For just one religion, of course. One very special, very protected religion.

IÂ’m emailing you because I know youÂ’re a SF fan, and I havenÂ’t seen you cover this topic yet. (If you have, my apologies.)

Elizabeth Moon, award winning mil-sf author and former Marine, was invited to speak as guest of honor at the 2011 WISCON, a feminist SF con. However, ever since she posted comments on the NYC 9/11 Mosque (http://e-moon60.livejournal.com/335480.html) she has been branded a racist and there is an active movement afoot among some on-line sf feminists (male and female, mostly current and past WISCON attendees) to get her dis-invited to WISCON, and failing that, for her to be actively shunned during her speech. (Word has it that ‘fans of color’ and ‘non-Christian fans’ will feel “unsafe” attending the con if Ms. Moon is there.)

One of the posts covering the fan reaction:
http://worldsf.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/elizabeth-moon-on-islam/

Another reaction: http://nojojojo.livejournal.com/221241.html

A round-up of reaction: http://elf.dreamwidth.org/2010/09/16/?style=site

Battleswarm covered it here: http://www.battleswarmblog.com/?tag=elizabeth-moon

A note: A SF feminist of my acquaintance asks me to emphasize the NON-universality of these sentiments among SF fans, feminist, female, or otherwise. People can disagree without being disagreeable.

But they're anti-fascist and stuff. In fact, they're largely anti-religion, as religion represents superstition and dogma and sci-fi writers are all about reason and empiricism.

But... yet... they're not.

Since Instapundit posted that, she's been booted.

So anyone who's signed up -- demand your full refund. Say you were going there specifically to see Ms. Moon and this constitutes bait and switch.

And, in fact, boycott every writer who does appear there, as they stand there in support of fascism.

Fascism's worth a boycott, isn't it?

Related: Bernie Goldberg on Juan Willams' firing for speaking truths so obvious they must be stamped out with force of arms.

Only about 20 percent of Americans identify themselves as liberals. Liberalism was once a great American movement. It led the fight for civil rights, the most important issue, as far as I'm concerned, of the 20th century.

It's a shame that liberalism is dying in this country. It's an outright crime that liberals are killing it.

In related news, 2,996 people were killed due to endless hate being preached at mosques and few Muslims, if any, have actually apologized about that -- even on behalf of their frantic fanatic coreligionists.

But that's okay. We just need to understand, as they always tell us, that it's our fault.

Like Imam Rauf, the "moderate" cleric heading this ugly venture, says -- America was a coconspirator in 9/11.

Cash-Money Support: Morons are attesting that Ms. Moon is a great sci-fi writer and fantasy writer, too. So buy a book and see if you like it!

And don't buy a single book from anyone involved with, or appearing at, this conference, ever again.

Fascism shouldn't be a cost-free endeavor for people. There ought to be a cost.

Posted by: Ace at 08:59 AM | Comments (274)
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I'm not a fan of Bush's subsidies, either. And I always hated having to argue that Bush should get credit for initiatives I didn't agree with -- like spending a king's ransom to fight AIDS in Africa. I wouldn't have done that; but he did. I guess even though I disagree with the policy, he should get credit for it from the people who find it creditable, that is to say, liberals. I don't love it, but since they're the ones pushing this billion-dollar feelgoodery, shouldn't they have to admit that our free-spending Republican president is a fan of billion-dollar feelgoodery?

Yeah. Weird argument to have to make, and yet many of us have made it.

So I don't think I'm a big fan of Bush's wind farm initiative, except in one way: I would rather pay a smaller amount of money to appease a public which irrationally believes we can wind-farm our way out of oil dependency then do nothing at all and then have them go full retard and demand cap and trade. Like, you know, negotiating with a child. No, the kid can't have ice cream again. He's getting chubby. But how about two Fig Newtons? Would that appease...?

I "support" energy initiatives like this only for that reason -- hey, instead of crippling the American economy pursuing vaporware and dreamstuff, would you like two Fig Newtons?

Anyway. Bush offered the public two Fig Newtons instead of ice cream. The Fig Newtons resulted in some windmills. Yayyy.

