Tim Blair Insult Robot - - Aussie Blogger Tim Blair has a delightful compilation of his insults. I am particularly fond of these: “Columnist, broadcaster, ex-commie and witless bore Phillip Adams”, “Serial drug abuser and poisonous inhuman void Elizabeth Wurtzel”, and “Maureen Dowd exhibits the logical powers of a slow three-year-old.”

Bravo!

Get out of the way - - Thomas Friedman’s latest echoes much of what the now three time Pulitzer winner has been saying since 9/11. But he can be excellent at encapsulating issues in single paragraphs:

“Because there are three trends converging in the Middle East today. The first is this vicious Israeli-Palestinian war. The second is a population explosion in the Arab world, where virtually every Arab country has a population bubble of under-15-year-olds, who are marching toward a future where they will find a shortage of good jobs and a surplus of frustration. The third is an explosion of Arab satellite TV stations, the Internet and other private media.”

It is the interplay of these three trends, which is causing the region to increasingly hate Israel and America. His solution is for Israel, as best as it can (and as fast too), to get out of the way to eliminate the first problem. This would effectively reveal what the true nature of the Islamic world is. Take away the issue that binds them, and you only have technology and rabid populations-who would they hate then? Probably still us.

Legitimate Congressional Work - - A friend of mine who works for a Congressman told me once that the best work the US Congress does is naming things like post offices. Why? It doesn’t cost too much and keeps them from trying to spend money on other stuff.

I am sure he’ll be pleased to know that post office naming is getting some mainstream coverage. They named one for Frank Sinatra this week.

Don’t forget about us - - North Korea makes itself heard by sinking South Korean patrol boat. Nice sunshine policy buddy.

So he is finished his book - - C-log found the link to the new Clinton book. And I thought he hadn’t started it yet.

Bush Poll Numbers - - I seem to remember that Bush’s numbers were beginning to soften. Yet the USA Today/Gallop Poll actually has seen Bush’s numbers, which at the beginning of June were 70 percent approval, rise to the 73-74 ranges. 70 seems to be the base number for this President, he should take that out for a little bit of a spin and see what it can do.

Pakistan continues to get tougher - - Pakistan has now issued a most wanted list for Islamic Militants. Slowly but surely.

More Juice - - Another Baseball and steroids column.

Curtis and Kuby - - Been watching MSNBC mornings lately, and they have this new show hosted by Curtis Silwa and Ron Kuby. Curtis is slightly crazy, conservative, wearing the red beret and satiny jacket that denotes he is the founder/leader of the Guardian Angels. Kuby is this sickly looking long hair liberal (think hippie in a suit) lawyer. Surprisingly they are vastly superior and watchable compared to just a regular anchor-especially the terrible daytime anchors MSNBC has. They just pop up new issues and have a go at one another. It isn’t half bad. Plus they don’t just repeat the same thing over, and over, and over again.

Easy target - - Seattle gets a disproportionate amount of terrorist threats. Who knew? I also didn’t realize that as 13th largest metropolitan area it has the 5th highest crime rate.

9324 - -
The sky isn’t falling. See, greed works people!

Joke, hoax, typical - - This Photo made the rounds yesterday. (Read the article here) Charles Johnson has the subsequent debate. Palestinians claim it is a hoax-or propaganda by Israel. Or is it a strange heroism. No, it’s real but it is a joke, funny right.

Xerox pile on - - Xerox not to be outdone by the others announces it too has spent some time in the corporate kitchen cooking up the books.

Gore blames Bush - - Al Gore attacks Bush, blaming the Bush Administration for the scandals of corporate book-cooking. Ah yes, it sure couldn’t have anything to do with Clinton-Gore who were running things while the markets bubbled. No.

Nope we don’t have those problems - - There sure was plenty of European boasting of superiority yesterday in the wake of WorldCom’s demise. It would seem that reports of Europe’s superior system is greatly exaggerated.

G8 Roundup, Short version - - Russia gets cash, Africa all but forgotten, Bono will be outraged, having big meeting in woods good, even naked time in front of Gap stores seemed, well, tame, er lame and the biggest casualty was one shot bear.

Give me a D… - - Charles Krauthammer has the analysis of the potential for peace in the Middle East. It’s damned good.

Mmmm Pork Chop Shoes - - The case of the $34,817 pork chop shoes.

Pakistan - - is slowly getting around to look for the terrorists.

G8 Photo Action - -

This is a caption and link essay of the G8 Summit, I call it “Cowboy Hats and Dreams”

Do you want me to get naked and start the revolution? Okay

My yellow tie makes me special.

Look at how clever we are. You see, it’s a statement on corporate greed man.

Work it, work it

Mr. Putin quick look sexy.

Who is this guy and why won’t he let go of my hand.

Sweet hat

Wouldn’t it be cool if we…played dead then we could just nap

I’ll lead I have much better hair dum dum.

So Tony says a guy walks into a bar. . .

Mmmmmm I wonder what Clinton is doing…

Is this where the flea market is?
Look how clever I am, I replaced the S with a $. That rocks man.

I got real problems you wouldn’t believe, eh.

Why does everyone think I am a bad guy?

Maybe if I drink this and ignore him, he’ll leave me alone. And yes two more!

The humiliation of a continent.

The hat, no I don’t think so.

You wouldn’t believe how much fun it was to paint each other.

When your economy is as bad as mine, I’ll try anything.

You in the back, I don’t care what you're protesting, but for the love of god, shirts on please.

Peaceful protests well why do we have to close our stores.

And then after I put the cowboy hat on…poof, just like that, my hair went crazy.

Our leaders have been replaced by puppets.

I wish Bono was here, now he could party.
Whatever Paul it is so “on” tonight.

No, I’ll be fine just ate too many shrimp.

