Obviously, somebody put a little Irish in his morning coffee - Scott Adams of Dilbert fame believes that Joe Biden can win the presidency. *Gong* Thanks for playing.

With a name like “Howell” you know it’s got to be snooty

Slate’s reviewer Jack Shafer doesn’t think much of former NY Times editor Howell Raines self-serving memoir:

How much of the crap sluicing through this book does Raines really believe? All, I'm afraid. In Chapter 33 he boasts of possessing a "high regard for factual and moral truth," even in memos to the staff, the implied conclusion being that inferior forces at the newspaper—the dullards, lifers, and militant traditionalists whom he threatened—toppled him for speaking straight.

Raines also takes a swipe at “brainless bloggers” even though we have more credibility than Jayson Blair. Remember him, Howell? No? (Hat tip: Spartacus)

Energy shortages rock – I got to work this morning and the power was completely off. They told me to go home, which I did reluctantly. No, wait, that’s not the word. Whatever the opposite of “reluctantly” is.

Happy first blogoversary to AJ Strata! (Now how about a link?)

Okily, dokily Ned! – The original political commercial is weird and slightly disturbing but the remix is funny and fantastic. Fear the latter, Joe Lieberman. Or not.

Your tax money at work – Why do I have to pay a dozen FBI agents to find Jimmy Hoffa? Geraldo Rivera probably would have done it for free.

Democrats unserious about energy policy

Once a year or so, Robert Samuelson writes an article about the budget deficit and Amtrak. The reason he picks on Amtrak is that it’s a symbol for the government’s inability to make hard decisions:

As for Amtrak, it swallows ever-larger subsidies to provide mediocre service for a small minority of travelers. In fiscal 2005 it's receiving $1.2 billion for carrying about 25 million people. By contrast, airlines carried 636 million domestic passengers last year.

But now that Americans are outraged about high gas prices, the Democrats have seized the opportunity to submit an anodyne, toothless, and feckless energy plan. The centerpiece of the plan is encapsulated in this bullet point:

Free the US from foreign oil by 2020 by supporting research, development, and production of alternative energy sources.

The singing of “Kumbaya” is optional.

If the Democrats were truly serious about energy independence and leadership-by-example, they would support the development of the Cape Wind project off of Ted Kennedy’s beloved Nantucket. This is their Amtrak moment, the token step that would indicate that they’re truly serious about a long-term energy policy. Throw in some strict CAFE standards also instead of the milquetoast “Provide consumers with more fuel efficient vehicle choices” and we’ll be on to something. Yet their “plan” doesn’t even contain the word “nuclear” which now accounts for one-fifth of all electricity generation. So whatever you do, don’t pretend these so-called “ideas” will do anything to substantially mitigate America’s energy problem:

Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said his party's bill was an answer to critics who had accused Democrats of lacking ideas. "This is a big idea," he said.

Yes, the problem is big. The Democrats just don’t provide any real solutions.

Extra - From the Financial Times and "The Do-Nothing Party": "Whether it is putting flesh on their call for US "energy independence", addressing America's rising health and education costs, or seriously addressing how to solve the crisis in Iraq, Democrats need to go beyond the politics of slogans."

Amazing Race follow-up

All the teams appeared on the CBS "Early Show" this morning and BJ & Tyler were presented with their $500,000 checks. Then Phil directed the stage over to Ray who started to say some mundane things about racing with hippies and frat boys before getting down on one knee and proposing to Yolanda.

She totally did not see it coming. It was classic.

Amazing Race finale – The Hippies prevail!

After an extended recap of the season past, the final three teams started out from Bangkok, Thailand and had to travel 75 miles by cab to a town to find an elephant. In another product placement, the teams needed to get a T-Mobile Sidekick from the elephant for the next clue. Predictably, the elephant park doesn't open until morning so it's a typical Last Leg bunchup before the final sprint.

The clue directs everybody to the Shibuya which is the Times Square of Tokyo, Japan. Tyler is stoked: he has a Japanese girlfriend and appears to speak fluent Japanese. Unfortunately for Team Burning Man, the other teams grab the last seats on the first flight from Thailand to Tokyo. Team Frat Boys and Team Volcano arrive a couple hours ahead of the hippies and take a marked car to the "busiest intersection in the world" where the teams must search the flashing billboards for the next clue. The clue says "Find Hachiko" which is a statue of a dog in the square with the next clue.

This is the Detour: Maiden or Messenger. Teams may either travel to a tea garden and carry a women a couple hundred yards in carrier and then engage in a tea ceremony, or play bike messenger and deliver a pair of packages. The hippies figure they can find the buildings fast with their language skills and they may be right. The Frat Boys struggle under the weight of the wicker carrier while Ray & Yolanda haven't even gotten to the Shibuya yet as we break for commerical.

