What would New Years be without the 'Best of' lists. Pandavox has a really good music one that you should go read right now.
# Posted 2:30 PM by Karol

If you were a liberal Representative from New York and you were against the war in Iraq, what legislation would you propose to try and stop it? Remember, you don't have a lot of brains to work with. Resuming the draft, of course. Sure that makes so much sense. O-k.
# Posted 2:25 PM by Karol

Moral Dilemma to run by Spot On readers. Advice needed.

Here goes. Ok, about two years ago my mom wanted to go to Paris for her birthday and though both previous times I had been in Paris I had swore they would be my last, my brother and I went with her to the land of 'cheese eating surrender monkeys'. We were going to spend two nights in one part of Paris and two nights in another part. The first two nights went swimmingly. Our small hotel was beautiful and the staff was friendly(!!!) and helpful. We moved to our next hotel for the remaining two nights. This hotel is a huge one, 5 star, an internationally known brand name hotel. Our stay was, to say the least, atrocious. The staff was rude and slow. The service was awful. The hotel had something like 500 rooms but one computer for public use. I asked the conceirge about getting tickets to see Moulin Rouge for my mom's birthday and she said there were no tickets available. Then I said 'ok, what about Lido' (another Moulin Rouge type show). Her reply was 'well, you didn't ask about Lido did you?' O-k.

When I returned to the states I sent an email detailing my problems with the hotel to the company's customer service office. They did not reply. I then resent the email with a comment about how absolutely outraged I am at their lack of care for their customers. They wrote back and sent me two free nights at the hotel in Paris. I had no urge to return to the hotel but thought it was a fair deal. The hotel was closed for renovations for 2002 and recently re-opened.

So here is my dilemma. I have been boycotting French products as best I could for most of this past year (sometimes a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-pape sneaks through). I think France has always been, and today is no exception, at the forefront of any Jew hating movement. I am distressed at the way the multiple firebombings of synagogues is handled (usually with a comment like 'boys will be boys' and no investigation or arrests). I do not feel safe wearing the Jewish star in Paris. I have been groped and harrassed in Paris and have received the following advice from a friend who lives there: 'don't look up as you walk, the men think you are interested if you do.' In short, I have no urge to return to Paris but feel that I also can not let the hotel get away with their poor service and French manners. I also know that I talk A LOT of shit about France and the French and wonder if going will be hypocritical. My boyfriend and I have devised ways in which we would spend no money during our two nights in Paris. I just feel like the hotel should pay and the only way for them to do that is to accept the two free nights offer and go to a city I despise.

What do my readers think?
# Posted 1:41 PM by Karol

Sometimes words just aren't needed.

Via LGF.
# Posted 1:23 AM by Karol

I know I sometimes write about music and when I do I get emails saying you guys like that. Well, I can honestly say that I didn't care one way or the other when Joe Strummer, singer of the Clash, died a few days ago but I've gotten two emails asking why I didn't mention it. If you are dying to see it commented on and want to comment yourself, I direct you here.
# Posted 2:40 PM by Karol

Jonah Goldberg on 2002's biggest losers and winners. My favorite part of a very funny article:

Other big losers in 2002: France, which has been on the loser list so long it should start receiving its mail there, once again boiled down its geopolitical interests to behaving like the school kid who won't play at all unless he gets to be team captain.

Canada, once a staunch and valuable ally in war and peace, has been exposed to have the military might of the Rhode Island National Guard, thanks to a liberal government intent on impressing the United Nations by bad-mouthing the United States.

Saudi Arabia spent millions on a PR effort to dispel the popular perception that the desert kingdom supports terrorists, teaches hate and lives in the Dark Ages. The effort has failed largely because the Saudis do in fact support terrorists, teach hate and live in the Dark Ages.
# Posted 2:27 PM by Karol

Andrew Stuttaford on that not at all biased BBC:


APPEASEMENT WATCH

As I sit here listening to the radio, commentators on the BBC's Radio 4 PM show are discussing the North Korean crisis. The spin? Pyongyang may have been driven to this by the 'axis of evil' speech.

It's sometimes difficult to avoid the conclusion that some of these clowns might have seen Churchill's (admittedly rather more eloquent) pre-war speeches about the Third Reich as 'unnecessarily provocative'
# Posted 2:13 PM by Karol

I was at my boyfriend's mom's house yesterday for Christmas. She is a huge Norman Rockwell fan and has his prints all over her house. The last time I was there I was fascinated by the one called 'Freedom from Want' which depicts a family sitting around the table at Thanksgiving being served a huge turkey. I thought it was an excellent name for the piece. I felt it is really all we should aim for-not riches but freedom from want.

Yesterday, I was really taken with the picture above. Freedom of worship. The words at the top of the picture read 'Each According to the Dictates of His Own Conscience.' It is a beautiful shot of people in prayer. I know that people think Rockwell is hokey and maybe what I'm about to say is hokey too. I left Russia as a small child because my family, being Jewish, were constantly persecuted. My relatives could not get certain jobs or go to certain universities. They could not travel and they certainly could not worship as they chose. We came to America with the idea that whatever happens, persecution based on our religion was never going to have to be a worry again. I feel really fortunate to live where I do and I felt it even stronger yesterday, celebrating Christmas with my Catholic boyfriend, his Catholic brother and his Jewish mother. You can be anything in America, that freedom is promised to you. Of the other three Rockwell prints that go along with this one (Freedom from want, Freedom from fear and Freedom of speech), only Freedom of speech is also guaranteed to you in America.

I've been thinking lately that there are only two ways that our current world struggle can turn out. We can accept radical Islam as our faith, we can dress our women in burkahs, ban alcohol and dancing and stone people for stealing. Or, we can resist. We can see the enemy for what it is and we can see clearly what their goals are. They want the world to be Muslim. The attacks yesterday, on Christmas day, should hopefully erase doubts had by people as to what the fanatics see as their ultimate goals. We can either make excuses and pretend that nothing is happening or we can stop walking on eggshells, stop pretending religion plays no role in this conflict, stop pretending that these lunatics' full intentions are not to take away our freedom of worship.

# Posted 3:53 PM by Karol

It's because the US is arrogant.

It's because the US supports Israel.

It's because the US stations troops in Saudi Arabia.

It's because the US does not abide by the Kyoto treaty.

Just don't say that it is because you are the wrong religion. Just keep pretending that we are dealing with a rational force that we can dialogue with and reach agreements with and eventually live with.
Merry Christmas.
# Posted 7:12 PM by Karol

I've got some shocking news. The Palestinians will not, after all, hold general elections in January. They have postponed this vote indefinitely. The reason they cite is that it is too 'difficult to hold a vote while Israeli forces continued to occupy West Bank cities.' Of course. It's the Jews that leave them with a terrorist for a leader. That's a great reason. Or as James Taranto puts it: 'Democracy is also indefinitely on hold in Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the vast majority of other Arab countries. What's their excuse?'
# Posted 4:31 PM by Karol

When I moved back to New York in 1999, after a few years of living in Boston and Scotland, I was amazed at the lack of political diversity in the New York media. To be fair, I didn't have a television so there was one medium that was completely absent to me. The New York Times drove me crazy on a daily basis. My father, a Republican, would read it and gush about it. He thought it was the epitome of intelligence to read that left wing rag. I couldn't stand it, their editorials posing as facts and their opinions pretending to be real journalism. I had liked the Village Voice in my youth and though I didn't agree with their politics, I found it refreshing that they were so blatant about their opinions. I still read it but mostly to roll my eyes at.

One day, I was leaving Kims on Bleeker Street when I picked up a newspaper in a green box. I intended to kill some time reading it while waiting on a friend. It was the New York Press and I fell completely in love with it. It was everything I wanted in a newspaper. It has a Republican founder, Russ Smith, but has writing representing every political angle or no political angle at all. It was so well written, funny, interesting, edgy. I started picking it up every Wednesday and it was a big deal to me every time I met anyone who knew anything about the paper. My boyfriend shocked and impressed me on one of our first dates by having the NY Press with him. The people who I met who read it were the type that went out of their way to seek out good writing and different opinions. The New York Press has wacky rightwingers (well, had anyway before Taki ran off to be a wacky rightwinger elsewhere), nutty leftwingers, completely nutty leftwingers, the best horoscopes ever and a blind guy who writes more often than not about being drunk.

I had heard Russ Smith speak several times and one thing that he said about the newspaper was that it didn't have to fit into any preconceived notion, it didn't have to be anything at all. The reason? Most of it's readership picked it up for the escort services that advertised in the back and the classifieds.

