hopes it will break a deadlock that has stalled past efforts to facilitate access to health benefits for small-business owners, their employees and the self-employed.

Durbin has found support from Republicans, most notably Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, the ranking member on the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee who is also the billÂ’s lead co-sponsor. And in addition to the business groups, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has endorsed the bill.

According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation Â’s 2007 employer health benefits survey, 59 percent of companies with fewer than 200 employers offer health insurance to their workers, compared to 99 percent of larger firms.

“Contrary to popular belief, most people who don’t have health insurance are not out of work,” said Durbin.

“We have to find a reasonable way to help small businesses that want to provide good health insurance to their owners and their workers, and also the self-employed, who’ve been left behind too many times,” he said.

Standing with Durbin Wednesday was NFIB President and CEO Todd Stottlemyer, who represents an organization that traditionally leans toward Republican ideas.

“This is the largest portion of the uninsured population in the United States,” Stottlemyer said. The Durbin-Snowe bill could “break the decades-long logjam that has blocked small-business [healthcare] reform legislation,” he said.

Snowe, who has sponsored small-business health-insurance legislation in past Congresses, echoed the bill’s importance. “Indisputably, rising costs of health insurance has been the No. 1 issue of concern for small businesses, and rightly so,” she said.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) joined Durbin and Snowe at the announcement. Sens. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also are original co-sponsors, Durbin said. All but Klobuchar sit on the Finance Committee. Executives from the NFIB, the NAR and the SEIU also spoke at the event.

Although only about 75,000 of the SEIU’s 1.9 million members are self-employed or work for small businesses, reducing the number of uninsured “can’t just be about our members,” said Mary Kay Henry, the union’s executive vice president.

The legislation would combine annual tax credits up to $2,000 per worker for small-business owners and $3,600 for the self-employed with state- and federally based insurance pools designed to spread risk for insurers and reduce premiums for workers. The measure also limits insurersÂ’ ability to use patientsÂ’ medical histories to exclude them or drastically hike their premiums. The bill would leave most of the regulation of the insurance plans to state authorities.

The senators highlighted the diversity of interests backing the bill: The NFIB has traditionally aligned with Republicans and the SEIU with Democrats.

Underscoring this point, Durbin joked about his first meeting with Stottlemyer about the bill, which took place shortly after Democrats assumed control of Congress. “It was a rare visit by the NFIB in my office. I think it was the first … in my congressional career,” Durbin said.

In essence, the situation right now is that a lot of people are being forced to buy the "extended warranty" on the human body, or do without any sort of help at all if they get into a jam. And we all know who benefits from extended warranties . . . don't we?

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. . . if the whole thing weren't such a touchy subject. I'd like to see how the average multi-generation pro-American, Mexican-American family reacts to the Absolut ad.

If they are offended, I will be as well. As it is, the map is in questionable taste, but hardly a hanging offense (or a boycotting one, either: of course, we all know that I generally drink gin or whiskey; when I drink vodka, it's usually Stoli).

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My traffic is dropping like a stone. This might reflect the fact that I'm simply not posting lately.

Fair enough. But you know what happens when my traffic goes down? My self-esteem suffers.

I would hate, of course, for that to affect your decisions about your web-surfing. Oh, no. The last thing I want is mercy hits. But you might consider hitting my tip jar every time you don't go to this site when you otherwise might have, for the petty reason that I'm not actually providing content this week/this month.

Do it for the children. (No, no, not mine: you'll recall that I don't have any. I meant children in the abstract. The unassailable goodness of my intentions are signified by my mentioning the next generation, you see.)

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Which means the Attila the Hub and I will likely be indulging ourselves in a few hours' worth of homelessness this afternoon.

He's a doctor, and pre-approved for a huge amount. So it's worth doing.

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"By God, I love literature!"

He sends, by way of example, the following quotation:

"Her vagina was all that, as they say in the urban media—a powerful ethnic muscle scented by bitter melon, the breezes of the local sea and the sweaty needs of a tiny nation trying to breed itself into a future."

—Gary Shteyngart, Absurdistan

Fucking Genius.

Well. One couldn't say that about a wrist, or an ankle, or even an armpit. Only about the two main sex organs on the human female: the vagina, and the brain.

Personally, I think my brain smells more like bitter melon than my vagina does.

Great title, Absurdistan. Though Dr. P originally put the title in quotations, suggesting that this was a short story rather than a novel. What do you think?—shall I tell his mom? She's a proofreader, too. All the best women are.

