Quote of the Day

If you can't get past the first sentence of your article, what hope is there for you or your editor?

Destroy the Infibell

I was in Philadelphia at about the same time that Atrios posted something about the insane security situation involving the Liberty Bell. Thanks to some curious relatives I got to experience it first-hand. I have never before taken my belt off to enter a museum, nor have I waited that long to enter (though I'm told it was a good day). Yessir, a real lesson in liberty.

As a chaser, I didn't have to go ogle the constitution, but I did get a taste of the state of it:

















If you can make it out, that's a 9/11 exhibit advertised right beside "We the people."

Music

Ann Bartow is Awful

I first bumped into her while she was upset about David Horowitz being contracted to "D-Ho". She's gotten worse.

And Speaking of Feminism...

Via Sadly, No! we find a piece by Mike S. Adams with the dumbest fucking simile ever:

These magazines will be almost as rare as a feminist orgasm if the Democrats take over.

There are those who claim there is no value in promiscuity. I recall once arguing on behalf of skill. Obviously I forgot something simpler: knowledge.

I Never Understood the Whole Oyl for Food Thing

It never seemed humane in the first place.

Mark Foley: Serial Counselee

According to the source, the church offered Foley counseling in the matter, which Foley accepted. He plans to begin that counseling after completing treatment for alcoholism.

Busy busy busy. Once his alcoholism's cured surely the church will find his homoness a snap. Or maybe he could be gay, but, you know, just not do anything about it ever.

We shall see. The wisdom of going into the slaughterhouse where you lost your hand for a lesson in surgery is questionable.

Knowing

Billmon writes, while dealing with US ignorance of what the hell's up:

Even the British, renowned for the caliber of their imperial civil service, usually operated in stunning ignorance of the people and cultures they ruled over, certainly so in the case of the Arab world. Which is probably why they, too, were so often taken by surprise -- by the Sepoy Mutiny, the Battle of Isandlwana, the Easter Rising, the Iraq revolt, Palestinian resistance to Zionism, the list goes on and on.

The difference, though, is that we live in an age in which it is easier than it ever has been to know things. Billmon's point is that empires tend to ignorance of conquered-therefore-inferior peoples, but when acquiring the rudiments of a subject is so insanely easy I'd expect that informed imperialists would be a dime a dozen.

Hitchens via Atrios via Ezra Klein via an Excellent Comment

Hitchens foresaw "a war to the finish between everything I love and everything I hate."

That would be all the distilleries in the world beating the crap out of Mother Teresa.

Posted by: calling all toasters | Oct 12, 2006 7:52:25 AM

People Sure Are Interested in Torture

I'd never really explored Washington Monthly. Torture advocacy doesn't make me interested in exploring more.

Well.

Blogger's going funny again.

Bye Bye CBGBs

Via Boing Boing.

That place was a dump and the stage was too small.

Lotus Notes Sucks

Has anybody mentioned that Lotus Notes sucks?

But the two men share something important to the past and future of Microsoft: technological brilliance. As the inventor and principal executive behind Lotus Notes in the '80s and '90s, the 50-year-old [Ray] Ozzie is considered one of the best software minds on the planet. In its day, Lotus Notes was among the most popular applications in corporate America. In 1997, Ozzie started Groove Networks, a company – like the one behind Lotus – created to help office workers collaborate electronically. Microsoft bought Groove in April 2005 for $120 million, and Ozzie signed on as a top executive in Redmond.

Okay, I'm using a product that hasn't been under this guy for quite a while, but efforts on Notes appear to involve saving the big shitpile from its bloated clunkiness.

E-mail

If You Act Like a Jew You'll Encourage the Nazis

Hmm.

Second minister enters veils debate

Press Association
Sunday October 8, 2006 2:08 AM

A second Government minister has entered the debate over Muslim women who veil their faces, with a warning that they risked provoking "fear and resentment" which played into the hands of the far right.

Aren't you doing the far right's bidding by stating this? Don't get me wrong: I'm as intolerant of religion, specific ones even, as the next lout. Still, what people choose to wear, assuming they're choosing, is not the government's business.

Eno/Byrne

Excellent video from the best album ever.

Path to 9/11 Just as Faithful to the 9/11 Commission

Despite this.

Dick Fucking Cheney

Limerick Time

A member of congress named Foley
Was secretly kind of cornholey
He was after boy pages
Regardless of ages
And then blamed it all on the Stoli.

The Hazards of Spicy Foods

Eat a lot of nachos with spicy salsa close to bedtime and dream Jonah Goldberg is your boss. Seriously.