Eric & Jeremy finish the Detour first and the next clue sends them to the Capsule Land Hotel where people sleep in little pods because space is so limited in Toyko. Jeremy actually says something funny and not sexist: "I hope we don't wake up and it's 1972." A Futurama reference would have been better, but hey. BJ & Tyler arrive next followed by Ray & Yolanda. In sequence, the teams receive cards informing them that departure times are 9am, 9:15am, and 9:30am.

The next morning, the teams head to an amusement park on the foot of Mount Fuji. The next clue is a Roadblock: one person must ride on three different thrill rides and look for a man holding a yellow-and-red sign pointing them to the next destination. On the last ride, Jeremy & Tyler both see the sign for Lake Yamanaka which is the next Pit Stop. There the teams must take a pedal boat shaped like a swan to a bigger swan hotel boat. The hippies pedal fast and arrive as Team #1; they win T-Mobile Sidekick and 3 years service. Hooray. The Frat Boys are bitter at their #2 finish and warn the hippies they're playing for keeps. Ray & Yolanda come in last but it's a non-elimination leg meaning they'll be penniless and language-challenged heading into the final leg.

[Extra long CBS commercial break. They're really milking it tonight.]

The final leg starts and the teams start out in the middle of the night for Anchorage, Alaska. It looks like BJ & Tyler left Team Volcano a couple of bucks and they pick up a couple more yen at a local restaurant. Team Frat Boys and Team Burning Man head to the airport after some Internet shenanigans at the hotel. The hippies get a later flight to Anchorange but make a switch at the airport back to the same flight as Eric & Jeremy. Ray & Yolanda sneak onto the plane also so everybody is bunched up again in Taipai waiting for the flight to Anchorange. Even again.

It's cold in Alaska. Teams must drive to Mirror Lake some 10 miles from the airport. Strangely, Team Volcano and Team Burning Man, who were both supposed to have "just the clothes on their back" due to non-elimination leg penalties have winter coats. Hmmmm....there must be some kind of survival rule on the Amazing Race. At the lake, it's the Detour: Drill it or Deliver it. Teams must drill 10 fishing holes in the ice using a hand auger then set up a fishing shack OR they must deliver "medical supplies" to an outpost via ice plane. Nevermind option #2: the pilot informs the teams that the weather has the planes socked in so everybody chooses to drill ice holes. The Frat Boys finish first and head to the next clue at Kincaid Park.

All three teams are now heading towards the park where they have to don snow shoes and find a chalet. The Frat Boys head out first while BJ & Tyler walk right past the snow shoes propped up on a ledge outside. Eric & Jeremy find the clue first: fly to the Race's final destination in Denver, Colorado which is where the Race began. So this is truly a race completely around the world. Unsurprisingly, there aren't many flights from Anchorage Alaska to Denver and all teams are together on the final flight of the Race.

Teams neeed to find a clue at a park in Golden, Colrado and the Frat Boys find it first: head to Red Rocks amphitheater and (another) next clue. The Frat Boys and then the Hippies arrive very close together and it's a Roadblock: one team member must search among 285 flags in a field and find the nine national flags from the countries visited on the Race: Brazil, Russia, Germany, Italy, Greece, Oman, Australia, Thailand, and Japan and then place them in the order visited. The other team member may assist, but cannot help physically. BJ does the Roadblock for the hippies. Both of them have their flag order completely wrong. Meanwhile, Ray & Yolanda are still back in Golden.

The hippies have their flags all in the correct order but shifted over by one because they couldn't initially find the Russian flag. Eric & Jeremy keep asking the judge if their flags are correct (they aren't) and then get desperate and start swapping flags indiscriminately. I think they tried an African flag and this might be the only Race ever not to go to Africa. Eventually BJ discovers his error and places the Russian flag after Brazil then shifts all the other flags down. The judge gives the thumbs up and they race to Phil and the mat.

And there they are, all by themselves, as the eight other teams before them applaud their finish. Team Burning Man, the hippies, BJ & Tyler arrive first and win the Amazing Race.

Final standings:

Winners of the Amazing Race 9 - Team Burning Man - BJ & Tyler
Prize: $1,000,000

Second place: Team Frat Boys - Eric & Jeremy
Third place: Team Volcano - Ray & Yolanda

Editorial comment – The best Amazing Race ever? Well, I think I missed one season but this one was darn good. Super sites from nine different countries, excellent competition, likable teams, Phil’s arching eyebrow – this one had it all. The cherry on top was watching a dejected Frat Boy gripe: “I guess I’ll have to go back to waiting tables.” That’s right, chump! T-TOW!

