Posted
1/10/2004 11:55:36 PM
by Edward Driscoll
BECAUSE OF REDISTRICTING, Texas Congressman Ralph Hall changed parties shortly after the new year, from Democrat to Republican. And because of redistricting, Jim Turner, another House Democrat from Texas is retiring after this term.
Posted
1/10/2004 11:52:22 PM
by Edward Driscoll
DOES SADDAM HAVE CANCER? Link via Reason's Michael Young, who writes, "No wonder the U.S. gave him P.O.W. status so easily".
Posted
1/10/2004 03:36:57 PM
by Edward Driscoll
A HOUSE DIVIDED: Orrin Judd links to a remarkable article in the Economist that shows just how wide the gap is between the blue and red districts of, respectively, Nancy Pelosi and Dennis Hastert.
The subtext of that article is simple: if the Democratic party doesn't eventually implode, San Francisco may very well--demographics are destiny.
Posted
1/10/2004 03:20:09 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SPOCK'S BEARD: I know Wallace Shawn has been in a few episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine playing the leader of the Ferengis. Perhaps he's gotten trapped in the alternate universe where Mr. Spock has a goatee, and Lt. Uhura saucily displays her bare midriff while on duty.
That would at least explain this quote, found by Andrew Sullivan.
Speaking of alternate universes, Sullivan notes that the BBC has actually labeled the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as left-leaning!! The BBC--up off its feet at last!
Sigh--it won't last, and it's not much, but at least that's more than most American news services do when labeling leftist organizations.
UPDATE: On the other hand, one shouldn't expect too much when it comes to the BBC.
Posted
1/10/2004 12:45:35 PM
by Edward Driscoll
CHEMICAL WEAPONS FOUND IN IRAQ: A few thoughts:
1. Gee, chemical weapons in Iraq--there's a shock, huh?
2. It's about time, huh?
3. What's with the scare quotes around "chemical weapons"? Do Reuters and the BBC pay their reporters bonuses if they use more quotation marks??
This Reuters "article" has "more".
UPDATE: Meanwhile, Glenn Reynolds writes the US has found evidence that Russian firms exported night-vision goggles and radar-jamming equipment to Saddam Hussein.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reynolds has some thoughts on the chemical weapons, along the lines of opinion #1, above.
Posted
1/10/2004 11:17:24 AM
by Edward Driscoll
HEY, AYN RAND HAS A BLOG! Always nice to see another author going online, getting high-tech, and exploring his or her thoughts via the Blogosphere. Good luck to her!
Err, actually, The Atlasphere, a sort of Objectivists town hall (who interviewed Stephen Green not too long ago) has created the "Ayn Rand Meta-Blog".
Best item so far: a mention of a new biography of Alan Greenspan, who spent several years early in his career as a member of Rand's inner circle. It's title? Alan Shrugged!
Posted
1/10/2004 11:07:38 AM
by Edward Driscoll
WHILE THE GERMANS WERE BOMBING PEARL HARBOR, Wesley Clark adopted the Bluto look.
Otis Day and the Knights could not be reached for comment.
UPDATE: The Bluto look is designed to bridge the gender gap. But here's one woman who's less than impressed with the General's efforts.
Posted
1/9/2004 09:47:20 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SOONER OR LATER, I will have this conversation with someone.
Posted
1/9/2004 09:40:20 PM
by Edward Driscoll
CUBA TIGHTENS ITS CONTROL over the Internet. Which makes sense--Castro banned personal computers in 2002.
UPDATE: Speaking of Cuba, be sure and read this travel brochure, before you visit.
Posted
1/9/2004 09:13:07 PM
by Edward Driscoll
TALKING BOOK: I have a rare online-only article on the Smart TV & Sound Website, called "Talking Book: The Spoken Word Goes High Tech".
Be sure to check out my reference to Yamaha's Vocaloid, which could be a seriously hip product for high-tech musicians in 2004.
Posted
1/9/2004 03:33:45 PM
by Edward Driscoll
POINT/COUNTERPOINT: Roger Kimball looks at the virtues of altruism.
Ayn Rand rebuts.
