Monday, April 30, 2007

Free kibbles

5 would-be terrorists get life sentences in Britain.

Alliance in Anbar province is driving out al Qaeda.

America prepares to talk to Iran. We have nothing to gain from this.

NATO troops kill scores of Taliban fighters.

Harsh criticism for Israeli PM Olmert over war with Hezbollah.

FairTax rally in 2 weeks.

Global warming on Mars, similar in extent to global warming on Earth, could melt southern ice cap. Maybe it was caused by Spirit and Opportunity. But they're solar powered! This brings up an interesting question, will that melting ice turn into running water? I think it will rapidly, if not instantly, evaporate in the low pressure atmosphere.

Airline blasts snake oil salesmen in carbon offset industry. Like Al Gore.

Article claims Sec. of State Rice is redefining "imminent threat." More liberal bull. Bush said Iraq was not an imminent threat, and he made the case we should invade before it became an imminent threat. We have plenty of real stuff to criticize Bush for, but liberals insist on lying and making stuff up, and it just shows how poor their positions are and how confused their grasp of reality is.

Trials by jury are going extinct. This is because prosecutors abuse their power as illustrated in the Duke rape case and far too many lawyers are afraid of fighting and going to trial.

Reagan's old allies are backing Fred Thompson.

French Muslims opting for hymen reconstruction surgery to simulate virginity.

Brainwave reading for toys. And certainly for more than toys.

Movies implementing new 3-D technology.

Reality keeps biting Democrats in the ass.

John Murtha's plan would have lost us WWII. Military personnel always end up training on the job during wars.

Plans of terror plot to use airplanes to blow up Saudi oil fields.

Victor Davis Hanson says Americans can't seem to care about the Iraqi people. For some reason, Americans care a lot more about the people of Sudan than Iraq. I don't understand it. Is this some sort of racial bias for blacks over Arabs? Christians over Muslims?

The mercury nightmare of florescent bulbs.

Article says China will not surpass the US this century. What it fails to mention is that the Chinese are educating people to a PhD level that far outstrips the US. Demographics, pollution, and government are obstacles for China. Government is the obstacle for us.

Hillary's negative rating rises to 52%. I bet she still gets the Democratic nomination.

Democratic presidential candidate supports the FairTax.

Bob Barr is becoming libertarian.

Christopher Hitchens calls George Tenet's book a disgrace.

On the problems of multiculturalism in Europe.

Another commentator defines Cold War narrowly, but recognizes Russia as a threat.

Corporations donate to Democrats. So much for the myth that corporations favor Republicans.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Free kibbles

Britain has 1 camera for every 14 British subjects. Wow. And we're following right behind them.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Turkey protest for secularism. This is quite the battleground between secular and sectarian ideals.

Iran to attend conference on Iraqi security. I don't understand this. Why would we allow an enemy to listen to our plans? That's like inviting Hitler to discussions about D-Day.

US construction projects in Iraq are failing. Maliki accused of firing prominent military and police commanders to further sectarian goals.

Considering that Russia is opposing the US on all fronts, and after Russia's failure to meet obligations on the space station, it's no wonder NASA turned down their offer to jointly explore the moon.

Immigrants to rally on May 1. Sounds like a great opportunity to capture illegal immigrants and deport them. It's bad enough we allow illegals to break our laws to enter the country, but we sure shouldn't allow them to further disrupt our lives by blocking traffic.

Retired general advocates undermining the constitutional authority of the commander in chief. Needless to say, this is a terrible idea regardless of who delivers the message.

Retired CIA director Tenet claims CIA warned Bush administration of anarchy and possible breakup of Iraq. We all already know that the administration, Congress, the press, and the people outrageously underestimated the negative consequences of invading Iraq, but it no longer matters. We still have to win.

How is this satellite merger good for competition? This is one of the few reasons government should get involved in the free market - to protect competition. This merger should not be allowed.

Cancer linked to vitamin D deficiency. I'm skeptical. How could this have been missed for decades?

College classes evacuated over box of condoms. Our knee-jerk approach is security is ridiculous.

The ashes of James Doohan, who played Scotty on the original Star Trek, were sent into space.

Mark Steyn provides examples of how mischief makers manipulate American malaise.

Jeff Jacoby points out that Democrats are willing to lose the war in Iraq because they think they can gain politically. I just published a very similar, but harsher, essay, but I won't be able to post it until next week.

Jack Straw on British identity. A bunch of words with no real content like modern multiculturalism itself. The responses are very interesting.

George Will recalls a real environmental disaster during a real warm period - the dust bowl.

More socialism from Obama - proposal for government wage fixing. Here's some information exposing the myth that women get paid less for equal work.

Ron Paul says we should pull out of Iraq immediately. I strongly disagree with him because the cost of defeat is immeasurable as are the benefits of victory. But Paul is correct that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq, and he describes the run-up to war very well, properly assigning blame to Congress for unconstitutionally deferring its power to declare war to the President. Despite my disagreement on Iraq, he's still my favorite of all the presidential candidates.

Description of the Federal Reserve (Fed) and conspiracy theories.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Free kibbles

Americans capture 7/7 mastermind entering Iraq from Iran.

Turkish Army threatens to protect secular government from Turkey's ruling party.

Bombs in Iraq and Pakistan. These terrorists hate life and civilization. We need to destroy them everywhere they are, and most of them are in Iraq right now. Surrendering Iraq to Muslim extremists is out of the question. Australian PM Howard says the Democrat retreat and defeat bill aids al Qaeda.

Senior Iraqi officials warn Prince Harry not to serve in Iraq.

Free speech victory in Washington state.

Analysis of the FCC's report recommending Congress regulate violence on TV.

Senator Webb's aid is above the law - prosecutor drops weapon charge.

How much is a life worth?

Sex magazines and the censors.

