Some team called the White Sox or something, playing a game called baseball (sp?) just beat someone else in their playoff system to win the big trophy thing.

Seriously though, remember when people used to care about baseball? No, not just the ‘idea’ of baseball – the misty-eyed metaphor for America’s Simpler-Souled Past that literary types and Billy Crystal continually mistake for a sport. No, I mean care about it as a living thing, care about the outcome of actual present-day games like they do in Football and stuff that doesn’t make you sleepy.

I dunno, maybe itÂ’s just me. Maybe thatÂ’s just the empty, blah nothing youÂ’re left with after years of waiting (with waning concern) for your team to make you pay attention again. At some point, you just forget you're supposed to care. For you White Sox fans though, congrats.

And here: A piece on why they’re the ‘Sox’ and not the ‘Socks’

Posted by: Dr. Reo Symes at 08:57 PM | Comments (23)
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You should almost certainly not read this story.

Posted by: Ace at 11:37 AM | Comments (59)
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Great speech.

It's not very heartening that the man has to even say any of this, though. What the hell is wrong with some of the people in this country?

Some have argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalition in Iraq, claiming that our presence in that country has somehow caused or triggered the rage of radicals. I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September 11th, 2001, and al Qaeda attacked us anyway. The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue, and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse. (Applause.)

The government of Russia did not support Operation Iraqi Freedom, and yet the militants killed more than 150 Russian schoolchildren in Beslan. Over the years these extremists have used a litany of excuses for violence -- the Israeli presence on the West Bank, or the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, or the defeat of the Taliban, or the Crusades of a thousand years ago. In fact, we're not facing a set of grievances that can be soothed and addressed. We're facing a radical ideology with inalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world.

No acts of ours involves the rage of killers. And no concessions, bribe, or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans of murder. On the contrary; they target nations whose behavior they believe they can change through violence. Against such an enemy, there is only one effective response: We will never back down, never give in, and never accept anything less than complete victory. (Applause.)

The murderous ideology of the Islamic radicals is the great challenge of our new century. Yet, in many ways, this fight resembles the struggle against communism in the last century. Like the ideology of communism, Islamic radicalism is elitist, led by a self-appointed vanguard that presumes to speak for the Muslim masses. Bin Laden says his own role is to tell Muslims -- and I quote -- "what is good for them and what is not." And what this man who grew up in wealth and privilege considers good for poor Muslims is that they become killers and suicide bombers. He assures them that this is the road to paradise -- though he never offers to go along for the ride. (Laughter.)

...

Some observers look at the job ahead and adopt a self-defeating pessimism. It's not justified. With every random bombing and every funeral of a child, it becomes more clear that the extremists are not patriots or resistance fighters -- they are murderers at war with the Iraqi people, themselves. In contrast, the elected leaders of Iraq are proving to be strong and steadfast. By any standard or precedent of history, Iraq has made incredible political progress -- from tyranny to liberation, to national elections, to the ratification of a constitution -- in the space of two and a half years. (Applause.)

There's always a temptation, in the middle of a long struggle, to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world, to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder. That would be a pleasant world -- but it isn't the world in which we live. The enemy is never tired, never sated, never content with yesterday's brutality. This enemy considers every retreat of the civilized world as an invitation to greater violence. In Iraq, there is no peace without victory -- and we will keep our nerve and we will win that victory. (Applause.).

More at the Powerline link above.

Appeasement, appeasement, appeasement. It's what the left offers. It's all it offers. If we would only make ourselves more amenable to those who would murder us, maybe they'll stop being so angry.

Do any lefty speakers at Vagina Day rallies ever suggest that a battered woman ought to just "try to be nicer" the man smacking him around, maybe put out a little more, maybe make dinner a little tastier, in order to defuse his wrath?

I don't think they do.

Posted by: Ace at 11:20 AM | Comments (89)
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In other words, as regards abortion, as people have differing beliefs, government should not pass laws restricting the procedure.

She also viewed judicial activism as useful:

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers said in a speech more than a decade ago that "self-determination" should guide decisions about abortion and school prayer and that in cases where scientific facts are disputed and religious beliefs vary, "government should not act."

In a 1993 speech to a Dallas women's group, Miers talked about abortion, the separation of church and state, and how the issues play out in the legal system. "The underlying theme in most of these cases is the insistence of more self-determination," she said. "And the more I think about these issues, the more self-determination makes sense."

In that speech and others in the early 1990s when she was president of the Texas Bar Association, Miers also defended judges who order lawmakers to address social concerns. While judicial activism is derided by many conservatives, Miers said that sometimes "officials would rather abandon to the courts the hard questions so they can respond to constituents: I did not want to do that -- the court is making me."

Not to beat a dead horse, but I'm kind of agnostic about that. I think Roe v. Wade was a terrible judicial opinion but not terrible public policy.

Not sure why so many conservatives who are more passionately pro-life than I am are still willing to put so much trust in Harriet Miers, though.

