Posted
5/25/2002 08:00:47 PM
by Edward Driscoll
DEFENSE SPENDING COMPARED: Steve Den Beste compares American and European defense spending and technology, and finds Europe sorely lacking. He's also going on vacation this week at the Luxor in Vegas (good for him--he'll have lots of fun there) and asks us to "please not start World War III" until he gets back.
Posted
5/25/2002 07:46:37 PM
by Edward Driscoll
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE: After a previous Bleat full of vitriol, James Lileks has
a whole lotta love to give the world, including his love of the series finale of the new Star Trek spin-off, Enterprise:
I love the fact that the main villain was also the simpering shoe salesman in the ZZTop video, “She’s Got Legs.” I like the fact that the Captain has a dog. I like the fact that show has figured out very quickly who the good characters are, and shunted the lesser ones off the stage. I liked the fact that the EU Council de Science - sorry, the Vulcan Science Council - had decided that time travel was impossible, when we all know that the Federation figured out otherwise a few years later that it wasn’t. (Of course, the Vulcan Science Council knows better, but they keep things from the simplisme Earthlings.) I liked the special effects because I am, at heart, 12 years old, and a dork drawing Enterprise pictures in my notebook unaware of the KICK ME sign on my butt.I thought it was pretty good as well, although our local UPN affiliate ran it with a "viewer's choice" episode (apparently determined via Internet vote), which was just dreadful--a group of renegade Vulcans trying to get in touch with their inner emotions. Long, droning and very painful, it made "the space hippies" episode of the original Trek look good in comparison. Still, the first season of Enterprise has had fewer cringe-inducing moments for a first season of Trek than any series since the first one. And after the pedantic Voyager, I never thought I'd be saying that.
Posted
5/25/2002 05:19:10 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WE DON'T. WE JUST FEAR YOU: AP headline: Castro to Americans: Don't Fear Cuba.
Posted
5/25/2002 04:13:38 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SMART TV & SOUND: I have two articles in this quarter's Smart TV & Sound magazine. They're both online, which of course, should only wet your appetite to run out and buy truckloads of copies of the actual issue.
Heck, buy boxcar loads--they slice, they dice, they make Julian French fries, and they make great gifts!
Posted
5/25/2002 12:06:41 PM
by Edward Driscoll
NOW IT ALL MAKES SENSE: I've long wondered what transformed Richard Nixon from a staunch cold-warrior in the 1950s to a paranoid, liberal big government president in the 1970s. Virginia Postrel, on her Weblog, The Scene may have found the answer:
Is it just me, or is this very odd? From the NYT announcement that Rick Berke is the new Washington editor: "[A]s editor of the high school newspaper, he and a co-author wrote an article disclosing that in 1959, Richard M. Nixon, then vice president, was exposed to microwave radiation beamed at the United States Embassy in Moscow when he was staying there for the 'kitchen debates' with Nikita S. Khrushchev." And the point of that high school article was what exactly? (NYT piece via Andrew Sullivan.)See kids, mom was right--never run the microwave with the door open...
Posted
5/24/2002 03:39:45 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE ANTI-SMOKING ZEALOTS (God how it's tempting to type Nazis) visit the offices of National Review, in this William F. Buckley Jr. essay.
Posted
5/24/2002 03:18:39 PM
by Edward Driscoll
PROUD FRIEND OF ISRAEL Blog found via Group Captain Mandrake. Stop by and check it out.
Posted
5/24/2002 03:12:34 PM
by Edward Driscoll
ROBOTS, DUDE, REDUX: More on the Evolution Robotics robots that we posted about yesterday. Here's an update, from Reuters.
Posted
5/23/2002 08:49:41 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE HISTORICAL MYTHS OF THE INTELLECTUALS is the subject of this essay currently online at the homepage of JamesBowman.net.
Posted
5/23/2002 06:51:43 PM
by Edward Driscoll
NFL SAFETY TO LEAVE FOOTBALL FOR THE ARMY: Read who and why here.
