Paul McCartney beat Heather to the punch with a divorce filing

The Daily Mail says that Heather Mills is "furious" that Paul McCartney got his divorce filing in before she could start one. The rumoured "quickie divorce" fell through, so now the battle is joined in a knock-down-drag-out fight. The article calls her "the one-time lingerie model", which I thought was being pretty delicate, compared to what it could have said.

Jessica Simpson pics

Perhaps the entire OK! Magazine photo shoot didn't happen, but there are at a few pics at this page at Hollyscoop.com.

I consider the vendetta against online gambling to be a bad thing

I do not gamble at all, much less online. I consider that the current efforts by the Federal government and Washington state to be bad. Basically, they are an effort to legislate morality, which almost in all cases is subject to abuse and is driving a wedge between ordinary people and those pushing this sort of thing. LauraW, blogging at Ace of Spades HQ, has the story:

Personally, I don't care a whit one way or the other about online gambling. But there's a free speech issue crystallizing at the heart of this thing. The verbiage used by politicians is infuriating and discouraging.

Rick Day, director of the Washington State Gambling Commission, said most people don't need to worry. The state isn't out to get gambling aficionados who blog about casinos or post tips on how to beat the dealer at blackjack, he said.

But he said links or references to online gambling conceivably could spell trouble for Web site owners[emphasis me].

One fellow whose website only reviewed online gambling sites has already shut down. There was never any betting at his site.

We didn't have to look far for more about Qana

Wizbang supplies the answers about Qana. Kim Priestrap at Wizbang writes:

Update: A report in YNetNews says that the Qana building that was struck by Israel didn't collapse until eight hours later:

An IDF investigation has found that the building in Qana struck by the Air Force fell around eight hours after being hit by the IDF.

"The attack on the structure in the Qana village took place between midnight and one in the morning. The gap between the timing of the collapse of the building and the time of the strike on it is unclear," Brigadier General Amir Eshel, Head of the Air Force Headquarters told journalists at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, following the incidents at Qana.

A new reason to riot: the Israeli attact in Qana

The Israeli air attack on Qana that caused a building to collapse is a new reason for people to riot in Beirut. YNews has a picture of guys kicking out windows from a UN building in Beirut. Every incident of this sort just inflames existing hatred of Israel. We have no idea, really, what Israel was trying to hit, but it is really irrelevant, as noone effected would care whether there was a legitimate target or not.

Amanda Platell, at The Daily Mail, on George Michael

George Michael created a big negative splash when the story about his behavior surfaced. Amanda Platell, at The Daily Mail, says "No George, your vile behaviour disgusts us". What George Michael did just confirms a lot of negative stereotypes about homosexual men.

Mel Gibson obviously has a problem

At "Talk Left", Jeralyn Merrit has a long post about Mel Gibson's drunken driving arrest and what he had said about Jewish people (I do not care for the shortened, one syllable version of the term). Mel Gibson has this problem with alcoholism, and he apologized, after the fact, for his drunken behavior, when he was arrested:

Mel Gibson has issued an apology of sorts. He acknowledges he said "despicable" things to a Sheriff's deputy and that he has been battling alcoholism all his life. [Background here and here.]

Bill Clinton's new girlfriend? (Belinda Stronach)

The First Post, in Britain, has this article about Belinda Stronach being Bill Clinton's new girlfriend. You may not be following Belinda Stronach's activities, but she is a former Canadian Conservative who became a Liberal, in exchange for favors (being in Paul Martin's cabinet). Belinda is 40 and rich, and blonde, a combination sure to appeal to Bill Clinton.

Tom Maguire has two pieces about Floyd Landis

Tom Maguire, writing at Just One Minute, has two posts about Floyd Landis. The first is "Oh, Merde!". Tom basically says:

Tour de France hero Floyd Landis fails the "A" stage of a drug test. The test followed his stunnning win in Stage 17. Groan.

Well, our editorial board has elected to remain in denial until the Sample B results are in and all of Landis' appeals are exhausted. Meanwhile, some points to ponder...

Tom wonders if Floyd Landis had passed an earlier doping test. If so, what is the deal on this last one? Tom's second post is about "Dopes at the World Anti-Doping Agency". Tom thinks that the anti-dopers are going to extremes, beyond what makes sense:

Hmm - why not ban the post-event rub-down? Is the use of Ben-Gay active or passive? Just how actively does one eat broccoli relative to french fries - should we ban nutrition coaches too? The advocates have an answer:

“The fact that we can think of cases that are difficult does not mean we can’t draw lines,” Murray said.

That's an answer? Of course we can draw lines, and of course there will be difficult cases. But if a lot of "difficult cases" represent common, widely accepted, unobjectionable practices that appear to be on the "wrong" side of the line, that ought to be a hint that the line might be in the wrong place.

Eventually the skeptics will win this, mainly because it makes no sense and partly because it will be unenforceable.

Paris Hilton's former buddy, Nicole, is doing Karaoke

Molly Good says that Nicole Richie is a regular at Guy's Karaoke club. If you can imagine it, Mary Kate Olson was there cheering on Nicole and holding up a lighter while Nicole performed. Molly says that Nicole's act was heavily choreographed.

My opinion is that we will never see rising wages until we allow some inflation

My, perhaps uninformed, opinion is that we will not see wages recover until we allow some inflation in the economy. If we keep clamping down in price and wage growth, we will get the expected result. The Fed could kill off the economy, if they already haven't, and keep wages from rising. There is an AP story on Yahoo Finance about the economy's present state.

Marc Cooper quotes a piece about Cynthia McKinney

Marc Cooper is apparently not a Cynthia McKinney fan (neither am I). He quotes someone that indicates that Cynthia McKinney is trailing badly in polls, and should lose the runoff election. Marc thinks that is a good thing. Cynthia McKinney seems to have depended on race-baiting to be elected, and when faced with a good Black candidate, that removes that as an option.

John McWhorter on "Making do with table scraps"

John McWhorter has an interesting piece in the online New York Sun, entitled "Making Do With Table Scraps". He is discussing the two main parties, how the Republicans and President Bush are undersold and how the Democrats take Black people for granted ("A cheap date"). I can understand that the movement of White, Southern Democrats into the Republican Party might make people wary of Republicans. Mr. McWhorter suggests that people should start looking at the two parties and what they are doing, rather than give a knee-jerk reaction and vote Democratic. Mr. McWhorter suggests that if that continues to happen, Black people will continue to receive table scraps from the Democrats, who pander, but do nothing more than talk.