Extra – This spot reserved for Kris and Pat. T-TOW! to them too!

Sweeps month mayhem! - For those of you tuning in for the Amazing Race update, it's going to be slightly delayed tonight due to a conflict with "Lost" and a lack of usable VCRs in my home. Rest assured that I'm on the job.

Curiously, there has been no buzz leaking through about who might have won this season. (I couldn't resist making sure the Weavers didn't win last time). So it's going to be a real surprise.

#5 should be #1 – From Blender: “The 50 worst artists in music history” The list is pretty good if only because there isn’t one on there I would say: “No way!” I might have added Rod Stewart post-1980.

For most, the answer is “no” - Tonight on PBS is a Frontline special: “Can you afford to retire?”

Just like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn floating down the Mississippi


In Peabody, Ovel Santiago, Chayanne Vasquez, Scott Ingham, and Keiana Christiansen floated down Walnut Street yesterday on a piece of styrofoam they found. (Bill Greene / Globe Staff)

Boston Globe story: “Flooding besets region; more rain in forecast.” Yeah, it’s wet.

We’re all soldiers now – From the Boston Globe: “Profiles in courage on September 11th: Ordinary people do fight terror.”

Much like my high school social life, this blog is a solo effort

I’ve pretty much steered clear of the immigration debate, not because I don’t have an opinion on the matter, but because others have much stronger opinions. However, never did I imagine there’s be a topic so volatile to split apart one of the best group blogs. Nevertheless, Polipundit decided there was no room for debate on immigration prompting contributor Lorie Byrd to jump ship. In response, John Podhoretez wrote a critical post on the Corner titled: “The inability to stomach disagreement.”

It’s a classic lose-lose situation since Polipundit will be a weaker blog with a single voice while Lorie and the other Polipundit contributors will have to retreat to their less-traveled personal blogs. Plus it makes Polipundit (the blogger) appear intolerant to dissent, a defect we usually associate with the moonbat Left.

The lesson here: don’t get stuck in entangling alliances.

The MSM mind, revealed

I know news anchors make mistakes all the time, but why does it always seem to go one way? Here’s Wolf Blitzer on the Situation Room today:

"And a veteran GOP congressman under investigation for corruption went before the cameras in New Orleans just a short while ago. That would be a Democratic congressman, William Jefferson of Louisiana. He announced he would not resign, and he declared he did not -- quote -- "sell my office." Jefferson says he will not plead guilty to something he didn't do.

Earlier this month, a Louisville businessman pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson to promote his firm's high-tech business in Africa. Jefferson denies accepting payments in return for government service. Once again, Jefferson is a Democrat, not a Republican."

So noted.

Follow-up – Whoops! CNN makes another “mistake.”

Socialism + racism = famine + economic ruin

From the WashPost: “Desperate Zimbabwe moves to lure back white ex-farmers”

Other former farmers have treated the government's offer with suspicion bordering on contempt. President Robert Mugabe encouraged landless black peasants to invade commercial farms beginning in February 2000. He portrayed the longtime white owners -- about 4,500 farmers who owned most of the country's best agricultural land -- as thieves who had deprived the 12 million black Zimbabweans of their birthrights.

The downward spiral of Zimbabwe can be blamed on nobody but Robert Mugabe who stoked the flames of racism and encouraged a violent melee of land redistribution. As a result, Zimbabwe has degenerated from the former “breadbasket of central Africa” to a top recipient of international food aid. Six years later, Mugabe can no longer blame Whitey for Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation, privation and ruin.

Extra - Will Franklin has a much more on Zimbabwe: “When "reducing inequality" becomes the primary goal and function of a government, economic disaster is on its way. Guaranteed.” Word.

Democrats waste money and engage in disgusting habits

That’s what uber-liberal Paul Begala had to say on CNN:

BLITZER: Very quickly, is Howard Dean in trouble?

BEGALA: No. I think Candy's report was spot on.

He -- yes, he's in trouble, in that campaign managers, candidates, are really angry with him. He has raised $74 million and spent $64 million. He says it's a long-term strategy. But what he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose. That's not how you build a party. You win elections. That's how you build a party.

(Hat tip: Sixers)

Nuke-U-Ler is the way to go – From the Boston Globe: “Nuclear should be a part of our energy future.”

Uh-oh – Tom Maguire is predicting a 70% chance for a Rove indictment. His sourcing is at least as impeccable as the rumor that Karl was about to be frog-marched from the White House.

Do you want to know a secret?

