In honor of the end of my first blogging year, I've scrounged through the archives and dug up what I believe to be my best posts of the year. Sort of my version of those end-of-year wrap-ups you're always seeing around this time. Anyhoo, here goes, and enjoy!

March 2002
Review of the Alagna/Gheorghiu concert

April
My review of the Met's Falstaff
VC Darte's review of Falstaff
Rant about the United Nations International school

May
How to improve Harbison's Great Gatsby
My first Fisking, of Chris Patten Pretty damn good for a first try.
The Pavarotti farewell that wasn't
The surprising results of my "Most Dangerous Person In The World" poll
A Lament for Graham Vick

June

My bread recipe
My obituary Guess I was feeling morose that day. Clever though. Very "inside blogdom".
Picking a blog-fight.
An appreciation of Angel Corella.
Andrew Sullivan, Norah Vincent, Richard Goldstein, and Carmen Vazquez mix it up at the Great Gay Political Debate, and La Blogatrice is there! The post that got me mentioned on MSNBC's Hardball blog.

July
Sullywatch notices the Gay Debate post. Merriment ensues.
That silly play about Lenin and his embalmer. My first Corner link.

August
First- ever Fisking of the lamentable Richard Goldstein.
Twit Adrian Hamilton suggests an invasion of the United States. I gently (snort) suggest that he may not have thought this through. Noticed by Instapundit among others.
I go all frothy about modern opera productions.
The inaugural Boy Cuomo Watch. Damn, that was fun.
Discovery of a new Information-Age malady:" parcel anxiety"

September
Affirmative action for orchestras and why it's a horrible idea.

20 random facts about me. One of them is no longer true.

My recipe for a divine chocolate...thing.
My review of opening night at the Met.
My first fan encounter.

October
Spouting off about Robert Torricelli I still say this story should have been a much bigger scandal than it was.
The Met's Cenerentola.
A little pop quiz about Islam.
Refuting Scott Rubush's 10 things to hate about NYC.
A lovely article in the Times about Hao Jiang Tian, a courageous Chinese opera singer.
Pirata review.
Another prime Fisking of Richard Goldstein, this time on foreign policy. Probably my best, and one of my most attention-getting.

November
My top 10 operas. Much discussion ensues.
Lucia review.
Andrew's first post, on videogame violence and marijuana
Trovatore review.
The engagement announcement.
Congratulations from Mark Steyn. Best single piece of Email ever!

December
An appreciation of Robert Wise. Lots of discussion and irate Star Trek: The Motion Picture fans.
Andrew on immigration and the school system.
Andrew's controversial NYC post.

January 2003
Pasta with Four Cheeses recipe. A diet buster, but SOOO worth it.
Frank on stupid UK gun laws.
Andrew writes about Tolien and role-playing games.
Belgian-style beef stew recipe, great winter-warmer food.
My response to British immigration officials.
London vs. NYC Smackdown!, the first in a projected series. Very popular and attracted lots of debate.
Fisking Paul Craig Roberts. Proof that the left does not have a monopoly on anti-war loons.
Andrew forsees the end of the Labour government As it turns out, he's not far off the mark at all.

February

Christopher Hyatt "psychologically profiles" Bush and Hussein. Fascinating.
Why I hate booing.
Bob on the future of the Democratic Party.
The Portland pro-troop rally, with pictures. Noticed by Instapundit.
Maine life, including record-low temperatures and power outages.
Andrew collaborates with "Tom Paine" on a vision of the not-so-distant future of the Tory party. Amazingly prophetic.
I discuss some underrated tenors.
The ignominious French, from the twelfth century. Still makes me crack up.
The wedding pictures. Noticed by pretty much everyone.
Frank disses Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

March

Race, culture and white pride at the Richard Poe forum.

Customer service gone horribly, horribly wrong.
The infamous French Boycott post, which attracted somewhere in the range of 400 comments. Takes a while to load, obviously.
The Chocolate Crunchers want to revoke gluttony as a deadly sin. I had a lot of fun with this one.

April

The freedom thought test. Noticed by many including Instapundit and Volokh. Attracted much debate.
Tex has fun in El Lay and Canada.
Montreal trip diary. That was a lot of fun.
Andrew on Chirac's crises.
Eating pizza for charity. Indispensable guide to munchies in the greater Brunswick/Freeport, ME metropolitan area.
SILENZIO: My painful memories of 9/11 in New York City, and aftermath. Noticed by LGF, Vodkapundit, and others. The most difficult post I've ever had to write.

May

Kosher cosmetics. One of the most strange and wonderful things I've come across in my web journeys.
Fisking Thabo Mbeki, for defending Robert Mugabe's homicidal regime. Noticed by Hawkgirl and Rottweiler.
The blues post. Haven't laughed that hard in months.
Fisking the mail. I take on Palestinian charity appeals. "Junk mail" in the truest sense of the word.
Guns! I exercise my Second Amendment rights for the first time. Pictures.
My first Quizilla quiz: Which Operatic Heroine Are You?

June

Andrew spars with Peter cuthbertson about medical marijuana.
Corn cupcakes recipe. A little fiddling does wonders for the humble corn muffin.
The first of an ongoing series: Sasha vs. Brent Bozell, whining about gays and the arts.
A fig leaf called diversity. A very good post, not sure why nobody noticed it.

My thoughts on the New York Philharmonic's now-abandoned plan to leave Lincoln center, and thoughts on LC in general.

July

Human shield Ken Nichols O'Keefe writes in.
Hermann Prey and show tunes. Notable if for nothing else than it may be the only place you can read a German-accented transliteration of "On The Street Where You Live".
Acidman's pop quiz answered.
The infamous Kofi Annan cookies.
National Gallery of Australia reviewed.
Random Antipodean Notes, part 1.
A weekend in Sydney, with parties and sightseeing.
Adelaide and the Barossa Valley. The genesis of me as a wine snob-in-training.
The gourmet's short guide to Melbourne. Also sightseeing.
Random Antipodean Notes part 2

August

I don't get Memento.Earned me much scorn in the comments.
Scott Wickstein's ode to Vegemite.
Fisking Fred the Frog, our ubiquitous Gallic commenter.
Al Maviva's guide to the Democratic candidates. Hilarious.

September

Al roars at Ted Rall. It's no less than the asshole deserves. Ted, not Al.
What to eat when drunk. Edroso says this post is the "very definition of 'news you can use'".
Al on music downloading. Much debate ensues.
Big Arm Woman on Extreme Makeover and the art of aging gracefully.
Thunder and baby's tears. Matt the House-Husband's first post, and a corker too.

October

M.Scott Eiland writes to Rush Limbaugh.
Alan K. Henderson: Why Schwarzenegger is no Clinton.
I fisk Katha Pollitt for freaking out about Arnold.
Eiland's Theory of Compensatory Misery. Discussed all over the place.
No Mists: Why The Mists of Avalon sucked.
Scott W. on Australia's higher education .
Chinese sesame beef recipe. Absolutely sensational and delicious.
Al's take on l'affaire Easterbrook.
I slap Paul Krugman for defending Mahathir Mohammed, and blaming it on Bush. Of course.
Al Maviva on libertarianism, terrorism and religion. Epic-length and worth it.
Major Sean Bannion's inaugural post, fisking Riverbend the Iraqi whiner. And again, here. Very popular.
Sasha gets attacked by birds.

November
Focaccia recipe that's almost too easy.
Al takes on Arthur Silber and libertarianism.

Major Sean has a go at gloomy war reporting.
Scott W won't let Kaiser Wilhelm off the hook.
Matt gets neutered. Not metaphorically, either.
The politics of apple-growing. Attracted some debate.
Review of Norwich's A Short History of Byzantium. Brilliant book.
Al blogs the Federalist Society convention, part 1, part 2, part 3 , part 4.
An interesting observation about French rugby fans.
"No coward has ever been short of good reasons for doing nothing". Attracted plenty of good comments.
Chicken Marengo recipe with extra added childhood reminiscences.
Meringue mushroom recipe.

December
Major Sean takes on Riverbend again.
Al has words of praise for Hillary, possibly the only ones you'll see on this site, ever.
Much debate followed Matt's post about why accessing employee Email is wrong.
Glen makes fun of Europeans angling for Iraq reconstruction contracts
I would do anything for this meatloaf.
Childbirth from the male perspective.
Major Sean on the capture of Saddam.
A question about Le Nozze di Figaro. Still haven't gotten an answer to this.
Al microscopically fisks Howard Dean's foreign policy.
Alan K on American Idol and its consequences.
An abbreviated guide to NYC pizza.
The Korean-wrestling movie post.
Latkes for everyone!
Scott on Australian Christmas.
End of year book and movie recs from the SC gang.
Scott W's Return of the King review.
Al on religion, atheism and family. Long, and worth it.

January 2004
Remembering Hans Hotter.
Major Sean on Iraqi war crimes. Attracted much debate and many links.
Matt on Indian cricket sportsmanship, or lack thereof. Attracted much debate and comment. I have no idea what any of it means.
Al on why the media hates the West.
Big Arm Woman's hilarious short guide to Return of the King. Had me in tears.
Scott reviews Roy Jenkins' Churchill bio.
Alan K explains elitism.
Auckland Art Gallery, with pictures. Linked by the Blowhards and ArtsJournal.
The EU ponders a United States-free defense policy. Still attracting much debate.

February

Al's shocking post about the frightening state of life in North Korea. Much-linked.

Racism, mint tea, and reader mail. I mix it up with the ignorant Jeff. And here, again.
My dad's recipe for bacalhau (that's codfish casserole).
Bredbo Pizzeria: quality 'za an hour from Canberra!
Big Arm Woman has the patience of a saint. Or is looking for it. I forget.
Can money buy happiness? I argue yes. Should have been more-noticed than it was.
Al Maviva in praise of Terry McAuliffe. Surprisingly, not a joke.

