Hmm, that was easy

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Oy:

I've noticed a recent spate of unfathomable stories like this one. Apparently, the "choking game" is now a youth fad. See also here and here. (I'm sure there will be readers writing in to tell me it's been around for ages and I have nothing to worry about--been there, done that.)

Well, QED, then.

Note: When she says "been there, done that" she's referring to this, in which she identifies a new genre of music that is actually twenty years old. Similarly, nearly twenty[15...I'm not that old] years ago when I told my dad about this new game kids were playing at school called "the choking game", he told me that thirty-five years earlier, a kid had died at his school the exact same way. So now we're up to about fifty years that this "now youth fad" has been around.

What's next? Cow tipping?

Friday Poetry Blogging

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A long one today. By Shelley.

The Devil's Walk, a Ballad.

Once, early in the morning,
Beelzebub arose,
With care his sweet person adorning,
He put on his Sunday clothes.

He drew on a boot to hide his hoof,
He drew on a glove to hide his claw,
His horns were concealed Bras Chapeau,
And the Devil went forth as natty a Beau,
As Bond-street ever saw.

He sate him down, in London town,
Before earth's morning ray,
With a favourite imp he began to chat,
On religion, and scandal, this and that,
Until the dawn of day.

And then to St. James's court he went,
And St. Paul's Church he took in his way,
He was mighty thick with every Saint,
Tho' they were formal and he was gay.

The Devil was an agriculturist,
And as bad weeds quickly grow,
In looking over his farm, I wist
He wouldn't find cause for woe.

He peeped in each hole, to each chamber stole,
His promising live stock to view;
Grinning applause, he just shewed them his claws,
And they shrunk with affright from his ugly sight,
Whose works they delighted to do.

Satan poked his red nose into crannies so small,
One would think that the innocents fair,
Poor lambkins! were just doing nothing at all,
But settling some dress or arranging some ball,
But the Devil saw deeper there.

A Priest, at whose elbow the Devil during prayer,
Sate familiarly, side by side,
Declared, that if the tempter were there,
His presence he would not abide;
Ah! Ah! thought Old Nick, that's a very stale trick,
For without the Devil, O! favourite of evil,
In your carriage you would not ride.

Satan next saw a brainless King,
Whose house was as hot as his own,
Many imps in attendance were there on the wing,
They flapped the pennon and twisted the sting,
Close by the very Throne.

Ah, ha! thought Satan, the pasture is good,
My Cattle will here thrive better than others,
They dine on news of human blood,
They sup on the groans of the dying and dead,
And supperless never will go to bed;
Which will make them as fat as their brothers.

Fat as the fiends that feed on blood,
Fresh and warm from the fields of Spain,
Where ruin ploughs her gory way,
When the shoots of earth are nipped in the bud,
Where Hell is the Victor's prey,
Its glory the meed of the slain.

Fat­as the death birds on Erin's shore,
That glutted themselves in her dearest gore,
And flitted round Castlereagh,
When they snatched the Patriot's heart, that his grasp
Had torn from its widow's maniac clasp,
And fled at the dawn of day.

Fat­as the reptiles of the tomb,
That riot in corruption's spoil,
That fret their little hour in gloom,
And creep, and live the while.

Fat as that Prince's maudlin brain,
Which addled by some gilded toy,
Tired, gives his sweetmeat, and again
Cries for it, like a humoured boy.

For he is fat, his waistcoat gay,
When strained upon a levee day,
Scarce meets across his princely paunch,
And pantaloons are like half moons,
Upon each brawny haunch.

How vast his stock of calf! when plenty
Had filled his empty head and heart,
Enough to satiate foplings twenty,
Could make his pantaloon seams start.

The Devil, (who sometimes is called nature,)
For men of power provides thus well,
Whilst every change, and every feature,
Their great original can tell.

Satan saw a lawyer, a viper slay,
That crawled up the leg of his table,
It reminded him most marvellously,
Of the story of Cain and Abel.

The wealthy yeoman, as he wanders,
His fertile fields among,
And on his thriving cattle ponders,
Counts his sure gains, and hums a song;
Thus did the Devil, thro' earth walking,
Hum low a hellish song.

For they thrive well, whose garb of gore,
Is Satan's choicest livery,
And they thrive well, who from the poor,
Have snatched the bread of penury,
And heap the houseless wanderer's store,
On the rank pile of luxury.

The Bishops thrive, tho' they are big,
The Lawyers thrive, tho' they are thin;
For every gown, and every wig,
Hides the safe thrift of Hell within.

Thus pigs were never counted clean,
Altho' they dine on finest corn;
And cormorants are sin-like lean,
Altho' they eat from night to morn.