Well, I finally finished all 983 pages of “The Beatles” by Bob Spitz. Here’s the abridged version:

1 – John Lennon was a right bastard.
2 – Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles.
3 – Paul McCartney (not dead!) is raw ambition personified.
4 – George Harrison started writing great songs just as the band was splitting.
5 – Ringo Starr spent much of his childhood in a hospital.
6 – Everything fell apart after Brian Epstein died.
7 – The Beatles stopped touring because they could not hear themselves on stage.

1000% inflation

Robert Mugabe’s slow-motion destruction of Zimbabwe continues unabated:

Zimbabwe's inflation rate has surged past the 1,000% mark signalling that the African country is struggling to keep its economy functioning normally.

The annual rate of price growth was 1,042.9% in April, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said, having risen 129 percentage points from March.

It means average goods are about 11 times as expensive in April 2006 as they were 12 months earlier.

Zimbabwe is suffering from shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency.

President Robert Mugabe blames domestic and foreign enemies for the problems.

Of course he did. The highest value currency note is a Z$50,000 bill; a daily newspaper now costs Z$80,000. It kinda puts $3 gas in perspective.

This is a super idea – The NY Times political reporter Adam Nagourney asks: “Hey Democrats, why win?” and submits it would be better for the Democrats to remain in the minority to improve their long-term prospects. Listen to that man. He went to journalism school.

No looking back

According to the Boston Globe, people who have fled the People’s Republic of Massachusetts have no regrets:

A majority of people who moved out of Massachusetts last year report they are very satisfied with life in their new state and would not move back, a Boston Globe poll has found.

Seventy-three percent of those surveyed said they live in a home that is bigger than their home in Massachusetts was. Fifty-four percent said their standard of living is higher now.

The top reason people gave for leaving Massachusetts was a better job, followed by the cost of housing, family ties, and the weather. In a separate set of questions, 50 percent of those surveyed said the cost of housing was a ''major factor," and a better job was cited as a ''major factor" by 39 percent.

The findings underscored the difficulties of living, raising children, and earning enough money in Massachusetts, and suggested that these fundamental aspirations of the American middle-class are often easier for people to achieve outside the state.

I have to commute to Connecticut every work day (2 ½ hours on the road) to work at a job that will pay my Massachusetts taxes.

Sunday morning lineup – Except for Laura Bush on Fox, it’s a pretty boring schedule. Happy Mother’s Day.

Now what did Bluto and D-Day do?

According to that nut at UNC, it was much more serious than dropping fizzies at the swim meet:

A man charged with trying to kill students at UNC Chapel Hill by driving through a popular campus gathering spot says in a series of letters that he does not deserve punishment.

Mohammed Taheri-azar said in letters answering three-dozen questions from a reporter at the university's student newspaper that he won't plead guilty, as he previously planned, because his attack was justified and he doesn't deserve punishment.

"I aimed to exact casualties from an enemy responsible for thousands of casualties among Allah's followers," Taheri-azar wrote to the Daily Tar Heel.

Sounds like a very reasonable fellow. BTW, he was born in Iran but has lived in the United States since he was two years old.

Irony overload – Boston’s Peace Weekend starts out with a bang. MassBackwards has the details.

Tap my phone, please! – “Most Americans support NSA’s efforts”: “A majority of Americans initially support a controversial National Security Agency program to collect information on telephone calls made in the United States in an effort to identify and investigate potential terrorist threats, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.”

Stupid math tricks

Political junkies can get their fix with the WashPost blog of the top 10 Senate races. Math geeks can get a snort at this brilliant bit of mathemagic:

1. Pennsylvania: Two polls released this week painted vastly different pictures of the contest. The first -- by Republican firm Strategic Vision -- showed State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. (D) with a 49 percent to 41 percent edge over Sen. Rick Santorum (R); the second -- conducted by Quinnipiac University -- had Casey ahead by a wider 49 percent to 36 percent margin. Which is right? Here's a little trick The Fix learned from political analyst Charlie Cook (our former boss): When two polls show varying results in the same race, take the two and split the difference.

Congratulations, you’ve discovered the “averaging” theorem.

Good books

The NY Times polled a bunch of literary types for the best American fiction over the last 25 years and found that “Beloved” by Toni Morrison was tops. Well, I can’t give an opinion on that although I did read Morrison’s “Sula.” I also read runner-up “American Pastoral” by Philip Roth and honorable mention “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole.

Personally, I would have added “The Sportswriter” by Richard Ford, “Paris Trout” by Pete Dexter, and “The Shipping News” by E. Annie Proulx.

Turn that frown upside down

Sure, the polls are bad and the base is depressed, but if the Republicans have nowhere to go but up then check this out:

CQ has an interactive map up to chart the 2006 races. For ALL the negative stuff we've heard over the past few weeks, CQ, as of today, has Republicans holding both the House and the Senate.

