Zee Links and Minifeatures: September 2006 Archives

Burnout



Do to a severe attack of burnout, I probably won't be writing much in the way of new stuff next week. I know that last time I said this I still kept writing new articles, but this is getting bad. Makes me wish all over for a good trustworthy co-blogger or two, because then when I go through these phases, there would still be new stuff posting here. Traffic's way off since early summer (averaging just shy of 3000 visits per day as opposed to about 4800 there for close to a month) probably because I'm stretched a little too thin at the moment, although some could be because of the time of the year no longer being prime real estate season. So don't be surprised if the morning article is a retread for about a week.



What I really need is a good RPG session.



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They found the Macon! New Photos Reveal 1935 Airship at Bottom of Pacific Ocean



This airship went down in a storm off Point Sur back on 1935. I've seen pictures and grainy newsreel type footage of the Macon (and its sister, the Akron, also lost in a storm) launching and recovering aircraft, an airborne version of an aircraft carrier. Fascinating stuff from the period where the world was figuring out the real engineering of aviation.

Carnival of Liberty



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Sometimes corporations are good citizens despite profits: 7-Eleven Dropping Venezuela-Backed Citgo





"Certainly Chavez's position and statements over the past year or so didn't tempt us to stay with Citgo," she added.



Instead, 7-Eleven, which sells gasoline at 2,100 of its 5,300 U.S. stores, will now purchase fuel from several distributors, including Tower Energy Group of Torrance, Calif., Sinclair Oil of Salt Lake City, and Houston-based Frontier Oil Corp.





and





7-Eleven sold half its interest in Citgo in 1986 and the remaining stake in 1990 to Petroleos de Venezuela SA.





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Surgeons do 1st near-weightless surgery



No, this wasn't a free ticket into space for some public health recipient.





The five-man team and the patient landed safely at an airport in southwestern France after a three-hour flight, although doctors said the midair surgery to remove a cyst from the man's arm took only about 10 minutes.



Chief surgeon Dominique Martin said the near zero-gravity operation, the first on a human, was not technically difficult, but was aimed at breaking a barrier in medical expertise.





Yep. This way there is some understanding of what needs to happen before some construction worker gets hurt in orbit and they have to figure out everything on the spot.



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Army medic who went AWOL surrenders





Aguayo said he expected to face a court martial and some jail time.



"It's something I can live with," he said. "Something I can't live with is being a participant of war anymore."





This I could respect. Somebody who is willing to pay the price for changing his mind about military service midstream. I can also respect him for removing himself from the combat situation where other people would be counting upon him. Mind you, he still agreed to do however many years as a combat medic, but he's willing to pay the price, however belatedly, for changing his mind. If only he wasn't suing in civil court to get out of his commitment as well.



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Amazing. Scientists uncover why Spanish Flu was so deadly



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Running outside the party in China - into resistance





Mr. Yao phoned another candidate who was supposed to be joining the gathering. Their conversation ended abruptly. Yao looked around the table, his can-do smile down a notch. He explained that they would be one short as the police had detained their colleague for telling voters to write his name on the ballot. "The pressure just gets more and more," he sighs.





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NASA: Mars rover reaches rim of deep crater



Later, from Mars Rover Reaches Rim of Deep Crater





"We made it!"said rover principal scientist Steve Squyres of Cornell University.



The road to Victoria Crater, a half-mile wide and 230-foot deep impact crater, was tough. The six-wheeled Opportunity drove through what scientists called a"wasteland."At one point, it spent five weeks stuck hub-deep in a slippery sand dune before freeing itself.





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Iran head unwavering on nuclear position





The statements from the negotiators and the Iranian president continue a pattern of past months, in which Ahmadinejad publicly states a hard-line position of no compromise, often in front of large crowds, even as Iran's negotiators try to reach deals behind the scenes.





That's because the Ahmadinejad is not stating a bargaining position; the negotiators are playing a delaying game. It is the european negotiators who are being played for suckers here, and when Iran publically announces they have nuclear weapons, those insisting upon a negotiated end to this thing are going to have placed us all in a world where the crazy mullahs have nukes. Maybe we can arrange to have them strapped onto the Iranian warheads so at least they will be among the first to go?



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China carries out test of fusion reactor



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4000 ex-parrots terrorists.



