Moe Lane

That’s just messed up.  And horrific, in a rugose sort of way. But not squamous!

Unless starfish have scales.  They don’t, right?

Moe Lane

PS: Time-lapse photography, apparently.

This came up yesterday at the debate – and a bit earlier, when Hot Air’s Allahpundit noted Perry’s original comments, and I responded - so I thought I’d give an update of what… is being said about the concept of a Syrian no-fly zone being established.  Note: not what is being done; what is being said.  Lots more things get said than done.

The very short version is that the Arab League has taken a surprisingly hard line against Syria, threatening sanctions against the Assad regime if it does not reform.  This, coupled with a recent United Nations human rights condemnation of Syria, means… virtually nothing; except that it is apparently giving Turkey a future excuse to institute a partial no-fly zone in northern Syria – should they so choose to do so.  And if they do so choose to do so, according to at least one report (and I do not know how credible the source is) it would involve a movement ban on more than air units: (more…)

There was one person back in the old days who posted the same anguished cry for help, or at least an invitation to dinner, disguised as a not-very-good and not-especially-scathing indictment of early American history.  I’d link to it, except that I don’t remember who wrote it and I have better things to do than look it up.  Odd how the wheel keeps turning like that, huh? – Mind you, if I stopped blogging I’d be utterly forgotten within six months, tops.  That’s the way the photons propagate in a wave function.

Anyway, I was going to be cruel (which is not unusual) and only link to @amandacarpenter‘s succinct summary of this Thanksgiving-tastes-of-bitterness New York Times op-ed complaining about how the President pardons turkeys but lets people be executed, but then I remembered that it is Thanksgiving tomorrow; and while it’s not as charitable a holiday as Christmas is it is one of those days where we share.

So let me share some traffic with Mr. Smith, here: and I certainly hope that he had somewhere to go for Canadian Thanksgiving… what?  Oh, yes, the fellow’s operating out of some university or other in Montreal.  Which means that he’s either Canadian himself, or a bitter exile.  In either case, it’s mean to hope that Smith is not enjoying his possibly solitary existence…

Moe Lane

Apparently not.

Huh.  I was just assuming, because, well, you know.

My post-debate take, which is of course made vastly more relevant by the fact that… I followed it onsite rather than online.  Well, online at onsite.  Generally, these events are a bit different from the inside, including (surprisingly) less chances to schmooze with the candidates than you’d expect.  A ‘spin room’ is there primarily to get access to raw material for the article that you need to write the next day; if you were thinking that candidates would hold court there, well… no.  Still useful for getting access to campaign managers and press liaisons, though.

Anyway, my take, alphabetically: (more…)

Soren and I are here to cover the debate and the post-debate ‘spin.’ The debate will be at 8PM; it’s hosted by CNN, Heritage, and AEI, and will focus on national security and foreign policy. And now, a look at the glory that is a Press File Center:

(Or… not)

I know: fascinating. This is going into diaries; most of my commentary will be via Twitter. Also, I’d like to apologize in advance to the Perry campaign, as he’s had his best debates when I wasn’t covering them. I shudder at the thought of what’s likely to happen tonight, when I’m actually attending.

Nervous?  Me? Just because this is my first really credentialed outside media event?  The idea makes me laugh!  LAUGH!

Hah-hah-hah!

Hah!

Hah.

Heh.

ha

…by South Korean parliamentarians.

Just a reminder, folks: we are pussycats when it comes to our legislators playing rough.  And, at that, the South Koreans have nothing on the Taiwanese:

Moe Lane

(Probably eventually via AoSHQ.)

I don’t like getting involved in intra-blog discussions like this, but I feel forced to point out to Hot Air that Governor Perry’s stated willingness to enforce a no-fly zone in Syria needs – needs – to be seen in light of the following facts:

• There is a group called the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) which is opposed to the Assad regime.  It is unclear how large the group is, but  it is reportedly growing – it is certainly going after more ambitious targets – and it is currently based out of southern Turkey.
• The FSA has in fact requested that Turkey impose a no-fly zone.
• Turkey enjoys, if that’s the right word (it’s not) poor relations with Syria, to the point where its prime minister is openly calling for Assad to step down.
• It is thus reasonable to state that the FSA’s continued existence as a group is due to the Turkish government’s willingness to at least tolerate it; it is reasonable to speculate that the Turkish government may choose to openly support/use the FSA in the future.  Which means that it is not outside the realm of possibility that a no-fly zone may in fact be imposed by the Turks.
• While Turkey probably has a large enough air force to do the job itself, it is still a member of NATO.

(more…)

…it’s mean-spirited of me to taunt evangelical/hard-shelled/obnoxious atheists like I’ve been doing.  Particularly since I know that the ones I’m taunting absolutely hate being reminded that they’re a somewhat unsophisticated religion masquerading as an inexorably rational end product of flawless classical logic.  On the other hand, they’re a damned easy target and God/Goddess/[insert pantheon here] knows that evangelical atheists aren’t shy about mocking rival faiths themselves.

On the gripping hand, what I said earlier still applies: if you can’t deal (via @adamsbaldwin) with the concept that a bunch of Marines could make and erect a memorial cross on public property… well, that’s your religious crisis, not mine.  I mean, everybody grapples with their faith occasionally: it’s just that most of us (and that includes most atheists) don’t start lawsuits to shut up the little internal voice of doubt…

Moe Lane

PS: I think monetizing this would annoy certain people. So:

Monbiot, as you may or may not recall, came to the conclusion earlier this year that anti-nuclear power hysterics were, well, anti-nuclear power hysterics who lie when it suits them and who have about as much intellectual credibility as you’d expect from a group of hardcore religious fanatics with a determinedly anti-science agenda.  Entertainingly, he’s still unbroken, half a year later, and is now ripping apart the anti-nuke crowd for peddling hideously overpriced radiation pills to Japanese affected by the Fukushima reactor meltdown (with a side order of conspiracy theorizing).  Yeah, I know: scum in human guise… but then, we were talking about the anti-nuclear power crowd, remember?  Those people get off on this sort of thing, particularly when it involves non-Europeans/Americans.

Via Samzidata, via Instapundit: I’m just going to add my usual note in these cases that while it may be personally satisfying to look upon the likes of a George Monbiot and righteously declaim “Too little, too late” – it’s much more satisfying to get the full conversion later*.  Or, if you prefer a more utilitarian argument: you have to reward appropriate behavior as well as punish inappropriate behavior.

Moe Lane

*Not to mention better for you in a moral sense.

Thick As A Brick (Edit No 1), Jethro Tull

It’s the short version – otherwise known as the We are not going to assume that you are zonked to the gills on primo Mexican marijuana while playing this album and thus completely divested of any sense of time passing version.

Not that I would know anything about that sort of thing, of course.