March
Adbusters is selling sneakers. Bwahahaha.
Brief Oscar musings.
Al on the Madrid train bombings and why he can't vote for Kerry.
The inside scoop on the opera world, apropos of the firing of Deborah Voigt from Covent Garden. Another unfairly ignored post.
Random antipodean notes, part 3.
L'etat, c'est Richard Clarke, by Al Maviva.

April
Alan K on the worthlessness of the Nobel Prize.
Pita bread recipe.
The Melbourne Blog Bash, with pictures.
The Pink-Toothed Tart's inaugural post, on gay adoptions.
Big Arm Woman, on evil geniuses (don't worry sweetie, you'll always be an evil genius to me).
A review of the first season of 24.
Estee Lauder, RIP.
The "herd immunity" theory of gun control. Linked by Rottweiler and the Australian Libertarian blog.

May
Al discusses the Abu Ghraib scandal.
War and Adam Smith's invisible hand, by Alan K.
Atheist Scott discusses religion.
Al's open letter to peaceniks. Much-linked.
The PTT warns against abusing the hired help. Indeed.
What do Tony Randall, Henry Kissinger, John Negroponte, Rudolph Giuliani, Christopher Dodd, Joanne Woodward and Kofi Annan have in common?
The Kabbalah post. Linked all over the place. One of my best.
New York-style pretzels from your own oven! Easy recipe.

The Corner's Andrew Stuttaford and John Derbyshire have been reminiscing about soon-to-be-Sir Alan Bates and his many great film roles. I'll add two of my faves: his tortured Claudius in Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (Mel Gibson's Dane gained gravitas by proxy) and as Rupert Birkin in Ken Russell's D.H. Lawrence adaptation, Women in Love. Especially since full-frontal male nudity was not exactly the thing to do in 1969. I saw that film in high school English class, and when we got to the notorious nude wrestling scene with Oliver Reed, the whole class tittered. Would it be a big deal now, I wonder?

Charlie Rangel, who does a good imitation of the Godfather (very similar raspy voice),argues in today's NY Times for a reinstatement of the draft. Perhaps I'm a bit biased on this, but I oppose. He argues that legislators don't have enough at stake when they call for war, given that most of their families aren't involved in the military. For those who are 4-F, he proposes some form of national service.

There are flaws with this plan. For example, in today's age of equal opportunity, how do you explain the exemption of women? There are plenty of roles in the military that women can play, even if the Pentagon doesn't want them on the front line. Secondly, 'national service' is a very nebulous concept. Where do you draw the line between government employment and national service? For example, would an individual working for the State Department be performing 'national service'?

Sgt Stryker makes an additional argument that the army's key role is to fulfill its military obligations, and any societal benefits are, in economic-speak, externalities. By reinstating the draft, we risk diluting the quality of the army's talent pool, as he argues that most of the clever individuals will dodge the draft. In this day and age, though, is widespread recruitment into infantry/military ranks even wise? We should accept that if the draft is reinstated, there will be a varied degree of talent inducted, due to differences between individuals. Therefore, wouldn't some serve better as scientists than as soldiers, diplomats as opposed to combat-ready troops? Furthermore, in a capitalist society, the government depends, at least in part, upon private enterprise for military preparedness. Who invented the new generation of space-age weaponry? In short, the draft as it is isn't an efficient or equitable use of resources. Today's military is a small, specialized, force with a large support personnel working in logistics, intelligence, and research and development. If the US fought Vietnam with today's army, I highly doubt that it would have been as ground-intensive. The current selective-service system is based on the US of the 1970s, and if reinstated, needs to be revamped first.

Iain comments on a piece in the Telegraph by Billy Bragg on the demise of carolling. Yeah that leftie wank Billy Bragg in the Daily Telegraph! What next a column for the Proclaimers?

Which David Lynch movie are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Nothing, you say? Check out this article in the indispensable Women's Quarterly for some ideas to the contrary.

The residents of 3045 Godwin Terrace got quite a Christmas present this year, namely about six boxes of discarded books that I agonized over and finally decided not to keep. Getting rid of books can be physically painful for me, but one book that will never leave my collection is David Wallechinsky's
Twentieth Century, also known as the People's Almanac History of the 20th Century and The Book of the 20th Century. This massive tome, 800 pages loong and weighing as much as a small cat, contains, well, everything interesting about the twentieth century. Things you know, things you never knew, and things you had no idea of, all contained therein. There is a huge and well selected quote section in each chapter. Here are some of my favorites:

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value, rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.--C.s. Lewis

All the things I really like to do are immoral, illegal, or fattening.--Alexander Woolcott

The nice thing about being a celebrity is that when you bore people, they think it's their fault. -- Henry Kissinger

It is on the whole probable that we continuously dream, but consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it.--Carl Jung

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.--Vernon Sanders Law

When a man you like switches from what he said a year ago, or four years ago, he is a broad minded person who has courage enough to change his mind with changing conditions. When a man you don't like does it, he is a liar who has broken his promises.--Franklin P. Adams

It is seldom indeed that one parts on good terms, for if one were on good terms one would not part.--Marcel Proust

Murder is a crime. Describing murder is not. Sex is not a crime. Describing sex is. --Gershon Legman

Christ died for our sins. Dare we make his martyrdom meaningless by not committing any?-- Jules Feiffer

Interviewer: Do you think class barriers have broken down in England?
Barbara Cartland: Of course they have, or I wouldn't be sitting here talking to someone like you.

I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days I lost two weeks.-- Joe E. Lewis

A Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is a strategic impossibility.--George F. Eliot, 1938

Tim Blair gives Bowling for Columbine the what for. It's every bit as good as you expect. Read.

Punk fans and lefties are all a flutter this week. No, not over Iraq and the war! Over the fact that Joe Strummer, the late guitarist for The Clash was not only a Daily Telegraph reader but a public school boy in his youth. He was not the slightest working class but a middle class swot who just rebelled. The fact the man managed to hide it so well for so long is damn impressive. Both the Telegraph (home to reformed lefties) and NRO's The Corner have pieces about this major story.

Nigel Farendale examines the row, while admitting to being a "fraudulent" Clash fan.

On the Corner, Robert George, admits to liking the Stranglers and the Damned as well as the Ramones. When I met him recently, he and I briefly chatted about all things metal and hard rock. George is truly a new millenium Republican; the guy is black, does stand-up comedy, is a TV pundit on CNN, a rock/punk fan and a conservative. The man is the walking embodiment of everything the left hates. He probably gives Al Sharpton nightmares. On Late Edition, he frequently teams up with Jonah Goldberg to cosh the left wing pundits repeatedly.

Even though I find most punks to be idiots and the whole "scene" rather lame. I have to admit that all the bands listed above have put out some damn good music. My big problem is I never liked the clothes (bondage gear, spiked hair and safety pins in flesh) or the scene (violent, grotty and mostly male). I prefered the tight leathers/denim, big hair, lots of cleavage and ott sexuality of the hard rock scene. Why bother getting the shit kicked out of you or gobbed on; when you can go to a good gig, get drunk, have a good safe time and maybe get laid?

Violence broke out in Malawi after the government launched a campaign to give blood. Locals believed that the authorities were colluding with vampires. - The Sun

We at Casa Dodge have just acquired a spiffy new eMac, which looks more like a gorgeous high-tech fighter jet than a computer. Andrew is happily playing shooter games but we took a little time off to play two classics. Wheel Of Fortune is, well, just like the TV show. It's got nice looking graphics and moderately challenging puzzles. The computerized Vanna White is terrifyingly realistic, possibly even more so than she is in real life. But the game makes for a nice diversion, and I could actually see myself playing it in the future.

Monopoly, on the other hand, gets boring fairly quickly. The animated line drawings are cute, and I like the little paddy wagon that picks you up and carries you to jail. But the gameplay is rather poky and I tired of it after an hour.

The eMac's 17" screen is positively made for watching DVD's, so I popped in my newly acquired My Fair Lady and reveled in Rex and Audrey for a while, not to mention the brilliant costumes. Dang, that is one good-looking movie. Plus it has song lyrics that hit rather close to, er, home:

All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air...

Have I mentioned that it is FREAKING cold here? I got an ironic chuckle out of a passage in my current book, Cod by Mark Kurlansky. He talks about an attempt by Bristol fishermen to establish a colony 'round these parts. Note that Brunswick is the next town over from Harpswell, where we are right now:

The new area was called North Virginia. In 1607, an attempt to establish a settlement there, near what is today Brunswick, Maine, resulted in the first New England-built seagoing vessel, constructed by the colonists in order to flee for England after enduring one winter. North Virginia was "over-cold", they explained, and uninhabitable.

Tell me about it.

Colby Cosh reports a rumor that Alberta may follow New York's lead and raise ciggie taxes to the tune of CND$15 a pack. Look for more smuggling in a province near you.

Re: Disestablishmentarian?
Date: 28 December 2002
Sir - Like Tony Ellis, (letter, Dec 24) I had a bit of a struggle making sense of Dr Rowan Williams's Dimbleby Lecture. But I stuck with it. In a nutshell, what I think he was saying is that we cannot have a religion bound to the state when the state no longer functions as such. If I am right, and this is a coded way of saying he wants the Church of England to be disestablished, he must know that there are a great many who would gladly support such a step.
From:
Professor Barry Fantoni, London SW4

Well at least we can all use the expression anti-disestablishmentarianism; a word that many of us had to learn how to spell in secondary school.