EU demands laws to change livestock feeding to cut greenhouse gases.

Bill requiring waiting period and ultrasound before abortion passes Florida House.

Scientists simulate half a mouse brain. It won't be long until they can simulate a human brain, which means they'll be able to download human brain information into simulations. There will be ethical discussions, but they won't slow down the technology.

Author blames Bush for partisanship. Give me a break. Harry Reid doesn't really think the War in Iraq is lost. He's just trying to make it so because he mistakenly thinks that Democrats will gain political advantage.

10 supposed differences between conservatives and liberals. Except for a couple of them, it's more like libertarians versus liberals. It describes liberals very well, but conservatives have proven that aren't nearly as libertarian as they like to pretend.

Charles Krauthammer on Boris Yeltsin.

More than 1 million American men are unknowingly raising kids that aren't theirs.

The ironic perception or our actions in the Middle East.

Pat Buchanan says Democrats are in danger of owning defeat in Iraq. I think they already took part ownership of it with the timetable bill.

Article based on interview with Gen. Petraeus. Surely the Iraqi government won't take a 2 month break. That would be outrageous. If they do, we should seriously consider pulling out. Bush should threaten to pullout if they take a break to kill any thoughts of it.

A corporate carbon tax is a horrible idea. Companies are already leaving America to get away from our income tax burden, and this will drive them away even faster. The tax will increase the cost of entry into business which will hurt small companies most and reduce competition. Companies that stay will pass on the higher prices to consumers, hurting the economy, putting people out of work and reduce disposable income for investment. And the carbon consumption will continue unabated elsewhere while Americans suffer.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) says that Bush's intelligence case for war in Iraq differed from Senate Intelligence Committee information before the war. Why didn't Durbin make a big deal out of it back then like he is now? Maybe because he's full of it. Other Democrats on the same committee disagree with him. Intelligence is never certain (and the slam dunk comment was idiotic), but the President better be prepared to deal with worst case, and after 9/11, the whole country felt the same way.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Free kibbles

Top al Qaeda operative captured.

Iranian smuggling ring captured in Sadr City.

Spanish judge indicts 3 US soldiers. With friends like these... What is up with this criminalization of war? I wonder how many Spaniards were killed in WWII, and if Spanish judges indicted all their killers.

Saudis arrest 172 suspected terrorists.

Putin increases threats over missile shield. It must be frustrating and scary to have the world pass Russia by, and Putin is clinging to relevancy. Russia has hitched it's wagon to China, but we'd have all been better off if Clinton and Bush had kept Russia on our side.

German war crimes case against Rumsfeld and others dismissed.

Philadelphia shuts down psychics. They should have seen that coming. Psychics are obviously con-men. I could easily see arresting them for fraud. At the same time, if people want to spend their money on what is obviously a fraud, should we stop them? Maybe this will lead to psychics being registered by the state. I have mixed feelings about this.

The 8 Democratic Presidential candidates took 8 private jets to their debate.

Felons re-enfranchised.

Student arrested for writing essay.

Contempt of Congress is a jailable offense.

Leading investor says we're living in the first world wide bubble.

Failure of the Generals.

Using neuroscience to define a person.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Free kibbles

Congress barely passes retreat and defeat bill for Bush to veto. Al Qaeda, Iran and Democrats are overjoyed.

Carbon offsets are a fraud. Rationality in the global warming debate. Scientists demand changes in skeptical global warming film. This is great news, because it means that the global warming conmen are finally addressing the skeptics. That will give the skeptics even more press to make their case. Responding to overblown alarmism, scientists consider changing the weather to affect global warming.

Yet another push to restrict violent programming on TV.

Lawyers for prisoners of war at Guantanamo asked to be restricted. Duh. Why do these prisoners of war have lawyers anyway? Liberals.

New Hampshire becomes 4th state to legislate civil unions.

Oakland refuses to cooperate with immigration officials.

White House admits political briefings. There's no problem with this unless officials used their government offices to assist candidates like the Clintons did so overtly, illegally, and to great success. While the Clintons got of scott free and Hillary gets to run for President despite her many crimes, you can bet Bush will be hounded by this even if they didn't government power to help their candidates.

Putin is unhappy with Europe and NATO being able to defend themselves. If Russian missiles really could avoid our anti-missile missiles, Putin wouldn't be so upset.

Gonzales and the Peter Principle. This is a function of cronyism.

Christopher Hitchens attacks Islam as part of a greater attack on all religion.

China plans "women's town" where women punish men. I'm sure lots of guys would love that.

Joe Lieberman makes a great argument why we should not leave Iraq. Hugh Hewitt suggests that a Lieberman defection may save us from defeat by the Democrats. Lots of great references to other articles in this essay.

Excellent analysis of al Qaeda. Victor Davis Hanson says we need to continue fighting the war on terror.

The Supreme Court examines McCain-Feingold again. Maybe they'll get it right this time.

George Will reviews book which wonders if we're creating a monster in China. Nice to see the mainstream is slowly catching on, but will it be soon enough to stop a hot war? The more we enrich China, the more we empower the totalitarians running the country. We didn't defeat the Soviets by enriching them. Without all the US money and investment in China, the government would likely have fallen already. With all that wealth from trading with us and technology they steal from us and bribed from Bill Clinton, they're building a large military to challenge us.

Just Because He's Imus

Just Because He's Imus

by Mark Luedtke


I have never listened to or watched Don Imus' program (but, with his hair, I know he should never make a hair joke). I don't know anybody on the Rutger's women's basketball team. I'm no expert on black culture. And this is a scary topic to write about. I don't want to end up like Imus. I doubt I have as much freedom on this subject as my counterpart on the left, just because he's liberal, but he doesn't have nearly the freedom to talk on the subject as a black writer either. Unfair as it is, that's the reality in modern America. Life is not fair for anybody.