-Fin-

Ah Europe…. Joe Klein has another good read on his seemingly endless trip through Europe-must be nice when The Guardian is picking up the tab. Today he is talking about the bureaucratic headquarters of the Universe in Brussels.

Rewarding Our Friends with a pie in the face - - James Taranto links to this Daniel Pipes article that basically says, that Bush’s plan for peace in the MidEast is rewarding terrorists.

Steven Den Beste (another soon to be added blog-gem link) offers a compelling take on this by suggesting that what Bush is offering: Instead of rewarding terrorism it is forcing the entire region to reevaluate things.

More importantly, I think offering-practically forcing-democracy on the Palestinians is interesting because it is more of a slap to Saudi Arabia than anything else. Here we have a nation griped by fear of democracy and freedom. After Saudi Arabia’s many urges for a Palestinian state (blah, blah, blah) look what Bush does, he demands that the process begins with a democratic revolution that expels Arafat. Making it the first of what we hope will be many democratic nations in the region, which puts pressure on nations, so called friends, like Saudi Arabia. The last thing the Arab world wants to see is a blossoming democracy movement-and that’s what we’re giving them-a big foot long democracy sub sandwich.

9120 - - US Stocks weather storm. Economic recovery still holding.

Greed Works - - CNS News is reporting on the new, new, new Democrat strategy to win support in 2002 and beyond.

In a nut shell the issue is the notion that “corporate greed” has wrecked the economy. The stock market maybe (although not even that seems to be true), but the economy? Doesn’t our system and economy run by people pursuing greed? Pull out a copy of “Wall Street” people (or buy one via my Amazon.ca links) and remember “Greed Works!”

Can’t remember? Here are a few choice Gordon Gekko quotes:

“Greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.”

“Greed captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.”

My Cat’s breath smells like cat food - - Jim Caple has the outrageous dirt on the consequences of banning things like the game of tag. A generation of Ralph Wiggum’s. Not good.

Just like the Canadian Gov’t - - Just a day after Amazon.com opens Amazon.ca the Canadian government thinks, “invesigation.”. Damn that infernal competition.

Want to know where “Dispatches” sides on this issue.
Shop at Amazon.ca! using this link, and any other Amazon.ca link on this site (scroll down on the sidebar and you’ll find an ad and other links) and I’ll get a cut of the sales! Take that Government! Don’t buy another damned thing from the fascists at Indigo.

Your G-8 Meeting Headlines in brief - -

”Protestors have renamed themselves Ewoks and are planning assault.” (Ewoks, Commies, who cares!)

”British PM foils Canada’s plan to Bono-ize the World’s Cash Flow.” (good)

”French leader refuses to wear big white cowboy hat” (Party pooper)

1960’s are Dead, get over it - - Juan Gato has a healthy dose of reality for the latest column from Maureen Dowd. (Via Daily Pundit)
Gato: “The great Imagine dream dashed. People actually remain willing to kill no matter how much we want to hug them, man. And then there are actually people willing to die to stop them!”

Must read Kelly - - Michael Kelly speculates on what may come to pass in the Middle East. Two new democracies-Iraq and Palestine.

Kudlow’s War - - One of my favorite’s Larry Kudlow suggests this morning that the stock market woes are not all about endless corporate corruption. He echoes my feelings when talking to a friend yesterday by suggesting the lack of follow through in the war as a larger reason. We must go to Iraq!

“The shock therapy of decisive war will elevate the stock market by a couple-thousand points. We will know that our businesses will stay open, that our families will be safe, and that our future will be unlimited. The world will be righted in this life-and-death struggle to preserve our values and our civilization. But to do all this, we must act.”

8,900 - - And Kudlow seems to be onto something, but WorldCon is not helping matters is it?

Eric Alterman: Twit of the day - - The esteemed Eric Alterman who has his own blog and writes for The Nation slams Peter Beinart, editor of TNR, for, well, being too young-oh and a pundit too. (Beinart explains how to change Pakistan)

Here is Alterman’s take: “Excuse me, but I know people in academia who have studied Pakistan their entire adult lives and don’t know “how to change Pakistan.” I even know a couple of Pakistanis with Ph.D.s who grew up there, worked there, and don’t know “how to change Pakistan.” They know how they might like to change it, but they also know all of the complications that stand in the way of change, and all of the problems that change might create were it to take place, and a whole of other problems that don’t seem to bother many pundits, twentysomething or sixtysomething .

All this “How to” to stuff from pundits who tell us one week why what poor people really want or need and the next what Pakistanis really need or need, is really insulting to readers and gets us nowhere. We’d all be better off admitting how little we really understand about the world, particularly the armchair warriors over there at you know where.”

Ah yes. You may remember Alterman from such controversy as mislabeling people as pro-Israeli columnists and pundits. (See Matt Welch for the back story and brilliantly calling him not “just a rancid columnist,” but a liar too.) So this is not the first, nor will be the last time Alterman makes an absolute jackass of himself.

Close readers of “Dispatches” will note that I too am no fan of Beinart, but that doesn’t mean I would suggest that pundits don’t have the right to prescribe whatever they want. In fact I thought that was the whole point, and at least half the fun. Stop biting the hand that feeds you elitist twit! It is nice to see that Alterman doesn’t get the whole concept. Punditry, of course, comes from the Hindi word for “learned man”, and while it is nice to see that good old Eric knows some-he has friends in academia and gosh even friends that are PhD’s and Pakistani- that doesn’t mean that they have anything useful to say, or that their opinion is more important than say Beinart’s.

Dateline England: Freedom at work - - Sad tales from traveling chicken hypnotists. You can’t make this stuff up folks.

Dateline Italy - - celebrates the protection from ”parmesan” imitators around the globe.