I'm writing all of this today because I got a sad email from Spot On reader Dan linking to an article in the New York Times about how the New York Press has been sold to a group of investors. Their first order of business was to fire John Strausbaugh, the editor. The investors say that they have no 'immediate plans to change the paper's editorial mix' but this whole thing still worries me. I have the New York Sun now on a daily basis to provide me with the conservative perspective on New York politics, but for sheer running of the political gamut, New York Press is by far on top. I hope that the investors understand what a great paper they've acquired and I hope they don't change it too much.
# Posted 2:41 PM by Karol

Where pretending that all sides are equal gets us:
Palestinian radical was guest of US ambassador

Azzam Tamimi, an associate of a senior Hamas official, was invited to the official residence in Regents Park by envoy William Farish in an attempt to build bridges following the September 11 terror attacks.

I'm so glad we're building such bridges.
# Posted 12:28 PM by Karol

I can not motivate you enough to go read the latest phenomenal piece by Victor Davis Hanson. Go. Now. Really.
# Posted 12:16 PM by Karol

First they came for the Christmas trees but I wasn't a Christian (and I kind of liked seeing the dominant group in this country suddenly marginalized) so I did nothing. Then they came for....
# Posted 4:38 PM by Karol

U.S. Billionaire George Soros Found Guilty of Insider Trading

No wonder he has been so vocally against repealing the death tax. If you're scamming and stealing while you're alive, who cares what happens to your money after you are dead. You will have stolen enough of it to cover the tax.
# Posted 11:37 AM by Karol

Well, it's over. Lott is stepping down as majority leader. This is a good thing for Republicans and for the country.
# Posted 11:24 AM by Karol

On the O'Reilly Factor two days ago, Bill O'Reilly showed a clip of Susan Sarandon on the Phil Donahue show. She said (rather hysterically): 'my children are afraid we're going to get thrown out of this country because I am speaking out!!!!!!!!!!'

Now, I hope Susan Sarandon's children aren't like 20 or so because then I would just have to say 'well then your children are dumb.' If they're young, though, then you know whatever corrupt information they have come by is the fault of their parents. If they believe that America is the sort of country you can get thrown out of for speaking out, then that idea must have been placed their by their parents. I find that shameful. If Sarandon can't contain her hatred for this country that is one thing. If she passes this hostility and paranoia on to her children it is quite another.
# Posted 12:10 AM by Karol

Quote of the Day:

"I received your letter and I do not agree with you. Were all human ideals to given to me on one hand and Israeli security on the other, I would choose Israeli security, because while it is good that there be a world full of peace, fraternity, justice, and honesty, it is even more important that we be in it."- David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel, in a letter responding to a letter written to him by Yishayahu Leibowitz complaining that innocent Palestinians may be killed in Israeli operations.

From the January 2003 issue of Vanity Fair.
# Posted 12:05 AM by Karol

I'm not a big fan of PBS. I would say that I actively stopped watching it when the story broke that PBS, a government sponsored television station, had exchanged donor lists with the Democrats. Nice.

Yesterday, I was at my friend's place and we were flipping channels and came across the PBS documentary called Muhammad: Life of a Prophet. It was the story of Muhammad interspersed with clippings of Muslims today. I'll admit right now that we didn't watch the whole thing but the parts that we did see had the narrator praising polygamy and saying that Muhammad's marriages were "an act of faith, not of lust." Of course they were. As Daniel Pipes writes:

The heart of the film consists of nine talking heads competing with each other to praise Muhammad the most extravagantly. Not one of them criticizes him......

What Muhammad did for women, viewers learn, was "amazing" - his condemning female infanticide, giving legal rights to wives, permitting divorce and protecting their inheritance rights. But no commentator is so impolite as to note that however admirable this was in the 7th century, Muslim women today suffer widely from genital mutilation, forced marriages, purdah, illiteracy, sexual apartheid, polygamy and honor killings.

And of course, the double standard:

PBS ignores an ongoing scholarly reassessment of Muhammad's life that disputes every detail - down to the century and region Muhammad lived in - of its film. This is especially odd when contrasted with the 1998 PBS documentary, "From Jesus to Christ," which focuses almost exclusively on the work of cutting-edge scholars and presents the latest in critical thinking on Jesus.

One of the narrators explains that "Muhammad had nothing against the Jewish people per se, or the Jewish religion. The Koran continues to tell Muslims to honor the People of the Book." Not so, and it isn't a fan of Christians either, writes David Klinghoffer:

God is quoted by prophet as saying, "The unbelievers among the People of the Book and the pagans shall burn forever in the fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures." "…those that disbelieve Our revelations and deny them are the heirs of Hell." Of the Jews in particular: "God has cursed them in their unbelief."

As to how one is to deal with such unbelievers, the Koran's message is vigorously expressed. "Muhammad is God's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another." "If you do not go to war, He will punish you sternly." "Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them." "Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. They are friends to one another."

The clips of the modern Muslims were so icky to watch and seemed typical of the pet-like way that liberal programs treat people of different religions and nationalities. Look at the Muslims, aren't they cute and just like us? My friend, SMFA, was singing 'Muslims, meet the Muslims' and I promise you he is no conservative. The whole thing just seemed in bad taste and was obviously so one-sided, making it just painful to watch. Criticism of Islam, just like criticism of any religion, should not be a political correctness issue. To gloss over the past is to rewrite it. I, for one, don't think the government should be sponsoring that.
# Posted 12:32 PM by Karol

Terrorists in Scotland? Say it ain't so.

It's alarming to me what a nonevent catching terrorists has become. Neither Drudgereport nor Yahoo headlines mentions it. I think it is as important to publicize successful captures as it is to talk about the attacks. People need to know that real work is being done to protect them and the terrorists need to hear that they are not safe anywhere.

Thanks to Spot On reader Bobby for the link.
# Posted 12:06 PM by Karol

I further can't believe that GW Bush has won Yahoo's coveted 'Person of the Year' award beating out the likes of Britney Spears, Eminem and Howard Stern. What will that man accomplish next?
# Posted 12:04 AM by Karol

I can't believe the Iraqi government has betrayed Sean Penn!!!!! This is so unexpected.
# Posted 12:03 AM by Karol

Quote of the day:

Affirmative action is based upon the assumption that blacks cannot compete with whites. But if I say that blacks can't compete with whites, I'm a racist. Why should the law say something racist?
-Jonah Goldberg
# Posted 2:31 PM by Karol

Damn it. My plan has always been to write a post detailing how Eminem is a Republican (and no it's not because you may think he's a mysogonist or a homophobe-it's because he's wildly individualistic, into personal responsibility and all about family values) but someone has beat me to it.

Via Andrew Sullivan.
# Posted 12:51 PM by Karol

We're not terrorists, says Hezbollah after being banned in Canada. But banning us is a 'grave mistake' and 'what the Canadian government did, the Canadian government will be responsible for.'

Hmmm....doesn't sound the least bit threatening.

Via BlueStarBlog.
# Posted 12:22 AM by Karol

I have been so caught up in Lott-mania that I forgot to mention anything about Al Gore. Reading a friend's site just now made me remember that there once was a man named Al who was going to be President. Now, I'm not entirely shocked by his dropping out of the race. Al (and his big brother Bill) are poll watchers in a way that few others are. I'm not going to say that Republicans don't keep a close eye on what people are saying, but the Clintons and Gores always took this to new levels. The polls right now call George W. unbeatable in 2004 by any of the current candidates presented on the left side. The fact that we're still not at war with Iraq (and assume that war will happen at some point in the near future) coupled with the fact that Republicans are seen as being more 'serious' on the war on terror, leave the Democrat candidate likely to lose. Al does not like to lose. So he'll wait for 2008 and maybe have the double satisfaction of beating Hillary! in the primary.

The one thing that I really don't understand about his dropping out of the race is the myriad of public appearances that are accompanying it. He's everywhere-he was on Saturday Night Live for goodness sake- but no, Al is not running. I guess the polls are telling him that people like him around as long as there is no threat to him trying to be their president.

Thanks to Ari for the reminder.
# Posted 12:51 PM by Karol

New York Times credits conservatives with keeping the Lott story going. Has hell frozen over? My favorite part:

The responses by conservatives have provided a marked contrast to the contention — put forth most recently by former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore — that the nation's conservative news media acts as a monolithic Republican support system.

Gee, ya think?

