Provincials
Now Playing: and the switchboard lights up like a xmas tree...
Over the past 15 minutes or so, the dumbasses at our local FOX affiliate have insisted on running a split screen between a very good NFC divisional playoff game and the celebration down at the stadium for the Longhorns.

How silly.

Can't really enjoy either one since I own the last (and very fritzy) 21-inch analog TV in North America, but I can tell you that the local television coverage of the new National Champions hasn't exactly tapered off much in the past week and a half. Plus, we'll be treated to footage and reports of this celebration on every station here for many days to come, so why does FOX have to go and annoy me like this?

"A Football Move"
Mood:  smelly
Now Playing: where the hell did that phrase come from, anyhow?
I wanted the Colts to win ---mostly because I hate the Steelers--- but they have been the beneficiaries of two ridiculous calls: that was a safety on Manning in the third quarter and that was a pick by the guy with the hair. Pittsburgh is totally getting ripped off.

Ridiculous.

[Go Steelers]!

Magnificent
I was watching some decent playoff football when I could have been enjoying Sasha Cohen win her first US Figure Skating Championship.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Sasha Cohen stood in the middle of the ice long after her program ended, her eyes wide as she drank in the applause. Then she dropped into a deep curtsy, bowing to all four sides of the arena.

After all these years of waiting, she’s finally a champion. And she was going to savor every minute of it.

I admit to having a mild, pervo-avuncular crush on Miss Cohen, but it's all in good taste, mind you. Real good taste.

Oh, goddammit! I'm just a Nineteenth Century man, through and through.

Don't worry...I'm already calling the cops myself.

Shameful
My man at Mudville Gazette has for us a letter from Katherine Curtis Stethem, the sister-in-law of Robert Dean Stethem, the young US Navy diver who was murdered by the Hizbollah terrorist Mohammad Hammadi during the infamous hijacking of TWA Flight 847 back in 1985. Last week, the German government not only commuted Hammadi's sentence, but saw that he got safely home.

The feeling of betrayal by the German government, our supposed ally, is overwhelming. Commutation of a convicted murderer’s sentence is bad enough, but to grant him safe passage back to his native country is unconscionable. For twenty years this family has had to live with the knowledge that the other three terrorists associated with the hijacking remain at large. Ali Atwa, Hassan Izz-Al-Din, and Imad Mugniyah have, with the assistance of rogue nations, consistently eluded capture.

Hammadi was arrested in 1987 in what was then West Germany for possession of liquid explosives in Frankfurt airport. Chancellor Kohl denied President Reagan’s requests for extradition. The United States was assured, however, of the strictest of sentences contingent upon conviction. The trial began in July of 1988. The West German government spent millions of dollars related to security for this trial. They certainly considered Hezbollah enough of a threat to spend an exorbitant amount of money for security. In May of 1989 Hammadi was found guilty of air piracy and the murder of Robert Stethem. He was also found guilty of possession of liquid explosives in West Germany. This man is a dangerous criminal. Germany has released an obvious threat back into the world. Hammadi is in his early 40’s; he has plenty of years left to wreak havoc. It’s beyond belief.

These are the European powers we're supposed to trust to help us control Iran? What a sick joke.

"Still the Try"
Now Playing: i woulda gone for two
Better Denver than the Pats.

And way better the Hawks than the Redskins ---I mean, the team from Washington.

Blisk Fack!
Now Playing: glitchy-gloomy
In responding to this satellite photo of an Iranian nuclear site, Duncan Black writes:

Joking aside, I suppose it's necessary that just because I mock the inevitable rhetoric on Iran from the Bush administration and the wingnutosphere doesn't mean that I don't think a nuclear Iran thing would be a less than desirable development.

If you feel you might have to explain to people that you really aren't on the side of Iranian psychopaths ---and then to not even do a good job of it once the burden becomes incumbent--- certain others might have to reconsider whether you are really worth the money.

But Iran Talk has nothing to do with what we're going to about that, Iran Talk is entirely about domestic politics. There's a difference between Talking and Doing, even if words have consequences, and the Iran PR campaign is more about domestic politics than actually doing anything about the problem.

I don't know what this means. Perhaps Black is dismissing the importance of even a strong rhetorical response from the Democrats, knowing that in the War against Islamofascism, his party is built to lose to the vastly more coherent and disciplined pro-war Republicans. There's no way, once the inevitability of a showdown over a nuclearized Iran becomes apparent to the American people, that they are going to turn to the Democratic Party to solve the problem. That's why 2006 will be another hugely disappointing election for the Democrats: because Iran is almost certainly going to dominate the world's focus this year. That's a loser for the party of whistleblowers, leakers, and sympathizers.