Meanwhile in France - - Yahoo has an entire message board devoted to the nefarious activities of the Garden Gnome Liberation Front.

One such message: “No it's not. Gnome oppression is a very real and very serious problem in Europe, France especially. I think it's time we all grabbed our weaponry (which we have a right to bear) and head over there to save the gnomes! Who's with me?”

Um, I think not Cheese eaters!

Question of the day - - So the morning headlines are choosing to focus on the Bush Peace Plan and the demand that Arafat finally step down.

So without further delay…What will Arafat do now?

”Dispatches’ TOP TEN POSSIBLE NEW JOBS FOR YASSER ARAFAT” - -

10. Gets down to business writing his dream book: a scratch and sniff book based on his time barricaded in his Ramallah compound.

9. Mulls MTV’s offer to join the cast of “The Osbournes” during sweeps week. This would solve the important question of who is more incoherent (Ozzie or Yasser) and who is the worst for wear since the 1970’s. (Kelly: “Daddy…I hate Yasser” Ozzie: “Arafat? Who the (BLEEP) is Arafat?” Kelly: “He’s staying in Jack’s room. Ozzie: “What do want me to do about it Kelly? What the (BLEEP) do you want me to do?”)

8. Approaches Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to fund a Middle Eastern Theme Park called “Arafat’s Magic Kingdom.” Sales of tie in merchandise, including the ’Barbie’ Arafat doll, are slow. On the upside the lines to “Pirates of the Palestinian Authority” and the “Yasser Arafat Experience” are relatively short.

7. Briefly thinks about retirement, but decides instead to move to Pakistan hoping to relive past glories by waging a terror war against India in hopes of gaining another new state.

6. Creates Yasser Arafat Omnimedia Corp. (NYSE-TRST). Launches style magazine Yasser Arafat Living and weekly television show to tepid response. Brokers love the idea until it is learned that Ken Lay is unofficially running the show and Anderson had volunteered to do the accounting. Arafat skips the Senate investigations.

5. Moves to America, buys Krispy Kreme franchise and tries to achieve the American dream by undermining President Bush’s get fit plans for America.

4. After such a distinguished career Yasser is left unfulfilled and melancholy. He slips into a depression even Dr. Phil can’t get him out of. Ends up pawning his Nobel Peace Prize to pay for one weekend of debauchery with his buddies Oliver Stone and Alec Baldwin in Vegas. This gets him even more notoriety and fame.

3. Does everything in his power to undermine the Palestinian leadership and the peace process. Fails to denounce terrorism in Arabic. Oh wait he already does that.

2. Signs on as new Sunday Political Show Host for Al Jazeera, Stephanopoulos style. Questions of bias are largely…celebrated. The food in the Green Room is to die for! This was his second choice after NBC rejected Aaron Sorkin’s pilot for “The Ramallah Wing”, a Dramedy which was slated to star Yasser as himself, costarring Charlie Sheen, Heather Locklear, and the rest of the cast of “Spin City” as his loyal staff (Hijinks aplenty ensue).

And the number one possible future job for Yasser Arafat is…

1. With all his free time following his successful stint as leader of the Palestinian Authority Arafat decides to return to his first love, terrorism, and meets Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein for lunch to discuss new ventures. They create a new terrorist organization designed to take over the world…

At least I am not the only one - - with a secret enjoyment of Martha Stewart. Rod Dreher is too. He makes some great points.

Update:
Her stock was down another 18% this morning.

Where do you equip yourself for “evil”? - - Slate.com links to VillianSupply.com for all your evil needs. I don’t know if this is actually “funny”, especially the suitcase nuke. But the payment option of Pure-cut hashish or a Swiss Bank account is funny.

Slate.com Sports links - - Slate has been pretty great lately. Today there is lots-a-links to some fine sports articles. Definitely worth the clicky sports fans!

Bush Peace Plan Talking Points - - read them here. In a nut shell: Arafat yer done.

”Plop, plop, Fizz, fizz” - - It’s Monday morning most places, that means a new issue of Enterstageright.com! My contribution this week is about the decaying situation on Wall Street. Get out the Alka-Seltzer kids.

World Cup Snobbery - - And my thoughts on the World Cup have just been posted at Opinionet.net too. I hope you enjoy.

New Links - - I just added some great new links-well this isn’t news, it actually reflects a certain amount of laziness since I read them most of the time anyhow. William Quick is the Daily Pundit, N.Z. Bear runs The Truth Laid Bear, and Rightwingnews.com run by John Hawkins are all now on the Dispatches links list. Check them out!!

No Frills Spy - - Damn, I wanted to write this one. Well, not exactly what I would have said entirely, but the idea that we need tough, no frills, spies is a step in the right direction.

Ken Layne, on fire, for hire - - Layne wants to get into making some “teevee” scripts. A damned fine idea. I would love to watch a Layne penned West Wing episode-even if he believes that Ken Layne “is Russian for dumb-ass hobo.”

Hollywood recount - - Shades of Florida in the box office race this weekend. Mercifully that stupid WNBA movie “Juwanna Man” only took in $6 million. $6 million! Good god man, find these people and beg them to return to Earth.

A good thing - - Andrew Sullivan marks the ninth anniversary in his battle with HIV. Thank goodness, looking forward to many more years of Sullivan antics, especially stirring the pot with his buddies at the New York Times.

Who would have thought - - Radley Balko reviews former Black Crowes front man Chris Robinson’s venture into solodum. Great read, impossible but true music.

Bush Admin Retooling - - Helpful article detailing the possible retooling the Bush Admin will get as we lurch toward year three.

Stupid Nation tricks - - Instapundit points out this little ditty pointing out how stupid it is to hope that the US Economy will fail. And how even more idiotic it is to take “schadenfreude” in that notion.