Vaguely on the same subject, Belmont Club has the analysis of a letter to Zarqawi, and of the declassified portions of the NIE, as well as a link to what the declassified sections say here.



Wizbang has more, as does Powerline:





That would be hilarious, if it were not so contemptible. When Democrats in the bureaucracy illegally leaked misleading portions of the NIE's "key judgments" in hopes of influencing the election, that was fine with Kennedy. But when the administration declassified the entire "judgments" section so that the American people can read it all and judge for themselves, now Kennedy complains that the voters aren't getting "the full story." Absolutely outrageous, but typical of the Democrats' ever more hysterical campaign.





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Via Argghhh!, The Best Milk Commercial Ever



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Wizbang notes more evidence of the AP being a supporter of one political party.

Carnival of Investing



Carnival of Personal Finance



Carnival of the Capitalists Recommended: Econbrowser (changing the rules of the gam after you've been playing for a while)





RINO Sightings Recommended: Pigilito (a short article upon how moderate is relative)



Carnival of Real Estate Recommended: The Sharks Have Had Their Fill



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TF Stern "dumb like a fox." I remember it being "crazy like a fox," but it's a good article about the president. It's not everyone who has this strength of character, is it, Hillary?



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Tuberculosis Helped Bring Down Mastodons



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Hooray for Arnold: Calif. gov. vetoes universal health bill. Actually, this bill would basically have given free care to illegal aliens and the indigent, while still forcing those productive members of society who are actually working and paying the taxes that pay for that, to continue paying for their own health care.



And you know something? We've already got Medi-Cal.

Carnival of the Vanities I apologize for not having the time to go through it for recommendations.



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Everybody is losing laptops. Why should the Commerce Department be any different? But the Commerce Department lost 1137 laptops. I think that likely qualifies for this year's personal data mining gold medal.





"All of the equipment that was lost or stolen contained protections to prevent a breach of personal information," Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said in a statement. "The amount of missing computers is high, but fortunately, the vulnerability for data misuse is low."





Who exactly does he think he's kidding? The people who have them have from now until doomsday to crack that. Get a good computer program and it will crack - that's provided it's even encrypted, as opposed to merely password protected.



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Ahmadinejad says quarrel is with Zionists, not Jews. Of course, refusing to accept dhimmitude makes them Zionists.



Nasrallah Says Hezbollah Won't Disarm. Thus violating the terms of the settlement with Israel. Am I hearing any calls for Israel to resume their offensive?





Former President Amin Gemayel, a sharp critic of Hezbollah, said parts of Nasrallah's speech were "dangerous."



"He is linking giving up Hezbollah's weapons to regime change in Lebanon and ... to drastic changes on the level of the Lebanese government," Gemayel said. "This is very surprising and dangerous, and leads us to ask, what kind of government does Sayyed Hassan want for what kind of Lebanon?"





What he means, of course, is if they control Lebanon, they can amalgamate into the army, and then they're not Hezbollah fighters anymore, are they?



Palestinian PM Won't Recognize Israel





Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Friday he will not head a government that recognizes Israel, striking a potential blow to President Mahmoud Abbas' attempts to create a national unity government.





So we'll see where the Palestinian people stand in whether or not they replace him at the next elections.





"We support establishing a Palestinian state in the land of 1967 at this stage, but in return for a cease-fire, not recognition," Haniyeh said.





Hudna. Look it up.

Taqiyya. Ditto.



And people intercede on behalf of these extremists when Israel decides to believe they mean what they say, due to their actions.



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NASA it's not, but desert spaceport nears first launch. This is where the future of space travel is. Thirty years later than it should have been, thanks to NASA jealously guarding its bureaucratic turf, but it's finally happening.



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Via Fraudblogger, yet another warning on foreclosure rescue scams: 'Foreclosure rescue' scams prey on people in trouble



NEVER sign a quitclaim to anyone you don't want to stay on title forever.



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I just noticed that Eidelblog caught the SF Chronicle out in a lie: Mainstream Media 102: How to make stuff up



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Bush 'Taken Aback' by Musharraf Comment





President Bush said Friday he was "taken aback" by a purported U.S. threat to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did not cooperate in the fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks.



and



In an interview to air Sunday on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" program, Musharraf said that after the attacks, Richard Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, told Pakistan's intelligence director that the United States would bomb his country if it didn't help fight terrorists.