Samizdata has a post about the recent developments in the world of cloning. The Raelians seem to have cloned a human child, or so they claim. This lot believe that humans are descended from alien clones. No doubt the Fundamentalist of all ilks are having a fit this weekend. They will use this "odd" theory of the Raelians against them.

The religious types might take care. All religious theories on the origin of man could be seen as a bit odd, by those who don't believe in them as the truth. After all Christians believe that man is fashioned in the image of God (cloned?). Some Christians believe in beings originating from the "heavens" called angels. Many of the main religions believing in certain important people literally "ascending" to heaven, (by a spaceship?), such as the Prophet Mohammed in Islam. Heavenly beings or beings from the sky show up in the myths of many religions and culture. How do you explain the Nazca Lines for instance?

It will be interesting to see if they have actually cloned a human being. I look forward to reading some of the hysterical bleating we shall see in the next few months.

Regions of Mind has an interesting round-up of an affirmative action debate going on in blogdom. It is a very civil one, thankfully, at that. Here is my small addition to the thoughts expressed.

One point that is often missed. Racism is not the sole redoubt of whites in the US or the UK. I have met many a black, an Asian and a South Asian who have racial beliefs that would be condemned in whites. I have heard Pakistanis express a sentiment that it was a shame a Bangladeshi got in the way of a car...because it damaged the car. I have talked to Asians who hate blacks with a passion. And blacks who loath Jews with as much hatred as Arabs do. Never mind the blacks who loath Carribbean blacks because they are lighter and were "house slaves."

Although it is boring to have to make this point repeatedly it needs to be made. There are black "activists" who truly believe they (blacks) are not capable of being racist. As long as we think of race as being whites vs everyone else, we will never have a truly racist-free society. Positive discrimination is a large impediment to a colour-blind society.

One thing that amuses me is that in the US/UK Jews are now considered "whites" by many. When exactly did that happen? Never mind the fact that being a Jew; like being a Muslim or a Christian, is a religious distinction not a racial one. Like Christians and Muslims, I have met Jews who are off all different hues, ranging from very dark to as pale as a Scot on holiday on a Devon beach.

Claremont.org has posted a piece on race and its effect on the Republican Party.

Link via who else but Glenn.

The Telegraph has a message to religious leaders in the UK: butt out.

Will socialist cretins, like the new Archbishop of Canterbury, listen? Not a chance, he seems to think it is his duty to meddle in matters he does not understand. Of course, considering his grasp of Anglican doctrine, one could debate whether he is qualified to speak on church matters. There are quite a few 3rd world Bishops who seem to think he lacks a certain "grasp" of the basics of Christianity.

You would think the conplexities of spiritual matters are enough to keep these people busy.

I know I could spend a lifetime reading all the spiritual and religious texts I wish to read. Lets hope those who believe in reincarnation are right...and I remember where I left off in this lifetime.

Update: Mark Steyn continues this theme by giving Rowan and his cronies a good kicking in today's Sunday Telegraph.

Val is back with another Cthulhuian misting. Alex "Liberty Log" Singleton, on the other hand, has a brand new tech blog.

And I bet some of you thought bloggers would be eating and drinking too much these few days and not doing any blogging.

Here at Dodge Manor we are preparing to have our first foray out after a decent amount of snow. We shall be trotting off to Freeport for a bit of post-pradial saturnalian shopping.

Greetings from undertwo feet of snow.We had a most lovely Christmas dinner yesterday, Mrs. Dodge cooked turkey with all the trimmings.

I expect we'll hit all the post-Christmas sales sometime in the next week, as soon as we can get out of our driveway.

MEMRI has just launched a new section for anti-Jew political cartoons. I would recommend that you not view this stuff if you want to keep your happy holiday mood.

A fascinating discussion on the topic over at Samizdata Great place to pick up ammunition for arguments with your lefty friends.

Well we arrived in Harpswell this morning at 3:00 AM after driving for 7 hours. It took us the better part of the day to load my belongings into the truck, and when we finally got on the road, there was a definite sensation of "Free at last!" But I was also sad to leave Kingsbridge, and my nice neighborhood all nicely decorated for Christmas. (No, not "the Holiday", my neighborhood is mostly Irish and Dominican)

Anyhow, I will take my leave of you now, and go unload my belongings out of the truck. Later...

As the lovely Sasha points out below, we are getting near d-day here at casa Castel. We seem to work in spurts round here, but manage to get a great deal done in very little time once things get moving. I have been schleping bags and bags of stuff out to the rubbish. Tomorrow it will be boxes. Since Sasha is a city girl and does not drive; yours truly gets to drive the truck. Fingers crossed we will have good weather whichever day we choose to leave. I have driven from NYC to Casa Dodge in Maine once before. Fortunately, this time I will be starting out near a major highway rather than beginning from downtown Manhattan.

Never fear, Mater and Pater Dodge have an internet connection and we shall continue to blog from there.

If we don't get a chance to post between now and then let me leave with this;

Happy Christmas, Saturnalia and a good New Year.

The house is looking really scary as we pack the last of my stuff. Looks like more of it will get given away or tossed than sold, although I do potentially have a buyer for my vcr and tv. It's almost overwhelming.

Had a lovely Chinese dinner with Dr. Weevil yesterday.

This may be my last blog post until I get to Maine. It should be. But it probably won't be... you know how I procrastinate.

How are those cheese-eating surrender monkeys going to explain this?

I expect there to be suitable and immediate outrage over this story:

[Robert] Byrd said he is eagerly awaiting the Feb. 21 premiere of the Civil War movie "Gods and Generals," which will include his cameo as Confederate Gen. Paul J. Semmes.

That's right, kittens, the venerable Senator is playing a CONFEDERATE GENERAL.

Disgraceful! Insensitive! Racist! Call Al Sharpton! Call Jesse Jackson!

What's that, he's a Democrat? Oh never mind then.

John Ray sends word that Chris Brand has a new blog.

Lott has stepped down as Senate leader and thankfully he is not resigning his seat. Neither this result nor the timing is a great shock. Commentators and political hacks alike have been prediciting he would not let this thing drag out until after Christmas.

One wonders whether the public endorsement of James Carville had anything to do with it. Rest assured that shine-head was not thinking about Sen. Lott when he encouraged him to stay. Lott remaining as leader would have been a gift to the Democrats in 04' and just might have cost Bush the presidency.

Those Senators who came out in support of Foot-in-Mouth Lott must be feeling sorry for themselves right now. Those who had the courage to call for him to resign, in both houses, should be proud of themselves. They put their party and thier country over their elite club.

Lott's a fool and the leadership is best rid of him. Hopefully, after causing all this embarrasment to the Republican Party, he will shut his gob and just stick to being a good constituency Senator.

Wild over at Bleeding Brain, a lone voice (with James Carville) in defence of Lott, laments his departure.

And of course, someone had to bring Cthulhu into this affair. Andrea seems to think Lott was a minion of Great Cthulhu, sent to undermine the Republican Party. Well he did grow up on the coast of Mississippi and some of his constituents do look and sound as if they were suffering from the Innsmouth disease.

The Sun Times has the dish. Some highlights:

3 complete Ring cycles with casts including Michelle deYoung and Placido Domingo (make your plans, Pejman)

Tosca with fabulous rising soprano Fiorenza Cedolins, Met hero Salvatore Licitra, and Sam Ramey as Scarpia (?!?!?)

William Bolcom's A Wedding based on the Robert Altman film of the same name. Casts including Catherine Malfitano,Jerry Hadley, Lauren Flanigan and Mark Delavan.

Don Giovanni with Bryn Terfel in the title role, Karita Mattila as Donna Anna, and Susan Graham as Donna Elvira.

The Met's justly-acclaimed Fidelio , also with Mattila.

Take a deep breath, steady yourselves.

Adam Sandler has been nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe.

We've all been reading about the Islamic cleric who put a fatwa on dogs and their owners, but there's one dog in India who hasn't gotten the message:

A stray dog in India responds to Muslim calls for prayers five times a day.

Socksy, a black mongrel, runs towards the Memon Mosque when the muezzin calls out the faithful for azaan, and begins to wail in tune.

The Mid-day newspaper reports that locals at Lonavala, near Bombay, say the dog has not missed a single prayer in the last nine years.

Found at Hot Buttered Death.

Nickles and Chafee were just the beginning. Now all sorts of Republicans are abandoning Trent Lott, iclusing James Inhofe (R-OK) Craig Thomas (R-WY) and John Warner (R-VA).

And it isn't just the Senate either. Congressfolk are piling on as well, including the dad of our very own Frank:

Several House lawmakers also weighed in against Lott. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said that if he were in the Senate he would not support Lott to be the next Senate leader.

John Crosby, the man who founded the Santa Fe Opera and turned that city into a summertime opera Mecca, has died at the age of 76.

In addition to his many other achivements which include championing some of Richard Strauss' lesser-known (some would say lesser) works, Crosby gave a certain someone his very first American professional engagement, as Fenton in Falstaff in 1958.

A must read for all interested in the plight of centre-right in Europe.

Dan should be given Saint-hood for his seemingly Quixotic battle against the Second Holy Roman Empire. I have known the bloke for over a dozen years and he is probably one of the few British politicians I would take a bullet for. A prince amoung Tory politicians.

That Welsh leftie who is now running the Anglican Church is at it again. The BBC reports that he gives goverment and the market a good ticking off. It is a good bet that he never mentions responsability of individuals once in his lecture. The internet does not escape this buffoon's ranting either: he states the "sinister implications" of electronic communications. I can't wait to read the full text of tonight's lecture.

Update: Here is an edited version of the speech. It is, as expected, filled to brim with socialism, as well the demonisation of the "private sphere."

