Are muslim men animals who can't control themselves?

Given the evidence, I would have to say yes.

I become a social pariah

I should have known better....It happened in San Francisco. I was dining with four delightful people when I inadvertently disclosed my deepest, most shameful secret.

I don't believe in global warming.

I couldn't have gotten a more shocked reaction if I had offered my grandmother a ham sandwich. Four shocked pairs of eyes. Four horrified gasps. A few feeble attempts to reason with me, then polite disbelief. No-one suggested burning me at the stake, but that was because they didn't want to disturb the ozone layer.

Can't I not believe in global warming? Is it the number one doctrine of the Church of Ecology?

It all reminds me of the last non-disaster that did not overtake us, namely the end of life as we know it which was supposed to occur at the millenium. One of my friends spent 1999 in a swivet because all the computers were going to go down on January 1, 2000. Her preparations for this gathered force as fall '99 approached.

Every second or third day Anne or her husband would withdraw the maximum amount allowed from their bank account, until they had a tidy sum under the mattress. Anne pleaded with her daughter and son-in-law to purchase a generator, and when they refused, she bought them one anyway.

On January 1, 2000, what happened? Nothing. Life went on, and so did the world's computers.

On January 2, 2000, Anne and her husband sheepishly returned $6,000 to their bank account.

I never heard what happened to the generator.

Happy Halloween

 

Now I have to go buy some candy. 

My neighbor celebrates Halloween

 

I'd hate to have his electric bill. 

Are some people above criticism?

Criticizing Michael J Fox is like kicking your dog. He's cute, he's sick, he's lovable. But suppose Fox kicks his dog? Are we not allowed to say anything because he has the moral high ground?

Is he allowed to make a manipulative and misleading commercial because he suffers from an illness? Are we not allowed to discuss the merits of his argument?

I'm willing to concede that the man is a highly engaging actor who is suffering from a deadly disease. But this whole stem cell controversy has been removed from the scientific realm and is being framed as a moral issue, which it is not. Stem cell research, embryonic and adult, is legal in all 50 states. There is no law against it. Several states actually fund it, including basket cases like California and New Jersey which would be well advised to spend their money in some more worthy endeavor. The actual result of this funding is to put taxpayers' money in the hands of scientists who want government grant money to carry out their research instead of spending private funds.

The jury is still out on stem cell research. If funds are needed, who not ask George Soros for the money--or Bill Gates? Or some Saudi princeling who has millions to throw around? There are also plenty of private charities who give out money for medical research. I guess it's easier to get it from the government.

However, back to my question: who is immune to criticism? Besides RoPers, I mean.

Here's a partial list, just so you know.

Cindy "absolute moral authority" Sheehan; Michael Berg, peace lover whose son was beheaded and who wears a kefiyeh around his neck; Max Cleland, war hero who was injured during a beer run; Lynne Stewart, professional traitor, attorney, and cancer sufferer.

Who, me?

You Are a "Don't Tread On Me" Libertarian

You distrust the government, are fiercely independent, and don't belong in either party. Religion and politics should never mix, in your opinion... and you feel opressed by both. You don't want the government to cramp your self made style. Or anyone else's for that matter. You're proud to say that you're pro-choice on absolutely everything!

What's Your Political Persuasion?

Is one Israeli soldier worth more than1,000 Pali prisoners?

The Palis seem to think so.

School of the future

Annoyed librarian is, well, annoyed:

... "School of the Future" in Philadelphia, PA ... doesn't have any books, and doesn't want any! That's for schools of the past! They also don't have any pens and paper, just laptops, thanks to Bill Gates. Not having any books or pens or paper is supposed somehow to help the underprivileged children of Philadelphia. ...
In the Philadelphia school, all the classrooms look like corporate conference rooms, and the students all work on "practical problems," which I guess means they take "consumer math" instead of algebra and write Powerpoint presentations instead of essays. If this is the "school of the future," God help us all.

The people in education are so open-minded that their brains fall out. Every few years there is a new craze that is going to solve the problems in education. Once upon a time it was open classrooms. Tht didn't work. Neither did small class size, a nostrum much loved by the teachers' unions. (More jobs for teachers--it makes sense. To them.) Then there is the campaign to pay more money to the knuckleheads now in charge, in the hopes that if you pay them better they will perform better. Sure they will! Right after I get nominated for Miss America or when pigs fly, whatever comes first.

Beau Biden in trouble?

Yes indeed!

From the Wilmington News Journal:

T

he Delaware Attorney General’s race is in a statistical dead heat, with nearly one-fourth of voters still undecided, an independent poll released today shows.

The poll by Fairleigh Dickinson (N.J.) University’s PublicMind institute found 35 percent of voters support Republican Ferris Wharton, and 34 percent pick Democrat Beau Biden.

Why must the spawn of politicians run for office? Frankly, I'm sick of the Kennedys, the Bidens, the Chaffees, the Reids (as in Harry), etc. Why can't they find honest work?

Take Patrick Kennedy, for instance. He has all the makings of a fine manual laborer. If he can master the necessary computer skills, he could serve honorably as a cashier at Target. He could be a crossing guard. The possibilities are endless.

I feel sorry for my grandchildren, who will probably be given a choice between Chelsea Clinton and Jenna or Barbara Bush.

It doesn't have to be that way. These individuals should post their resumes on Monster.com--I understand you can get jobs that way--and make an honest living.

Never happen.

Murtha Campaign Poster

Carnival of the Vanities is up

and a very interesting collection it is. This is number 214!

Hot new fashions

From Hepzibah, one of my commentors:
What's on the fashion horizon for this spring? Burkas.