He said that Armitage had told him, "Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age."





A sign that the Washington power brokers are turning against Armitage? It's been five years since he reportedly said it.



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I do have an article for the week scheduled to go for tomorrow. I think it's a good one, on lender's policies and how they drive the market. I'll also try to throw off a few more good links around the 'sphere over the weekend.

Thailand's Military Ousts Prime Minister. This does not appear to be as bad as the headline. It's more of a Prime Minister hanging on to power with fingernails despite it being time for new elections. I'm not happy with suspending, let alone revoking, any duly passed constitution without a replacement ready, but the military is talking about getting civilian leaders within weeks. We'll see what they do before going off the deep end.



Thai leader says no elections for a year



It's understandable why, but it's still not a good sign.



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Bad news for the Democrats and those Republicans who have decided to trash the President to get re-elected: Bush approval rating rebounds in new poll



44% is historically very high rating at the midterm elections of a second term. Democrats were happy when Mr. Bill had a 38 in 1998. If it stays this high, you could very well see prospective Democratic gains drying up, and possibly even the Republicans pick up a few seats.



Surprisingly for the war:



For the first time since December 2005, a majority of people polled did not say the war in Iraq was a mistake. The respondents were evenly split at 49 percent to 49 percent, the report said.





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Bush accuses Iran of backing terror





"The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons," Bush said.





Drawing a firm distinction between the Iranians and their rulers is one of the things he's got to do in order to isolate the Iranian government.



More detailed AP story here.



Also, Israel Calls Iran Its Greatest Threat



How clear-headed of them.



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Unfinished Tolkien work to be published



Best news I've had today.



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Housing Construction Down 6 Pct. in Aug.



Well, DUH! The way inventory is sitting on the market, you've got to be crazy to actually spend the money to build more.





"Housing has just fallen off a precipice," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, who said he believed the central bank would discuss this slowdown in the statement it releases after Wednesday's meeting.





Fed holds rates steady



Well, they may have finally woken up to the fact that they overreacted.



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Omigosh! The House did something intelligent today. What are the odds?

House Passes Bill to Make Voters Show ID





Republican sponsors of the voter identification bill said it was a commonsense way to stop fraud at the polls. People need photo IDs to board planes, buy alcohol or cash checks, said Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Administration Committee. "This is not a new concept."





but of course





But Democrats assailed the legislation, saying it could hurt minorities, the poor and the elderly - groups that tend to vote Democratic - who might have trouble producing a photo identification.



"This bill is tantamount to a 21st century poll tax," said Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "It will disenfranchise large number of legal voters."





That's right, whip those forty years dead issues. Is anybody exempted? Is the cost extraordinary? No. Will there be provisions for getting them free, thus invalidating the poll tax allegation?





The bill would require everyone to present a photo ID before voting in federal elections by 2008. By 2010 voters would have to have photo IDs that certified they were citizens. In response to criticism that this would be a burden for the poor, the bill stipulates that states must provide the identification cards free of charge to those who can't afford them.





Looks like the answer is affirmative.



Of course it's still got to pass the Senate, where it could well be filibustered if the Democrats are as stupid as they usually are, and the courts, where of course there will be challenges lasting for years. Can't take simple, cheap measures to stop voter fraud. Special interests would find it harder to cheat. We might go back to something more closely resembling a republic.



Last I checked, the mandate was one person, one vote. Not "as many votes as they can register for in different precincts" And lest you think this is a bad thing, consider this possibility. Let's say a group that is basically politically your opposite gets organized, and gets addresses of registered voters. They then proceed, bright and early on election day, to vote in as many precincts as possible, claiming they are people registered in that precinct. Let's say one of them picks your name. The election officers cannot ask for ID - they must presume this person is you. If they get to the polls first, they will get to vote and you won't. Even if you get to the polls first, they probably have a back up name they can use. If this doesn't bother you, there is something wrong. If there is anything in place to stop them, I am unaware of it. I want to start requiring right thumbprints also. Won't stop someone from registering in two or more precincts, but when they get compared, that joker is going to have some 'splainin' to do, and there's not likely to be a claim of "somebody went and used my right thumb without my permission."



I want every actual vote to be counted, not diluted, canceled, or stolen by fraud. Voter Identification is one of the easiest, cheapest ways possible to do this.



