The Onion has it's own obituary of Stalin.

"Who Will Crush Our Spirits and Destroy Our Will to Live Now?" Ask Distraught Citizens.

Well, they had Kruschev and Brezhnev and the rest of the Politburo to do it for a few more years, but I suppose it's a matter of degree. Anyway the Onion spoof was much more sensible than the actual NYT obit that Max already pointed out:

Stalin Rose From Czarist Oppression to Transform Russia Into Mighty Socialist State

Andrew Sullivan points out this article by Paul Varnell. It explains why "Queers for Palestine" makes as much sense as "Lesbians Against Bush".

LET'S TAKE A QUIZ. No peeking at the answers directly below.

1. Which Middle Eastern country has no sodomy laws nor uses vague charges such as "offenses against religion" or "immoral conduct" to prosecute and imprison gays and lesbians?

2. Which Middle Eastern country has a variety of gay organizations which safely conduct gay advocacy efforts?

3. Which Middle Eastern country has a gay and lesbian community center in its capital city?

4. Which Middle Eastern country holds annual Gay Pride parades?

5. Which Middle Eastern country has members of parliament who actively support and speak out on behalf of gays and lesbians? [more]

Mrs. du Toit is going on a long hiatus and has ask everyone linking to her to remove the links so I have complied. We'll be happy to re-add the link when she's back.

Here are some interesting comments made by Lawrence O'Donnell on NPR's Fresh Air (as transcribed by Susanna, you can read more of it by following the link).

Host: Did you identify with the policy wonks of the Clinton administration?

O'Donnell: That's a hugely exaggerated notion, that President Clinton was a policy wonk or anybody working in the West Wing was a policy wonk other than Gene Spurling. That's just the rap, that's just the image they wanted for themselves, the positive rap they wanted for that president, he was no more a policy wonk than any other president.

From my experience in the Oval Office with Bill Clinton, he knew about an index card worth of material. Let's put it this way, I was never in a meeting with Bill Clinton and the senators where Bill Clinton was not the single most ignorant person in the room. And I don't say that as a criticism, that's normal. He's from out of town, he's just come from a governorship... These governors that we make presidents, it's like taking the president of Avis and making him the president of Warner Brothers. What do you think he knows on the first day? They know nothing.

But the image that Clinton easily achieved was that he knew more than most presidents. That's because up against the White House press corps that's a really easy thing to achieve because no one's allowed three follow up questions in a row... (via Cut on The Bias)

This reminded me of heated arguments I had with friends during the 2000 elections about the relative intellects of Bush and Gore. It always felt strange because I didn't think Bush was any great intellect but I was astounded at the widespread acceptance of the propaganda that made Gore out to be this towering intellectual with almost no empirical evidence. Gore's personal background is almost identical to Bush's and his academic background was a even worse than Bush's. Actually one of the reasons I preferred Bush was that he seemed to realize his own limits and surrounded himself with very smart people to whom he actually listened (He's a CEO, not a scholar, check out Dean's comments about Bush's administration). Gore, like Clinton, actually seemed to believe his own hype and surrounded himself with sycophantic yes-men who would conform all his 'brilliant' thoughts on a subject.

Gerald Posner compares the current anti-war protesters with those (including himself) who protested the Vietnam war.

Three decades later I have no pride in the memory of those protests. Rather, I wonder how it was possible to be so mistaken about real politics and world events. My political gullibility is an embarrassment. The so-called peace movement had completely deluded itself, conveniently ignoring any evidence that countered its agenda. How was it not possible to have seen that the North was a convenient tool for the Soviets to bleed the US and that it represented one of the most repressive old-line communist dictatorships since Stalin? What were we marching for three decades ago? Certainly not for the right of North Vietnam to invade neighboring Cambodia, killing tens of thousands of civilians in a brutal war of submission. Nor did we raucously protest so that two million Cambodians could be exterminated under the Khmer Rouge. Not many of us would have been so enthusiastic in Sproul Plaza had we known that the North Vietnamese secret police would imprison, torture, and kill tens of thousands of political prisoners in a futile, but barbarous, attempt to “cleanse” the country of western influence. (via Dean's World)

Mark Steyn adds his two cents on the human shields.

