The Positivity of Absolute Value

Well, I am off to the spectacular Ventana Canyon resort for a weekend of long overdue solitary confinement.

Blogging will be non-existent until Sunday as I have been forbidden to bring the lap-top and am under direct orders to not even mention the word blog for the duration of the getaway. What is that?

But I will see you all Sunday and hopefully I will have pictures.

Here is a short video from the new movie Superman Returns, which shows a young Clark Kent discovering some of his powers.

This is followed by a picture slide and commentary by Brian Singer, giving a little history on how some of the movie was shot.

I am going to see this film the day after tomorrow and I can't even tell you how ecstatic I am. I have looked forward to this movie more so than any other that I have ever seen. I was the biggest Superman geek growing up. I would watch them over and over again until the VHS tape would wear out and my parents would have to replace them.

A review will shortly follow what is sure to be one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who talk on cellphones while driving, even using "hands-free" devices, are as impaired as drunk drivers, researchers said on Thursday.

"If legislators really want to address driver distraction, then they should consider outlawing cell phone use while driving," said Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Utah who worked on the study.

If you have ever worked in a Drive-Thru you know how true, and alarming this is. People refuse to get off their phones and are so distracted that they can't even have a cohesive transaction with you. This is a good 20 to 25 percent of the time. After watching them fumble over simple tasks while static, like remembering not to drive away without what they have just paid for, really makes you wonder how they will perform on the busy rush hour roads.

Just returned from my four day a week before school morning coffee with best friend outing, which was amazing as usual.

There was one thing out of place this morning however, we were asked to do a short interview for the Daily Wildcat. Which is fine, I kind of know what it's like to gather information and write short pieces for a respectable outfit...Ahem.

Anyway, this young lady was doing a piece on paid vacation and how the research is apparently showing that more and more people are letting their vacation expire at the end of the fiscal year, instead of making the mad dash to try and fit it in wherever possible. I couldn't find any of said research (though I didn't really look all that hard) so it could have been research that she herself is conducting and has yet to publish.

Regardless, is this story really worth the time and effort? I guess when you're just a college paper reporter trying to get your feet wet you write what you have to.

Jihad Watch reports:

An audio message attributed to Usama bin Laden, the Emir of al-Qaeda, in which he speaks of the martyrdom of the Emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was issued today, June 29 2006, by as-Sahab. The 19:16 minute speech features two panels atop Arabic subtitles; one panel featuring a static image of bin Laden and the other of footage from Zarqawi’s video speech, "A Message to the People," from April 2006.

Apparently this may or may not actually be Bin-Laden, which given the almost month long delay makes sense, but the powers that be at Jihad Watch seem to be confident.

I present it as I can for my part, take it for what you will.

I meant to post this earlier.
I couldn't stop laughing, until it set in that I wasn't reading the Onion.

Then a general melancholy perched itself upon my chest and I was sad for existence.
But I'm better now and it is just funny again.

(Pulled from Althouse)

Austin Bay has begun his ongoing round-up of the last five years of the War on Terror:

In retrospect America has fought this global war -–and is winning it- with little help or sacrifice from its economic and media elites. Lack of service and sacrifice are one thing, outright hindrance another. Pessimism and defeatism do hinder- both sap will. However, in this war, elite pessimism and defeatism have not produced defeat.

Whether that pessimism and defeatism are warranted or not remains to be seen.

(Pulled from Instapundit)

I read the Unity 08' Declaration of Independance; give it a read, perhaps you should too.

Austin Bay on The New York Times and their recent intelligence leak:

Call it the Washington Beltway's "Axis of Abuse": irresponsible reporters and editors collaborating with agenda-ed, unnamed "leakers."

The exposure of a legal and productive counter-terror intelligence operation on the front page of the June 23 edition of The New York Times is the latest abusive and dangerous example of this Beltway hustle. "Leakers" in this particular case is too weak a term -- exposing the finance-monitoring program amounts to spying for terrorists.

He raises good points in his article.
He also refers to Glenn Reynold's take on Bill Keller's letter of explanation, which I am particularly fond of.

