A fake rock band reunites to save us from a fake crisis. I guess they figure someone turned the heat all the way up to eleven.
Incompatible Viewpoints
Tony Blankley writes about the two radically different points of view on the war:
For those of us who support the great struggle against radical Islam, the world reality could not be plainer. The threat of radical Islam is not merely a few thousand terrorists using small explosives to kill a few dozen people at a time — usually in the faraway Middle East. Rather, it is an historic recrudescence of a violent, conquering old tradition of Islam that almost overwhelmed the world from the Seventh Century until as recently as the 17th century. It is radicalizing the minds of increasing numbers of the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims to be very aggressive culturally, as well as violent — from Africa to Indonesia, to Cairo to Ankara, to Paris, to Rotterdam to London to Falls Church, Va.
Unfortunately, in addition, the debate is poisoned, almost rendered futile, by the irrational blind hatred that so many harbor for George Bush.
Running Out Of Time
As noted in comments here, T. M. Lutas says that the Democrats’ bet is looking pretty shaky:
I expect at least 3 more provinces to get handed over between now and the height of campaign season 2008. I’d like to think that at least 6 more would make the transition by then (obviating the need to explain Kurdistan’s special situation in the stats). The defeatists have to change the natural progression of Iraqi government and security institution building and do it soon or they’re going to be in deep trouble in 2008.
Interesting Rumor
Is Ares 1 on life support?
Between rumored Ares performance issues and Orion weight growth, shrinking budgets, and a growing uprising among the space science folks (not to mention Richard Shelby), Dr. Griffin seems to have an unsolvable Rubik’s cube. Something will have to give. I hope that it’s The Stick. I wonder if they’re on the verge of bowing to the inevitable, and reconsidering Atlas? And as commenters point out, what’s the significance of May 23rd?
The Way We Age
An interesting, but somewhat depressing look at the upcoming crisis in geriatrics, over at the New Yorker.
What struck me about it was the assumption that the decline is inevitable, and that we have to focus on managing it, when in fact we need to put a lot more effort into technologies that can stop aging, and even reverse it. The assumption is that living too long is a problem, and it is, if we don’t figure out how to maintain and restore the ability of the body to repair itself.
[Via Alan Boyle]
Reducing The Pull Of The Gravity Well
An interesting essay on insurgency, and counterinsurgency.
“They Lack A Sense Of Irony”
I recall reading in The Economist, many years ago, a leader (editorial to the Yanks) that described an anecdote about the British Foreign Service, in which one of the people was describing some benighted Third World former colony. “The problem they have, is that they lack a sense of irony.”
Apparently Reuters has the same problem.
Hey, one man’s anti-violence protester is another man’s Jihadist.
Any of my trolls going to try to defend this one?
And let’s see how long it stays up in that form.
[Update]
Oh, ye of little faith.
Here’s the link, Bill, from Yahoo. I’ll keep a screen shot of it, for when they decide to memoryhole it.
“They Lack A Sense Of Irony”
I recall reading in The Economist, many years ago, a leader (editorial to the Yanks) that described an anecdote about the British Foreign Service, in which one of the people was describing some benighted Third World former colony. “The problem they have, is that they lack a sense of irony.”
Apparently Reuters has the same problem.
Hey, one man’s anti-violence protester is another man’s Jihadist.
Any of my trolls going to try to defend this one?
And let’s see how long it stays up in that form.
[Update]
Oh, ye of little faith.
Here’s the link, Bill, from Yahoo. I’ll keep a screen shot of it, for when they decide to memoryhole it.
“They Lack A Sense Of Irony”
I recall reading in The Economist, many years ago, a leader (editorial to the Yanks) that described an anecdote about the British Foreign Service, in which one of the people was describing some benighted Third World former colony. “The problem they have, is that they lack a sense of irony.”
Apparently Reuters has the same problem.
Hey, one man’s anti-violence protester is another man’s Jihadist.
Any of my trolls going to try to defend this one?
And let’s see how long it stays up in that form.
[Update]
Oh, ye of little faith.
Here’s the link, Bill, from Yahoo. I’ll keep a screen shot of it, for when they decide to memoryhole it.
No Separation Of Mosque And State
At least not in Illinois. Or New Jersey, or other states, apparently:
The Illinois statute, modeled after a New Jersey law, requires anyone selling or producing halal food to register with the state for a $75 fee and fill out a disclosure form by checking off boxes indicating how the food was obtained and who certified the product as halal. Since New Jersey passed the nation’s first halal law in 2000, similar laws have taken effect in nearly a dozen states.
How in the world can this be constitutional? The state is not, or at least should not be, responsible for enforcing religious dietary laws. Do they have a similar requirement for what is, and isn’t kosher? If they do, it’s just as bad. Somehow, the Jews have managed to keep kosher in this country since its founding without having to involve the government. Why can’t the Muslims? This seems like creeping sharia to me.
Where’s the ACLU? I thought that they always came down with both feet over this kind of thing? Or is that only when there’s a Christian creche on a lawn?
[Update at 3:30 PM EDT]
OK, reading the comments, I’m scratching my head.
No, this is not just about enforcing against fraud.
In order to enforce against fraud, the government must prove there was fraud. In order to prove that fraudulent halal foodstuff was purchased, the government must prove that said foodstuff was not halal. In order to do that, the government must provide a legal standard as to what is, and what is not, halal. In other words, the government must put its imprimatur on whether or not a particular foodstuff meets a certain religious dietary restriction, in effect playing the role of a (in the case of the Jewish religion) Talmudic scholar.
Do you folks really want to open up that can of worms?
Church A promises me that if I attend it and give it money, and subscribe to its beliefs, I will live a happier life. Does anyone here propose that the government should prosecute that church for fraud if in my opinion it doesn’t meet its promises? Whose definition of halal (or for that matter kosher) should the government choose?
Sorry, but to me, this is nuts. Not to mention completely and thoroughly unconstitutional. At least if you believe in the concept of “separation of church and state.”
And to the poster who asked why Good Friday is a state holiday, beats me. I don’t think that the government should be granting religious holidays, either. Though at least in that case there’s a much better consensus on what day Good Friday is, and there is a huge majority of people who celebrate it, so (like Christmas) it makes sense at least on practical reasons.
[Wednesday morning update]
I’m properly corrected in comments. I should have written “observe Good Friday,” not “celebrate” it.