The continuing Paul McCartney/Heather Mills story

The latest chapter in the ongoing silliness surrounding Paul McCartney and Heather Mills (everything they touch looks silly, afterwards) is that the log lodge that Heather and Beatrice are living in on the McCartney estate is being threatened by the Rother District Council's planning department, as the lodge was built without their required approval. The Irish Examiner has the story.

The reality of Colleen Rowley is disappointing, compared to the press releases

Colleen Rowley made a big splash when I was in Minnesota as a "whistle blower" at the FBI. She had made the national media in her criticism of the FBI's pursuit of Zacharias Moussaoui. Ed Morrissey has the story about her current, abortive candidacy for the House:

Her first mistake was getting into the race without any kind of platform in mind, other than a bad case of BDS. While Democrats burst with enthusiasm, most others wondered why Rowley thought she could go from a non-political job at the FBI to Congress on the strength of a Time Magazine cover. Political careers have been launched on less, though, and those of us in MN-02 watched with curiosity how Rowley would campaign in a strong Republican district. As it turns out, badly. She drove a stake into the heart of her campaign almost immediately by having a photoshopped picture of Kilne in a Nazi uniform placed on her offical website. Kline, who served as an officer in the Marine Corps before his election to Congress, protested vociferously at the slight to himself and to his fellow Marines. She took the picture down off of the website but refused to apologize to Kline. Even before that, Rowley associated herself with the far-Left nutcases that MN-02 residents rightly mistrust. Rowley just missed her chance to join Cindy Sheehan in Crawford last summer to join the anti-Bush circus. Rowley seemed very enthusiastic about her support of Sheehan, at least until Sheehan started falling in love with Hugo Chavez and claimed that the Bush administration was the biggest terrorist organization in the world. Rowley never did address Sheehan's wackier public statements, and has scrubbed Sheehan almost completely from her site. Rowley has turned into an embarrassment for all Minnesotans, and the rational voters of MN-02 has a clear choice in November: support an incumbent who has proven his mettle on the battlefield and in Congress, or vote for a far-Left nutcase that thinks Nazi allegations are amusing and that Cindy Sheehan represents rationality. Given that choice, no wonder Democrats have decided to ignore Rowley.

Ann Althouse has several more blog posts about the University of Wisconsin and Kevin Barrett

I was interested to read Ann Althouse's thoughts about Kevin Barrett and the University of Wisconsin. Jeffrey B. Bartell is a University of Wisconsin regent. He gives his take on Kevin Barrett and then Althouse comments:

Mr. Barrett may not be the person I would hire to teach this course on Islamic culture and religion. But neither would I fire him or prevent him from teaching solely on the basis of his controversial, even bizarre, views. I think Provost Farrell made the right call.

May not be? Controversial, even bizarre? Why pull those punches? Barrett is absolutely not the right person to teach this, and his views are idiotic, even evil.

Tell it straight, and then it will mean something when you back Farrell. I do.

Ann's final statement on the second blog post is that

I wish the university administration was not so averse to talking to the citizens about their concerns. It is content to state the justification for the decision, to tell people that they aren't working hard enough to grasp the justification, and to try to deflect attention onto the bad old legislators who want to intrude on the university. This aloofness doesn't help the university's cause. And, ironically, it runs counter to the very enthusiasm for free and open debate that the administration asserts as its reason to retain Barrett.

This I believe: Do what you are good at doing

I also heard a "This I believe" segment on NPR from Tony Hawk, the skateboarder. Tony spoke about doing what you have a passion for doing. What occurred to me is that I have to agree with Tom Hopkins, the sales guru: don't stop doing what you are good at doing and what generates a lot of income. On the other hand, successful, creative people often have multiple interests, and have a good bit of passion for them. In my case, software development (as a consultant for most of the last 14 years) generates the income, and has for the last 27 years (!). Some of the other things that I do are to do historical research and to write about what I have found. I also do wargaming, although a good bit less than I did in the past, as I find that I have a better feel for the subject matter by trying my hand at commanding forces at sea or in the field, even if abstractly. I also draw and paint, although in spurts. Right now, most of what I am doing is "photoart".

I listened to Robert Siegel take Ned Lamont apart on ATC on the way home

I still have trouble imagining the idea, but on the way home, I heard Robert Siegel, on All Things Considered, take apart Ned Lamont, hapless anti-war candidate for the Senate in Connecticutt. I must admit that I might have missed the part where Ned Lamont redeemed himself, as I could not bear to listen. What I found out is when Robert Siegel asked nuanced questions about Iraq, that did not match Ned Lamont's talking points, Ned Lamont was out of words. Ned Lamont seems to be a one-dimensional candidate, only able to recite his talking points. Joe Lieberman looks like Winston Churchill next to Ned Lamont, who most closely resembles Howdy Doody.

Paris Hilton Pics

I'm not sure if we might do better than this, but here are some Paris Hilton pics. Her main claim to fame is being Paris Hilton, "a celebrity", perhaps only known for her sex movie, and rather less, for her TV program with Nicole Richie (I had not realized that Nicole Richie was adopted).

Marc Cooper is pretty violently against the use of military force

I was rather surprised just how violently Marc Cooper reacted to comments, including mine, that favored the use of military force. He is adamantly opposed, and argues against Israel's strike back against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Marc comes back with Israel occupying Palestinian territory (the State of Israel?):

I have been quite discouraged by the dialogue of the deaf that has taken place on this blog and elsewhere as the war in Lebanon deepens.

Too many people around here are way too ready to sit back and watch others die in the name of some very simplistic formulas. There's a facile reductionism at play when one "reasons" that because Hezbollah has attacked Israel, Israel is now licensed to retaliate in any form it desires -- and to hell with the consequences. This same line of logic argues that to criticize Israel, to raise any question around its strategy, to be concerned at any level about the long-term effects of its current campaign, to voice any worry about the way the U.S. responds to the crisis, is to appease or even condone terrorism.

What a stinking load of bull. And very dangerous bull. Warfare is not about keeping score, or getting even. It's about the lives and deaths of real people. And thought it's a cliche, most of them are just like me and you. War should never be a question of what is justified. But rather what is the minimum amount of violence absolutely necessary to achieve whatever that "just" goal might be. Does Hezbollah have a right to camp out in Lebanon and hurl missiles at Israel? Of course not. Hezbollah must be rolled back and disarmed, but not by flattening Lebanon and enflaming the entire Arab world.