Glenn Reynolds has this:

Unfortunately, it's no longer just a matter of speculation. The World Health Organization has now confirmed its first case of human-to-human transmission. That's still a long way from a strain that's as virulent as ordinary flu, but it's another step closer to something that might spur a worldwide pandemic.

Don't worry, it's not all hellfire and brimstone Armageddon gnashing of the unrighteous teeth reporting, but I thought that might get your attention.

Hey kind of like a real reporter huh?
Shock you in to reading the news.

Is your child in danger of spontaneously combusting?
Find out tonight at six o'clock on the evening news with Joshua Lutz.

Not bad eh? I hate that crap.
Anyhow, back to the article, it really is an important read. It's filled with more preparatory information and some encouraging words that should keep you from jumping off the roof of the house head first.

The bird flu is bad; that's a true statement. But it isn't world ending bad any more than the tsunami or the hurricane or the earthquake were. Again, they were bad, claimed the lives of far too many people; but we are still here. As we always will be.

Just be prepared and you'll be fine.

Good for him and his country.

Lord knows the ACLU would never let anything that damned efficient happen in this country, even though that is precisely what needs to happen; because it's exactly what these terrorists are doing to us.

So let the Russians go out and get them, kudos.

Nouri Lumendifi of The Moor Next Door gives some thoughts on China's diplomacy with the Arab speaking world versus that same diplomacy conducted by the United States:

It is not surprising that Sherif Hamdy can write in the Daily Star that China is getting close to beating out the United States in the arena of public relations in the Arab World. I have seen maybe one or two American officials speak Arabic on Al Jazeera or Al Arabiyya regularly, and, according to the Government accountability office (via Foreign Policy Magazine's blog and Kirk H. Sowell), only about 30% of American diplomatic personel in the Muslim world have proficancy in their host country's language. At the US embassies in almost every Arabic speaking country I have visited (Algeria, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and Lebanon), I have met US personel who struggled to communicate in Arabic, and in some I heard not one word of the language aside from "Salaam" or "Ahlan".

What is sad is the reality of these observations.
The United States has grown consistently less and less proficient at producing students who are even capable of speaking correct English, let alone those who have sufficiently mastered a second or third language.

Of course we are losing the battle for Arab diplomacy. There are surely a vast array of technical arenas where we are being outperformed because we can't directly communicate with the native people.

The education system in the United States is pitiful, and until we can elect an administration who has the gumption to revamp the department, and who will refuse to allow inefficient management and sub-par standards; we will continue to suffer these embarrassing inadequacies.

Iraq the Model has some encouraging news:

Seven militant groups announced their desire to join the political process in accordance with the reconciliation project and said they were ready to enter a truce and stop the violence.

MP Hassan al-Sinaid-whose close to PM Maliki-said third parties conveyed the message of the seven groups confirming that they were not involved in Iraqi bloodshed suggesting they're eligible to benefit from the initiative.

In case you haven't heard of the 24-point reconciliation plan that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has offered to those terrorists who might renounce violence, and who haven't already committed violent attacks on Americans; Austin Bay has a round-up here.

Also, NPR's Jaime Tarabay was on the scene yesterday and her report can be found here, along with another NPR report on party contention over the issue in the Senate.

The two major arguments respectively:

Left: We have spent far too much time, energy and money toppling a sadistic dictator and attempting to help rebuild a nation, to condone amnesty to those who are known insurgents willing to say that they will renounce their violent past.

Right: We have spent far too much time, energy and money liberating a former dictatorship and giving them their sovereignty to keep meddling in their affairs. They need to begin making their own decisions. Let Iraq become the democracy that we have helped build.

I tend to lean toward the latter argument. You don't raise a child into young adulthood, giving them the resources and funding they need, only to persistently try and control their lives and micromanage them. That is just bad form. Iraq needs to be an adult now, and we need to let them.

Ann Althouse on Astrology:

While I think it's perfectly idiotic to actually believe in astrology, I think many people are either playing with it -- using it to stimulate thinking about themselves and their relationships -- or trying to make money off of the people who enjoy fooling around with it.

In my opinion she is right on.

Perfect poppycock in every way, if taken seriously. If used as an economic beneficiary however, I find it quite amusing and am generally fine with it.

