Posting is likely to be light for a while, I’m afraid. There’s so much to cover, but I barely have the energy in the evenings to read the news and a blog or two, much less write insightful (ahem) commentary of my own. The student teaching thing really wears you out, particularly without having a planning period at all.
Thought of the day, however: is Iraq Vietnam for the Democrats? Remember who supported McGovern, and compare the two time periods. The interesting thing, though, is that Iraq is going so much better than Vietnam was.
Archive for August, 2005
So Much News, So Little Time
Tuesday, August 30th, 2005Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
Sunday, August 28th, 2005Who would have thought that something like this could really happen? I mean, it sounds like the stuff of a made-for-tv-movie. Who knows… maybe it will be some day. Either way, it’s sad that something like this could actually happen, and last for so long.
The New York Times And Condi
Friday, August 26th, 2005Condoleezza Rice has been getting some press lately from the New York Times — unfortunately, it’s for things she didn’t mean. After trying (and failing) to get her to condemn Israel for not doing enough (while Israel was pulling out of Gaza, at that), they simply cut and pasted comments she made in different contexts on different questions, glued them together, removed all context from them, and voile! Instant falsehood! It is hard to tell (particularly as this is the NYT) whether this was a reporter hearing what they wanted to hear (no matter the stretch needed to get to that result), the result of an anti-Israel bias or an anti-Bush-administration bias. Another interesting possibility would be that they are looking forward to 2008 and see the chance of Condi running for President and being able to defeat Hillary. Either way, this is a glaring example of the bias (or at best, sheer incompetence) of what is supposedly the premier newspaper in the country. What can be done to eliminate the nation’s forced dependence on the monopoly of news granted to such bad journalism?
Oh, I almost forgot. Hat tip to LGF.
Protests
Thursday, August 25th, 2005Stories like this one give you a fairly candid picture of the attitudes of the people protesting the war. This type of protest just disgusts me. How can you allow your empathy for the suffering of others to be overshadowed by your hatred for one man and your political viewpoint? That is the kind of mentality — ideology over concern for fellow human beings — that typifies situations like the Gulag. Inhuman behavior to make yourself the hero of a warped political system.
Why Not To Drink And Drive
Wednesday, August 24th, 2005There’s an interesting story in the Police Blotter section of the Shippensburg Sentinel today (Wednesday, August 24, 2005 — Page A2):
“Driver hit with own car cited for DUI
A Newville woman was charged with DUI after she was hit by her own vehicle.
State police in Carlisle say Meghan Renee Blake, 26, was drunk when she climbed into her 2003 Honda Accord at VFW Post 6070 just before 2 a.m. Friday on Greenspring Road in North Newton Township.
Blake allegedly took the vehicle out of park and went down a hill next to the VFW parking lot. Her front wheels were turned to the right. When the vehicle got to the bottom of the hill, it came back up the same hill, state police say.
Along the way, Blake fell out of the car and lay on the ground. She was struck by the vehicle and trapped underneath the front end, state police say.
She was freed by emergency rescue workers and taken to Carlisle Regional Medical Center for treatment, state police say.”
What does this tell us? First of all, the writer for this section isn’t exceptional at phrasing things neatly and not repeating phrases, though that could be gathered from the heading of the entry next to it, “Thrown Objects Cause Damage,” and doesn’t really relate to the story itself. Essentially, this woman got into her car, neglected to shut the door, and went driving off. She went down a hill, fell out, and the car went partway up the next hill before turning around and in a particularly vicious (if poetic) twist of the laws of physics, ran her over.
What do you think the odds are of her wanting to ever drink and drive again, now that she has been hit by a drunk driver? Particularly as that drunk driver was herself?
Hilarious
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005LGF has an interesting clip here. Definitely worth the megabyte download. Bob Hope is always amusing.
Mad As A Hatter
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005It seems that Turkmenistan is being run by a complete whack job. I know it must be stressful being president for life of a tiny country most people have never heard of, but come on. I mean, the renaming months thing may sound amusing, but how would you like having to go from having a normal birthday to being born, say, on the fifth of Bobtober?
The Midlle East Conflict
Sunday, August 21st, 2005(20:54:17) Chris: aren’t you going to see red eye tonight?
(20:54:47) Alli: i don’t feel good at all:-(
(20:54:50) Alli: &neither does sarah
(20:54:59) Chris: aw:-(
(21:00:39) Chris: if i were there, i’d try to cheer you up. like by juggling.
(21:00:50) Chris: even though i can’t juggle.
(21:01:04) Alli: hahaha
(21:01:07) Alli: that’s sweet
(21:01:13) Chris: but juggling is universally known to help people feel better. that’s why, when you’re fighting dirty, people tell you to go for the jugular.
(21:01:31) Alli: hahahahaha
(21:02:37) Chris: they mean to destroy the morale of the enemy force!
(21:03:49) Chris: and then they can take all of their burritos.
(21:05:03) Chris: that’s what the terrorists want from us, you know. burritos.
(21:05:17) Alli: shhh, quit talking:-P
(21:05:49) Chris: their anger burns because of the american military bases in saudi arabia, where american soldiers can eat burritos, but the average muslim saudi cannot! THIS is the hallmark of american oppression!
(21:06:29) Chris: and the palestinians just want their own state so they have someplace to put a burrito store.
(21:09:12) Chris: the israelis said “look, you can eat in our burrito stores! the burritos are tasty and delicious, and with 95% less suicide-bomber bits.” but Abu Mazen said “NO! We must have our OWN burrito franchises! ones free of the zionist entity’s influence! we will have buy two or get shot by hamas days, and will become wealthy and peaceful under shari’a law, which requires special preparations of the burritos!”
(21:09:26) Alli: what the hell?
(21:09:27) Alli: are you saying?
(21:11:26) Chris: it’s a conspiracy, you know. those jewish burrito salesmen in DC are working with Sharon to keep Hamas’s Burrito Store and Suicide Belt franchises out of the original burrito farming land of the arab people, even though they took it a long time ago from the Jews, who took it from other people before that!
(21:18:17) Chris: this has been a message from Chris’s Patented Reasons For The Conflict In The Middle East, Ltd. Guaranteed to make 50% more sense than the real thing.
(21:18:26) Alli: haha
Fun With Physics
Friday, August 19th, 2005Stuff like this fascinates me. Speeding up and slowing down the speed of light? What will they think of next. Have a good look over the links while you’re there; many of them are well worth the time to read as well.
The UN Vs. Israel
Wednesday, August 17th, 2005You would think that the least the UN could do would be to pretend to be impartial between Israel and the Palestinians. Instead, we get this: Reason 14534 to gut the UN and start over.