will this be more palatable to the graduates?

Who Said It?

"Greater love hath no man than to attend the Episcopal Church with his wife."

Lyndon B. Johnson

Old News

I woke up this morning and stared at the cover of the Wall Street Journal where, inexplicably, Hillary Clinton stared back at me. Is this selling newspapers? I am the last person to count Rodham out--in fact, I won't be convinced she doesn't have the nomination until she's safely housed back at Carfax Abbey. But enough is enough.

The other New York newspapers this morning were crying about another Obama pastor scandal. Are you now, or were you ever, a member of The Nation of Islam, Mr. Obama? Immaterial. As usual the press is unable to break through the candidates' public relations so instead we get a romp through Obama's fetid political past--and all politicians make compromises like Barack has--so that's no shame on him.

I don't blame the press. We'll never see another Democrat quoting Aeschylus and the only extra gear you see on the stump these days is righteous indignation followed by some bully applause and fillibustering. You see this on the Daily Show a lot but Bill Clinton is the all-time king.

More to the point, however, is that Hillary needs to make her move now. Whatever tapes she has of Barack partcipating in a black mass with Louis Farrahkan and the FedEx Pope needs to see the light before the convention. At this point, I'd prefer Al Gore to them both--another tallymark for John Derbyshire.

"who knew that cpusa and architecture could result in such a hip marriage...lol"

New Communist HQ in NYC.



(Hat tip: grape)

Beyond Thunderdome

The Democrats' "Body" Women

Google Oil

Another ingenious Google tool. You can check out gas prices--I'm looking at UK--going back to the 19th century with relevant news articles and documentation right at your fingerprints. Neat! If things are bad now, they were positively dismal in 1948.

Funny tidbit:

"The trial was scheduled for Oct. 2. Judge Lindley said he would set another date later. The Danville jurist was appointed to preside in place of Judge Patrick T. Stone, who heard the first case in which 12 major oil companies and five individuals were convicted of fixing midwestem gasoline prices. The second indictment charged conspiracy to fix margins of profit for gasoline jobbers."

-- Freeport Journal-Standard Wednesday, August 23, 1939

Who Said It?

“(Curiosity without energy or tenacity is a middlebrow trait wherever and in whomever it appears.) Towards his entertainment, no matter how much he wants it to be "significant" and "worthwhile," he will become recalcitrant if the "significance" is not labeled immediately and obviously, and if too many conditioned reflexes are left without appropriate stimuli. What the middlebrow, even more conspicuously than the lowbrow, wants most is to have his expectations filled exactly as he expects to have them filled.”

-Clement Greenberg in his essay "The Plight of Our Culture," June 1953.

Chubby Rain?

Expect this. The prospect of a global water shortage is real and significant to American politics. Unfortunately, “green” advocates and pawns of the “global warming” scheme are in a position to exploit the unease. It's hard to say whether rising costs of energy and utilities will sap the electorate's patience in 2008 enough so that a prescriptive environmental agenda loses out. Most of us just want the commodities without the story. I've watched The New York Times scale back their coverage of the War in Iraq as the economy staggered and G.I. casualties fell. They know there is less of an appetite for their shennanigans in a down economy. Even so, the average American will probably watch showers and baths go the way of the SUV.

If the fresh water wars are possible--and they are--it makes you wonder how this aspect of geopolitics is engaging Wall Street, our leaders and the GWOT. Don't think too hard. (MAP)

*In other news, the Chinese are taking a play from their favorite playbook (no link required) and are going to divert critical water supplies from poor farmers to make sure the Games do justice to the New China.

"You know why you think that, that things can change? Because you're a chick."

Starting to get under my skin.

compromised second draft

Great piece at NRO about the coronation of Barack Obama by the revolutionary Left.
Obama, The Closer

"You belong in a museum!"

With Kingdom of the Crystal Skull doing good money over the weekend [$311 million], Dr. Jones has been everywhere. Pauline Kael's review of Raiders is over at the The New Yorker's website and it's worth a read. She hated it in a way that seems personal. This two decades before Star Wars prequels and Amistad. Kael is scandalized by the focus group blockbuster method which is theory and practice for major studios today . It's a clinic.

Raiders review

Kagan's Heroes

The weasels will soon descend on the Bush Administration's carcass to fight over the scraps of 43's legacy. I'll stick my toe in before the sharks. In 2000, Western Europe was ruled by far-left anti-American governments. With the recent Tory landslide, the Bush presidency has succeeded in wrenching Europe right. Schroeder and Chirac have been replaced by Merkel and Sarkozy, Berlusconi sits astride Italy, and Labour is being wrung out--not just in England but across the continent. With the exception of Spain—the first European country toppled by Islamic crusaders in a millennium--Europe has done an about face in the last 8 years. Liberals will see and find nothing but paradoxes in this. And American conservatives, put off by alien Continental politics and the dazzling styles of European statesman like Sarkozy and Berlusconi, may be unaware that their stake is improving. Europeans are beginning to suspect that low opportunity, declining demographics and spiritual emptiness are the roots of their weakness and not youth gangs—they are the carrion.

Who Said It?

"we are no longer fighting terrorism. We are at war. And we are not at war with any old regime or even a handful of terrorists. We are at war with an evil that will only grow unless it is opposed with all the might at our command. We must wage that war with a ferocity that doesn't merely scare these monsters but terrifies them. Merely murdering bin Laden is a laughable response. If this new war can be waged with partners - specifically Russia, NATO, China - so much the better. But if not, the United States must act alone - and as soon as we can be assured of complete success. There are times when it is not inappropriate or even immoral to use overwhelming power merely to terrify and avenge. Read your Machiavelli. We must shock them more than they have shocked us. We must do so with a force not yet seen in human history. Then we can begin to build a future of greater deterrence. I repeat: we are not responding to terrorism any more. We are at war. And war requires no restraint, simply massive and unanswerable force until the enemy is not simply defeated but unconditionally destroyed. To hesitate for fear of reprisal is to have capitulated before we have even begun. I don't believe Americans want to capitulate to anyone. The only question is whether we will get the leadership now to deal with this or whether we will have to endure even worse atrocities before a real leader emerges."

-Andrew Sullivan, September 12, 2001

I think there's a little "boo" in all of us.