Oh! why is the Father of Hell in such glee,
As he grins from ear to ear?
Why does he doff his clothes joyfully,
As he skips, and prances, and flaps his wing,
As he sidles, leers, and twirls his sting,
And dares, as he is, to appear?

A Statesman pass'd­alone to him,
The Devil dare his whole shape uncover,
To show each feature, every limb,
Secure of an unchanging lover.

At this known sign, a welcome sight,
The watchful demons sought their King,
And every fiend of thy Stygian night,
Was in an instant on the wing.

Pale Loyalty, his guilt steeled brow,
With wreaths of gory laurel crowned:
The hell-hounds, Murder, Want and Woe,
For ever hungering flocked around;
From Spain had Satan sought their food,
'Twas human woe and human blood!

Hark, the earthquake's crash I hear,
Kings turn pale, and Conquerors start,
Ruffians tremble in their fear,
For their Satan doth depart.

This day fiends give to revelry,
To celebrate their King's return,
And with delight its sire to see,
Hell's adamantine limits burn.

But were the Devil's sight as keen,
As Reason's penetrating eye,
His sulphurous Majesty I ween,
Would find but little cause for joy.

For the sons of Reason see,
That ere fate consume the Pole,
The false Tyrant's cheek shall be,
Bloodless as his coward soul.

Malkin's Air America obsession continues

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Michelle doubts that Katherine Lanpher is really leaving because she has a book deal.

Guess not enough listeners fell for that panhandling scheme to keep Lanpher on board.

Lanpher's actions certainly speak louder than Air America Radio CEO Danny Goldberg's huffy words...

I can see why a woman who wrote a book about a complex historical issue in only sixteen months with no help at all and with no mistakes or shady research would doubt that someone else would have to take some time off in order to finish a book in three months.

Maybe Malkin's right, maybe this is Katherine deserting a sinking ship. Then again, maybe

Her last broadcast as co-host will be on Friday, Oct. 7th. Her first broadcast as best-selling author should take place sometime next spring.

can be taken at face value.

Oh, no they* didn't**

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From Michelle's Roberts post:

Paul Mirengoff at Power Line:

The willingness of half the Senate Democrats to vote against a candidate of Judge Roberts' ability, accomplishment, and temperament is a disgrace, and one that will likely change the "rules of engagement" with respect to the Supreme Court confirmation process for years to come.

Wow. Who knew Mirengoff would have said something like this? Of course he has mountains of evidence that the Democrats were secretly convinced of Roberts' godlike prowess and dedication to the law, despite his refusal to answer any actual questions about, you know, the law.

Obviously, Mirengoff had this "It's on, bitches" post all ready to go. I have the feeling that if all the Democrats had voted for Roberts, Mirengoff would have said something like:

The willingness of all the Senate Democrats to vote for a candidate that Bush nominated is a welcome development, and one that will likely change the "rules of engagement" with respect to the Supreme Court confirmation process for years to come.

As for Michelle, she limits her thoughts on Roberts to

Wonder if the new Chief Justice will be keeping those gold stripes?

--------
* 22 Senate Democrats
** Exercise their constitutional responsibility to advise and consent

Takes one to know one

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Malkin's definition of "unhinged" is fairly fluid and hard to pin down. However, I know it when I see it.

Air America: Groveling for cash
Inside Air America: The loan scandal deepens
Air America scrambles
Inside Air America: Al Franken's lying lies
Inside Air America: The Sheldon Drobny Files
Wednesday scandal updates
New York Post: The Money Pit
Inside Air America: The Lizz Winstead case
Fraudulent Conveyance 101
Multicultural Radio says Air America owes it $1.5 million
Inside Air America: An investigative blog report (Part II)
Air Enron: Morning update
Inside Air America: An investigative blog report (Part I)
Air Enron: Al Franken needs help
Air Enron updates
Air Enron: The dam bursts
Air Enron: NYTimes corrects
Air Enron: MSM errs and lags
Air Enron: The NYTimes speaks! (or rather, whispers)
Air Enron: Heads roll, victims shafted
Air Enron: No letting up
Air Enron: Franken speaks again
Air Enron: Elite media blackout contd.
Air Enron: quotes of the day
Air Enron: Spitzer steps in
Air Enron: questions, questions
Air Enron: the blame game
Air Enron: thumb-twiddling MSM
Silence of the race hustlers
Air Enron: Al Franken speaks
Air Deadbeat: the saga continues
The Air America loophole
Air America is scrambling
Air America: Don't blame us
Air America: Stealing from poor kids?!

Quit yer bitchin'

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That's me, not Malkin. Her e-mailers, on the other hand, see up and call it down.

Michael Brown's testimony before Congress is receiving some rave reviews. Some e-mailers are demanding that Brown critics, myself included, apologize. Puh-lease. Don't mistake the after-the-fact appearance of competence for demonstrated leadership in crisis.