I feel the same way about Nicolas Sparks novels or Thomas Kinkade paintings. If these romantic storytellers or painters of light actually believe in, and can honestly promote their work as serious pieces of legitimate art, then they are quite full of crap. However, if these gentlemen know exactly what they're doing, namely generating rehashed and not so original faux-art, simply to make a penny off of the sheep who would be duped by a phenomenal marketing team; then kudos, I tip my hat.

It's the people who actually believe some of this stuff that scare me.

(Pulled from Instapundit.)

Jihad Watch reports:

Diplomats have said Iran was asked to reply by June 29 to the offer, but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday Teheran would take until August 22 to answer.

On Friday, Javad Vaidi, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told AFP that suspending uranium enrichment will be neither a precondition for talks with world powers on its nuclear activities nor an outcome of those discussions.

It seems that if talks are generally positive and the outcome looks perpetually more and more promising, then we should just give them until August 22nd.

Then again, they could just be buying time all the while continuing their current enrichment program. Such a bind.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has somewhat defiantly issued President Bush a resounding no on his request for the California Governor to issue another 1500 guardsmen to the Arizona/Mexico border for enhanced support.

While I don't think that Governor Schwarzenegger can do much to save a miserably failed term, he can at this point play the role of what baseball fans refer to as the spoiler. The team that is clearly out of the race but somehow miraculously becomes a force to be reckoned right when it is too late.

Good for him.

Not that the GOP needs much help spoiling their own efforts at this point. Where the democrats can't seem to buy a solid decision, the republicans are making far more than their share and drowning themselves with their own policy.

Still, looking at the nearly lost state of the democrats disorganization, any self-defeatism on the part of the red is assuredly welcome.

Michelle Malkin and her band of cronies are a little miffed at the New York Times for reporting on the potential troop cuts by the end of 2007.

There are a number of colorful and mostly quite funny posters speaking out against the Times, particularly Bill Keller, for breaking the story.

Give them a gander.

He is trying to convince us that Beirut is a hot spot destination of we are out touring the world.

He's right too, I am a little skeptical, but then he is over there.
I'm just in sunny Tucson, trying to survive the 110 degree hellstorm that is our typical summer.

Reuters:

U.S. health officials on Friday approved the use of a new HIV drug, made by Johnson & Johnson, in combination with related therapies to help treat patients who do not first improve with other treatment.

The drug, Prezista, is a protease inhibitor designed to treat resistant strains of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Given the 25th anniversary of the disease has just passed, and there are around 40 million people worldwide afflicted with it, any news of possibly combating the disease with new and promising methods is welcome.

If you respect your own privacy even a wink, you will run out and buy this immediately.

Forget about what you would look like in public, most other people do.
This is simply a must have, and you don't even have to put on make-up.

Richard Morin, columnist for the Washington Post asks if Jon Stewart is an enemy of democracy.

As if comedy were the problem with politics in this country.
I think we should reduce this a little further and discuss the problem closer to its root, which Morin himself mentions in his post:

That's particularly dismaying news because the show is hugely popular among college students, many of whom already don't bother to cast ballots.

Why does he think that is? Can that also be blamed on Jon Stewart? Or perhaps the Onion or Saturday Night Live; or any late night talk show for that matter? The list of those who parody every aspect of our government each and every day goes on and on.

To me this article sounds a little like an older brother blaming the younger for flushing the youngest sister's Barbie clothes down the toilet.

The reason that young people do not vote is because they have no political awareness. That is because they don't read newspapers or watch the news. Why is that? Yes, part of it is the generation's near complete lack of attention span, but there is no way that is accounting for all of it.

Frankly, the mainstream media, Mr. Morin included don't seem up to the challenge of hooking my generation with reporting that is worth our time. This is why someone like myself has turned to the blogosphere for my daily information, where I know I will find engaging and insightful reporting. Because despite what Mr. Morin and others of older eras think of us, we really are an information hungry generation. The older generations are charged with getting that info to us, and a lot of the time they are failing in their role.

So my advice to these reporters, and mainstream media in general:

Do a better job, or continuously be pestered by the Achilles heel that is the mighty Jon Stewart.

