For The Heck of It

Little trip down memory lane.

Back in the late 90s, well before blogging took off, my husband ran a blog called, The Edge of England's Sword. At one time, it was ranked one of the top politcal blogs on the internet. Early luminaries like Glenn Reynolds were supporters and are still very much appreciated.

I blogged regularly on my husband's site and one of the folks we always got a kick out of was the vodkapundit who drank a shot of vodka every time he posted - bless his heart.

He is always worth reading. Just wanted to say so.

Glimpse of Our Future

13 years ago, the movie The Net presented a terrifying view of the internet and computers, watching it this evening, it seems entirely plausible.

How did that happen?

Deep Impact

Another "I (heart) technology" post.

Let this phrase start us off: 1.4 billion pixel digital camera

Four of those cameras/telescopes scanning watching the skies for asteroids.

I just think that's cool.

And yet another reason why we conservatives must stand up to protect human progress - science and technology - and keep it safe and true.

What do I mean?

I mean that science shouldn't have to answer to liberal ideologies such as global warming activists whose history of perverting science is well documenting in my husband's book "Really Inconvenient Truths - seven environmental catastrophes liberals don't want you to know about because they helped cause them".

Conservatives - religious or secular - must be stalwart in the fight to keep science free from politics, otherwise as, for example, the history of eugenics proves the liberals will contort science into evil.

The Danger of Paranoia

Rick Moran is correct in this article, that paranoia can run through all ideologies. And some of the rightwing paranoia about Obama is just that, paranoia. Moran's example is Obama's birth certificate and his non-release of it is an excellent case in point.

On one hand, it is weird that the original birth certificate was not released. On the other hand, it doesn't really matter if he was born in Kenya - his mother was American and that gives him American "natural born" American citizenship.

What has always bothered me was the refusal to release his college records. It is traditional for presidential candidates to do so, and everyone in the race did except Obama. Why? If you have nothing to hide, then why not just shut everyone up by releasing the records?

One of the rumors is that for Obama to attend a Madrassa while living in Indonesia, he had to renounce his American citizenship (this was when he lived there with his mother and step-father). If his stepfather did that on his behalf so Obama could go to school does that count against Obama since he was a minor at the time? And if Obama did have Indonesian citizenship as a minor, did he use that to get foreign student aid to Harvard and Columbia and is that why he asked them not to release the records?

More importantly, have I been reading too many of these articles? That's the only question I can really answer - which is probably.

Michelle Malkin covers similar ground in this article here.

Seems to be a theme today, this being St. Nicholas day and everyone knows that's a conspiracy to make Santa angry.

Good For The Goose

If anyone supporting a republican candidate in any election - including dogcatcher - had done what those liberal government workers had done to Joe the Plumber, the press and every freakin' liberal elite in the country would have had their head on a plate.

But if its done to help a liberal, well then, that is different.

At least this lady did the right thing and exposed her superiors for the power-abusing liberals they really are.

I just hope this isn't a glimpse of our future.

Eminent Domain Abuse

That nest of radical vipers, Columbia University, is abusing eminent domain for its own gain.

Reason has published Damon Root's account of the tribulations a Mr. Nick Sprayregen has suffered thanks to Columbia's despicable tactics.

I quote at length because it really is unbelievable hypocritical (and yet unsurprising) that an American university would sink to this scummy level.

Each of Sprayregen's buildings is kept in pristine condition. But Columbia wants his land. So the university has been working with the state of New York to have the neighborhood declared "blighted." If that designation is made, the government will be able to take Sprayregen's well-kept property and hand it over to the university, which owns the run-down buildings. And only then, when they have their neighbor's land, does Columbia promise to clean up its act and make Manhattanville nice again.

Back in September, Sprayregen wrote a very good op-ed for The Wall Street Journal describing some of the university's more despicable tactics:
Under New York state law, in order to condemn property the state first has to undertake a "neighborhood conditions study" and declare the area in question "blighted." Earlier this summer the state released its study, which concluded that Manhattanville is indeed "blighted." This gives the state the legal green light to condemn my four buildings and hand them over to the university.

The study's conclusion was unsurprising. Since the commencement of acquisitions in Manhattanville by Columbia, the school has made a solid effort to create the appearance of "blight." Once active buildings became vacant as Columbia either refused to renew leases, pressured small businesses to vacate, or made unreasonable demands that resulted in the businesses moving elsewhere. Columbia also let their holdings decay and left code violations unaddressed.