Randy Johnson - vs - Sandy Koufax - - Wonderful, article over at ESPN.com on who was a better pitcher: Randy Johnson or Sandy Koufax. It is a debatable point, however the calculated figures, of what Johnson would have done in Dodger stadium in the 1960’s with the high mound and all, are crazy. I think Johnson’s arm would have fallen off had he pitched 300 innings a season. Worth the read nevertheless.

We're going to get you sucka - - Bin Laden is still out there. Got time to kill read read some of the discussion posts at yahoo. Is it a full moon?

Okay here, start with this - - The wonderful Mark Steyn has the goods on the America's World Cup. (Props to Tim Blair)

Editor's Note - - Sorry for the light posting today, er, Friday. Expect a bunch of stuff tommorow in the morning. I stayed up all last night to watch the Allies get kicked out of the World Cup. Now I am twice as grumpy as I should be. I spent the rest of the day writing two new pieces which will come online sometime between tommorow and Monday. Cheers.

Too little - - Too late clown. Who is Arafat kidding when he comes out 18 months after scuttling the Clinton Mid East peace plan as “accepting” it. Dealing with this deadbeat just isn’t worth it; he is like Lucy always pulling the football out of Charlie Browns way. Lets take the football shove it down his throat and get him the hell out of the picture. Get bent loser.

James Lileks on the prowl - - Read his latest brilliant bit.

…73 - - Six more are killed in Israel.

Mr. Burns & Corporate Accounting - - Fittingly, as I have sounded out plenty today on CEO’s and corporate problems du jour, a “Simpson’s” episode tonight featured the meltdown of Montgomery Burns’ corporate empire. He surrounded himself with too many yes men-including Smithers.

Not only was Burns heavily divested in things such as “Confederated Slave Holdings”, he tried to fix it by investing in even more archaic companies-Ken Lay eat your heart out.

Burns: Smithers, why didn’t you tell me about this market crash?
Smithers: Um, well, sir, it happened 25 years before I was born.
Burns: Oh, that’s your excuse for everything.

Mercifully Burns hooks up with Lisa, learns the joys of recycling, and creates the Burns “omni net”, which captures pretty much every thing in the sea. The masses of sea creatures become an all purpose “goo”, or “slurry.” Is there a lesson for Ken Lay? Top CEO-into the “gutter”-rising back to the top again? Who knows? Excellent.

Mr. Burns Bonus Quote - - “Oh mother nature needs a favor? Well, maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys. Nature started the fight for survival and now she wants to quit because she’s losing? Well, I say ‘hard cheese!’”- Mr. Burns, reacting to Lisa Simpson’s question about recycling.

Useful bias - - I have to agree with Michael Kinsley’s latest piece. I read it earlier today over at Slate.com. I have been mulling it over. I have no problem with someone like George Stephanopoulos getting to host a Sunday News Show, we all know where he is coming from already. It is the people like Rather and Brokaw who are in denial that are the problem. Bias is fine; denying that you are is not.

Chalk full of Sullivan - - Andrew Sullivan took last week off to recharge the batteries. It worked. He has plenty of good stuff tonight.

In particular are his posts suggesting, via a reader, to dub the suicide/homicide bombers “Islamikaze.”

But his link to stories from the Toronto Star is foolhardy at best. That said, the poll he links to on Canadian preferences is both troubling and pathetic. Read the article, especially you American readers, and now you know my special pain-and why I am trying to escape.

In defense of Martha - - I know get over the Martha Stewart thing. But Larry Kudlow has a great piece defending her. Here we have Kudlow admitting:

“I have never met Martha Stewart, and I don't own any ImClone or Omnimedia stock. I'm also sorry to learn from press reports that Stewart is a Clinton Democrat, while I am a Reagan Republican. So why am I worked up over this? Because I don't think it's fair to wreck anybody's hard-earned reputation with a bunch of innuendos, half-truths, and other snippets of misinformation. Journalists are supposed to have standards. Somewhere in the mix there has to be a telling of the truth.”

Corporations in the Middle East - - Very interesting article in the Independent about corporations operating the Middle East, specifically Starbucks which is at the center of a boycott by Arab States. The CEO of Starbucks makes Ted Turner look like a corporate twit. Go get a latte.

CEO Triple Play - - Okay, Martha, Starbucks, why not one more business/ceo post. Joe Klein goes to Germany and finds that Bill Gates would never even be a middle manager there.

Close Call? - - Rand Simberg has the dirt on the latest close call involving this planet and an asteroid. You can read his Foxnews.com article for more fun space stuff too.

Speaking of Space - - Only good can come from Cindy Crawford going into space. Now how much will it cost to go into space with Cindy? Could we award her a cool Bond girl name?

Atlantic Monthly Archive Goodness - - Was over at the Atlantic Website to see the buzz about this article (only excerpts) on the recovery effort of 9/11 at the Trade Center.

But while there, I found:

A 1992 article entitled: ”Taking the offense”. Which called for major changes, in 1992, to fight terrorism.

A 1987 article entitled: ”Great Moments in Literary Baseball”. Here’s a taste:

“Hit in the shoulder by a pitch during an exhibition game in Key West, Florida, in 1933, Cubs catcher Ernie Hemingway refused to take first base. The next pitch hit Hemingway in the nose. Hemingway stood his ground. The third and fourth pitches hit him in the shin and the ear respectively. He dug in deeper, though in noticeable pain. The fifth pitch felled him. The home-plate umpire allowed the seriously injured Hemingway to be carried to first base on a stretcher.”

How about the 1962 article about the early days of the space program. Interesting since there is endless talk on the web about going to Mars.

An 1985 article about France’s fastest rising politician…Jean Marie Le Pen.