How can we be a democracy or a republic if anyone with a mind to commit voter fraud has a clear path to do so?



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Chavez sees Bush as 'devil' but John Bolton sunk him with one shot, ""Too bad President Chávez doesn't extend the same freedom of speech and the press to the people of Venezuela."



I also like Don Surber's take.



Captain's Quarters has a good compare and contrast of Bush's speech and Ahmedinejad's. (I have to stop myself from typing "I'm a damned nut-job" every time I type that name)



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A little good news for Jane: The situation in Yemen is getting press coverage. Yemen moves along volatile path to democracy



Armies of Liberation has some thoughts on what the elections mean.



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Iraq the Model on Muslims accepting facts.



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Michelle Malkin on the AP sheltering terrorist stringers.



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Remember 2004, when the various lefty media were highlighting a different Bush voter turned Democrat every day, and never did any any Gore voters turned Bush voters despite the fact that there were more of them? Same tricks, different election. Via Instapundit,

GMA's Disillusioned Republican Woman Not Really So Republican

Went swimming, probably for the last time this season. Asked Hilda as we were getting in, "Are there any sharks in the pool?" She said no. I asked her if she was sure, and she responded "You go first Daddy!"



So I told my wife Hilda understands test penguins. When I explained, she said, "But if you go first there's always a shark."



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On a slightly different subject, I'm starting to hope that Thing is not necessarily on the downhill slide which ends in a final visit to the vet. I've had a lot of trouble getting him to eat recently, and he's lost a lot of weight. He's almost painfully thin. After talking to the vet, I've taken to cooking up hamburgers simply to get him to eat something, because the high protein low bulk canned food the vet wants him on due to kidney issues is not stuff he enjoys (he's been fed kibble his whole life until now). But I've found some stuff that is almost as good as the vet's most preferred brand that he will eat with small amounts of hamburger mixed in. He has eaten very well his last few meals. I'm giving him more than I normally would, hoping to maybe build his weight back up a little, and he's eating pretty much all of it. Mellon really got her nose out of joint this morning over how little was left, but she doesn't exactly need any extra, being more in the way of a stuffed sausage dog than a wiener dog at present. But Thing being something in the way of wizard's familiar to me, I'm glad he's eating.



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Carnival of Personal Finance



Carnival of Investing



Carnival of Real Estate Recommended: Bloodhound (Dual Agency)



There is a Carnival of Capitalists up that I have a post in, but the host has done such a minimal job that I've decided not to link. If he wants to get his knickers in a twist and pull the link to my post, that's his prerogative.



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All of those who accuse the Catholic church of complicity in the holocaust, and all of those who defend it, now have a huge amount of very significant evidence to go over: Vatican opens 1922-1939 archives. This covers the papacy of Pius XI, where Pius XII is the real figure of scrutiny, but since the man who would become Pius XII was Ambassador to Germany and later Vatican Secretary of State, there is a lot of direct evidence to go through.





Pius XII toed a cautious line during the war to avoid reprisals against Catholics in Germany and Nazi-occupied countries. He was initially praised for speaking out as openly as he could and helping to save Jews in secret.



This view changed radically in 1963, when German playwright Rolf Hochhuth depicted him in "The Deputy" as a cynic who kept silent despite knowing about the Holocaust.





As we are discovering all over again, it is very easy to criticize after the fact, much more difficult to actually be the one responsible for decisions that could get others killed.





Historian have also called on the Vatican to fully open archives for the papacy of Pius XII (1939-1958) but there is no indication when that will happen.





I predict that it will. There are still living priests whose service dates from that time period, but when they have gone, the Vatican will open the records.



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As Mexico vote dispute winds down, Obrador gears up





But Obrador, who quipped upon hearing of his loss, "to hell with the institutions," has not backed down, saying he refuses to ever recognize the victor, Felipe Calderón, as the country's leader.



"[Obrador] is my president," says Victoria Brocca, a writer in Mexico City who jumped excitedly at Saturday's convention, which drew tens of thousands of supporters, when hands shot up in the air to show support for the creation of Obrador's "parallel government. "Obrador will name a cabinet and be "inaugurated" Nov. 20, just days before Mr. Calderón takes office Dec. 1.





Whether by violence or arrogation, this is bad. Actually, what Obrador is doing is technically called subversion, and is a form of treason. For Excellent reason, I might add.