Feel free to contact Columbia University and let them know that such abuse of Eminent Domain should not go unpunished.

Lee Bollinger
Office of the President
202 Low Library
535 West 116th Street, Mail Code 4309
New York, NY 10027


General Inquiries or To Contact the President
Phone: (212) 854-9970
Fax: (212) 854-9973
Email: officeofthepresident@columbia.edu

Speaking Requests (must be submitted in writing)
Susan Glancy, Chief of Staff
Email: skg56@columbia.edu

Media Inquiries
Office of Communications and Public Affairs
Phone: (212) 854-5573

God Bless NoMobVeto.org

Good folks are speaking up against the violent thugs seeking to shut down the debate swirling around California's Prop. 8.

See the ad that NoMobVeto.org published in the New York Times (and hopefully will run in the Los Angeles media as well) condeming the mob.

The group is a project of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Let's hope they keep up the good work.

Head Scratcher

This article has me puzzled. It's from The Spectator - normally somewhat reliable, but I'm not sure if it is paranoid or what.

Read for yourself because if it even remotely true, we're gonna have to watch Obama like hawk.

Sadly, Moynihan Was Right

As Kay Hymonwitz's excellent article details, the failure to address the fatherless conditions of many African-American families is one of the reasons why so many African-American children are born into single-parent households.

Her closing paragraphs below are very good but read the whole article. It is quite an education.

Merely walking down the aisle can't explain these differences. Rather, the institution of marriage appears to promote ideals of stability, order and fidelity that benefit children and adults alike. Those who pin their hopes for black progress on education tend to forget this. Numerous studies, when controlled for income and race, show that, on average, children growing up with single mothers are less likely to graduate from high school and go to college. And Moynihan's discovery of a negligible relationship between "economic conditions and social conditions" suggests that even increases in black male employment are not a certain cure.

Through the power of his own example, Obama presents a chance to revive what Lyndon Johnson called "the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights." Obama's memoir, "Dreams From My Father," conveys the economic, emotional and existential toll of growing up fatherless, and he has spoken movingly of his determination to ensure for his own children a different life. Yet tackling this issue won't be easy. When Obama gave a Father's Day speech lamenting "fathers . . . missing from too many lives and too many homes," Jesse Jackson was so incensed that he said he wanted to castrate Obama. Still, painful as the subject is, the alternative is far worse: racial inequality as far as the eye can see.

Speak Up

Muslims who kill innocent people in the name of their faith are Bad.

There I said it.

And so did Mark Steyn in his excellent article today, Silence = Acceptance.

Why all the mealy-mouthness about saying that a person who so hates another person they are willing to kill them is bad? Why no rush to judgement?

Because many Muslim leaders have insisted that to do so is racist.

That is turning the world upside down.

Because as far as I am concerned killing an innocent is evil, whether you do it for God or not.

In fact, it is worse when you do it for God because I'm fairly certain on this that God does not want his hard work blown up because you are too stupid to figure out what your "peaceful" religion is supposed to mean.

For the record, my daughter is the only Christian in an all Muslim Girl Scout troop which meets in a mosque's community center. So far politics has not come up amongst the mothers (which is as it should be) but I am not afraid to say that killing innocents is wrong.

And let us be clear on this, everyone on a plane, bus, train, subway car; everyone in the market, the mosque, the church or temple; everyone just simply going about their lives who is killed by some suicide-bomber jihadist is innocent.

It is the jihadist who is racist and wrong and hellbound.

Socialism Begins

And this, my friends, is why I did not vote for him.

Obama wants to create a FDR-like public works program for the economy.

A few reasons why it will not work.

Obama is not FDR despite their many socialist similarities. Clearly, he is believing his own hype and that is very dangerous. Apparently, the "change" he meant was not anything new, but something very old - about 75 years old.

This is not 1933 - most Americans are not construction workers - they have neither the skills nor the inclination to build bridges. Back in the 30s that was a good job, now it will not satisfy most Americans ambitions. Quite frankly, the construction industry is riddled with illegal immigrants. A gaint infrastructure building program will mostly provide jobs to illegal immigrants, not Americans.

