This girl has her priorities straight

Hell, if we were worth 7.2 billion, we wouldn't be pissing it away on the DNC, no matter how hard Howard Dean was dancing our our laps. We'd be pissing it away on manservants and a private distillery.

Say what you want about her politics, but the girl knows what to do with her money. Although, you could make a pretty good case that investing in the DNC at this point is a good example of buying low.

This sounds right to me

Despite all of the protestations to the contrary, I've been skeptical about North Korea's nuclear status from the beginning. I don't doubt that they would very much like to have nuclear weapons, and from all evidence it appears that they posess enough plutonium to make one.

However, owning the plutonium and being able to manufacture a nuclear bomb are two very different things. Now, we're hearing an official from the South Korean government voicing the same caution about the situation.

"It's definite that North Korea possesses 10 to 14 kilograms of plutonium that can make one or two nuclear weapons," he said. However, he said there was no "conclusive evidence that North Korea made plutonium bombs" with the material, but that other countries suspect North Korea has one or two nuclear bombs.

When the NoKo's openly declared their nuclear status for the first time last week, it had the ring of someone who doth protest too much. This was not only an excuse for Pyongyang to get out of the six party talks, but to try to force Washington's hand. More than anything else, they want direct, bi-lateral negotiations with the U.S. North Korea's economic situation only gets worse and the announcement appears to be a desperate attempt to extract aid that will postpone its collapse a little longer.

Look for the administration and its closer partners in the six-party effort to continue its position of rejecting any idea of one-on-one negotiations. North Korea is not a distraction that the U.S. needs at this time (Iran is clearly the next item on the agenda) and certainly doesn't want an open conflict. In addition, they probably believe that delays in the process can only work toward their advantage by letting North Korea move closer to collapsing of its own weight.

MORE:

... (James) Baker told the host, George Stephanopoulos, that "there's a big gap" between abandoning the six-nation negotiations that had been sporadically under way for the past 18 months "and going to military force."

"There are many things we can do," Mr. Baker added.

"Quarantine?" Mr. Stephanopoulos asked.

"Quarantine is one," Mr. Baker said. "And perhaps the best one, of course, is sanctions by the United Nations Security Council for North Korea's violation of her promises to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the global community."

More evidence that islation and economic strangulation is the weapon of choice. I'm not holding my breath on those Security Council sanctions, however.

There but for the grace of God...

Who among us hasn't been tempted to do the same thing?

The customer (Christopher Lame - I won't touch that) gets his order from the drive-through window, notices it's (naturally) wrong and takes the time to pull over and go inside, offending taco in hand. What kind of response does he get? The smart-ass behind the counter asks if he has his receipt.

Doing a slow burn, Lame goes back out to his car to bring the entire bag back for her inspection. She then tells him that the store is closing. In other words, "take a hike and eat what we give you." Nice treatment of a valued customer from a courteous Taco Hell associate who just wants her customers to be, you know, happy.

Now, I don't condone the launching of fast food (not at people, anyway) and I don't know if Iowa is a right-to-carry state, but Ms. Harrison should probably be thanking her lucky stars that the only thing that flew at her head was a chalupa.

Look out Kinko's

"I tell people I work at Starbucks, not for Starbucks,"

If Starbucks keeps this up (free office space, wi-fi access, ready access to caffeine) it could be a significant hit to Kinko's revenue.

"I am a starving artist...I bring my own teabags and get them to give me hot water. They don't seem to mind."

Even the freeloaders must buy something once in a while.

Great moments in editing

Paper tries write headline no prepositions.

The boy is incorrigible!

For someone who only a week ago announced to the world that he was giving up regular blogging and 'the Dish as we know it,' Andrew Sullivan sure has been busy! It appears that our Hamlet of the blogosphere can't keep his digits off the keyboard. Evidently, "I'll still post when I feel like it" means every 20 minutes.

Not that I'm complaining. Sullivan's blog is nothing if not entertaining. But as with so much else, Andrew, our "rock in turbulent times," sways with the breeze like an old swing - or John Kerry in a "Meet the Press" interview.

I'm just glad I'm not his publisher waiting for that book he's supposed to be writing.

Imagine that

Terror Group Blamed for Car Bombing
What would we do without the professional journalists at the AP to clarify everything for us?