Posted
5/23/2002 06:46:39 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE END OF ARAFAT? That's what Steve Den Beste says is coming soon.
Posted
5/23/2002 04:56:18 PM
by Edward Driscoll
KESHER TALK: Howard Fienberg's excellent Kesher Talk blog has a new URL:
Posted
5/23/2002 04:26:35 PM
by Edward Driscoll
STRANGE HEADLINES PART II. Found on the Sacramento Bee: "Inmate has no right to mail sperm from prison, court rules".
I have no problem with the ruling--I just think it's an astonishing headline, very much indicative of what a strange, Helter Skelter, Koyaanisqatsi, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control world we live in.
Stop me before I start sounding like Dennis Miller. Oops--too late.
Posted
5/23/2002 04:13:38 PM
by Edward Driscoll
ROBOTS, DUDE! I spent much of the week finishing an article on Evolution Robotics for Nuts & Volts magazine. It's an interesting company, with the goal of creating a standardized robotics OS just like Windows and the Mac operating systems standarized and transformed the PC industry from a hobbyist market to a platform where applications could do some serious work.
To help promote their efforts, and the idea of robotics in general, they've released two small robots to the general public. At the moment, you can see them here. I wonder if Aibo will take to having the robotic company on the floor.
I'll let you know when the article streets. (And yes the above headline was inspired by this Wired cover. No, I didn't have the nerve to use it as the title of my actual article.)
Posted
5/23/2002 04:01:27 PM
by Edward Driscoll
AS OPPOSED TO WHAT HE'S BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST TWENTY YEARS? The BBC has an article titled "Bono makes a grab for US purse strings", complete with a photo of Mr. Vox and US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill in nightshirts borrowed from the Marx Brothers in "Duck Soup".
And why is a US treasury secretary touring Africa with a rock star? And if he must tour with a rock star, why not Britney Spears? Jennifer Lopez? Somebody both American and babelicious?
And finally, what does The Edge think of all this? He's Irish. He's in U2. He goes by only one name (unless he counts "The" as his first name--I'll ask to see his driver's license next I see him). Why doesn't he get to discuss third world debt relief with treasury secretaries who should know better??
UPDATE: Drudge links to a larger view of the photo of Bono and and O'Neill as Groucho and Chico.
Posted
5/23/2002 03:47:05 PM
by Edward Driscoll
DEEP IN THE MULLET BELT: Day Two of Sgt. Stryker on the road.
Posted
5/23/2002 03:32:58 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE NAME GAME: Virginia Postrel analysizes why you got the first name you have--and why you gave the name you did to your son or daughter.
Posted
5/23/2002 03:28:11 PM
by Edward Driscoll
PUTTING THE FUN BACK IN FUNDRAISING: Happy Fun Pundit gets an invitation to a White House fundraiser. Guess which magazine they rented the subscription list to? (Hint, it's not National Review or The American Spectator...)
(Found via Virginia Postrel's Weblog)
Posted
5/23/2002 03:17:44 PM
by Edward Driscoll
STRANGE HEADLINE: Why does this AP article have a headline that says "Deal With Iraq, Bush Tells Europe", making it sound like it's exclusively Europe's job to take out actually Saddam, when he's trying to get them to buy into helping us?
Posted
5/23/2002 02:56:38 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SAY IT AIN'T SO! The Onion discovers Factual Error Found On Internet! Someone should tell Pierre Salinger.
Posted
5/23/2002 02:32:43 PM
by Edward Driscoll
HOME THEATER ARCHEOLOGY PART ONE: On the Digital Bits site, how your den/media room/home theater got the way it is, by someone who should know, Robert Harris, who has restored numerous movies (Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus, Vertigo and many, many more) for theaters and home viewing.
Posted
5/23/2002 01:18:14 PM
by Edward Driscoll
DEAR MOM: Richard Reid, the accused "Shoe Bomber" writes home to mom, and may have further incriminated himself in the process, according to this FOXNews.com article.