The article also mentions the surreal Bill O'Reilly episode I wrote about on Dec.11th in which a white conservative was saying Lott should step down while a black Republican was saying that too big a deal was being made over this whole issue.
# Posted 11:57 AM by Karol

I am, in case you weren't completely aware by my site, a total political junkie. So a week or so into the Lott story I was still riveted while those around me were saying 'this is so overblown.' For the record, the 'overblown' comments were not coming from right-wingers who just want to put this mess behind us. They were coming from my moderate and lefty friends who couldn't understand what the big deal about Lott's comment were. Now I understand, they have a lower threshold for being badgered with the same information over and over. It has been a slow new cycle and Lott IS IT. I realized this last night as I watched a very important debate on Crossfire about 'which city is better-NY or DC?' Still, it didn't keep me from hurrying home with my boyfriend to catch Lott on BET for the replay of his interview. I could only watch the interview in spurts because it was so embarrasing it made me want to hide, but from what I saw Lott is ready to change his entire position on affirmative action just to remain Senate majority leader. Last I checked, the majority that Lott is leading is and has been against race based affirmative action. This is precisely why Lott must go. He can no longer be a strong leader. Every decision he makes, rightly or wrongly will be measured against his words at Strom Thurmond's birthday party. There is no more apologizing he can do. As Jonah Goldberg writes in a post called 'Lott: What's next':

Perhaps the Congressional Black Caucus should put a dunce cap on the guy and march him around Tiananmen square. Lott's "rehabilitation" is becoming Soviet in its unseemliness. I want the guy to step down, but this serial apologizing and appeasment is becoming shameful. The notion that Lott must support affirmative action to prove he isn't racist is outrageous. The idea that Nickles is "unacceptable" (codeword for racist) because he voted similarly to Lott is outrageous. I heard a report this morning on C-Span that one black official (couldn't catch his name) says that aplogizing isn't enough, approving of affirmative action isn't enough, no Lott must support an extension of unemployment benefits to prove he's not a segregationist. I have little sympathy for Lott since he got himself into this and is willing to debase himself to get out of it. But good lord, this is becoming Kafkaesque.

We can't have a leader who so blatantly bows to any single interest group. Lott has lost his power to lead through his stupid comments and now he is trying to sacrifice the conservative platform, one that seeks to discount race in all decisions, to save himself. Richard Lowry writes:

Every day that Lott continues to be majority leader will be just such a rolling surrender to the NAACP and other grievance groups.

Lott must step down.
# Posted 11:37 AM by Karol

Lileks cracks me up.
# Posted 6:52 PM by Karol

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda:
Clinton Says He Had Plan to Attack North Korean Reactor in 1994.
# Posted 12:07 PM by Karol

Carter Willing to Mediate Peace Talks

Thanks Jimbo! Do you think you can do AS good a job as you did with North Korea?
# Posted 11:53 AM by Karol

While the National Review is calling for Trent Lott to step down in big, bold letters and Opinion Journal has published a slew of editorials condemning Lott and calling for his resignation, The New York Times has this to say:


'It's about the political choices Republicans made in the 1960's to "go hunting where the ducks are" — code language for winning over white segregationists who abandoned the Democratic Party in the South. It's about continuing to benefit from racial prejudice through subtle and not-so-subtle sound bites that play to the Republican Party's far-right base.'


Oh that's right. The soundbite that calls Lott's remarks 'particularly shameful coming from a leader of the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, and the party that supported all of these essential steps forward far more vigorously than the Democratic Party, which at the time was the home of Congressional southerners committed to white supremacy' (by Republican member Abigail Thernstrom U.S. Civil Rights Commission) is one example. President Bush condemning Lott's comments as 'not reflecting the spirit of our country' is another.

The wonderful editorial goes on to accuse Reagan of slyly pandering to racists by calling for states rights. Let's review the Republican position for the writer of this piece: Republicans are against a large government. Reagan in particular was for minimizing the size of the hands that reach into your pockets. He coined the phrase "the scariest words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" The Republican view has always been that the more power states have, the less the federal government has. I wouldn't expect the writer to understand any of this. He has his hands firmly over his ears screaming 'racist!' at white people as they pass.

I'm not surprised that the New York Times sinks to calling Republicans racist when every Republican in view is loudly condemning Lott (louder and quicker that Democrats had. Daschle was going to let the whole thing slide until he realized it might be a big story). The so-called 'paper of record' has degenerated into such a state long ago.
# Posted 11:27 AM by Karol

Something I heard last night which made me laugh and laugh.

On Marxists:

'I'm just waiting for neo-nazis to proclaim themselves Hess-ites.'

-RL
# Posted 10:34 AM by Karol

If there is one major reason that online shopping for the holidays is going to catch on in a major way in the next few years, then that reason is Christmas songs. Now, I know what you are thinking: 'you're Jewish! By your very nature you hate Christmas and Christmas songs.' Not so. I am a big fan of Christmas, more so even than many Christians I know. I am an equally big admirer of Christmas songs. However, I can't take the incessant way they are played in certain department stores. The versions are undoubtably always modern ones ala Justin Timberlake sings 'Jingle Bell Rock' or Gloria Estefan puts her personal spin on 'I'll be home for Christmas'. It's enough to drive a person mad and make them buy themselves moisturizer and shoes and forget to buy presents for anyone else. Not that this happened to me today or anything. Sigh.
# Posted 5:08 PM by Karol

Some sad news.

It looks like I may have been at the last Guns N Roses show ever.

Pandavox, who sent me the link, has additional sad music news on his site.
# Posted 1:41 PM by Karol

Awwwww what a nice gift!
# Posted 8:15 PM by Karol

Want to see something surreal? Try to catch the first few minutes of the replay of the O'Reilly Factor tonight on Fox at 11pm EST. A black guy from something called the African American GOP Council is defending Lott, while a white guy from the (couldn't possibly be more conservative) Family Research Council is attacking him.
# Posted 8:15 PM by Karol

Are you still not sure where you stand on going to war with Iraq? I direct you to two excellent pieces over at Pandavox laying down the case with perfect precision. I dare you to argue with him.
# Posted 2:45 PM by Karol

Fuck.

US Says It Releases Ship with Missiles for Yemen

I was going to write about the genius of George W. Bush for naming North Korea part of the axis of evil, especially in light of the recent news that North Korea has an active nuclear program and the news that they are selling missiles to Yemen. But now, in Clintonian fashion ('we can't capture bin Laden, that would violate the sacred International Law that our European allies expect us to uphold!') it turns out that we are unable to stop the missiles from reaching their destination due to 'international law'. Last I checked the highest law of the US is our Constitution and it doesn't say that we can't stop terrorist countries like Yemen from getting weapons. When is America going to learn? Fuck world opinion. We have to do what we have to do to stop these kinds of arms trades or next time it won't be scud missiles, it will be the nuclear kind and maybe we won't be lucky enough to find and stop that ship. Europe is going to call our President a cowboy and a renegade no matter what he does so let's take the opportunity not to cower to the opinions of the elites who would be lost without us to demonize and let's do something real. Let's stop pretending that a ship filled with missiles on their way from North Korea to Yemen is no big deal. Let's fucking roll.

Thanks to 'Spot On' reader SMFA for the link.
# Posted 1:39 PM by Karol

Quick Quiz.

Who said: "One of the key factors that . . . arouses intense feelings of animosity in the world is the festering problem in the Holy Land, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the inability of Israel to live in peace with its neighbors."


Was it:

A. A Hamas spokesperson?

B. A CAIR spokesperson?

C. Former President Jimmy Carter?


If you guessed A or B you were pretty close. It's actually C.


As James Taranto notes:

In his acceptance speech, however, Carter seemed to take another dig at the Jewish state: "Today there are at least eight nuclear powers on earth, and three of them are threatening to their neighbours in areas of great international tension."


It seems likely that India and Pakistan are two of the countries that "are threatening to their neighbors." Here's a list of the remaining six nuclear powers: America, Russia, China, Britain, France and Israel. Guess which one of them Carter had in mind?

That's ok though, at least for Republicans. Americans understand, now more than ever, that the threat Israel faces is the same as ours. Islamofascists seek to destroy us and them. The more Democrats can't contain their displeasure with Israel, the more votes will come over to the Right. Keep it up Carter, you were always a bit of an embarrassment to your party (shame about those hostages you weren't able to free that were then freed the day your more able successor became President) and now you do nothing but assist mine. Thanks!
# Posted 12:38 PM by Karol

The CounterRevolutionary writes about a group in Britain called The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament that is going to court to block the Brits from disarming Iraq's nuclear weapons. Got that?
# Posted 5:10 PM by Karol

Ok, here is one for everyone who has ever accused me of being an unbending partisan: I think Trent Lott should step down as Majority Leader.

For those not in the know, Lott made some really absurd comments at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Thurmond had run for President in 1948 under the big issue of maintaining segregation between the races. Lott celebrated the man by saying:

'I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had of followed our lead we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.'

Lott's office is saying that he didn't mean the comments to be praise for segregation or racism but somehow that doesn't make me and others feel any better. Seeing that glossing over the issue of his stupid words wasn't enough, Lott gave another statement on Monday saying:

'A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embrace the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by my statement.'

Ah. Discarded policies. As Robert George writes '"Discarded policies" — that's a quaint, benign quaint phrase that effectively sidesteps the real horror that was Jim Crow.' George also writes about why the focus is on Lott's comments instead of Thurmonds actions: 'Most people don't expect a 100-year old Thurmond or an 85-year-old Robert Byrd (D., W.V.) to completely escape their racist pasts. But Trent Lott is an adult baby boomer, of the same generation as the current and previous presidents.'