We don't need no stinkin' fundamentalists

Deborah Hornblow doesn't like what she sees in the latest season of Fox's series, 24. In her words, they've gone way over the line and are only continuing

...America's (and the rest of the world's, for that matter) not-so-proud history of demonizing various ethnic groups for the sake of our national amusement.

What is 24's sin? Why, depicting a group of - get ready for this - Islamic fundamentalists plotting against the U.S. I know, I know, shear balderdash and poppycock. Imagine how far out of their way the show's writers had to go to conjure such a far-fetched plot line just to smear an innocent monority group and feed our need for an enemy to hate.

James Lileks is all over the case, pointing out that years of movies with American Indians and Italian mafiosi shown in less-than-glowing light hasn't resulted in Americans thinking that all Indians or Italians are bad guys. As he says, "As for goose-stepping Nazis ? well, if the jackboot fits, Fritz, wear it."

Condi's good start

It's quickly becoming apparent that the new Secretary of State will be taking a much tougher, more pro-active stance with America's enemies that did her predecessor. Reuters reports comments she's made directly criticizing Syria and the active roll they've taken in supporting the Iraqi insurgency.

"I cannot say it strongly enough. You cannot say on the one hand that you want a process of peace and on the other hand support people who are determined to blow it up," said Rice, on her first overseas tour since becoming secretary of state.

This is exactly the kind of straight talk that the State Department has actively avoided previously. They've traditionally been far too worried about angering states like Syria to challenge them. They held the ridiculously naive belief that they could get farther by engaging these awful regimes than by criticizing them. This was only interpreted as weakness on America's part and further encouraged the very behavior we opposed.

Rice urged other world leaders to join Washington's campaign to get "states that continue to support rejectionists and terrorists (to) stop doing that," while dangling the prospect of further sanctions against Syria if it failed to tow the line.

All that seems to have now changed, and it's long past due. Condi and the president have apparently decided that there's no reason to endure four more years of his policies being undermined by his own foreign service.

Rice will undoubtedly soon pay a price for all this in the form of media and international criticism for 'unhelpful' or 'beligerent' rhetoric. Don't be shocked if at least some of this carping originates from inside her own department, as well. I expect to see the same rash of resignations (and the subsequet sniping stories in the media) as have resulted from Porter Goss's apparently successful efforts to clean out decades of accumulated dead wood at CIA.

Seymour Hersh, call your office.

MORE: Further evidence that Rice won't be bound by the hypocrisies of traditional international diplomacy.

"Living their political values"

It appears there is still a vocal minority of liberals who are still despondent enough at the reelection of Bush that they're (at least seriously considering) following through on their promise to move to Canada.

"I'm originally from a poor, lead-mining town in Missouri, and I know a lot of the people there don't understand why I'm doing this," she said. "Even my family is pretty disappointed. And the fact is, it makes me pretty sad, too. But I just can't bear to pay taxes in the United States right now." - Melanie Redman, Seattle

"It's a wrenching decision to think about leaving. But America is turning into a country very different from the one I grew up believing in." - Christopher Key, Bellingham Washington

You have to admire their stick-to-itiveness and willingness to, as Jason Mogus of Vancouver, B.C. says, "live their political values." These aren't just a bunch of Alec Baldwins who blithely throw out the threat to move overseas (as if this would prompt anyone to vote Democrat - 'Oh, no! We have to elect a Democrat or...or...we could lose Alec Baldwin!') during a campaign, and then conveniently forget their promise despite losing the election. No, these are the truly committed, who, like Ms. Redman, above, "just can't bear to pay taxes in the United States right now."

This kind of dedication to one's politics, though, should not only be admired, but encouraged. A fund (private, of course) should be established to buy all of the Volvos, Subarus and Saturns these people will be selling, along with enough cleaning fluid to remove all of the Gore/Leiberman, Kerry/Edwards and 'Re-defeat Bush!' bumper stickers (they can leave the little rainbows, but I'd take the pink triangles and 'If you want peace, work for justice' stickers off, too).

Then there are the homes and apartments these people will be vacating. The fund could purchase these, as well, perhaps donating them to new (legal) immigrants who move to the U.S. every day, looking for the freedom and opportunity they can't get in their home countries. The net increase in both IQ and personal motivation (not to mention the decrease in whining) will be enormous and a huge net benefit for America.