Also, this is not 1933, Americans have more entrepenuerial resources than in the 1930s, we can start a new business or use our existing skills to retrain for another job. Government programs encouraging retraining via technical schools and community colleges would be money better spent. Small loans to help people create businesses would be better than paying big construction companies to higher illegal immigrants.

Finally, this is not 1933. This is still a recession, not a depresion. But it will become a depression if the government continues to spend taxpayers money on bailouts that, so far, have not helped. The banking industry is a big black money hole and the more the government lays on taxes to less likely businesses will invest in capital or employees.

This is how socialism begins. If we are not careful, this is the start to the nationalization of industries and then statism and stagmentation.

Don't believe me, look at Europe.

The Mom Song (to William Tell Overture)

As much as Mrs. Hughes rocks, I do love, love, love this video of The Mom Song.


ya' know I could listen to this on a continuous loop all day long.

Mrs. Hughes Rocks

I think I love this woman.

Old is the New New

I like Old Technology too.

Here's a gem from 1956.

A street safe car that is also a FAA approved airplane.

Cool!

Dude, Where's My Ethics

When the New York Times takes a liberal to task for ethical violations against humanity - yes YOU, Mr. Rangel - then you know that liberal is on the outs.

Read the call and response of Charles Rangel's Letter to the Editors and the New York Times 9 point-specific rebuttal responses.

Sir, I think you should leave.

Sunshine on my shoulder

This makes me happy.

Sun + Water = Fuel

I love science. Technology is my friend.

Snobbery

Everyone is a snob.

Poorer folk are snobby about the things wealthier folk like. Wealthier folk are snobby about things that poor folks like. The Janus-faced middle class have their own issues.

It's all just rationalizing.

But the real sin of snobbery is reserved for intellectuals and elites who believe their value as a person is higher than everyone else's.

That is rarely if ever true. A garbage man provides a far more useful service to humanity than 99% of all elites/intellectuals.

Actually that's unfair. A garbage man is a more useful member of society than 85% of conservative elites and 99% of liberal elites/intellectuals.

Let's face it conservative elites tend to accomplish things like job creation via businesses/industry and liberal elites tend to be academics (and lazy/biased journalists).

As the old adage goes, those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.

Am I being snobby? Why yes, yes I am. But I have little tolerance for these inflated intellectual egos that seem to believe their hot air opinions bring more to our culture than the police man who keeps us safe so our culture can persevere.

Just had to get that off my chest.

Biggest Impact on Global Warming

Hmmm, what could be so influential on Earth's climate?

What could actually shift the thermal inertia of the planet so it warms?

What could it be? Greenhouse Gas? Human activity?

How about THE SUN!

Scientitsts don't really know how clouds are formed and what function they serve in the climate system. We are only now noticing the impact of carbon dioxide release from the oceans. And we're just beginning to explore the correlation between sunspot activity and earth's temperatures.

Finally it's not a green planet. It's a BLUE planet.

Earth is over 70% ocean. The remaining 30% is broken up roughly 15% polar caps/tundra and deserts, 5% mountain or inhospitable land and 10% what humans occupy and what we use of that is minuscule.

Humans may have evolved but Mother Earth can kick us to the curb anytime she likes. One good volcanic eruption and we get tossed in a year-long winter.

So let's all take a big deep breath and realize it's not us, it's the sun.

Funniest Movie EVER

I'm watching Tropic Thunder as you read this on DVD. We saw it in the theater and NEVER laughted so hard in our lives.

Tropic Thunder is simply the funniest movie I have ever seen. Period.

See for yourself.



And here.

Words Speak Louder Than Actions

Liberal Elites seem to hold a deep belief that its not what you do, but what you say that is important.

There are countless cases of Liberal Elites saying public schools are just fine - no need for vouchers - then sending their own kids to private school.

Below is yes another example that it isn't what you do that what's important, it is the platitudes you mouth.

Auto Hearings: Hypocrisy 101
By Henry Payne

Detroit, Mich. — Last summer, Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey joined his Democratic colleagues in piling $85 billion in new regulatory costs on the Detroit Three by mandating a 40-percent fuel-efficiency increase by 2020.

“The energy bill passed by the Senate takes an important step forward to increase our energy, economic, and environmental security,” said the senator. “And the CAFE standard increase contained in the bill is long overdue.”

At this afternoon’s Senate Banking Committee hearings, Casey — unapologetic for his role in burdening the industry now before him seeking a handout — demanded quick passage of $34 billion in taxpayer money to save the Detroit companies from bankruptcy. Casey moaned about the economic devastation an auto company failure would visit on his state.

