AoSHQ contributor Dianna has penned an essay about Churchill's dishonest studies in non-history over at PirateBallerina. I'm particularly happy to hear he's a serial plagiarist:

.... LaVelle demonstrates for the reader the number of scholars whose work is distorted in Churchill’s work – Patricia Nelson Limerick, Russell Thornton, Janet A. McDonnell and George M. Frederickson, to name only a few – and lays out for side by side comparison a passage written by Churchill and one by Rebecca L. Robbins..... This is clear evidence of plagiarism, particularly since the passage in Churchill is not in quotes, and there is, furthermore, no citation of Robbins.

Go get 'im, Dianna!

Top Ten Quotations from Ward Churchill's "Original Writings"

10. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots." -- Ward Churchill p. 13 of From a Native Son

9. "Are we not men? We are Devo." -- Ward Churchill, p. 44 of Since Predator Came

8. "" It puts the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose!" -- Ward Churchill, p. 31, Indians Are Us?

7. "That bitch set me up!" -- Ward Churchill, footnote 23 of Sketches of My Plainsmen Ancestors

6. "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for these meddling kids." -- Ward Churchill, citing Columbus' "secret diary," p. 122, Deconstructing the Columbus Myth

5. "And then we're going to Idaho! And then we're going to Wisconsin! And then we're going to Washington! Yeeeaaaaaiiiigghhh! -- Ward Churchill, p. 44, Struggle for the Land

4. "I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, too sexy it hurts..." -- Ward Churchill, p. 94, The Arapahoe and Chocktaw Tribes: A Comparative Ethnography

3. "I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride, and I'm wanted (want-ed...!) dead or alive..." -- Ward Churchill, p. 88, The European Exterminators

2. "Jules, y'know, honey... this isn't real. You know what it is? It's St. Elmo's Fire. Electric flashes of light that appear in dark skies out of nowhere. Sailors would guide entire journeys by it, but the joke was on them... there was no fire. There wasn't even a St. Elmo. They made it up. They made it up because they thought they needed it to keep them going when times got tough, just like you're making up all of this. We're all going through this. It's our time at the edge." -- Ward Churchill, p. 72 of A Little Matter of Genocide

...and the Number One Quotation From Ward Chuchill's "Original Writings"...

1. "And when I move, I slice like a fuckin' hammer. That's just. The Fuckin'. Way. It is." -- Ward Churchill, introduction to Noam Chomsky's Corporate Media Deceptions: Don't Make a Fuckin' Maniac Out of Me

Credit: #8 thanks to RCL.

Posted by: Ace at 10:21 PM | Comments (40)
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Well. I've been meaning to do that for ages.

Look, I didn't link a lot of you before because I was sure you were on the blogroll. Secure Liberty, Memento Moron, Wardrobe Door, Cranky Neocon, Nerf-Coated World, Winds of Change... I tend to think that if I'm linking you or reading you, you must be on the blogroll.

But a lot of you just weren't.

I've gotten rid of the "Not Necessarily Political Bloggers" category and simply folded up all those blogs into the main list. Where a blog isn't mainly (or at least largely) political, I provide a little parenthetical explanation about its main sort of content.

And I've gotten rid of the "New Blogger Showcase." All the new entries are put right into the main list.

Because I've added so many blogs, I didn't want to list them all in this post. So all blogs which are newly added have an asterisk next to them, to draw attention. I'll keep the asterisk on for a few weeks. Oh, who am I kidding. I am never chaning that bloglist again. Congrats, you've got an asterisk for eternity.

No, just kidding. I will drop the asterisks eventually.

Also, I've put asterisks next to blogs which have been moved from their former places, so that you can find them more easily.

And I've corrected my often jaw-droppingly poor skills at alphabetization... I think. I've probably added new errors.

And... I've probably missed a few of you who asked, or who should be on the blogroll. If I missed you, ask again. It was an oversight; I just decided to add anyone who asked.

If you should be on the blogroll-- i.e., you're a regular commenter here, I've linked you a couple of times before, and/or you throw me a lot of links -- let me know that I should have you blogrolled.

And if I deleted you-- well, that's just an oversight and a mistake; let me know. I didn't mean to delete anyone. Eventually I'll have to check to see if any of the blogs on the roll are out of service and maybe I'll trim the list a bit. But I didn't mean to do so this time, and if you're suddenly missing, there's probably just some sort of tag open somewhere making your name invisible.

Posted by: Ace at 10:17 PM | Comments (34)
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Pictures from the Freedom Rally in Beirut.

Posted by: Ace at 08:56 PM | Comments (66)
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This new cat The Therapist is a pretty funny guy.

See, especially, this bit of fun at Peter Jennings' expense, and this fake article suggesting that Bill O'Reilly's "lookin' out for the folks" has caused Egypt to move towards allowing elections.

Posted by: Ace at 01:37 PM | Comments (13)
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But I don't think the audience is going to like his new stuff much better than the old stuff:

Actually, I think women are actually much better than men at many things. For one thing, they look better naked. A lot better. Well, maybe not if you're gay. But I'm not. I like women. A lot. No offense to the Tinkerbells out there.

...

Not that I've actually seen a lot of guys naked. Well, I had gym class when I was in school, and there were a lot of naked guys in the showers, and I guess a lot of them walked around the locker room without a towel on, so of course I did see them. Not that I was actually looking, they were just there. I mean, I wasn't looking away or covering my eyes or anything, I just wasn't ogling them.

Heh.

Posted by: Ace at 01:29 PM | Comments (9)
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That's the good news. The bad news is he wants Zarqawi to hit America instead.

Still: This would seem to indicate that bin Ladin himself has determined that Iraq is lost to the jihadis.