Posted
5/23/2002 10:28:59 AM
by Edward Driscoll
PIZZAIDF.COM UPDATE: Back at the beginning of the month, a number of Web logs, including ours, mentioned that it was possible to buy a Kosher pizza online and a large bottle of Pepsi to be delivered to an Israeli Defense Forces patrol, section, or platoon.
Apparently this week however, military commanders decided to bar soldiers from accepting pizzas they did not order, "due to concern that hostile elements may exploit the pizza deliveries to soldiers,'' the army said in a statement.
Group Captain Lionel Mandrake checked with the London Israeli Embassy for confirmation. It's true--read their reply here.
(By the way, great digging and reporting, Group Captain!)
Posted
5/23/2002 10:06:53 AM
by Edward Driscoll
THE SOLUTION TO HIJACKING: There will never be another plane hijacked ever again, if Fritz Hollings' solution is implemented. Click here--I don't want to spoil it for you.
Posted
5/23/2002 09:48:28 AM
by Edward Driscoll
TIME MANAGEMENT IN SCHOOL: I don't often post education topics, because people like Joanne Jacobs specialize in their analysis. But after the last two posts (err, not including the plug for Group Captain Mandrake, whom I have provided a certain amount of education on how this country--not to mention this state works. Oh and how sushi works), I found this post on how much of a student's time in school is typically spent not learning.
It's from a Weblog written by a gentleman who calls himself the Cranky Professor, and found via the omnipresent, and exceedingly stylish InstaPundit.
Posted
5/23/2002 09:34:32 AM
by Edward Driscoll
MANDRAKE, DO YOU KNOW WHY I DRINK ONLY PURE GRAIN ALCOHOL? VodkaPundit has discovered the Weblog of Group Captain Lionel Mandrake. America may never be the same.
Posted
5/23/2002 09:20:37 AM
by Edward Driscoll
MEANWHILE...a ten year old home schooled boy from Washington state just become the youngest ever winner of the National Geographic Spelling Bee.
Posted
5/23/2002 09:10:52 AM
by Edward Driscoll
UNEDUCATED=POOR. Joanne Jacobs says that the Public Policy Institute of California is, like Claude Reigns in Casablanca, shocked, shocked! to discover that less education on average, leads to less income! She writes, on her Readjacobs Weblog:
Stop the presses! Or the electrons, or whatever. Mexican-American households earn 40 percent less than non-Hispanic whites because they're less educated, says a Public Policy Institute of California report. What's interesting is that more education leads to more earnings for second-generation Mexican-Americans, but not for the third generation, which has even more access to schooling.As to what, stop by her site, where Joanne does a great job of exposing what's keeping kids from succeeding.Immigration experts and community groups say Mexican-American children often must attend schools that lack up-to-date textbooks, credentialed teachers and access to computers, hampering the group from improving its lot as quickly as previous waves of immigrants.Did the second generation get better schools than the third? I don't think so. Something else is going on here that has more to do with culture than number of computers in school.
Posted
5/22/2002 05:22:31 PM
by Edward Driscoll
RYAN LEAF UPDATE: On Monday, we reported that Ryan Leaf had been cut from his third gig as an NFL quarterback--a backup in Dallas. He's getting shot number four, this time competing as a backup in Seattle, whose head coach and GM Mike Holmgren seems to like him.
Posted
5/22/2002 12:26:15 PM
by Edward Driscoll
LED ZEPPELIN DEBATES ANTI-CORPORATE FARMING SPOKESWOMAN AT CAPTAIN SCOTT'S ELECTRIC LOVE BUNKER!
(You won't see headlines like that at the New York Times, will you??)
Posted
5/22/2002 12:08:24 PM
by Edward Driscoll
YOU'RE EITHER WITH US OR... PART II: Roger Clegg, on The Corner on National Review Online says that there's progress in Florida:
An Associated Press story this morning reports that Jeb Bush and his cabinet have decided to end a particularly ugly state policy. In order to get into a public school’s “gifted and talented” program, you had to pass an IQ test—but the passing grade was lower if you were black than if you were white. Rather insulting, wouldn’t you say, even if done for the greater good of “diversity”? The change in policy was prompted, it seems safe to say, by a lawsuit filed with the backing of Ward Connerly’s American Civil Rights Institute and an aggressive series of letters sent this year by ACRI and the Center for Equal Opportunity to a number of Florida school districts. The letter—now posted on CEO’s website, www.ceousa.org—informed the school districts of the lawsuit and their districts’ legal vulnerability if they didn’t stop discriminating.