Those disclaimers out of the way, I'll just examine some of the claims I've read in the media on this subject.


I've read many claims that Don Imus' freedom of speech was violated. Between her vicious assaults on Christians, comparing fundamentalist Christians to suicide bombers, Rosie O'Donnell invoked the "thought police" to describe Imus' problems. But Imus got in trouble for what he said, not what he thought, and he merely lost his job, he wasn't arrested. The first amendment doesn't restrict employers from firing employees over speech. But Rosie hasn't lost her job over her repeated, nastier comments. Imus isn't Rosie.


Many have condemned Imus' comments themselves as racist and misogynist. Since Imus was attempting to humorously emulate black culture, I think the best way to judge Imus' comments is to look at the idols of black culture and see how they address black women. I won't quote the lyrics to the top 5 songs on the rap chart here because I'm afraid I'd get accused of being racist just for quoting them. Needless to say, the icons of black culture invariably use the same words and worse to describe black women. Imus didn't use derogatory terms rejected by a minority, as has been done with prejudice in the past – Imus' terms are glorified by the minority. An observer from Mars would conclude that Imus should get a raise for using humor to reach out and embrace modern black culture. But Imus is no black culture idol.


Unfortunately Martian objectivity has no place in this emotionally charged discussion. MTV did an interview with black culture icon Snoop Dog that sheds some light on this double standard. From http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1556803/20070410/snoop_dogg.jhtml:


"It's a completely different scenario," said Snoop, barking over the phone from a hotel room in L.A. "[Rappers] are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about ho's that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh--, that's trying to get a n---a for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain't no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC [which announced Wednesday it would drop its simulcast of Imus' radio show] going hard on black girls. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them mutha----as say we in the same league as him."


Snoop Dog later compared Imus to NFL star Pacman Jones, who was suspended for a year, not fired, for multiple arrests and his recent involvement in a shooting in Las Vegas. But Imus is not Pacman Jones.


Some have said that Imus hurt the Rutger's women's basketball players. Whatever happened to sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me? Thick skin is still a virtue, but we pretend otherwise when Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson ply their trade. These CEOs of the phony outrage industry promote real income disparity – Al and Jesse rake in the dough at everybody else's expense when it comes to feigned outrage. The Rutger's basketball players reached the pinnacle of achievement in a tough sport, and they didn't get there without thick skin. Imus' comments couldn't damage them in any way. They've brushed off worse from opponents' fans and listened to worse on their iPods. But Imus isn't a fan.


The Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape were kicked out of school and had their freedom threatened by the government. That's real harm. How come Jesse and Al aren't playing the outrage card for them? Because of who the lacrosse players are.


So if Imus wasn't attacked for his comments, others are rewarded for saying worse, or for hurting the basketball players, then he must have been attacked for who he is. Imus is an old-ass white man. Many call him a free thinker and rugged individualist. He carries a handgun. Worst of all, he's successful at talk radio. Liberals want to destroy all those things.


Imus' comments provided an opportunity for a pack of liberals to attack and take down a white, free-thinking, talk radio host. Flush from the fresh kill, Kieth Olbermann called for Jesse Jackson to go after Olbermann's favorite targets: white, conservative, male, talk radio hosts. The New York Times went after Ann Coulter. Afraid to compete on the field of ideas, the wolves of political correctness are on the hunt to silence any opposition.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Free kibbles

Nancy Pelosi to skip Gen. Petraeus' briefing. She has better things to do than deal with the Iraq war, funding it, and being briefed by the top general.

Trying to find a way out of Iraq. We'll find a way by the beginning of next year, when Bush will declare victory and start drawing down troop levels.

4 House intelligence committee members under investigation for crimes.

Illegal immigrants rally in response to raid. Why have we allowed them this sense of entitlement? Whenever they march, we should arrest and deport them.

Senate committee grants Gonzales aid Monica Goodling immunity. She had planned to invoke her 5th amendment right because she thought Democrats had set a perjury trap for her, and she was probably right.

The Fairness Doctrine is an assault on free speech. John McCain should love it, then.

Bin Laden supposedly planning operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Al Qaeda thriving.

UN criticizes Iraqi human rights. Of course, they aren't willing to come to Iraq and help. They're only criticizing Iraq because it's a free country protected by the US.

The libertarian battle for hearts and minds being fought by Ron Paul.

Inside the Sunni neighborhood in danger of being walled off.

Italy considers law to punish environmental crimes.

Christopher Hitchens doesn't like phony sympathy.

Fred Thompson speaks out against the British removal of the holocaust as a subject of discussion.

Austin Bay blasts Harry Reid for his defeatism and support of our enemies.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Free kibbles

Fat workers cost employers significantly more in claims and lost work days.

Food stamps facts. Like all welfare, they're bad for recipients and taxpayers.

Small planet found in the Goldilocks Zone of a nearby star.

Office of the Special Counsel to investigate Rove and Attorney firings. I've never head of this office. What authority does it have to get involved in this stuff, and why hasn't it been involved in investigations of previous administrations?

Democrats are smart to distance themselves from Reid's comment that the war in Iraq is lost. Too bad they made him their mouthpiece on the subject.

Fred Thompson takes on conservatives on federalism.

Thomas Sowell says we should rethink the dogmas of the 60s that still dog us today.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Free kibbles

Al Qaeda planning Hiroshima scale attack on Britain with Iran. Iran may not be able to make a nuclear bomb, but they can certainly make a dirty bomb.

Construction of Iraqi barrier halted.

EU toughens sanctions on Iran before talks.

Hamas calls for attacks on Israelis. Palestinians were already attacking Israelis. They think it's OK for them to violate any cease-fire, but not Israel.

Harry Reid stand firmly with the terrorists, insurgents, and militias trying to destroy Iraq.

