Moe Lane

I have to disagree with Debra Saunders slightly, here. After discussing Bush’s administration – both the good and the bad – she concludes that history will favorably judge the outgoing President on what did not happen:

Osama bin Laden once told Time magazine that the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia after the murder of 18 U.S. troops on a humanitarian mission made him realize “more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat.” Members of al-Qaida have told intelligence officials they never thought Washington would respond to the 9/11 attacks as ferociously as Bush responded. They expected a few bombs to be dropped, no boots on the ground, a swift withdrawal if casualties mounted — the usual short-attention span foreign policy that warped Lebanon, the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, the African embassy bombings and the attack on the destroyer Cole.

Bush showed America’s enemies a country that does not retreat in fear, does not bomb with impunity, and most important, does not desert civilians or foreign governments that trust us. If you think that doesn’t matter, look at Libya, which disarmed its weapons program. And see how much easier Obama’s presidency will be because Bush kept the faith.

Osama bin Laden may live, most likely quivering in a cave. And no one thinks America is a paper tiger anymore.

The problem is the word “anymore.” (more…)

Given that pretty much nobody’s heard “The Wild Pair” since this video:

(From the album Forever Your Girl)

…and, honestly: Paula Abdul’s career hasn’t really been a top discussion topic lately either; I think that it’s probably fair to say that opposites do not really attract.

Now maybe I’ll get this song out of my head. Curse you, oldies station. Curse you forever.

I might have known:

NEW YORK, NY – US Airways flight 1549 made an emergency water landing in the Hudson River just after 3:30pm yesterday afternoon. Initial reports suggesting the plane struck a flock of geese have been dismissed with the discovery of new evidence confirming that the plane struck and killed the religious icon Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Two observations (aside from the usual, which is that I love the Weekly World News)
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(Today’s guy: Harry Turtledove)

I’m actually not a very good book reviewer, mostly because I… I have no idea why, actually.  I’m just not.  You don’t hear very many people matter-of-factly answer Because I just suck at it to that particular question, which is a shame.  There’d be less time wasted if more people did.

Well, despite my sucking at book reviewing, I recommend that you pick up Harry Turtledove’s The Man with the Iron Heart if you were or are at all relieved at the way that the Surge turned out.  Or if you have a Lefty friend whose perception you want to test.

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Granny’s got a gun
Granny’s got a gun
Her friends now all have one
Made of blue porcelain…

(Yvonne Lee Schultz’s main site)

Come, allow me to explain the current cultural divide in this country in less than 60 words: up until I came across this article I was wasting my time trying to find ordering information.

That title should grate.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has apparently decided that they don’t feel like holding the bag for Nancy Pelosi’s inability to write a functional consumer protection bill: (more…)

It’s… pretty bad, yeah.

How bad?

#1 on the list is The String Quartet Tribute to Limp Bizkit.

This is the one. This is the album that should really just signal the end of music. Someone with a real background in music had to arrange these songs. A classically trained cellist had to read sheet music titled “N 2 Gether Now.” At one point in rehearsals, a real-live conductor probably had to say “Okay, gang, let’s take it from ‘Now I know y’all be lovin’ this shit right here.’” Where does music go from here? Where do any of us go from here? How can anyone go on in life knowing that this album exists? Anyone? Hello?!

And #2 IS NOT A JOKE.

…who has an opinion on layout and whatnot? For example, I know that recent comments would be helpful, but it takes up space. So would, and so does, monthly archives.

…are actually useful. Lukewarm touch? Molten lava. Ultra short range teleportation? That’d get you through a window without opening/breaking it, no problem at all. Complementary Chameleon? Air Search and Rescue will hire you on the spot.

Superuseless Superpowers is a pretty cool site. I look forward to seeing more of these.

Update: Professor Caleb from comments is disputing my argument on the teleportation thing, and he’s even got a diagram, so it must be Science!;

I personally think that the entire thing can be explained away mathematically if you assume that the thing being teleported is defined as being one-dimensional. Yes, yes, yes: “assume the cow is a sphere.” Clearly I need to read Fear of Physics.
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“It’s a new day, and Mr. Rangel is part of that new day,” Levin said.

The Democrats have made it clear that they don’t give a tinker’s dam about Rep Rangel’s numerous ethical lapses, as even this Politico article makes clear (via Instapundit):
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(H/T: Technomancy for Fun and Profit)

Quick background: last year, USMC Sgt. Michael Ferschke was killed in Iraq while conducting door-to-door searches. He left behind his Okinawan-born, pregnant wife Hotaru Ferschke, who he had married a month before by proxy; and, of course, there were problems with her visa. Wizbang wrote about it here and here; Senator Lamar Alexander‘s (R-TN) office has been working on getting this fixed from the start, of course (I understand that some other (Tennessee?) lawmakers also assisted, but I couldn’t find details); between them and the USMC, they’ve made arrangements for Mrs. Ferschke to enter the country on a temporary visa, now that her son is born (more here).
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I will continue to post them on this site, but their final home will be here. I need to play with the formatting over there a little, obviously.The In Nomine stuff... is going to be interesting. So far, I'm thinking...