Conservatives have a bad enough time trying to prove they don't eat children for breakfast without the added headache of having a leader who says such outrageous things. He doesn't speak for all Republicans and removing him from his leadership post would prove that. For the record, I have seen a great deal more outrage from the conservative press on this than the liberal sphere (maybe because the New York Times can't break its fascination of writing about elite golf courses) and I see that as a true indication of where 'my side' stands on this. Lott has to go. We can not tolerate this kind of idiocy in our leaders.
# Posted 11:33 AM by Karol

How is this a News Headline?: Key WTC maintenance records feared lost

I think we're also missing some people from the upper floors. And I think both buildings are gone too.
# Posted 8:05 PM by Karol

Long quote of the day:

President Bush declared war not on militant Islam but on a faceless enemy he has variously called "terrorists," "a radical network of terrorists," "terrorists in this world who can't stand the thought of peace," "terrorism with a global reach," "evildoers," "a dangerous group of people," "a bunch of cold-blooded killers," and even "people without a country."

The establishment media has been complicit. With the notable exception of CNN's Lou Dobbs, who talks about "the war against radical Islamists," it unthinkingly echoes the government's line that the conflict has nothing to do with religious motives. It's as though Franklin D. Roosevelt, after Pearl Harbor, declared war on surprise attacks rather than on the Japanese empire.

- Daniel Pipes
# Posted 7:54 PM by Karol

While strolling with my uber-hipster boyfriend in one of New York's 'coolest' record shops (which shall remain nameless but know that if you don't buy the right thing you can expect a look of disdain from the clerks), I came across a sticker with the words 'Jewcy.com'. The 'w' in the word was made to look like the Jewish letter 'shin' and this intrigued me. The site is a little limited but seems to be pretty new so can be excused. It seeks to 'celebrate kosher-style fabulosity.' and is 'aimed at today’s members of the Tribe.' I just bought myself a cute t-shirt with their logo on it and am looking forward to wearing it on my trip around Saudi Arabia and Yemen this summer. Just kidding, kids. Go check out Jewcy.com, it's Jew-a-licious.
# Posted 2:21 PM by Karol

Ohmygosh! Ed Koch and I are agreeing! From Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus:

Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York — and about the most delightful and knowledgeable and interesting politician around — has made his New Year’s resolutions. Wanna hear a few of them?

“I will avoid France as a place to vacation. France leads those countries in the Security Council that are the enemies of Israel. [Same goes for Mexico — says Koch.]

“I will not support National Public Radio in any way. NPR’s reporters and management delight in unfairly attacking Israel.

“I will not watch ABC’s World News Tonight anchored by Peter Jennings. For many years, Jennings has specialized in vicious and unfair portrayals of Israel intended to injure the Jewish state and lionize Palestinians. Also, the BBC News is horrifically anti-Israel, and I will shun it completely.

“Susan Sontag will occupy the Ninth Circle of Hell for her outrageous assaults on Israel. I will no longer read her works.”

How you like them apples?


This may sound like a dumb question/comment but I never even realized Koch is Jewish, if indeed he is (someone please confirm or deny). I saw him once on a Delta shuttle between Boston and New York and smirked in his direction. I didn't think he was a particularly good mayor and I was a young college brat who would not be impressed by the presence of someone famous (especially someone who had just written a negative book about my hero Rudy Giuliani). He was wearing a tux and gave me a warm smile that made me feel kind of bad. I take it back Ed, let's be friends!
# Posted 12:04 PM by Karol

My heart skipped a beat when I signed on to Iraqi blogger Salam's site to find it down. I found out what happened from Letter from Gotham's site but not before my mind had run over all the possible, horrible scenarios.

I hope you are ok Salam and I hope you are back to blogging soon. I still owe you a mix tape. I'm listening to Coldplay and thinking of you.....
# Posted 11:47 AM by Karol

Quote of the day:

Now what I find fascinating about all of this is that it mirrors one of the central plot points of the antiwar "movement" today. "Movement" gets quotation marks because these people aren't really going anywhere. Their white-knuckled grips on their little islands of obstinacy have kept them out of the flow of history for decades now.

-Jonah Goldberg
# Posted 8:51 PM by Karol

I don't get it. Does Britain or does Britain not have free speech? When I asked back in August how it is legal for a man to pass around pamphlets urging the murder of American tourists, my comment section filled up with Brits deriding me for not understanding the concept of free speech. So, let me get this straight: material provoking violence is ok but a commercial making fun of George W. is not? Someone please explain.

Via Andrew Sullivan.
# Posted 11:29 AM by Karol

I went to see Guns N Roses tonight. They were incredible. They were 50 times better than I thought they would be (and probably 350 times better than you'd think they'd be). I've been to a bunch of shows this year and have seen many different performers. I've seen Belle&Sebastian, Wilco, Talib Kwaleed, Bob Mould, Sigur Ros, Stratford 4, Clinic, The Shins, White Stripes and a slew of smaller bands. Some were great, some were boring, some had decided to leave their punk roots and jump headfirst into a techno only understood by people his age. None were anything like I saw tonight. The energy of Axl, the songs, the awesome talent of the new band, it was incredible. If you saw the MTV award performance try to put it out of your mind. I was worried after seeing them play at that show. Axl seemed out of breath and not hitting some notes. None of that was happening at Madison Square Garden tonight. The place was dancing and moving and even the 'I escaped from Staten Island for this and I plan to live it up' crew sitting behind us couldn't possibly hamper an excellent night. If you were ever a GNR fan and are worried about seeing the new line-up, don't be. It was greeeeeeeeeeeat.
# Posted 12:58 AM by Karol

Quote of the day:

Americans are a problem-solving people. They want to save the rhino from extinction, famine-threatened people from starvation, Venice from sinking, Southeast Asia from going communist. I think this problem-solving instinct contributed much more than liberal masochism to last year’s “why do they hate us?” stories. Arab and Pakistani Muslims don’t like us? We’ll change their minds!

-David Frum
# Posted 1:52 PM by Karol

I have mocked and scoffed and generally made no secret about my feelings on the 'Islam means peace' crowd. Jonah Goldberg, as always, puts things in perfect perspective. He writes about the want by him (and me and everyone else who questions the peacefulness of the Muslim faith) to believe that there are peaceful Muslims that abhor the violence done in the name of their religion. He also gives a little background of the Islam hasn't always meant peace kind:

The first few generations of Christianity were marked by suffering and oppression. The first few generations of Islam were marked by conquering. In its harshness, I suppose you could say Islam resembles pre-Christian Judaism in some ways. Jews, too, believe in the importance of geography and the use of the sword to protect it. Of course, they believe in holding onto only one narrow strip of it. (Prediction: Jewish militants will never claim, say, Cleveland as rightfully theirs.) And, it should be said, many Jews do not see modern Israel as the fulfillment of any Biblical or religious imperative — lots and lots of Zionists are very secular. And, it should be noted, Jews haven't spent most of the last two millennia ruling empires and conquering land so much as being brutalized, oppressed, or — at best — tenuously tolerated.


Anyway, Muslims tend to believe that once a strip of dirt becomes Muslim it's gotta stay Muslim for ever and ever. And if a burg's population becomes majority Muslim, it must be ruled by Muslims (see Kashmir for details). This is one of the primary understandings, historically and religiously speaking, of "jihad." "Until fairly recent times," writes Bernard Lewis, "[jihad] was usually, though not universally, understood in a military sense. It was a Muslim duty — collective in attack, individual in defense — to fight in the war against the unbelievers. In principle, this war was to continue until all mankind either embraced Islam or submitted to the authority of the Muslim state."


According to Islamic tradition, the world is divided into the House of War and the House of Islam — and once real estate is brought into the House of Islam, there's no getting out. And, eventually, the House of War will be brought into the House of Islam too. That's why Osama bin Laden says that he won't rest until he gets most of Spain back. And this is partly, though not entirely, why — as Samuel Huntington noted — "the borders of Islam are bloody."

He also makes the point that I and others make constantly: where are the moderates?

Human beings draw conclusions from what they see. All around the world, Muslims are declaring, in the name of Islam, that they are at war with the West. More important, all around the world self-declared Muslims are actually waging war on the West. They may be a tiny minority of the global Muslim community. I have no doubt that's true. But if the decent and peace-loving Muslims of the world sit on their hands and do nothing, you can hardly fault many in the West who draw the conclusion that Islam is anything but peaceful. Why is it so hard to find, for example, a Muslim "leader" to condemn the death sentence against the journalist who wrote about Mohammed and the Miss World pageant — without some moral-equivalence weasel words about how she should have known better?