What hearings were these idiots watching? "Appearance of competence?" How about appearance of snivelling? Don't just take a lefty's word for it. Readings from the Right:

What specifically caused me to have a visceral reaction against Brown's testimony was a segment of his opening statement. In it, Brown spoke of walking into command posts where nobody was in charge and chaos reigned. He had seen smoothly run operations in Florida, but the situation in Louisiana was completely different. There was no leader taking charge and organizing. Brown's complaints show his primary shortcoming as the director of FEMA--his failure to take charge in that room and make things happen.

Well, sheeit.

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Remember how I was late for work one post back?

I never made it. Got out to my apartment parking lot and found that my car was gone. As in stolen. With two years worth of work-related papers and (because I'm too stupid for words) a social security card and birth certificate. So I spent all day wrangling rental cars, replacement documents, and in line at the Social Security Administration who - guess what - don't take any documents worth mentioning. Geez, sorry I forgot to bring a medical insurance statement. Guess I should have realized that a birth certificate is worthless as identification.

What I can't figure out is, why would they possibly want a *Honda Civic hatchback? Especially a grey one? With a book full of CDs? I just can't put my finger on a motive.

Update: Well, they found my car. And it's only going to cost $146.48 for the towing fee - and there's not all that much damage, it sounds like, although we'll find out soon which means that with a $250 deductible (and the potential for identity theft) and it's just not my day.

Update 2: Amazing. Nothing of value was stolen. ID cards still there - $1500 worth of CDs still there. The only thing gone was the backpack that had all my work papers - which were stacked, almost neatly, on the passenger seat.

Thanks for all the good wishes. And thank whatever star allowed my car to be stolen not all that far from one of the highest meth areas in the Portland area and be returned almost** as good as new.

-------
*snark starts here.

**Anyone have a Honda Civic steering column they want to send over? Heh.

Grrr

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It's always futile to try to undo the mountains of misinformation Malkin spews after an anti-war protest, and I'm late for work, but I will make this point, as I have made it before:

THE BLACK BLOC TYPES ARE NOT PACIFISTS!

Thank you.

Liberal Math

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1 Aaron Broussard is worth 5,000 Michelle Malkins.

And he's not even liberal, from what I hear.

Now

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Mrs. Auguste and I went to a candlelight vigil tonight on the Hawthorne Bridge. It took place on the three central bridges, actually - not for nothing is Portland called "Bridgetown" - but we chose the bridge that means the most to us. Estimates are up to 1700 total for a very underpromoted event - but there was a ton of support from the traffic.

One of the things about living in Portland - not only did the majority of cars honk and wave the Stalinist salute peace sign, but I saw not one "W" sticker during the hour we were there. We were really preaching to the choir.

It was an interesting protest, though. The organizers requested that there be no speeches, no chants, and that the signs be limited to "NOW is the time to end the war; NOW is the time to bring them home!" The last wasn't quite followed, but the "Impeach Bush" and "Thanks for the money, sorry about your kids -- love, Halliburton" signs were fairly scarce. It was an interesting contrast to today's Washington march, or your average Portland march, for that matter. There was a real unity of purpose - no flamboyant costumes, no Black Bloc types, just a lot of good feeling, a lot of candles, and a lot of lighter fluid used relighting candles after buses went by.

Speaking of buses, I was immediately struck by the fact that almost every bus driver honked and waved or flashed two fingers. Nothing like watching a guy risk his job - technically, at least - to show his support. But what really got me was something I wasn't even sure that I saw. It seemed impossible until I read this post at Indymedia: A police van drove by and the officer in the passenger seat gave the peace sign. That's right - the Portland Police.

In Portland, at least, Bush is so far over the shark he's coming around on it again. I fully expect him to name this guy as the next head of the FDA.

Other things I saw:

A guy carrying a candle in a wineglass. (Mrs. Auguste was quite jealous as she was trying to light her candle for the 482nd time.)

A man in a sport coat carring a "Vietnam Veteran Against the War" sign who kept appearing on one side of the bridge, then the other, even though I never saw him cross.

A baby in a stroller with a sign taped to it that said "Please bring home my Uncle Shawn."

A lot of kids and a lot of dogs.

Puddles of candle wax all over the sidewalk. Is candle wax biodegradable? I hope so.

-----------------------------------

So that was my Saturday night. I can't wait to hear from Mykeru. I doubt if his day was as calm as mine...

Update: Apparently the local paper of record, the Oregonian, claims there were only 100 people there. Considering I walked past more than 100 people just to get a quarter of the way across the bridge, that angers me. In fact, I imagine if one were to count one could find more than 100 people just in these pictures.

Funniest post title ever

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Michelle links to LGF's post "What if they gave a protest but nobody came?"

This is their evidence.