In short: private companies are uncaring, selfish, unaccountable bastards who want to screw everyone over. Politics these days is "value-free" aka not-socialist.

What a total wanker.

Boris Johnson examines the recent pizza row. It seems Pizza Express (a frequent haunt of mine) was the miserliest with their pizza and toppings. A report on pizzas came out, they were routed and the company's stock price went down. Bowing to investor concerns they have increased the pizza's size by 1.5 inches.

You see capitalism DOES work! Now if they could just get a decent house red wine we would all be happy (especially Frank who hates their current house wines).

NB: Those with a hatred of any sort of maths might want to avoid this column as it contains a bit.

John Hawkins has put up a list of The Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States Go, if you can stand to read so much idiocy collected in one place. I know it exceeded my threshold for the day.

Some peoople have been making threats about killing elves or serving Rudolph filet. No such threats from me, no sir.

But I must say it would be lovely to move into a new home in a new country, and have some nice, well-chosen gifts waiting for me.

Oh and the Paypal account is available for your use as well. Likewise the Amazon tip jar, into which some lovely anonymous donor just dropped $20. Whoever you are, thank you, and happy holidays .

The ever-clever Junius reports on a Wanker article (naturally) praising politically correct board-games. I won't ruin it for you, just go read the post.

They have PC versions of Monopoly, wonder when the PC version of Nuclear War (by Flying Buffalo Games) is coming out? Whatever would it be called...Human Shields?

Update: Tom Paine fisks the Guardian story over on Silent Running. Well thanks to the Guardian I am going to buy a copy of Nuclear War! to play with my non-PC friends and fiancee in the UK. We are going to smoke cigars, drink too much and gleefully cheer as millions of people get blown to smithereens at our slightest whims. Oh what fun will will have! (Cue: Christmas at Ground Zero)

A fanatic called DeBlock seems to have taken exception to Labash, Tex, Sasha and my slagging off J Lo. In the comments section of the post below we are having a rather heated exchange on the matter. I responded to the initial pissy comment but I thought it might be good to bring the row out in the open. Tex has posted his own thoughts about the goddess to narcissism on his blog.

As a rock critic who has met many a rock star, model and actor(ess), I can assure you that most aren't worth much in person (as people). There are some great exceptions, but I happen to know several people who have met/had to deal with J Lo in the UK. She is as bad as she is made out to be. Her Top of the Pops fit being a typical manifestation of her self-love. As far as I am concerned, no matter how big or important there is never any reason to be rude. As many an arrogant rock star learned in the early '90s; if you are a prick to people on the way up then won't care about you on the way down (ex. Kip Winger).

Let's face it rock/pop stars need the "little people" they treat so badly to get and stay where they are. Treating journalists, TV show staff and other biz types like pond scum does not endear in the long run. There are people who get away with being total jerks and sustain their profile, but this is actually very rare. For every Sir Elton, there are 25 has-beens who have fallen from grace and no one cares.

My beloved Andrew turns 35 today.

FrontPage reports that a dozen New York City councilmen (including the whitey-slapping, Mugabe cuddling Charles Barron) have introduced a bill that will place New York City and all its businesses firmly under the thumb of race baiters and slavery reparations crooks. Yes, I said crooks.

I've removed the Cigarettes from Kyrgyzstan link from the CP blogroll. Their site and Email are both kaput. So much for the vaunted Central Asian cigarette-smuggling industry. Those bastards owed me two cartons of Dunhills, too.

If you're looking to buy your coffin nails cheaply and send a big raspberry to Nanny Bloomberg at the same time, two companies I've had excellent service from are Esmokes in North Carolina and Ron's Smoke Shop in upstate NY.

David Frum makes one of the best arguments I've heard to counter the NWFO crowd:

The price of oil has crossed the $30 a barrel mark, driven up by civil strife in Venezuela and war fears in the Persian Gulf. Some will no doubt interpret this price jump as an argument against military action in Iraq – see, they will say, if the mere threat of war pushes oil past $30, just imagine what the reality of war will do. It’s very odd: it’s considered quite illegitimate to make war for cheap oil – yet perfectly legitimate to carry on appeasement for cheap oil.
...
There is a fairly long list of once-poor countries that have made the trek from poverty to relative wealth since World War II: Italy, Spain, Portugal; Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Israel; Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic – and so on. The striking thing about that list is how few countries on it possess any natural resources whatsoever. They were forced to accept the strongly counter-intuitive teaching of Adam Smith, that the wealth of a nation is the skill and knowledge of its people.

In the oil countries, though, the people can be left ignorant – and untaxed – and unrepresented – without any reduction in the wealth of the elites that control the state. And that is exactly what has happened almost everywhere oil is abundant.

Read the rest of it.

Ouch. Matt Labash takes the mojo out of J-Lo in a very nasty way. Priceless.

Front Page has an interesting article on one of the forgotten religious sects of Northern Iraq. The piece is a very good introduction to the much feared, much misunderstood, Yazidis.

This summer I got interested in the sect; as they were perfect for a short story I was writing for Shoggoth.net It is called Yazidis Needed? and it part of my Sage of Wales series of stories.

Dennis Prager on what Lott should do now, or more precisely, what he should have done already:

In the hope that it will help anyone, public or private, who wishes to be forgiven for a sin, here are two guidelines taken from the "laws of penitence" as codified by the 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides.

The first thing a penitent must do is acknowledge precisely what he did and precisely describe it to the injured party. It is entirely insufficient to tell a business partner from whom you have stolen, "I'm sorry for any thing I did that might have hurt you." You must say, "I stole $10,000 from you while you trusted me as your business partner."

Second, a penitent must offer restitution. Therefore, Sen. Lott should have said something like this: "My fellow Americans, I owe all of you -- especially black Americans, my state of Mississippi, and the Republican Party -- an apology. I said something awful. Though I did not mean it in this way, I said that I am proud that my state of Mississippi supported a third party in 1948 whose appeal was entirely rooted in racism. The truth is that I am not proud of this. My state was wrong in 1948, and while I am very proud of what Mississippi is today, I am not proud of that part of its past. Those remarks hurt black America, insulted Mississippi, and have given my party, which loathes racism, a bad name. In order to demonstrate how strongly I repudiate these comments and sentiments, I am willing to relinquish my role as Senate majority leader, if my party should so decide. It is far more important to me to undo any damage these remarks made to my country and to my party than to remain in this position."

Will it ever happen? I don't think so.

What an arse Lott is. I never liked him before now, and now that I know he is fan of "affirmative" discrimination, er...I mean action, I loathe the bastard. Its impressive that the man goes from being portayed as pro-discrimination against blacks to portraying himself as pro-discrimination against whites.

Repeat after me Trent...any kind of discrimination is bad.

Did you see that church Lott went to on Sunday? Not a black person in the room...

Of course, Rand seems to think Lott has been hiding his true colour all these years.

Washed up musician, serial wedder (whenever her career is in toilet) and animal-rights terrorist Chrissie Hynde has been spewing hatred again. The Agitator reports that she thinks executives should be executed and McDonald's should be bombed (one was two days later). No doubt she cheered loudly when the Twin Towers were blown up. It is interesting to note that the targets of her ire are some of the same as Bin Linder and Co.

One hopes that the Metropolitan Police will be arresting her and maybe deporting her soon for hate speech and encouragement of terrorist acts. Either that or maybe a few McDonald's junkies will get so infuriated with her that they will kick three shades of shit out of this stupid woman. Ok, maybe not, but having two or three McDonald's regulars sit on her might cause her some big time pain.

This sort of rubbish from the Blair government really infuriates right thinking people. It seems those who entered the country illegally are to be given work permits. Anyone, whether an employer or employee, will be incensed after all the bullshit they have had to go through to go via the legal method. I hope the Tories stand against this, being called racists be damned. It is a matter of right and wrong, the colour of those involved is irrelevant.

Bloggage will be sparse for the next week as I pack all of my earthly belongings in the back of a Budget rent-a truck headed Maine-ward. It appears, but it is by no means certain, that our departure date will be Monday the 23rd. I am wildly excited and scared shitless at the same time. Very curious feeling, that.

...or it would be if I had a garage. It's a moving sale anyway. Prices so low I'm practically giving it away!!!

*2 short bookcases with 3 shelves, dark woodgrain finish. $20 apiece.
*2 tall bookcases with 6 shelves, light woodgrain finish. $30 apiece.
*Curtis microwave oven, excellent condition. $25
*Proscan VCR with commercial-skipping feature, VCR Plus, cable box control, and all the usual VCR bells and whistles. Great machine, less than 2 years old. $50.
*3 small table lamps, $7 apiece.
*1 white halogen floor lamp, $15.
*1 Aiwa boom-box with CD, double cassette player, tuner, and detatchable speakers. Fabulous sound. Roughly 10 years old but still functioning perfectly. $30.
*3 dressers: 1 Ikea tallboy with 6 drawers, light woodgrain, $25. 1 short, wide dresser with 3 drawers, light woodgrain,$20. I medium-boy with 4 drawers, painted white, frankly it's rather ugly but it works for inside a closet where apperance doesn't matter. $10
* 1 round folding table, metal and wood, nice-looking kitchen table if you have room in your kitchen for a table. $20. Matching chairs available for $7 apiece.
*Books by the hundreds. Raid La Blogatrice's library for a song! (Metaphorically, that is. I don't actually sing, no. not even if you ask nicely.)

The smaller items, like the vcr or the boom-box, I am willing to throw in free delivery. The rest of it, you will have to come up to Kingsbridge to pick it up. ((short and sweet car ride on the Major Deegan or West Side Highway, takes no more than 25 minutes from mid- and upper Manhattan). Email me if you are interested in any of these.

