Still on hiatus

But I had to note the excellent column by VDH today:

In addition, it was not all that easy a thing either for a young man like George Bush to fly an obsolete jet with a record of mechanical problems. His qualification as a jet pilot gave him no immunity from being called at any time to combat duty in Vietnam. Indeed, sitting at the controls of an underpowered F-102 with a host of mechanical peculiarities was not the same as fleeing to Canada, burning a draft card, or harming the interests of soldiers in the field by giving emotional aid to the enemy. And unlike a few prominent public figures, George Bush never said he served in Vietnam when he did not.

a;sldkfj,
CS

Announcement: Hiatus

I thought I was going to be able to resume fairly frequent posting once I was moved in here, but I guess that was wishful thinking. So I'm announcing an indefinite hiatus. This includes the promised Iran post, which I will attempt to clean up and post in the next few days- but no promises. Once I'm into the regular rhythm here, I'll figure out a more consistent posting schedule. Can't promise Wictory Wednesday posts ontime, can't promise replies to comments.

But I can promise you this: I'll be back as soon as I can.

a;sldkfj,
CS

Developing news from Russia

UPDATE: More from MNSBC

(belated) UPDATE: Templar Pundit offers some information.

Iran series

Just to let my readers know, I'm nearing completion on the second part of my series on Iran. Publishing should take place this evening at the earliest and tomorrow evening at the latest.

a;sldkfj,
CS

Kerry signs stolen in Florida

(via Drudge):

Officials: Hundreds Of John Kerry Yard Signs Stolen In Fla.
Region known as 'Bush Country'

POSTED: 6:49 am EDT August 24, 2004
UPDATED: 11:30 am EDT August 24, 2004
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Hundreds of yard signs supporting Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry have been stolen and vandalized in this heavily Republican region known as "Bush Country," officials said, prompting some Kerry supporters to hang signs from trees to deter burglars.

About 350 signs have been stolen, according to Panhandle for Kerry organizers, which met with Pensacola police Monday. The group has distributed nearly 3,400 signs.(read the rest)

This article is very disconserting. Let me be clear- I think this is absolutely disgusting, and I hope that those who have apparently stolen what amounts to someone else's property are caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

We have loonies on the right too- I wonder if those who stole these signs realize how much they just bolstered the Kerry campaign?

a;sldkfj,
CS

Bush denounces 527's

Yes, I know this is old news (yesterday) and, but I can use blogger again, so deal with it. (And- yes, I know everyone else is on it too, but I thought I mention it).

a;sldkfj,
CS

Just...

...setting up here at Biola. Normal blogging will somewat resume once I have somewhat stable internet access, and say, a chair. But while you are waiting, check out my blogroll.

a;sldkfj,
CS

IOC just doesn't get it

From CNN:

(AP) -- Athletes may be the center of attention at the Olympic Games, but don't expect to hear directly from them online -- or see snapshots or video they've taken.

The International Olympic Committee is barring competitors, as well as coaches, support personnel and other officials, from writing firsthand accounts for news and other Web sites.

An exception is if an athlete has a personal Web site that they did not set up specifically for the Games.

The IOC's rationale for the restrictions is that athletes and their coaches should not serve as journalists -- and that the interests of broadcast rightsholders and accredited media come first.

Participants in the games may respond to written questions from reporters or participate in online chat sessions -- akin to a face-to-face or telephone interview -- but they may not post journals or online diaries, blogs in Internet parlance, until the Games end August 29.(emphasis mine)

This coming from the people that have "terms and conditions" if you want to link to their site. (Oops)

a;sldkfj,
CS

I'm here...

Back at school. Blogging will resume upon my finishing of unpacking. Don't wait up for me.

a;sldkfj,
CS

Last post

From home. I'm packing up the computer for the quasi-move to California tomorrow. Perhaps blogging will resume tomorrow afternoon.

Perhaps.

a;sldkfj,
CS

Honest secular rationalism

"The window to the world can be covered by a newspaper."

Without comment

Photograph of John Kerry meeting with Comrade Do Muoi, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, in Vietnam, July 15-18, 1993. Photo taken in the War Remnants Museum (formerly the "War Crimes Museum") in Saigon in May 2004. (more info)

INCITE writes a devestating post about the swiftboat controversy

Links galore.

a;sldkfj,
CS

Swiftboat Vets starting to ask the real questions

(By the way: think there's no Kerry/Moveon.org connection?)

