Posted 1/4/2003 03:40:05 PM by Edward Driscoll
POLICING THEIR OWN: Pejman Yousefzadeh writes that "evidently...a racist on the Democratic side of the aisle is running for President." (You've probably guessed who it is already. I wonder, if during the Trent Lott fiasco, if anybody asked Al, Bubba, Hillary, Leiberman, or any of the other folks who were (quite appropriately in this case) trashing Lott what they were going to do about the skeleton in their closet--who's err...ring...was kissed by every Democratic presidential candidate in the previous election. And you've probably guessed the answer to that, as well--and you'd be right.)

Posted 1/4/2003 11:25:59 AM by Edward Driscoll
THE FIRST ANNUAL FISKIE AWARD was handed out earlier today by Charles Johnson, after voting by the readers of Little Green Footballs. Tough to argue with the results.

Posted 1/4/2003 11:10:28 AM by Edward Driscoll
HOW FAR DO YOU GO when retaliating against an enemy? Steven Den Beste has some thoughts in a long, but typically fascinating essay.

Posted 1/4/2003 10:38:56 AM by Edward Driscoll
ANOTHER AFL GREAT PASSES AWAY: Sid Gillman, the architect of the modern passing game during his days as the first head coach of the San Diego Chargers of the old American Football League, died on Friday at age 91. Earlier this week, Joe Foss, the AFL's first commissioner also died.

Posted 1/3/2003 01:08:01 AM by Edward Driscoll
TEAM STRYKER EXAMINES THE OFFICIAL USMC PALM PILOT. Highly advanced technology, and sophisticated programming team up in the latest gadget to make our fighting men's lives easier.

Posted 1/2/2003 04:53:24 PM by Edward Driscoll
IT'S OFFICIAL: ESPN reports that Bill Parcells was "officially introduced as the Cowboys' new coach".

Posted 1/2/2003 04:48:43 PM by Edward Driscoll
WHEN LUDWIG MET CHELSEA: Fifty years ago, Austrian free-market economist Ludwig von Mises was the laughing stock of American intellectuals for his free-market, pro-capitalism economic ways. Today, he's the toast of a Manhattan art gallery!

Posted 1/2/2003 04:36:33 PM by Edward Driscoll
TIME TRIPPS UP: Sidney Goldberg says there's something curiously missing from their recent nomation of three women as "Persons of the Year":

So let Time trumpet the virtues of the three women whistle-blowers. But it would have been nice if it had made, in passing, a small salute to a woman who sacrificed all for exposing the truth and served the country well.

See our earlier coverage here.

Posted 1/2/2003 12:43:24 PM by Edward Driscoll
JOE FOSS, FIRST AFL COMMISSIONER died Wednesday at age 87. Foss lead quite a life--he was also a Korean War ace, elected governor of South Dakota in 1955, hosted the television show The American Sportsman on ABC, and was president of the National Rifle Association from 1988-90. UPDATE: Foss was making news as recently as January of 2002.

Posted 1/2/2003 10:58:29 AM by Edward Driscoll
CAN LIBERALS EVER HOPE TO COMPETE IN TALK RADIO? Orrin Judd has some thoughts. UPDATE: They're not doing so hot on cable TV news channels, either. ANOTHER UPDATE: James Taranto has some rather amusing thoughts:

Well for crying out loud, guys, why not dare to dream big? American liberalism is pretty pathetic if its highest aspiration is to mimic Fox, Heritage and Rush. Here's a much more ambitious goal: Why not counter the vast right-wing conspiracy by taking over the "mainstream" media? And if it's research you want, maybe you should set your sights on America's system of higher education. If you could get liberals onto college and university faculties, they would have the opportunity to mold young minds as well as influence the political debate. Imagine a world in which more than 80% of journalists vote Democratic, and in which left-liberal scholars vastly outnumber conservatives at colleges and universities across the country. It'd be a liberal dream, right?

There's more--definitely check it out.

Posted 1/2/2003 10:44:43 AM by Edward Driscoll
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, INTERNET! January first marks the 20th anniversary of the day that the 'Net was switched to the TCP/IP protocols, and its usage began to skyrocket. (I don't know about you, but I was just dipping my toe--not to mention my TRS-80--into CompuServe at the time.) For more on the very early days of the Internet, check out my essay, "How the Web Was Won". UPDATE: And January first marked the two year anniversary of Virginia Postrel's blog, a favorite of ours at EdDriscoll.com HQ.

