Posted
11/15/2003 11:38:38 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE BROKE: Cal Thomas writes:
After two decades of being "tough on crime" by "locking them up and throwing away the key" — to recall two of the effective political slogans of the past — the bill has come due. Many states have become incapable or unwilling to pay the cost of housing record numbers of inmates.Thomas--who's never going to be accused of being soft on criminals--has some interesting ideas on solving the problem.
Posted
11/15/2003 10:53:51 PM
by Edward Driscoll
OCTOGENARIANS ON WHEELS: More and more accidents are occurring as too many elderly people "with deficits in cognition, reflexes, neck rotation, and the ability to multi-task" are getting behind the wheels of their automobiles. Christopher Orlet of the The Texas Mercury writes:
Here, then, is one of those lovely American paradoxes. Local and federal governments bent on sanitizing, sheltering and protecting American life, who force motorists to buckle up, motorcyclists to wear helmets, hunters to put safety locks on guns, until they have succeeded in draining all of the risk and fun out of life, have done everything in their power to make it necessary for the elderly and teens to get behind and stay behind the wheel.
Posted
11/15/2003 09:37:56 AM
by Edward Driscoll
THE AL QAEDA/SADDAM CONNECTION: Does this finally cinch it?
As Orrin Judd writes, "When Dick Cheney keeps going on Meet the Press and saying there's an Iraqi connection to al Qaeda you can either assume he's a complete pathological liar, as Democrats have, or that he knows something you don't, yet".
UPDATE: Speaking of Iraq, how much does our negative media coverage of the situation influence what other nations think of us?
ANOTHER UPDATE: The Weekly Standard's server was down for much of last night and today. It's now back online. Here's the article in question.
Posted
11/15/2003 09:34:38 AM
by Edward Driscoll
MASTER AND COMMANDER, starring Russell Crowe, has been getting some very, very good reviews lately, including this one by Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News and these two brief but favorable posts by National Review's John J. Miller.
Posted
11/14/2003 04:08:01 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WHOPPER OF THE WEEK: as spotted by Andrew Sullivan. Of course, it's far from the first time such a thing has happened.
Posted
11/14/2003 02:08:23 PM
by Edward Driscoll
KEITH RICHARDS, CLOSET CONSERVATIVE: I love it.
Link via Reason's "Hit & Run" blog.
UPDATE: Add Christopher Lee to the list as well.
Posted
11/14/2003 12:57:48 PM
by Edward Driscoll
ACTING UNILATERALLY: Shell of Across the Atlantic has a run down of the countries who have troops in Iraq.
Posted
11/14/2003 12:55:52 PM
by Edward Driscoll
ABORTIONS FOR SOME! MINIATURE EU FLAGS FOR OTHERS! Jonah Goldberg looks at how Europe will inevitably adopt American-style politics.
Posted
11/14/2003 12:51:40 AM
by Edward Driscoll
UP ON BLOGCRITICS: Collecting Vintage Synthesizers--complete with photos of Pete Townshend and Paul McCartney, and their vintage gear!
Posted
11/13/2003 06:18:32 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WILL THE NEW YORK FOOTBALL JETS (as Chris Berman always describes them) actually be returning to New York? BusinessWeek says they could be movin' on up from the Meadowlands in North Jersey to a dee-luxe stadium on Manhattan's west side, where former a Penn Central railroad yard currently resides.
But considering how many times developers have tried to tackle this area and failed (Donald Trump planned to build condos there, and the article mentions that former mayor Rudolph Giuliani "championed a west side stadium in the 1990s as part of the city's bid to host the Summer Olympics."), I'll believe it's happening when construction starts.
Posted
11/13/2003 05:29:13 PM
by Edward Driscoll
NFL SUNDAY TICKET CHANNELS BLACKED OUT: Why is DirecTV blacking out channels on their NFL Sunday Ticket package this year, if those channels are also available locally? This is a new phenomenon, that's a real pain in the neck--especially if you're programming your PVR to timeshift the big game, and up with nothing but yellow text reading "Channel Unavailable In Your Area" over an otherwise all-black screen.
Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated investigates.
Posted
11/13/2003 05:16:31 PM
by Edward Driscoll
DEAN'S CONFEDERATE FLAG FLAP: It's reached all the way to Dartmouth, according to "Armavirumque".
Posted
11/13/2003 04:00:24 PM
by Edward Driscoll
TO PARAPHRASE STEPHEN GREEN, Wynonna--and this is coming from me, fer crissakes -- lay off the booze.