Defending Dick Morris - - Henry Hanks (aka Croooow Blogmiester) has some great stuff on Joe Conason, the Big Me, Dick Morris, who was concerned about terrorism, and who wasn’t. Surprise Clinton wasn’t.

Opps A star is doing it again - - Why is it that celebrities think they can be restaurateurs too. Seriously if Britney Spears isn’t going to be there, dancing about, every time I eat something why would I go?

Globocourt - - Bill Safire lays down more evidence of why a globocourt is just plain dumb.

Two words: Charles Krauthammer - - Read his new article this morning.

Here is on “Alliances”: “A basic attribute of statehood is the right to contract alliances. Even before statehood, Arafat secretly allied himself with Iran and Hezbollah. With statehood, he will be able to do so openly. And what do we do when he declares alliance with Syria or Iraq and invites their tank armies into the West Bank to protect Palestine from Israeli "aggression"?”

But hey lets give them a state while they blow up people just for fun.

When filmmakers go mad - - Drudge always get the good stuff first. In this case news of Oliver Stones upcoming film projects on appropriately Castro and Arafat. Is it surprising that the film on Arafat is being financed by the French film company Canal Plus. Um, no it is not.

Get over yourself - - Arianna. The last few years of Politically incorrect have been totally lame forums for obnoxious pet projects of faux independents who rant uncontrollably about things like campaign finance reform. Good riddance. As satire it is so far behind the likes of Jon Stewart it is a wonder it didn’t get cancelled long ago.

The ‘Thing’ keeps rolling - - There is something about baseball that makes me love it more than most other sports. Here’s one reason why. Baseball is very much, at times, like Bull Durham. Players often slip in the “wilderness” yet they continue to plug away. Some of them make it back to the bigs after serving time in some hellish Mexican league.

In this case Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams is still plugging away in the minor leagues-earning another victory pitching for the Atlantic City Surf where he is also the pitching coach. He is not, at 37, coming back for a return performance, but he is still plugging away Crash Davis style.

Baseball All Star Game talk - - King Kaufman has his token article on the All Star Game. You can see the current voting results here. And vote here.

A few preliminary thoughts, since I should have an article about this by All Star Game time.

I don’t know Jorge Posada to start at Catcher for the AL? I would go with A.J. Pierzynski. Posada is batting .258 while A.J. is batting .328.

And I would certainly take Shea Hillenbrand over
Chavez.

Second helping of Jonah Goodness - - I was worried that Jonah’s move to a real house would take a toll on him this week. So wrong. Here’s another helping of Goldberg:

“I got to thinking about all of this while dealing with the readers of my syndicated column who insisted that I must be some kind of Nazi because I think terrorist agents of foreign powers should not be accorded due process. I can totally understand how people can disagree with me. What I'm at a loss to understand is their granite-like conviction that if we deprive Jose Padilla of his right to trial by jury, we'll become a totalitarian regime. Sure, I can see how it might bring us a teensy-weensy bit closer to a less free society. But the distance between us and the Third Reich or the Soviet Union is hundreds of miles and we are arguing over inches.”

So good they named him twice - - Nice to see Abdullah Abdullah remains in the Afghan cabinet.

Apples and Soccer - - Stephen Green has made some a tad ornery by comparing Soccer fans with die hard Apple computer fans. Interesting. Cross-section those groups and your left with Europeans too-because Microsoft must be a tool of the Yankee imperialists.

Ariba - - Rand Simberg linked to this heartwarming story about Speedy Gonzalez return to the Cartoon Network lineup. Take that!

Jonah Goldberg - - says that the Nazi’s are not coming.

“Take the issue of tribunals. Presidents Lincoln, Washington and Franklin Roosevelt all convened military tribunals. Lincoln even suspended habeas corpus, but not one of my outraged e-mailers compared Bush to the "tyranny of Lincoln." No, they went straight for the Hitler analogy

Being Martha Stewart - - Okay, a couple of things. Apparently Martha is being investigated for selling her shares of ImClone possibly on insider trading information.

Fair enough.

1. But why is the US Congress investigating this? Does every person suspected of this get his or her name dragged out by the Congress? I suspect not, but Congress is on some jihad to indict a great many of CEO’s because they haven’t been able to throw the book at Enron. Of all the things that the House and Senate could be doing…

2. Say what you will about Stewart, but she is self made billionaire and you have to appreciate the fact that she did it by decorating cakes and basically being anal retentive. But lets suppose she is innocent, what kind of damage has this done to her empire? And for what? It appears that she is in the clear, but these people on the sub-committee are so interested in spilling blood they really don’t care who’s it is. She has already lost $150 million. Maybe she did it, but for a couple hundred thousand-hell she isn’t stupid.

Sorry…. 71 - - Another 29 people hurt in an explosion in Jerusalem.

70 - - Here is the list of all the suicide attacks since the fall of 2000. Read that, and thanks to Ken Layne go and read David Brooks piece on what a lying scumbag Arafat is.

Put two and two together.

Maybe October - - Joel Mowbray has an interesting article over at NRO today. After reading it, an attack on Iraq seems likely, and by the fall too.

Also note that al Qaeda operatives are being rounded up in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Morocco. Coincidence? Or are they scared that when the bombs start flying, the US may not stop at the Iraqi borders.

Nobody does it better - - Ken Layne has a superb Foxnews.com column today on James Bond and why we need one today.

Totally! I mean really, why was everyone fawning over that Mrs. Fargo FBI? Hello 9/11 happened, how outside the box was this superwoman? Not very.

Layne rightly doesn’t like the term “outside the box”; I hate the term “whistleblower”. If everyone was doing there Bond routine, we wouldn’t need whistleblowers would we? Hey thanks for pointing out that the FBI is incompetent. Information we could have used YESTERDAY!