Virginia Tech professor fired for engaging students in discussion of mass murder, gun control, and gun ownership. Open exchange of ideas will not be tolerated on American campuses.

Gasoline prices to go to $4 per gallon.

Dow on a winning streak. Bush's minuscule tax cuts fueled this growth. Imagine how much more growth we'd see if we adopted the FairTax.

Nation's tallest building to be built in Chicago. Why not the world's tallest? Don't we care to be the greatest anymore?

Boris Yeltsen dies.

New book by Iraqi minister says Iraq was headed to chaos whether we intervened in 2003 or not.

Nigerian election called a charade.

10% of China's farmland is polluted.

Sheryl Crow suggests restricting toilet paper to combat global warming.

Single pill to correct numerous genetic defects. Wow.

Playing chicken with the troops: Clinton advisor says roles are reversed from '95.

Christopher Hitchens on the Barbary War and the lessons we can draw today.

Essay from a peaceful, orthodox, Muslim.

Iran's lobbyist, a former Clinton appointee, comes to Ohio.

Gun control doesn't work, and gun-free zones should be renamed easy-target zones.

Poverty reduction is inconsistent with carbon reduction.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Free kibbles

Al Gore may be preparing to enter the Presidential race. I hope he does. If Gore enters, the media will have to fulfill it's opposition role, and the human caused global warming con will be exposed as well as Gore's personal hypocrisy on the issue. Skeptics will no longer be cut out of the debate, and the myth of consensus would be exploded. If Gore runs, it would inadvertently become a great victory for intellectual honesty. Those politicians are so disconnected from reality, that Gore probably doesn't even know his candidacy will backfire in his face.

Border Patrol growth worrisome. I can't help but laugh. Liberals think they can just double or triple the size of our special forces - which is impossible if they are to really be special, but adding 50% to our border patrol is worrisome. As intellectually dishonest as liberals are, this does highlight the stupidity of the Bush plan. As long as we keep inviting illegal aliens here with job opportunities and benefits, border security is doomed to fail no matter how many or how good the agents. All we have to do to stop illegal immigration and get the vast majority to go home on their own is dry up the jobs and benefits. They won't come here without jobs or benefits, nor will those already here stay.

Blue Angel's pilot crashes and dies at airshow.

High turnout for French election. Conservative to face off against socialist. This is a big test to see if France wants to survive or implode.

Britain to issue arrest warrants for three former KGB agents for poisoning Alexander Litvinenko with Polonium 220. At least they aren't coddling the tyrant of Russia.

British seaman mocks his Iranian captivity.

Google offers service to track every website user visits.

Media protesters dressed as rats at White House Correspondents Dinner.

VT student survivor stories. Mass shootings have increased with increasing gun control, just as logic dictates. It's a lot easier to shoot a lot of people when nobody can shoot back. When a citizen shoots back, the mass murder stops.

Not bad advice for dealing with a murderer, but don't grab the gun barrel. You can't hold onto it when he fires. It'll turn your hand to hamburger right before he kills you. Grab the grip or the wrist to control the weapon.

Flexible hours and telecommuting to combat global warming. Now there's a good idea whether it affects global warming or not. It will reduce car wrecks, injuries, fatalities, and real pollution from cars, improving quality of life for everybody. Of course, we've known this for a decade and haven't made much progress.

How concealed carry saves lives and gun control gets people killed.

Mark Steyn recognizes that gun-free zones are the products of people out of touch with reality.

Ralph Peters explains the effects and dangers of overextending our army.

Self-fulfilling defeatism: article claims Chirac was right about Iraq. It's easy to say, "see, I told you it would be a failure," when you don't join in. Had we had stronger European support, another 25,000 troops from Europe, and more heads in the debate than Bush and Blair, Iraq might have been a success already. "We're going to lose, so we won't fight... Because we didn't fight, we lost. Told you."

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Free kibbles

Russia orders press to call America an enemy.

MOSCOW, April 21 — At their first meeting with journalists since taking over Russia’s largest independent radio news network, the managers had startling news of their own: from now on, they said, at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia must be “positive.”

In addition, opposition leaders could not be mentioned on the air and the United States was to be portrayed as an enemy, journalists employed by the network, Russian News Service, say they were told by the new managers, who are allies of the Kremlin.

Pentagon offers Russia plan to link anti-missile systems. Why in the world are we coddling this anti-American, totalitarian regime?

Taiwan considers missile development to defend itself from China. What's to consider? Build the missiles and defend yourself so we don't have to provide more defense welfare that hurts us and the recipients.

Sunni leader condemns walled neighborhood.

Al Qaeda
franchising to expand attacks.

Taliban uses 12 year old boy to behead captive on video.

News of Castro's demise has been greatly exaggerated. He's back oppressing his people.

If NASA can't keep guns out of its facilities, how can college campuses ever hope to? NASA is lucky this guy didn't want to kill more people.

Gun control laws already excluded VT murderer from buying a gun. As usual, only the law-abiding citizens follow them, and therefore they're at the mercy of criminals, murderers, and mass murderers.

Kelo's impact on imminent domain.

Engineer named Mohammad takes nuclear plant plans to Iran.

Report on Haditha massacre.

Jonathan Rauch interview.

NYC to adopt congestion fee.

Supposed knocks against Fred Thompson. I prefer states' rights to conservative ideology too.

New, cheap materials tough enough to scratch diamond.

Insight into the current Supreme Court.

French candidates catering to immigrant slums. The leading candidate has taken a hard line against Islamic extremists in the slums, and the other candidates are wooing them.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Free kibbles

Heroic professor buried in Israel.