Posted
5/22/2002 10:09:02 AM
by Edward Driscoll
THE BIG THREE, 50 YEARS LATER: Check out this cartoon on VodkaPundit.
Posted
5/22/2002 09:42:58 AM
by Edward Driscoll
BOYCOTT McDONALDS: If a National Review Online author calls for it, that means it's a campaign that's not just for anti-global leftists anymore!
Actually, the article is about Arab boycotts of American products--that's just the lead. And the author, James S. Robbins, makes an excellent point:
Arab consumers may not be willing to make this kind of sacrifice. They may forgo Western goods where there are Arab alternatives, but not give up consumption altogether. And in the final analysis, does it really make a difference from a globalization standpoint if the pizza being consumed in Doha has an American or a Qatari name? It is still pizza. A burger is a burger, whether or not it is a Saudi Burger. The Arab reactionaries cannot stop the westernizing of their culture simply by switching to domestic knockoffs of Western goods; in fact, that tactic marks their surrender to it.
Posted
5/22/2002 09:27:07 AM
by Edward Driscoll
DRUDGE HEADLINE: "D.C. Police: Remains found may be Chandra."
Here's the story.
UPDATE: The Washington Post says it's her.
Posted
5/22/2002 09:23:18 AM
by Edward Driscoll
CAPT. KIRK'S CHAIR IS UP FOR AUCTION, according to Wired News, which has an article titled Trekkies Bid on the Holy Grail.
Naturally, Jonah Goldberg wants it for National Review. But what's the chain of command? Bill Buckley, then Rich Lowry, then Jonah? Or Buckley then Jonah then Rich? And when all three are down on the planet surface, will Cosmo have the conn?
Posted
5/22/2002 12:13:15 AM
by Edward Driscoll
THE SWINGIN' DAVE BARRY: The predictable hilarity definitely ensues.
But in defiance of his usually focused and controlled libertarian leanings, the complex and dangerous environment that Barry finds himself in somehow forces him to call for strict Federal Thong Control.
Posted
5/21/2002 10:48:42 PM
by Edward Driscoll
NO SUCH THING AS NATURAL, according to Jonah Goldberg in his syndicated column.
I wonder what Francis Fukuyama thinks of that.
Posted
5/21/2002 10:34:48 PM
by Edward Driscoll
COLLEGE COMMENCEMENTS STILL DOMINATED BY LIBERALS, according to CNS.com.
The truly great thing about America's college campuses, is their emphasis on diversity. Exploring all sides of an issue. Letting kids think for themselves. And clearly, that commitment is reflected in the diverse ideologies of the speakers chosen for college commencements.
Way to go guys.
Posted
5/21/2002 10:29:08 PM
by Edward Driscoll
ARMED PILOTS UPDATE: Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee accused major American air carriers Tuesday of pressuring the Bush administration into keeping pilots unarmed during flights. Read the whole thing here, including a special surprise guest appearance by Fritz Hollings (D-Disney).
Posted
5/21/2002 10:05:38 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SGT. STRYKER HITS THE ROAD...and ends the day with an honorary Ph.D. in veterinary medicine.
Is the Sarge's adventure this summer's answer to Jonah Goldberg's infamous cross-country road trip? And what do Black Cat and Calico think of Cosmo?
Posted
5/21/2002 09:30:34 PM
by Edward Driscoll
LINKED TO BY VODKAPUNDIT! We may disagree on our elixir of choice, but I've been a big fan of Stephen Green's VodkaPundit site ever since I found it via InstaPundit (and I suspect a lot of other people are too).