Likewise, one might ask: Do Israelis have the right to continue occupying Palestinian territory that -- frankly-- just doesn't belong to them? Does Israel have the right to continue an occupation that deprives Palestinians of their sovereignty, their dignity and their equal rights? Of course not. A two-state solution must be reached and the Israeli domination of the Palestinians must come to an end, but not by supporting Palestinian suicide bombers nor any other atrocity committed against the Israeli civilian population. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but only a fool -- yes, a fool-- would watch unperturbed as match after match is tossed into the sea of gasoline that is the Middle East. If Israel's retaliation, which now includes wholesale bombardment of Lebanese cities driving hundreds of thousands from their homes, morphs into a wide, regional war will anyone be consoled ten years from now by standing on the smoking ruins and simply saying, "Oh well, you know, the Hezbollah are the ones who started it."

More of Ann Althouse on the Kevin Barrett situation

Ann Althouse has commented a Stanley Fish op-ed piece in todays' New York Times:

Fish writes:

It is part of a teacher’s job to set personal conviction aside for the hour or two when a class is in session and allow the techniques and protocols of academic research full sway.

This restraint should not be too difficult to exercise. After all, we require and expect it of judges, referees and reporters. And while its exercise may not always be total, it is both important and possible to make the effort.

It seems to me that the first question to ask is: have we jettisoned this idea(l)? It seems that we have in certain arenas but not others. Your comment about law profs is telling precisely because lawyers are one of the few areas of endeavor left where we choose to believe that the advocate need not actually believe in the cause or the the client. So in the domain of law we think that personal politics will not automatically win out (well, that was the theory, at any rate). But if we have lost that everywhere else it will be a tragedy for society. So I suppose the question is: do we really want to act as if it's impossible for anyone to have a space between personal beliefs and public acts?

Some thoughts about the Weight Watchers Core Plan

I followed the Weight Watchers Core Plan for my first ten weeks in the program. I lost 9.6 lbs. in that time, but I suspected that I was doing something wrong. I switched to the Flex Plan, where you count points for everything you eat, to see if I could tell what had been happening. What I found was that I had not adequately been accounting for my non-Core food intake. I understand that part of the appeal of the Core plan is that you don't have to record what you eat. You would benefit from recording, however, as you could review your eating with the group leader for the meeting you attend. If you do not want to record the Core foods, at least record the non-Core foods explicitly, necessarily in the Flex plan section of your tracker. The least useful thing you can do is to check off the extra point boxes for the week without recording what you had. By recording the non-Core food that you eat, you can then check to be sure that you have accurately checked off the extra points from your allotment of 35 for the week. I am now doing that on the Flex plan, so that I can check my point total against the the total amount that I have "gone negative" (over the normal point allotment for the day).

This was a revelation to me: the 7.5pt font in Word (!)

I had wondered how to get smaller font sizes in Word. I knew that they could be gotten in Excel, but I didn't know how to get them in Word. This Hindu Business Journal article tells how (it is pretty old: 2002). The trick is to type the font size in points in the box. The predefined list does not go below 8pt. I had not realized that 7.5pts was possible, either, but I am now using that size.

Radio Blogger: Mark Steyn on Hugh Hewitt, last Thursday

Duane Patterson not only has the transcripts, but usually also has the audio as well, from Hugh Hewitt's SRN show. When I was living in Plymouth and working in Minneapolis, I would usually check the show and see if it was something I would want to hear. The show started at 5pm, CDT/CST, so it was the latter part of my drive "home". Last Thursday, Hugh spoke with Mark Steyn, humourist and columnist. Mark talked about the battle in Lebanon:

HH: I begin, as I do every single Thursday that he's available, with columnist to the world, Mark Steyn. Mark Steyn, your assessment of the war against Israel, a week into it?

MS: Well, I think the interesting feature so far, really, is the poodles that didn't yap, to pacify Sherlock Holmes. Normally, by this stage, the public rhetoric of the Europeans and the Arabs would be ferocious. And instead, I think both of them have been very circumspect in public. And certainly, the ones I've talked to in private are in fact, in a strange way, and possibly unprecedented, at least in the last thirty years, they're rooting for Israel. Amazing.

HH: Why is that?

MS: Well, I think because they have actually seen that...they've had a tremendous glimpse of their own future, and what has happened to Gaza, and what has happened in Southern Lebanon, and to Lebanon as a whole, and in effect, even to Syria, because Syria is, in fact, playing Mini Me to Iran's Dr. Evil at the moment, and that they've seen a terrible portent to where things could go, both for Jordan, for Egypt, for Saudi Arabia, and down the line, for certain European countries, too.

Razib has a piece about possible human interbreeding with Neanderthals, which Razib argues was possible

On his Science Blogs "Gene Expression" blog, Razib has a piece about possible human-Neanderthal interbreeding. I have wondered simply because I have seen enough diversity in people that some seemed to resemble the Neanderthal reconstructions. Also, is the alternate proportions widely found, a characteristic from Neanderthals? (length from the shoulder to the top of the legs being equal to the length of the legs) Razib says:

A clear and resounding objection to this is that humans and Neandertals were not interfertile. The reality is that the separation of the two populations was only 500,000 years BP, so it is almost certainly not true, tigers and lions are interfertile and they have been distinct for 2 million years. Another objection is that Neandertals looked too different. Again, the Watusi have had Twa (pygmy) queens, resulting in the matrimony of the tallest and shortest of human populations. Neandertals were distinctive looking, but I am skeptical that they were alien enough that one could never conceive of copulation with them. Additionally, we know humans have sex with animals all the time, or at least frequently enough that the dynamic I allude to above could result in allleles jumping populations.

Finally, what's the payoff here, are there candidates for genes that could have jumped? Yes, there are, and one is mentioned in the article, at least implicitly, MC1R, which plays some role in melanin production. In Europeans this locus is extremely polymorphic, that is, it has a lot of diversity. This requires explaining, and some authors have posited negative frequency dependent selection, where low frequency traits hang around in the population because they are beneficial, but if they become too frequent they will be selected against. I won't hit on this, but address the issue for why this is introduced in the first place: the coalescence, the common ancestors, for many of the MC1R alleles in Europe are very deep, and some have estimated that the level of extant diversity would require 800,000 years to accumulate via neutral non-selective processes. What does this have to do with bumping Neandertal uglies? Neandertals separated from our own lineage 500,000 years ago, and emerged from archaic populations that have lived in Europe for as long as a million years. In other words, Neandertals had enough "time" to build up neutral alternative allelic variants which confered a selective advantange vis-a-vis new arrivals. What might have happened was simply that dark skinned Africans arrived on the scene, replaced the native Neandertals, but managed to pick up extremely beneficial locally adapted alleles for coloration from the predecessor population, who obviously had a long time to be optimized toward the local climatic regime.