Author says concealed carry may not have stopped VT mass murderer. But it may have stopped it, and I think the possibility is much higher than this article implies. The article assumes people won't go through the trouble to carry a gun to protect themselves, and it's incorrect. The article fails to mention that recently a VT student got in trouble for exercising his natural right to be armed on campus. Students at other universities in Virgina, recognizing the danger from unchecked mentally ill students, have petitioned the state for the right to be armed on campus, and been rejected. Students and faculty want to exercise their right to carry, and those are the same people who could have stopped the murderer. And you can carry in a backpack, so the bulging clothes argument is just silly.

Peggy Noonan blasts the phony touchy-feely culture surrounding the VT mass murder.

US troops wall off Sunni neighborhood. That's not a good sign.

More fighting in Mogadishu.

EU talks with Iran. Don't they ever lose their collective voice? For all the good their talking does, they might as well be mute.

Drought in Australia.

Radio wars between local and satellite broadcasting.

Some economic game theory suggests we're natural born communists. It's certainly true for liberals - and you can read wealth envy between their lines. The question is: should leaders allow this kind of personal pettiness to overcome their brain and become policy, and the answer is hell no. The free market works best for everybody.

Pet food recall widens. Info.

Cato says we should end farm subsidies.

Cato points out how disastrous our tax system is. Adopt the FairTax.

Cato says we must fix Medicare.

Cato says gasoline is our only cheap fuel. The US can't grow sugarcane like Brazil, which produces ethanol with 8 times the energy than corn.

Oppression of Russian dissent - the great leap backwards.

Dick Morris explains how independents could derail Hillary in the the Democratic primaries.

Michelle Malkin makes a great (if obvious) case for allowing adults to exercise their natural right protected by the 2nd amendment to carry firearms for self-defense.

OMG: AMD posts $611 million loss on revenues of $1.2 billion. Holy cow, that's 1/2 their revenue. I remember when AMD busted the $1 billion revenue mark back in the 90s.

Special needs of women are leading them to flee IT jobs. This is the real reason for the so-called income disparity between men and women - in general, women aren't as flexible and therefore can't command the same salaries. It's important to note that women who are just as flexible can command the same salaries, but feminists use the general to apply to the specific.

Forumsdot is moving to faster hosts - that's why the lostpolitics board is down. Unfortunately, they gave us no notice, no projected restore time, and it's taking inordinately long.

ETA: the board is back, but the move didn't work. I'm sure they'll plan another move, and I've asked them to let us know in advance, but I have no control over it.

Forumsdot has removed the several 404 error threads in the support forum, the first of which I started. Odd.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Free kibbles

Reason points out that gun control left Virgina Tech's students and faculty defenseless, a fact well known and taken advantage of by the mass murderer and all murderers. The solution is obviously to allow citizens to exercise their natural right to effective self-defense, a right protected by the 2nd amendment, but liberals will call for more gun control so they can make even more people defenseless and inevitable victims. Families upset about NBC broadcast.

Supreme Court upholds federal ban on partial birth abortions. Partial birth abortions should never be allowed, but my copy of the Constitution doesn't grant the federal government any powers to deal with it. This looks like conservative judicial activism to me. This issue should be left to the states, or, if we want the federal government involved, we have to amend the Constitution.

Only a paranoid schizophrenic could think the right is winning on guns and abortion. 32 people, forcibly disarmed by the loony left, were easy victims for a mass murderer. Except for gun control, that maniac would have been stopped right away - a clear victory the left that wants to leave everybody defenseless against such murderers. Liberals forced those 32 victims to be defenseless, they're proud of it, and they want the same for everybody else.

The Supreme Court stopped the murder of babies partially outside the womb, and this freak calls that a victory against abortion instead of calling it a victory against murderers. Crazy. In order to avoid the abortion debate, I used to joke that abortion should be legal until the child was 12. Abortion fanatics on both sides would leave me alone. But I think plenty of liberals really want it that way. We know they want to kill babies outside the womb and call it abortion. What's a few more years of development? Sick.

Democrats prepare to compromise on Iraq funding bill - make time-tables advisory. They should done that to begin with.

Gonzales testifies. Gonzales' unacceptable incompetence blew this whole thing out of proportion, and he should be fired for that, not for firing the attorneys.

Legislation to overhaul the patent process.

All of Europe has their hands out wanting our missile defense shield. That way they don't have to take any strong measures against Iran.

China's economy may be overheating.

Chinese create artificial snowfall. And we're worried about life-giving CO2 affecting climate. While Republicans and Democrats fiddle, the Chinese are advancing.

Top climate scientist says that humans are not causing climate change and that we are not facing a climate crisis. Skeptics can't get fair hearing.

More evidence of the natural ebb and flow of climate, as if we needed more. Naturally this will be twisted into alarmism by human-caused global warming con-men.

Scientist urges end to practice of cremation. Any intellectually honest individual fearing CO2 caused global warming has already renounced the practice, but intellectual honesty is not a liberal value, so I doubt many have.

About DNA and prosecutorial bias.

Government subsidies to bring businesses to town. I have a better idea: adopt the FairTax at the federal, state, and local level.

So much for government use of red-light cameras.

I have a bug report into forumsdot to get the lostpolitics message-board back up. It looks like a number of their boards are getting 404 errors today. No comment yet from forumsdot. At least 4 boards are down, and still no response from forumsdot at 10:24.

Boortz on the Virginia Tech student's mental health problems.

Mark Steyn takes on the passivity culture.

Dick Morris says Hillary is in trouble because people don't like her. How long have I been saying that? (I did say she would win the Democratic nomination, and I stand by that. But she'll get creamed in a national race.)

Lower the drinking age back to 18. It was stupid to ever raise it and create a disadvantaged underclass at colleges.

How Congress is hiding its earmarks.

Thomas Sowell says Mike Nifong knew the Duke lacrosse players were innocent all along.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Free kibbles

Heroic professor, holocaust survivor, dies protecting students.

