Cordoba House, the Ground Zero Mosque

Intellectually, I think that most of the Muslims involved in this project are probably sincere, in their own notions of bridge-building. Emotionally, I feel that this "center" represents the enemy's taunting touchdown dance in our endzone.

And why name it "Cordoba House"? The Caliphate of Cordoba was an allegedly golden age in Spain, when people of many religions lived prosperously and harmoniously together, firmly under the rule of Muslims. Why not name the thing "American House" instead? America is a much better place where people of many religions live prosperously and harmoniously together, minus the being subjugated by Muslims part.

Death follows Wikileaks

Assange is giving us a wonderful lesson in why things are classified during war. His cavalier attitude toward the safety of the people he exposes to mortal danger, as if a really terrible context like a war provides justification for adding further risk to their lives (and his repeated, and thus far unsupported, accusations that Afghans who help us are criminals), is beyond immaturity and callousness, though—it is monstrous.

Julian Assange is the worst sort of moralist, one whose sense of justice is so selective (secrecy is of utmost concern for Wikileaks’ sources and employees, but not the government), and his comprehension of consequences so short-sighted and defined by ideology rather than fact, that he doesn’t care who he has to offer up to murderous @#!*% to satisfy his sense of moral outrage. It is the same morality that leads the ELF to destroy car dealerships using chemical explosives out of a concern for the environment.

A wrong is a wrong is a wrong

Okay, let’s take all the known facts about Ms. Sherrod and interpret them in the most negative light. Say she’s a self-satisfied civil servant who considers herself a civil master. She’s got a queen bee mentality, terming a farmer in need “acting superior”, when in reality he probably wasn’t kissing her @$$ smoochily enough for her. She’s an affirmative action quota hire who yells racism to tar her enemies and generally smooth her road in life.

If she is all that, then what happened to her would be just as wrong as it would be if she was otherwise. Breitbart ran with a juicy item straight from the Too Good To Check File, as have most of us at one time or another. I doubt that this is the hill he wants to die on, but in the long run it may turn out to be just that.

Yes, she is a bad mother...

First, she shacks up with this defective shitbird, whom she herself was afraid of. Then she leaves her to live with him in a barn behind his grandfather's house. Then she deploys to the other end of the country, leaving her alone with him. Then this. Idiot!

We are told by the cultural Left that a family is any random grouping of people who share a fridge, and who have sweet feelings for each other most of the time. So why, in these cases, does it so often seem to be this year's boyfriend (or ex-boyfriend) and not the natural father/husband who brings harm to the defenseless child? Or is it just me? Someone point me to a study, but that's the impression I get, browsing these awful stories.

I am so sick and tired of listening to single mothers going on about how they would do anything for their children--anything except give them a father who's married to their mother.

RIP to the poor tot...

Ten ways to brighten a service industry worker's day

Yes, the toughest day at work is better than the best day job-
hunting. So why not make the tiny effort necessary to make someone's
else's day less tough? Of all the things you can spend, good cheer is
the least expensive and the most easily restocked. Only a fool would
be stingy with it. So tuck into these, and then get out there and
spread the kindness!

* Say hello or thank-you to them in their own language.
You can brighten the day of immigrant workers this way. For example,
Ethiopians seem to run most of the parking garages, as well as many of
the convenience stores. I chatted with one once, and he taught me how
to say "Tah-dias", which roughly means "how's it going?" in Amharic.
So now when I roll out to pay the parking attendant, (assuming I can
identify them as Ethiopian), I'll salute them with that greeting.
They are pleased, and couldn't be more surprised if the drop gate had
spoken to them! The same is true of speakers of other languages--
Chinese, Japanese and Koreans are especially pleased not to be
mistaken for each other.

* Inquire after their well-being, beyond the formulaic "how are you
today":
In autumn of 2008, I telephoned a mutual fund I own shares in. This
was when the toxic assets bomb had just gone off, and the stock market
was free-falling in earnest. I was calling about an unrelated matter,
but I knew the poor cubicle inmate answering the phone must have had
to endure quite a lot of rage from investors that day. So I asked
him, "Everybody being civil to you today?" He laughed, and said "No!
You're the only one!" Thus, a brief acknowledgement of their humanity
and expression of concern for their wellbeing will lighten their mood,
if only for a few moments.