Posted
1/9/2004 02:35:25 PM
by Edward Driscoll
"AN ALCATRAZ OF FUN": Jund Fund looks at the first travel guide to Hell since Dante: the new Bradt Travel Guide to North Korea.
Be sure to stop by Department Store #1. And really be sure to pay your laundry bill before you check out of your hotel.
Posted
1/9/2004 02:25:22 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE OP-EDDYS: RealClear Politics issues its first annual awards for the best--and worst--of the nation's op-ed pages. Speaking of the worst:
WORST COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR: Maureen Dowd, New York Times This one was a no-brainer, and I mean the pun in all seriousness. No one does less with the largest opinion platform in American than Dowd. Her vacuity is legendary, but 2003 was a banner year even by her standards. In addition to weaving her incessant Bush-hating pop culture analogies every single week, this year she also managed to (among other things) deride Clarence Thomas as an affirmative action baby and call into question her own veracity by altering a quote by President Bush. This Op-Eddy is well deserved. Runner Up: Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe I can't tell you how many times I've been appalled by the divisive racial rhetoric Jackson uses in his columns. He makes Bob Herbert look absolutely tame by comparison. I suppose its liberal white guilt that causes the editors at the Globe to keep publishing Jackson's weekly rants telling the Globe's readers that America is just one big Southern plantation, circa 1850. It's one thing to make serious arguments about racial injustice and inequality in America - both of which certainly still exist to a degree in our society - and something altogether different to declare that there is a "caste system" in America, as Jackson did earlier this year. If you want thoughtful liberal commentary on race in America skip Jackson and read Clarence Page or Leonard Pitts, Jr.Spot-on. And it's tough to argue with their lifetime achievement award.
Posted
1/9/2004 02:12:17 PM
by Edward Driscoll
OLD AGE HAVING A GO AT YOUTH: Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News writes that the "NFL prefers its coaches shelved, aged".
I'm sure this will be an AARP magazine cover story next fall.
UPDATE: Skip Bayless writes that 72 year old Bill Walsh is friends with Al Davis, and is sorely tempted to coach the Raider. But his wife suffered a stroke five years ago and he's devoting his time to nursing her health:
So there it sits, just across the bay, tempting and even tormenting Walsh -- the one almost-workable opportunity for him to return to the sidelines. Walsh watches Bill Parcells return and take Dallas to the playoffs in his first season, at 62. He watches Joe Gibbs return like George Washington from the dead to Washington at 63. He watches Dick Vermeil commit at 67 to another season in Kansas City. Walsh belongs to a generation of coaches who often retired too early mostly because society told them it was time to. He has discovered what most do -- that gardening and golfing can't begin to measure up to the grueling joy of coaching. They all need a break and they almost all realize they need coaching. No one ever has been better than Walsh at knowing and utilizing talent on offense and defense. Not Lombardi. Not Landry. Not anybody. What a waste it seems to be for Walsh to be watching so many others return.Of course, if not this season, maybe next. And maybe not with the Raiders. But it's possible--if remote--that the final chapter of Bill Walsh's career as a coach hasn't been written yet.
Posted
1/9/2004 01:09:26 PM
by Edward Driscoll
GAFFING ALL THE WAY: It's somewhat of an obvious point to our regular readers, but Mona Charen looks at the double standard in the media between gaffes made by the left, and by the right.
UPDATE: Orrin Judd has some thoughts as well--and a link to a staggering movie review.
Posted
1/9/2004 12:04:31 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL II: Brent Bozell issues a one million dollar challenge to Tom Brokaw and NBC.
Posted
1/9/2004 12:03:21 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL I: Sgt. Stryker worked on the C-5 Galaxy that the Iraqi insurgents fascists shot a missile at. Fortunately, the plane was able to land safely despite a hit on one of its engines:
It's bad enough that I have to deal with all sorts of obstacles (incompetence, lack of parts, low manning, managerial shenanigans) to keep these pieces of s*** maintained without having some half-literate loser with a chip and a SAM on his shoulder adding to the misery.(PG-13 version available on the Sarge's blog.)
Posted
1/8/2004 11:01:19 PM
by Edward Driscoll
2004: AN ED ODYSSEY: I have a glimpse of what's in store this year in home electronics in my latest bi-weekly newsletter for Electronic House magazine.