Last fall, Barack Obama stood with striking UAW workers in Kansas City to oppose a new labor agreement that industry executives said was necessary to survive. “I stand with the 73,000 United Automobile Workers who are striking General Motors,” Sen. Obama thundered. “The demands the union is fighting for — job security, the health benefits they were promised — are things that all workers should expect and that UAW members deserve.”

Now, with automakers demanding a bridge loan just so they can live to see the day when that new labor agreement takes effect in 2010, Obama ally and Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin points to the companies’ sins of “paying their executives and their workers too much.”

Clearly, these men have no clue that their actions have consequences.

So Lame, So Very Very Lame

At a loss for words. It is lame on an order of magnitude.

And by lame, I mean the video, not the article.

Speaking of Totalitarians

FDR's fascist policies are buried by decades of liberal revisionist work, but real historians (ones interesting in facts) are speaking up. I've mentioned the fine book, Liberal Fascism and now I'd suggest you read this fascinating story of the kosher butchers brutalized by FDR and his policies and how they fought back all the way to the Supreme Court.

And won.

Picking on Mormons

I have to agree with Jonah here, that Prop. 8 opponents (aka pro-gay-marriage folks) took it too far with their anti-Mormon television ad as well as their thuggish behavior in my post titled The New Totalitarians.

Jonah hits the nail on the head when he points out how lily-livered liberals are when it comes to their attacks.

Did you catch the political ad in which two Jews ring the doorbell of a nice working-class family? They barge in and rifle through the wife’s purse and then the man’s wallet for any cash. Cackling, they smash the daughter’s piggy bank and pinch every penny. “We need it for the Wall Street bailout!” they exclaim.

No? Maybe you saw the one with the two swarthy Muslims who knock on the door of a nice Jewish family and then blow themselves up?

No? Well, then surely you saw the TV ad in which two smarmy Mormon missionaries knock on the door of an attractive lesbian couple. “Hi, we’re from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!” says the blond one with a toothy smile. “We’re here to take away your rights.” The Mormon zealots yank the couple’s wedding rings from their fingers and then tear up their marriage license.

As the thugs leave, one says to the other, “That was too easy.” His smirking comrade replies, “Yeah, what should we ban next?” The voice-over implores viewers: “Say no to a church taking over your government.”

Obviously, the first two ads are fictional because no one would dare run such anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim attacks.

Have you noticed that PETA only attacks McDonald's? Sure it is McDonald's is the biggest but its demographics are "easier" to hit than Burger King's which skews towards construction workers. Don't get what I mean? Have you ever noticed that PETA only throws paint on women in fur coats and not Harley Bike Riders in leather jackets?

Liberals need to understand they enjoy the freedoms of America because it is a democracy. And if they can not rationally convince the majority of Americans to vote for whatever social policy they are backing (as they have not with gay marriage), then they have to suck it up - not resort to McCarthy-style blacklists and violence.

Liberals are bullies. If we all stand up and demand civil behavior in our civil society, then they will behavior like civil people.

NO NO NO

No more bailouts. Not to Banks. Not to Industries.

And definately not to those lying scum-suckers, I mean, newspapers.

As Michelle Malkin ends her article,

"How “free” can a “free press” be if it is leveraged with government funding? How free would they be to criticize other corporate enterprises seeking local, state or federal help to keep them afloat in hard times? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? A press beholden to the ruling class — a press that cannot stand on its own two feet and the strength of its product — is a press better off dead."

The more the government "bailouts" these folks, the closer and closer The United States of America gets to becoming a socialist country with nationalized industries. If you want to see how bad that is, look at any given European economic statistic - unemployment rates-higher, wealth per capita - lower, property ownership - lower, birth rates - lower, the list goes on and on.

You don't have to trust me but trust me, a "free" press in hock to the government - especially the incoming government - means we would lose our ability to freely learn the truth.

More NYT Junk

The New York Times is crap. And here is yet another reason why you're better off with the New York Post or the New York Daily News.

Another Example of Why Socialism is BAD

And this is in Great Britain.

Gordon Brown keeps this up and Britian may no longer be Great which would be a travesty.

A travesty.

Smells Like American Spirit

As Harry Reid spends your tax dollars, he complains that we stink.