If she's right, we'd better not be caught with our pants down, figuratively. So I trolled the web for some burkas to suit the fashion-forward American woman.

<





This one is the Full Monty, so to speak; I can't tell whether this is a front or a back view. Possibly neither. It might be draped over a chair. A great choice for the mature woman, and can also be used as a slipcover for your sofa.


This little number would be perfect for the Easter Parade. Discreet, but sweet.








This one is for the young and daring. Perfect for the senior prom!

There now--that's not so bad, is it?

And just think: you needn't worry about driving some poor Muslim youth mad with lust, causing him to rape you, which will then be your fault.

Except--I don't know--perhaps the pink one is a little over the top?

My kind of coffee

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Another day, another dentist

It seems to me that at least once a year I find myself sitting with my mouth open, being tortured by one or more dentists. It's not for nothing that various horrors are described as "worse than a root canal."

Well, I'm well past the root canal phase. Never mind how I got there, but I am now condemned to wear a temporary, removable bridge for the next six months. The nasty thing feels something like a gigantic hunk of chewing gum stuck to the roof of my mouth. Or like an enemy alien has come to live in my mouth. Only worse. I hate it. It's also funny-looking, with a long canine tooth that does not match my own teeth and makes me look like a vampire. Great for Halloween.

I have to take care of this obscene object. It must be kept in water, like a live goldfish. I'm not supposed to chew anything hard. Believe me, there is no temptation to do so. I don't think I will ever attempt to chew again.

Now I know why my grandmother hated to wear her false teeth. She generally kept them in a pocket of her housedress except on ceremonial occasions.

Muslim hatemongering mullah agrees with Pascal

Tim Blair denounces a sheik who thinks a woman who is raped is to blame because she is immodest:

The sheik...said: “If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred."


According to Pascal: "All man's miseries come from his inability to sit quietly in his room."

He preceded this, however, with: "All generalizations, including this one, are false."

So I guess Blaise P and the holy man are not on the same page after all. Oh, well.

Today is St Crispin's Day

A nice snippet from the Kenneth Branagh version of Henry V. Shakespeare's words are stirring:

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Somehow pacificism doesn't move hearts as martial virtues do. As George Orwell said, boys play with toy soldiers; toy pacifists will not do.

What was this battle all about? Who knows? A bit of France won by England, then won back. By all accounts, Henry V was a dunderhead. But so what? He still lives, and will, as long as Shakespeare is read and English is spoken.

Be careful of us old people

We can be mean.

Another triumph for the codger/codgerette demographic.

Remember her?

Palestinian brain drain

These people have brains?

I know it's mean of me, so don't write and tell me that I am not being fair to these folks. That is exactly the point. I'm tired of trying to be fair.

How many brains does it take to:

Celebrate your independence by shooting each other and torching buildings?

Destroy greenhouses built by Israelis, which were given to you in hopes you could make a living?

Shoot bullets into the air on festive occasions, sometimes resulting in the celebrants being killed?

Be happy your son or daughter blew him/herself up? Rejoice at the funeral?

I think the brains departed long ago. If ever there were a people unfitted for self-government, it's this bunch.

Naked lady tries to get youth to stop playing basketball

But the judge says it's okay.

A judge in Riverside, Calif., has dismissed an indecent-exposure charge against a woman accused of sitting naked on her sun deck in a bid to "drive away" a teenage boy who was making too much noise playing basketball next door.

Violence is out of control in Iraq

Only, unfortunately, this picture is of French Muslim youth rioting in France.

Police there are calling this an infitada:

One small police union claims officers are facing a "permanent intifada." Police injuries have risen in the year since the wave of violence.

National police reported 2,458 cases of violence against officers in the first six months of the year, on pace to top the 4,246 cases recorded for all of 2005 and the 3,842 in 2004. Firefighters and rescue workers have also been targeted - and some now receive police escorts in such areas.

On Sunday, a band of about 30 youths, some wearing masks, forced passengers out of a bus in a southern Paris suburb in broad daylight Sunday, set it on fire, then stoned firefighters who came to the rescue....
More broadly, worsening violence in France testifies to Europe's growing struggle to integrate its ethnic minorities. Some mainstream European politicians - adopting positions previously confined largely to far-right fringes - are suggesting that the minorities themselves are not doing enough to adapt to European mores.

[]
Ethnic integration and violence against police are both becoming issues in the campaign for the French presidency. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the leading contender on the right, said this month that those who do not love France do not have to stay, echoing a longtime slogan of the extreme-right National Front: "France, love it or leave it."

Michel Thooris, head of the small Action Police union, claims that the new violence is taking on an Islamic fundamentalist tinge.

"Many youths, many arsonists, many vandals behind the violence do it to cries of 'Allah Akbar' (God is Great) when our police cars are stoned," he said in an interview. []

Sadio Sylla, an unemployed mother of three, watched the Oct. 13 ambush of the police patrol in Epinay-sur-Seine from her second-floor window. She, other witnesses and police union officials said up to 50 masked youths surged out from behind trees.

One of the three officers needed 30 stitches to his face after being struck by a rock.

The attack was one of at least four gang beatings of police in Parisian suburbs since Sept. 19. Early Friday, a dozen hooded people hurled stones, iron bars and bottles filled with gasoline at two police vehicles in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a flashpoint of last year's riots, said Guillaume Godet, a city hall spokesman. One officer required three stitches to his head.

[]


Police unions suspect that the recent attacks may be an attempt to spark new riots.

"We are getting the impression these youths want a 'remake' of what happened last year," said Fred Lagache, national secretary of the Alliance police union. "The youths are trying to cause a police error to justify chaos."

It must be a great year for Renault sales.