Is there nothing that Obama can’t do? “What’s his 2012 slogan going to be? “Get Whitey — Vote Obama?”
If Iran Gets The Bomb
A Michael Totten interview with Martin Kramer;
Iran wants to create uncertainty there because oil is the only thing it has. Iran has nothing else—some carpets and pistachio nuts, and that’s it. Their population continues to grow, their needs continue to grow, and their grand ambitions continue to grow. So this, I think, is the first thing they would do with it. All it takes is to create a crisis or a succession of crises.
Iran knows it can’t wrest sole hegemony in the Gulf from the United States, but it wants to create a kind of dual hegemony shared with the United States. Nobody knows where the lines would run, but they wouldn’t run just five to ten miles off the coast Iran into the waters of the Persian Gulf. Iran would like to see its share extend to both sides of the Gulf, to effectively create a kind of push and shove between the United States and Iran.
A lot of people on the Arab side of the Gulf will say they feel Iran’s breath on their faces. The United States is there now, but the British were there once, too, and now they’re gone. The Persians are always there and will always be there. So we’ll see a lot of hedging. Iran would be perceived as the rising power and the United States a declining power.
Fraser Institute 2010 Student Video Contest
The Fraser Institute is giving away $10,000 in cash prizes in its 2010 Student Video Contest. The topic – The Nanny State: Is government regulation threatening your personal freedom?
Full contest details here.
Reader Tips
At one point during the appearance on FOX that got him fired from NPR, Juan Williams said “I don’t think there’s any way to get away from these facts.” He was, sadly, incorrect; members of the progressive left are more than capable of getting away from any fact whatsoever. Here’s a short and funny animated primer on How Liberals Argue. Sound familiar?
(h/t Robert W.)
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
Toronto Mayor’s Race
Etc… An open discussion thread.
The little Twitter people are distressed, proving yet again that despite the enthusiastic chatter from media, Twitter remains solidly positioned at the internet fringe. (Translation: People with real jobs don’t have time for Twitter.)
Blog Notes
Final update – Looks like we’re all clear. Thanks everyone for your patience!
(Sticky – new posts appear below.)
As of last evening a number of readers are getting “This Is An Attack Page” etc. warnings when trying to access this site and others. The problem seems to have originated with something on the Blogging Tories blogroll, resulting in a blacklisting by Google, which triggered the security warning.
Click here for the current site status.
Thanks for all the emails – we’re working on the problem. I’ll update as I find out more.
Update: The tech support at the hosting company can find nothing amiss in the code here. The Blogging Tories blogroll has been pulled down, as it seems to be the source of the initial warning. I’ve asked for a review by Google, but it may take a day or two for a response, according to their website.
The World Is Being Run By Crazy People
The Commission Of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River resolves not to allow 34 million Sockeye stand in their way.
Who Put The Grenade In Omar Khadr’s Lunchbox?
Innocent brown boy snatched by evil occupiers on his way to school pleads guilty.
Marketing Campaigns Of The Apocalypse
20 Month US Recovery Watch Remains On High Alert
Inflation fears are now sufficient that investors are prepared to take a less-than-zero yield on government bonds, calculating that the inflation bonus will be more profitable than the next-to-nothing yields everything else is paying in our present loosey-goosey cheap-money environment.
What Would We Do Without Newsweek?
Reader Tips
Twelfth century Benedictine abbess Hildegard von Bingen, a deeply religious woman beset by visions, was a polymath of sorts – an early pharmacologist, poet, preacher, visual artist, and composer. Here are the Benedictinians of Abbey St. Hildegard in Eibingen, Germany (where von Bingen’s remains are encased in stone) chanting von Bingen’s Spiritus Sanctus.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
Man o’ War
The final portrait. In colour.
After Watching As Much Of The Toronto Mayor’s Debate As I Could Physically Stomach
I regret to inform you that Rob Ford is no Chris Christie.
I know Chris Christie. Chris Christie is a Youtube favourite of mine.
Ford may still be “better than the alternative”, and admittedly, the moderation and format of the debate (a cross between Canadian Idol and the Jerry Springer Show) was ridiculous, but setting that side… I think it’s safe to declare the city of Toronto to be utterly doomed. How quickly the Moment Of Doom arrives is now in the hands of the voters.
(Heh. This comes as the Canadian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation published ads on its radio station and website that called for Tamil residents to vote for Rob Ford because he married a woman.)
If Bicycle Racers Are Forced To Wear Helmets
Why don’t swim racers have to wear life jackets?
Update. Looks like it’s just a matter of time… (h/t Robert B.)
In the Immortal Words Of P.J. O’Rourke
We’ve been able to train Frenchmen to play hockey, which is more than any European has managed to do.
Who Cares?
It Isn’t Called “The Wardrobe Of Peace”
Canada’s smartest columnist misses the point.
From a practical standpoint, Williams’ concern is misplaced. The perpetrators of most high-profile terror attacks of the past decade were Muslims who weren’t in “Muslim garb,” who weren’t outwardly “identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims.” […] They went to strip joints and wore khakis rather than flowing robes and head scarves.
Or; “Khakis didn’t fly people into skyscrapers. Muslims did.”
Harold Lloyd
Reader Tips
Prompted by a lyrical snippet posted last night by SDA commenter John Begley, our Saturday night selection will be a performance of the opening song from Brendan Behan’s 1954 play The Quare Fellow. Backed by the vocals of his fellow Dubliners (from left to right) Barney McKenna, John Sheahan, and Jim McCann, here’s the late Luke Kelly belting out a bracing version of The Auld Triangle.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.