Virginia Tech shooter is a a resident alien student. Used different name in grievance note. Bought gun in March - had serial number filed off. Police are too late. That's why they're called first responders. American citizens are always the first defenders, and we have to stop disarming them against the laws of nature and the constitution. European press blames Charlton Heston and the NRA. Really.

There are 4 million Iraqi refuges. This is another reason we have to win in Iraq - so these people can go home.

Rival Mexican drug cartels erupt in violence.

Italy tries US soldier in absentia. Soldier rejects jurisdiction.

British pound over $2. Dow all-time high.

Email scandal grows. If the White House really did delete emails in violation of the law, Democrats may finally extract their pound of flesh. They must be happy to have discovered an actual scandal instead of these pitiful manufactured media stories that have no substance.

Democrats plan to bring back the misnamed Fairness Doctrine in an attempt to shut down talk radio - a market in which liberals cannot compete because nobody wants to listen to them.

Misreporting on Attorney firings: Gonzales never said he was uninvolved - he said he was peripherally involved.

Reason on rewriting the tax code. Forget that; adopt the FairTax.

Orwellian overtones: Britain joins the US government in banning phrase "war on terror."

Lessons for hawks and doves from Eisenhower:
Eisenhower's attitude put him at odds with the hawks of both his time and ours; anyone speaking as categorically against preventive war today as he did in 1954 would be derided by mainstream Republicans as a "defeatocrat," waiting for America's enemies to gather strength and strike first. But the victor of World War II was assuredly no dove. He made clear his theoretical willingness to use nuclear weapons, he sent U.S. marines to Lebanon, and he said, "We do not escape war by surrendering on the installment plan." The best way to see Eisenhower is as neither hawk nor dove but, so to speak, as a reptile: a cold-blooded realist.
The fallacy of the hawks is that while our enemies gather power, we don't. America should always be gathering power faster than our enemies. Unfortunately, our titanic government keeps that from happening. By limiting the size and scope of government, adopting the FairTax, ending all government spending and restrictions that have destroyed our health care and education systems, America will experience growth unequaled in history - far outstripping any gathering of forces of our enemies.

The fallacy of the doves is that we can ignore real threats and surrender with no consequences. Unfortunately both hawks and doves work together to keep America from getting stronger through government reforms listed above and more.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Disarmed citizens massacred once again

Disarmed by liberal gun control, at least 32 students and faculty of Virginia Tech were murdered by a gunman today. We see these massacres over and over, from Columbine to Luby's, and they all have two important things in common. First, the victims have invariably been disarmed by unconstitutional gun control laws, and second, liberals invariably call for more gun control.

Every person is born with the innate right to the most effective self-defense possible. That right is one of the reasons for the 2nd Amendment, and the most effective self-defense possible is defense with a firearm. But liberals have chosen to unconstitutionally disarm the citizens of America, forcing them to face stronger and better armed attackers without the most effective self-defense possible.

Often liberals claim the common good as overriding the right of armed self-defense. But no issue, not even the mythical common good, can override a person's innate right to effective self-defense. Nor can anybody explain how forcing citizens to face attackers unarmed serves the common good anyway. How do the deaths of disarmed citizens assist the common good, liberals?

It goes without saying that the police cannot protect everybody. Today's massacre is tragic and unnecessary proof, and it would have ended much differently had the students and staff been armed. Even if possible for police to protect everybody, nobody would want to live that way, and it wouldn't override the innate right to effective self-defense anyway. Liberals understand this as well as anybody, yet they persist, successfully disarming citizens and cheering about making them easy targets for murderers.

And the inevitable result of liberals' successful assault on personal freedom and responsibility is massacre after massacre that could have been avoided had the citizens involved been armed. Liberals share the blood of these massacre victims, and all disarmed victims of violence, with the perpetrators.

Just over a year ago, Virginia General Assembly quashed a bill allowing citizens with concealed carry permits to carry handguns on campus.

Free kibbles

Doctors in UK refuse to carry out abortions. That's their right, but I doubt the British government will acknowledge it. The really scary part of this article is the record number of abortions in Britain. The UK births per woman is already at 1.74, well below the replacement rate of 2.1. Western European birth rates. The UK and all of Europe needs babies, not abortions.

Iraqi cabinet members loyal to Moqtada al Sadr quit government. This is an interesting development as Maliki has taken a stand against Sadr for Iraq. This will marginalize Sadr, violence will increase, but it will also give the coalition an even better opportunity to take out the Mahdi army.

3,000 UN peacekeepers to enter Darfur. Will 3,000 have any effect?

Chavez hosts energy summit. He better do something to get foreign investment in his country before he destroys it all.

Dollar nears record low versus Euro.

Over 52% of Americans receive financial benefits from government. That's just sick.

Congressmen take spring break on taxpayer dole. They had the military fly them. The same military who are awaiting funds being held up in committee.

IRS audits are increasing for the rich, but not as fast as the poor and middle class.

Let's hope the Duke rape case changes rape law to be more fair.
The Duke case also makes it clear that the feminist dogma on rape is far from benign. It is hostile both to men and to basic principles of justice.
Slate thinks the Iranian mullahs find President Ahmadinejad useful.

Does Google know more about web surfers than they know about themselves? This is the kind of invasion of privacy liberals love, but as soon as somebody uses the same database and technology to track terrorists, liberals will scream about it.

Wave of the future - Spiderman 3 released in Japan before US.

Jason Whitlock on the Imus situation. Jackie Robinson would have ignored Don Imus. Can you imagine the vile, hate-filled rhetoric spewed at Jackie Robinson? Thick skin is still a virtue, until Al and Jesse come to collect. Can you imagine what Jackie Robinson would have thought of those two agitators?

Einstein is right again.

Charles Krauthammer says the surge is showing results - results Democrats are trying hard to ignore.

Global warming bandwagon jumper John Kerry spends a lot on electricity.

The full story on Wolfowitz' so-called conflict of interest at the World Bank.