9/11 Denial

The 9/11 deniers seem to be delusional. They also must not have been paying attention to events on that day. I was originally alerted to the first plane impace by Bob Edwards on NPR. I was sitting in traffic on eastbound I694, headed for Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Bob was saying that rumour had it that it might be a twin-engined plane. That made it sound to me like a small, twin-engined propellor plane, not a large airliner. While we were sitting at work, before we were sent home, we were following events over the Internet as well as by radio. We heard about the attack on the Pentagon and the plane down in Pennsylvania. When I got back to my apartment in Plymouth, Minnesota, I turned on the television and watched coverage. We had seen the video, online, that showed a plane hitting the second tower, and then the towers coming down, creating the advancing wall of dust and debris. We heard all the eye witness accounts, and followed the coverage. How could you believe, after that, that something else happened, that it was all done differently?

The Capital Times on Kevin Barrett

The Capital Times has "an approving article" about Kevin Barrett. The MSM has been de-emphasizing the fact that Kevin had converted to Islam. There is a lot there, including how Barrett thinks that the WTC collapse was due to a "controlled demolition". He doesn't believe that the Pentagon was hit by a plane (the one that Barbara Olson died on, along with many others). People like Kevin Barrett can say and think whatever they want, but we are under no obligation to provide them a forum from which to speak, much less teach.

BareknucklePolitics on Barrett

For some diversity of sources, I just looked at what BareknucklePolitics had on the Barrett story:

U.W.-Madison Provost Pat Farrell launched a review after Barrett spoke last month on a talk show about his views that the terrorist attacks were the result of a government conspiracy to spark war in the Middle East. After the review, Farrell said Barrett was a qualified instructor who can present his views as one perspective on the attacks.

Barrett has said he thinks the most likely theory about the 9/11 plot is that it was an "inside job" organized and commanded by Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I still have every expectation this will be a very positive educational experience for our students," Farrell said Thursday. "Some are upset about Mr. Barrett's viewpoints on 9/11 and don’t want to pay much attention to what makes for a quality educational experience."

This is Ann Althouse's post on Barrett and the University of Wisconsin

Ann Althouse is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, so happenings there are of more immediate interest to her than they might be to me. She writes on the subject of the university and Barrett, the 9/11 denier:

Meanwhile:

Sixty-one state lawmakers sent a letter Thursday calling on University of Wisconsin-Madison to fire [Barrett]. The letter signed by 52 Assembly representatives and nine state senators, including Republican leaders, condemns a decision earlier this month by UW-Madison Provost Pat Farrell allowing Kevin Barrett to teach an introductory class this fall on Islam. Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, said the letter, which called Barrett's views "academically dishonest," sent a strong message to top UW leaders.... The lawmakers sent the letter to the governor, university leaders and Barrett instead of approving a formal resolution offered by Nass during the last day of their session last week. Republicans did not take up the resolution, saying it was not the right day for political bickering.

Oh, yeah, it's all just politics. Sorry, forget it. Nobody actually cares about students and education in any kind of a principled way. Now, go. Get out of here. Go pay attention to some damned thing.

The "Barrett Story" at the University of Wisconsin

Glenn Reynolds has a post about the Barrett case at the University of Wisconsin. This whole business about "9/11 Denial" and left-wing craziness, is disgusting. As the commentor from Ann Althouse's blog says, this says bad things about the University. The commentor is liberal, but thinks that the Barrett issue and the 9/11 denial are a big deal. My opinion is that some major heads and the university need to roll.

Celebs and the Mickey Mouse Club

I really have not paid any attention to this sort of thing, but I see that Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears were both in the Mickey Mouse Club when they were young. That is where they originally met. There is an AP article on the subject that I just saw in The Mercury News.

Lebanon

I am supportive of Israel and their right to defend themselves. In this case, Hezbollah (and Hamas, too) need to be "taken out". They needed "taking out" for a long time. In the process of "taking them out", I wish that the Lebanese infrastructure were not being "taken out", as well. I would like to see Lebanon prosper, as a state. They need the infrastructure that they have built up since the end of the civil war. I understand that Lebanon has been allowing Hezbollah to operate, unfettered, and that is a problem. I just wish that deconstructing Lebanon was not part of the plan.

The Sun show that Heather Mills is no longer wearing her rings

The Sun has a short article with two pictures: one of Heather Mills without her rings, and what they looked like before they were removed. That should not be a surprise. This is just part of the divorce process. Perhaps Paul McCartney wanted them back. In a related piece of information, I noticed that Heather had asked Paul to stop smoking pot in 2002, and he supposedly did. I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that he was still using Marijuana, but high-profile rock stars, such as Graham Nash, had quit using drugs on their own.

Joe Lieberman

Compared to his anti-war opponent, Ned Lamont, Joe Lieberman looks good to me. I happen to believe in prosecuting the war (as a war) against Islamic terrorist elements, so I am not interested in seeing anti-war types elected to anything. Joe Lieberman has been supportive of fighting that war, so I would lean towards him. Ed Morrissey has a piece about Joe Lieberman's prospects in the primary election:

Joe-Mentum apears to have failed the former Democratic VP candidate in his upcoming primary. Ned Lamont has cruised into the lead despite worries over his single-issue campaign according to a new Quinnipiac poll, 51-47:

Anti-war Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont has surged to a razor-thin 51 - 47 percent lead over incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman among likely Democratic primary voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This compares to a 55 - 40 percent lead for Sen. Lieberman among likely Democratic primary voters in a June 8 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. ...

Some think the Hezbollah wants a negotiated settlement

The idea is that Hezbollah has been badly hurt, and wants to negotiate a stop to the hostilities that would leave the organization with some military assets. Hezbollah's critics would like to see them beaten on the battlefield and eliminated as a force.

One Cosmos comments on (among other things) Heather Mills's appearance with Larry King

Larry King, who we love to bash, had Heather Mills on his show. Bob, at One Cosmos, said of the show:

"Aside from Larry's closing tribute to Red Buttons, I've never heard more rubbish in a single hour since . . . well, come to think of it, since the last time I saw "Larry King Live." But at least that was a special with Heather Mills (Paul McCartney's missus), with which subject Larry seemed rather more engaged, at least after Lady McCartney plunked her artificial leg up on the desk and invited Larry to feel its lifelike texture, which is more than one can say for Larry these days.