I'm not super-psyched about all this, but if it happened, and it's supposedly "good" in the minds of a solid block of the public that is convinced we could stop using oil if only we "got serious" about the power of wind (and, I suppose, the power of love, too; let's harness that while we're at it), then at least I'd like Bush to get the dubious credit for a dumb policy which is, despite my best efforts, somehow popular.

Obama, who doesn't have any real accomplishments to his name but thinks he ought to just because someone so Awesome should have some accomplishments, of course disagrees.

Even MSNBC finds his credit-thieving a bit too much.

Hot air? White House takes credit for Bush-era wind farm jobs

Administration claims 50,000 jobs created, but many projects were completed before funds were handed out

The Obama administration is crediting its anti-recession stimulus plan with creating up to 50,000 jobs on dozens of wind farms, even though many of those wind farms were built before the stimulus money began to flow or even before President Barack Obama was inaugurated.

Out of 70 major wind farms that received the $4.4 billion in federal energy grants through the stimulus program, public records show that 11, which received a total of $600 million, erected their wind towers during the Bush administration. And a total of 19 wind farms, which received $1.3 billion, were built before any of the stimulus money was distributed.

Yet all the jobs at these wind farms are counted in the administration's figures for jobs created by the stimulus.

I was playing Battleship with my friend's 4-year-old kid a few weeks ago. I tried to explain the rules of the game but he wasn't interested; he just wanted to put red pegs into ships. So we traded putting red pegs into each other's ships, me doing one, then him doing one.

As we approached the end of the "game," I saw that I was ahead, and this wouldn't do, of course. Kid's 4 years old. So I said to him, "Hey, kid, we have to do something here, you're behind."

He said it with admirable directness: "We have to make it so I win."

I mean, he didn't try to make up new rules, even. He didn't try to hide it. He was upfront about the end-goal.

He just said it. "We have to make it so I win."

I'll leave it to you to determine whether or not this provides any insight into Obama's basic psychology.

(Oh, here's a little insight into my psychology: I really didn't want to roll over for this 4-year-old. I really didn't want him to "win," given that we weren't even playing by the rules he wanted.

I wanted to win.

Now, yeah, I let him win. And I congratulated him. Reluctantly.

But my dad didn't teach me to roll over like a bitch for some 4-year-old punk.

But that's my problem. I don't hold high office so relatively few are affected by my pathologies.)

Thanks to AllenG.

Posted by: Ace at 07:31 AM | Comments (241)
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Nothing but ones, twos, zeroes.

Gah.

Artwork by Slublog!™ with creative consultation from LauraW.

They're like an evil team or something.

Teamevil.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:28 AM | Comments (321)
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Williams is an odd guy in that sometimes he on the right side of issues an other times he'll say the dumbest thing you've ever heard. He's pretty clearly liberal but not an insane one, which is more than you can say for most liberals.

Here he is on Bill O'Reilly 's show talking about O'Reilly's dust up on The View.

Well, actually, I hate to say this to you because I donÂ’t want to get your ego going. But I think youÂ’re right. I think, look, political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you donÂ’t address reality.

I mean, look, Bill, IÂ’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books IÂ’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.

Well, that observation (grounded in more than a little bit of truth) has cost Williams his job with NPR.

NPR said in its statement that the remarks “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”

Just a reminder but NPR didn't fire a cartoonist who insulted tea party attendees. Apparently that kind of thinking is consistent with their editorial standards and practices.

I'm sure in the coming days people will dig up plenty examples of NPR reporters insulting Christians, America and other groups but not losing their jobs over it. As always, it's just one group that gets super-protected status and it just happens to be the one that is so peaceful, they will kill you for insulting them.

As I've written before, the Muslim grievance industry has had a great deal of success in ensuring that they don't even have to protest any more before cowardly western institutions begin to self-censor.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:22 PM | Comments (307)
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Recipe below more...

Posted by: CAC at 07:30 PM | Comments (41)
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Welcome to tonight's semi-half-assed hump day ONT.

Nitroglycerine Detonation in Slo-Mo

Longtime readers are familiar with my abiding love of explosives. So here's video of a teensy-weensy drop of nitroglycerine exploding when hit by a hammer. Note that even slowed down 500x the explosion is too fast to be seen. That's because high order explosives like nitro don't just burn quickly - they detonate. The shock wave from an exploding molecule actually sets off other molecules, propagating at a speed of almost 5 miles per sec! Compare that with the slow sizzling of most fuels and you can see why explosives are so powerful.