But, as for how we got here let's remember that George Bush helped kill whatever reformist movement there was in Iran by referring to Iran as part of the "axis of Evil," thus making it easy to paint any Iranian reformer as "objectively pro-American."

Yes. Just as Reagan erred in calling the Soviet Union the "evil empire." Look at how quickly our country fell apart after that! But this is just nonsense. Saying that Bush the Younger's rhetoric is what's kept the Iranians from advancing reform is to confess one's credulity in the fairness and openness of Iranian politics. Did Black's supposed reformers ever stand a dark horse's chance in the rigged elections last year?

Much as I don't like the Bush administration I'm not actually hoping that France invades to liberate us and I imagine most Iranians feel much the same way.

Right, because the Bush Administration is morally equivalent to the mullahcracy in Iran.

The Bush administrations "isolate no matter what" tough talk certainly gives Iran a lot of incentive to get a nuke as quickly as possible.

This, of course, is where Black lays down the anti-war/anti-Bush rationale to beat all: if Iran goes nuclear, it will be because Bush forced them into it. Does strategic analysis get more fucked up than that? Is it really possible that a grown man would publicly state that he blames the Bush Administration for incentivizing the nuclearization of the Islamofascist regime in Teheran?

And, of course, our great Iraqi adventure has made things like air strikes a wee bit difficult. The people in our new pet democracy/Iranian client state probably won't be too thrilled about that.

Who's talking about airstrikes? Does this mean that Black's given up on the very best of European diplomacy? You know: the anti-American ingrates who have accomplished approximately nothing over the past two years?

So if there is a weapons development site to be taken out our hands are rather more tied on that account than they would have otherwise been.

Other things that tie our hands are a deranged opposition party in this country that has betrayed its own anti-totalitarian past, misinformed liberal Leftists who value hypothetical arguments more than actual moral clarity, and a dysfunctional media that works only to undermine our progress in democratizing former terrorist countries.

I'll admit I worry less about a nuclear Iran than some. State sponsored nuclear terrorism/war would require a completely irrational actor, one even more irrational than North Korea's Dear Leader. Nuclear proliferation is a concern, but state proliferation less than the general wandering nuke issue...

One must wonder why Black is ignoring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's obvious psychopathy. Not worried that the president of a giant Muslim country is constantly preparing for the final judgement? Not worried about a government that would abide daily eruptions of Jew-hatred not seen since the days of Nazi Germany? I don't trust Duncan Black's judgement. Nor do most Americans trust the judgement of people like him.

Hotlinking Jackasses
Mood:  irritated
I wish certain prickbastards would stop hotlinking to the pictures of hot babes I post here. I stole those pix fair and square ---and now you jackasses are wasting my bandwidth.

Begone!

The Weekly Wish
Mood:  chatty
Charles Johnson links to this report from ABC News which quotes Pakistani military sources as saying that Ayman al-Zawahiri may have been killed in an apparent US airstrike.

The attack took place early this morning Pakistan time in a small village a few miles from the border with Afghanistan.

Villagers described seeing an unmanned plane circling the area for the last few days and then bombs falling in the early morning darkness.

Eighteen people were killed, according to the villagers who said women and children were among the fatalities.

But Pakistani officials tell ABC News that five of those killed were high-level al Qaeda figures, and their bodies are now undergoing forensic tests for positive identification.

I hope that this is this weekend's big story. But I want to see his mangled corpse before I start cheering.

"Selective Amnesia"
Now Playing: this time with feeling
Professor Reynolds directs our attention to this great article in The American Thinker regarding how the New York Times reported on the National Security Agency's massive surveillance program called Echelon back in May of 1999. You know: when things were so much more prosperous, peaceful, and Clintonian.

Today, of course, the NSA's eavesdropping on al-Qaedists and their sympathizers is described by the Times and other such propaganda organs of the anti-war Left to the American public as a sinister, Bill of Rights-destroying plot.

With Bush in office, though, it's ---you know---somehow worse.

I hope we are moving toward a time when all partisans realize that it simply won't do to accuse this President of "crimes" that his predecessor authorized and abided. It will do even less when they recognize that we are in a struggle against a real enemy who must really be stopped. But to pretend that History doesn't apply here is truly an insult to the intelligence of people who deserve better from their news resources.