Celeb World's coverage of Heather Mills

It is a bit old, but Celeb World has its coverage (or uncoverage) of Heather Mills. Celeb World calls itself "Photo Gallery and info about Bollywood - the Indian Hindi Film Industry, Hollywood and other celebrities whom we admire and love to see.... Celebrity World. This site is about skin flicks, the way the celebrity world is."

This morning, Ernie Brown had a revelation about TWA Flight 800

Ernie Brown, on his one minute segment at 7:35am on KRLD radio, in Dallas, said that he doesn't believe, generally, in conspiracy theories. He said, though, that he has been consistently told by people who work at Boeing, that the official story about the loss of TWA Flight 800 is not true, and that it is just a "cover story" for what really happened. What really happened is apparently a "deep, dark secret". I am open to the possibility that whatever did happen could have been politically embarrassing to the Clinton administration, and was, therefore, suppressed.

So you like to read about Britney Spears in the grocery store?

Since most of Britney Spears' life is tabloid material, I have been able to follow events in the grocery store. I supplement that with looking with Bloglines. I saw that Britney has moved into a hotel to put some distance between her and Kevin, her husband. CelebGuru has the story. Surely Britney can do better than Kevin, who can't leave his ex-girlfriend alone.

The Britney Spears Esquire pics from 2003

GoBritney.com has the Esquire pics of her from 2003 (such as this one) and this one.

Walrus Gumboot says that Paul McCartney means business: he hired Prince Charles' divorce lawyer

Walrus Gumboot says that Paul McCartney has hired Fiona Shackleton, who handled Prince Charles's divorce from Princess Diana. That is a sign that Paul McCartney is prepared to play hardball with looney Heather Mills (who never saw a goofy leftist cause she didn't like). I probably am being too harsh on Heather, but I take a dim view of her activities. She seems to have been seeking as much face time as possible on television, and her various activities have been a suitable vehicle for that. Of course, her marriage to Paul McCartney was the only thing that got her that access.

The Globe and Mail and Lebanon

The Globe and Mail often seems to be the media arm of the Liberals. Last night, they were trumpeting that 40 Canadians were dead in the Israeli bombardment. We find out, this morning, that the real number is about 7, and was from a family visiting their relatives. The relatives lived in the border area, where the Hezbollah were operating. The Israelis are not carpet bombing civilians (as we did in WWII), so not everyone is vulnerable to attack this way. Civilian casualties are unfortunate, including those inflicted by indiscriminate Hezbollah attacks against Israeli cities, such as Haifa.

Paul McCartney's tapped phone conversations are still "out there" as an issue

We have to wonder about what Paul McCartney will do with the recorded phone calls that were called to his attention by a stupid Heather Mills. Heather was so offended by the content, that she informed Paul McCartney about it. He was shocked and dismayed, of course. All she did was open herself up to legal liability, as the recording of phonecalls is illegal. Not that she even thought about that. All she could think about was being insulted by Stella McCartney. People, on Friday, had the story.

More grocery store tabloid fodder: Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise

Supposedly, the deal with Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise is that she wants the baby baptized in the Catholic church, while Tom Cruise is so deep into Scientology, that he will hear nothing of it. Anorak has the story.

If you want weird, how about Katie Holmes and the ultimate weirdness, Tom Cruise?

I must admit that the only thing I know about Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise is what I learn while standing in line at the supermarket. According to the usually reliable (or is it, unreliable?) National Enquirer, Katie has left Tom Cruise. There seems to be something wrong surrounding their supposed daughter "Suri". I don't know if she is dead, non-existent, or has two heads. Also, are they together, or not? (not that I really care). I must admit to being hostile to anything to do with Scientology, and Tom Cruise's ambiguity about whether he is straight or homosexual. Tom Cruise almost seems Michael Jackson-like, in that perhaps he acquired Katie Holmes to attempt to put the homosexual rumours to rest.

Tabloid Rabies sure has the stuff on Heather Mills

If you like seeing the pics of Heather Mills, back in 1988 (when she looked good), then Tabloid Rabies sure has the stuff. You can apparently now order the book from Orion.de. Fleshbot.com supplied the link and more pics.

How about Paul McCartney's "moving on" party?

There is always this weird stuff from the Paul McCartney/Heather Mills story. Now, Paul McCartney is throwing a celebrity bash this weekend to celebrate dumping Heather. ContactMusic.com has the story.

So Heather Mills thinks that a PR blitz will help?

Heather Mills is apparently even more deluded than I had thought, as she is pooring money into a PR campaign to combat the bad press over her past escapades. The Daily Mail, as usual, has the story. It will be pictures like these that prevent any PR campaign from working (as if a PR campaign can do anything useful, anyway). There are more, of course, such as this one and this one.

I would like to see Israel attacking Hezbollah, not Lebanon

I have trouble telling what is really happening, as the press portrays Israel's actions in the worse possible way. I want to see Israel attacking Hezbollah, to eliminate them as a force in Lebanon, not attacking Lebanon, the state. Ed Morrissey has a post about Hezbollah having miscalculated and paying the price:

Anthony Shadid analyzes the Hezbollah attack on Israel and its capture of two IDF soldiers, and concludes that it just shot itself in the foot. Their unilateral decision to engage Israel militarily has probably done as much damage to Hezbollah in Lebanese politics as the assassination of Rafik Hariri did to the Syrian occupation...

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

Valerie and Joe Wilson must be living in a fantasy world. Wizbang and Ed Morrissey have the story.

As has a Lindsey Lohan video that is "not worksafe"

Ace is not afraid to do this sort of thing. He has a post that links to a Lindsey Lohan video (it is said), showing her giving oral sex.

An Iranian Friend Blames the Present Situation on Zbigniew Brzezinski and Carter

I have a friend, from Iran, who had been there for his early life, up until the 1970's or so. He blames Jimmy Carter, the CIA, and Zbigniew Brzezinski for plotting regime change in Iran, and aiding and abetting the Ayatolla Khomeini's revolution. Another of Carter's and Brzezinski's creations was the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, which eventually morphed into the Taliban. Now, the Fascist Mullahs rule Iran using their Brown Shirts and terror on the populace. They also execute young women and girls and homosexuals. It is really a great place. I hope that I have characterized my friend's positions correctly, as it has been a while since I heard him tell the story of those times.

Marc Cooper on the war in the Middle East

Marc Cooper worries about the war in the Middle East:

We interrupt the solemn debate over Glenn Greenwald and Glenn Reynolds to bring you a snatch of news from the real world: With Israel now mounting an invasion of southern Lebanon and with Washington and Tel Aviv blaming Syria (and Iran) for the latest killing and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, we are that much closer to all-out regional war.