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I shall be on-duty again as of tomorrow, with "interesting news items," quirky observations, and imaginary bits of dialogue.

The real estate update is this: we did get three offers. One of 'em is for the asking price, and the other two were lowball bids. So we sent them all back with counter-offers, and we didn't have to name an amount: we just asked for their "final price," which should cut down on the dickering. Each party knows that two others are interested in the house, so they are all likely to give a reasonable counter to our counter.

So now they are on the hotseat through tomorrow, and I get the day off. Tomorrow evening I may start sweating again, but it's all good.

As a nice little side-benefit, it looks like all the parties bidding on the property are families, so they'll benefit from the big yard and the good local schools. No one seems to want to tear the place down, which should not be a factor for me—but it is. I do love this place, and knowing the next owners (may) appreciate it does help. Call me weak.

And I'll see you all tomorrow; off I go to have a nice read. If I get back to the keyboard again tonight, I do. If I do not, I do not.

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I got a Jimmy Stewart fetish, going, here. Do you blame me?

I think this John McCain ad will be extremely effective, and I do not like it.

I mean, we've established what Johnny Mac is, right? Proverbially, we're just setting the price right now, and throwin' in a few moves around the pole for the teachers' unions. (Yessir; it's Chippendale's night for the UTLA; I'll take my mom out for a thrill. She doesn't drink, so I always end up pulling double-duty on bar nights. This is, of course, oppressive to me.)

Thanks to Dr. Althouse, who's goin' all "Killing Us Softly" on us, again. I mean, I just don't see it: I got out of the English major racket because I didn't want to ascribe to malice what could be credited to carelessness.

Unless, of course, we're talkin' about fiction written by me. In which case, I meant every word, and I'm not sorry, and how's about a bit more on that advance? Could be an infamous roman a clef, Baby; you never know.

Proverbially, we're just setting the price right now, and I'm throwin' in a few moves around the pole for the publishing houses.

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1 Be nice to John. He's going to pick Romney and only serve one term, I'll bet. Jimmy Stewart would certainly like McCain. That is a great spot. The narrator is one of the legends in the voice-over business, Peter Thomas. About as cozy as they come. He must be a Republican. I only hear him on commercials and documentaries that tilt to the right.

Posted by: Concho at April 02, 2008 08:50 AM (ZET1q)

2 Certainly this is a fine pole dance for the teachers' union, if not a dance of a more private and efficacious nature. Happy ending, anyone? The price seems to have been pretty well determined at this point; it's McCain's soul. The preponderance of smoke in the first half of the ad is a very odd choice, I think. If John McCain is so proud of having learned to turn in wrongdoers so that they can be punished and then redeemed, why is he cosying up to George Bush and Karl Rove?

Posted by: Rin at April 02, 2008 10:30 AM (bSHZa)

3 Tin Tin? Not very often do we have such famous visitors to chat with. Yes, John is going out on long midnight cruises with W and Karl Rove. They sometimes stop by Haliburton and enjoy a nightcap or two, as well. Before visiting Blackwater HQ and watching some secret videos, while they pump cigar smoke into the atmosphere without a scintilla of concern over the environment or anthropogenic global warming. They sometimes hang with Nancy Pelosi, too, and bet on her blink rate as she gives them the finger and generally shows her digust for their kind- ripping away her clothing and taunting them with her naked body parts while mocking them for being aroused at the sights--as her sexual arousal builds to sweet, sweet, release. My question is "Where are the Leftist champions of social justice and the rule of law--like Eliot Spitzer--when we truly need them!

Posted by: Darrell at April 02, 2008 12:48 PM (XsPVA)

4 Keep it civil, boys and girls D, Rin is a dear friend in real life. I'm trying to raise her consciousness re: market realities and the WoT, but progress is, of course, slow.

Posted by: Attila Girl at April 02, 2008 01:06 PM (Hgnbj)

5 Sorry! I guess I was flirting.

Posted by: Darrell at April 02, 2008 01:59 PM (XsPVA)

6 Well, if that weren't allowed, I wouldn't be able to blog, comment, send email, or interact with anyone in any way whatsoever.

Posted by: Attila Girl at April 02, 2008 07:40 PM (Hgnbj)

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I know, I know: I was going to wait to emerge from escrow before tackling the Jonah Goldberg book, but I really had high hopes that we wouldn't have any showings today, now that the offers are coming in on the house.

I figured the time for the buyers to look at the property was over with, and people were going to be writing up their bids today.

No.