Our Friends the Saudi’s - - finally arrested some terrorists.It only took nine months.

Buchanan is Deep throat-a-palooza - - Josh Marshall just won’t give up his Pat Buchanan is “Deep Throat” theory. Whatever. But I did enjoy his other point that Chris Mathews is now playing “T-Ball” rather than “Hardball.”

Hollywood endings - - Jeremy Lott has a look at what the new Spielberg film, “Minority Report”, and our buddy Padilla (El Bomb-o Dirty-o Loco) have in common. I don’t buy it. Padilla has been classified as an enemy combatant, and it is not like he was just walking around doing nothing-he was traveling the world and hanging out with his peeps in al Qaeda. And this ain’t Bush’s “Wag the Dog” moment.

President’s & Soccer - - Tapped was wondering if Bush set a precedent by taking an interest in the World Cup by calling to Mexican President Fox prior to the 2-0 US Victory over Mexico. They had a reader inform them that Bill Clinton took interest in 1999’s women’s World Cup. Soccer? Righhhht! Yes it must be the soccer, surely it wasn’t because of the soccer babes?

Making Tom Ridge Look Good - - I caught this article suggesting Andy Card to be the Secretary of Homeland Security. It is not that I think Card would be that bad, but he hasn’t dazzled me lately. The article names bioterror guru Sen. Bill Frist too.

Every article about this speculation seems to write off Rudy Guiliani. Fair enough, but I think it would make more sense to keep Rudy inside the parameters of a job, rather than letting him freelance. Keep your friends close and Rudy closer.

Making Tom Ridge Look Good - - I caught this article suggesting Andy Card to be the Secretary of Homeland Security. It is not that I think Card would be that bad, but he hasn’t dazzled me lately. The article names bioterror guru Sen. Bill Frist too.

Every article about this speculation seems to write off Rudy Guiliani. Fair enough, but I think it would make more sense to keep Rudy inside the parameters of a job, rather than letting him freelance. Keep your friends close and Rudy closer.

A Wall for the 21st Century - - Israel is building its wall; The Palestinians continue to blow stuff up. And surprise Arafat doesn’t like the Big Fence deal. It seems he doesn’t like Condie Rice either, so it shows what he knows.

On the cover the Rolling Stone - - Tunku Varadarajan reveals the magazines drug obsession. But seriously how can any rock n’ roll magazine be taken seriously after having Jim Jeffords on the cover.

2004 Politics - - USA Today has an easy primer of Bush’s reelection strategy.

Worst Case scenarios - - Meanwhile ABC’s “The Note” has some possibilities on what could sway the 2002 elections (and no doubt 2004 too). Among them: More terrorist attacks, finding bin Laden, major Mideast conflict, and war with Saddam. But some of them are just silly: Enron stuff and environmental catastrophe linked to Bush policy. ABC wishes!

Fred on the war - - I have been reading Fred Reed for awhile now, and he is fantastic. His latest is about the war on terrorism. Read it all, but enjoy this:

“We dropped bombs on Al Qaeda, and probably on Mrs. Qaeda and all the little Qaedas, so Al just took them all to Pakistan to live until we went away and they could come back.

Then we were going to destroy the Axes of Evil. I puzzled on that. If I thought Evil had an ax, I'd get my deer gun and shoot him from a hundred yards, and keep the ax to cut firewood. But I'm simple.”

EU sucks up to Axis of Evil - - UPI has the story on the European Union by talking to Iran about trade. Maybe that Steel tariff thing that Bush pulled awhile back was the first case of preemption by the US.

Hello India, anyone home? - - Time has the dirt on India’s Executive Naptime guy. Read this:

“The frail bachelor seems shaky and lost, less an aging sage than an ordinary old man. He forgets names, even of longtime colleague and current Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, and during several recent meetings he appeared confused and inattentive. After a meeting with a Western Foreign Minister, his appearance was described by one attending diplomat as "half dead." At a rare press conference last month in Srinagar, the Prime Minister tottered to the podium—Indian TV crews are asked to film him from the waist up to avoid showing his shuffling gait—to find he had trouble understanding questions, repeatedly relying on whispered prompts from Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani. Even then Vajpayee stumbled over his replies. "He is very alert when he is functional," says one BJP worker. "But there are very few hours like that." Adds one Western diplomat: "We have a lot of conversations about his health. Some of his mannerisms come down to his personal style. But some of it is definitely spacey stuff."”

And people wonder why we like Musharraf?

Just Say No - - To imperialism. So says David Warren: “It is our business to defend ourselves, however, when we ourselves come under attack. This is the meaning of "the war on terrorism". As President Bush and all other spokesmen endeavour to make clear, or should endeavour, we are in it for ourselves, alone. We have enough trouble "nation-building" in our own nations, putting things together and taking them apart, by broad public consensus.”

The constitutionality of searching for dirty bombs - - Eugene Volokh has an interesting look at the issue of city wide Geiger searches for dirty bombs. Well worth the read, as is his other site The Volokh Conspiracy.

Watergate 30-year Celebration - - Over at Salon.com the pimping of who is Deep Throat begins. They begin buy trying to sell an $8 ebook by John Dean. It wasn’t even worthy of actually printing a book on dead tree, if that gives you any indication.

But according to the interview Salon does with Dean, he doesn’t name Mr. Throat, just gives a few possibilities. Gee thanks guys.

And what 30th Anniversary of Watergate wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory comparison of the Nixon “imperial presidency” to the Bush administration.