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Worth Reading: Hugh Hewitt has a good FAQ version of the problem we face.

A sign of hope in desperate times: First Rabbis since 1942 ordained in Germany



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Conn. mom breaks record for biggest baby. 14 pounds 13 ounces. Hilda was big at 8/15 and Ramona was nicknamed "babyzilla" for being 10 pounds at birth. But nearly 15 pounds? Oiks!



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Iran says open to "new conditions" over atom standoff.



Is there anybody left who honestly thinks that Iran is serious about adhering to any agreements it makes having to do with nuclear weapons? That they are not just negotiating to buy time while they build some?



77% Believe Iran is Likely to Have Nukes "Soon"



Pigilito has some worthwhile thoughts.



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Largest known dwarf planet named Eris





Eris' discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, said the name was an obvious choice, calling it "too perfect to resist."





I could not imagine a better name for it.





Eris' moon also received a formal name: Dysnomia, the daughter of Eris known as the spirit of lawlessness.





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Lileks Screed. Now.



In the same vein, A DEADLY KINDNESS



John Leo on "They Killed My Baby!" Journalism.



Iraq the Model asks France some questions.



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I think more people should read this Asymmetrical Information post on confirmation bias, value judgements, and torturing data.



One of my favorite lines has long been, "If you torture the data enough, it will confess." A somewhat different version of "figures don't lie, but liars do figure."



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Armies of Liberation





Concluding his speech, Saleh said, "We greet all of you, people of Lahj, and affirm that we will work to distribute residential and agricultural lands among young people all over the country. By the end of 2008, there will be no jobless youths."





If that were likely to be a valid or productive response to the situation, why haven't you done it at any time in the last 27 years?



Mugabe made this promise one of his cornerstones, in order to appeal to the poverty stricken masses he'd hurt so much with his policies. He was even crazy enough to do it. Result? Famine.



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Belmont Club has a short tribute to Oriana Fallaci.



If you're the religious or spiritual sort you might stop a moment and say a blessing for her. She will be missed.



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Wizbang says essentially the same thing I said about voter ID quite some time ago.



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Iraqi Official Testifies to Links Between Saddam and Al Qaeda



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Captain's Quarters: "Since When Has Geneva Protected Our Troops?" Not since 1918. That doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do. Just that this particular argument makes no sense.

Carnival of Personal Finance



Carnival of Real Estate Recommended: Sellsius. Zillow is notoriously inaccurate. I wonder what would happen if a homeowner sued because their zestimate caused a prospective buyer to back out?



RINO Sightings Recommended: Don Surber



Canival of Liberty



Carnival of The Capitalists



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I see nothing has changed since I left the FAA Ky. controllers had worries before crash





Besides the letter to the senators, another Lexington control tower operator wrote to the FAA's Accountability Board on Dec. 1, 2005, complaining about a hostile work environment in the tower. That employee requested anonymity, fearing discipline against him.



"Not only do the vast majority of controllers worry about the security of their jobs, but this anxiety in the work place should be considered a legitimate safety concern for the flying public since controllers are not in a healthy state of mind while working traffic," he wrote.





The rule is that the FAA never fixes anything until there are bodies on the ground, and management will choose only the most cosmetic of repair measures then.



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Study shows Neanderthals survived longer



But any resemblance to Al Franken or Rush Limbaugh is purely coincidental.



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Looks like the elephants succeeded in defending thier incumbent centrist against the hard right: Chafee Keeps Republican Hopes Alive in RI



Mind you, the odds were with them where they were against the Donkeys in Connecticut next door. Even Elephants in blue states know they can't elect a wingnut, whereas the Donkeys may actually think they can elect a moonbat.



We'll find out November 7th.



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Lysistrata, call your office: Colombia gang wives call sex strike against crime





BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - They are calling it the "crossed legs" strike.



Fretting over crime and violence, girlfriends and wives of gang members in the Colombian city of Pereira have called a ban on sex to persuade their menfolk to give up the gun.





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Here's some wisdom from Willisms on the supposed virtues of walking on eggshells. To his excellent list, let me add another: It lends credence to the theory that we're afraid of them.



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Strata=-Sphere has a nice piece on the NY Times trying to frustrate investigations. I don't think receiving classified information should be a crime, but these sort of precautions speak to something to hide, don't they?