Just like Scott predicted. Also, Jay Cost says to ignore the generic polls before Labor Day and the WashPost reports that the Democrats are broke and fighting. Finally, Rich Karlgaard in Forbes explains “Why the Dems won’t win in November”:

The hate that animates the American Left today is a sad thing … so different than the search for common good, quality and social justice which used to animate progressive politics, says Brad Carson, a former Democratic Congressman from Oklahoma. He’s right. That’s why I don’t lose too much sleep worrying about Speaker Pelosi.

It’s a long way to November, kids.

Yes, yes, Death to Israel, we know – Does this guy ever shut up? Meanwhile, James Lileks transcribes Ahmedinejad’s letter to Bush.

Renewable energy is for the little people, continued

From the Boston Globe: “4 legislators weigh in on wind farm measure”

Four Massachusetts congressmen say they will vote for a measure that could kill the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm as the face-off over the project intensifies on Capitol Hill. US Representatives William Delahunt, Barney Frank, Edward Markey, and Richard Neal plan to vote for the provision, according to an AP survey.

Every kind of energy requires some kind of sacrifice but the Kennedy clan and its acolytes stand against wind power because of the aesthetic “impact” on their Nantucket vacation homes.

Update from the Hanso Foundation - The code for the sublymonal message is: Heir Apparent

Namaste

Follow-up - Well OK then - Lost creator J.J. Abrams says: “The ending of this year in Lost blows the ending of last season out of the water. It's an incredible finale…it's the greatest finale I have ever heard.”

The second time was to get his hat – Lorie Byrd on Polipundit: “Judicial Watch has been successful in getting the White House to release their visitor logs and it appears that Jack Abramoff visited the White House – brace yourselves – two times since 2001. Two! Wow. That is one more than one.” Lorie also compares Abramoff’s access to certain other visitors to the White House.

Amazing Race update – Thai-dyed hippies

The final four teams started out the Race from Darwin, Australia and had to make their way to Bangkok, Thailand in the middle of the night. The hippies were last in the non-elimination leg last week so they start out with no money and the clothes on their backs. This normally wouldn’t be a big deal except BJ hit the mat with no pants or shoes. Yolanda leaves a pair of purple pants which look ridiculous on the hippie while the Frat Boys contribute a pair of sandals. Before heading to the airport, BJ & Tyler beg for cash at the local Darwin hot spot and the Australians appear to be very generous. The bad news, however, is that the other teams get the last spots on the first plane to Bangkok so Team Burning Man is starting out with a big disadvantage.

Once in Bangkok, teams need to take a taxi to a bus depot and then find the Three Spire Pagoda which is surrounded by “sacred” monkeys. Team Volcano and Team Frat Boys get the first bus at midnight while Team MoJo gets bad advice from their cab driver who tells them the first bus doesn’t leave until morning. This gives the hippies a chance to catch-up and they wait outside the pagoda until morning as MoJo slumbers.

At daybreak, all teams except MoJo rip open the next clue to find an envelope reading “open at the pit stop” along with a Roadblock and a Fast Forward. The Frat Boys, who took the last FF couldn’t take this one, so Team Volcano and the hippies both head out to a restaurant two miles away. The Fast Forward task is that each team member must eat a bowl of deep-fried crickets and grasshoppers. Ray & Yolanda balk then head back to the Roadblock leaving BJ & Tyler to eat insects. Portentously, buckets are provided (and they are later used). But if they can chug bugs, the hippies skip all remaining tasks and head directly to the Pit Stop.

Back at the Roadblock, the other teams must create a feast for the monkeys by cutting up a bunch of fruit. This is made more difficult by the fact that the monkeys swarm around the fruit arrangements as the teams try to finish them. Eric, then Joseph, then Yolanda finish and turn and head to Koh Kret island for the next clue. This is the Detour: Move It or Alter It. Teams may either transport 72 clay jugs on flat boards to the river or apply gold leaf to a Buddha statue. The Frat Boys and Ray & Yolanda put gold leaf on Buddha while Monica & Joseph choose to transport jugs.

Meanwhile BJ & Tyler are barely making it through their feast of crickets and for a second they eye the taxi that could take them back to the Roadblock. But that’s not really an option so they plow ahead. Tyler is especially having trouble (the bucket is close at hand) but he eventually finishes. Team Burning Man heads directly to the Pit Stop where they arrive as Team #1, going from worst to first.

Most of the camera action is on Monica and Joseph since there’s not much fun it watching people paint statues. They try to balance the ceramic jugs on the planks but Monica can’t seem to carry much without pots crashing to the ground around her. It takes them three trips to carry all 72 pots; in one trip Monica carries exactly two pots while Joseph carries more than 20. Back at the Buddhist temple, Eric & Jeremy finish their statue followed by Ray & Yolanda. Team Mojo finishes their task and now all teams are heading to the Pit Stop at the Marble Temple.