Posted
1/8/2004 10:05:41 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE VIEW THAT DELIGHTS THE TERRORIST: Tech Central Station looks at how Old Europe (this time including Britain, oddly enough) is balking at having armed sky marshals on flights to the US.
Great punchline at the end, incidentally.
Posted
1/8/2004 07:13:28 PM
by Edward Driscoll
NEW FALCONS COACH ANNOUNCED: Jim Mora (don't call him Jr!), who for the past several seasons has been defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, will be the new head coach in Atlanta.
Mora's dislike of being known as Jim Mora Jr. does cause some confusion, not the least of which is this AP photo, which at the time I'm uploading this shows his dad, and says:
Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Mora smiles while being booed by Philadelphia Eagles fans after calling for a review of the Eagles' first touchdown which came in the fourth quarter, Sunday, Nov. 21, 1999, in Philadelphia. The Atlanta Falcons have reached agreement to hire now San Francisco defensive coordinator Mora as the team's head coach, a source said Thursday night, Jan. 8, 2004.On the other hand, the younger Jim Mora has never uttered, "playoffs...PLAYOFFS??!!" as his dad once did near the end of the season he was fired by the Colts, thus ensuring himself television immortality, as that clip is shown at least once every year on ESPN during the post-season.
Posted
1/8/2004 02:49:01 PM
by Edward Driscoll
"DEMOCRATS UNLEARN 9/11": "For about a year, Republicans and Democrats agreed on the need vigorously to prosecute the war on terror", Daniel Pipes writes.
But no longer--RTWT.
(Hat tip: Charles Johnson.)
Posted
1/8/2004 02:31:26 PM
by Edward Driscoll
AS HEADS IS TAILS: John Wilkes Booth, hero? Martyr? Thomas Hibbs visits Ford's Theater:
Sitting in a coffee shop with our three pre-teenage children just blocks from Ford's Theater, where we had just heard a presentation on Booth's assassination of President Lincoln, our nine-year-old daughter commented, "That man made it sound like the bad guy was the good guy and the good guy was the bad guy." The bad guy turned good guy would of course be John Wilkes Booth, the most notorious assassin in American history. In the revisionist history now officially on display at Ford's Theater, Booth's prophecy appears to be coming true, "The world may censure me for what I am about to do, but I am sure posterity will justify me."What sort of federal park ranger justifies the killing of his boss? "Our ranger said quite emphatically that there were things Lincoln never should have done, but he never came close to saying anything like this about Booth's actions", Hibbs writes. "Lincoln is thus brought low yet again in Ford's Theater, not this time by an assassin's bullet but by vulgar revisionist history. Ford's Theater, it seems, is now the house that Booth built".* * * Suffering from the crudest of childhood educations, our Ranger confessed that he had been taught in grade school that Lincoln was the great emancipator and that Booth was crazy. He then proceeded to a laundry list of Lincoln offenses — suspending habeas corpus, refusing to release prisoners of war, and causing the number of the dead to far eclipse the number on display at the Vietnam Memorial. Each of these accusations was preceded by a rhetorical "Did you know...?" and followed by the exclamation, "Nobody told me that!" No mention here of the unprecedented historical context of civil war, of the constitutional crisis precipitated by the threat of secession, of the opposition from the North to Lincoln's plans of postwar restraint toward the south, or of the possibility that Lincoln was exercising political prudence in his handling of the issue of slavery. Having slipped from one crude conception of Lincoln to its polar opposite, from the grips of one shallow myth to another, our Ranger had no time for the complexities of history. Instead, he busied himself with reviving the memory of Booth. Booth, we were assured, was not insane; he was a successful actor, who had been provoked by Lincoln's misdeeds. Indeed, he never planned to kill Lincoln even after the war, until Lincoln had a band play Dixie at a public ceremony commemorating the end of the war. "Lincoln shouldn't have done that," our Ranger thundered. "Can you guess who was in the audience that day?"
Posted
1/8/2004 12:46:29 PM
by Edward Driscoll
MOVEON'S BUSH=HITLER ADS: How much play are they getting in the mainstream media? Not very much, says Brent Bozell.
Meanwhile, equating the 43 president with the leader of the Third Reich speaks volumes about the person making the comparison, says Edward Feser, in Tech Central Station.