This is one of those great pieces that is worth reading. Do yourself a favor and click the link above and read it in its entirety.
# Posted 1:35 PM by Karol

Quote of the day:

"Watching Al Gore make his re-entry into the public arena after nearly two years out of the public spotlight, I can say with confidence there is a substantial group of people who want him to run for president again in 2004. They’re called Republicans."-The Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman

Via Mugger
# Posted 1:22 PM by Karol

Be wrong but strong, Bill Clinton urges the Democrats

Clinton also said that "Al Qaeda should be our top priority," said the two-term president. "Iraq is important, but the terror network is more urgent in terms of its threat to our security."

No word on what the top priority was during his administration.
# Posted 10:37 AM by Karol

I am still great friends with my ex-boyfriend. He is brilliant, disheveled, hilarious and weird. He is so cool in fact that I am planning to recommend him to other girls on a new website that lets ex-girlfriends do just that. Why did we break up then, I hear you ask? Because he wasn't for me despite his excellence. My current boyfriend (who will be my last boyfriend if I can help it) is very much for me. Why the prolonged description of relationship? Just for reference in the story I'm about tell.

Early this morning I had a very vivid dream. I read somewhere that talking about dreams and acid trips are the two most boring things to discuss, and I agree heartily, but bear with me. In my dream, I was walking with my current man and my ex. We were going to my ex's apartment because he had a photo album of mine that I wanted to pick up. We walked into his building and approached the elevators. One of the elevators was about a foot off the ground. I said that we should wait for the next one to arrive as I didn't feel safe getting on the one that was there. While we waited the building started to slowly move, to sway from side to side. My boyfriend and I looked at each other and decided to get the hell out of there. My ex, the kind of person who worries about nothing, said we were overreacting and that he was going upstairs. I grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out of the building and onto the street outside. He was giving me this exasperated look he gives me when he thinks I'm overreacting. We crossed the street as the building tipped over and collapsed. We could see people scrambling to get out. We could see bodies.

I called my ex as soon as I woke up and we discussed the dream. He came up with the idea that it represented that I didn't agree with his lifestyle. I thought that it meant what it seemed to mean: that he would never know that danger was upon him until it was too late. He agreed that yes it could be that too.

Do you see what I'm getting at with this dream? No? Ok, I'll explain. I think that post September 11th there are two types of people in America. There are those who know that we are threatened and there are those who just don't believe it. In the latter category tend to be the people that were not in New York or D.C when the attacks happened. My ex was visiting his family in Cleveland and was due back in New York on the 12th. He's not scared of future attacks. While at Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend's family, his hippie cousin from the west coast was saying something about the media breeding fear in people, making people afraid of future attacks. I was on my best behavior and so I didn't want to start an argument but my feeling is that if anything, the media is playing down the threat to us. Immediately after 9/11 there were articles about what to do in cases of emergency, how to handle yourself, where to go for help. The articles have completely ceased by now and though our government tells us we're at risk all the time, the media tends to almost make fun of the fact that we have no specific information. Being scared is ok and it is necessary. Like in my dream, I am now the kind of person who exits a building when an alarm goes off instead of waiting to see if it's a false one (you would not believe how many of my collegues sitting on the top floor of New York's second biggest skyscraper do not make moves toward the door when an alarm rings). And I wish that my ex and others that I care about would do the same. You can't force people to be afraid of course, and that isn't my intention. It's an awareness that comes through fear that I hope that they have.
# Posted 2:14 PM by Karol

Blogger was down all morning but I didn't care because I have the day off and I'm listening to the new Sigur Ros album that my boyfriend gave me for the fourth night of Chanukah and the music is all dreamy and I'm looking out my window at a New York that is peaceful and sunny and beautiful.
# Posted 1:19 PM by Karol

Tim Blair makes me laugh out loud. And I'm not just saying that.

In addition to the funny post linked above, he writes about a poll in Britain that says Brits like Americans more now than at any time in the last 15 years. They like us, they really like us!
# Posted 9:46 PM by Karol

Sorry to break up the 'Islam means peace' party but I find the following press release by the Miss World organization even more outrageous than the words of the usual apologists for slaughter in the name of Jihad:

The Miss World Organisation and all of the Miss World contestants were shocked and deeply saddened by the appalling comments made in the Nigerian Newspaper "This Day" that led to such a tragic loss of life.

The comment that Muhammed himself would have found the Miss World contestants beautiful caused people to riot and murder. Now, let's think about this. Did this innocent comment kill people or did people who are fanatics about their religion kill people? These people went into a rage and went out into the street and looked for Christians to kill. To say that the newpaper comment caused this tragic loss of life is disgusting. We need to stop pretending that everything is ok and that outside factors influence the breeding of this fanaticism. Islam does not mean peace and has seen nothing but violence in its name for some time. To blame the newspaper is to wear blinders and allow the Islamofascists to have to have a seat at the victim table of the world. I'm not having it and you shouldn't either.

Via Andrew Sullivan.
# Posted 9:59 AM by Karol

This photo is causing smirking in the right leaning blogosphere. But why? Chirac knows what to do. As leader of France he must listen only to what the leader of America says and then say that France wants to do the opposite. Then, at the very last minute he should sigh and give in to whatever it is America wants to do. Simple enough. Keep reading about art, Chirac. Glad to see you're not 'simplistic' like our President.
# Posted 9:03 AM by Karol

We love America? Don't they know that's out of vogue this season?

Kenyans in the village this evening said the carnage would deliver a devastating blow to their already weak economy. It is unfair, they complained, that innocent Kenyans would again have to die for causes they had nothing to do with. Then they started shouting against Arabs, some of whom have settled here and own stores in the city: "We love America," they yelled. "Go away al Qaeda."
# Posted 9:00 AM by Karol

The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler alerts me to the fact that Mark Steyn finally has all his writing at one convenient location. Hurrah.
# Posted 1:46 PM by Karol

Ted Nugent says America rocks and I believe him:

Having met tens of thousands of Americans in my music and hunting travels over the past 40 years, I'm buoyed and thankful that the American spirit still soars high on the wings of an eagle. From cops to priests to firemen to guitar players, the rugged, defiant American spirit that has built and nurtured America is alive, prospering and kicking. I remain convinced America is the land of hard working, caring, law abiding people who go about their daily lives trying to provide a better life for their families, which, in the final analysis, leads to a more vibrant America overall. Rush hour and traffic jams are beautiful things. They prove we rock.


America isn't at a social or political crossroads as some will try to tell us. Those who believe that would have told you 500 years ago that the earth was flat. Thirty years ago they would have been stoned on LSD, drooling and dancing naked at a Grateful Dead concert. My advice is to avoid these people. They will always gravitate towards the negative. Take it from an old, cocky rock 'n' roll guitar player whose God-given senses remain finely tuned: America's best days are in front of us.
# Posted 1:06 PM by Karol

Happy Thanksgiving.
# Posted 10:45 PM by Karol

I got ambitious the other day and played with the template of this site. To make a long story short, errors were made and I have had blogger issues ever since (at the moment it appears that my counters and my 'Home' button at the bottom of the page are the only things still hurting). I'm steadily getting it back to normal but if you experience any problems with my site (not ideological ones smartass) please let me know at the email address handily provided on the left side of your screen. Thanks, K

Update: I seem to have fixed most of the problems. My counter is being restarted at zero so come visit often so my ego doesn't suffer. Also, another unrelated problem I found was that some of the earlier posts on the page (such as George W. carrying cedar) say that there are no comments when indeed comments are there. I will try to fix this problem though I must admit that my reluctance to ever touch the HTML of this page again is great.
# Posted 1:55 PM by Karol

America an imperialist state? Not so, says Victor Davis Hanson. An excerpt:

Should the Greeks tell us to leave Crete — promises, promises — we would be more likely to count the money saved than the influence lost. Take away all our troops from Germany and polls would show relief, not anger, among Americans. Isolationism, parochialism, and self-absorption are far stronger in the American character than desire for overseas adventurism. Our critics may slur us for "overreaching," but our elites in the military and government worry that they have to coax a reluctant populace, not constrain a blood-drunk rabble......

America spends less of its GNP on defense than it did during the last five decades. And most of our military outlays go to training, salaries, and retirements — moneys that support, educate, and help people rather than simply stockpile weapons and hone killers. The eerie thing is not that we have 13 massive $5 billion carriers, but that we could easily produce and maintain 20 more.


I know I often say 'read the whole thing'. This time I really, really mean it. A must read.
# Posted 1:41 PM by Karol

Some pissed off Europeans coming up.....
# Posted 11:33 AM by Karol

Lileks on Jews. A very, very good read.
# Posted 11:30 AM by Karol

File under 'Give me a fucking break':

But Mr. Gore has a bone to pick with his critics: namely, he says, that a systematically orchestrated bias in the media makes it impossible for him and his fellow Democrats to get a fair shake.
# Posted 10:47 AM by Karol

I'm still having computer issues so for now here is a quick post of something from Friday's BOTW:

'The Same Mentality as bin Laden'

Ibrahim Hooper, who heads the Council on American Islamic Relations, says American evangelical Christians who've criticized Islam "have the same mentality as bin Laden." In an interview with radio host Steve Malzberg, Hooper accused Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham of trying to incite an "unending civilizational conflict." And there's more:


When Mr. Malzberg asked whether the Christian leaders would kill Muslims as bin Laden urges Muslims to kill Jews and Christians, Mr. Hooper said: "Given the right circumstance, these guys would do the same in the opposite direction."