It’s a heavy traffic taxi ride to the Pit Stop and the tension builds. The Frat Boys arrive as Team #2. It appears that Team Volcano and Team Mojo arrive pretty close together and Yolanda is ordered to put on something to cover up her bare arms before entering the temple. Team Volcano arrives as team #3 and also win a Travelocity yacht cruise around Sydney (the "open at pit stop" envelope). Team Mojo hits the mat for the last time as they are eliminated; they take the news surprisingly well.

Final standings:

#1 – Team Burning Man – BJ & Tyler
#2 – Team Frat Boys – Eric & Jeremy
#3 – Team Volcano – Ray & Yolanda
#4 – Team Mojo – Monica & Joseph – PHILIMILATED

Next week: The final three teams race to the finish line and the $1 million prize.

Extra – This space reserved for recaps by Kris & Pat.

College is very expensive - U.S. Judge Michael Luttig resigned his $171,800 seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals today to take a much better paying job at Boeing. He wrote this in his letter to President Bush: ""I am convinced," he added, that this is the right decision for me at this time, and most importantly, for my family. . . . This is especially so, as I am sure you can understand, given that" he has two children approaching college age." Yeesh.

Economics 001 – Dale Franks charts the price of oil and the price of gasoline to demonstrate where “those bloodsucking oil merchants” gouged us with an outrageous markup. Bring on the next investigation, I say!

We earn, we spend, we want more – Robert Samuelson looks at “Affluence and its discontents” in the WashPost: “Advanced societies need economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants -- public and private -- of their citizens. The social order depends on it. But the quest for growth unleashes new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb the social order.”

The GOP is in rough shape

But it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Democrats will benefit. From “No wonder voters doubtful about Dems” by Thomas Bray on Real Clear Politics:

Democrats hope that George Bush's miserable poll numbers will help them reclaim control of Congress this fall. But polls also show that the Democratic Party's overall approval ratings are almost as deep in the tank as the Republican rating. Voters may be expressing dismay at the alternatives.

The closer we get to election day, the greater the chance of a “Paul Wellstone” moment where the Democrats drop the mask and reveal their true agenda.

Why Johnny Massachusetts can’t read

The Bay State requires that all high school seniors pass a test called the MCAS to receive a high school diploma; the basic idea is that there should be some kind of standard applied to a diploma, including the ability to read and write. Every year, some school decides that standards and the law are secondary to just moving kids through the educational system. From the Boston Globe - “State warns New Bedford not to relax MCAS rule”:

Governor Mitt Romney and state education leaders threatened yesterday to cut the New Bedford school system's funding and rescind certification of administrators if they grant diplomas to high school students who failed the MCAS exams.

New Bedford school officials would violate state law on graduation requirements and will have to back down, state officials said. Three school systems vowed to give diplomas to students whether or not they passed the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests around the time the law went into effect in 2003, but the school districts, pushed by the state, later gave in.

''To say that we should graduate kids who haven't met the basic standards of reading and math is a gross mistake," Romney said during a press conference yesterday. ''It's a vote of no confidence in our kids. If there's no test and there's no standards, then the graduation degree doesn't mean anything."

Well put, Mitt. Also, from the NY Times: “Two Setbacks for Exit Exams Taken by High School Seniors.”

Question answered – It doesn’t get more direct than this: “Is Lost a Repeat?”

Another justice for the Court of Appeals – Senators on the judiciary committee grilled Brett Kavanaugh again putatively to gain more information but mostly to grandstand and ask questions they already knew the answers to.

Confirm Them reports: “It looks like Brett Kavanaugh will be reported out of the Judiciary Committee on Thursday, and then will be confirmed without a serious filibuster attempt.”

Meanwhile AJ Strata enjoyed Schumer’s angst: “The fact Kavanaugh could not be linked to anything left the Democrats to whine about nothing at all. Schumer looked particularly frustrated and defeated. Quite enjoyable.” The Coalition of the Chillin’ abides.

Angry and crazy – Captain Ed: “Will Rage undo the Democrats?” Also from Brothers Judd -“Today’s Left exists only to amuse the rest of us”: “They aren't just reactionary; they're delusional.”

Full mental jacket

From the NY Times: “In men, ‘trigger happy’ may be a hormonal impulse”:

Psychologists at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., enrolled 30 male students in what they described as a taste study. The researchers took saliva samples from the students and measured testosterone levels.

They then seated the young men, one at a time, at a table in a bare room; on the table were pieces of paper and either the board game Mouse Trap or a large handgun.