If you can't get to New York and hang out at Caffe Taci (which we did last night, until an obscene hour of the morning), you can certainly do the next best thing and buy the Caffe Taci CD, featuring all my buds singing their pretty little hearts out. A more formal review will follow, but from the few tracks I've heard already, there is no better way for opera fans to spend $17.95 plus shipping. Buy it.

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the
country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the
country.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand the Washington Post. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could spare the time, and if they didn't have to leave LA to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and they did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country, and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country, as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs, who also happen to be illegal aliens from ANY country or galaxy as long as they are Democrats.

10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.

11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store

Even if I didn't have a link from the Independent with the answer, that headline was awfully fun to type. Don't ask me why, it just was.

I never heard of Paul Martin before I started reading blogs, and then only when he made news by resigning in June. (For everything I know about Canadian politics, thank you Damian, Colby, Mark and Mark.) Anyway, I just wanted to note that he may be the only major world politician with a blog, Paul MartinTimes. That's pretty neat IMO.

Zoe Heller examines why she has become a harpy in her NY neighborhood. It seems that she takes exception to people being rude and uncivilised. It is the cause for many an argument. In the month or so I have spent in NYC I have noticed that despite the fact that New Yorkers are trying to be nicer to their fellow man...they really don't have their hearts in it. London (at least West London) is a much more pleasant place to be with other people. I have seen stuff here that I have never seen in London.

Last night we got to witness some cretin kick the window in on a subway train. No one, save Sasha and I, seem to bat an eyelash. Sasha reported it to staff at the next stop, he had not even noticed. Subway trains in the NYC are a lot dirtier than in London. They don't have as many places to hold on either.

In short, NYC is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live here. It is smelly, loud, expensive and unpleasant. It is much better than when I visited in the late 80's and 90's. On yes and one more thing, NYC does not do freedom either. Pretty soon you won't be able to do anything unless the mayor says you can. The smoking laws are so draconian as to be fascist. If I lived here I would become a cigarette smoker just out of rebellion. Let's hope Bloomberg does not start eyeing some of Livingstone's stupid ideas with respect. He already has proposed a commuter tax similar to Red Ken's much loathed "congestion charge."

NYC has produced a few good things though, Sasha being the best of them of course.

Update: I have never been robbed in London; I have been in NYC. Some cretin ran off with my leather blazer tonight...on my birthday. I rest my case.

John Podhoretz thinks the Blogosphere is partly responsible for publicizing the Lott affair. I don't care. Why, you ask?

The man doesn't like La boheme.

Let me repeat that: John Podhoretz does not like La boheme.

You are dead to me, John. If I ever meet you, I will never speak to you again. Or something like that.

In Bilbao, Spain, the builders of a movie theatre tried to save a few pesetas by putting only one emergency exit door in the theatre instead of the required two. Predictably, one night a fire occurred and several fleeing movie watchers were trampled to their deaths.

The moral of this story?

Don't put all your Basques in one exit.

Tightly Wound does it regularly and with great style.
And she's got a nice rant about Sean Penn and McDonalds. Fly by her site and tell her what strong arms she's got.

Andrew and I ventured out to Morningside Heights in the freezing rain last night to meet my second blogchild, Gideon. And a lovely fellow he is as well, with a striking resemblance to actor Liev Schreiber and an encyclopedic knowledge of British politics. Must get him updating the blog more frequently though.

The Guardian has an interesting article about the high expectations for Nicholas Maw's new opera based on William Styron's novel. Of course, said book also inspired a famous film with an Oscar-winning turn by Meryl Streep as the title character. (True story: My mother and father went to see the film when it was first relesed. They left the movie theater afterwards so shattered that they walked home in a daze. It wasn't until after they'd goten upstairs, and noticed that the car was not in their parking space, that they remembered they'd driven to the movie theater and left the car behind. That is surely one of the tests of a really good movie.)

Back to the opera though. Tim Ashley writes:

Maw fashioned the libretto himself, drawing on the novel's dialogue, and claiming that what he presents us with is "basically Styron's text". In fact, what he has produced is a series of verbose scenes that lose sight of the novel's emotional trajectory. By jettisoning all of Styron's details about Stingo's youthful lustfulness, he crucially fails to establish the fact that Stingo fancies Sophie until the third of the opera's four acts, which blurs both the work's narrative and its dramatic resolution.

The score, meanwhile, exposes Maw's failure to find a corresponding musical language. The subject allows him to peer back over the postwar serialists he distrusts and to allude to late Romanticism, interwar expressionism and the American tonalists. Stingo's music resembles Samuel Barber's Knoxville. There are whiffs of Berg and Schoenberg, composers the Nazis suppressed. And to attempt to convey the impact of the Holocaust, Maw drags a barrage of post-Romantic effects into play. He builds up to the terrible choice Sophie must make to survive Auschwitz with a meandering cor anglais over tremolo strings that echoes the Day of Judgment sequences from Mahler's Resurrection Symphony. The choice once made, there is a massive peroration that slowly calms itself like the recognition scene from Strauss's Elektra.

Unfortunately, such effects form the kernel of the opera's musical language throughout. Several reviewers have commented that there is no musical differentiation between Sophie's experiences in Auschwitz and New York. There is also little sense of the musical encapsulation of the characters' psychological development.

Too bad. Looks like Maw missed a great opportunity.

(One more Sophie's Choice digression: When Streep accepted her Oscar for the role of Sophie, my father was literally dumbfounded when she thanked her German language coach. He'd thought she was a native speaker. You remember that large swaths of the movie's central flashback scenes are spoken entirely in German and Polish.)

That Harold Pinter screed from the DT which Andrew mentioned the other day has been ruthlessly and side-splittingly satirized by (who else) Mark Steyn...in the very same paper.

Tee hee.

Those interested in the history of this most feared of days might want to start here. For some reason this description does not list another important event; Friday the 13th is the day that King Philip (the Just) of France launched his pogrom against the Templars in 1307.

Re: Theatre's Angry Old Man
Date: 13 December 2002

Sir - It is unlikely that many intelligent people in America will pay much attention to the intemperate ranting of one of the Angry Old Men of the London theatre, but many Americans do take The Daily Telegraph seriously, and they may mistakenly suppose that Harold Pinter's remarks at an Italian university represent anyone but himself (Comment, Dec 11, letters, Dec 12).

Mr Pinter's political leanings are well-known, but it may come as a surprise to his admirers to learn that he has now become an authority on international affairs.

Whether he likes it or not, he will have to get used to the fact that America is, since the demise of the Soviet Union, the only superpower in the world; and it is true that the rhetoric of its administration sometimes reflects this, as it engages our potential enemies in psychological warfare.

There are very serious matters of security and foreign policy at stake here, and it is right that there should be an informed debate about them. It will not be served by the rehearsal of hysterical anti-American invective.

Mr Pinter was a most distinguished dramatist; he is not likely to get many rave reviews as a commentator on world affairs.

From:
Lord Chalfont, London SW1

Pejman commented on this article by Jay Nordlinger in today's Opinion Journal. The following originally appeared as a comment to Pej's post:

This, of course, threatens any semblance of drama in opera productions.

"A singer without a functioning voice would also threaten the drama, I daresay in a more significant way than the presence or absence of fog. We may get a chuckle out of the image of hypochondriacally litigious opera singers, but it is no exaggeration to say that a singer's livelihood is in his sinus cavities. If a singer reacts to the stuff and gets an allergy attack just before he sings, would you forgive him a bad performance because well, the stage is shrouded gorgeously and realistically in fog?

"I think it's a mistake to characterize this lawsuit (which was filed by a member of the chorus, who was presumably exposed to the fog on a regular basis) as part of a "litigation craze" like the recent fast-food lawsuits. It is nothing of the sort. The fast-food lawsuits are about people wanting companies to pay for their own poor choices.. The singers are asking not to have to work under conditions that are detrimental to their health and ability to sing. I don't think that's too much to ask. "

December 12, 2002

Dear MEMRI Subscribers,

As we approach our fifth year of operation, we appeal to you, our valued
readers, for a financial contribution to allow us to continue providing our
service free of charge.

For the past five years, The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has
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Claremont.org has examined the possible realignment of the Republican party and what direction that might take. To a certain extent it has already happened with the Bush win. One might look to the UK for clues at how it might work out. Ones only hopes that the opposition will hold its own a bit better than the Tories have in the UK.

It is unhealthy for a democracy to have a weak opposition, let us hope that the Dems can pull their fingers out and start talking sense again. The Democrats need a healthy primary for the next presidential election. They need some new blood at the top, politicians who look to the future instead of the "glory" days. The world has changed and political parties need to change with it.

The cardinal is offering his resignation to Pope John Paul II tomorrow, Fox News reports.

Good riddance.

of folks are asking for you-know-who to step down as Majority Leader: Linda Chavez, Thomas Sowell, Charles Krauthammer, and Deroy Murdock.

Quick side note: Everyone keeps going on about how this is such inappropriate behavior for a Majprity Leader, or any kind of leader. I agree of course, but isn't making nostalgic remarks about segregation and Jim Crow, inappropriate for a SENATOR? Are there any plans to censure or reprimand him?

UPDATE: Oh yeah, the President denounced Lott's comment too, though he stopped short of calling on him to resign.

The ret of the blogosphere is nattering away about war in Iraq, the Middle East, and the latent racism of the Senate Majority Leader. How can you focus on stuff like that when there's a Brussels sprout shortage going on?

I swear, some of y'all had better get your priorities straight.

Rand has an interesting theory to explain why the Republican leadership is backing Lott. I think Mr Simberg has hit the nail on the head.