Yeah...

I know I haven't been keeping up my torrential blogging pace, but I've been getting ready to head back to California for school tomorrow. Also, my free time has so far been taken up by my next Iran post. So, go read Jonah Goldberg or something. After all, he writes better than I do:

My first problem with gay marriage is that it is too democratic. This may sound like an odd objection, given that gay marriage is succeeding via anti-democratic measures: courts, rogue politicians who defy the law, etc.

But let me explain.

Liberal doctrine — to the extent such a thing exists — holds that laws that cannot be justified by reason are inherently bigoted. Fair enough, I say. This is actually a venerable conservative position, to the extent that it was one of the greatest evils in Edmund Burke's mind: the arbitrary use of power. Force and discrimination (rightly understood) — governed by reason and anchored by moral law — are the necessary, conservative pillars of a good society. But the arbitrary abuse of power is man's shoddy attempt to mimic the will of God. The difference is that the will of God is not arbitrary but mysterious, and beyond our ability to comprehend. It only seems arbitrary to some because we cannot always tell the difference.

a;sldkfj,
CS

The horror of abortion

WARNING: The above link involves a VERY graphic story regarding a failed abortion. I do not use the word "horror" lightly.

Malkin vs. Matthews

Last night on Hardball, Michelle Malkin endured an utterly vicious attack from MSNBC's resident blowhard, Chris Matthews. From Michelle's account:

Here's a peek behind the cable TV curtain. It's not pretty.

So, my publicist arranges for me to go on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews on Thursday night to talk about my recent columns on the FBI and national security profiling and my new book. Despite the show's basement ratings, we figure it's a good opportunity to reach out to a new audience. FOX News, with whom I have a contract, has generously allowed me to appear on some competing networks to talk about the book. Thursday was the second to the last day that I could make such appearances.

A few hours before the show, a producer calls to tell me I will be on for two segments--the first topic will be the Swift Boat Veterans, the second topic will be related to the book. Fine. This is the news business. I understand the need to go with the flow and cover the hot issues of the day. I am prepared to discuss both topics.

In a pre-interview, the producer goes over general questions about Kerry's response to the Swift Boat vets, whether the charges will be an issue in the presidential debates, and the basic themes of my book and its implications for the current War on Terror. I am originally scheduled to be on with the Washington Post's Dana Milbank. This was scratched and I am informed at the last minute that the other guest will be former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.

As I am seated at the table with Matthews, who I am meeting for the first time, he cracks a joke--and not in a well-meaning way--about how I look. (There are quite a few people who are hung up on this.) "Are you sure you are old enough to be on the show? What are you? 28?" I grit my teeth. He badgers me again with the same question. I politely answer his question and supply my age.

(I wonder how Matthews' wife, the respected TV journalist Kathleen Matthews, who hosts a show about working women, would react if informed about her husband's treatment of a fellow female journalist. I've been in the business a dozen years and would be happy to talk to Mrs. Matthews about my firsthand experience with Neanderthal chauvinism in the workplace.)

Needless to say, things went downhill, fast and loud, from there.

Read the rest.

a;sldkfj,
CS

VDH Watch!

Here. An excerpt:

The scheduled partial U.S. troop withdrawals from Europe were long overdue; some of us had become shrill and hoarse in calling for them over the past few years. It was not just that there was no longer any conventional enemy on Old Europe's borders, or that the new hot points are further to the east, or even that in terms of a cost-benefit analysis it made no sense stationing traditional army divisions roughly where Patton and Hodges ended up 60 years ago.

The real significance, inasmuch as many airbases and depots will stay, is symbolic and psycho-sociological. Unwittingly, we had created an unhealthy passive-aggressiveness in Europe that clinicians might identify as a classic symptom of dependency. Europe — now larger and more populous than the United States — has reduced defense investment to subsidize a variety of social expenditures found nowhere in the world. So insular had its utopians become under the aegis of NATO's subsidized protection that it was increasingly convinced that the ubiquitous United States was the world's rogue nation, the last impediment to a 35-hour work week, cradle-to-grave subsidies, and wind power the world over.

A once-muscular and hallowed NATO has become a Potemkin alliance. The more jetting grandees praised the "historic role of the Trans-Atlantic partnership," the more its logic dictated that it would deploy only where there were no enemies of the West — parading and maneuvering where there were never dangers, bickering and recriminating about going where there always were

Read the rest.

a;sldkfj,
CS