Smart:

More than one in five Americans believe the best way to get rich is to win the lottery, while 11 percent say inheriting money is the way to go, a survey showed on Monday.

Asked the most practical way to accumulate "several hundred thousand dollars," 21 percent chose winning the lottery, compared to 55 percent who thought saving something each month for many years was best, according to a survey by the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association.

Meanwhile, a statistically-insignificant 0.000001% think the best way to get rich is by typing stupid jokes about Chris Klein on a moronblog.

Posted by: Ace at 01:20 PM | Comments (29)
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This is obviously some novel meaning of the word "hatred" of which I wasn't previously aware:

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Fawzan Al-Fawzan: ... DonÂ’t you hate the faith of such a polytheist who says God is one third of a trinity, or who worships Christ, son of Mary?"

...

This is not racism, my brother. We don't hate a polytheist because of his color, gender, blood, country, or because he is American, European, Chinese, or Asian. They are our partners in humanity.

...

But if this person is an infidel – even if this person is my mother or father, God forbid, or my son or daughter - I must hate him, his heresy, and his defiance of Allah and His prophet. I must hate his abominable deeds. Moreover, this hatred must be positive hatred. It should make me feel compassion for him, and should make me guide and reform him.

Ah. Hate the sin and hate the sinner too. But in a positive, compassionate way.

Hell of a religion you've got going there, boys.

Allahpallooza.

Posted by: Ace at 01:02 PM | Comments (64)
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On the John Birch Society webpage, 69% of respondants (self-selecting, natch) agree that Bush should be impeached.

Thanks to Taranto. He also calls Cindy Sheehan a "fascist fishwife."

Posted by: Ace at 12:34 PM | Comments (27)
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This is why I am not sanguine about our capacity to take out Iran's nuke capacity, short of full-scale invasion or nuclear first strike.

Related: DEBKAfile says Iran nukes a done deal.

Thanks for the latter to Allah.

Posted by: Ace at 12:29 PM | Comments (19)
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More waking up?

"Everyone recognizes that Iran or North Korea, for example, have a right to peacefully use nuclear energy," Chirac said. "But it is imperative for the international community to ensure that the commitments reached for everyone's security are respected."

Iran and North Korea "would be committing a grave error if they do not grasp the hand that we are extending to them," Chirac told diplomats.

I wonder if he finally gets it that these are both lunatic regimes that cannot be reasoned with or appeased.

I doubt it, but here's hoping. We'll need French votes in the UNSC.

Related: EU-3 (Britain, Germany, France) consider breaking off futile talks with Iran.

Sometimes war-war is better than jaw-jaw. Jaw-jaw isn't working here. I wish it were. But it's not. And, unlike some problems we can live with (North Korea's counterfeiting and drug-running operations), we cannot allow Messiah-complex mullahs to have the f'n' atomic bomb.

They will use it.

Thanks to the A-Man.

Posted by: Ace at 12:26 PM | Comments (4)
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And not just the infamous Necronomicon at Miskatonic University, either:

Brown University's library boasts an anatomy book that combines form and function in macabre fashion. Its cover — tanned and polished to a smooth golden brown, like fine leather — is made of human skin.

In fact, a number of the nation's finest libraries, including Harvard's, have such books in their collections. The practice of binding books in human skin was not uncommon in centuries past, even if it was not always discussed in polite society.

...

Nowadays, libraries typically keep such volumes in their rare book collections and do not allow them to circulate. But scholars can examine them.

Anyone else getting antsy to play Call of Cthulhu?

Brown's John Hay Library has three books bound in human skin — the 1568 anatomy text by the Belgian surgeon Andreas Vesalius, and two 19th-century editions of "The Dance of Death," a medieval morality tale.

One copy of "The Dance of Death" was rebound in 1893 by Joseph Zaehnsdorf, a master binder in London.

...

"The Dance of Death" is about how death prevails over all, rich or poor. As with many other skin-bound volumes, "there was some tie-in with the content of the book," said Sam Streit, director of the John Hay Library.

...

The Boston Athenaeum, a private library, has an 1837 copy of George Walton's memoirs bound in his own skin. Walton was a highwayman — a robber who specialized in ambushing travelers — and left the volume to one of his victims.

The Cleveland Public Library has a Quran that may have been bound in the skin of its previous owner, an Arab tribal leader.