[Update: The Israeli Air Force has already bombed the Beirut airport.]

What fine timing Hezbollah chose to esacalate matters, playing right into the hands of an Israeli government already heady in the fog of war. An emergency meeting of the Arab League has been called in an attempt to head off a wider conflagration but the fighting is only escalating.

Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza

The Middle East is in a state of open warfare, triggered deliberately by Hizbollah, and aided by Hamas in Gaza. Reuters has a story about the latest events, including the Israeli air raid on Beirut International Airport. This is the latest attempt by Iran and their proxies in South Lebanon to attempt to spark a Middle East-wide war. The fundamental issue is whether Israel continues to exist, or if their enemies can destroy them.

What is the diffference between The Daily Kos and Ann Coulter?

Some pretty inflamatory stuff, from the Left, has appeared on Markos Moulitsas Zuniga's blog, The Daily Kos (rhymes with close, as in close the door). Ann Coulter, since 1996, has built a career based on writing inflammatory books, from the Right. At this point, Ann Coulter is still to the right, and unrepetent. The Daily Kos, however, seems to be "moving to the center", i.e., "triangulating". Glenn Reynolds has a post, rather removed from the source, where he comments on Mickey Kaus's take on The Daily Kos endorsing Second Amendment rights:

MICKEY KAUS: "Kos explicitly endorses 'the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms.'"

Looks like my long-term plan to win him over is working!

Razib, at Gene Expression, has a good piece called "Death to Heretics"

Razib is an apostate Muslim, I believe originally from Bangladesh. He has a good piece commenting on those, in Islam, who think that people who leave the religion should be killed:

So what do you do with memes that are pernicious? Why memetic warfare of course! The hysterics emenating from places like Jihad Watch are entirely appropriate here in my opinion, the witch has blasphemed, and her kind should be excised from decent society. Her kind includes all those who refuse to bow to the No-god of freedom of conscience. But the attack must be multi-pronged. From below the foot soldiers may scream and engage in their human wave attacks, but they need air support, and the modern West has a deep well of anti-religious polemic from which it can draw from here. If we unbelievers are to protect our sacred right to unbelief, we must not shirk our duty to engage in proper and pious contempt, condescension and critique at what is clearly savage and unrepentantly primal superstition of a gross sort, idolatry scaffolded in the garb of high culture. Let us bring the precision guided bombs and simply eviscerate them from on high. We have the swords on hand now, and we are no longer blind, we are the gods of our own future history.

I would say that Britney has problems, and must be in denial

Given what "A Socialite's Life" blog says about Kevin Federline, I would say that Britney has problems. Kevin has two children by his former(?) girlfriend, Shar Jackson. "A Socialite's Life" shows pictures of Kevin with the children. If what is alleged, is true, Britney might just accept that Kevin is a problem and should be ditched.

This is a source of Heather Mills pics

This is a source of Heather Mills pics

More Heather Mills pics at "tabloid baby"

"tabloid baby" has a post with more Heather Mills pics.

There were bombings in Kashmir, as well

There were also bombings in Srinigar, Kashmir, as well. Five bombs went off there, although the death toll is much less. Rediff News has the story.

Gateway Pundit has some video and good stuff on the bombings in Mumbai (Bombay)

The Gateway Pundit blog has some really good stuff on the train bombings in Mumbai. The bombings happened at the evening rush hour, apparently in the financial district of the city. They have lots of video, so it should be really useful.

Bombings in Mumbai (Bombay)

A London-style attack on trains has happened in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). My son's best friend is from there, and his sister still lives in area, I believe, as well as his mother and others from his family. The bombers apparently struck at 6pm, in the evening rush hour to maximize deaths. The assumption is that they are Kashmiri Muslim terrorists. DD News has one story on the subject. The City of Brass blog has the AP story.

On Science Blogs writes about Neanderthal DNA

On his Science Blogs blog, Razib, proprieter of Gene Expression now has his picture. It is here that he writes about "Neanderthal DNA & Human Evolution". Razib says that it seems unlikely that Humans and Neanderthals could not produce fertile offspring. The time when they branched is too short for them to have diverged that much. This is one of the somewhat technical posts that is still readable for the non-geneticist.

Dieting

I would guess that anything you choose, for dieting, will work, if you follow the system. I have experience with just two, in the last decade. The alternative to a system is to just cut down on how much you eat, and avoid foods, such as potato chips. I prefer a system, however. I lost 50 pounds from May until November 1999, following an Atkins-like low carb diet. For weight loss, it is fast and effective. I am less sure of the health effects, but it works for fast, raw, weightloss. I am currently following the Weight Watchers Flex Plan, and it works, as well. It is not as fast for where I started. I am seeing people who were really doing "the wrong thing" with eating, and they are seeing almost as great weight loss with Weight Watchers as I did with low-carb. I was down 28.2 lbs on last Saturday morning. I started the process on February 25, 2006. I prefer Weight Watchers, because I can eat more food that I like. Weight Watchers seems to have a better system for maintenance. I was going to say that you cannot deviate from low-carb, if you want to maintain your weight. What would be more accurate is that the amount you deviate will drive your stable weight weight. The more you deviate, the higher that stable weight will be.

More weirdness: Heather Mills is back on Paul McCartney's estate

Things continue to be strange and wonderful for Heather Mills and Paul McCartney. Just to keep things appropriately weird, Heather and Beatrice are back in the lodge on Paul McCartney's estate. The Daily Mail has the story. There is also the unflattering pic of Heather talking on her cell phone.

"As the world turns": more flap surrounding Heather Mills

Heather Mills seems to attract trouble (or perhaps it is the way she operates). Now there is an article about her getting a recorded copy of a conversation between Paul McCartney and his daughter Stella. Walrusgumboot has the story: "Mills, who got hold of the recording last month (JUN06) through a third party, allegedly challenged the former BEATLE about the tape last week (ends07JUL06) and is furious at the content."

I continue to be a PhD Comics ("Piled Higher and Deeper) addict

Jorge Cham's comic strip, PhD Comics ("Piled Higher and Deeper") is one of my addictions. I am constantly hitting the site, hoping that he has posted a new comic. I also like "User Friendly", Chris Muir's Day By Day, David Horsey's editorial cartoons (at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer), Henry Payne, and Larry Wright.

As you can see, we are keeping the discussion on a high plane (not)

I am afraid that I am often posting "what you want", rather than a discussion on a high plane. Not that I won't continue to point out good blogposts and articles, as I see them, and will occasionally write about some topic.