Victor Davis Hanson says the double-standard of treatment of the two parties is payback for Iraq. That double-standard existed long before Iraq.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Free kibbles

Wow. Frank Rich said something insightful. He says the response to Imus' slur should have been more free speech, not firing him. NYTimes expands racial witch-hunt to Ann Coulter over Muslim comments. Congratulations to Frank Rich for wanting to compete on the field of ideas. Most liberals realize their ideas can't compete, so they silence the opposition. Kinky Friedman.

Recalled US Marines in Afghan rampage.

Michael Moore takes 9/11 workers to Cuba for health care. It would be awesome if those people got help, but Moore's motives are terrible.

Blair and Merkel pressure Bush on CO2 emissions.

White House attempts to find missing emails. AG Gonzales defends himself by admitting he's handled the situation poorly. That's why he should be fired.

Al Qaeda is responding to the surge with a series of bomb blasts in Iraq and Baghdad. Gen. Petraeus will have to stop this, because it's taking over the Iraq news stories.

New suicide bombings in Morocco.

Muslim fatwa shuts down vampire exhibition in Malaysia. Tolerance has to go both ways or it becomes assault.

Russian police beat protesters. Just like always.

Maybe cell phones are wiping out bees. Again, I think this is part of a natural cycle related to the sun, hurricanes, etc. If it was cell phones we would have noticed it last year and the year before, increasing year after year.

Stephen Hayes interviews Fred Thompson, an unabashed supporter of state's rights. You have to love that.

Walter Williams on bogus science to promote public policy in global warming and smoking.

Giuliani, abortion, gun-control, and the Constitution.

Cato on the fallacy of ethanol.

Cato explains that FEMA's problem is the federal government. Disaster relief is always local.

A red square nebula.

UN human rights nightmare speech banned from records.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Free kibbles

North Korea fails to shut down even one reactor by deadline, let alone all as they were supposed to do. China urges patience with NK, no doubt because patience has been so effective so far.

Chess champion Kasparov arrested at banned anti-Kremlin rally by George Bush's good buddy Vladimir Putin.

Worldwide market in human organs.

Pope criticizes capitalism in new book. He must prefer all the human suffering that came before.

Chavez steals more oil facilities.

Dramatic increase in child attacks on parents.

Snoop dog on Imus. Insightful British opinion.

Victor Davis Hanson dreams of western civilization, but the unity and clarity of his dream never existed, even during WWII. It's fun to fantasize.

Ralph Peters explains how American companies can compete. But every American company could compete even better if we adopted the FairTax to level the playing field against foreign competition.

George Will on Jackie Robinson.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Free kibbles

Self-exiled Russian calls for Russian revolution. Expect Putin to have him killed shortly.

Can web applications truly replace desktop applications?

Rutgers' womens basketball team accepts Imus' apology. Little good that does him since he's fired. Why liberals listened to Imus.

Australian PM Howard calls for a ban on HIV positive immigrants.

US pays civilians for casualties in Iraq.

4 years of Karl Rove's emails are missing. Now that's illegal, and should be investigated. Finally, Democrats have an issue of substance. I still think the biggest and most politically worthwhile issue Democrats should investigate is Cheney's conflict of interest with the no-bid contracts with Haliburton. Democrats must be afraid of having their own conflicts of interest exposed.

Human trafficking of guest workers in the US.

Bush may veto prison disclosure bill. The very term "terror suspects" is biased. These people are prisoners of war, and the Commander in Chief has full responsibility for them according to the Constitution. Not Congress. Not the Court. Can you imagine Congress trying to make Roosevelt disclose all the prisoners we had in WWII? Give them all lawyers and trials? It's absurd.

Reason asks if genetically modified crops are killing off bees. I doubt it. I think a similar bee die-off happened in the 50s, the same time as a hurricane spike like we're in right now. I imagine this is cyclical.

Illegal immigration and lawn care.

Reason injected into the drinking age argument - turn it back to 18.

Did Duke DA Nifong commit a crime?

More on CBS' plagiarism.

Why nobody will take the job of war czar.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Free kibbles

Attack on Parliament lunchroom kills 2 Iraqi lawmakers. The bomber may have been a bodyguard. I noted yesterday that the government in Iraq is a big part of the problem, and this is more evidence. Al Qaeda claims responsibility.

Pakistan army is helping fight foreign fighters in tribal Pakistan.

IAEA disputes Iran's claim to be in industrial phase of nuclear enrichment. This is probably another attempt by Ahmadinejad to invite an attack.

Columbus, Ohio man indicted for conspiring with al Qaeda. Come on. Ohio isn't that bad.

Democrats continue to try and invent scandals out of thin air.

Consequences of cutting carbon dioxide output - as if it cutting CO2 output would affect solar activity causing minor climate change.

Case against Duke prosecutor Nifong continues.

Group sues LAPD over policy not to report illegal immigrants.

Organ harvesting threatens to steal organs from live people.

New nuclear scanners for ports.

UN tries to tap New York Policemen for peacekeeping duties. I hope they aren't trying to circumvent the federal government on this.

Gorbachev claims the US is trying to use missile shield to control Europe. He doesn't explain how that would work. How come nobody is pointing out the disgusting position of the Russians, that they have some right to be able to nuke Europe? That's what this whole issue is about. Russia is afraid it won't be able to nuke Europe. But no, Americans are bad because we're trying to protect Europe from nuclear missiles.

British Bank branch bans the poor from personal inquiries.

Hillary falls flat in poll by MoveOn.org, the organization which practically owns the Democratic party anymore. Wow.

Imus fights back. Demands Al Sharpton apologize to Duke lacrosse players. Dropped from MSNBC. Who can say what? What about Rosie? Boortz sees it as an attack on talk radio. The Fairness Doctrine. Cal Thomas. Mike Adams. Ann Coulter. Michelle Malkin.