Nitroglycerine is also surprisingly easy to make - pretty much any bright high school student can do it - but somewhat difficult to make safely. Luckily my fellow student uh, "Jimbo" was a brighter (and luckier) than the average high school student and he managed to make just enough nitro to entertain the rest of us mad scientist-types without also managing to blow us up. Good times, good times.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:40 PM | Comments (803)
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This is our future if we don't change our ways.

Exhibit A: England faces the largest budget cuts since World War II.

Exhibit B: France is tearing itself apart over a move to bring state pensions under control.

This is the end result of the welfare-state. The Europeans (and Democrats here at home) want a utopia where all needs are met, all the hungry are fed, all the children warm and safe, all the sick made whole, all the evil punished and the innocent made free, a land where all is peace and all live in harmony. Instead, the welfare-state is waste and weakness and impoverishment and upheaval and ennui. It is generational warfare, class warfare, enormous debts, squalor, meanness, shortages, selfishness. It is, at base, the end of civil society. Communist economies fall faster because they take the poison pure; it takes the merely socialist ones more time to sicken and die. more...

Posted by: Monty at 03:54 PM | Comments (384)
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Why silver? Because you can't make pearls have squoogishy shapes.

In related news, civilization was overrated anyway.

Thanks to gg.

Posted by: Ace at 02:00 PM | Comments (271)
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Mukisciziewicz is named in this CNN poll (which may be the wrong way to ask it, since she won't be on the ballot), but even so, it's tied 37-37-23 (the last for McAdams, the Democrat).

Murkransky will undoubtedly lose a few votes here and there due to write-in errors, but probably not enough to be really significant.

We need some serious turn-out here to lock this one up.

Posted by: Ace at 01:04 PM | Comments (292)
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One of its columnists, anyway.

He reads a lot into Barney Frank's "longtime partner" acting obnoxiously towards Sean Bielat -- wondering if Frank's general lack of courtesy and accountability infects those around him -- before concluding:

When I called Frank yesterday to ask if he condones his partner goading and mocking an opponent, he told me that “Jimmy’’ is a talented amateur photographer putting together a photo essay of the campaign.

When I asked if Frank planned to apologize for Ready’s behavior, Frank said: “Jim should have broken it off and not responded. But Bielat shouldn’t have initiated the conversation. I don’t see what was inappropriate about taking his picture.’’

IÂ’ll mark that down as a no.

A few moments later, my phone rang again. It was Frank, adding, “Jim’s new to political campaigning. He takes it more personally than someone who’s used to it.’’

After we hung up, Frank called again, saying, “You know, he calls me dude. I didn’t realize that was troubling people. He calls all sorts of people dude.’’ [The columnist was asking about calling Lieutenant Bielat "dude."]

ThereÂ’s a larger point to all of this. For the last three decades, the political establishments in Boston and Washington have excused FrankÂ’s consistently obnoxious behavior as Barney being Barney. Maybe theyÂ’ve done it because he was unique as an openly gay congressman. Maybe it was out of deference for the way he unapologetically and effectively carried the flag for the most liberal of causes. Maybe it was out of fear that heÂ’d train his quick wit and substantial intellect against anyone who happened in his path.

But now voters are looking to D.C. and wondering what has gone wrong in a city and a system that is having such a hard time getting things right. The same character flaws that were forgiven in good times might wear thin when times are tough.

Bielat, an even-keeled Democrat-turned Republican with a Harvard degree, made Ready look foolish this week. The question looms: Will he do the same to Frank next month.

Notice that Barney Frank was super-eager to respond this guy's phone calls, too.

He really wants you to know he's nice and polite and cares about what you think.

At least until November 3rd.

Oh: Not only does Frank have his boyfriend acting as a campaign stalker (an operative who stalks the opponent, hoping to catch negative stuff), he also just donated $200,000 of his own money to his campaign.

Not good signs for ol' Barney.

Posted by: Ace at 12:54 PM | Comments (86)
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