Weird. Until a half hour ago I thought the "human-leather book in the special collections section of a New England university library" was just a staple of horror fiction.

Thanks to the A-Man as well as SobekPundit.

Posted by: Ace at 12:17 PM | Comments (12)
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Will Apple finally catch PCs in terms of performance?

Meanwhile, of course, the iPod has increased Apple's stock price by 6%.

Posted by: Ace at 12:07 PM | Comments (25)
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...after Jack Abramoff donated to him, and lobbied him to get the casino shut down:

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay tried to pressure the Bush administration into shutting down an Indian-owned casino that lobbyist Jack Abramoff wanted closed — shortly after a tribal client of Abramoff's donated to a DeLay political action committee, The Associated Press has learned.

The Texas Republican demanded...

Demanded?

...closure of the casino, owned by the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Texas, in a Dec. 11, 2001 letter to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. The Associated Press obtained the letter from a source who did not want to be identified because of an ongoing federal investigation of Abramoff and members of Congress.

"We feel that the Department of Justice needs to step in and investigate the inappropriate and illegal actions by the tribe, its financial backers, if any, and the casino equipment vendors," said the letter, which was also signed by Texas Republican Reps. Pete Sessions, John Culberson and Kevin Brady.

Demanded? "We feel that..." is a demand?

It should also be noted that the casino was shut down by a federal judge after a lawsuit was filed against it-- so apparently it was, in fact, acting illegally.

That lawsuit was filed by then-Texas AG, now Senator, John Cornyn. Again, though, while it is certainly true that Abramoff brought this to DeLay's attention (and it's doubtful he would have acted had he not been lobbied), a federal court apparently agreed with Abramoff's position.

Unless Abramoff bribed the judge, I'd say these guys were, as it stands, on firm ground, at least as to the substance of the letter. Again, obviously, they probably would not have taken any action without lobbying (and, yes, money), but then, that's what lobbying is. Bringing issues to someone's attention via money.

If someone acts after being lobbied, is it still corruption, even though they had a good-faith basis to believe the lobbyists' position was correct? It's a gray area, but it's obviously not a case of someone acting contrary to the law or general principles for money.

Access Versus Action: When I saw the headline for this article, I was actually ready to write, "Good thing we got rid of DeLay. He's corrupt."

As I read on, and realized the casino was, apparently, acting illegally, at least according to a federal judge, I revised my opinion. I was ready to cut DeLay loose, though, and throw him under the train. And to the wolves. Pick your own metaphor.

Obviously lobbyists pay for access. When they take you on a trip, they're doing so so that they have lots of quality time with you to make their case. (And to foster a normal sense of human obligation/gratitude as well: it's hard to say "No" to someone who just spent $15,000 to take you to a golf outing in Jamaica.)

However, it's long been accepted that lobbyists can pay a politician for access, pay them for their time. What is illegal is being paid for specific action.

Again: this may or may not be a good system (I don't think it is, but I don't know how you can ever get away from this), but it is, in fact, currently the legislatively-approved system in place.

If Democrats want to change this system, they can propose legislation regarding it, and, who knows?, maybe we'll get rid of this soft corruption as well. But no one can pretend that this hasn't been going on forever.

Posted by: Ace at 11:34 AM | Comments (42)
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Either about Dick Cheney or Chris Klein? I keep asking, and people keep saying, "Nah, too soon."

I Hear Ya Update: No one wants to play. Okay. Damnit. Howza 'bout a flame war?

Posted by: Ace at 11:19 AM | Comments (23)
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...and then, while demonstrating to friends how this could have happened, does it a second time:

The first accident happened at the age of 14 when a schoolboy prank went wrong. He needed 14 stitches to fix his wounded willy.

When regulars at The Railway pub in Ipswich, Suffolk, heard about GaryÂ’s painful past they egged him on to show them what happened.

A pal put a mouse trap on a pool table for the demonstration — but Gary tripped as he walked towards it with his manhood hanging out.

...

[He said of his hospital visit:] “The nurses thought it was hilarious — especially when they realised it was my second visit for the same accident.”

Thanks to SteveB., who notes that Dick Cheney was once out on a nature-walk and got his manhood caught in a bear-trap.

But it wasn't an accident. He just considers it impolite to scratch himself "down there."

Posted by: Ace at 11:13 AM | Comments (9)
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