Another nice Britney Spears fake pic

This is a nice (probably fake) photo of Britney Spears, bare-chested. The pic is from Flickr, now hosted on Blogger, so we don't lose it, as most things evaporate from Flickr fairly quickly.

This is one of many nice fakes that are "out there".

SocialiteLife has a Cameron Diaz pic

While I was trolling with Bloglines, I ran into a fuzzy Cameron Diaz photo at the beach, where her suit falls partway down and is caught on the camera.

One reason to think that the Amsterdam at Scheveningen was not the new 50 gun ship

There is a 12 August 1653 report on the condition of Amsterdam ships following the Battle of Scheveningen. Included for most ships is the amount of gunpowder on board before the battle and either how much was used, or how much remained. The 44 gun ship Vrede, Gideon de Wildt's flagship had 50 barrels left and had expended 64 barrels. A barrel is about 100 lbs. of gunpowder. The total at the beginning of the battle must have been about 114 barrels. Jan Pouwelsz Sonck commanded the Amsterdam in the battle. This is the ship that is said to have been the new 50-gun ship. Why I doubt that is that the ship started with only 50 barrels and had 19 barrels left. An example of a ship that had that much powder on board was the Leiden, Hendrick Kroeger's 28-gun ship. The Leiden started the battle with 50 barrels and ended the battle with 26 barrels. For the Amsterdam to have only 50 barrels at the start of the battle is more consistent with a 30-gun ship than with a 50-gun ship. The source for this is C. T. Atkinson's book, The First Dutch War, Vol.V, pages 358 to 364.

This is why I do not use Tylenol

The Globe and Mail has an article about the risks of using Tylenol and other medications with acetaminophen. This new study apparently shows that the dosage at which severe liver damage can occur is not very much above the maximum dosage that is indicated by the directions for Tylenol. That risk has scared me off from using Tylenol, and anything containing acetaminophen, which includes my former favorite headache relief, Excedrin. Nyquil has it, as well, so that is another thing to avoid. I can't take it, anyway. I have pretty much had to rely upon the Airborne supplement, twice a day, and prescriptions, when I can't kick a bug on my own.

Tom Elia on Ken Lay and the Huffington Post

Tom Elia, writing at The New Editor, has a long post about Ken Lay, the Huffington Post, and conspiracy theories:

Whacko, Moonbat Conspiracy Theorizin' at HuffPo

At the Huffington Post, David Goldstein has a post titled, "Did President Bush Have Ken Lay Murdered?"

The comments section is filled with the wisdom one might expect from the readers of that august enterprise:-- I'm not convinced the guy is dead. It's not out of the realm of possibility that he may have gone "underground" as a retribute for being a loyal Ranger (multi-million $ GOP fundraiser) and dedicated Shrub-Acolyte.

Kenny Boy's probably sipping mimosa's on some beach in Bali right about now, or in post-op recovery from major plastic surgery to alter his appearance.

Candid pics of an unpregnant Britney Spears

These candid pics show Britney Spears at her best. What is nice, you can pop larger versions of them from the page to which I have linked.

Paul Graham says only "Copy What You Like"

Paul Graham has a new essay: "Copy What You Like". What he means is ONLY copy what you like, as otherwise, you risk wasting you time. He bases that on some hard-earned experience. He says:

That was one of the most valuable things I learned from painting: you have to figure out for yourself what's good. You can't trust authorities. They'll lie to you on this one.

North Korea is the classic "Failed State"

North Korea is a failed state run by criminals who are psychotic (to be charitable). The only good thing is that those characteristics mean that they are also very incompetent. That doesn't reduce the danger that they pose, especially to their close neighbors. South Korea has such a strong, wacko, lefist contingent that they have wanted to closely embrace the North. Hopefully, more rational adults in South Korea will start to take the North as a real threat, as they have always been. I thought that the long range missile that supposedly targeted Hawaii was a nice touch. Too bad it failed immediately. Otherwise, we could have tried out our missile defenses. North Korea helps to grease the skids for us having a viable missile defense, and silences the goofball left on this issue.

Judea Pearl at Atlas Shrugs

Pamela, at Atlas Shrugs, has a long post about Judea Pearl and Andrew Bostom. You may or may not remember that Judea Pearl is the father of the late Daniel Pearl. I am most familiar with the work of Judea Pearl. He wrote a classic book on Bayesian networks for reasoning, back in the 1980's. We used the technology in a DARPA-funded program that combined AI and image processing.

The name of Pamela's blog suggests that she might be an Objectivist. I take it that she is also Jewish. She starts:

Not sure how many of you have been following the slugfest between Judea Pearl (Daniel Pearl's father) and Andrew Bostom in the cyberpages of FrontPage magazine but it is an interesting intellectual bout between those that believe that Islamic societies are in urgent need of reform (Bostom, Sultan, Ayaan irsi Ali) and those that believe the violent Jihad that the Koran glorifies is merely aggressive verses of the sort that should be interpreted in a narrow local context, applicable to a specific period or specific battle in the life of the Prophet Muhammad (Pearl, Pipes, most Muslim apologists).

Judea Pearl writes in the pages of FrontPage Magazine, The Future of Islam

By the way, I used Monster.com to find a job

I started using Monster.com in May 2001 when my previous methods had stopped working, due to the economic downturn. My jobs in 2001 to 2002, and 2002 to 2003 were from Monster. My job from 2003 to 2004 was due to networking with people I had worked for in 2001 to 2002 (in Minneapolis). My job starting in November 2004 was due to my Monster posting. I jumped to being an independent consultant in August 2005 because of a daily search results email from Monster. I never made my resume searchable. I just signed a contract for a job that originated from my Monster resume being searchable. This time around, I received about 16 contacts or so, including four new ones today, after I was already off the market. This time around, Monster produced the opportunity for three interviews for jobs that paid a high rate. Of course, they were all software consulting, either on a W2 or 1099. I use Monster because it works. Other services may work as well, but I don't see that I need to stop using something that works.

Kevin Drum on The One Percent Doctrine

Kevin Drum has a post about his take on Ron Suskind's The One Percent Solution. Kevin says that the book describes George W. Bush as an odd character:

The single most defining characteristic of George Bush's personality is his belief in his own instinct and his corresponding disdain for serious policy analysis. For Bush, the One Percent Doctrine is tailor made. He is contemptuous of policy discussions, and the OPD is the perfect excuse to ignore them.

Kevin's punch line is that

But bewarned: if you take the threat of Islamic jihadism seriously, Suskind will not make you feel any safer. Quite the contrary. As Richard Dearlove said yesterday, "just about everything in the American approach to the war on Islamic terrorism had been ill-conceived." Suskind gives you a pretty good idea of why.