And it sure couldn’t be any better than the same old stuff that was trotted out five years ago for the 25th Anniversary. See here or here

Howard Kurtz has read the book so we don’t have to and reveals: “
he believes the source may be Pat Buchanan, the "Crossfire" veteran and three-time presidential candidate. Or former Nixon speechwriter Ray Price or Nixon assistant Steve Bull. Or ex-press secretary Ron Ziegler, despite the fact that Ziegler attacked The Washington Post's reporting on a ‘third-rate burglary.’”

Help, help we’re being repressed - - Good morning. I didn’t write anything on the Blog this weekend about that statement in the Guardian by the “prominent Americans”, but I have a short article on the whole deal over at Enterstageright.com

Stupid Rall Tricks - - This new Ted Rall column is sickening in its tone and conclusions. Sure we are all concerned about any loss of our civil rights, but good god man get a grip:

“America may well be a safer place because Jose Padilla has been "disappeared," in the lexicon of Latin American death squads. But the manner in which this American has been stripped of his citizenship rights-to a lawyer, to a speedy trial, to apply for bail-is reminiscent of such totalitarian states as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. What the Bushies are doing to Padilla is an outrage-and it could happen to any of us.”

Goldberg on Ozzy - - Thank the NR’s Lowry for allowing Jonah’s NRO piece today to be his NR piece on The Osbournes. Just started watching the show myself, and it is something to be hold.

Baseball Scholarship - - Interesting little piece in the NY Times on the small world of Baseball academia. Damn, and I studied political science.

Red Canada - - The Banana Counting Monkey has the details of what it costs to actually buy goods in Canada. 75% taxes!

Smokin’ - - On the other hand, I just finished smoking a fine Montecristo Cigar, so yeah Canada. Special props to my man Roberto who apparently traded his hat for it or something like that. Ah yes the barter system rules! Take that Castro!

”Shaq’s Super Powers” - - I wrote up a new article on all things Shaq for Opinionet.net. I hope you enjoy!

Slate.com loves Bill Walton - - Slate has a piece I missed yesterday, on how Bill Walton made the NBA Finals somewhat watchable. If he is the best “color man” out there, they should get someone else. Arguably the man knows the sport, but good god my buddies spend games 1-3 saying, “show us the stats man.” He spent valuable time shouting, “Throw it down” but told us nothing. The best analyst I saw was Tom Tolbert at pre-game and half time. Unfortunately, ABC has hired Walton for next year too.

Infernal Lakers - - Shaq won his third straight MVP in the Finals, and New Jersey was not good enough.

Quote of the day - - Paul Stanway writes, “In the post-Sept. 11 world, Canada is revealed as essentially defenceless. If our defence was a pair of pants, they would be around our knees, threatening to fall to the ground.”

World Military Spending - - May be up 2% last year, but that certainly isn’t because of Canada.

Is your teen a terrorist? - - Ken Layne has a list of sure-fire signs to watch out for if you suspect your teen is a terrorist.

Another 15 injured - - in a suicide bomb attack in Israel. Thankfully only the loser with the bomb died. Good!

Teflon Bush - - The polls are in, and even after the what did Bush know about 9/11 and when he knew it is taken into account, he has 77% support. Some suggested (see Matt Welch) that Bush was, “no longer receiving the benefit of the doubt,” but he appears to have navigated the problems and convinced people that a new department is necessary too.

France - - is eliminated from the world cup!

Month Nine - - Nine months after the 9/11 attacks today. The money keeps rolling into the major charities-some 2.3 billion so far. Little story on the company that is doing the stonework on the Pentagon. Nine months out and the two sites are mostly cleaned up-incredible.

EEEEEEEWWWWW - - Drudge has the link to this photo. What is someone you’d never want to kiss for $500 Alex.

Book Review time - - My new article over at Enterstageright.com is up today, and it is a book review of Tevi Troy’s Intellectuals and the American Presidency. A wonderful read!

Lakers 3, Nets 0 - - The Lakers continue to get the job done. Shaq and Kobe had a combined 71 points. Hello, that’s just damned near impossible to deal with. Kidd had 30 but it wasn’t enough. If anyone is to put a stop on the Laker onslaught they better start putting 150 pounds on a 7-foot center in a lab somewhere.

Some places you don’t want to know about - - Jeff Jarvis always has good stuff on his site. Although “good” may not be the words to describe the links to pictures of Arafat’s bedroom.

SHAQ 2, NETS 0 - - Lakers take game 2, er, sorry Shaq takes game 2. Kidd didn’t have a point in the first half. Pretty hard to win basketball games that way boys.

Lou Dobbs Moneyline - - And further evidence that the era of business shows being able to just talk business is over. Lou Dobbs is getting plenty of positive press for being the first to abandon the phrase “war on terror” and replacing it with “war on Islamists.”

Charles Johnson has even more of Dobbs straight talk. Who knew?

Drop everything - - AND READ PEGGY NOONAN. The article is basically arguing that we need to overcome the vanity and absurdity of the past decade in order to be victorious in this war. Yesterday someone mentioned that Bush’s speech was the last one with an assist by Karen Hughes. I’ve got an idea to help Bush on his message. Hire Peggy Noonan! She is tone perfect. Plus it would get her off slumming for Aaron Sorkin.

The Democrats sole “move” - - It would appear that the Democrats have got nothing right now-nothing to say, nothing to offer. Their “move” seems to be trying to persuade another Jeffords defection. They surely cannot become as some have suggested the war party.

We have stock markets? - - since 9/11 interest level in the stock markets (at least compared to the huge run of the late 1990’s) has been off the radar. So I was actually interested to read the Drudge headline on the current woes. The NASDAQ is at 1524! And the DOW is at 9554! Who knew?

Is it wrong - - to secretly hope that the future glue source “War Emblem” will lose the triple crown? You think I loathe the world cup; horse racing is simply not cool? The Weekly Standard has the dish on the Saudi owned horse.