Tex coshes Cobain & Co and does it well. He is right, Nirvana was crap and had one decent song. It was style over substance. Cobain topping himself was so predictable it could have been scripted.

Tom Paine reports on the foolishness that passes for the Catholic Church in Oz these days. On first read it seems as this is satire, alas it isn't. You just have to go find out about the new term for a Priest.

The afore-mentioned Matthew Elliott thought this letter important enough to pass on to me with the following tag-line.

You may also like to read the first ever letter in the FT to mention both Adam Smith and Frédéric Bastiat!

Adam Smith and the wealth of Europe
By Timothy Kirkhope
Published: December 11 2002
[http://news.ft.com/c.gif]From Mr Timothy Kirkhope MEP.

Sir, As the Conservative Party's representative on the European Convention, I welcome the Confederation of British Industry's position paper on the future of Europe ("Europe has failed to reduce red tape, says CBI", December 9).

The CBI wants a greater emphasis on building competitiveness, wealth and prosperity; it wants qualified majority voting to be reserved to single market issues; and it opposes tax harmonisation and the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into European law. This view is our view on the Convention.

When economic governance was debated, I reminded Convention members that Adam Smith had proved economic freedom went hand in hand with public prosperity. The lesson we should draw from The Wealth of Nations is that a low-tax, lightly regulated economy helps rich and poor alike by inducing entrepreneurship, creating jobs and generating wealth. This lesson is guiding me with my work on the Convention.

First, since the European Union started out as a trading bloc, we should continue to push for more free trade, particularly with the North American Free Trade Agreement. Second, insofar as the Single Market promotes free trade, it is to be welcomed; but the imposition of unnecessary regulations must be guarded against. Third, the gold-plating of European legislation by national governments must be tackled, with the introduction of joint committees of MPs and MEPs to oversee the transposition of EU legislation into national law.

As the great French economist Frédéric Bastiat reminds us: "By virtue of exchange, one man's prosperity is beneficial to all others." The CBI understands this, I understand this and I hope my fellow Convention members take it on board.

Timothy Kirkhope, Conservative Group, European Parliament, 1047 Brussels, Belgium

Matthew Elliott, a friend and colleague of mine in Eurosceptic movement, has his newest column up on TCS: Europe. He cites the fact that Vladimir Bukovsky is encouraging people to boycott the £112 BBC Tax that 58 percent of the British public oppose. This is a former Soviet dissident who has been so moved by BBC bias as to launch a campaign against them.

TCS:E is a great site; which has on occasion published some of my scribblings. Methinks its time for me to write something else for them.

I'm opposed to government land seizures in most instances, but this story from the BBC made me smile I must admit:

A group of Sicilian farmers dedicated to battling Italy's Mafia is about to produce its first "anti-Mafia pasta" made from wheat grown on land confiscated from the mob.

Look for "Libera" brand pasta in a store near you.

Leave it to the Italians to turn eating into a form of social commentary. Mangia amici!

The EU is banning all cigarettes described as "light" or "mild". How unutterably stupid. Every smoker knows that you can simply ask for "Marlboro Reds" or "Marlboro Golds" and get the ones you want. It is a measure that will allow bureaucrats to pat themselves on the back for "doing something", and its effect on public health will be *exactly* nothing.

UPDATE: Hawkgirl says the same thing, except a lot funnier and with a lot more cuss words.

Crap playwright, idiotarian and apologist for terrorists, Harold Pinter is mouthing off again in today's Telegraph. His subtly titled piece; The American administration is a bloodthirsty wild animal , is taken from a speech he recently gave at the University of Turin. Those of you who do not want to waste your time reading his bilious frothings can rest assured that he blames every unplanned death on the planet on the US. And most of the planned ones as well:

The atrocity in New York was predictable and inevitable. It was an act of retaliation against constant and systematic manifestations of state terrorism on the part of America over many years, in all parts of the world.

There's more, if you can be bothered.

It will be interesting to see what the anti-Pinter, Perry at Samizdata has to say about this latest screed.

The Wanker (to use Briffa's term) today has an editorial on domestic violence by Jackie Ashley. According to her, it's always been treated as 'a laugh for the lads'. Just like we've always been chuckling about racism (which, according to Yasmin of the Indy, we have). Ashley accounts for the raft of new laws on domestic violence as the end product of more women ministers. She seems to have forgotten about the 15 year tenure of a major British political leader.

In more news today, the Indy supports the Australian High Court ruling on web censorship, stating that the Internet is often 'irresponsible'. Well, given how often Fisk gets Fisked, no wonder they have a gripe.

Everything I have to say about the Thurmond birthday party idiocy has already been said in this NY Post column by Robert A. George, who incidentally, moonlights as a stand-up comedian.

Moorewatch is up and running. And Rachel Lucas is a contributor!

There are lots of reasons to favor opera over films, not the least of which is that there is no (as far as I know) "Opera Stars Against War In Iraq" or some such nonsense. Frankly, most singers I know are too busy working and feeding their families to bother.

I know St. Louis has a wonderful summer opera festival. Or the next time you're in Chicago, definitely make time to stop at the Lyric.

BWAHAHAHA!!! Another convert to the dark side!!

This has so much disaster potential I'm not even sure where to begin:

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday unveiled a plan that would tighten the noose on car commuters if there's a transit strike - and that threatens to leave a chaotic nightmare in its wake.

In what would be the most restrictive driving rules in recent memory, Bloomberg said only vehicles with four or more passengers will be allowed into or out of Manhattan around-the-clock on weekdays.

The mayor announced the car-pool rules as part of a sweeping contingency plan that relies on ferries, group taxi rides, commuter railroads, vans and even bicycles to get people around if the subways and buses came to a jarring halt.

The plan also would shut down large parts of Fifth and Madison avenues to private vehicles during crucial hours.

Just in time to make things interesting. GRRR. But that's not the worst part.

Bloomberg suggested that motorists who haven't filled each seat should offer rides to strangers to meet the four-person quota.

Asked if that might not be dangerous, the mayor responded:

"You will be going in a car at a very slow speed with cars on either side of you, in front of you and behind you. I would suggest that's not a significant risk."

I would suggest that Hizzoner is clueless beyond our previously wildest suspicions. I'd better dig out my walking shoes.

In addition to my previously discussed irrepressible habit of yelling "HANS BLIX" at the TV everytime the UNMOVIC chairman appears, I have discovered that Andrew is unable to restrain himself from bellowing "ASSHOLE", much in the manner of Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda, everytime Jimmy Carter's smirking visage pops up.

This one one of the reasons why.

Thanks to John Hawkins for the scoop.

Not that this is news really, but it shows the utter contempt this man holds from anyone but his own little extremist-wet faction. Maybe the party will finally pull their finger out and boot this cretin. The Tory activists may be old but they are the backbone of the Tory machine. Insulting them does not make for a healthy organisation.

The subject of immigration is and has always been a poisoned chalice. It is hard not to be seen as racist or some other –ist if one is opposed to even a limit on new immigrants arriving in one’s country. Immigration has been a major bugbear to the right all over the West for at least three decades. For a politician to venture near this minefield is only for the very brave, the very stupid or the very naïve.

Enoch Powell in the UK finished his political career with one speech that has been forever dubbed the “rivers of blood” speech. Much of what he said was correct but his language was so emotive that no one with an ounce of political nuance would ever cite the man again. It is as demonstrated in a recent article by Andrew Green in the Daily Telegraph as thorny subject indeed.

The short answer to the question posed is that immigration does in fact hurt the state school system. The school system suffers an influx of students that are most likely not supported by a similar increase, via their parents, in increased taxation income. These new students draw on already limited resources and force the local school system to do one of two things: either reduce the quality of education for the rest of the students or call for an increase in taxation for the already hard pressed parents of the existing students or both. Local parents care little for “added diversity” in their local school system while they are struggling to cope with the massive increase in their local property tax to pay for the new influx.

The flip side of the situation is, when small communities and even cities get into deep enough financial difficulty, inevitably they turn to the state capital. Then not only do the local taxpayers suffer the burden of politicians’ largesse, but then the cost is spread to all the taxpayers in the state via either increased taxes or bond issues. And if it gets to be too much for even the state to handle, they can apply to the federal government for relief, thus spreading the financial misery even further around.

Of course, if the children are the offspring of illegal immigrants they have no business being in the school system in the first place. Neither they, nor their parents, have any rights in the country if they gained unofficial entry. It is ludicrous to expect local taxpayers to pay for educating illegals. It rewards the dishonest with the hard-earned resources of the honest. There are those who would argue this is visiting punishment on the sins of the fathers (and mothers) on these children. This argument does not wash; the only thing the local taxpayers should have to pay for is the arrest and transfer of the illegal immigrants to the nearest federal apparatus for their deportation.

This is, of course, a massive oversimplification of the subject. One has to know the make-up of the new immigrants to the school system. Are they for example, mostly from countries where they are taught English as a first language or as a strong second language? Is the country in question a former colony of England, France or another European power? Are the children involved well-versed in a relatively common foreign language or a more obscure or difficult one like Somali or Urdu? If all the students already speak English at a competent level (or possibly at a higher level than the existing students) then it is obviously much easier to introduce them into the system. But for a few spelling and pronunciation quirks, the student could fit right in rather quickly.
If the new immigrant children have no knowledge of the language then they, in most cases, need to have teachers who speak their language in at least a basic form. This is a new skill set for the school system and will either require intense training or the introduction of additional staff to deal with the new language problems. If this is not seen to, those not speaking the language will hold back the rest of their class and all will suffer.

There are other competencies besides English of and it needs to be determined at what level the immigrant students operate. This means testing, which will again bring up the problem of the grasp of the local language. How is a local school system to test the abilities of the new immigrant children, besides trial and error?