Glenn Reynolds is quickly moving up the ladder toward hero status. He has this at Glenn Reynolds.com, and I must say that is a stellar observation.

I have been racking my brain over this trying to come up with something significant that has both occurred and been consistent over the last three decades, and I have been hard pressed to come up with a better explanation. Perhaps that really is the reason.

Take the Hitler vs. Coulter quiz.

See how well you know your crazies.
I managed to get 12 out of 14. I don't know Coulter all that well, but I do know my Hitler.

According to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who met with Iran's foreign minister yesterday, Tehran is considering the package deal that several members of the UN counsel has offered them "very, very seriously."

President Bush however seems unhappy with the August 22nd deadline Iran has set for itself to give an official response to the deal which would include a civilian nuclear program, among other incentives that Iran has been without since the revolution in the late seventies.

Here is a great piece from NPR about the coming congressional elections and the state of both parties and their candidates leading up to November.

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit is among the guests, along with Adrian Wooldridge of the Economist
and Ken Rudin, who writes the column "Political Junkie" for NPR.

It's a great clip to listen to as you get to hear a few different perspectives from some fairly intelligent individuals. Though even better were the caller comments which put into a more clear context where voters may stand come election time.

According to Church of the Churchless, "Bible and The Da Vinci Code are both fiction."

Ah how true it is.
While I don't agree with the Brian or the site itself, being the atheist I am, I still very much appreciate this post.

Andrew Sullivan has some issues with the Bush administration, and vents his frustrations in this recent post.

Building his argument on the Ron Suskind book "The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit Of Its Enemies Since 9/11," Sullivan accepts the account he refers to in his post as true and lashes out at the president for his unforgivable monstrosities.

Perhaps the account told in Suskind's book is true, and perhaps it isn't. That is for someone else to know and me to find out.

However, since Sullivan opens his post by asking "How can anyone trust him if Ron Suskind's account is true?" Implying that he himself is not quite sure of the validity of the information found in the book. At least that is the question taken at face value. If there are some hidden subtleties or sarcastic connotations that I am missing, then please forgive a naive observer of public information.

If though there aren't, and Sullivan isn't sure of the truth, perhaps he should be less quick to hurl spiteful judgments and demeaning titles on another man. Without the truth that is after all, libel.

Testing missiles again ey?

Pissing the world off again.
Condoleezza Rice is none to happy with Pyongyong's decision to move forward with an imminent missile launch that reportedly could reach Alaska, calling it a "provocative act."

They have proven to be quite stubborn over the last couple of years, but it's almost like they know they can get away with it. Members of the United Nations have consistently vetoed any US interference with their nuclear program. Setting an example and making everyone's lives more difficult in the long run.

Not being a real reporter, charged with reporting "real news," I am free to report on the things that interest me, the things that I find useful and entertaining, basically whatever I want. That is the beauty of the blogosphere.

Having said that I should say that when it comes to our soldiers who are fighting the good fight in Iraq, one would be hard pressed to find a negative piece of reporting anywhere on this blog. I am simply not interested in finding the negative press that they receive and then reposting it here for my readers to see. I figure all they have to do is open any newspaper or turn on any television in any given time of the day, and they will be flooded with said negative coverage to their hearts content. That is the MSM's self-appointed goal.

However, on this sad day I must report the ill news I have received.
NPR has this:

Three U.S. soldiers have been charged with premeditated murder after being accused of shooting three detainees north of Baghdad on May 9 and then threatening to kill a fellow soldier if he told the truth about the incident.

Now of course this is an isolated incident and in no way reflects the overall attitudes or actions of the US military. It is just a very unfortunate incident.

Apparently the technology giant has visions of grandeur in the form of a new itunes store by the end of the year, complete with motion pictures galore.

This is potentially an excellent idea. I say potentially because while I do most of my movie watching on my PC, and would most definitely watch them on my ipod; I certainly wouldn't pay normal retail price for them. And as the article points out, I don't think many other people will either.

Jobs wants all titles to be $9.99, which is an awesome prospect. However this time he is up against Hollywood and the big box offices, who are notoriously much more hard headed than any other media entity out there.

We'll see if Steve can work his magic once again.

Glenn at Instapundit has this, which includes a video with Diana Irey responding to Congressman John Murtha's "Meet the Press" interview yesterday.