Their instructions: take apart the game or the gun and write directions for assembly and disassembly.

Fifteen minutes later, the psychologists measured saliva testosterone again and found that the levels had spiked in men who had handled the gun but had stayed steady in those working with the board game.

I’m not convinced this has anything to do with guns per se. I’m sure the same results would have been found with the following control-test pairs:

Led Zeppelin vs. Barry Manilow
Mustang vs. minivan
Buffalo wings vs. Caesar salad
NASCAR vs. baseball

Create you own!

Down the drain – Byron York examines how Bush lost the Democrats, then the independents, then the conservatives.

“Unbelievably tactically stupid” – That’s how Slate characterized Nancy Pelosi’s recent statements and her appearance on “Meet the Press” which parallels my pre-show assessment and further supports my prediction that the Democrats will find a way to lose in November, which is still a long ways off.

Extra – Much more from Gateway Pundit, who believes “add-on” is a code for a tax hike. However, it’s clear that Pelosi meant a government program paid for by taxpayers, which is completely different.

Outrageous profits - $3.19 a gallon? A 12.38% profit margin? When will Washington step in and put an end to the obscene cash grab over at Kraft Foods?

What the….? This prison isn’t very nice at all.

This is some serious convict regret: “Moussaoui Says He Lied on Stand About Role in Sept. 11, Asks to Withdraw Guilty Plea”

Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers told the court they filed the motion even though a federal rule "prohibits a defendant from withdrawing a guilty plea after imposition of sentence."

“And you can forget all about that ‘God curse America’ stuff. Just kidding.”

Sink or swim at MIT

A practice held over since World War II, 14% of colleges still require a swimming test to graduate. Today’s Boston Globe has a hilarious article about poor Stephanie Yeh of MIT who pushed off the requirement until her senior year:

Seven days before the test, Stephanie Yeh stood in her sorority house and cried.

An electrical engineering and computer science major, she was set to graduate near the top of her MIT class next month and start a six-figure job as a Wall Street analyst.

Just one test, terrifying to her, remained. She, like scores of undergraduates at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had been putting it off for nearly four years. But Yeh and the others have to pass this exam to graduate.

She had to swim 100 yards, four lengths of a pool, without stopping.

The problem: Yeh never learned how to swim.

She makes it in the end, calling it “the hardest test I’ve ever taken at MIT.”

Ridiculing Kerry is the highest form of patriotism - Ann Althouse asks: “Does John Kerry makes any sense?” Meanwhile, Tim Blair finds the Senator misquoting Thomas Jefferson yet again. Golly, I hope he runs in 2008.

Bonus – Welcome, Instapundit readers! Wow, see what happens when you don’t check your blog for a couple of hours.

Renewable energy is for the little people

Jeff Jacoby notes that Ted Kennedy likes regulations when it suits him, but not when it affects his view from Hyannis Port: “Kennedy doesn’t play by the rules”:

But like a lot of well-to-do Cape and Islands landowners and sailing enthusiasts, Kennedy doesn't want to share his Atlantic playground with an energy facility, no matter how clean, green, and nearly unseen. Last month he secretly arranged for a poison-pill amendment, never debated in either house of Congress, to be slipped into an unrelated Coast Guard bill. It would give the governor of Massachusetts, who just happens to be a wind farm opponent, unilateral authority to veto the Cape Wind project.

Both Ted Kennedy and John Kerry have twisted themselves into pretzels trying to present their green bona fides while opposing a renewable energy solution in their own backyard.

What $13 trillion shortfall? - From Cato: “The Social Security sidestep” (Hat tip: Pejman)

People are fed up with crazy Tom – “’Mission’ fizzling – Box office imploding”: “Friday night's numbers are in for "Mission: Impossible III," and they aren't what Paramount or Tom Cruise might have hoped for. The JJ Abrams-directed blockbuster took in only $17 million according to website www.boxofficemojo.com. That's a good $3 million off the lowest predictions, and $8 million off what a real mega hit would have been.”

Sunday morning lineup – Nancy Pelosi will be on Meet the Press. That’s all you really need to know since she is, without a doubt, the worst interviewee in television history.

Nerds rule the world - Without revealing too much about my professional life, I wholeheartedly agree with nearly every bit of this post on Business Pundit: “Why business needs more geeks.”

Quick shots

I’m heading over to a neighbor’s house for a barbeque tonight, but here are a few stories that caught my attention:

That $15 billion boondoggle – “Big Dig probe expanding – 6 managers at concrete firm facing fraud charges.” When you use low-grade concrete on roadways or garden walls, it just degrades a little faster. When you use low-grade concrete in the Big Dig, you’re drowned by the Charles River.

