VDH: Decline is in the Mind. This is one of my favorite posts by VDH, a former professor of Classics and military historian, and it put some things in perspective for me. Decline is in the mind, and it's also a choice. America doesn't have to throw in the towel and let China take the lead. That is not predestined.
Canadian Woman Survives Deadly Cancer with Miracle Procedure... in America. It doesn't explicitly mention it in the article, but the Mayo clinic she had her procedure in is located in America. We'll see how long that sort of headline lasts after our healthcare system fully realizes the new legislation. I hope we don't see any decline in those sorts of headlines, though. I sincerely hope I am wrong and the healthcare legislation transforms our system for the better. But just save this article when people brag about Canadian healthcare.
Jewish Viking Blogger Re-evaluates His Feelings About Germany. Actually, I harbor no ill will against ze Germans; I love their food, I love their beer, and their women ain't bad either. Just gotta keep our eyes open for the telltale signs if they start to revert back to their 1930's attitudes. I was actually thinking about it earlier last week, how people often dismiss the anti-semitic comments from the usual suspects (Mahmoud Imadinnerjacket comes to mind) as just a political rhetorical flourish to please the fundamentalist base. It's very hard for Jews to dismiss eliminationist comments as empty threats, when, given the opportunity, people who spoke that way DID try to eliminate us. So yeah, that might be why Israel takes Iranian threats very, very seriously. Last time we didn't take such comments seriously, it didn't end well for us.
Best Dad Evah. Alternate Headline: British Guy Really Loves Fat Chicks. Cost to the taxpayer: 1.5 million pounds, which is equal to the combined weight of his ten girlfriends.
I've always been a huge fan of the Quaids. Denny Q-ballz is great for a trillion reasons (Dragonheart, Frequency being the first two I can think of). Randy Q-ballz is great for even more reasons (Not Another Teen Movie, Midnight Express, Independence Day), but most recently I love him for this: Randy Quaid Arrested for Squatting. I thought he would never measure up to Denny, seeing as Dragonheart is the greatest movie of all time (I mean c'mon, Sean Connery is a Dragon, Professor Lupin is an evil ginger king, Pete Postlethwaite joins to make the best cast evar). This might put him on the level.
We already knew Sasha Baron Cohen could do gay, but can he do Zoroastrian? Sasha Baron Cohen Slated to Play Freddie Mercury in Biopic. I hope he's good for the role, because if they fuck up a Freddie Mercury biopic, they'll have legions of angry Queen fans at their throats, myself included. Here's to the greatest vocalist in rock 'n roll history.
SEXIST! Harry Reid Calls Kirsten Gillibrand "Hottest Member of Senate." NOW, please notify me when after you have sent him a letter of reprimand.
Having just fasted for the holiday of Yom Kippur, I do find this practice a bit... unsettling. Jews Twirl Dead Chickens Above Their Heads. I found a Reform Jewish Temple out here (never found one when I was stationed in California) and I had a nice time going to services for the High Holy Days. It's funny to go to temple and see people dressed in Hawaiian floral shirts, and it was the highest population of Asian Jews I've ever seen in once place. The Rabbi was pretty good, but he has a funny speech impediment and sounds like one of the Spathi from Star Control 2. Pretty damn funny.
Suuuuuuuuuure you did, Dave. David Letterman: Yeah, I Knew Joaquin Phoenix's Interview Was a Hoax.
Media Lefty Admits Media Bias for Democrats. Nothing we didn't know here, but I like to repeat it to drill the point home. Especially when prominent, well-known leftists admit that the media will literally play cover for the D's.
More on Delaware and the O'Donnell race... I'm still of the opinion that I preferred Mike Castle as a candidate, but Christine O'Donnell is who the primary voters of Delaware wanted, and the GOP in Delaware should get behind her instead of playing sore loser. Sore loser also being played in Alaska, where entrenched establishment politician lost the primary and instead of endorsing the GOP candidate, has continued to smear him and conduct a write in campaign. Back to the topic of O'Donnell, I think the lefty meme about her being a witch is way off the mark. I've done stuff in HS that I'm not proud of, and that would look terrible on a campaign. It's not fair, but the Dems will do it to her as the GOP would do it to Dems with shady pasts. To prove my point, let's take the O'Donnell/Carter Quiz! I scored a perfect score, 100% ;). Don't cheat, and see if you'll be surprised. The takeaway from the quiz, for me, was not that O'Donnell or Jimmy Carter are loons because of crazy things they've said in the past taken out of context, but that pretty much everybody says crazy shit sometimes. If I ran for office in 20 years, do you think I'd be the same person as I am now? And do you think that the admittedly crazy things I've said here, taken out of context, could seem pretty damning? I sure do, my mom's even worried about my employment when I get out of the military because of this blog. In the quiz article is a quote from O'Donnell that actually warms me up to her a great deal, so hopefully that's really who she is and I underestimated her.
If there's one link you click on in this entire post, let it be the VDH post that I linked to first. If you click on TWO links this entire post, take the O'Donnell/Carter quiz. It'll challenge your preconceived notions and all that (well, I scored 100% but that's mostly because I'm a smart ass and guessed at the game, I didn't truly know the answers).
How Dogs Got Domesticated. Awesome video, I want a pet fox.
58% of Middle East Muslims Oppose Ground Zero Mosque? Talk about pre-conceived notions, consider my mind blown. Of course, I wouldn't take those numbers at face value; polling is often about the way questions are worded and the samples used. But I'm too lazy to do due diligence, so I'm stickin' with the article. Actually, the numbers aren't the important part of the article, just good for a headline. This is a very good article, read it. I particularly love the story about Caliph Omar, and the way Fouad Ajami relates it to his larger point.
I had previously seen the Facebook: Civil War Edition, but today my BFF Dr. Ago sent me a new one of Facebook: Historical Events. I am posting both pictures side by side, you'll need to click on them to make them larger so you can see, they're both really funny.
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