Posted
11/13/2003 03:17:58 PM
by Edward Driscoll
STEVEN DEN BESTE has a brilliant post on the concept of "total war", born out of the industrial revolution, versus how the war on terror is being fought. Every reporter should understand this stuff. Sadly, few of them do.
Posted
11/13/2003 02:04:39 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE BILL BOWL: On Sunday night, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick (and their football teams, the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots respectively, each 7-2) will face off against each other.
Don Banks of Sports Illustrated analyzes the common bonds the two men share.
Posted
11/13/2003 12:33:27 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE CHICKENHAWK SLUR: It reappeared just in time for Veterans Day. John Hawkins has some thoughts. So does Chris Muir.
Posted
11/13/2003 10:54:12 AM
by Edward Driscoll
WHAT PRESIDENTS WILL BE REMEMBERED 100 years from now? Shell of Across the Atlantic has some thoughts. Be sure to read her original post on the subject as well.
Posted
11/13/2003 10:52:13 AM
by Edward Driscoll
THE FRINGE: Are the people who lead the anti-war movement "the fringe"? Glenn Reynolds writes:
Whenever I mention people who want the United States to lose, I'm told "yeah, but they're the fringe". But they're NOT. Misha and the [the people associated with FreeRepublic.com] don't have syndicated columns. They're not winning awards from allegedly-mainstream outfits. They're not published with those views in allegedly-respectable newspapers. [Cartoonist Ted] Rall is. Ditto with ANSWER -- they're the indispensable core of the antiwar movement. You can try to dismiss them as a fringe, but no alternative group has been able to replace them because, in fact, they aren't the fringe of the antiwar movement. Their hostility to America, their desire for America to lose, is just a more distilled version of something we see all over.Reynolds adds, "Fringe? Of society, maybe. Of the antiwar movement? Doesn't sound like it." Read the rest--if you haven't already.
Posted
11/13/2003 09:54:37 AM
by Edward Driscoll
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "those who must deal with the Federal government would also be wise to remember Flounder's lesson".
Don't remember Flounder? Click on over to read the whole thing then!
Posted
11/12/2003 03:51:15 PM
by Edward Driscoll
"THE INSURGENT AND THE SOLDIER": As the Monty Pythoners would say, there's no moral equivalence here. And when I say there is none, I do mean that there is a certain amount.
Posted
11/12/2003 01:49:57 PM
by Edward Driscoll
AP HUNG UP on a caller who complained about the omission of Israeli victims from their article titled "Recent [Islamic] Terror Attacks Around the World".
Posted
11/12/2003 01:09:01 PM
by Edward Driscoll
"BELATED VETERANS DAY NOTE": Be sure to read this wonderful letter received by Andrew Sullivan.
Posted
11/12/2003 12:17:09 PM
by Edward Driscoll
"A PERFECT STORM OF ANGRY LEFTISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM centered on one man: George Soros", writes James Taranto.
UPDATE: Meryl Yourish also has some thoughts.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Speaking of angry leftism and anti-Semitism, Mikis Theodorakis, 78, who wrote the score for Zorba The Greek was quoted today in an AFP article:
"Today, we can say that these little people are the root of evil," said Theodorakis, 78, a committed leftist and political activist who was jailed under the fascist junta that held power in Greece in the late 1960s and early 1970s.What is it about today's environment--especially in Europe--that allows anti-Semites to feel that they can express their hatred so openly?
Posted
11/12/2003 10:10:31 AM
by Edward Driscoll
ATLAS DRANK: And for more Vodka-fueled goodness, the Ayn Rand-oriented Atlasphere.com features an interview with Stephen Green.
Posted
11/12/2003 10:00:50 AM
by Edward Driscoll
IT'S GORE VERSUS GORE over at Stephen Green's VodkaPundit, who features dueling sound bites. Pick one, Al! Meanwhile, Green writes that Al's former boss fears that Howard Dean could steal his party out from under him.
Posted
11/11/2003 03:21:13 PM
by Edward Driscoll
OFF TO THE GREAT RACCOON LODGE IN THE SKY: Art Carney, co-star of The Honeymooners, has died, at age 85.
Posted
11/11/2003 01:37:33 PM
by Edward Driscoll
"THE MOST TRUSTED NAME IN"--er, on second thought...
Of course, considering what its founder and his former wife think of their American viewers, CNN's attempts to manipulate them aren't all that surprising.
UPDATE: John Hawkins has more.