She is none to happy with Murtha and says that she has "hundreds and hundreds" of people who agree with her.

We'll see.

Ann Althouse has thoughts.

Democratic congressman John Murtha, the administrations most audible critic of the war in Iraq, was interviewed by host Tim Russert of "Meet the Press" today, and the display was just embarrassing. Murtha's comments failed to make even grammatical sense most of the time, let alone logical sense. Try reading the transcript, it's like grading kindergarten papers in an English as a Second language class.

Getting to the real issue however, which will be nothing that Ann hasn't pointed out in her post, Murtha had an opportunity to set things straight for his party. He had an opportunity to build a responsible and coherent platform on which fellow party members could have built successful campaigns running up to the November elections.
Basically he had every opportunity to not look and act like an aggressive, bumbling idiot.

Blew that one.

If I were a democrat I would be a little upset that a public figure and decorated war veteran like Murtha, who has been able to raise such a ruckus over the war in recent months, wasn't able to present a strong and willful argument. It didn't even need to be a very good argument, it only needed to make a little sense and not be outright dangerous. If only he could have concisely stated his position with strength as a leader, his party would have backed him.

Now I have to wonder where he will find his future support, because I don't think it will be coming as freely as it has in the past. At least I hope it doesn't.

As I am sure everyone has gathered by this point, I have no real definitive stance on politics; because I believe there is no real definitive stance in politics to be taken.

I am a centrist libertarian, a fiscal conservative and a scientific liberal.
The study that is linked to above, which I am sure you have read by now, is the embodiment of the current administrations arrogance.

Whether they wish to acknowledge the ideals presented in the text or not, is a different point of debate all together. What is not up for debate are the millions of Americans that feel the things the article points out.

America has been quite apathetic up to this point, more so than I have seen them to be in a very long time. But I don't think they will remain there for very long. This country was founded on revolution, it would be naive to think that it could not happen again. Especially in this day and age when everyone is more than happy and willing to stand face to face with another human, because in this day and age everyone sees digital.

No one and nothing really exists.
We are all simply living out the existence that has been granted us right?

Good gracious I hope not.

Time reports.

Apparently the United States came uncomfortably close to a New York City terrorist attack that would have involved a poison gas reminiscent of a WWII style mass execution.

Evidently, we had little to do with the termination of this mission.
It was no intelligence breakthrough or clever military detective work. On the contrary, it was Ayman Zawahiri, Bin-Laden's right hand man himself that called off the operation 45 days before impact.

What is unclear is why.
I must be the skeptic here and say that it was no good will or new found humaneness that led to this decision. I am inclined to believe that there were some tactical setbacks and given the intelligence he had, the decision was made to postpone for optimum efficiency.

I hope I am wrong. I hope that all if a sudden Zawahiri decided that cold blooded murder might no longer be his preferred ball of wax. But let's be realistic here, there had to be a solid terrorist type reason for the decision. Otherwise he would just be a sub-par terrorist. And I don't know about you but I have come to expect more from my terrorists. I want the best damnit, not these lolly-gaggers who might get all human on me.

(Pulled from Instapundit)

Well, this was only a matter of time.

It will be interesting to see if these people are actually able to pull any weight.
I haven't been following the Center for Science in the Public Interest's legal action against KFC owner Yum Brands Inc, so I am not sure if that will turn out to be a serious case or yet another pathetic, yet entertaining debacle that publicly humiliates the American legal system; we tend to see a lot of those.

I also understand the overtly minuscule Starbucks workers union is backing the decision to target Starbucks as a chief dealer of obesity. That's wonderful. I remember when that whole thing went down. A few partners in a few stores in New York decided that because of their particular lot, they were going to start a Union.

I am only going to say two things to that:

1. I have worked in nine different stores in under three years with seven different managers. Each and every one of them were different. Some were decent managers, able to make a noticeable difference in both the daily operations of the store, as well as in the partners lives. Others were not so on par to the point where I have nearly thrown my keys on the desk and walked out.

2. The whole unionizing thing was over a year ago. One would think that if truly justified, a union would be able to recruit more than a few members from three stores in more than a year.