Hilarious.

Update: Gavin M. is on the same page.

Sensitive questions

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Never miss a chance to pile on:

Over at the Daily Kos, there's infighting over whether the anti-war protests here in D.C. should go on. Writes one diarist:

...I think protests can be productive, but they can also be damning. I hope the nation-wide anti-war rallies are rescheduled to show respect for the lives of our Gulf Coast brethren.

Not a chance, I'm afraid, but it was at least a nice try at injecting a dose of decency into the land of the moonbats.

I think the diarist has a good point. But how long is long enough to wait? Was the Freedom Walk decent on a day when

45 more bodies were found in the flooded-out Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans. At this time, this is the largest cluster of corpses to be discovered in post-Katrina New Orleans. With this, Louisiana's death toll rises to nearly 280

?

{From Wikipedia]

Shocked! Shocked!

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This is dirty pool, but raise your hand if you're naive enough to believe it isn't being done to every candidate by both sides.

Hello?

A Pre-heavy-posting meme

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Via Lauren:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to). [Ed. note: My 23rd post was, by coincidence, one that I deleted with a place holder...below is the 24th post.]
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

Well, he's a sailor, Andy, but thanks for your input.

Like Lauren, I've skipped over the blockquotes. I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. It probably helps the imagination to realize I was speaking to Andrew Sullivan.

Operation Max Power

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Boy, the wingers are really doing gymnastics to try to make Able Danger matter. Michelle is on the case:

One of the those who had been scheduled to testify, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, reportedly said the gag order came at the behest of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

It seems like just yesterday the 9/11 Commission was demanding access to every 9/11-related document, no matter how sensitive...

...Now that Able Danger has called into question the Commission's findings, however, some former Commissioners seem less than enthusiastic about letting the light shine in...

See how she did that? "Pay no attention to the fact that this information we right-wingers have been begging for was blocked by Rummy...blame the 9/11 commission for not demanding it!"

I'm surprised she didn't write "...at the behest of coughrumsfeldcoughmmrrmrcough."

Foreshadowing

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In this blast from the past, Jesse Malkin seems awfully self-assured as to the future of the Oberlin Forum. (click image for readability)

...I am sure that next year's editor-in-chief, Michelle Maglalang, will be happy to publish responses to the articles that offended people. I hope that this brings about some progress to understanding the issues at hand.

Well, after all, they were dating at the time. They probably, you know, discussed her plans for the Forum plenty of times.

I'm sure that's all it is.

There's been some confusion: I just want to reiterate that there is no reason to believe that this is an early example of Jesse taking a strong and collaborative role in his [future] wife's career, without acknowledging said role.

WINK.

Also: Can't you just see the word "unhinged" struggling to be born in his description of the student who tore up the paper?

Always admit when you agree with the wingnuts

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Michelle:

[The administration is] stuck on stupid like black on tar.

This is a revelation?

Analogy of the Day

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Lex, a commenter on Eric Muller's response to Michelle's McCloy post, says:

Earth to Michelle: You now are officially like the Black Knight in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," all extremities lopped off, writhing on the ground, spurting blood and shouting, "It's only a flesh wound."

To paraphrase a line from my kids' current favorite movie, it'd be nice if some asses just stayed kicked, y'know?

Muller, meanwhile, is right as usual.

So her claim is really this: Out of many thousands of decoded Japanese diplomatic cables, there were several that mentioned the idea of Japanese American espionage. We have no idea whether they were true, or whether anyone actually saw them, or what meaning anyone ascribed to them at the time, or what action anyone thought they required. We can't have any idea about those things, because the cables were too top-secret for anyone to mention in any document or conversation that appears in the historical record. But surely those messages, and not the hysteria, racism, and economic opportunism that scholars have documented, just must have been the justification for the evacuation and internment!

It'd be nice if some asses just stayed kicked.

Looking for the catch...

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...but wow.

North Korea has agreed to give up all nuclear arms and activities and rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to negotiators in Beijing.

Pyongyang has also agreed to accept inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.

In return, the US has declared that it has no intention of attacking North Korea and will respect its sovereignty.

Update: As Eric says, here's the catch.

North Korea said Tuesday it would begin dismantling its nuclear program only if the United States provides a light-water reactor for civilian power.

The demand could threaten a day-old agreement between North Korea and the five nations involved in nuclear disarmament talks.

That was fun while it lasted, like the time between buying a lottery ticket and the end of the evening news.

A weekend question

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Why is "Breaking Benjamin" the number two search on Technorati? Did something happen?

For that matter, why is "Burger King Commercial" the number one search?

And how much linkwhoring can I get away with?

Isn't anybody out there sane anymore?

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Sadly, No!

What Happened to Flight 17? Nothing.