It's also a unique form of Holocaust denial, as Jonah Goldberg wrote back in September:
By the way, I don't say this because I feel a passionate need to defend George Bush. I would make the exact same points if Al Gore were president. I would make the exact same points if anybody running for the Democratic nomination were president. This has nothing to do with partisanship. It has to do with the fact that such comparisons are slanderous to the United States and historical truth and amount to Holocaust denial. When you say that anything George Bush has done is akin to what Hitler did, you make the Holocaust into nothing more than an example of partisan excess. Tax cuts are not genocide, as so many Democrats have suggested over the years. (For example,. during the Contract with America debate, Charles Rangel complained that "Hitler wasn't even talking about doing these things" that were in the Contract with America. In other words, the Contract with America was in some way worse than what Hitler did. At the end of the day, that is Holocaust denial.) "Darn those Republicans" does not equal "Darn those Nazis." The Patriot Act is not the final solution. The handful of men in Guantanamo may not all be guilty of terrorism, but it's more than reasonable to assume they are. And no matter how you try to contort it, Gitmo is not the same thing as Auschwitz or Dachau. There are no children there. You don't get carted off to Cuba and gassed if you criticize the president or if you are one-quarter Muslim. And, inversely, there was no reasonable justification for throwing the Jews and the Gypsies and all the others into the death camps. The Jews weren't terrorists or members of a terrorist organization. To say that the men in Guantanamo — or any of the Muslims being politely interviewed by appointment — are akin to the Jews of Germany is to trivialize the experiences of the millions who were slaughtered. Even if you think Muslims are being unfairly inconvenienced, when you say they are the Jews of Nazified America you are in essence saying the worst crime of the Holocaust was to unfairly inconvenience the Jews.Maybe Godwin's Law should really be law.
Posted
1/8/2004 12:34:15 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SKIP BAYLESS SEES THE LIGHT: "Remorseless Pete Rose doesn't belong in Hall of Fame".
Posted
1/8/2004 12:27:52 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE BUZZ IN BUFFALO: Who's going to be the next head coach of the Bills? Don Banks of Sports Illustrated has some thoughts.
Posted
1/7/2004 11:49:39 PM
by Edward Driscoll
FISH, MEET BARREL: Stephen Green is Fisking Maureen Dowd.
Hot fantasy lesbian action ensues. Well, maybe not hot...
Posted
1/7/2004 11:34:42 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE FIRST POST-SADDAM MONTH: Dale Amon of Samizdata runs the numbers and concludes:
Most significant, of course, is the large drop. One could hypothesize the opposition threw everything they had into a 'Tet Offensive'. Like the Viet-Cong before them, they lost; unlike the Viet-Cong there is no regular army from a neighboring country, armed and funded by a super-power, to take their place. This is only a supposition; one cannot state this with any confidence of being correct until there are a few more months of data to back it up. One could alternatively hypothesize the enemy is quietly regrouping after their offensive. I do not believe this, but it is certainly possible.To really put Amon's stats into perspective, include this with them.