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Q and O on a Lawrence Kaplan editorial explaining the need to finish the job in Iraq to both the Murtha and Kerry wings.



Mr. Smash exposes the Code Pink people not supporting the troops.



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I'm hoping to be on a less burned-out and more even keel by the weekend.

Clinton blasts 9/11 film, amid report of changes



Spin, spin, spin, you worthless gladhanding used car salesman. Your accomodationist, anything to avoid confrontation policy are more responsible for 9/11 than any other single cause. Your unwillingness to face any political controversy caused you to turn down Sudan when they offered the US custody of Bin Ladin, as well as other opportunities you were given to take him down but didn't have the political guts to take advantage of (unlike the successor in office now, who has had the intestinal fortitude to do much harder things and had to do more of them because Clinton didn't).



Your entire career has been spent evading the responsibility of the presidency that you campaigned to get. Go away. Far away. And don't come back.



Rightwing Nuthouse notes the crickets chirping about a real threat of censorship. The Democratic party want to demand that the government pull ABC broadcast license if they show the film? I guess it's all in who you tick off. It's okay to poke at Elephants, but Donkeys are sacrosanct? Free Speech for me but not for thee, is that your message? Not in the United States I live in.



Riehl World View on people that have changed their views now that their side is under the microscope.



Rhymes with Right has the text of a letter sent to Disney by prominent Democratic politicians. Manages to implicitly threaten ABCs broadcast license.



Investors Business Daily on the issue.



Captain's Quarters nails the Clinton colors to the mast of this particular sinking ship.



Scrappleface details the situation that must be avoided.



Newsbusters notes that ABC has caved. That particular scene never happened in the real world. But many things like it did, thanks to Bill Clinton. I wonder if we should revive the Dan Rather mantra of "fake but accurate"?



No. Those memos were neither true nor accurate.



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Reuters is reporting the Democratic spin on a Senate report. There have been many reports of Iraq/Al Qaeda cooperation, as the senate report says. But that doesn't stop the Donkeys from spinning it by claiming it says what they want it to. But at least they do acknowledge that there may be another take on the matter:





The committee's Republican chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, accused Democrats of presenting a misleading version of the committee's findings.



"The additional views of the Committee's Democrats are little more than a rehashing of the same unfounded allegations they've used for over three years," Roberts said in a statement.





Strata-Sphere has more.



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Hospital Screening Surgery Patients for Sleep Apnea





Obstructive sleep apnea is characterized by episodes of stopped breathing during sleep.



Normally, low levels of oxygen and high levels of carbon dioxide in the blood arouse the sleeper with apnea.



But an anesthetic, or powerful pain medicine after surgery may interfere with the protective mechanism and prevent the person from waking up, resulting in respiratory arrest





You think this might be an issue? If you suffer from sleep apnea, make sure everybody knows before you go under. Put it in writing in the admission papers, and tell the members of your surgical team. If you think you might be suffering from it, get tested. I did, and my life is much better now.



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ROFASix notes another story the press has gotten wrong.



But if you're looking for partisan advantage, the fact that lies travel around the world faster than the truth can get its boots on has its own special appeal. People will remember the newspaper headlines, and never find out the truth of what the President said.



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Iraq The Model has a post on the conflict that is worth reading.

Carnival of Real Estate Recommended: Wenchypoo (the questionable utility of house bling)



Carnival of Personal Finance



Carnival of The Vanities

RINO Sightings Recommended: Say Anything (debunking conspiracy)



Carnival Of Debt Reduction



Carnival of the Capitalists



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Over at Right Wing Nuthouse, Rick Moran lays out the cracks in the facade of the Narrative of the Left. Nothing I haven't been writing about, but he puts it all in one place.



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Why 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Won't Go Away.



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Took the family to Boomer's for miniature golf. First time since before Hilda was born, and she's six and a half now. Did pretty well for not touching a club in about seven years, shooting a 48. One hole in one. Not precisely my best effort ever, but quite palatable. The World's Only Perfect Woman also did pretty well, and had a hole in one of her own. Little Ramona is too young to understand what's going on, but Hilda, while initially very frustrated, picked it up pretty well after a while. By the end she was shooting solid 4s, with one 2.