The only consolation is that the anti-war crowd is having an even harder time keeping it up than I am. The "human shields" are leaving Iraq, disenchanted after discovering that their Iraqi "co-ordinators" wanted to deploy them not at "humanitarian" facilities but at military bases. One fellow said he was used to working with young children and would have preferred to be deployed at an orphanage. Pity the poor Iraqi official who had to explain to the guy that the orphanage has already got all the human shields it needs: they're called "orphans".

The bewildered Brit seemed to find this hard to follow: here's a man who's convinced that Bush and Rumsfeld are slavering to drop a bunch of daisycutters on Iraqi moppets, but thinks they'll cease and desist just because some droning Welsh Leftist is sitting among all those inviting underage targets.

Some of the 'human shields' are becoming disenchanted with their Iraqi hosts.

At least 30 of the so-called human shields, including several Britons, were on their way home last night. Their departure brought a dispiriting end to their heady arrival in Baghdad two weeks ago.

The activists accused the Iraqi authorities of trying to use them as pawns in the war with America. More defections are expected in the coming days.

The bitter flight from Iraq follows a showdown with the Iraqi authorities who demanded that they decamp from their hotels in central Baghdad and take up their self-assigned roles as civilian protectors.

Iraqi authorities trying to use them as pawns?? I guess the positive aspect is that it shows that even the stupidest people are educable, albeit very slowly. (via Andrea Harris)

Rachel has returned from her hiatus. Glad to have you back.

Daniel Henninger wants to start an anti anti-America movement.

Reflecting a view of American intentions widely heard the past few months, Vladimir Simonov of Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency asserts that the U.S. purpose in Iraq is to "signify the official transformation of the USA into the center of a global empire in which Washington weighs the fates of governments, divides up others' economic riches and institutes democracy as it, the USA, understands it."

I believe most Americans couldn't care less how Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, Mexico or anywhere else chooses to organize itself, were it not for the fact that U.S. citizens inevitably have to die or pay to clean up the mess their dysfunctional economics and politics so often create. Europeans elites don't like having World War II or the cemetery at Normandy thrown back in their faces, but why not? Hitler didn't rise to power on America's watch. The Serbs by now would have slaughtered every non-Serb in the Balkans if the Americans hadn't gone over. The men of France didn't volunteer to die so that South Korea could thrive free of the crazy North. And most of the billions of dollars that the IMF poured into helping Russia stagger through its post-Soviet corruption came out of the pockets of American taxpayers.

Asparagirl responds to the Lysistrata Project, named after the Greek comedy by Aristophanes about a group of women who withhold sex from their husbands to get them to give up their constant warfare.

Steven asks about the women being urged by the anti-war activists to go chaste for peace: "What if they actually support this war?"

Well, the solution is pretty obvious, really. Personally, I plan on dedicating tonight's hot-and-heavy boink with my fiance to the Lysistrata Project chicks. Who says political protest should only be defined by denial and inaction? And why not have more fun than the peacenik gals at their own inane game? And this way, there are much better slogans too: Fuck For Freedom! Make Love And War! Have You Hugged a Hawk Today?

And what would their rallying cries be? Frigid For Feckless Foreign Policy? UNdersexed for the UN? My Cunt Belongs To Saddam?

And it's not enough for these "feminists" that sexuality, or even specifically female sexuality, be used as an oxymoronic anti-war weapon, but that it must be denial of female sexuality that is the weapon, that very special tool for keeping their social order and their status quo intact. Sex, after all, should only be given up in the appropriate manner and to the appropriate person, and woe to they who disagree...waitaminute, this is starting to sound kinda familiar...

What also galls me is that these women are claiming not only sex, but femininity itself as a uniformly passive, gentle, loving, pacifist attribute. What rubbish. I shouldn't support waging war on a mass-killing dictator because as a woman, my place is to elevate discourse and consensus and eschew "manly", messy action? They're even implying that if I am not a peaceful, good-mannered, right-thinking woman like them, a woman for peace, then perhaps I am not really a woman at all? And these are the women who are telling me this?