Now I'm a member of the "Hair o' the Dog" club. Thanks, Stephen!
Posted
5/21/2002 03:12:58 PM
by Edward Driscoll
UTHANT UPDATE: A while back, the mysterious Uthant wrote a very funny piece called "Bush to Florida: You're Either With Us..."
Bush's Justice Department must have taken it to heart, according to this AP story.
Posted
5/21/2002 02:28:47 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE MORAL EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN BAD ARCHITECTURE AND MASS MURDER: I had more respect for the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings, whose Gordon Bunshaft designed Lever House and the Union Carbide building in New York in the 1950s--both above average examples of mid-century modernism (not to mention above average Mies van der Rohe knockoffs), until I read the quote that VodkaPundit found.
UPDATE: I just added my comments to the story on the VodkaPundit site.
Posted
5/21/2002 02:15:10 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE, 21ST CENTURY STYLE: Joanne Jacobs have several items on the culture war of the 21st century, on her readjacobs.com site.
Posted
5/21/2002 01:47:36 PM
by Edward Driscoll
IT MUST BE THE DAY FOR THE US TO BE LIMITING OUR DEFENSES, if this report is true.
Posted
5/21/2002 01:44:55 PM
by Edward Driscoll
BLOG CRASHES: Because my blog is on a separate Web server, we appear to be fine. But a number of blogs hosted by Blogspot appear to be down, due to a hiccup on their server, or a software glitch, or a disruption in the space/time continuum or who's know what. It looks like all the data's there, but they need to be republished by their users. Stacy Tabb, the designer of the new, improved InstaPundit site (which is also now on a different server), explains just how to do that.
Posted
5/21/2002 01:35:25 PM
by Edward Driscoll
CHRIS CARTER RETIRES, JOINS HBO SPORTS. The ex-Minnesota Viking is calling it a career.
Posted
5/21/2002 01:01:54 PM
by Edward Driscoll
BROOKLYN BRIDGE, STATUE OF LIBERTY ON TERROR ALERT, according to this FOXNews.com report (via Drudge).
Posted
5/21/2002 09:45:23 AM
by Edward Driscoll
ATTACK OF THE DRONES: The history of drone warfare, found via VodkaPundit.
Posted
5/21/2002 09:41:15 AM
by Edward Driscoll
SCARY JUXTAPOSITION OF AP HEADLINES on my "My Yahoo" home page:
Posted
5/21/2002 09:35:20 AM
by Edward Driscoll
NOT SERIOUS. Andrew Stuttaford's take on the administration's refusal to arm pilots:
Is the administration serious about counterterrorism in the skies? It would seem not. Speaking to the Senate today, Under-secretary of commerce John Magaw has testified that the White House will continue to oppose arming pilots. Add this stance to the continued presence of Norm Mineta in government, and air travelers have every reason to be concerned that the White House's attitude to their safety is a combination of the frivolous, the foolish and the feeble. When it comes to flight security, the Bush administration seems to put PC over protection and bureaucracy over imagination. What a disgrace.I can understand the Bush administration's fear of giving a Second Amendment issue to their opponents (especially when read hysterical quips like the one at the top of this page). But Stuffaford is right.
Posted
5/21/2002 09:04:16 AM
by Edward Driscoll
THE GOOD THINGS: Asparagirl takes time to appreciate them.
Posted
5/21/2002 08:56:37 AM
by Edward Driscoll
I LOVE THIS PHOTO. There's something really hilarious about seeing Star Wars Stormtroopers stroll past New York's finest.
I have the utmost respect for the New York police. But my first thought when staring at this photo was "But is there a Duncan Donuts in the Empire"?
Posted
5/21/2002 08:39:26 AM
by Edward Driscoll
INSTAPUNDIT UPDATE: As InstaPundit.Com is in the process of propagating to a new Web host, its former URL at Blogspot seems to be down. Here's where to find it.
UPDATE: The old URL is up at the moment. But at least you have the numeric version of the new one in case Blogspot sputters again.