Posted
1/7/2004 08:01:18 PM
by Edward Driscoll
NEAR THE END OF 1984, GEORGE ORWELL wrote this interchange between Winston Smith and O'Brien, his tormenter in one of Oceania's gulags:
'We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside the skull. You will learn by degrees, Winston. There is nothing that we could not do. Invisibility, levitation -- anything. I could float off this floor like a soap bubble if I wish to. I do not wish to, because the Party does not wish it. You must get rid of those nineteenth-century ideas about the laws of Nature. We make the laws of Nature.' 'But you do not! You are not even masters of this planet. What about Eurasia and Eastasia? You have not conquered them yet.' 'Unimportant. We shall conquer them when it suits us. And if we did not, what difference would it make? We can shut them out of existence. Oceania is the world.' 'But the world itself is only a speck of dust. And man is tiny helpless! How long has he been in existence? For millions of years the earth was uninhabited.' 'Nonsense. The earth is as old as we are, no older. How could it be older? Nothing exists except through human consciousness.' 'But the rocks are full of the bones of extinct animals -- mammoths and mastodons and enormous reptiles which lived here long before man was ever heard of.' 'Have you ever seen those bones, Winston? Of course not. Nineteenth-century biologists invented them. Before man there was nothing. After man, if he could come to an end, there would be nothing. Outside man there is nothing.' 'But the whole universe is outside us. Look at the stars! Some of them are a million light-years away. They are out of our reach for ever.' 'What are the stars?' said O'Brien indifferently. 'They are bits of fire a few kilometres away. We could reach them if we wanted to. Or we could blot them out. The earth is the centre of the universe. The sun and the stars go round it.' Winston made another convulsive movement. This time he did not say anything. O'Brien continued as though answering a spoken objection: 'For certain purposes, of course, that is not true. When we navigate the ocean, or when we predict an eclipse, we often find it convenient to assume that the earth goes round the sun and that the stars are millions upon millions of kilometres away. But what of it? Do you suppose it is beyond us to produce a dual system of astronomy? The stars can be near or distant, according as we need them. Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? Have you forgotten doublethink?'Despite the fact that Orwell intended 1984 as a warning, much more than an attempt at predicting the future, it seems like a lot of intellectuals took that passage to heart, as Steven Den Beste demonstrates in a tremendous post, apparently the first of a two part series:
The academics in non-rigorous fields were not even needed any longer to help bridge the gap between the scientists and laymen. In 1991, John Brockman wrote:Be sure to read what happens next, when in 1991, computer programmer Chip Morningstar was invited to give a speech at a two-day "interdisciplinary" Second International Conference on Cyberspace. UPDATE: Whoops--Steven emailed me to inform me that his post is actually the second of what he believes will be a four-part series. Here's the first part.In the past few years, the playing field of American intellectual life has shifted, and the traditional intellectual has become increasingly marginalized. A 1950s education in Freud, Marx, and modernism is not a sufficient qualification for a thinking person in the 1990s. Indeed, the traditional American intellectuals are, in a sense, increasingly reactionary, and quite often proudly (and perversely) ignorant of many of the truly significant intellectual accomplishments of our time. Their culture, which dismisses science, is often nonempirical. It uses its own jargon and washes its own laundry. It is chiefly characterized by comment on comments, the swelling spiral of commentary eventually reaching the point where the real world gets lost. In 1959 C.P. Snow published a book titled The Two Cultures. On the one hand, there were the literary intellectuals; on the other, the scientists. He noted with incredulity that during the 1930s the literary intellectuals, while no one was looking, took to referring to themselves as "the intellectuals," as though there were no others. This new definition by the "men of letters" excluded scientists such as the astronomer Edwin Hubble, the mathematician John von Neumann, the cyberneticist Norbert Wiener, and the physicists Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Werner Heisenberg.But what Snow eventually referred to as a "third culture" began to appear, though not exactly in the way he expected. Scientists and other technical people began to reach out directly to the laymen, to explain what they were doing and why and what significance it had, and why it was so fascinating. (Blush, people like me.)Scientific topics receiving prominent play in newspapers and magazines over the past several years include molecular biology, artificial intelligence, artificial life, chaos theory, massive parallelism, neural nets, the inflationary universe, fractals, complex adaptive systems, superstrings, biodiversity, nanotechnology, the human genome, expert systems, punctuated equilibrium, cellular automata, fuzzy logic, space biospheres, the Gaia hypothesis, virtual reality, cyberspace, and teraflop machines. Among others. There is no canon or accredited list of acceptable ideas. The strength of the third culture is precisely that it can tolerate disagreements about which ideas are to be taken seriously. Unlike previous intellectual pursuits, the achievements of the third culture are not the marginal disputes of a quarrelsome mandarin class: they will affect the lives of everybody on the planet.But no one was paying comparable attention to the kind of stuff that the self-styled intellectuals were doing. The worst thing you can do to a proud man is to ignore him; and increasingly the "men of letters" found themselves being ignored or treated as curiosities. Increasingly isolated, frustrated, useless on a practical level, and with prestige declining, they became intellectually inbred. Since no one else respected them, they "respected" each other and decided no one else's opinion really mattered. The swelling spiral of comment-on-comment continued, divorced from reality. Over the course of maybe thirty years, a form of intellectual "pseudoscience" developed.