Posted 1/2/2003 10:09:40 AM by Edward Driscoll
WHY ARE THE ROLLING STONES giving a free concert to frighten us all about global warming? Christopher C. Horner has an amusing essay on Tech Central Station:

Maybe I've gotten into Keith Richard's stash, but wouldn't it be great if the inane Stones moralizing this February ushered in a similar sobering in the consciousnesses of the unwashed? Would it not speak volumes about man's capacity for critical thought if Greenpeace were to at least picket energy-slurping rock concerts agonizing over the alleged horrors of prosperity.

OK, so let me get this straight--the Stones (who in their youth were celebrated for peeing on gas station walls, worshiping the devil, hiring the Hell's Angels to police a concert, and other acts of insightful example) are flying in via jet planes, hiring 57 tractor-trailers to haul their gear, hiring a stadium of some sort where 10,000 gasoline-burning cars will drive in, and using tens of thousands of watts of electricity, all to promote the dangers of global warming. Back in the mid-1960s, after a trial concerning a particularly famous drug arrest, Keith Richards yelled at the judge, "We are not old men. We don't need your petty morals." Congratulations Mick and Keith--you've just officially become old men--and boring, too.

Posted 1/1/2003 12:39:30 AM by Edward Driscoll
THAT'S NOT FLYING, IT'S FALLING WITH STYLE! Dean Esmay goes skydiving--and lives to tell the tale.

Posted 1/1/2003 12:04:17 AM by Edward Driscoll

Happy New Year!

Posted 12/31/2002 11:40:38 PM by Edward Driscoll
BELIEF, NOT MEDICINE: Howard Fienberg, writing in Tech Central Station thoroughly debunks acupuncture.

Posted 12/31/2002 02:50:58 PM by Edward Driscoll
IS THERE A NEO-PROHIBITIONISM AFOOT? Eric Peters looks at those MADD mothers and their agenda:

The anti-drunk-driving groups have done a great service in helping to enlighten the general public — and make it socially unacceptable to drive while drunk. But knowing when to say "when" applies just as equally to social and legal policy. Just because we went on a bender in the past doesn't mean neo-Prohibitionism is the answer today. Reasonable people favor reasonable laws. And that should satisfy all but the crazies — who should be kept away from the levers of power regardless.

He's right--but too many of the "crazies" seek those levers, and enough get through to be dangerous to the rest of us, unfortunately. UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds has some thoughts.

Posted 12/30/2002 11:52:11 PM by Edward Driscoll
BLACK MONDAY: Three NFL coaches were given pink slips.

Posted 12/30/2002 11:31:02 PM by Edward Driscoll
IT WAS ALSO A VERY BAD YEAR, if you scored one of Andrew Sullivan's "awards" for excessive rhetoric.

Posted 12/30/2002 11:26:58 PM by Edward Driscoll
IT WAS A VERY BAD YEAR, at least for five celebrities whose careers (or at the very least whose credibility) took serious steps backwards in 2002.

Posted 12/30/2002 01:27:00 PM by Edward Driscoll
TEXAS TUNA: The Dallas Morning News is reporting that "Bill Parcells has agreed to a four-year contract that will pay him roughly $4.5 million per season, and will be announced as the sixth coach of the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday, a source close to Jerry Jones and Parcells said." UPDATE: ESPN says that it ain't necessarily so. Watch this space (along with ESPN, your local newspaper, sports radio station and Morse code transmitters) for updates.

Posted 12/29/2002 09:06:23 PM by Edward Driscoll
MORE FUMBLING: Time magazine, in naming 2001 "The Year of the Whistleblower", overlooked an extremely important example, who just happened to be too politically incorrect for their rococo editors.

Posted 12/29/2002 09:00:41 PM by Edward Driscoll
I'M SURPRISED THEY DIDN'T BLAME REAGAN: The New York Times fact checking department fumbles the ball again.

Posted 12/29/2002 11:04:17 AM by Edward Driscoll
WILL THERE BE NEW MUSIC BY THE WHO IN 2003? Yes, according to this article. (Of course, I'll believe it when I hear it. It's been 20 years since the last album of original music by The Who.) (And yes, they'll be new posts from me as well. Between visiting parents over Christmas, and having to get a major article out the door to a dead-tree publication, posting has been slow since Christmas. But expect more soon.)