Dampened Optimism Update: Of course, a suicide bomber killing 122 National Guard recruits in Hilla, Iraq does tend to underscore the point that while they cannot win, they can continue to murder and maim.\

Thanks to the most excellent digest Memeorandum.

Posted by: Ace at 12:35 PM | Comments (14)
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Dave From Garfield Ridge watched more of the Oscars than I did (or at least he's willing to admit watching more), and he runs down his observations.

More interesting to me are his and his friend's quite-understandable feelings about Kate Winslet.

And he also finds fault with the Chris Rock's and Frank Pearson's empty stock-phrases of "support" for our troops:

It was nice to hear him praise the troops, but I must take issue with the generic "pray for the swift and safe return of our soldiers" line. Not because it's incorrect; everyone (well, *almost* everyone) can agree with it. It's just that it's an incomplete sentiment that reveals how low our definition of patriotism has sunk.

How come you never hear anyone in Hollywood, or anywhere in non-political public life, ever pray for the swift, safe, AND victorious return of our troops? Would such sentiment in favor of actually winning be too jingo for the crowd, too full of insensitive, ignorant bloodlust?

I can only imagine Gary Cooper at the 1941 Academy Awards praising "the troops," but never mentioning the hope that before they return home they might grab a few Nazi and Jap scalps on the way back.

I'm not sure when rooting for an American victory in a time of war became an obscenely controversial position, but apparently it now is.

Looks Like a "Linky" Kinda Day Update: I'm tired, burned out, and I have nothing much to say myself.

Plus, I'm finishing up the Haiku awards. So pardon me if I can only manage some linking today without much original content.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:28 PM | Comments (9)
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The media herd's group think continues, but now it's at least stampeding in an agreeable direction:

Mideast Makeover?
Popular Protests Spur Changes From Autocrats

By Jackson Diehl

As thousands of Arabs demonstrated for freedom and democracy in Beirut and Cairo last week, and the desperate dictators of Syria and Egypt squirmed under domestic and international pressure, it was hard not to wonder whether the regional transformation that the Bush administration hoped would be touched off by its invasion of Iraq is, however tentatively, beginning to happen.

Those who have declared the war an irretrievable catastrophe have been gloating for at least a year over the supposed puncturing of what they portray as President Bush's fanciful illusion that democracy would take root in Iraq and spread through the region.

...

Virtually no one in Washington expected such a snowballing of events following Iraq's elections.

No one? This calls to mind Pauline Kael's infamous quote that "No one I know voted for Nixon."

Obviously, some in Washington believed this possible. To name one obscure figure: the President of the United States, for example.

Not many yet believe that they will lead to real democracy in Egypt, Lebanon or Syria anytime soon. But it is a fact of history that the collapse of a rotted political order usually happens quickly, and takes most of the experts by surprise.

...

Still, less than two years after Saddam Hussein was deposed, the fact is that Arabs are marching for freedom and shouting slogans against tyrants in the streets of Beirut and Cairo -- and regimes that have endured for decades are visibly tottering. Those who claimed that U.S. intervention could never produce such events have reason to reconsider.

It seems to be the story of the week.

But don't get too hopeful. Sheep get bored pretty easily.

Posted by: Ace at 12:18 PM | Comments (5)
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...in Germany.

I don't know. If I were the French, I'd start to get a little anxious when a bunch of Germans find themselves unemployed and looking for something -- let's say a "party" of some sort -- to belong to.

Posted by: Ace at 11:41 AM | Comments (22)
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Riehlworldview writes a funny High Noon parody involving Ted Rall as the dangerous -- or at least annoying -- villain:

"Draw, Mister," the boy confronted Rall, his two pure white little hands each clasping the butt end of a shiny new holstered toy revolver strapped tight to his leg. With reflexes as fast as death's breathe itself Rall reached, pulled out a scribble pad and a beaten up old pen. In a flash, Rall, The Artist had drawn two panels that no young man with a cap gun should have to face down. Bobbie just stood there seemingly mesmerized staring point blank into Rall's double barrel with talking balloons the likes of which he had never before seen.

"You draw people like a retard," said Bobbie, turning and running back to the safety of his Mother's waiting arms.

"Don't mind the boy," she said, looking up in Rall's direction. "Sometimes he's just a right too full of himself, Mister."

But Rall didn't mind - he knew he had talent. He knew it ever since the day when, as a young man he had gotten back a letter from the Draw This Deer Matchbook Company. Dear Mrs. Rall, read the letter. We are pleased to inform you that, YES, after careful review by our experienced panel we have determined that your son Theodore displays all the markings of a serious artistic talent. Kindly remit check or money order in the sum of $17.50 and we will promptly send out his drawing implements, free sketchpad, first customized lesson and special bonus eraser. After all these years, Rall still carried the letter with him, even though his Mama couldn't actually afford the send away course at the time.

A bit late, but... still funny. Scan down to "Over the Lips and Past the Gums" to read about John Kerry's first experience with this exotic lower-class beverage called "beer:"

"Ahh beer!" Kerry said in apparent recognition of the word. Yet his gaze remained warily fixated on the 12oz container, as if half-expecting it to suddenly throttle him.... "What does it do?

"It doesn't do anything," [Kerry's instructor] frowned briefly. He had to give it to the Senator, his questions were nuanced. "Well, actually it does. You see it..."

"Provides a source of cheap, low emission, renewable energy?" the presidential hopeful suggested eagerly.

The same weisenheimer decided to add some Howard Dean guest-vocals to the theme from Ultra-Man.

Why? I have no idea. But it's pretty silly.

Posted by: Ace at 11:27 AM | Comments (4)
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