The Capitol Visitors Center, which opened this morning, may have tripled its original budget and fallen years behind schedule, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid found a silver lining for members of Congress: tourists won't offend them with their B.O. anymore.

"My staff tells me not to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway," said Reid in his remarks. "In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol[emphasis mine]. It may be descriptive but it's true."

But it's no longer going to be true, noted Reid, thanks to the air conditioned, indoor space.

And that's not all. "We have many bathrooms here, as you can see," Reid continued. "Souvenirs are available."

$621 million well spent.

After spending all that money to build one money hole and throwing billions upon trillions of Americans' money into another bailout hole, Harry Reid can kiss my fat white bottom next time he complains about smelly Americans coming to see the sausage factory that is Congress.

And maybe Mr. Reid should listen to his staff and keep his mouth shut.

God Bless Sandra Samuel

Sandra Samuel was a nanny for the Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, murdered in the muslem terrorist attacks in India.

She is an extraordinarily brave woman who saved the child of those murdered.

According to this CNN report, she was separated from the family. What happened was...

As the siege at the Chabad House began, Samuel heard the commotion, locked the doors and hid in a room.

"She heard Mrs. Holtzberg -- Rivka -- screaming, 'Sandra, Sandra, help, Sandra,' " said Robert Katz, executive vice president of the Israeli organization Migdal Ohr. Watch Katz describe the daring rescue »

The gunmen reportedly went door-to-door, searching for targets. Samuel unlocked her door and dared the gunmen to stop her, according to Katz.

She then ran upstairs to find the Holtzbergs shot dead, lying on the ground with their son crying over them.

"She literally picked him up and made a dash for the exits, almost daring the terrorists to shoot a woman carrying a baby," Katz said.

May God bless her and keep her for her bravery.

Don't Ask Me Why

So for reasons I can't explain, I decided to look up the total populations of some U.S. states. I found this table of state populations very handy and helpful.

As a former Manhattanite who still considers leaving The City to be as much of a wrench as my husband leaving his country to be with me in America, the state populations made me wonder what New York City's population is relative to the other states in America.

The population of New York City (not the state, the city) is 8,143,192.

Only 10 states in the union have a larger population than New York City. They are; California, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York State, Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

The other 40 all have fewer people in their entire state than this one magnificent city. Maybe New Yorkers are arrogant pains-in-the-butt but look how well (for the most part) over 8 million people from over 200 countries can live in such a relatively small place.

Can't be all bad.

Dream On

I think David Limbaugh has pretty much hit the nail on the head in his column today about whether Obama's cabinet picks are going to make the administration centrist rather than radical leftwing.

Between Obama's scant voting record, his recorded personal beliefs, his personal associations of the last 10 - 15 years, and his statements that whomever he picks as part of his administration, he is the one in charge (the decider?).

The right needs to be on guard because this administration will do everything it can to drag the United States down the leftwing primrose path to socialism and worse.

The Anglosphere Allies

Christopher Hitchens has written a very trenchant piece about the Indian terrorist attacks and why the United States must stand with India.

"India is emerging in many ways as our most important ally{emphasis mine}. It is a strong regional counterweight to Russia and China. Not to romanticize it overmuch, it is a huge and officially secular federal democracy that is based, like the United States, on ethnic and confessional pluralism. Its political and economic and literary echelons speak English better than most of us do. Its parliament in New Delhi—the unbelievably diverse and dignified Lok Sabha—was viciously attacked by Islamist gangsters and nearly destroyed in December 2001, a date which ought to have made more Americans pay more attention rather than less. Since then, Bombay has been assaulted multiple times and the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan blown up with the fairly obvious cross-border collusion of the same Pakistani forces who are helping in the rebirth of the Taliban."

I have one quibble with him. India is one of our most important allies because India is part of what The Anglosphere Institute calls, well, the Anglosphere. A group of nations - all former British colonies - who share some vital commonalities; Property rights, rule of law, high frequency of English speakers, and democracy of some sort.

India, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, America, Britain, etc. are all part of this informal group of nations. And when you look at history, we have all been each other's greatest allies. India's economic strides into the modern age should not be left to chance. We, her allies, must help her during this evil time so she can continue to grow and continue to be ONE of our most important allies.

Thomas Sowell is an amazingly insightful person and I especially appreciated his commentary on the election at NRO.

