Alan Boyle has the story on the asteroid that came within a few thousand miles a couple days ago. And meanwhile, we continue to waste billions on unaffordable and unnecessary new launch systems while doing nothing to become more truly space faring.
Category Archives: Political Commentary
It Wasn’t A Tragedy
Victor Davis Hanson says that we must stop using that word to describe a simple act of treason. 911 wasn’t a tragedy either. Words mean things.
I Never Believed The Letters In Penthouse
…until it happened to me. An amusing publishing tale by Claire Berlinsky. I loved this:
I wrote the article, along with a sidebar about Sifu Emin’s top ten tips for defending yourself in hand-to-hand combat. It was a great assignment. I got to call people like Bob Wall and Chuck Norris to ask them who, in their view, was the most lethal man in the world.
Actually, to be honest, I couldn’t get through to Chuck Norris. I tried, but his secretary got frosty on me when I said I was writing for Penthouse. “Chuck,” she said sniffily, “is a conservative.”
Now, when I heard this, I was a bit surprised. I’m not really used to the insinuation that there might be a problem with my commitment to conservatism. “Ma’am,” I said finally, “I’m a conservative, too. In fact, I think my conservative credentials will impress him. Please let him know that I’m Margaret Thatcher’s biographer, okay? Really, I’m on his side.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m the author of ‘Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.’ In fact, I’m more conservative than Chuck.”
“Well” (doubtful). “I’ll give him the message.”
“I have a subscription to National Review, for God’s sake.”
“I’ll let him know.”
“Seriously, Ma’am, I make Chuck look pink.”
I think my tone probably put her off, though; she refused to put me through. Probably for the best. I mean, who wants to deal with Chuck Norris’s socialist nonsense?
Read all.
What Happened To The Cold War?
Younger people can be easily forgiven for not understanding the significance of what happened in Berlin two decades ago, both because they have little personal memory of what it was like to live under the nuclear threat, and because the teaching of history in public schools is so appalling. But Walter Shapiro remembers. It’s well worth reading for those who don’t realize how close we came to Armageddon on multiple occasions through those decades.
The president, of course, has no such excuse. He was born at the height of the war. Unfortunately, he was raised by people on the other side.
Fort Hood Media Roundup
…from Iowahawk, natch:
Investigation: Ft. Hood Killer Had Access to Fox, Talk Radio, Right-Wing Blogs
Receipts show killer’s apartment had cable
‘03 Nissan registered to Hassan had AM radio
Napolitano: “I told you so”
Sources: Despite 17 citations as Countdown’s ‘Worst Person In The World,’ FBI failed to detain Limbaugh
Defiant Palin rejects calls to apologize
The guy was probably a secret Christianist. After all, no Muslim would do such a thing — it’s a Religion of Peace™.
Smarter, Not Bigger Stimulus
I have some more advice for Barack Obama that, like Joel Kotkin’s, he will be constitutionally unable to take, over at PJM today.
Shocked
I was thinking the other day that if the president were to make an appearance in Berlin, there would be no mention of communism, or liberty or tyranny. I should have made a note of it, because I would be proven correct. As is usually the case, the subject of the speech was his favorite one:
Obama’s brief remarks are an exercise in bowdlerization, circumlocution, evasion. Omitted from the remarks, among other things, is any mention of the Soviet Union or Communism, Harry Truman or Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher or Pope John Paul. Obama neither decries the villains nor salutes the heroes of the story. Rather, Obama celebrates himself. He is an agent of destiny. He is the fulfillment of history.
It’s always, first and foremost, about him.
Better A Teabagger Than A Scumbag
You stay classy, President Clinton:
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said Clinton described the ongoing tea party protests against the Democratic agenda as a sign his party was making progress.
Whitehouse quoted Clinton arguing: “The reason the tea-baggers are so inflamed is because we are winning.”
Emphasis mine. I imagine that he has a lot of experience with tea-baggers. Probably under the desk in the Oval Office.
Military Base Shootings
Why there will be more. If we couldn’t fix all of this suicidal multi-culturalism and political correctness in the military during the Bush administration, it’s hard to be very optimistic about doing it now. There was reportedly an interview by a CNN reporter who asked a military wife how she felt about her husband being deployed to Afghanistan. “At least he’ll be safe there, and able to shoot back,” she said.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Whatever happened to “connecting the dots“? If this is the best we’re willing to do, prepare for another 911.
[Update early afternoon]
I don’t often agree with David Brooks, but he has this spot on — The National Rush To Therapy:
There was a national rush to therapy. Hasan was a loner who had trouble finding a wife and socializing with his neighbors.
This response was understandable. It’s important to tamp down vengeful hatreds in moments of passion. But it was also patronizing. Public commentators assumed the air of kindergarten teachers who had to protect their children from thinking certain impermissible and intolerant thoughts. If public commentary wasn’t carefully policed, the assumption seemed to be, then the great mass of unwashed yahoos in Middle America would go off on a racist rampage.
Worse, it absolved Hasan — before the real evidence was in — of his responsibility. He didn’t have the choice to be lonely or unhappy. But he did have a choice over what story to build out of those circumstances. And evidence is now mounting to suggest he chose the extremist War on Islam narrative that so often leads to murderous results.
The conversation in the first few days after the massacre was well intentioned, but it suggested a willful flight from reality. It ignored the fact that the war narrative of the struggle against Islam is the central feature of American foreign policy. It ignored the fact that this narrative can be embraced by a self-radicalizing individual in the U.S. as much as by groups in Tehran, Gaza or Kandahar.
It denied, before the evidence was in, the possibility of evil. It sought to reduce a heinous act to social maladjustment. It wasn’t the reaction of a morally or politically serious nation.
It’s sadly ironic and amusing, as always, that such sentiments come from people who delude themselves that they’re part of the “reality-based community.” A culture that won’t defend its values or itself is doomed to lose to one that will.
They May Know Jack
…but in Hollywood, they don’t know Joe.
Plus, a bonus fight with a purple dinosaur.