Posted
11/11/2003 01:08:16 PM
by Edward Driscoll
AMON'S LAW* IN ACTION: Chris Carter, the retired superstar wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, who's now a sportscaster, said this:
Black coaches can't be too picky. A great percentage of owners never will hire a black coach.Really?? Even with the Rooney Rule now in place? Care to explain why and name some names, Chris? That's the kind of line that Rush Limbaugh was crucified for--but I doubt there will be much of a firestorm over Carter's comment.
Posted
11/11/2003 12:57:22 PM
by Edward Driscoll
"EDUCATIONAL QUAGMIRE" is the phrase of the day over at Instapundit.com and National Review's "The Corner".
I kind of like it, myself--it would be a fun phrase to see worked into sound bites on TV.
Posted
11/10/2003 08:05:46 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE AXIS OF CHAOS: Nicholas Stix is none too pleased with the war against the Geneva Conventions.
Posted
11/10/2003 05:40:11 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SPEAKING OF THE MATRIX: One of the trailers before The Matrix: Revolutions was Disney's The Alamo, starring Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett, and scheduled for a Christmas release. My mind started going through my Hollywood checklist, as my hackles started to raise:
1. American history--always subject for politically correct Hollywood revisionism.
2. Set in Texas, where our current president, who's up for reelection next year, governed. Since the late 1990s, Texas has become the butt of many a joke in Hollywood films, even before GWB was elected.
3. At the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, its star once said, "Gosh, I would't care if the President had been involved in bestiality if he runs the country right."
4. It's being released just before an election year, and as the country itself is at war. And on Christmas day, too!
Evidently, I wasn't the only one having those thoughts, as the film is being re-edited "after preview audiences complained it was 'too politically correct' and pointed out that Disney had tried to portray the Mexican side sympathetically to appeal to Mexican-Americans and other Hispanics living in the US", according to this article on NorthernIreland.co.uk.
Expect another battle similar to what just happened with CBS's The Reagans, when this film is released.
Posted
11/10/2003 03:51:07 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WHY NEW EUROPE LOVES US: Matt Welch looks at how rock helped defeat communism.
Posted
11/10/2003 03:20:14 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WHY OLD EUROPE HATES US: American rock and roll exported to England produced the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and Led Zeppelin.
American rock and roll exported to Sweden produced these acts.
Posted
11/10/2003 12:51:48 PM
by Edward Driscoll
LAST WEEK, James Lileks wrote about what's obvious and unspoken (and obviously unspoken) in the Matrix films:
I took away something else from the Matrix trilogy: it is a product of deeply confused people. They want it all. They want individualism and community; they want secularism and transcendence; they want the purity of committed love and the licentious fun of an S&M club; they want peace and the thrill of violence; they want God, but they want to design him on their own screens with their own programs by their own terms for their own needs, and having defined the divine on their own terms, they bristle when anyone suggests they have simply built a room with a mirror and flattering lighting. All three Matrix movies, seen in total, ache for a God. But they can’t quite go all the way. They’re like three movies about circular flat meat patties that can never quite bring themselves to say the word “hamburger.”Thomas Hibbs explores that point further in his National Review article. UPDATE: Jesse Walker of Reason also has some thoughts on the trilogy.
Posted
11/10/2003 12:21:14 AM
by Edward Driscoll
JEFF JACOBY on Al Sharpton:
There should be no room in American politics for a race-baiting charlatan of any color. Honorable Democrats ought to be able to look Sharpton in the eye and say so. Their failure to do so is a moral and political disgrace.Read the whole thing.
Posted
11/9/2003 06:16:25 PM
by Edward Driscoll
GOOD MORNING MESOPOTAMIA: Rich Galen is in Iraq, and sending back regular reports, via his Mullings Website.
Posted
11/9/2003 02:50:55 PM
by Edward Driscoll
QUOTE OF THE DAY: William Sjostrom of AtlanticBlog: "The military conflicts we have been 'marched into' by Mr. Blair are Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq. That isn't because the PM never understood the words of 'Imagine', but because it transpired that the Taliban, the hard men of the Baath, the amputating militias of West Africa, the Hutu Interahamwe and the Serb army of Radko Mladic had been brought up on something other than Joan Baez."
Read the rest of his post as well.
Posted
11/9/2003 11:53:31 AM
by Edward Driscoll
OPEN MOUTH, INSERT FLORSHEIM: Wesley Clark chimes in on Dean's Confederate flag flap.
UPDATE: Here's another unintentional gaffe by Clark.
Posted
11/9/2003 11:34:19 AM
by Edward Driscoll
LIBERAL COCOONING UPDATE: Mark Steyn picks up the theme that Mickey Kaus first labeled.
Home