In this post at The Corner, Mr. Sowell discussed the true meaning of Freedom and why liberal leftwing policys such as enforced community service are not examples of liberty.

In other words, people on the left want the right to impose their idea of what is good for society on others — a right that they vehemently deny to those whose idea of what is good for society differs from their own.

The essence of bigotry is refusing to others the rights that you demand for yourself. Such bigotry is inherently incompatible with freedom, even though many on the Left would be shocked to be considered opposed to freedom.

He is, as always, so very correct.

The path of the leftwing liberal leads inevitably to socialism and its evil offspring communism. Forcing someone to do "good" is still forcing someone to do something they may not want to do. And that is bad.

Incredibly Moving Story

Again, another example of the heroism of the Taj Hotel staff and Indian Commandos during the obscene terrorist attack in Mumbai. Shame to Pakistan if they do not make these villains face well-deserved justice.

Get 'em While They're Hot.

Obama "products" for sale. Several blogs have mocked the "Obama collectors plate" and with good reason.
But I think they are missing out on some valuable other items that will surely become collectors items when the full disappoint of "hope and change" shifts to "business as usual" and euphoria purchases get tossed.

Among the items I'd keep my eye on - the Obama "Action Figure" and the Obama 2009 Calendar (mark the exact day the scales fell from your eyes).

I (heart) Technology

I find this astonishing. Machines so small they are powered by "the force of light".

What a wonderful, technolgically advanced world we live in.

Hope and Change

Code for business as usual.

Check out this.

When Big Is Bad

According to this piece, there is a shortage of Kosher meat which is bad right before Hanukkah.

The lack of beef is because Agriprocessors Inc., formerly the largest kosher meatpacking company in the nation collapsed after a May immigration raid arrested nearly 400 workers at the company's Postville, Iowa, slaughterhouse.

Since then, the company has struggled, and the plant has closed. It stopped shipping beef about three weeks ago and chicken in the last week, customers said. Since there are only a handful of processors nationwide who slaughter animals according to Jewish law and under the supervision of rabbis, the shutdown has cut the kosher meat supply to the bone.

This is a good thing (well it will be soon).

First, it is good because corporations who break immigration laws should suffer.

Second, it is good because historically large meat processors (and other industries) become large by buying up the smaller competition. While this does have many beneficial results - better efficiencies, lower prices - it also means quality can suffer, especially in niche markets like Kosher meat.

The end of this article talks about how other smaller Kosher meat processors are beginning to step up to fill the Kosher meat shortfalls now that Apriprocessors Inc. is out of the market. This could set a good example for all industries and entrepreneurs.

Maybe, dare I say it, the current financial crisis. Afterall it is the giants that are falling. My little credit union is doing just fine.

News Shocker - Teenagers Lie!

This article reports that teenagers lie but doesn't ask why?

What could be the root cause? How about baby boomer and current double-income parents who allowed daycare facilities to raise their children?

Ugh.

Venice Under Water

No, its not sinking.

According to this article, Venice is flooded due to storms, rising silt lifting the seabed floor, and - of course - "global warming" (the last despite the IPCC admitting that temperatures have not risen since 2001).

While my heart goes out to Venice and the Venetians, this wet stormy weather is afflicting all of Italy.

Venice was built in the 5th century. Hasn't technology improved enough that we can't raise Venice to a safer, above-the-waterline height. And whatever happened to those plans for huge floodgates. Did those ever get built?

This Charming Lady

I really like Condoleezza Rice and this makes me like her even more. Playing for the Queen of England at Buckingham Palace was apparently a dream come true for her.

What a dream. What a charming lady.

Always There For The Little People

In the middle of a global financial crisis, a gesture of crass consumerism from the man of "hope and change".

If McCain did this, wouldn't the media be SCREAMING?

God Bless The Anglosphere

From Jonah at NRO:

Immaculate Service [Jonah Goldberg]

While most of the news has been awful and grim, there are small human stories that bring some cheer. My favorite story to emerge from Mumbai massacre is from a Brit trapped at the Taj hotel:

‘I was extremely lucky. I was with a very good bunch of people. Three or four of us were Brits. There were some Irish as well. Most were Indian.

'We’d never met each other but I have to say, it was a true British stiff upper-lip situation. Together, the Brits helped to keep up morale.