Sure, and if pigs had wings, Islamic fanatics would fly them into buildings.
# Posted 2:28 PM by Karol

I've been having blogger/general computer problems today and it doesn't look like it will improve until Wednesday. Posting will be sporadic until my computer feels better.
# Posted 3:33 PM by Karol

A little over a year after the 9/11 attacks that 'changed everything', we have anti-war protests without there being a war, we're still discussing root causes and Islam still means peace. Mark Steyn puts it best:

You can't even identify your enemy without being accused of bigotry and intolerance. What we still can only guess at is the overlap between the ideology and the religion. It seems unlikely that many Muslims in, say, Newark or Calgary or Singapore would wish to be suicide bombers themselves, but what seems clear is that in these and other places there is -- to put it at its most delicate -- a widespread lack of revulsion at the things done in Islam's name. On the one hand, Muslims deny it's anything to do with them: A year ago, in The Ottawa Citizen's coast-to-coast survey of Canadian imams, all but two refused to accept Muslims had been involved in the September 11th attacks. On the other hand, even though it's nothing to do with them, they party: In Copenhagen as in Ramallah, Muslims cheered 9/11; in Keighley, Yorkshire, you couldn't get a taxi that night because the drivers were whooping it up.

This is the real war aim -- or it should be, if we're to have any chance of winning this thing: We have to change the hearts and minds of millions of Muslims, too many of whom are at best indifferent to great evil. "Changing" isn't the same as "winning the hearts and minds," which is multiculti codespeak for pre-emptively surrendering and agreeing not to disagree with them. For over a year now, nothing has been asked of Muslims, at home or abroad: you can be equivocal about bin Laden and an apologist for suicide bombers, and still get a photo-op with Dubya; you can be a member of a regime whose state TV stations and government-owned newspapers call for Muslims to kill all Jews and Christians, and you'll still get to kick your shoes off with George and Laura at the Crawford ranch.

This is not just wrong but self-defeating. As long as Dubya and Colin Powell and the rest are willing to prance around doing a month-long Islamic minstrel-show routine for the amusement of the A-list Arabs, Muslims will rightly see it for what it is: a sign of profound cultural weakness. Healthy relationships require at least some token reciprocity -- I said as much during the Monica business, and it never occurred to me the same problem would rear its ugly head during this Administration. But, hosting an iftaar (the end-of-day break-of-fast) for hundreds of head honchos from Muslim lobby groups, Colin Powell felt obliged to announce yet another burst of Islamic outreach. According to the Associated Press, he told his audience that "he is trying to expand programs to bring educators, journalists and political and religious leaders from Islamic countries to the United States."


As always with Mr.Steyn, the whole thing is a necessary read.
# Posted 3:28 PM by Karol

I am 32% Internet Addict

Take the Internet Addict Test at fuali.com


If I'm just a 'slight' internet addict then I don't even want to know what a full-blown one is like.
# Posted 10:29 AM by Karol

A few days ago, a commenter on this site wrote 'don't deny us the crumbs' in reference to Republicans controlling the Presidency, the Senate and the House while the Democrats have full ownership over their 'Bush is stupid' jokes. Fair enough, you can keep your jokes while we hold the government. Sound like a fair trade?

It's similar to the ridiculous nonsense voiced by Tom Daschle about talk radio in general (and Rush Limbaugh in particular), and the media's outrage over a letter written by Fox News president Roger Ailes to the White House just after the 9/11 attacks.

The Daschle story seems to be that over a week after the election a scapegoat has yet to be found for the Democrats losses. Let's see.....can't be the tv or print media because they are almost entirely liberal, can't be academia because they too have only a token number of conservatives, let's see....what do the conservatives have control over....I've got it! Talk radio! Rush Limbaugh must be the cause of our defeat. But how can I spin this to not make me appear like a sore loser? Hmmm....yes! I will say that I get threats for being an obstructionist (though it is one of my favorite words to lob at my opponents, I do not take kindly to it being lobbed at me) and the threats must, MUST, come from the listeners of talk radio. Now all of our news shows are filled with liberals whining about the lack of liberal voices on the radio. Sheesh.

The second issue, that Roger Ailes wrote a letter to the White House offering advice after 9/11 is similarly ludicrous. All of the sudden, the separation of press from politics must be deep, wide and all encompassing. As today's Opinion Journal points out: 'We can't recall hearing similar press outrage, for example, when Rick Kaplan, former head of Fox News rival CNN, slept over at the White House.' Again the issue at hand seems to be jealousy more than anything else. Fox is considered an upstart compared to the established CNN and still it is beating CNN in ratings, despite the fact that CNN is shown in more markets.

Liberals have the New York Times, The Washington Post, ABC, CBS, NBC and a slew of other newspapers and television stations across the country. Conservatives have the Wall Street Journal, Fox (which I would actually argue isn't more than 60% conservative but the shock of hearing anything conservative on tv makes it seem like 100%) and talk radio. C'mon guys, leave us the crumbs.
# Posted 9:56 AM by Karol

Britain's Mirror gleefully reported that 80% of Americans aged 18-24 can't identify Iraq on a map. That's great. Well, a little under 1/5th of Britons of all ages can't name their own leader so I don't think we're doing too badly by comparison.
# Posted 8:08 PM by Karol

N. Korea says 1994 nuke accord is off

Gee, ya think? I can't imagine why....

North Korea said Thursday that a 1994 nuclear agreement with the United States collapsed because of the U.S.-led decision to suspend fuel oil deliveries to the communist country.

Ohhhhhh that's why. And here I thought it was because North Korea decided to reneg on their promise not to develop nukes. Silly, silly me.
# Posted 3:09 PM by Karol

Do you know what is going on in Iran? Pandavox has been all over it while the mainstream media focuses on more important things (like when J-Lo and Ben are tying the knot). Go read. It's encouraging.
# Posted 2:40 PM by Karol

Well, as long as they're 'very much in love', I guess pulling out your girlfriends teeth with pliers while high on GHB is ok.

Via The Corner.
# Posted 12:57 PM by Karol

Donald Rumsfeld is one of the sexiest men alive, says People magazine.
# Posted 8:59 PM by Karol

It's not anti-semitism that caused 200 people to show up and interrupt the hugely dovish Ehud Barak speaking at Berkeley. No, of course not. It couldn't possibly be that. They just don't like all the concessions he tried to make for the Palestinians. Yes, that must be it. Phew. Glad I thought of an excuse.

Via BOTW.
# Posted 8:38 PM by Karol

Lileks has been my favorite daily read for awhile now and todays 'bleat' is exceptionally good. From the beachball at Wellstone's memorial to his hilarious comments on Michael Jackson, it has something for everyone.
# Posted 12:51 PM by Karol

Did you know that those 'desperate' Palestinians have kidnapped a Red Cross worker? Neither did I, but Michael Parker has the story and asks 'Why does anyone side with them?' I have no idea, Michael, though I'm sure the excuse makers will inform us.
# Posted 11:57 AM by Karol

Those crazy Brits:


I can't believe this.

I don't believe this.
# Posted 5:19 PM by Karol

What the hell is wrong with Michael Jackson? I mean, really.

Via Spot On reader Dawn Summers who no longer wants to marry the gloved one.
# Posted 4:43 PM by Karol

Take the Affliction Test Today!

# Posted 11:44 AM by Karol

More on what I see on that noisy, flashy box in my living room.

Why Donahue is being cancelled: Frank Gafney, former Assistant Secretary of Defense is explaining why we need to go into Iraq. He is paired with the more than just a little idiotic Arianna Huffington (and if I get even one email calling her a Republican, I will have to tell the emailer where to go). She calls the president 'simplistic'. Very original. He says that we have taken down the Taliban and now must go after other regimes that sponser terrorism. Donahue doesn't even pretend he is listening when Gafney starts speaking and gives the mic to an audience member (yes he is back in audience participation format as his last bit of CPR for his slowly dying show) who says 'well, I don't think we have taken down Al Qaeda or bin Laden...' (audience erupts into wild cheers), she continues, 'and that's why we're going into Iraq. And I have a problem with that.' More wild cheering ensues. Mr. Gafney then tries to explain that he said 'Taliban' and not 'Al Qaeda' but Donahue won't hear it and instead mocks the president for saying that we will win the war on terror, 'as if we'll have a parade down Fifth Avenue' says Donahue. Utter chaos and one-sidedness. And yes I do just watch it to piss myself off.
# Posted 8:23 PM by Karol

Memo to hijackers: El Al is not a possible target. They don't fuck around and in the best case scenario you will end up with your faced smashed into their lovely floor carpet wishing you had thought twice.
# Posted 12:09 AM by Karol

No way! The photos of Bush and the upside down book or closed binoculars were doctored! I can't believe this! If you can't trust the internet what can you trust?
# Posted 12:09 AM by Karol

How cool is murdering Jews? Oh so very. A prize winning art piece in Denver is a 4-foot-by-6-foot oil painting by Cong Lu, 24, depicting a young Asian man pulling up his shirt to reveal explosives strapped around his midsection. A pistol is tucked into his waistband. The piece is entitled, Self Portrait of a Martyr. As Lileks puts it: 'The main story, in my admittedly blinkered view, is that the school gave prize money and prominent placement to a painting that romanticizes the murder of Jews.'