Of course, there is a possibility that the new students will be at a higher ability than those already in school. These new students will ruin the bell curve and cause even more resentment amongst their fellow students. If the new students are not dealt with, they can become bored and cause trouble, whereas if they suddenly are the majority in the class then the opposite can be true and the native students can be left behind.

There are also behavior problems to deal with. In some cases with refugee immigrants, the children involved may have never seen the inside of a school and will have never had a formal education. As we all can recall from our first experience with school this is a very daunting event in one’s life. Imagine if a child is 12 or 16 the first time he sets foot in school. This is over and above any trauma that might already exist as a result of war or famine, which would mean that the school would need a therapist for these students.

The immigrant effect on schools debate is yet another example of why one size fits all immigration politics do not work. There is a huge difference between letting in a New Zealander with a family and letting in a Somali family. This is not even taking into account the fact that the third world family is probably far larger than that of someone from New Zealand or Scotland.

There are towns in the US that are regretting their well-meant generosity towards Somali refugees. The town of Lewiston, Maine is staggering under the burden of the influx of 1000 African refugees, in a town of 35,000. Lewiston’s mayor, Laurier Raymond, got in a great deal of trouble for commenting on the problem. Raymond, a French-Canadian with two adopted black grandchildren, said his city was “maxed out financially, physically and emotionally.”

As with most things dealing with education it is all down to one thing: money. Who gets to pay for the influx of new immigrants? If these immigrants immediately start paying local taxes by buying property and working locally then there is no problem. If the new influx relies heavily on the local communities’ coffers but gives nothing for their upkeep, it is a severe problem.

Is the solution that new non-English speaking immigrants should be educated separately, as is being proposed in other Western countries, funded by federal funds? There are strong arguments against this solution mostly from the left, citing discrimination and race issues. While it is true that the US gets its strength from immigrants, there are significant teething problems when a large wave comes to a local community. All that is necessary is to examine the plight of the Italians and Irish in New York, Chicago and Boston. It took a long time before these immigrant groups were able to move out of the ghettos in which they first found themselves.

For many towns and communities in the US, it is not realistic to expect them to swallow a large number of new immigrants from the third world. They neither have the resources, tax base, nor ability to absorb this sort of influx. The alternative, of course, is to send these new students and their families to the cities, which are already overcrowded, downtrodden, and crime ridden. The new immigrants merely add to an existing problem and provide those on the bottom of the heap someone new to look down on and persecute.

Overall it has to be said that new immigrants that are non-tax paying are bad for state schools. They tax their resources and teaching time while giving little tangible back to said schools. Why should the current crop of students suffer because of the misdeeds of government in a far-off land? This is not racist or xenophobic; it is just a fact of life.

It is very easy to be pro-unfettered immigration, especially when one lives in a community unlikely to have to take them once they come. But the reality is that it is a very complicated issue and those most likely to suffer are the young, whether they be immigrant or local children.

Stephen Pollard is not a happy concertgoer. I completely agree.

Reason magazine has got a spiffy new blog, Hit and Run. Cruise over and say hello.

The verdict? Bernheimer gives it the thumbs down, but Barnes, Kissel and Brantley all think it's just ducky.

It is good to see the Conservatives again talking to the Ulster Unionists about forming an alliance.. It is silly that these two parties are not closer than are at the moment. What is even dafter is there are Conservatives who stand in Northern Ireland against UUP candidates. Wouldn't it be great if the "unionist" part of the Conservative Party name stood for a merger with the UUP. If N.I. is a part of the United Kingdom, then mainland parties should operate there. But the mainland parties should be working hand in hand with their N.I. counterparts, if not merging with them.

One has to wonder why CNN is having a fit over the fact that Mary Landreu has been re-elected in Loiusiana. The state has not elected a Republican for Senate in over 90 years and it is one of the most highly democratic places in the entire US. For intents and purposes, LA is a one-party state.

How exactly is this a surprise? How exactly is it a defeat for Bush? More importantly why are Democrats touting this as the first race in 2004? Does the party now have such an "issue" with their pasting in the mid-term elections that they collectively have jumped 2 years in time?

If Democrats wish to know why they are not doing well, all they need to do is listen to the bollocks eminating from the gob of their front-runner; Al Gore. His latest performance on CNN was almost sickening, if it weren't for the fact Bore is such a horrid speaker. You are more likely to fall asleep before getting a chance to get angry. He is holding the entire party up while he fiddles around with his candidature for 2004.

It will be interesting to see if the Democrats lurch to the left to secure their base or try to move back to the centre. Only time will tell.

Mr Anglosphere poses a question or two about our odd relationship with Turkey in his latest for UPI. And yet again, the price of EU membership rears its ugly head. I have never understood why Turkey was not in the EU and that basketcase Greece was in the club.

It's lines like these that show why Jim is such a good writer:

Real friends don't let friends join the European Union.

On Saturday afternoon George Stevens, Sasha and I went to the Westchester Mall for lunch and a bit o' shopping. On the way we were confronted with something rather nasty. Route 100 through Yonkers was being slowed to a crawl by firemen standing in the middle of the road on both sides. Channels were set up on each side of the road leading cars toward grinning fireman holding something black in one hand.

Instead of kalashnikovs or broadswords they used their boots as weapons. They were raising funds for some "good cause". The method was most distasteful and was a misuse of their respect and authority. Had we had any lupins in the car I surely would have handed over one. And no, I didn't asked if any of the part-time brigands were named Dennis Moore.

Some interesting tidbits from the world of opera:

The season has opened at La Scala, in their new temporary theater. And check out the HOT XXX Anti-Globalization Protester versus Rich Operagoing Swine action! Also, props to Blogatrice pal Chris Robertson playing Agamemnon in Gluck's Iphigenie en Aulide.

An opera based on The Elephant Man has just had its premiere in Nice. The review is in French but I can scrounge up just enough language skill to decipher that the title role is played by a contralto. Interesting.

Nashville Opera premieres what appears to be a skewy production of Traviata, starring fellow former Binghamtonians Raul Melo and Guido leBron.

A nice profile of Julius Rudel in the Palm Beach Post, on the occasion of his debut with the company at the scrappy age of 81.

In today's Telegraph there is an amusing article by Tom Utley asking why zoosexuals are not legal to do "their thing" in the UK. Utley asks why New Labour views bestiality with such abhorence.

This is in response to the government's acceptance of homosexual marriage. Tom simply asks;

All I ask is that the Government should show a little consistency, and allow people to marry sheep, too, if they fancy the idea.

He makes a good point about the Welshman's favourite alternative to women; sheep.

Ask a sheep if it would rather be roasted or rogered, and I suspect that it would grit its teeth and opt for the latter.

No doubt the Hull Magistrates asked the goat this question when investigating the case of a man (with AIDS) caught buggering said goat in full view of the nearby rail-line.

Of course, one could point out that an animal cannot "consent" to having sex with a human unlike human adults. But that would take the fun out of this rather amusing piece. One can only guess at the bag-loads of angry mail Mr Utley is going to get in the coming days from those missing the placement of the tongue when the piece was being written.

Good on the Cato Institute!

WASHINGTON — A Second Amendment group is filing a lawsuit demanding that the nation's capital ease up its gun laws, which are considered the most restrictive in the nation.

The CATO Institute, a public policy research group that bases its work on libertarian principles, is crafting a legal challenge to Washington, D.C.'s law, claiming that all Americans have the right to defend themselves.

"The Second Amendment provides an individual right for a person to bear arms, not a collective right, not a right of the states, not a right of the militia, but a right on each and every person," said Bob Levy, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at CATO.

Washington, D.C. law states that it is illegal for anyone to own a handgun unless he or she is a police officer or has owned a gun registered prior to 1976.

Even those people allowed to possess a gun must keep it unloaded.

"That doesn't deter criminals at all," Levy said. "Somebody who is not deterred by laws against murder, they're hardly going to be deterred by laws that say you can't have a gun. So in D.C., you have a combination, on the one hand, the most severe gun laws in the nation, and on the other hand, one of the highest murder rates in the nation."

Found via Transterrestrial Musings.

Tommasini and Kissel give A View from the Bridge, the new Bolcom opera based on Arthur Miller's play a thumbs up. Must get around to seeing that before I leave.

He is at it again. Val coshes the fools who think Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is racist. He may not post as much as many of us, but when he does, oh boy!

I do, apparently. I got 11 out of 14 right.

Check here to see if you do as well.

Via Max Power.

Michael the Blowhard alerted me to a new site, Polly Frost's The Velvet Crypt. A cultureblog with a decidedly horror/sci-fi bent, Polly's site is not incidentally, a damn-fine-looking page. Check it out.

Did you ever hear the joke about the Klezmer band who made a CD of Christmas carols?

Actually, it's not a joke, it really exists, and it's one of the wittiest records you'll ever hear. It's called, yes, you guessed it, "Oy to the World". You can order it and listen to samples at their homepage. (It seems to be out of stock at Amazon and Tower, I checked.) If you ever had a hankering to hear "Jingle Bells" sung in Yiddish, this may be the only place you can hear it. And the original novelty song, "Santa Gey Gesundeheit" is a hoot.

Want to read a first-rate grump trashing of Al Gore, Nanny Bloomberg, and Harper's nitwit Lewis Lapham? Go no forther than Russ Smith's latest Mugger column.

Plus Christopher Caldwell comments on the polysexual arms inspector. Hope that... er, cyst clears up soon, Chris.