* Tip the wait staff adequately.
As you know, most of them earn much less than the minimum wage, and
rely on tips. The internet is awash with tales of stingy tippers, and
the occasional story of a generous giver. Certainly, bad service
should not be rewarded. But if you decide to tip, make it a real
reward. Can't afford it? Maybe tipping generously will keep you from
dining out so often, then; you'll save money that way.

* Tip the food delivery guy even more than that.
The waitress walks across the room to bring you your meal, and walks
back a few times to refill your drink. The pizza guy drives your meal
to your doorstep, which may be hard to find, or in a dangerous
neighborhood. Consider that, while his nightly pay for maybe three
hours work might seem nothing to sneeze at, he's probably putting four-
fifths of it into his gas tank at shift's end. He depends on tips to
make the job worthwhile. So pause before you fill out that check &
add some more, or grab a few more coins from the change jar. You
won't really miss it--you're already paying more to have food
delivered, remember--and it will put his evening in the plus column.

* Repeat or explain your request without irritation, if necessary.
Are they slow on the uptake? Nobody was born knowing how to work the
machine at the counter. A less than sparkling public manner today?
Maybe the person is trying to cope with some private anguish. Are
they hungover? At least they came in to work. Just remember: If
everyone in the world who was stupider than you were to be taken out
and shot for it, then you would be the stupidest person in the world.

* Josh with them, in an appropriate way.
If they nervously admit that "I'm new here", joke that you'll be sure
to give them an extra hard time, then.
Or this: Fast food counter clerk: "What would you like?" You: "Oh,
surprise me!"

* Transact complicated business yourself.
Yes, your tiny child, clutching a wad of singles and stammering
ferociously, looks adorable up there at the counter trying to place an
order. And the dumbest person on your staff doubtless could use the
practice in sorting out some transaction. But do the world a favor
and tend to these things yourself, when things are busy.

* Don't blame them for being short-staffed.
How many times have you seen this? Lines are backing up, because
somebody is out or the place was never adequately staffed in the first
place. The remaining workers are dealing with the crowd as best they
can, silently enduring the grumbles and glares of the impatient
public. Ask yourself: Why are you getting mad at the workers who
*did* show up for work?

* Praise them to their boss. This is much, much less of a hassle than
in the old days. Time was, you had to fill in and mail back a
postcard, or call a toll-free number. Usually the only people who did
so were people who wanted to complain. Nowadays, most every company
has a website, with an email contact on it. It's no effort at all to
shoot off an email: "Hey! You know the young stoner with the
muttonchops running the coffee frother at the Main Street location?
Well, he gave me extra whipped cream without me even having to ask for
it. I appreciate that!" It's easier than Facebooking, and pays
better karma dividends.

*And the old stand-by, pay with the smallest bill possible.
Having a string of people breaking big bills on them, on a day when
the bank is closed, is a definite stressor. Also, have your money
ready when your turn comes up. And empty your coin jar at the bank,
wilya? All matters of simple expediency which may not seem like much
to you, but which you would surely appreciate if the roles were
reversed.

Tattooed ta-tas

Breasts with tattoos are just hideous to me. Ladies, can't you think of a classier way of advertising your sexual availability?

Racist satire earns Tea Party faction the boot

Good.

The National Tea Party Federation, an organization that represents the Tea Party political movement around the country, has expelled conservative commentator Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express because of an inflammatory blog post he wrote, federation spokesman David Webb said Sunday.

Appearing on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Webb said that Williams and the Tea Party Express -- which has held a series of events across the country to generate support for the movement -- no longer were part of the National Tea Party Federation.

"We, in the last 24 hours, have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation because of the letter that he wrote," Webb said of the blog post by Williams that satirized a fictional letter from what he called "Colored People" to President Abraham Lincoln.

Williams' alleged satire was not funny enough to be good, nor bad enough to be funny. It read like something dredged up from a usenet sewer. Thanks to this, more people will wonder if the Tea Party is not a pro-liberty movement, but rather the (barely) acceptable edge of the unacceptable stuff. No, this particular spat was definitely not fought on the plane of ideas....