I'm willing to start the fund with $100. If you're interested, you can donate via my Paypal account and I'll ensure that the funds are put to good use helping our unhappy fellow (soon to be former) Americans move north.

Facing Nancy

Read this post from JustOneMinute. I never thought of it before, but he has a real point there.

We've all probably written off the freakish effects of Nancy Pelosi's botox injections and surgeries to vanity taken to extremes or her pathetic attempts to remain more viable as a candidate.

But JustOneMinute has put his finger on it! Her death mask appearance isn't a bug, it's a feature! It distracts her listeners from the pettiness and vapidity of what she's saying.

Do you think her doctors are on her paid campaign staff?

Crispy critter

Watch this video interrogation of a terrorist who survived the explosion of the fuel tanker he was driving in Iraq. He's a (not too bright) Saudi who traveled to Iraq to fight the Americans, but was duped by his fellow comrades who detonated his truck by remote control.

A little over four minutes into the video, he's asked the nationalities of the other terrorists he met. While he said most were Iraqi, he lists other from countries such as Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, even Macedonia. It seems the flypaper theory is working quite nicely, thank you.

Be concerned, be very concerned

"Right now, the bird flu is just a blip in the newspapers, but if the avian influenza virus undergoes antigenic shift with a human influenza virus, the resulting subtype could be highly contagious and highly lethal in humans," Matthew Wexler, the president of the National Alarmist Council and one of the nation's leading fear mongers, said Monday. "My professional opinion, and more importantly, my personal belief, is that this is a cause for great national alarm."

The sad thing is that this is so close to the typical Union of Concerned Scientists or Public Citizen fire drill, it's hard to tell the Onion from reality.

Coming soon, "Study Links Second Hand Smoke to Spontaneous Nuclear Explosions" followed by "McDonalds Restaurants Found to be Source of Iraqi Insurgency".

Despite the definitive photographic evidence...

the media still won't give Bush credit for this major victory in the war on terrorism.

Of course, we won't give the terrorists the satisfaction of trumpeting this victory, either.

You don't think Dan Rather...nah.

The compassionate left

Andrew Sullivan announced today that he'll be taking an extended hiatus from day-to-day blogging. What did Wonkette have to say?

"And, out of the semi-blue, writer-cum-blogger Andrew Sullivan announces his retirement from blogging. This is a truly sad day for the ass-fucking community. If only we'd appreciated him while we had him! But... we just didn't."

Nice, huh? Imagine if this had been written by, say, Jonah Goldberg. Can you imagine the firestorm? Is this any less disgusting because a sensitive liberal posted it?

Hitchens to the rescue

It has been one of the left's favorite arguments against any involvement in Iraq - that it will only turn into...ANOTHER VIET NAM. We've heard the invocation of the dreaded term, QUAGMIRE, over and over again in the last year by such stalwarts and Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi along with a rogue's gallery of the usual suspects.

Now comes Christopher Hitchens, one of the clearest and best writers on Iraq since the beginning, to draw clear distinctions between what happened in Viet Nam and the situation in Iraq today.

"Where it is not augmented by depraved Bin Ladenist imports, the leadership and structure of the Iraqi "insurgency" is formed from the elements of an already fallen regime, extensively discredited and detested in its own country and universally condemned. This could not be said of Ho Chin Minh or of the leaders and cadres of the National Liberation Front."

There was no popular uprising in favor of the cause of the Iraqi insurgents (basically, a return to the rule of Saddamites) that predated our involvement. We weren't fighting with a corrupt military-led government that commanded little popular support.

"In Vietnam, the United States relied too much on a pre-existing military caste that often changed the local administration by means of a few tanks around the presidential palace. In the instance of Iraq, the provisional government was criticized, perhaps more than for any other decision, for disbanding the armed forces of the ancien regime, and for declining to use a proxy army as the United States had previously done in Indonesia, Chile, El Salvador, and Greece. Unlike the South Vietnamese, the Iraqi forces are being recruited from scratch."

Read the whole thing. And while it's certainly wishful thinking, this should be the final word on any comparisons between Iraq and Viet Nam.

You don't say...

Bush Pushing Agenda in State of Union - Imagine that...the president actually promoting his own agenda in a nationally televised speech.

Who writes these things?