And if you're even more of a glutton for punishment than the luckless Mr. McGeorge, you can read Mickey Signorile's defense of Gore here. Don't say I didn't warn you

Just in case you needed reminding that Islamists and the Nazis share quite a bit, there is this excellent piece on Front Page Mag. For those who have not have been reading much of what comes out of MEMRI, this might come as a shock. The historical background in this piece is both chilling and logical. Hitler and Islamic fundamentalists share one powerful passion: an absolute hatred of the Jews and a desire for their utter destruction. We may have gotten rid of the former but the latter is still alive and well.

In short calling Islamists; Islamofascists, is quite frankly, inaccurate. They are truly Islamonazis. Their aim is to finish the "job" the Third Reich started; plain and simple.

Who?

I was doing research and making notes for a future blog post about my favorite movie musicals. I came across one name repeatedly: that of Robert Wise. This man is a certifiable cinematic genius, yet, one never hears his name mentioned. Consider this partial list of his accomplishments:

1) Film editor on two of the greatest films of all time: Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons

2) Directed one of the greatest early sci-fi films: The Day The Earth Stood Still.

3) Directed one of the great submarine movies: Run Silent, Run Deep.

4) Directed two of the all-time great movie musicals: The Sound Of Music and West Side Story.

5) Directed one of the all-time great killer-virus movies, The Andromeda Strain.

6) Directed the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Now, is there any filmmaker with such a depth and variety of experience in so many different genres? And yet he's barely known or spoken about. So I declare this the totally unofficial Robert Wise Appreciation Day. No reason, I just like to see the guy get his due. (He's got six Oscars so he really doesn't need anything from me, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?)

No it's not me, it's the Daily News wot sed it. Honest.

The whole sordid story is here. Who is surprised, really?

A few words on the debut album from Audioslave. A longer review for Blogcritics to follow.

Take the left-overs from Marxist crap rap-metallers Rage Against the Machine and add the lead pipes from the awesome Soundgarden; what do you get? Some kick arse hard rock, that is what! Chris' vocal power is matched by Tom Morello's powerful guitar, with the rhythm section keeping up its end in great style. This is one damn good album and well worth your cash. Think of Audioslave as the great album that Soundgarden never made.

Those humour-deficient Germans have been getting a tad uppity of late. First a musician released a song decrying the country's high taxes and was rewarded with a hit; now this. It seems that over 1000 Germans have sent old shirts (and hopefully well soiled) to their Chancellor as a sign of their frustration with the current tax regime. The DT is proposing that Britons follow this move and send the shirt off their backs to Gordon Brown. Helpfully the paper even provides the correct address for such packages.

Annoyed Londoners have started an online petition expressing their outrage at the upcoming congestion charge for London. This outrageous idea, from the warped mind of "Red Ken" Livingstone, will see every road user driving into central London charged 5 quid for the so-called "privilege". As per normal, with this sort of daft scheme, those hurt most are those who can ill afford it. The wealthy and the corporate types will really not care much about the fiver.

Got to love the name of the site as well: "Sod U Ken!"

It seems the Chechen rebels who took the theatre hostage in Moscow called someone in Saudi Arabia while they were there.
Several phone calls to Qatar and the UAE were also placed during the siege. It is speculated that these calls were made to keep those funding the operation up-to-date on the developments.

This is not exactly a shock as there is plenty of evidence that the Chechen terrorists are seen as akin the Muslims in Afganistan during the Soviet occupation. No doubt there are Islamonazis in London who helped with the funding of the raid as well.

This is yet another reason why the West should be standing fully behind the Russians in their efforts against the Chechens. Reuters notwithstanding, these guys are not freedom fighters, they are terrorists.

It's gone. Fox News is gone. "Technical difficulties". SHIT.

On the plus side, the Covent Garden Salome is on PBS, starring the diva maxima Catherine Malfitano and Bryn Terfel singing his big ol'guts out as Jochanaan. What a pleasant surprise. The first half-hour of West Wing will go begging tonight, I think.

The Canadian World Domination Homepage.

(via Jonah Goldberg in the Corner, natch)

Ben Shapiro has been excoriated elsewhere in the Blogosphere for his plodding and self-righteous columns. His newest is titled, "I was right, I am right, and I will be right". Yes, really. It starts out thusly:

My parents taught me never to say, "I told you so." But when you're right so often, you just have to tell someone. So, for the benefit of you, the loyal reader, let me enumerate exactly how right I've been these past few months.

Ben, your parents were right. And you are an arrogant little whelp.

Well, my fiance is back in NYC, tying up some last-minute loose ends, even as I prepare to move my stuff across the Atlantic. Big trash bags of stuff have been either thrown out, donated to the Salvation Army, or given away to friends. Today I decided to tackle the pile of soapmaking supplies in my kitchen, and made a 1lb batch. I hope it turns out well, but I also have 2 10-lb blocks of glycerin soap that I just can't bear to toss. I am also unemployed and running up a mountain of expenses (Ever calculated the cost of shipping boxes of books to England? Yikes. Buy your UPS stock now.) So here's my little fundraising scheme.

For everyone who drops a $10 or larger tip in my Paypal jar, you will receive a bar of soap completely hand-made by La Blogatrice. This is only while supplies last, and colors, shapes and fragrances will vary based on my dwindling ingredient stocks.However, if you have requests, let me know and I will try to accomodate you. Put your address in the Paypal comments and I will send it to you by mail.

Good soap and a good cause. How can you go wrong?

The L.A. Times reports that the newly-Berio-orchestrated L'Incoronazione di Poppaea is being cancelled due to the fact that Berio is recovering from a car accident and was thus unable to attend rehearsals.

UPDATE: In far weirder opera news, Chicago Lyric opera has replaced its originally scheduled Benvenuto Cellini with...wait for it... The Pirates of Penzance.

All together now... What the HELL?

MArk Steyn comments on Jack McGeorge, the frisky UN inspector.

Seriously, aren't we all a bit too fascinated with this guy's sex life? Was professional S&Mer; his only job? I mean I'll be the first to agree that the UN is a basically useless outfit, responsible for aught except bureaucracy, inertia, and massive traffic jams on First Avenue. But surely McGeorge has some qualifications that made him at least marginally appropriate for the job. Why are we all aflutter over what this guy does in his bedroom on his own time?

Just asking, that's all.

A scant month or so before I'm due to leave the country, I can finally get FOX News on my cable, as of this morning. MSNBC, too.

So there's this website called Gnovies, which uses some sort of Amazonish AI to recomment movies to you based on movies you enter into it.
I fill in My Fair Lady, The Usual Suspects, and Mary Poppins. A diverse and relatively innocuous selection, I think.

I'm rather shocked at the results I got. Not for reprinting here. Go do it yourself.

Dreaming Guru forwards me this Guardian story about the Conservative candidates for mayor in my future home town.

Surely Andrew and Frank have some pungent thoughts on the matter.

John Leo's article about the Augusta controversy is sound and excellent, as his columns on any topic usually are. But lookee here, who should happen to get mentioned in the second paragraph?

As usual, discussion on the Internet is more candid and varied. Here is Jane Galt, a bright, young Web logger unknown to me until last week: "Arguing that only women have the right of free association, but men must sacrifice theirs . . . is not advancing the cause of equality. . . . If integrating the Augusta National is a major item on the feminist agenda, then stick a fork in the movement: It's done. We've achieved our goals and should disband."

Way to go Jane!

The Sprout is back, oshing the EU at every turn. Go read the online mag that makes Eurocrats go green at the gills. It's only time before it is banned; I am assured!

Oriana Fallaci is quickly becoming my personal heroine. Be sure to read this article from Corriere della Sera, translated and reprinted in FrontPage. A short and delicious taste:

I find it shameful that in the name of Jesus Christ (a Jew without whom they would all be unemployed), the priests of our parishes or Social Centers or whatever they are flirt with the assassins of those in Jerusalem who cannot go to eat a pizza or buy some eggs without being blown up.

I find it shameful that they are on the side of the very ones who inaugurated terrorism, killing us on airplanes, in airports, at the Olympics, and who today entertain themselves by killing western journalists. By shooting them, abducting them, cutting their throats, decapitating them. (There's someone in Italy who, since the appearance of Anger and Pride, would like to do the same to me. Citing verses of the Koran he exorts his "brothers" in the mosques and the Islamic Community to chastise me in the name of Allah. To kill me. Or rather to die with me. Since he's someone who speaks English well, I'll respond to him in English: "F*** you.")

Read the rest.

"AN ancient and secretive society linked to the Holy Grail has staged a conference in an East Lothian hotel."

Um, if they were secretive, why would they invite the press? It seems the Templars (allegedly eradicated by Philip the Just in the 14th century) have come back into the limelight to lend their skills to help resolve the crisis in the Middle East. Alas, they have to ally themselves with the UN to be able to do it.

How about we let The Templars run Jerusalem as an international city? It would be great, it would infuriate the Isreali Jews and the Muslims in equal order. IE as close as you can get to a "fair solution" in the Middle East.

The conspiracy loons will just love this article. Of course, most of them are convinced that that The Templars have been working towards a "New World Order" since they were founded all those years ago. The Templars are a great unifier, the Catholics don't like them because of their alleged "heresies" and the Protestants don't like them because they were a Catholic order.

Thanks to the always interesting Pagan Prattle.

It seems the minions of Cthulhu are attempting to get recruits as young as possible. Much like some of the members of the European Commission, truth be told.

Thanks to Troll-boy for the link.

Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!

How British are you?

this quiz was made by alanna

Any excuse to post a shot of ER is always nice. God Save the Queen and all that.

Via this lot: Hot Buttered Death.

Update: I read a bit farther down and found something about a British Christian rock band who do very well with no mainstream help. Alas, it was always thus. Having a religious of conviction should not preclude a band from airplay, ditto a political one. I am especially concerned with certain new bands with a libertarian bent.