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A number of us in the blogosphere have been catching wind of rumors that a surface-to-air missile was fired at an America West flight originating out of New York. Here's a post at Little Green Footballs, where many commenters are virulently racist misanthropes wisely skeptical but wanting more info.

Let's see. The two sources for a story are LGF and Michelle Malkin. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it probably wasn't a missile.

And what do you know:

The sighting was reported near Colt's Neck, NJ, which is a major route south out of NY. FAA set up a small temporary flight restriction around the area while checking radar files. Turned out to be nothing more than birds, and [a] big game of "telephone."

I wonder how long we'll have to wait before Flight 17's version of Annie Jacobsen is regaling us with tales of how "Arabs" have invented a surface-to-air missile with active camoflauge, able to appear exactly like a flock of birds.

WHY WON'T THE FBI ADMIT IT TO THE PUBLIC?!?!??111??

Update: Jesse from Pandagon is on the same wavelength.

Update 2: As is LA.

It occurs to me that events like this - at least overblown, if not completely without basis in fact - were reported in the early days of WWII, which contributed to both the call for and acceptance of the internment at the time.

False reports of spying and sabotage by Japanese Americans in Hawaii and on the West Coast were combined with already existing racial prejudices to inflame feelings of hatred against all people of Japanese ancestry i.e. Issei, the first Japanese immigrant generation and Nisei, the second generation.

Malkin mentions McCloy

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She's not too impressed.

On the surface, it appears that the 1942 McCloy document undercuts these claims. But a deeper look suggests otherwise...

From the body of the memo, it is clear that McCloy was trying to support what some critics considered excessively generous food to the evacuees. The handwritten note, whoever wrote it, was designed to bolster that position. A handwritten note scrawled on the bottom of a memo about food is not the venue for discussing state secrets such as the MAGIC messages which revealed extensive Japanese espionage activity on the West Coast.

Update: Missed this phrase:

The idea that most of the evacuees were not under suspicion is a widely-conceded point. The point about the evacuees not being internees, which is not accepted by many people nowadays, also is correct. So is the point that mob violence posed a threat to ethnic Japanese.

So you admit, then, that you're fully in favor of the jailing of innocent people. And the role of hysterics like this in the contemporary threat of mob violence make no nevermind either.

Pull yourselves together

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Nothing bothers me more than when liberals look like hypocrites. Case in point:

The handsome, full-size sport utility vehicle pictured above is a Chevy Suburban. It was sent by the anti-SUV environmental puritans of the Sierra Club to pick up fellow, eco-zealot Arianna Huffington, who gave rousing, Bush-bashing, closing remarks at the eco-summit...

Curious, I asked [national Sierra Club spokesman Eric] Antebi whether any of the staff at the Sierra Club headquarters owned and drove SUVs. He stumbled and said the group didn't keep track of who drove what. It's "a personal decision," he explained. "People drive different cars for different reasons."

Nice going, guys. How about you not completely undermine your entire platform?

Now, wouldn't it be nice if these anti-SUV green busybodies took the same attitude towards the rest of us and left our car choices alone?!

No. It'd be nice if they avoided hypocrisy, but driving gas-guzzlers is still irresponsible.

Malkin's attitude towards the Sierra Club is interesting, considering that it's been somewhat infiltrated by anti-immigration forces. Neiwert:

All three, however, are running under the banner of a faction calling itself "SUSPS," formerly Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization, which is essentially a front organization for anti-immigrant groups with extensive ties to white nationalist and supremacist organizations and activities.

She's probably just mad because the efforts have failed, for the moment.

Friday Poetry Blogging

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Today's poem is in honor of John Roberts, by the best poet ever to have a son who sat on the Supreme Court:

Bill and Joe

Come, dear old comrade, you and I
Will steal an hour from days gone by,
The shining days when life was new,
And all was bright with morning dew,
The lusty days of long ago,
When you were Bill and I was Joe.

Your name may flaunt a titled trail
Proud as a cockerel’s rainbow tail,
And mine as brief appendix wear
As Tam O'Shanter’s luckless mare;
To-day, old friend, remember still
That I am Joe and you are Bill.

You ’ve won the great world’s envied prize,
And grand you look in people’s eyes,
With HON. and LL.D.
In big brave letters, fair to see,—
Your fist, old fellow! off they go!—
How are you, Bill? How are you, Joe?

You've worn the judge’s ermined robe;
You've taught your name to half the globe;
You've sung mankind a deathless strain;
You've made the dead past live again:
The world may call you what it will,
But you and I are Joe and Bill.

The chaffing young folks stare and say
"See those old buffers, bent and gray,—
They talk like fellows in their teens!
Mad, poor old boys! That's what it means,"—
And shake their heads; they little know
The throbbing hearts of Bill and Joe!—

How Bill forgets his hour of pride,
While Joe sits smiling at his side;
How Joe, in spite of time’s disguise,
Finds the old schoolmate in his eyes,—
Those calm, stern eyes that melt and fill
As Joe looks fondly up at Bill.