Oh but let's not jump to conclusions, right? It's all just paranoia. It's self expression. We wouldn't want to stereotype the artist.
# Posted 12:04 AM by Karol

It has oft been mentioned by me that I am pretty new to having a television. Yes, yes I know, we Americans are supposedly addicted to our tv sets but I never was. I got most of my news from the internet (I now subscribe to two newspapers in paper form but it is a recent development) and really saw no need for tv. Two things changed my thinking: election 2000 and 9/11. On election night I had to take notes to make sense of what was happening. Florida, Gore. Florida, Bush. I wished then that I had tv commentators explaining to me what was happening. Then, 9/11, sitting on the floor of my new apartment hitting reload and wanting to know what was going on-I knew I needed to get the box. Now I appreciate it more than I thought. I know what our Vice President sounds like (I wouldn't have been able to pick out Gore's voice in an audio lineup for the life of me) and I get to see expressions attached to words that previously had none.

Anyway, two things on the boob tube tonight that I enjoyed:

1. Nancy Pelosi, incoming House minority leader, on Meet the Press. Tim Russert, the host, is questioning her on Iraq and she says she will always support whatever decision the president makes even if she may oppose it when she votes her conscience. Mr. Russert then quotes something she said a few months ago. She had said that we must ascertain how Iraq threatens the United States. She said today that what she meant was that though she was sure Saddam has biological and chemical weapons, she does not see him having the capability to get them to reach the U.S. Now, this got me thinking. If it was a Republican talking so callously of caring only when the threat is directed at us, not caring at all of our geographically closer to Saddam allies, there would be squeals of 'isolationist!' A Democrat though gets to be thought of as 'progressive' for their lack of caring.

2. Senior Bush advisor, Karl Rove, spoke to the University of Utah on Wednesday and CSPAN showed it tonight. I tuned into it during the Q+A at the end of the speech. A few questions in, a woman gets up in a 'NO WAR' t-shirt. She says that there are 200,000 people showing up to anti-war protests and she wants to know what she and others could do to get the President's ear. Rove is flawless in his answer. He advises her to write to her local elected officials, explains the threats from terrorism that our country is facing and why this war is necessary, says to her 'we need to see the world as it is, not how we would desire it to be' and ends by saying that while 200,000 people is a lot, his concern lies with the 3000 people that died on 9/11.


Just thought I'd share my discovery of the wonders of television with you, that's all.
# Posted 11:28 PM by Karol

I'm going to be in Washington D.C tomorrow so there will be no posting. Feel free to visit the comment sections.
# Posted 5:01 PM by Karol

Bluestar Blog says that his linking to this article was inspired by Spot On. I don't see a connection but it's a cute piece. Oh! Maybe that's what he meant....we're cute...the article is cute. I see now. Thanks Scot! :-)
# Posted 1:12 PM by Karol

Lileks on bin Laden:


Bin Laden needs to do something big, something bold. I think he should go to Cuba. Set himself up as Fidel's successor. Shouldn't be hard; they both have famous beards; they both hate America; they both hate gays - Osama would have them stoned, Fidel puts the AIDS-infected gays in barbed-wire camps. Give bin Laden ten years, and there will be NYT stories about how time has 'mellowed' him, how his 'fiery rhetoric' has been undimmed but his regime has 'relaxed' its grip. Give him 20 years, and Steven Spielberg will go lick his boots as well. Sure, Osama's a trifle intense, but you cannot deny the man's convictions. Or his charisma.


Welcome back, Binny! Keep talking. Keep talking about how your cause is bound up with an attack on Iraq - your timing could not be better.
# Posted 12:36 PM by Karol

There are libertarians in Scotland! Who knew?

Here's one. And here's another.
# Posted 11:44 AM by Karol

Is a Senate race lost by 524 votes deservant of a recount? Not if the Democrat won, silly. Then you won't even hear about it.
# Posted 11:36 AM by Karol

So my brother is writing a paper for college on the subject of political apathy. We're discussing it on my couch and I ask him: 'why do you think most people don't vote?' My brother, who is named after Ronald Reagan for cryin' out loud, says 'because it only matters to rich, white men?' I almost choke on my iced tea. I glare. He knows he has said something wrong but isn't sure what the problem is. I ask him why he thinks that. He tells me his Political Science teacher told him that and then says 'why, isn't that true?' with the most innocent, 'isn't it obvious?' expression I've ever seen. I give him 5 million reasons as to why its not true, why it matters more to poor black women and poor white men, but I don't think he's really listening and I'm angry that I have to even explain something like this. I know our colleges are cesspools of liberal moronology that hate this demon 'rich white man' but for my brother, the first natural born American in my family, taught the value of a voice by parents who never had one, a teenager of the Giuliani era where a visible difference was actually made by a politician, to think it doesn't matter who is in charge, that really frightens me and makes me sad. He isn't the kind of kid to be gullible, he puts up an argument, he isn't a follower. So what is going on here? What is wrong with this teacher? And what do I do about?
# Posted 12:12 AM by Karol

I have been loving David Frum lately and now that he is doing a blog-like diary for National Review, I can love him every day. I just read, in Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus, something classic that he said. As Jay puts it:

As usual, David Frum said something delicious, and irresistibly quotable. You recall that our forces zapped those guys in Yemen, and one of them turned out to be an American citizen. A lot of hand-wringers (as Bob Novak would say) said, “This raises some serious questions.” Said David, “Yeah, like: Who let this guy be a citizen?”

Exactly.
# Posted 6:23 PM by Karol

Jonah asks, quite rightly, why the approval of the UN resolution should be something to be happy about. He writes:

By pleading for U.N. approval, the no-blood-for-oil crowd increased the international trade in both blood and oil. In order to get the votes of Russia and China we had to give those countries a free pass at killing their Muslim Chechen and Uighur populations, respectively. We also had to promise the continuity of France's oil contracts, and of Russia's too. Whether these countries think we're right about toppling or containing Saddam is something of a mystery; what we do know is that they don't think our case is compelling enough to trump their own narrow self-interests. If it were, we wouldn't have had to spend the last couple of months haggling over what happens to Iraq's debt to Russia or France's oil contracts. Right? I mean, if the U.N. were half the thing it ought to be, our U.N. partners would have dropped those concerns the way Cincinnatus laid down his plow. And if the United States is as wrong and selfish as the anti-war crowd says, then the rest of the Security Council are just a bunch of whores willing to do the wrong thing if we pay them enough.
# Posted 5:58 PM by Karol

And another thing......

"If you are determined to become a complete Islamic radical and are ready to undergo circumcision, then I invite you to Moscow. We are multi-confessional. We have experts in this sphere as well. I will recommend to conduct the operation so that nothing on you will grow again."-President Vladimir Putin

I love this man. And it's not just his steely eyes.
# Posted 8:54 AM by Karol

Talk? I don't think so, says Putin

'Russian President Vladimir Putin has brushed aside European calls for a peaceful solution to the Chechen conflict, saying it had to be solved by the Russian and Chechen people alone.'

Thanks to 'Spot On' reader DTDT for the link.
# Posted 2:04 PM by Karol

Guy, what are you doing?

Just when you thought Mayor Bloomberg was winding down his campaign to get into the book of New York's worst mayors (trying for no smoking in bars, making meters active on Sundays), he gets his second wind and comes back with an act big enough to get him on the cover.

Now, you may have heard that last September New York had a little trouble of the planes flying into buildings variety. Though many people made excuses for the perpetrators, whether it be our overzealous support for Israel or our refusal to sign Kyoto, most people accepted the terrorists at their word when their leader said the point was to wipe out all infidels, ie: not Muslims.

Going on this information, you'd think that the natural choice for a spot on NYC's Human Rights Commission might not be someone that was General Counsel for CAIR, a group founded by people with links to Hamas and whose actions since 9/11 include questioning on their website 'Why have Muslim Arabs been implicated in this terrorism? And, who could ‘benefit’ from this horrific tragedy?' But see, if you agree with that then you are probably a logical person and if you disagree with that then you are probably Mayor Bloomberg who has appointed a member of the group to just such a post.
# Posted 1:30 PM by Karol

Uh-oh.
# Posted 12:25 AM by Karol

By far the most likely to be effective, scary campaign against drinking and driving I have seen.