The Blogosphere and its discontents

On the Internet, you read the fierce posts of political and ideological writers and wonder, Why do so many young bloggers sound like hyenas laughing in the dark? Maybe it's because there's no old hand at the next desk to turn and say, "Son, being an enraged, profane, unmoderated, unmediated, hit-loving, trash-talking rage monkey is no way to go through life."
-- Peggy Noonan, "Youth Has Outlived Its Usefulness", The Wall Street Journal, July 16th, 2010

Despicable Me

Took my kids to see it Sunday. A fun flick! They enjoyed the fart jokes, and I enjoyed the nods to movies like The Godfather. And the animation is just incredible--as is the animation on most kids movies these days. Gotta love Dilbert's pointy-haired boss showing up in a supporting role, too.

Battle of Britain, 70th anniversary

Hats off to Britain's heroes, who saved Western civilization in that long ago summer.

Compare and contrast

Obeying their religious tenets, Muslims in Kerala state, India, try to kill a suspected blasphemer. Obeying his religious tenets, the Christian victim forgives his attackers.

A scene from The Jihad

And what of my father? Had he, too, become a terrorist? One afternoon, I read a newspaper headline about a recent suicide bombing (or “martyrdom operation” as some in Hamas called them) that had killed many civilians, including women and children. It was impossible for me to mentally reconcile the kindness and character of my father and his leadership with an organization that carried out such things. I pointed to the article and asked him how he felt about such acts.

“Once,” he answered, “I left the house and there was an insect outside. I thought twice about whether to kill it or not. And I could not kill it.” That indirect answer was his way of saying that he could never personally participate in that kind of wanton killing. But the Israeli civilians were not insects.

No, my father did not build the bombs, strap them onto the bombers, or select the targets. But years later I would think of my father’s answer when I encountered a story in a Christian Bible that describes the stoning of a young innocent named Stephen. It said, “Saul was there, giving approval to his death” (Acts 8:1).

I loved my father so deeply, and I admired so much about who he was and what he stood for. But for a man who could not bring himself to harm an insect, he had obviously found a way to rationalize the idea that it was fine for somebody else to explode people into scraps of meat, as long as he didn’t personally bloody his hands.

At that moment, my view of my father grew much more complicated.

-- Mosab Hassan Yousef, Son of Hamas: A gripping account of terror, betrayal, political intrigue, and unthinkable choices, 2010

July 4th, 1826--the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

From Daniel Webster's eulogy of both men:

Neither of these great men, fellow-citizens, could have died, at any time, without leaving an immense void in our American society. They have been so intimately, and for so long a time, blended with the history of the country, and especially so united, in our thoughts and recollections, with the events of the Revolution, that the death of either of them would have touched the chords of public sympathy. We should have felt that one great link, connecting us with former times, was broken; that we had lost something more, as it were, of the presence of the Revolution itself, and of the act of independence, and were driven on, by another great remove from the days of our country's early distinction, to meet posterity and to mix with the future. Like the mariner, whom the currents of the ocean and the winds carry along until he sees the stars which have directed his course and lighted his pathless way descend one by one, beneath the rising horizon, we should have felt that the stream of time had borne us onward till another great luminary, whose light had cheered us and whose guidance we had followed, had sunk away from our sight.

But the concurrence of their death on the anniversary of Independence has naturally awakened stronger emotions. Both had been President, both had lived to great age, both were early patriots, and both were distinguished and ever honored by their immediate agency in the act of independence. It cannot but seem striking and extraordinary, that these two should live to see the fiftieth year from the date of that act/ that they should complete that year/ and that then, on the day which had fast linked for ever their own fame with their country's glory, the heavens should open to receive them both at once. As their lives themselves were the gifts of Providence, who is not willing to recognize in their happy termination, as well as in their long continuance, proofs that our country and its benefactors are objects of His care?

Thinking about graduate school...

Somewhere on the web there's a bitter spoof about graduate school, likening it to a living body's metabolism. Doctoral candidates (and their money) are ingested as raw material. They are transformed into low paid graduate assistants, metabolizing the workings of the school. They are then excreted as unemployable PhDs.

Christopher Hitchens announces he has cancer

THIS IS AN OLD POST: THE NEWS OF HIS PASSING IS BLOGGED HERE.



Sorry to hear it. This conservative Christian wishes that pugnacious atheist a swift course of treatment and full recovery. He may be an enemy of the faith, but over the past several years he has proven himself a great friend of civilization. Our best to him and his family during this time ahead.