If you believe Ron Suskind, as Kevin does, then we were just lucky to not have been hit again, as the Bush administration is strange, unthinking, incompetent, and a bit evil. Kevin says that the One Percent Doctrine was appropriate for September 12, 2001, but not for September 12, 2002 and beyond. Kevin charges that Bush and Cheney are using the One Percent Doctrine as a excuse to cut corners and do what he considers to be "bad things", while being ineffective in combating terrorism. My take is that Ron Suskind is just mouthing paranoia, and a general mailaise on the the Left that has only increased over time, as they seem to have become more and more adrift.

Britney Spears pics at GoBritney.com

GoBritney.com has a good collection of tabloid-style pics, like you might see excerpts from at the grocery store, when standing in line. Only this is a more comprehensive collection than you have seen in the tabloids (probably).

Software consulting seems to be recovering, at least in Dallas

I have seen some promising signs that software consulting is recovering in the Dallas area. There may even be a shortage of people, which will drive rates higher. I received three calls this morning, although I am no longer on the market. I will be getting a rate higher than I had seen since 2001, and that in Minneapolis, which was slower to crash. I finally have hope that if the Fed doesn't succeed in crashing the economy, that we might see rates like we did in 1999 and 2000.

The Palm Beach Post says that Rush Limbaugh will not be charged over the Viagra found in his possession

The latest news about Rush Limbaugh is from the Palm Beach Post. They say that there will be no charges over the Viagra found in his possession when he re-entered the country after a vacation. Since Rush Limbaugh lives in the area, the Palm Beach Post has proved to be a good source of the hottest scoop about him.

This appears to be a fake bodypaint job

This picture of the Dahm triplets, supposedly in American flag body paint, is getting wide circulation, but it seems fairly obviously a not very good Photo-shopping job. The left girl shows clearly the flag waving, not fitting her body, and the flag "paint" just seems dropped into the image. The edge of the flag is the give-away, in particular. (Thanks to Isaac Schrödinger).

Paul Graham has a new essay: "The Island Test"

Paul Graham's latest essay, "The Island Test", is about finding what your addictions are:

I've discovered a handy test for figuring out what you're addicted to. Imagine you were going to spend the weekend at a friend's house on a little island off the coast of Maine. There are no shops on the island and you won't be able to leave while you're there. Also, you've never been to this house before, so you can't assume it will have more than any house might.

Victoria Newton, at The Sun, on Heather Mills

Victoria Newton, the Showbiz Editor at The Sun, has what is probably the definitive take on Heather Mills, her past, and Paul McCartney. She has the pics, for one thing. Victoria says that Paul McCartney had not previously believed the stories about Heather, but none of us can deny that the pictures exist. Most of the pictures in the 112 page book, Die Freuden Der Liebe, have not surfaced, as the papers will not carry the X-Rated ones. Perhaps we could pay to see the rest, but I have not found a source. We are limited to the soft-core pics, although we can see a good bit of skin. Much of what is "out there" are just glamour pics. Frankly, she has not aged that well, although with the right camera angle, you can see some of what she used to have.

A series of ongoing story lines

Our buddies on the left have a series of ongoing story lines that they both believe and are talking up, constantly. A quick list:

1. The Bush administration is incompetent
2. The Bush administration, and especially Dick Cheney, is evil
3. We caused the trouble in Iraq by attacking, to further some Bush family agenda
4. Our insensitivity causes hatred in the Muslim world
5. Israel controls our foreign policy and is a major source of evil in the world
6. The Bush administration is largely controlled by business interests
7. Global Warming is a great threat, and created by our lifestyle

Ron Suskind's book, The One Percent Doctrine, plays off issues one and two. This whole business only got traction, outside of our pet leftist community, when the MSM was able to convince most people that storyline 1 was true, and that the Bush administration was responsible for people dying, a botched rescue and recovery effort, and for the storm, for havin caused global warming, which caused the storm. Now, Ron Suskind is making some bucks by playing up story lines 1 and 2, as well as the others to a lesser degree.

I guess that this means that Duane Patterson doesn't like Bill Keller

Duane Patterson has a scathing assessment of Bill Keller, at Radio Blogger. Duane essentially says that Bill Keller is so intent on "taking out" the Bush administration, that he willing to compromise our nation's defense and cause harm to our military:

Keller's defense has been thoroughly fisked by Hugh and many others, and there's very little he could say that would undo the clear implications you have to make regarding his recent editorial decisions. Here's what you have to deduce, especially after the here's where they all live, and the stores they shop at story:

1. Keller has no fear or respect of either this administration or Congress.

2. Keller has no fear or repect of the Islamo-facists we are fighting in the War On Terror.

3. Keller has no fear or repect of the U.S. military, or what implications his actions may have on their safety and ability to prosecution the War on Terror.

4. Keller has no respect for anybody's privacy, other than his own.

I can just hear his defense of the where they live story now. It's in the public's interest, and it's not really a secret. The terrorists would to have known where they all live, right?

Do you suppose there's a Secret Service agent anywhere in the country who wouldn't read this story and say their job just got a little bit tougher, too?

Leftist Conspiracy Theories: The One Percent Doctrine

I suppose it was inevitable that a book like The One Percent Doctrine would be written. The book seems to crystalize the leftist conspiracy theories in one place, while attributing super, but evil powers to Dick Cheney. The left side of the blogsphere, as well as the MSM, seem all-atwitter over this book. This is basically a book that says that the Bush administration has been incompetent in the fight against our enemies, that they are using evil methods, and that those methods haven't really worked. They have compromised our values while carrying on their "war", so Ron Suskind essentially says. I am open to other interpretations, but I will need to be persuaded by more than I have seen.

People.co.uk says that Heather Mills will settle for £10,000,000

The site People.co.uk says that Heather Mills will take £10,000,000 and be happy with it. That avoids a nasty court fight, where she might have gotten £200,000,000. She has her eye on a pricey property as a home for her and Beatrice to live.

This has got to be a fake Britney, but a nice one

The Bosh has a racey and nice Britney bottomless picture that has to be a fake. But it is a "good fake". Since I am not into stealing either bandwidth or pictures, you will need to click the link. I could be wrong, and this could be real (I hope it is).

More Britney coverage (or uncoverage), thanks to Karol

Karol, at Alarming News, had a link to this posting at "Starked LA, Candy for your Eyes", with the photographs from Harper's Bazaar. Karol remarks that Britney actually looks better than she has. I noticed that her hair had highlights, and did not have the "flat black", as I had already written.