Ah, pensive scholar, what is fame?
A fitful tongue of leaping flame;
A giddy whirlwind’s fickle gust,
That lifts a pinch of mortal dust;
A few swift years, and who can show
Which dust was Bill and which was Joe?

The weary idol takes his stand,
Holds out his bruised and aching hand,
While gaping thousands come and go,—
How vain it seems, this empty show!
Till all at once his pulses thrill;—
'Tis poor old Joe’s "God bless you, Bill!"

And shall we breathe in happier spheres
The names that pleased our mortal ears,
In some sweet lull of harp and song
For earth-born spirits none too long,
Just whispering of the world below
Where this was Bill and that was Joe?

No matter; while our home is here
No sounding name is half so dear;
When fades at length our lingering day,
Who cares what pompous tombstones say?
Read on the hearts that love us still,
Hic jacet Joe. Hic jacet Bill.

-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Explaining Humor to the Malkins Since 2004

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Regarding this photo, Michelle writes:

Stupidest. Media-manufactured. Non-scandalette. Possibly ever.

First of all, do you really watch the Simpsons, or have you just picked that construction up from the zeitgeist without knowing what it means?

Second of all, it's funny. It could not possibly fail to be funny. There is no circumstance under which the leader of the free world asking permission from his secretary of state to go to the bathroom during high-level meetings could not be funny. No matter who the president was. FDR could have written that note, and I'd be spitting out my Victory Garden tomatoes and falling on the floor laughing.

The fact that the note writer is often suspected of not really being in charge of his own administration anyway?

Even funnier.

Announcement

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I hate blogger. Michelle hates peace.

That's all you get. Blogger is like my version of the kite-eating tree.

I'll leave you with this hilarious Pandagon post, because everyone would be better off reading Pandagon on any given day, anyway:

Shorter Michelle Malkin: the best monument to Flight 93 would be a giant hyperintelligent missile that tracks down terrorists and tells them they believe in a whore's religion right before they die. Preferably with the corpse of Todd Beamer strapped on.

Picked the wrong day to be out

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Imagine my surprise at returning from driving all day to find this monstrosity waiting for me.

War memorials should memorialize war. If you want peace and understanding and healing and good will toward all, go build Kabbalah centers...

...A proper war memorial stirs to anger and action. We all remember passenger Todd Beamer's last heard words as he and his fellow Americans prepared to take back the plane from al Qaeda's killers, don't we?

No, the phrase wasn't "Let's meditate." It was "Let's roll."

Wow. I may respond in more detail later, but for now I'll limit myself to saying this:

Enlist, you bloodthirsty hypocrite.

Well, good...I guess

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Michelle quietly and indirectly disowns Steve Sailer's comments by linking to Right Wing News' "The 20 Most Obnoxious Hurricane Katrina Quotes", which include Sailer's.

Not exactly a resounding denunciation, but you take what you can get.

In Defense of Tribalism?

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Michelle lectures:

Have you noticed the prevalence of this phrase in the aftermath of Katrina? It bugs me:

Kanye West: "...those are my people down there."

Sean Combs: "These are my people..."

It's not just minority celebrities and leaders using it. Here's a column from a black columnist who received a nasty message from a reader referring to "your people..."

I don't know about you, but when we donate to Katrina victims and say prayers for them in our home, every one of them is "our people."

Jabbar Gibson is our people.

Deamonte Love is our people...

Disasters don't discriminate. Helping care for "my people" means helping care for them all.

Right, Rev. Sharpton? Rev. Jackson?

Now seems like a good time to remind Michelle of the following quote:

These people are not 'internees' -- they are under no suspicion for the most part and were moved largely because we felt we could not control our own white citizens in California.

Don't know how I missed this...

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In Michelle's 9/11 memorial post (in which she,like so many righties, seems determined to tell us how to feel) she posts pictures of herself at a gun range firing at a picture of Osama.

I'm guessing a lot of keyboards needed to be replaced in wingnuttia today.

Update: She's not a very good shot, either.

Top Technorati Search This Hour

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"Impeach Bush."

Beauty.

Sure, why not?

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I've been noticing for awhile that, in their effort to associate Iraq with 9/11, the righties have succeeded, in that it's become difficult for me to remember 9/11 without associating it with that travesty.

They've sort of hijacked my emotions about it to where the thought of our foreign policy disasters have overcome my feelings of support for New York City and the victims. That was their goal, and it was working.

Today the Pentagon took it the rest of the way. Happy 9/11, everybody.

The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

[Hat tip: Pvt. Bidness from Jesus' General's comments]

But what about the kerning?