Posted
5/21/2002 08:32:53 AM
by Edward Driscoll
TEDDY KENNEDY HOSTS HEARINGS ON OBESITY: No, we're not making that up. But over at VodkaPundit, they're having lots of fun with the concept....
Posted
5/21/2002 08:19:41 AM
by Edward Driscoll
NO KIDDING: Well, last week it was Star Wars. Today it seems to be England. So in keeping with our Verrrrry English Theme today, found via NRO's The Corner Weblog, here's an article that says that the hotelier that Fawlty Towers was based on was pretty bonkers himself, according to his former waitress.
But what does Manuel think?
Posted
5/21/2002 08:08:36 AM
by Edward Driscoll
NIGHT TO REMEMBER AUTHOR DIES: Group Captain Lionel Mandrake says that Walter Lord has died. Lord wrote the book that A Night To Remember was based on.
If I ever get into digital video editing, I'd be tempted to take the first 3/4 of that film and the last 1/4 of the more recent Titanic and splice them together. You'd then have a Titanic story with solid drama and acting, followed by blow-'em-out-of-the-water (err, maybe not the best analogy for film about the Titanic!) special effects.
Posted
5/21/2002 08:03:17 AM
by Edward Driscoll
US WON'T ALLOW GUNS IN COCKPITS: I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of this issue.
Posted
5/21/2002 12:33:14 AM
by Edward Driscoll
AP HEADLINE: Kashmir Dispute Flares Anew. Geez, can't Led Zeppelin fans ever make up their minds about which version of "Kashmir" they like? Personally, I like the Unledded orchestral version. But I can see where many fans would prefer the original on Physical Graffiti.
Grab the Danelectro--this could be war!
Posted
5/21/2002 12:17:43 AM
by Edward Driscoll
FORCED SILENCE: Reason's Daily Brickbat column says:
In Bournemouth, Great Britain, unsavory speech is dealt with strictly. Ask street preacher Harry Hammond. After denouncing homosexuality from his curbside pulpit, a crowd gathered around him and began to pelt him with dirt and water. He was then fined £300 for “trying to incite people to attack homosexuals.” Finally, the magistrates ordered that his placard -- “Stop Immorality, Stop Homosexuality” -- be destroyed.Why do I get the feeling that this sounds more like Portmeirion than Bournemouth?
Posted
5/20/2002 11:09:02 PM
by Edward Driscoll
"MAYBE THEY'LL BAN MARKERS": Sony's CD anti-piracy scheme can apparently be cracked with a black magic marker. I had a flashback to about ten years ago, when the rumor was that tracing a green magic marker around the edge would improve playability. Hey, they were write. Err, right!
Posted
5/20/2002 10:20:16 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WOW! The new look InstaPundit.Com site is active--it preserves the red and white color scheme of the old site (which in terms of design, if not color scheme, looked a lot like this site. I can't believe how shamelessly Reynolds copied my design on his old site. He even started blogging a good eight months before I did, just to cover his tracks!) Like NRO's redesign, it's going to take me a little while to get used to his site's new look, but it really does stand out (hence the "Wow!" headline). Nice logo, too.
Perhaps most importantly, the InstaPundit site finally has a search engine--no more having to do advanced Google searches to find something on Glenn's site. Way to go!
Posted
5/20/2002 09:59:57 PM
by Edward Driscoll
IT WASN'T ME--I'M NOT IN JERSEY ANYMORE! CNS.com says that a columnist for "the Pulitzer prize-winning Newark Star-Ledger", New Jersey's largest daily newspaper, last week "used a number of fabricated quotes from a parody published five weeks earlier by Cybercast News Service in authoring his May 17 column on 'politically correct' university research."
Oops!
Posted
5/20/2002 09:53:20 PM
by Edward Driscoll
NAME A PRESIDENT WHO DIDN'T. Here's another amazing Washington Post headline: "Bush Turns More Partisan With Coming of Elections".
Posted
5/20/2002 09:51:01 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THIS SHOULD HELP DELAY ANY OF HIS PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS: A Washington Post headline says, "Lieberman Urges Congress to Delay Future Tax Cuts."