It's just another casual ---almost imperceptible--- tilt into the mundane truth of these times when technology owns our asses and people we don't even know control the very substance of our knowledge of current events.

True Dat
Now Playing: "Range Life" by Pavement
You know what conservatives understand that liberals don't? They understand that most people are constitutionally indifferent to what liberals assume are the principles that would make a perfect society. Liberals figure that they know best and that "The People" should follow them when they make their bids for power. But most people ---most Americans--- understand that there is no perfect society and there are no invincible soldiers or universal coverage or inviolable rights.

The liberal Left are essentially children who never took a proper ass-whupping.

Joe Biden
Oh, I agree, Joe. It has to be depressing to know that your only role on the judiciary committee is to help Durbin and Kennedy sling shit at a decent man all week long on national television.

But at least you're calling for an up-or-down vote. I'll keep that in mind over the next several days.

Big Slab of Nothin'
Now Playing: black and white teevee
Loudmouth Matthews has got this NSA "whistleblower" on named Russ Tice ---and the guy is so lame that he's forcing Matthews to answer his own rhetorical questions from the perspective of the pro-war Right. Not a natural posture for Interruptor Maximus.

In fact, Tice is so fucking lame that I am almost tempted to believe that he is a plant of some kind. Not a potted plant, but one that shows up on anti-Bush cable news programs and draws out of the audience a renewed understanding of exactly what it is that this President has to do to protect our national security.

Oh, no! Bush might have to spy on young Muslim men from the Middle East? Cry me a river, mofo. And then shut that ass up.

Congratulations
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "Lady Madonna" by the Beatles
Cox & Forkum have drawn for us the winner of Charles Johnson's 2005 Idiotarian of the Year Award, Cindy Sheehan.

She's a deserving winner, certainly. I voted for her in both rounds.

Congratulations, Mother Sheehan. You are a true embarrassment.

Ted Kennedy Is a Craphound
I've watched about as much of Day Three of the Alito hearings as I can stand, but I can give to you the gist of it: Ted Kennedy is a craphound. Yeah, Hairplug Biden and Dickhead Durbin are utterly wretched in their own miserable little ways, but Kennedy defines what it means to be a craphound.

For starters, Kennedy is a fucking rummy and an intellectual lightweight. He is endured by our political society for the simple reason that he is the sole surviving brother of two martyred Democratic icons. That is to say, he is a United States Senator for the same reason that Edward Windsor is the Duke of Earl or whatever the fuck he is. I'd be ashamed if all my money came from my Nazi-loving election-fixer of a father and all the pieces of ass I'd ever had could be attributed to my family connections. But not Kennedy: he's been cashing in on his name and phoning in all his bullshit for decades. He is not only a living rebuke to Jeffersonian meritocracy, he is the chattering sphincter of unearned privilege itself.

You can be sure that when Ted Kennedy speaks, especially in the context of a judiciary committee hearing, you are only hearing the overwrought words and the worthless thoughts of some staff member he's been trying to nail ever since he hired her. Kennedy represents some perverted segment of the Democratic Party where slurring one's intellectual and moral betters is the only form of entertainment that can still induce a hard-on. It's almost sad.

Kennedy has been a public figure my entire life and, yet, I cannot think of a single instance in which I was proud of him or impressed by him or interested in him as a thinker or a leader. The closest I can come to that sentiment is when I think of his eulogy for his brother Bobby in 1968. But, even there, I can never get past my disgust for him as an overprivileged clown.

When this irresponsible joke tried to condemn Sam Alito today by false associations and irrelevant nonsense, I was reminded again of why I despise him and what he represents. He thinks he's grilling Clarence Thomas again, but he's just roasting his own nuts. We don't need to hear from him again during this confirmation. Just hope he shuts up, fucks off, and casts the least surprising vote against Alito of all his colleagues.

It's as automatic as gravity, baby; as thoughtless as an accident.