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As if you needed any more proof that this tinfoil-hattery puts anything at DU to shame, consider this...

They're using the wrong angle.

This site uses the chart brought up by the Qibla finder for Pittsburgh, PA, which is 82 miles from Shanksville. This gives an angle of 54.4 degrees, shorthanded as 54 degrees in the image overlay. However, the Qibla finder gives readings for a lot of towns in Pennsylvania, including Somerset - which is only 9.9 miles from Shanksville. And what's the Qibla angle for Somerset?

55.08 degrees! A full half degree difference.

That's some crack geometry, wingnuts.

Street art

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LA talks about something I love, and haven't really mentioned besides a cleverly disguised link on my nonblogroll. Street artists have the most fascinating minds.

How this guy didn't start a huge bomb scare, I have no idea, but it was totally worth it.

Friday Random Ten & Poetry Blogging

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One Chance - Modest Mouse
Kiss My Ring - Frank Black
Interzone - Joy Division
Variations on "Rhapsody in Blue" - George Gershwin
The Small Print - Muse
The Mariner's Revenge Song - The Decemberists
Your Skull is Red - Team Sleep
The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution - Frank Zappa
Clover Over Dover - Blur
Gleaming Auction - Snow Patrol


Happy accident! I've been wanting to do Friday poetry blogging for awhile now, and I consider the "Mariner's Revenge Song" to a great example of pop music (well, sort-of pop) as poetry.

Mariner's Revenge Song
--Colin Meloy

We are two mariners, our ships' sole survivors
In this belly of a whale
Its ribs our ceiling beams, its guts our carpeting
I guess we have some time to kill

You may not remember me - I was a child of three
And you a lad of eighteen
But I remember you and I will relate to you
How our histories interweave

At the time you were a rake and a roustabout
Spending all your money on the whores and hounds

You had a charming air all cheap and debonair
My widowed mother found so sweet
And so she took you in - her sheets still warm with him -
Now filled with filth and foul disease

As time wore on you proved a debt-ridden drunken mess
Leaving my mother a poor consumptive wretch

And then you disappeared. Your gambling arrears
The only thing you left behind
And then the magistrate reclaimed our small estate
And my poor mother lost her mind.

Then one day in spring my dear sweet mother died
But before she did I took her hand as she dying cried:

Find him, bind him, tie him to a pole
And break his fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling of his grave!

It took me fifteen years to swallow all my tears
Among the urchins in the street
Until a priory took pity and hired me
To keep their vestry nice and neat

But never once in the employ of these holy men
Did I ever once turn my mind from the thought of revenge!

One night I overheard the prior exchanging words
With a penitent whaler from the sea
The captain of his ship who matched you toe to tip
Was known for a wanton cruelty

The following day I shipped to sea with a privateer
And in the whistle of the wind I could almost hear:

Find him, bind him, tie him to a pole
And break his fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling of his grave!

There is one thing I must say to you
As you sail across the sea
Always your mother will watch over you
As you avenge this wicked deed

And then that fateful night we had you in our sight
After twenty months at sea
With your starboard flank abeam,
I was getting my muskets clean
When came this rumbling from beneath.

The ocean shook, the sky went black, and the captain quailed
And before us grew the angry jaws of a giant whale!

Don't know how I survived - the crew all was chewed alive
I must have slipped between his teeth
But, O! What providence, what divine intelligence!
That you should survive as well as me.

It gives my heart great joy to see your eyes fill with fear
So lean in close and I will whisper the last words you'll hear...

Unretiring Followup Watch

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Followup Watch was an idea I had to highlight Malkin's predilection for throwing around accusations then completely forgetting about them around the time they were disproven. I got bored of it.

I think it's about time to start another one. See the sidebar for the daily "Debunking of IDOI" followup counter.

Huge

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Just go read it, and follow all the links, too.

Do it now.

(Via Liberal Avenger )

Update: The update is that there ain't no update. Malkin flogs the Air America story again, still desperately trying to blame Al Franken directly when it's clear from her own reporting that his involvement was nearly negligible, but she doesn't have time to address the absolute obliteration of the thesis of her most famous book.

Column day

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First things first: On my way to Malkin's new column, I found this headline from Jonah Goldberg:

In Katrina's aftermath, racial generalizations aren't helpful

Interesting.

-------------------------

Okay, on to Michelle. We're going to start towards the middle of the column and work backwards, then make a little time for the end. Just call me Tarantino.

If the White House's purportedly brilliant strategists had any sense, they would advise Bush to fire Federal Emergency Management Agency head Michael Brown in a heartbeat. Brown is the most cretinous of political cronies, a college roommate of a former FEMA official with no prior experience in disaster management before he was hired in 2001 -- unless you count managing his own checkered job history.