My first shot ever was a hole-in-one. At the old Family Fun Center course #2 in La Mesa, gone now due to the 125 freeway. I shot it, my father said, "here, let me show you what you did wrong," and we both looked away. Then a couple of seconds later my brother interrupted, saying, "It went in!" Not only that, it was one of two "hole in one wins a free game" holes on that course at the time. My dad followed up my lucky shot with his own hole in one (skill), so we all had to play another game after that. Some memories are more precious than gold.

Carnival of the Vanities



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Businessweek: Nightmare Mortgages. Over a year after my first article on the subject, they say most of what I did.



This stuff is all math and public record. What took you clowns so long? So much for investigative journalism. Have to wait for financial bodies to hit the street so that there's human interest? How many people that you could have informed of the perils of this loan in time now have one?



And people wonder why I have contempt for journalists.



By the way, I saw no fewer than a dozen advertisments for these today while surfing blogs. Might be a good idea to look at your approved advertisers. Just sayin'.



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Mixed emotions department (with an oh-oh factor added in): I noticed a website I'd never seen before among my referrers, and went and clicked on it. Unfortunately, it was a pr0n site and I was at my office. Luckily, nobody else was around. I suppose pr0nographers are interested in real estate also, just like the rest of the world. Still, it would be nice if they'd all migrate to that .xxx top level domain they keep talking about.



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Iraq the Model on the situation in Iraq. His description doesn't sound so much like a civil war to me as that people are trying to create the conditions for a civil war, and largely succeeding. Maybe more troops are needed, maybe a more activist role by the Iraqi army. I do not know. I do know that unless someone has the political cojones to crush the ones preaching hate and separatism, it will become one.



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neo-neocon on Carter and the rise of the Mullahs. Money quote: "President Carter inherited an impossible situation -- and he and his advisers made the worst of it."



Five Minutes to Midnight





What these commentators are picking up is not an exact parallel to any one event of the 1930s hence their scattershot of historical analogies. Instead, what they are picking up is a sense of the overall direction of world events: we are clearly headed toward a much larger, bloodier conflict in the Middle East, but no one in the West wants to acknowledge it, prepare for it, or begin to fight it.





and





It is, indeed, "five minutes to midnight" not just for Israel, but for the West. The time is very short now before we will have to confront Iran. The only question is how long we let events spin out of our control, and how badly we let the enemy hit us before we begin fighting back.



We can't avoid this war, because Iran won't let us avoid it. That is the real analogy to the 1930s. Hitler came to power espousing the goal of German world domination, openly promising to conquer neighboring nations through military force and to persecute and murder Europe's Jews. He predicted that the free nations of the world would be too weak too morally weak to stand up to him, and European and American leaders spent the 1930s reinforcing that impression. So Hitler kept advancing the militarization of the Rhineland in 1936, the Spanish bombing campaign in 1937, the annexation of Austria and the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, the invasion of Poland in 1939 until the West finally, belated decided there was no alternative but war.





and





It is widely acknowledged that World War II was made far more horrible by the years in which free nations appeased Hitler, allowing him to strengthen his armies before he took over Europe. That analogy lends itself to one conclusion: the sooner we attack Iran, the better.



World War I, by contrast, is largely regarded as the result of a giant, tragic mistake, a failure of diplomacy in which the great powers of Europe, seeking a network of alliances that would guarantee a "balance of power," instead trapped themselves into a senseless war.





Please, read the whole thing. The conclusion is painful, but ignoring such conclusions is, historically speaking, the best way to guarantee the escalation of that pain.



HT Cox and Forkum





**********




via Indepundit,

I really hope it turns out the man assaulted in this report was making it up. All of the other alternatives are worse. I'd rather have the political damage it would do to the military by association than any of the other possibilities. If there is a benign controlling intelligence to this universe, please let him have made it up?



Because if he didn't, these people are trying to drive a wedge between the military and the civilian population. I'd rather deal with another 9/11 than the possibility of that happening. I'd rather deal with a nuked city than have that happen. If you don't understand why, you need to read more history.



**********




Melanie Phillips on the media war against Israel. Read it and weep.



On much the same subject, I find myself in agreement with Dean's World



**********




Looks like Argghhh! agrees with me on profiling as basically useless, and the remedy.



**********




Some actual thinking on What If The Left Killed Bush?



**********




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This page is a archive of entries in the Zee Links and Minifeatures category from September 2006.

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