I had arisen early to call in to Fausta's podcast; then I read a while, and went back to bed to catch up on sleep. I was just starting to drift off when my husband awakened me. "The carnival's starting again," he told me.

"More offers?" I mumbled. "How much?"

"No. More showings. We have to be out of here in an hour."

"More showings? What haven't they seen around here? Anyway, yesterday was the deadline: they aren't supposed to be looking. They are supposed to be writing up their offers!"

"Yeah, I know. But bids are likely to go up from here."

"I don't supposed they can just walk around me while I sleep, can they?" I enquired. "I mean, what if I try not to snore?"

I poked my head out of the covers. He was just looking at me, as if he thought $50,000-$100,000 was a bit much to pay for a nap, no matter how much I wanted it.

"Fine, fine," I snapped. "I'll see if I can get the dishes done. Or at least stack them neatly. Tell them to come on down. Bring their friends. Have a party! I don't mind! It isn't like I live here, or anything!"

I started to make the bed and turn on the lights.

Behind that noontime tour, of course, there were two other groups there today to take "one last peek" at the house and the grounds. So we will have at least two offers waiting for us tomorrow morning at the office—maybe three.

I got the book, and a couple of servings of "Rice Crispy Treats" here at Camp Lefty. I told the nice barista that if I attempted to buy any more delectable carbs, he should call the police. Or my husband. Or my real estate agent.

At least my hair is closer to clean today; I did manage a short shower back at the homestead before the house turned into a freakin' Mercedes dealership again earlier today.

I should be grateful, of course. The term for this is "bidding war," and it's tough to pull off in what is supposed to be a buyer's market. All I know is that I'm still certain the minute we sign the escrow papers the value of the property will spike, and we'll be unable to close on any of the condos we want to buy.

Next thing you know, I'll be homeless for real, rather than just playing a homeless person here at Camp Lefty.

Did I mention the fact that I'm not good at this kind of thing? Everything I ever let go of, as they say, had scratchmarks all over it. This house, more than anything.

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The BBC has flying penguins today. Sounds, um . . . fishy.

Via Memeorandum.

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Or is that what we might call a "date-sensitive posting"?

If she's serious, she should just get either a belly pack/fanny pack, or a wallet-on-a-string. (Brighton makes some good wallets-on-a-string, or cell-phone-holders-on-a-string.)

In my twenties I tended to carry my wallet on my body, to avoid losing it to muggers. Or I'd take my money, ID and anything else essential and put it in a pocket so as to deprive any muggers of my valuables.

And, of course, when I'm a student I carry a backpack, so throughout a lot of my 20s I was doing that during the week, and only carrying a purse on the weekends.

In general I have trouble packing lightly at all, and I drive an overstuffed car. I carry an overstuffed computer bag and an overstuffed purse—and, usually, an overstuffed bookbag, as well. Usually it's a question of time: when I run out of time I just start throwing things into bags in the interest of getting out the door.

I hate having to plan for an outing as if it were a backpacking trip. On the other hand, a person can take the mega-cluttered lifestyle a bit too far. And she generally does.

It's harder when I'm travelling in some offbeat way (that is, without a car): at that point, not only do I need to "edit" my possessions to keep the weight down on my luggage, but I need to plan ways of getting around Real Cities (places other than Los Angeles) without everything I own close at hand.

The impulse, of course, is to start throwing into the suitcase every possible means of conveyance (purses, bookbags, backpacks), so that I can schlep stuff around with me while I'm sightseeing. Of course, then I realize that if I want room for my stuff, I need to pack fewer carrying devices in which to put that stuff. Or, perhaps, a bigger suitcase. Or a travelling trunk like those that women had in centuries past.

But the main thing? Pants need to have pockets. Especially back pockets. And then, one can travel light: In a pinch all you need is a phone and a pen in one back pocket, and Kleenex in the other. Left-front pocket holds I.D., money, and maybe an extra business card to write on; the right-hand front pocket contains lipstick and/or chapstick. Most keys stay in the hotel room, at home, or in the car. One key (the car key or the home key) goes in the watch pocket on one's jeans. And that is it.

UPDATE: Oops! Forget the hat tip for Dan Collins over at Protein Wisdom.

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Instead of turning the blog completely off, I'm going to stop writing anything intelligent here for the next month . . .

. . . What do you mean, "done and done . . . "?

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I would, however, prefer that Gmail were sending astral projections of me back in time to keep my appointments and social engagements after I sleep in, forget, or become distracted by shiny objects/the internet.

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