Posted
1/7/2004 05:11:49 PM
by Edward Driscoll
CAN DENNY GREEN TURN AROUND THE CARDINALS? We'll find out, as Arizona has apparently hired Green to be their next coach. Green posted a 97-62 record in 10 seasons as coach with the Vikings, but the Cards have long been where great careers go to die.
Posted
1/7/2004 03:37:29 PM
by Edward Driscoll
OUT OF THE PAST: Joe Gibbs returns to coach the Washington Redskins. All he did was lead them to three Super Bowls (with three different quarterbacks no less) in the 1980s and early 1990s before retiring (temporarily) to a career in NASCAR.
Obviously, he'll be a better fit with the 'Skins than Steve Spurrier was. But will he survive Dan Synder, who's gone through several coaches during his relatively short tenure as Redskins owner?
Posted
1/6/2004 09:57:11 PM
by Edward Driscoll
IN HONOR OF ILAN RAMON, the Israeli astronaut who died in the Columbia space shuttle disaster on February 1st of last year, NASA included an Israeli flag on a plaque on the Spirit Mars lander.
Charles Johnson writes, "Jihadis, this is your cue to go nuts".
Posted
1/6/2004 02:27:39 PM
by Edward Driscoll
MEET THE SPAM KING: Fascinating profile in the Las Vegas Review Journal of Bill Waggoner, Internet marketer.
As quoted by the author, there's much about Waggoner that's ripe for satire--right down to a Ralph Nader and Buck Turgidson-like fear of fluoride, and an obsession with herbal medicine combined with a two pack a day cigarette habit.
(Found via Virginia Postrel.)
Posted
1/6/2004 02:06:42 PM
by Edward Driscoll
HAS THIS BEEN APPROVED BY E. GARY GYGAX? "The Definitive D&D Guide to the Democratic Presidential Candidates".
Posted
1/6/2004 12:29:02 PM
by Edward Driscoll
HEADLINES YOU DON'T SEE EVERYDAY DEPARTMENT: Charles Johnson links to an article which says:
Posted
1/6/2004 11:58:10 AM
by Edward Driscoll
TOM COUGHLIN AGREES TO COACH GIANTS: The former Jacksonville Jaguars coach is returning to the NFL. And it sounds like the Giants, especially younger players like Jeremy Shockey, could use his discipline--even if Coughlin says he's mellowed a little bit during his time away from the game.
Posted
1/6/2004 11:35:30 AM
by Edward Driscoll
"REPORT: TERROR SUSPECT Landing At Cincinnati Airport" says this Columbus Ohio local NBC webpage:
The plane is Delta flight 043. It left Paris at 11:20 a.m. and is scheduled to land at 2:30 p.m. The flight is said to be of interest because of a potential terrorism suspect on board, according to WLWT. According to reports, a woman was removed from the flight before it took off from Paris because she had an electronic device that was causing some suspicion. The plane will be held in an area away from the terminal when it lands. Passengers will be re-screened as a precaution when the plane lands in Cincinnati, WLWT reported. NBC news is reporting that officials want to speak with 14 people on board. Additional details are forthcoming.Here are a few more details. UPDATE: Here's the page that Matt Drudge links to. It may open very slowly, probably because Matt's traffic is blowing out its server. But it lists flight 043 as an Air France flight, not Delta. Which makes sense. As Mark Steyn wrote, "It's interesting that, during the recent security scares, the terrorists seem to have been targeting BA and Air France. They seem to reckon they've a better chance of pulling something on a non-US airline. I hope that's not true, and that when the next shoebomber bends down to light his sock, he'll find himself sitting next to some gung-ho Brit rather than the 'peace and solidarity' type." UPDATE (12:01 PM): Sounds like a false alarm. The Channel Cincinnati.com page I linked to above has been updated to include these details:
The fighter jets were called off before the plane, Delta flight 043, landed. It left Paris at 11:20 a.m. and was scheduled to land at about 3:20 p.m., WLWT Eyewitness News 5 reported. According to reports, a woman was removed from the flight before it took off from Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport because she had a coat with wires protruding from it. The coat turned out to be a motorcycle jacket that works like an electric blanket, and the woman was booked onto a later flight, WLWT reported. U.S. officials were notified after the woman was removed "out of an abundance of caution," a U.S. official said. The officials said several flights have been escorted in recent months as a precaution. The plane will be held in an area away from the terminal when it lands, and passengers will be re-screened as a precaution when the plane lands in Cincinnati, WLWT reported.But one question remains: why would you wear a leather jacket (or any jacket), with wires protruding from it on an airline flight??