Yes Starbucks has fattening beverages, but so does everyone else.
Is this and excuse? No. I think that the company should continually try and set itself apart by striving to meet the necessary standards of the market, as they have proven to do so in the past.
I am also a little tired of the mindless lawsuits that are filed by the schooner load each day in this confrontation happy country. Give it up.
If you have to file a lawsuit against an entity that ends in Co., you not only have too much time on your hands, but you are wasting the time and energy of those of us who choose to use our brains.

There seems to be some mixed messages coming out of Iran, though it isn't like this hasn't been the case in the past, and it certainly is to be expected.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Teheran has denied accusations by the US and its allies that Iran was seeking uranium enrichment technologies in order to develop nuclear weapons, saying its program was only meant to generate electricity. Meanwhile, Turkmani told reporters that Syria and Iran's "policy is the policy of strengthening resistance and tackling the threats of United States and Israel."

It is a matter of tact at this point.
Sure the United States is home to the greatest abundance of nuclear weapons in the world. However, not only do we have an army of activists engaged in a serious struggle to strip the United States of its nuclear powers (while facing relatively minimal resistance from the federal government), we have also never claimed that our nuclear weapons cache had anything to do with our military defense system.

If there is one thing I am confident in saying, it's that the United States, this administration in particular, realizes that nuclear warfare would be the worst possible strategic option not only for us, but for the entire global community.

I stress here again that Iran must be stopped.
Though it is imperative they be stopped with nothing more than tacit and relentless diplomacy.

Myway reports:

The al-Qaida in Iraq document was translated and released by Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie. There was no way to independently confirm the authenticity of the information attributed to al-Qaida.

Although the office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the document was found in al-Zarqawi's hideout following a June 7 airstrike that killed him, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the document had in fact been found in a previous raid as part of an ongoing three-week operation to track al-Zarqawi.

So right away one is suspicious of the validity of this document, even if only a little.
Still, If you read the entire article you will get the overall impression that officials are taking the document seriously, and they are interpreting it as very good news.

And I'm sure very good news is welcome with open arms by the administration at this point.

(Pulled from Althouse)

Man, talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Do you think this will be considered a hit and run?

On a serious note though, if the officers were simply doing their job to the best of their abilities, and they made a simple, albeit terrible mistake; can/should they be held accountable to the law? And what law would that be?

The Associated Press reports that al-Qaida in Iraq has replaced its former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

His replacement, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer made an internet statement today vowing swift retribution:

"Don't be overcome with joy about killing our sheik Abu Musab, God bless his soul, because he has left lions behind him,"

and,

"You crusaders, what will happen in the coming days is something that will turn your children's hair white — battles that will reveal the falsehood of (your) might, the weakness of your soldiers and your lies,"

Still, one has to wonder about the organizational leadership of alQaidaa in Iraq. Zarqawi died on the 7th. That was a full six days ago now. Yes, it can be said that it has only been six days, but they are at war. Decisions need to be made much quicker than that when you are on the battlefield.

If the new leader wishes to make such bold statements about the coming wrath of terror, he should take a good look at the state of his military, and the state of the military he is up against. If that has indeed happened, it is not apparent by their decision making abilities.

I mean it isn't as though we took out Bin-Laden himself. Zarqawi was one of many generals. And if he indeed left lions (plural) behind, then it should take far less than six days to replace him. If it were one of our generals we would have had a replacement the next day.

Even if it were our President, we would have had a replacement the next day.
I don't know, perhaps it is bold of me to expect alQaidaa leadership to have even close to the same level of organization that our military has. But if you intend to win a war, especially one against the worlds most powerful nation, maybe you should think about tightening your leadership.

And if you can't do that, then maybe you should call it a day.

Andrew Sullivan shares a few words on the comedic talent of Ann Coulter:

She is a comedian, nothing more, nothing less. I find her infinitely amusing, and most of what she says I agree with. However, the media (and Coulter herself) like to portray her as some leader of conservative thought. She's not.

Yes she does play herself up as the quintessential Achilles heel.
Yes she does find the hot button issues and takes the most radical view possible on them just to ruffle some feathers. There is still one big misfortune however, she takes herself seriously.
That is what sets a comedian apart from the rest of humanity, they are joking.