This may be our last, best chance to stop judicial activism and reverse 50 years of liberal judicial lawmaking, and we're gambling on this woman?

Posted by: Ace at 11:10 AM | Comments (10)
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No, his name isn't Steve Rogers, although lord knows we could have done with some of that kind of luck.

Thanks again to Christopher.

It's Old: Not just the body, but yes, the story is six days old.

Who's Steve Rogers? Update: Sigh. Philistines!

See, Captain America was a 1940's era hero. He was acquired by Marvel Comics. They had to explain how a WWII veteran was still in that vaguely thirtyish age category that almost all heroes are in, so they said he got frozen in a block of ice at the end of WWII and only got unfrozen in the sixties, when he was reintroduced as a Marvel character.

Of course, they still haven't explained why he hasn't aged a day since 1962, either.

Thanks to David for the link to the pic.

Posted by: Ace at 10:43 AM | Comments (23)
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Yeah, so I had the idea of basing a band entirely on Tolkein's Simarillion (skip down to the entry on Wesley Clarke). (Or just skip it; it's an old piece that's been relinked a bunch of times before.)

And now these jackasses are stealing my ideas.

Check out some of these song-titles:

. War Of Wrath
2. Into The Storm
3. Lammoth
...
6. The Curse Of Feanor
...
11. Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)
...
14. The Dark Elf
...
16. The Eldar

Although I'm angry as all heck, I have to also say: Sweeeeeeet! Track #14 will be the perfect "adventure music" to play as my 14th level drow assassin/ninja starts swinging his dual +3 nightblessed katanas into bloody action! Make your saving throws versus rockin' out, fools!

Thanks to Christopher.

Posted by: Ace at 10:09 AM | Comments (26)
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From the Australian Greens, via Tex at Whacking Day.

One of these is hauntingly familiar.

Tex comments:

Bwehehehe: "Night wears the shame in front of the sadness in my heart".
Sweet Jesus. Imagine getting trapped in an elevator with this cock-knocker.

Posted by: LauraW. at 10:07 AM | Comments (5)
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Okay, you probably already knew about the speech by Lawerence Wilkerson (former aide to Colin Powell) in which he complains that the foreign policy power was taken out of the hands of career State Department bureaucrats, where the Constitution entrusts it, and reposed unconstitutionally in the hands of a mere "President" and "Vice President."

Frankly, it's so stupid that I couldn't even manage the ire to mention it.

But Q & O has more stuff-- the stuff from the speech that wasn't widely reported, and which our friends on the left aren't so interested in.

Sample:

I can’t tell you why the French, the Germans, the Brits and us thought that most of the material, if not all of it, that we presented at the U.N. on 5 February 2003 was the truth. I can’t. I’ve wrestled with it. I don’t know – and people say, well, INR [the State Department's weapons proliferation section] dissented. That’s a bunch of bull. INR dissented that the nuclear program was up and running. That’s all INR dissented on. They were right there with the chems and the bios. Carl Ford and I talked; Tom Finger and I talked, who is now John Negroponte’s deputy, and that was the way INR felt. And, frankly, I wasn’t all that convinced by the evidence I’d seen that he had a nuclear program other than the software. That is to say there are some discs or there were some scientists and so forth but he hadn’t reconstituted it. [Saddam] was going to wait until the international tension was off of him, until the sanctions were down, and then he was going to go back – certainly go back to all of his programs. I mean, I was convinced of that.

The INR lied, people died.

Bonus: The tip about the aluminum tubes being only usable for uranium centrifuges came from... the French.

Posted by: Ace at 09:51 AM | Comments (14)
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There are just too many stupid double-entendres to choose from.
It's about tools designed specifically for women do-it-yourselfers:

The founders of these companies say their aim is more than just getting hammers into the hands of women. They believe a woman who is capable of fixing her own toilet also is going to feel capable and independent in other areas of her life.
It's a philosophy that is sure to sell a few dozen screwdrivers. But it also shows a level of business savvy, given they've launched in sync with several major trends.
Among them: soaring interest in do-it-yourself and home improvement projects, and increasing ranks of single, female homeowners.

On the other hand, its more of a turn-on to have a man do these things for you.

I really, really wanted to do some stupid word-play here. Skinbad sent me this tip. Like Scott, Skinbad's tips tend to have some kind of a sexual angle. With the result that it looks like all I want to post about is gutter stuff. Which is true.

But, gotta cool it for a while. Don't want to be the second coming of Wankette. "A girl has to protect her reputation." That's a little jewel I picked up from Bob Dole's Cock.

Its not like I have to provide a lot of encouragement to you retards anyway.
I know most of you drooling chimps started guffawing into your monitors the second you read "...hammers into the hands of women..."

I know it, and it endears you to me.

Posted by: LauraW. at 09:50 AM | Comments (8)
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Condi Rice, as seen possessed by "Captain Howdy."

Can we fire them all yet?

Posted by: Ace at 08:48 AM | Comments (34)
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