Posted
1/5/2004 10:52:12 PM
by Edward Driscoll
FROM THE HOME OFFICE IN HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA: James Bowman lists his top ten films of 2003.
Bowman also has a post on Michael Jackson that's worth reading, if only for the punchline.
Posted
1/5/2004 06:13:00 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER explains how to win friends, and influence people.
Dale Carnegie would be so proud.
UPDATE: See also this Peggy Noonan column from March.
Posted
1/5/2004 05:03:20 PM
by Edward Driscoll
FREUDIAN SLIP: Roger Simon knows why Howard Dean confused which Testament the Book of Job is in.
(Link (and headline) found via Stephen Green.)
Posted
1/5/2004 04:49:38 PM
by Edward Driscoll
"THERE ARE ONLY TWO TRAGEDIES IN LIFE", Oscar Wilde once said. "One is not getting what one wants, the other is getting it".
Posted
1/5/2004 03:06:22 PM
by Edward Driscoll
PROOF THEY NEVER SHOULD HAVE FIRED DONAHUE: Drudge passes MSNBC in Internet rankings.
Posted
1/5/2004 12:35:44 AM
by Edward Driscoll
WANTED: JIMMY JOHNSON: Skip Bayless writes that Johnson is the perfect man to coach the Raiders, which is why he doesn't have a hope in the Black Hole Hell of being hired by Al Davis.
Posted
1/4/2004 11:18:56 PM
by Edward Driscoll
BUT I THOUGHT THEY WERE ALL ANTI-GUN! Headline on AP: "Dean Draws Fire From Debating Democrats".
Posted
1/4/2004 10:45:24 PM
by Edward Driscoll
STEYN ON SADDAM and the tranzis:
Up to the moment he popped up out of the spider-hole, the international jet-set's line was that deplorable as Saddam's rule might be — gassing Kurds, feeding folks feet-first into industrial shredders, etc. — it was strictly an internal matter for the Iraqi people and other countries had no business interfering. The minute the old boy was in U.S. custody, the international jet-set's revised position was that gassing Kurds, feeding folks into industrial shredders and so forth were crimes against the whole world and certainly not a matter for the Iraqi people. Instead, we need a (drum roll, please) U.N.-mandated international tribunal."This is what the Zionist neo-cons would call chutzpah", Mark Steyn adds. Heh.
Posted
1/4/2004 09:17:49 PM
by Edward Driscoll
MAYBE MORPHEUS WAS ON TO SOMETHING: Oliver North is lecturing the left on the dangers of conspiracy theories.
The scary thing is--something I never would have believed I would say 16 years ago--is how much sense he makes.
Posted
1/4/2004 03:22:45 PM
by Edward Driscoll
2003: THE YEAR OF THE OPTIMIST, writes Neil Cavuto, and we agree.
Posted
1/4/2004 03:09:04 PM
by Edward Driscoll
BREAD, CIRCUSES, RACECARS: Why did the Hungarian government decide to spend four million dollars to sponsor a Formula One racer? Julian Sanchez of Reason has some thoughts.
Posted
1/4/2004 01:32:06 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE BENEDICT ARNOLD CHAIR OF ETHICS: Sounds silly, doesn't it? But as Roger Kimball writes, "what about the Alger Hiss Professor of Social Studies? Wander on up to Bard College at picturesque Annandale on Hudson and you can meet him in person." Kimball adds:
The love affair with Communism among American academics isn't over, though at many institutions it has migrated into the polysyllabic Leftism of the terminally disaffected.Read the whole thing. UPDATE: I don't know which is worse--the Hiss chair or the American Historical Association honoring the left's favorite ex-Klansman.
Posted
1/4/2004 01:20:52 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE SNAIL DARTER: Prof. Glenn Reynolds writes, "clever lawyering may not always be clever politics".
Posted
1/4/2004 12:54:58 PM
by Edward Driscoll
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