I'm not saying she has ever said or done anything that has offended me, she hasn't. One because I am not a liberal, and two because I don't have the time to waste on someone of her stature.
And even though I usually respect people who go out of there way to be over the top ridiculous to get a laugh (ie Stephen Colbert), Ann Coulter is simply not funny.

Ann Althouse, who may be my favorite republican, has an update on the YearlyKos convention that is taking place in Vegas this weekend.

Apparently the blogosphere is getting more and more love from the democratic party, which is good because at this point I still think they will need all the help they can get in 2008.

That democrat desperation may not last however, they are being given more and more momentum from Big Red everyday.

Daniel Engber over at Slate clears up a minor technicality for us:

Does a 500-pound bomb really weigh 500 pounds?

No.

Read the post to find out how much it actually does weigh.

I was just over at Michael Totten's blog Middle East Journal and he has some reactions to the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

My favorite was:

Zoloft Pony: ‚“Two 500lb bombs right on his safe house. NOT SO SAFE NOW, IS IT, BITCH?!”

Well articulated and very fitting.
Give them all a read.
Some are a hoot while some are a little more on the somber side, but all worth the time.

I have heard of online DVD trading, and online book trading, but now a small group of people have created an online CD trading outfit that is being praised by at least one critic at Wired News.

The company's name is la la, and according to what I have read on their website, they not only save money for their traders, which is normal when trading merchandise online through legitimate companies; they also ensure a decent profit for the performing artists, which is in no way normal as I have heard of no physical or online used record store that does this.

I am not yet sure if I recommend la la because I have yet to use it, but I will be signing up today and will keep everyone informed.

Perhaps I am overly excited, but I think this is incredible news.
The man whom Osama bin Laden has called the Prince of Al Quaeda in Iraq, has fallen to a US military air strike.

This a banner day for The US and Iraqis alike, and a great step forward in the progression of the war in Iraq.

Iraqpundit has this on the ramifications of this defeat and its significance in a country where the Government is finally nearing full operations.

Over at Instapundit, Glenn muses on the timing of the strike. Heh.

Scott Rosenberg at Salon.com wonders...

And alas how I hope he is wrong.

I suppose I am from a more optimistic mold, as I have noted before that I don't think that even this administration would lead us into another, far more dangerous war given the state we are in.
I still believe that.
Color me naive, but I think we are relying on diplomacy for the moment not because it is necessarily the humane thing to do, but because it is simply the smarter thing to do. There are those who would disagree, but unless they can offer options outside of diplomacy or military action, then they should perhaps take a seat and let the leaders not lead us into more bloody conflict. What are we to do? Invade? Cause the Iranians to move their enrichment underground where we can no longer monitor it?
That does not seem like such a good idea to me.

Yes diplomacy may buy more time for the terrorists in all their unified terror to think, but we are no slouches. Imagine what the richest, most powerful, and still most technologically advanced nation in the world could do with more time. I am sorry nay-sayers, but diplomacy is the only logical mean to the end that we seek.

Aw, this is too bad.

It would have been a real nail biter.

Google is introducing Google Spreadsheet to rival Microsoft's Excel Program.
This just two months after they acquired Writely, a company whose office program was already mildly challenging Microsoft's Word.

The major difference is that Writely's program and Google Spreadsheet, unlike Microsoft's Word or Excel can be accessed from the internet, and then either saved or shared. Speaking strictly from an office point of view, this potentially eliminates the need for a computer. All one would need is a broadband connection and a monitor. This surely would be economically appealing not only to the business world, but to entities such as the student population as well.

Update: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols disagrees.

By using sole private funding, researchers at Harvard are bypassing federal limitations and will begin developing human embryonic stem cells that can be used for curing a host of diseases.

They will face legal trouble just as the California research facility is, but the progress is being made.

Gateway Pundit has more coverage on the continuing protests in Iran.

And Glenn is right, I read a good chunk of the NY Times today and saw no coverage of the issue. That's a little disheartening.

Anyone familiar with article five of the Constitution of the United States knows that it is nearly impossible to pass an amendment.
According to said article, two thirds of both houses and three quarters of the several states are needed for ratification. This is why in the 219 years of the documents' existence we have seen only 27 amendments.