Breakthrough in cancer treatment.

Gene mutation causes ADHD. The sad part of the discovery is that millions of people who don't have it will claim it.

Biofuel subsidies push up price of meat.

Boortz comments on the missing White House emails - and the missing documents destroyed by Sandy Berger and the missing subpoenaed files hidden by Hillary Clinton. The difference is, Bush won't get a pass for the missing emails, and rightly so, unlike Berger and Hillary to wrongly got a pass (or a slap on the wrist in Berger's case).

George Will lampoons the plans to cut greenhouse gas output.

Victor Davis Hanson says we care so much about the Middle East because of oil. Duh.

The Valerie Plame non-issue will not die - Novak reports on CIA director Hayden and Democratic representive Waxman's use of the term 'covert.'

Amazing evidence of the continued emasculation of society - German toilets warn men against urinating while standing.

Dallas police want to be above the law when it comes to running red lights.

I don't think I've mentioned how much Microsoft sucks lately. I just rebooted my computer after a "security update," and literally as soon as my computer came back up, I have a new "security update." Too bad Linux is such a crappy product. I tried to install it recently, and, knowing a lot about UNIX, and having installed Linux on other computers, I still found it was impossible to load on mine. It didn't recognize my wireless card, so I had no way to access the internet for a driver. Case closed.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Free kibbles

US extends troops' tours in Iraq to 15 months.

US provides more evidence Iran is arming Sunni insurgents. Sadr threatens to pull his supporters from the government. The biggest problem in Iraq is that the government is so partisan. (Eerie) We made a serious mistake by allowing a representative government before we secured the country. The inevitable result is that the sectarian militias put their own people in the government, and those people have no loyalty to the nation, just their won warlord.

Paper claims US plans to partition Baghdad. I bet this is an exaggeration. Controlling traffic into and out of high target areas makes perfect sense. Partitions do not.

Al Qaeda strikes in Algiers.

Russia threatens new Cold War. They're already fighting a new Cold War of Terror against us with their ally China, but this shift is more similar to the old Cold War.

Japan hosts Chinese leader.

Amnesty International claims Egypt is a torture center for other countries in War on Terror.

5 years too late, Bush is trying to hire a war czar to coordinate the efforts of US bureaucracies in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is so late, there are no takes.

Apparently the US economy has slowed down. Fears of inflation.

Snow
closes schools and grounds airlines while Kerry and Gingrich both jump on human caused global warming bandwagon.

All charges against Duke lacrosse players dropped. Both Nifong and the accuser have to pay a heavy price.

How government isolates ghetto capitalists.

Corruption discovered in student loans. How it affects taxpayers.

McCain makes strong case for supporting war in Iraq, attacks Democrats for trying to force defeat and subsequent carnage. I'm no McCain fan, but this is a great stand on principle. Too bad Bush doesn't make great speeches like this.

Rudy Giuliani does not understand the second amendment.

Dick Morris thinks that since the Clintons can no longer sell access to the White House like they did for 8 years, they can't raise money like they used to.

CBS reporter fired for plagiarism.

British troops ridicule sailor who sold story.

Teachers hurt by malicious videos? What is this about? A teacher has his pants around his ankles in front of his students, and he declares himself a victim because of a video? Maybe he should just keep his pants on.

Stem cell experiment 'cures' diabetes. This shows we don't need federal funding for stem cell research. The free market will fund the research, and it's silly for the government to fund it when half of America is against it.

Georgia Tech creates prototype nano-generator capable of replacing small batteries in mobile electronics.

Water detected on extra-solar planet.

Study estimates cost of illegal immigrants in America - $197.6 billion per year, assuming only 12 million illegal immigrants.

John Stossel explains how politicians use pork to get buildings named after them.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Free kibbles

Bill treats global warming as national security issue. Record cold April. The global warming con-men used the cyclical high 2005 hurricane season for maximum propaganda value, but mother nature is getting back at them right now. It's pretty hard to convince people of a global warming catastrophe in the middle of a snowstorm in April.

Australia to double troops in Afghanistan, and Howard warns of casualties. Now that's a leader. The US should have finished the job in Afghanistan instead of attacking Iraq.

Ethiopia admits detaining terror suspects.

Security plan in Baghdad is taking out bad guys.

Russia expresses skepticism about Iran's nuclear capabilities. Fine, but will they act to make sure Iran never gets those capabilities, or are they just going to use that excuse to keep assisting Iran?

Bomb suspect blows himself up in Casablanca
.

China complains about US trade complaints.

Chinese government limits kids to 3 hours of online gaming. Using ID to regulate web.

Democrat Senator Feingold introduces bill to force defeat in Iraq war. Democrats are accelerating over the cliff.

Gate-crasher activists call for boycott. The US should round up every boycotter and ship them out of the country. When they did this last year, business got along just fine, and the same will happen this year.

PBS pulls segment of documentary showing clash of moderate and fundamental Muslims.

Republican who issued many subpoenas for the Clinton administration, warns Democrats about being subpoena happy. That isn't a double standard. We had evidence of Clinton crimes on a daily basis for 8 years, and subpoenas were warranted. The only supposed knocks on the Bush administration are the Valerie Plame non-affair that was abused by Fitzgerald and the US Attorney non-issue. The double standard is what Clinton got away with compared to Bush who labors under investigation for nothing.

The sorry state of campaign financing.

Assault on free speech at SFSU
.

How the Democrats can use the Alternative Minimum Tax as a 2008 campaign issue. Smart candidates will ignore the AMT and support the FairTax.

R.C. Hoils, libertarian newspaper publisher.

Future military armor looks more like Predator armor or Robocop.

Bush defeatism regarding illegal immigration.

Tax facts.

Johnny Cash's old house, now owned by Barry Gibb, burned down.