Bravo. Bravo, I say. Make an example of whoever dared to appoint this dirtbag.

Who was that, anyway?

Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.

Oh well, I'm sure it'll come to me.

------------------------

It was Bush, of course, and despite Malkin's distaste for the "most cretinous of political cronies", she's ready to give him a pass. Just prior to the above paragraph:

Despite the abject failures of local and state officials to prepare for the worst, abide by their own evacuation plans, maintain an effective police force, and crack down on looters, Sen. Clinton's commission would only examine the "adequacy of federal response efforts."

Translation: Bash Bush.

Isn't that what you kind of did, just now?

But moreso, Malkin seems to forget one important fact: Sen. Clinton has no authority over local government, or state officials, or the New Orleans police. She does, like all Senators, have a stake in the federal government. Seems perfectly appropriate to me that a member of the federal government wants to understand the role the federal government played in this disaster.

And it did play a role. On August 26th, Gov. Blanco initiated the State Emergency plan, and on August 28th, she asked President Bush to declare an "expedited state of emergency", stating "Pursuant to 44 CFR § 206.35, I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster..." That's the basis upon which FEMA is called into action. And once it's called into action, it has its own responsibilities...responsibilities which it utterly failed to live up to, in some cases perniciously.

That's not just Mike Brown, although he bears the lion's share of responsibility. That's the federal government, and a Senator is perfectly within her rights to ask for accountability. But wait...

Dead bodies are still floating all over New Orleans. Hundreds, if not thousands, of children are still searching for their parents. Wiped-out communities are still awaiting water and power.

So, what is armchair first responder Sen. Hillary Clinton's first response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster?

A commission.

Well, first of all, let's not throw terms like "armchair first responder" around.

Second of all, it wasn't her "first response." Her first response was to accuse oil companies of growing fat off tragedy. But that's neither here nor there.

Third of all, do you know who else called for an investigation on Monday? Yeah, you guessed it. Ghoulish.

--------------------------------

No time for the end. That's okay. You're not missing anything except another round of kvetching about the 9/11 commission.

Putting politics aside

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Michelle Malkin, as far as I know, is nowhere near Louisiana at this hour.

Just saying.

Steve Sailer weighs in

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From VDARE:

It also should have been expected that a large fraction of New Orleans's lower class blacks would not evacuate before a disaster. Many are too poor to own a car, or too untrustworthy to get a ride with neighbors, or too shortsighted to worry...

In contrast to New Orleans, there was only minimal looting after the horrendous 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan—because, when you get down to it, Japanese aren't blacks.

While Michelle is making caring noises about the fate of the poor black children, her VDare friends are showing their true colors.

Update: Neiwert has a lot more examples of this kind of thinking...and his usual spot-on analysis of the "blame-'black-culture'-first" crowd.

Obligatory Welcome Message: Very big welcome to Eschatonians...for more information about Malkin's history with Sailer, go here. And other suggested reading regarding why this blog is called "Malkin(s)watch".

I don't whether to be proud or scared...

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Michelle and the good folks at Kos completely agree on something. Michelle:

Some are characterizing the young, first-time bus driver's act as "looting." But the bus that Jabbar Gibson "commandeered" had been abandoned on a New Orleans street. He took it upon himself to rescue dozens of families--grandmothers, young parents, toddlers, and an 8-day-old infant. That is not "looting."

CNN vs. Newspeak

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The Big Disconnect on New Orleans

An example:

Hospital evacuations

[FEMA Chief] Brown: I've just learned today that we ... are in the process of completing the evacuations of the hospitals, that those are going very well.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta: It's gruesome. I guess that is the best word for it. If you think about a hospital, for example, the morgue is in the basement, and the basement is completely flooded. So you can just imagine the scene down there. But when patients die in the hospital, there is no place to put them, so they're in the stairwells. It is one of the most unbelievable situations I've seen as a doctor, certainly as a journalist as well. There is no electricity. There is no water. There's over 200 patients still here remaining. ...We found our way in through a chopper and had to land at a landing strip and then take a boat. And it is exactly ... where the boat was traveling where the snipers opened fire yesterday, halting all the evacuations.

Violence and civil unrest

Brown: I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that.
CNN's Chris Lawrence: From here and from talking to the police officers, they're losing control of the city. We're now standing on the roof of one of the police stations. The police officers came by and told us in very, very strong terms it wasn't safe to be out on the street.

Read the whole thing. Then give money.

Katrina Relief

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I have moved the "Give" section of my blogroll to the top of the sidebar - it really never should have been that low - but Michelle is also compiling a much more complete list. Despite my differences with certain aspects of her coverage, she's doing yeoman's work and putting her top-of-the-blogosphere platform to good use.*

UppityMonkey suggests Soldiers' Angels.

*For once.