‘There was a can-do attitude. We thought, 'Let’s get the barricades done, let’s do the practical things rather than sit there like sheep and wait to meet our fate.'

‘There was a lot of crying from many of the other people and I suppose comforting them was a way of keeping ourselves occupied. My boss Christopher Garnett and some old friends were sending me messages to keep my spirits up.

‘At one stage Christopher sent me some stanzas from The Private Of The Buffs [a ballad by Sir Francis Hastings Doyle describing the execution of a captured British infantryman for refusing to kowtow to the Chinese in 1860].’

Nick added: ‘We all decided that even though we had alcohol within reach we wouldn’t touch it because it seemed like a bad idea to get drunk.

‘But come 5am, we were fairly confident the police were going to get us out, so I marched over to the bar and found a bottle of vintage Cristal champagne and opened it and began pouring it into glasses.

‘Then the head waiter came rushing across to me and said, “No, no, you can’t do that!” and I said, 'Well we’re going to' and he said, 'No sir, those are the wrong type of glasses. I shall find you champagne flutes.'

Annie Get Your Potato Gun

Breaking Potato News from the good folks at The Onion.


USDA Official Takes Courageous Stand Against Interstate Countercyclical Potato Pricing

Three Restaurants

A reader responding to my post Memory Makers and Memory Re-Creators asked which top three restaurants, our British friend visited.

There are as follows (in no particular order):
El Bulli
The Fat Duck
The French Laundry

While I would be BEYOND ESTATIC to eat at any or all of the above restaurants, I would also be happy to eat at....

The Inn at Little Washington
or
Citronelle (Oh, wait I DID eat there and my husband proposed to me for the 4th time)
or
Le Bernardin
or anything by Gordon Ramsey, Fergus Henderson, Tom Colicchio, or Charlie Palmer or....somebody please stop me!

You get the picture. There's a lot of great chefs out there and I would love to try everything.

Oh Gosh, I think I'm reveiling my inner foodie.

Let's put it this way, not only have I been cooking since I was five, worked the line in College at a Bon Appetit reviewed restaurant, and have an entire bookshelf in my kitchen dedicated to culinary reading material but if a baby was born when I first subscribed to Bon Appetit, she'd be legal to drink by now.

The worst of it all is I've dragged my husband into this world now too.

But the original question was - which three restaurants - The Fat Duck, El Bulli, and The French Laundry.

ARGH!!!

I have a love/hate relationship with my damn pediatricians.

On one hand, they are great with well-baby appointments and severe illnesses. On the other hand, they are TERRIBLE with nonspecific things like prolonged coughing.

Or vomiting – my daughter was throwing up every 20 minutes and they gave completely unhelpful advice plus suggested using a saline nasal rinse for her runny nose when she was throwing up after being given a teaspoon of water.

Don’t want kids taking any medicine at all despite their clear discomfort. Drives me nuts. I mean, I'm not a crazy medicine, give-them-antibiotics-now mom but I think that after hacking up a lung for a week and a half that my pediatricians should cough up something better themselves than "have you given him honey?"

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Bad CAIR Day

Frank Gaffney has written about some rough times for CAIR. Which is good for everyone not CAIR.

But what I want to know is when is the media actually going to start investigating the dubious connetions Obama has to these grotesques? Ayers? CAC? Khalid? Rezko? ACORN? The list goes on and on and on.

And, of course, Obama has worked with CAIR too.

Lie Back And Think Of England

Theodore Dalrymple is one of my favorite writers over at City Journal (buy it, read it, memorize it). He is glum, caustic, and very witty. In short, he's British.

This is his latest "Oh, To Be In England" column, titled "The Quivering Upper Lip" and it is a wonderful read.

Karmic Ass

Deepak Chopra is an ass.

Totally Agree - This is SO COOL

Sooooo Coooool! [John Derbyshire]

When I was a wee lad, back in those far-off days when kids had hobbies, I spent many happy hours assembling model planes from kits. Airfix, Revell, Monogram, … I pretty much worked my way through their inventories. The art was in the painting. You bought teeny cans of paint made by a firm named Humbrol (still in business, I see), fine horsehair brushes, and lotsa white spirit.

If I'd kept at it, I might have attained these astonishing heights. The reader who sent me the link remarks:

The model was obviously hand built and runs on chain saw engines. Nice touch with the X-1. The voice of the boy saying "this is soooo cooool! " says it all.
Indeed it does.