Ralph Kinney Bennett describes the history and trade-offs between SUV's and passenger cars.

Thus there is an inherent incompatibility between cars and SUVs. Different profiles, structures and weights have inevitable consequences in accidents. And guess what? Vehicles with higher centers of gravity will generally roll over easier than those with lower centers. These are simply facts of what we might call automotive diversity. When someone shows up in Central Park walking a Mastiff, those who are walking terriers and poodles may be wary and the Mastiff walker, it is hoped, will act responsibly. That's just the way it is, folks. Should drivers of SUVs be more attentive to the possible effect their vehicles might have on smaller vehicles? Sure. But then, driver attentiveness and particularly courtesy is always a good idea whether behind the wheel of a Geo or a Suburban.

The Vortex Theory

I got this website via spam today. At first I thought it was supposed to be a spoof, but I think they are serious. It's pretty funny anyway. You have to give folks with crackpot theories some credit, they usually have an enormous amount of enthusiasm and self-conviction in their own overriding genius.

This revolutionary vision changes everything we know: 
Einstein’s theory of relativity is now obsolete

Quantum mechanics is obsolete. 

The end of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics renders the scientific disciplines of physics, chemistry, and astronomy obsolete. Shockingly, every science book in the world that deals with anyone of these subjects is obsolete!

Every college science text that deals with any part of anyone of these subjects is obsolete!

Not only will a billion books throughout the world have to be discarded and rewritten, but every science course in every school, college, and university will have to be modified. Unfortunately, millions of students are paying billions of dollars for science and engineering educations that are now obsolete!

I couldn't find much on their site that explained exactly what the 'Vortex Theory' is (I didn't spend lots of time studying it either), only claims that it explains everything at a fundamental level. (They want you to buy their e-book to find out). The whole thing reminds me of Alfred Lawson's (?) Theory of Suction and Pressure which was described in Martin Gardners classic Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. Lawson believed that everything was easily explained by either Suction or Pressure (Gravity sucks, Rockets exert pressure, etc -- you get the idea). I don't think he elaborated much more than this, he merely listed all the things which could be explained by Suction and Pressure. (I may be a little unfair here, I don't have Gardner's book in front of me so I am doing this by memory and it's been 30 years since I read it. I will check the book at home this weekend and correct any egregious errors). Lawson also believed he was the greatest genius who ever lived and stated so unequivically whenever he got a chance.

Al-Qaeda's Agent 007

"In some ways, he was al-Qaeda's Agent 007: suave, well educated, a trilingual globe-trotter who mixed easily in other cultures, who engaged women and intrigue with savoir faire and deadly expertise."




Yup, suave with savior faire, sure looks it.

In an apparent effort the keep to the Left of the NYT op-ed page, the Guardian is now publishing opinion pieces by that great socialist humanitarian and multi-millionaire Fidel Castro. Tim Blair has some comments

More PC idiocy. The head of a school in Yorkshire has banned the story "Three Little Pigs" in classes from fears it will offend Muslims. Showing far more sense than the head of the school, a local Muslim group said she was a complete idiot (well not exactly, I was using editorial discretion).

She claimed it had been school policy for seven years to avoid telling the stories to young Muslim children, following complaints from Muslim parents, and that the books had been removed after a teacher had accidentally breached the policy.
Last night Yorkshire Muslims condemned the move as "nonsense", as their holy book, the Koran, permits followers of Islam to talk or read about pigs as long as they do not eat their meat.
Bradford magistrate Bary Malik, an Ahmadiyya Muslim, said: "Every day Muslims recite passages from the Koran.
"As the Koran mentions pig, Muslims must say that word. All the Koran says you should not do is eat pork, but there is no harm in using the word or reading it.
"This school has gone too far – what will they do next, ban the word cow because Hindus believe the cow is sacred?
"In this world there are many extremists who do not like Jews or Muslims – does that mean that we should ban the words Jews or Muslim out of respect for their views?
"Really it shows a lack of religious understanding. It's nonsense." (via Best of the Web)

A Swedish environmental group is arguing that burning cardboard, plastics and food leftovers is better for the environment and the economy than recycling.