Should Be Some Great Arguments with Breyer
Now Playing: new world ordure, mofos
I managed to catch Sam Alito's surprisingly blunt remarks on the issue of whether the Supreme Court of the United States should be guided by the laws and decisions of other countries. So did John Hinderaker. He quotes the New York Times on this morning's hearings:

"I don't think it's appropriate or useful to look to foreign law in interpreting the provisions of our Constitution," Judge Alito said in response to questions from Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, in the third day of the judge's confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"I think the Framers would be stunned by the idea that the Bill of Rights is to be interpreted by taking a poll of the countries of the world," Judge Alito said. "The purpose of the Bill of Rights was to give Americans rights that were recognized practically nowhere else in the world at the time. The Framers did not want Americans to have the rights of people in France or the rights of people in Russia or any of the other countries on the continent of Europe at the time; they wanted them to have the rights of Americans."

I love that.

(And be sure to have a look at this C-SPAN video of Antonin Scalia and Steven Breyer discussing this very issue last January. I can't help but to think that Scalia smiled when he heard Alito's response.)

Sour Grapes of Wrath
Now Playing: righteous, dude
I think Goose Gossage is right to be mad about not getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame when Bruce Sutter just did:

Gossage, a former Yankees' fireballer, seems angry that he failed to get into the Hall of Fame despite the fact that he has, among other things, more career saves, victories, and strikeouts (948) than Sutter.

"I just can't believe Sutter got in before me," Gossage added."He deserved it. I was hoping Sutter and I could go in together. ... I don't know if I ever will make it."

"You know what, I never hear from these guys who don't vote for me," Gossage said. "But I'll take on any writer, anywhere, on any show, and I will bury him."

That's righteous. Check out the whole report. Then tell me why great players from my childhood ---like Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, and Steve Garvey--- are still on the outside looking in. It's total crap.

Hydrophobia
With a tip of the hat to the lovely Michelle Malkin, have a look at this story about Senator Ted Kennedy's new children's book. Ha, ha:

NEW YORK - Meet the latest children's author, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and his Portuguese Water Dog, Splash, his co-protagonist in "My Senator and Me: A Dogs-Eye View of Washington, D.C."

Scholastic Inc. will release the book in May.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to create a book for young readers and their families that will deepen their understanding of how our American government works," Kennedy said in a statement Monday issued by Scholastic.

Splash? Kennedy's name for his dog is Splash?

I am a firm believer that the human brain records everything and that what we know is simply a matter of how adept our brains are at recalling it and that the unconscious mind is a constant companion whose influence on our conscious actions is as deep and strong as any current in any other context. Such as the waters off of Chappaquiddick Island.

Doubled Over
Now Playing: "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC
Got my gas bill in the mail today: $80! What the fuck?! That's more than double last month's bill! I can't imagine what I'd be shelling out if I lived up north.

And what's the excuse for the ten-cent rise in gasoline prices the past week or so? Usually, the plutocrats supply the media with a plausible story, but I don't know what it is this time. I guess it's supposed to matter that the Dow Jones hit 11K today, but I doubt it matters much to schlubs who drive for a living. Or to most people who have to simply drive somewhere to make a living. Or to do anything. It's a real pincher, man.

An Excess of Self-Regard
I saw a little bit of Howard Stern on Larry King's show this weekend ---and could not believe how egotistical the sorry bastard is. What a preposterously conceited man!

I dislike Stern. The last time I remember enjoying him was when he would show up on Letterman back in the late 80s. But I won't permit his freakophilic garbage in my home ---no matter how big his guests' tits are or how dishy he can get. Maybe that crap on E! will dry up now that he's moved to Sirius, but in any event, he is incredibly overrated and a real drag on the dignity of the radio culture in America.

Good Stuff
I only saw like five minutes of the Alito hearings today, but they happened to be with Senator John Cornyn of Texas as he read his statement. Cornyn mentioned that he wished the courts were as interested in protecting the right to religious expression as they are in defending the right to sell pornography. Well, I paraphrase, but that was the gist of his closing lines.

I like Cornyn and respect him. And I agree, although I am definitionally an atheist, that it is absurd that our culture will stand for gratuitous sex and violence, but not for voluntary prayer. Oh, people can get all worked up about Janet Jackson's prosthetic nipple, but that was just a media concoction, ready-made for [outrage]. The truth is that our culture is awash in vulgarity ---but, somehow, our moral senses are offended when young Christian men and women choose to express their gratitude to God (a four-letter word, according to Cornyn). There is no question that this is the essence of perversity.

As for Alito, it will be easier for Democrats to vote against him since he will not be the Chief Justice of the United States for the next quarter-century. He will also be more easily opposed because he is more obviously pro-life. But, in the end, Sam Alito will be confirmed and the Democrats can then go on the John Paul Stevens Death Watch.