Via The Corner.
# Posted 5:59 PM by Karol

Let's just keep pretending Al Qaeda has valid reasons for targetting us or else we may have to question why they would want to kill the pope. From BOTW:

Target: John Paul II
Al Qaeda planned to kill Pope John Paul II when he visited the Philippines, according to the Associated Press, which picks up a report from the Sunday Times of London (which no longer makes its articles available to most of us online). "Quoting documents from Philippines intelligence services, The Sunday Times said Osama Bin Laden's lieutenant, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, planned on killing the pope with a pipe bomb planted in a park where John Paul was to speak, or if that failed, with high-velocity rifles equipped with laser scopes."


Is this because the Vatican is too pro-Israel, or because of the troops it stations in Saudi Arabia?
# Posted 5:33 PM by Karol

Why is it that when peace protesters do what they do best, as they did in Florence a few days ago, the shopkeepers board up their windows and police are afraid monuments will get vandalized? Isn't that weird for a so-called peace movement? Den Beste and Weekly James have more on the violent, anti-semitic movement that thinks it has anything to do with peace.
# Posted 4:14 PM by Karol

Today is Veteran's Day. Take two minutes and thank the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who secure your freedom every day.
# Posted 12:51 PM by Karol

Weren't you told not to do this as a child?

Via BOTW.
# Posted 12:04 AM by Karol

Larry Clark, director of the edgy flick 'Kids', risked his new films distribution in Britain by letting the Scotsman distributor understand, in no uncertain terms, that he wouldn't stand for his anti-American nonsense. Clark knocked his potential distributor out after he made comments that America deserved 9/11. While resorting to violence is never a good thing, it's nice to see a celebrity who not only doesn't think it's the coolest thing ever to bash America, but won't accept it happening in his company either.

Via No Replacement for Displacement.
# Posted 12:03 AM by Karol

I have heard of Linda Lingle, who just won the governership of Hawaii, only in the frame of the harassment she faced for being a -gasp- unmarried woman of a certain age. Her opponent's campaign alluded to the incorrect 'fact' that she may be a lesbian. As James Taranto wrote at the time: 'if they were Republicans, this would be hate speech.'

I was just reading Australian blogger Tim Blair's site and found out a very interesting thing about Ms. Lingle: she is the first Jewish female Republican governer in America. Best of luck to her.
# Posted 12:03 AM by Karol

It is done. We are all Multilateralists now.
# Posted 11:25 AM by Karol

If this was my party, I'd be pissed off.

Oh they just don't get it.

But instead of dumping McAuliffe, the Democratic rumor mill said some former Clinton White House aides like John Podesta might be recruited to bolster the DNC - strengthening rather than weakening Clinton's hold on the party apparatus.
# Posted 10:56 AM by Karol

What part of 'we will kill any terrorists we find' doesn't Adrian Hamilton, of Britain's Independent, understand? He writes this agonizing piece about America killing the known terrorist in Yemen and how it's so wrong to be judge, jury and executioner. What will it take for America to convince the world that WE ARE AT WAR. If you guys feel that you are not, that is YOUR issue. We will do what we have to do to survive. You can look on and tsk tsk but it isn't going to change a thing. Hamilton ends his piece with:

America under President George Bush has rejected such internationalism. It has turned its back on applying any of the normal rights given to a citizen within its own borders to those it counts as terrorists abroad.

Like Ariel Sharon, it believes that unlawful deeds exempt their perpetrators from the protection of the law, that in the "war against terror" any tactic is justified, whatever the "collateral" damage. If we say a man is a terrorist, then that is what he or she is. And if we get it wrong, that's simply a casualty of war.


Is anyone else proud that we are being compared to Israel in our efforts against terrorism? Israel is a country that 'gets it'. Most others, unfortunately, do not.
# Posted 12:07 AM by Karol

So I'm sitting on my friend SMFA's couch yesterday and he tells me a story about being in a cab home from work and the driver telling him about some people in New York having the Bubonic Plague. SMFA is not the friendliest person to strangers at the best of times and I am picturing him in the cab rolling his eyes and giving little 'mmhmms' while looking out the window and thinking 'pleeeeease leave me alone' and I'm giggling and he's laughing and then Laurie Dhue comes on the tv with a 'Special News Update' saying that there is a possible outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in New York. Um, what? Wasn't this disease taken care of a few hundred years ago? The doctors are positive the cases were 'of natural origin' but for some reason that doesn't make me feel much better.
# Posted 1:13 PM by Karol

Lest we forget, Jonah reminds us:

But — while gloating is only natural, and, of course, I would give anything to swivel and twirl around in an office chair singing, "…Nah, nah, nah nah, hey-ay-ay goodbye!" to Terry McAuliffe as he walks down that long, lonely cubicle-corridor at DNCHQ carrying his box of "McBride With Pride '02" coffee mugs and bumper stickers — there is still work to do......
George Bush has, at best, a year to topple Saddam Hussein and get some serious work done on the home front. For the last year Bush has been MIA on domestic policy, and if he doesn't get some big stuff accomplished, there's every reason to believe the GOP could lose the House, the Senate, and the presidency to Al Gore...
# Posted 12:29 PM by Karol

Is it wrong to think my president is a hottie?
# Posted 11:18 AM by Karol

I never thought I'd say these words but here goes: there is a really good piece in the Nation today. Written by David Corn, it runs through why the Democrats lost so big and the idea that 'regime change' is needed within the party. Corn writes:

Message matters. Bush had one: support me, the war, and tax cuts. That was pretty straightforward. The Democrats offered, we're not Bush and vote for us if you're anxious about the economy even though we don't have a comprehensive plan for dealing with it. Not much of a bumper sticker there. Besides, we're-not-Bush is not a great plan when the President is scoring approval ratings in the mid-60s. "Ultimately," Senator Patty Murray, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (who joined McAuliffe at the press conference), observed, "we could not compete with the bully pulpit and a wartime president." Now she tells us.

The problem with the left, or their problem that caused them to perform so poorly in this election anyway, is that they are so involved in their own opinions and ideas that they fail to see what is going on around them. Most left-wingers I know never read conservative news while most right-wingers I know read everything from the Village Voice to well, the Nation. Lefties believed that because they had not gotten over election 2000 that the rest of the country hadn't either. They always seem to think that their opinions are that of the majority.

Corn's issue is particularly with Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and his inability to understand the problems his party faces. Even after the election results were in, McAuliffe was in fantasyland saying that he had 'cost the Bush family a little money' and bragging that under his leadership the party 'spent three times as much as it ever has on midterm elections.' Someone needs to explain to ole Terry that these would be great talking points if his party had won.
# Posted 6:40 PM by Karol

James Taranto classifies this quote under 'Stupidity Watch' but I prefer to file it under 'Why you shouldn't use smack while writing'. From BOTW:

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has an editorial in defense of Yaser Hamdi, the Baton Rouge, La.-born Saudi man captured as an enemy combatant in Afghanistan. "Hamdi's plight recalls the days of the Japanese internment camps--the shame of World War II," opines the Strib. "Back then, having the wrong ethnicity was enough to justify indefinite lockup. These days, it seems, being caught on the wrong battlefield is enough to scotch due process." You better believe it is.
# Posted 5:08 PM by Karol

For a first term president who didn't win a plurality to win in a mid-term election with a deeply troubled economy is, quite simply, an astonishing victory. I guess I'd been too busy telling others not to under-estimate Bush that I under-estimated him myself. Yes, local issues mattered. But the swing is too uniform to be interpreted solely by particulars. This was a vote for Bush, for prosecuting the war on terror, for the tax cut. More important, it was a vote against the hollow negativism, cowardice and mediocrity of the current Democratic Party. They have nothing to say; and that matters.-Andrew Sullivan.

I know that to hardcore Republican and Bush haters, this election will somehow not matter. They will find a state somewhere that disenfranchised three voters and say that the fix was in. To the rest of us, to watch the senate and governership results come in was too unreal for words. The most optimistic right-wingers thought that the Republicans would take both houses but surely by no more than one vote in the Senate. As for governer's races, you could nary find anyone that thought Republicans would do as well as they did.

Tom Daschle, leader of the Democrats, called this election a 'referendum on the war' and for once he and I agree. The public could not have spoken louder and if Bush does not act now, he will not be reelected in two years. He said that we will deal with Iraq with or without the UN and this is his chance to prove that. To anyone that said that Bush did not have a mandate to rule because of the closeness of the 2000 election, this is his mandate. This unbelievable victory is his hall pass. Americans knew what they were doing, knew what they were voting for and did it in droves. With a voice that clear it is near impossible for anyone to question the American peoples resolve or their loyalty to their president.
# Posted 3:24 PM by Karol