Meanwhile in the Senate - - While the Senate Judiciary Committee spent the day questioning Robert Mueller and the media darling in disco era glasses, they also had to break repeatedly to pass a $31.5 billion anti-terror bill.

Democrats were enraged that some Republicans had the nerve to vote against this bill : "Tell your people back home they don't need this protection," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. "Tell them, don't tell us."

Interesting Mr. Byrd.

By a 65-31 vote the Senate kept $2.5 million for mapping the Hawaiian coral reefs. Must have missed that FBI warning.

By a 66-30 vote the Senate kept $2 million for storing preserved animals at the Smithsonian. Again, never got that FBI warning. We have to improve the storage of specimens or the terrorists win!!

$200 million for AIDS overseas? Hey it could have been $500 million!

$73 million in flood relief? Hey I hate the terrorists too, but by the will of Allah, I doubt this really has anything to do with terrorism.

$2.5 million for foot and mouth disease research.

$50 million in aid to our friends the Palestinians. How much of that will end up paying families of suicide bombers?

The Bush Speech - - Pre-reaction to the speech tonight was mixed. Josh Marshall gets it pretty right (in anticipation anyways). But he says that the timing is in response to the political heat-which seems to me to be a bit of a cheap shot. (Politics? Really) The line I was hearing was that Ridge was going to recommend something like this in a month anyway so I give the Bush Admin credit for going early with this one.

Marshall does rightly suggest that Tom Ridge should not become the new cabinet secretary. I only sort of agree, he is great to have around to make the rest of the A Team (Rummy, Cheney, Rice) look damned good.

Sullivan gives the Pres a solid “B.” I would give him a tentative B, but I think, and he has shown repeatedly to be at least a step or two ahead (He lulls even his neo-con fiends into thinking he went wobbly, then comes out and restates his new doctrine of preemption while reports of post-Saddam Iraq start swirling). In this case, I would like to think that Ridge would stay on until it is time to name the new head honcho and then it will appear, almost magically, that Rudy is available. But I would also like to see Woolsey back in cabinet.

Our Friend India - - I am going to take a slightly contrarian line with the India-Pakistan showdown. India may be a democracy but they are damned crazy. Every time it appears to cool off, they start talking war plans.

World cup action III - - Somehow I managed to miss Sullivan’s latest article on Soccer and whether it is an omen of a growing gulf between America and the rest of the world. Um, no. I think not. But nice reading nevertheless.

Place yer bets - - Pejman Yousefzadeh confirms my views that we are going into Iraq. I was a bit worried when many started claiming that Bush was wobbling, but give the man time, it is going to happen. (Via Instapundit)

UPI has the goods on plans for post-Saddam Iraq. Is there a war plan on Bush’s desk? Well he claims not, but if it is in his back pocket is it really deceiving Europe-and more importantly do we care?

The Czech’s are still defending the Atta-Iraq meeting in 2001.

NBA Finals Game 1 - - Lakers take the first game 99-94, but let me stress that it was, at least a game-well after the first quarter. Jason Kidd had another triple double, and he played Kobe about as tough as could be-and Kobe still had some awesome dunks. As to who would guard, and I use that term loosely, Shaq it seemed that it was no one. But it is going to be a series, thankfully.

NBA FINALS - - I am off to watch game one of the NBA Finals. Slate.com has an interesting piece on Keith Van Horn as the key to the Net’s chances, not as I would suggest Jason Kidd. We’ll see. The question is who gets the job of guarding Shaq?

Note: More on the Game, Arafat, and whatever other stories develop after the game.

Back to Arafat’s compound - - Israel has re-entered the compound of Arafat. This quickly after the latest suicide bomber killed 17 Israeli’s and injured some three dozen others early today. Now, this could very well be Arafat’s last time in his deadly game, but the suicide bomber today is poorly timed as both Sharon, and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak are coming to visit Washington.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility saying it was to mark the 35th anniversary of the 1967 war. But it certainly is conveniently sabotaging any possible movement on peace when prominent leaders are on route to the US in the near future. (Surprise, surprise)

World Cup action II - - Here is a sure way to shut of the masses of World Cuppers. Some day the US will win the cup-think of the hooliganism that day.

World Cup action - - Think I’m going to post about the world cup? Ha Ha. Ken Layne takes on the world cuppers and the globalization of the NBA in his latest Foxnews.com article.

Choice cut: “I get a little ticked off being told to appreciate "football" by the rest of the world while everything from America is roundly denounced as U.S. cultural imperialism.”

Downright creepy - - This Washington Post article (via Slate.com) seems to think that Chandra Levy may be a case for cloning.

Bear Country - - Enjoying my life picking up the table scraps from the bloging world banquet table. I am in the bottom of the food chain of the bloggers.

Megatons of fun - - I reviewed the new Jack Ryan movie for Enterstageright.com this weekend. ”Megatons of fun” takes a look at “The Sum of all fears” and a bunch of other references including Zoolander, Pierre Trudeau, and Back to the future. I hope you enjoy.

Banana Republic’s never looked so good - - The past eight days have seen two cabinet shakedowns in the Canadian government. This Reuters report headline says it all: ”Chretien Sacks Finance Minister Martin” Watch the Loonie fall! Hazzuh!

Lakers win - - Great series of basketball enjoyed by all-well perhaps not Damian Penny. But the Lakers did finally get a true challenge. It was a total coming out party for Mike Bibby as a damned fine player (where was he when he was playing for the Grizz?). And this rivalry is far from over-and fans will enjoy that.

Shaq and Kobe played with everything they had for two straight games, and Shaq was no where to be found post game as he was exhausted! That was a series! The Nets will be tanned, rested, and ready. Hopefully another tough series-but the fact is I think you know who will end up the winner.