Open Threads

Ken Layne thinks the Letterman/Koppel debate of the last couple of weeks was a publicity stunt. If it was, it backfired, at least for me. I am watching Nightline every night now. I must admit I had almost forgotten it was out there…

Ken Layne thinks the Letterman/KoppelPost + Comments

Hokiepundit has an interesting method for getting people to mention them, and even more important, an effective way to punish them for not mentioning him.

Hokiepundit has an interesting methodPost + Comments

This is just heart wrenching: The Cantor Fitzgerald tribute to the 700 employees they lost.

This is just heart wrenching:Post + Comments

Things I am tired of:

– Democrats new found fascination with steel tariffs. I can even understand why they are carping about it- Enron blew up, the economy is recovering, war is going well, and Tom Daschle has his tail tucked between his legs. Matt Yglesias has been railing against the tariff decision for a solid week now, and I thought it was a matter of principle (and I think it still is on Matt’s part) until this quote:

MEGAN MCARDLE WRITES OF THE steel issue that she doesn’t think that many of the Democrats ranting about the tariffs would be saying a word if Gore had done it. I can’t promise you what I would have done, but I think the point here is that Gore wouldn’t have done it. Clinton could have done this last fall and it probably would’ve won Gore West Virginia (and with it, the election). Gore could’ve promised to do it, same effect. But they didn’t do it.

So Bush is doubly bad because he is in office to make a bad decision that Gore and Clinton might have but did not make because they are not in office to make the decision and because they did not see any political advanatage in it. Bush is also to be spanked bad because he did it despite his stance on free trade for what Yglesias infers is political advantage, but if Clinton and Gore had done it, it would have been to be suspected, either because of a poor ideological stance or because we are used to them making crass maneuvers for partisan advantage.

I think the obvious is clear (to steal a horrible quote from an old teacher). Steel tariff’s are just something for the left to start picking away at Bush et. al. Expect it to go the way of the recent Enron smearing, and I think Yglesias is right- if Clinton or Gore had done this, Dems would have said nothing, the same Repub’s (George Will, Novak, NRO, etc) would all be calling it a horrible decision- but they would be dismissed for being part of the vast right wing conspiracy.

– Marc Herold’s bogus statistics about civilian casualties in Afghanistan, which have been debunked by numerous sources, but still keep popping up in all sorts of places (European newspapers, ramblings by loony left warblog editors). For those who have not read about the stats yet, go here. I must admit that this quote from our favorite editor of a pro-Palestinian suicide bomber warblogis priceless:

I have no idea how many civilians were killed in Afghanistan. Nor do you. That TechnoBabble site is no more credible than the Taliban.

Yeah, Iain’s careful analysis and de-bunking of the bogus stats (more of which, in greater detail can be found on Iain’s website– complete with other links to other sites for more info on the topic) is no more believable than the Taliban. Har.

– Maureen Dowd and Ted Rall (in any of his putrid forms).

– The words Ground Zero and quagmire.

– Blogger dying.

Things I am tired of:Post + Comments

Victor Davis Hanson has a nice little essay on what ungrateful bastards the Kuwaitis have become. When I was over there in 1991, they were very generous and nice to us, the American soldiers who saved their behinds. Now they have turned into your run-of-the-mill anti-American schmucks that you frequently find in other Muslim nations and at EU headquarters.

This all reminds me of a joke from when we were in the gulf:

What are the National Anthems of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait?

Onward Christian Soldiers.

Islam, the Peaceful and UNGRATEFUL Religion

Victor Davis Hanson has aPost + Comments

Must reads:

Jeff Jarvis on his reflections of 9/11, 6 months later.recent Operation Anaconda.

Larry Miller on the Olympics:

I DON’T KNOW how many sour-pussed Olympics-haters we have in our country. I don’t know what percentage of Americans is unmoved by the work put in, the opening ceremonies, the personal stories, the pride in being host, and the struggle for individual and team glory. I don’t know how many sneer at the whole panorama. I only know this: I’m one of them.

Must reads: Jeff Jarvis onPost + Comments

Every time I hear George Bush use the letter ‘r’ in a sentence, I think to myself that “I bet he slurred like hell when he was drunk.”

Listen for his r’s the next time you hear him speak.

Every time I hear GeorgePost + Comments