Posted
5/20/2002 08:47:45 PM
by Edward Driscoll
BUSH VS. CASTRO: The AP headline Sunday on my "My Yahoo" homepage read "Bush Won't Ease Hard-Line Vs. Cuba" In National Review Online, Joel Mowbray gives much more detailed reasoning behind Bush's stance in Cuba. He writes:
Without lifting the travel ban or trade embargo, Bush is attempting to infiltrate Castro's island prison with humanitarian assistance and democratic values in an approach dubbed by a senior State Department official as a "frontal assault against Castro." The basic thrust is that the U.S. will attempt to make an end-run around Castro to both engage the Cuban people and sow the seeds of democracy.If Bush plays his cards right, he could have the most effective foreign policy since Reagan. The Gipper brought down the Soviet Union. Assuming Dubya gets reelected, by the end of his second term he may very well have not only reshaped the Middle East, but liberated Cuba from its tyrannical dictator. Not too shabby, if he pulls it off--and if he does, what an astonishing first decade of a new millennium this will be for this nation. UPDATE: Speaking of geopolitics, the Times of London says "On the eve of his six-day trip to Russia and Western Europe, the White House said that he would use his visit to Berlin, where he is due to make a keynote address to the Reichstag, to urge backing for the removal of the Iraqi dictator and his weapons of mass destruction."
Posted
5/20/2002 04:51:36 PM
by Edward Driscoll
COMING SOON ON DVD: In their Rumor Mill section, the Digital Bits has very tentative dates for when a number of very big budget films will be out on DVD (several of which aren't even out yet in theaters!)
Which films? Think webs, clones, scorpions, Reese's Pieces-eating aliens and time travelling DeLoreans, among others...
Posted
5/20/2002 04:40:14 PM
by Edward Driscoll
LEAF LEAVES: The Dallas Cowboys say "Seeeee ya!" to Ryan Leaf, the former number two pick in the 1998 draft, who will be a quarterback with his fourth team in a year and a half if anybody signs him.
Posted
5/20/2002 01:30:20 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WORKIN': I have several articles that need to get out the door in fairly short order--so don't expect much content until this evening at least.
Posted
5/19/2002 09:03:08 PM
by Edward Driscoll
STRAIGHT MAN: Terrific article by Howard Kurtz on Ari Fleischer, the White House's press secretary. It's a good look at not only Fleischer's style, but Bush's, with an emphasis on both of their abilities to minimize leaks, unlike the previous administration.
Oh, and Bush's nickname for Ari is "Ari-Bob", making a nice Jewish boy from the affluent Westchester County town of Pound Ridge, N.Y., an honorary Southern good old boy.
Posted
5/19/2002 05:12:18 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE PHANTOM MENACE: Incidentally, the Drudge Archives were found in this excellent essay by James Taranto on the 20/20 hindsight of Bush's recent Monday morning quarterbacks. Scroll down Taranto's column for some dead-on comments from a reader of the "Little Green Footballs" Weblog.
Posted
5/19/2002 05:06:40 PM
by Edward Driscoll
DRUDGE REPORT ARCHIVES: Found via the Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web" column, there is an archive of Matt Drudge articles.
I have no idea if this is run by Drudge, or someone independent of him, but it's a pretty slick collection of the stories that Drudge has broken over the years.
Posted
5/19/2002 11:02:24 AM
by Edward Driscoll
BUSH PET NICKNAME FOR VLADIMIR PUTIN IS 'POOTIE-POOT': Nothing like fumbling out of bed on a Sunday morning, turning on your PC's monitor and finding that as Matt Drudge's headline of the day, in what looks like 30 point Helvetica Bold type all in caps.
As Newt Gingrich once said, the president has his hand on the nuclear button, so we're entitled to know as much about him as possible. But I didn't need to know that.
Here's the story the headline links to.
Pootie-Poot. 'Scuse me while I try and get that phrase out of my head. Where's my sledgehammer?
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