So it is interesting that the two houses would choose to begin debate on an amendment that would ban same sex marriage now, with mid-term elections only months away.

Though there is virtually no chance of passing this amendment it is fair to assume that by simply pushing for such a partisan issue, the Administration believes it can win some support back from an increasingly fragile republican right.

So the mid-term senate and congressional propaganda begins, though a bit earlier than usual, for both parties it seems.

Here is an essay on AIDS in the 21st century.

Basically what I surmise from the article is that AIDS has become something resembling the common cold; with eclectic medications being generated constantly, but no real effective all inclusive miracle pill. Which is much better than 25 years ago, but given the situation with the cold, not great.

Still, progress is being made and the outlook is far from grim.

Apparently Tehran is have a bit of difficulty in containing the massive protests that are continually mounting.

Go figure.

I am not a "gamer."
Kind of wish I was sometimes, playing all the hip new games like Halo or whatever blockbuster movie turned video game is in this season. But I'm not. I don't have the will, dexterity or time any longer. I sit down to try and play Halo with my brother, and am completely lost.

"Which direction do I push if I want to walk forward?"
"How do shoot?"
"Wait damnit, that's not the gun I wanted. Wait wait... Stop shooting... I just want to find my gun."

That is pretty much how it goes with any video game I attempt to play these days.
As sad is that is, as morose as I have become over the pitiful situation of my gaming skills;
I believe now, as I always have, that video games are a great thing for children.

When I was growing up I had all of the cool new systems. I can remember my Dad buying me an Atari. One of my favorite games of all time on any system is Pitfall. I believe that I know from experience that the Atari game Pitfall, never ended. I played for a week straight one time, got to level thirteen hundred and some change, and finally just turned it off and was content in the knowledge that I had beaten the game as close as anyone was ever going to beat it.

Then I got the first Nintendo system complete with Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. Awesome.
After that graduated to the Super Nintendo, oooh. Fabulous system to this day.
After the Super Nintendo I of course upgraded to the Nintendo 64, which has the best Mario game ever on anything ever.
After that I got a Game Cube and still have that system but play it rarely. As I have said, I can't really play it even if I want to because I don't have the time I once had to master these new high tech innovations that are sweeping the world.

Regardless of my ineptitude for the virtual world in today's 2006 realm of video games, I remember becoming close friends with many people over Donkey Kong. I remember learning things about members of my family that I never would have known otherwise over Tekken. Video games don't make you anti-social or unequipped for the "real world." If anything they prepare you for the woes that lie ahead. Much like a good book would. What's funny is that the people who would have video games banned are the same people that would have their children read War and Peace, or Lolita, Catch-22 or The Fountainhead. While these are all great reads, and classic pieces of literature, they scared the daylights out of me in so many more ways than a video game ever could have. I love Emily Dickinson, but playing Medal of Honor doesn't make me want to hurt something more that any one of her poems do.

Much like anything else, there are certain extreme cases that are blown out of proportion and then propagated in the media. But this does not represent a fair overall interpretation of the gaming population.

Honestly I don't know where I would be today without all of the video games that I mastered. They were a large part of my progression as a human being. And I would just like to point out that I will soon be graduating with a Political Science Degree; and from there I will take the MCAT'S and find myself in medical school specializing in Genetics.

And I attribute a good portion of that to Donkey Kong.

John Bambanek at Blogcritics.org has something to say to those who would so quickly criticize the actions of the US Marines at Haditha, while seemingly protecting the overall actions of terrorists, before there has even been a fair trial.

There is certainly room for fair criticism of our military, as there is room for fair criticism of our Government.

But the facts should be gathered first, and the evidence weighed before we cast such accusatory judgments that clearly show a lack of faith in the integrity of the men and women in the US Military who are protecting us.
Even if you don't think they are necessarily protecting us right now in this particular conflict, that's fine.
The fact is they protect us all of the time, from every potential physical foe out there. That is their purpose, what they were created to do. And I think they do a fine job, and have for two hundred years. Perhaps that has earned them a little benefit of the doubt.

(Pulled from Instapundit)