The Swedish group said that the "vision of a recycling market booming by 2010 was a dream 40 years ago and is still just a dream".

The use of incineration to burn household waste - including packaging and food - "is best for the environment, the economy and the management of natural resources", they wrote in an article for the newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Technological improvements had made incineration cleaner and the process could be used to generate electricity, cutting dependency on oil.

I personally believe that recycling is a complete waste of time and money and does nothing for the environment. There was a long detailed article in the NY Times magazine in 1996 by John Tierney and an earlier Reason article by Virgina Postrel (sorry it's from 1991 and their archives don't go back that far so no link) that pointed out just that. My wife (no starry-eyed Green), however, has been swayed by the propaganda and feels the garbage guilt. She gets annoyed if I toss plastic bottles in with the regular trash. As someone who believes in the market, I will be convinced that recycling is worthwhile when it is cheaper to recycle it than to landfill or incinerate it and make a new one.

Fred on snow penises at Harvard.

We went to hear the Kodo Drummers at Carnegie Hall last night. It was a great concert. I have about a 8 or 9 recordings of theirs but this is the first time I got to hear and see them in person. It is an amazing experience. They play a large variety of drums but the most impressive are the Miya-Daiko which are large barrel shaped drums the biggest of which was over 4 feet in diameter and over 800 pounds. They play them with rolling pin sized sticks and the performance is beyond virtuositic, it's athletic. When the drums pound you can feel it in your chest. I once had an apartment in NYC on 40th Street and 2nd Ave. It was a so-so apartment but one advantage it had was that the terrace looked over the East River and had an amazing view of the Fourth of July fireworks which they launched off a barge somewhere near 39th Street so the fireworks would literally explode right outside the window so that you could feel the shockwave from the blast. The pounding of the large drums has a similar visceral effect. Buy one of their recordings and go see them the next time they are in town. We didn't bring the kids but I think we will next time. There were several children near us about 7-10 (ours may still be a little too young) who were fascinated with the whole show.

Lesbians Against Bush


Don't these people read their own signs?

I'm sorry posting (from me anyway) has been a little light. We just got back from our vacation Monday night and I have been swamped in the office catching up with emails (about 3000) and configuring a new faster computer which is a real pain in the ass, find all the disks for every piece of software you use, re-install then go to the websites to get the latest service packs, updates etc. Anyway I should be back to normal by weeks end. In the meantime here is a very nice picture of my girls taken in back of the house we were staying at. Gorgeous, aren't they?

Michael Barone addresses the critics who argue that Iraq couldn't handle a democratic government.

What is most important about Iraq is not military victory but what comes after. Bush writes, "The United States is guided by the conviction that all nations have important responsibilities." The responsibility of the United States is to build a peaceful, democratic, independent postwar Iraq. Bush has spoken eloquently about the need for democracy and the rule of law in the Middle East, and members of his administration have made serious preparations for setting Iraq on a path to democracy. But he has not said enough yet, at this writing, to prepare the American people for this task. It will not be easy. Many people said in the 1970s that Latin Americans were unsuited for democracy, in the early 1980s that East Asians were unsuited for democracy, in the late 1980s that Eastern Europeans and Russians were unsuited for democracy. Many people worried in 1945 that the Germans and Japanese were unsuited for democracy. There were reasons for their doubts and fears. But the United States took chances on democracy, transforming Germany and Japan into decent independent nations we can live with and helping to move Latin America, East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Russia in the same direction. We have no choice now but to do the same, first in Iraq and then in other parts of the Middle East.

Interesting piece from Stratfor on the Chirac-Iraq connection.

French President Jacques Chirac is a pivotal figure on the international scene, whose views on Iraq are of vital concern. Those views are not driven simply by geopolitics, however. The factors that shape his thinking include a long, complex and sometimes mysterious relationship with Saddam Hussein. The relationship is not secret, but it is no longer as well known as it once was -- nor is it well known outside of France. It is not insignificant in understanding Chirac's view of Iraq.