Real Clear Politics: “No Leadership + No Urgency = No Solution To Energy Problem”

John Derbyshire on Bush’s poll numbers and his loss of conservative support: “I hang out with conservatives, and I hear this ten times a week. If you bloat the budget, open the borders, and back off in the culture wars, you're going to lose conservatives. This is not rocket science.” I remain confident that the Democrats will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, right Mac?

And Porter Goss resigns – hmmm…that was sudden.

Time to apply Occam’s Razor

A Kennedy crashes his car and a patrolman reports that he “appeared intoxicated.” Was Patrick Kennedy:

1.) Late for a vote at the House of Representatives and impaired by cold medicine
2.) Drunk
3.) Coz is a fool

My John Kenneth Galbraith story

A couple years ago, I was in Boston for yet another fiber optics conference and met up with an old favorite teacher of mine from Rutgers who now teaches at Harvard. She took me to the faculty club for lunch and I wore my too-old suit. At one point she pointed over to a table with a number of very well-dressed men and whispered: “That’s John Kenneth Galbraith.” He was very old and very tall (I'm 6'3").

Anyway, it’s not nice to speak ill of the dead but George Will positively piles on in his article “Condescensional Wisdom”:

Although Galbraith coined the phrase ``conventional wisdom,'' and thought of himself as the scourge of groupthink, ``The Affluent Society'' was the distilled essence of the conventional wisdom on campuses. In the 1960s, that liberalism became a stance of disdain, describing Americans not only as Galbraith had, as vulgar, but also as sick, racist, sexist, imperialist, etc. Again, and not amazingly, voters were not amused when told that their desires -- for big cars, neighborhood schools and other things -- did not deserve respect.

Yeesh. Everything I know about economics I learned from P.J. O’Rourke’s excellent “Eat the Rich.” Concerning certain economic books, he writes this in the intro:

There are also certain books you should avoid, such as anything with the words Investment and Success in the title and everything ever written by John Kenneth Galbraith.

So noted.

That hole in the ground – And now I have to pay to prosecute six guys who poured old concrete into the $4 $15 billion Big Dig. The fun never ends.

Seeds of democracy?

Victor Davis Hanson looks at the glass half-full in the Middle East. From “Give Iran Enough Rope”:

The good news is that Iran, like all ossified societies in the current era of globalized communications, is unstable. The eighth-century theocrats in charge there could find their own citizens questioning whether a bomb is worth international ostracism and the threat of military strikes.

At the same time, what's happening now in Iraq must be of great concern to the Iranian leadership. Jawad al-Maliki, the new Iraqi prime minister, for example, is a nationalist. He, like other Iraqi Shiites, has shown he is not willing to be an Iranian pawn. As Ahmadinejad promotes death, how will Iranians react to images from Iraq of life-affirming free citizens in a new democracy?

In other words, will Iraq's new liberality prove more destabilizing to Iran than Ahmadinejad's agents can to Iraq? As Iraq's 300,000-strong army emerges as a well-trained and equipped force, one suspects the answer is yes.

Well, one can hope.

Amazing Race update – Survival of the fittest in Darwin


The final four teams started out from Perth, Australia where, in the middle of the night, they needed to find the Swan Bells (above). This bell tower doesn’t open until 8 a.m., so everybody’s bunched up again. The tension is starting to get thick as Team Mojo is very brusque with the hippies. Meanwhile, Ray & Yolanda are pretty much steering clear of the others. Just before the bell tower opens, all the teams call to reserve a taxi so that after they retrieve the clue and rush to the next stop. Eric & Jeremy then call back the taxi service and cancel both Ray’s & Tyler’s taxi (Joseph & Monica were in on the subterfuge).

Morning arrives and teams race up to get the clue: fly to Darwin, Australia. Team Mojo gets their taxi right away but Karma intervenes and Team Frat Boys’ cab is nowhere to be found. BJ & Tyler and Ray & Yolanda call for two more taxis and figure out that somebody cancelled their reservation. Tempers flare up a little at the airport and this underhanded move. Team Burning Man decides to stir the pot by suggesting that Eric has his sights set on Barbie girl Monica. Joseph is not amused.

Once in Darwin, teams race to Crocodylus Park where they walk through crocodile pens and pick up the next clue. This directs them to an airfield in the town of Batchelor – caution: Yield ahead. Both the hippies and Mojo have been threatening to yield each other and they both totally break the speed limit to get to the Yield first. At the airfield, it appears as if Monica & Joseph arrive first, but – what? – there’s Team Burning Man and they are yielding Team Mojo. Joseph is not amused again.

The airfield is, no surprise to TAR fans, a skydive Roadblock and one member from each team must jump from a perfectly good plane (in tandem, of course). BJ is first, followed by Eric, then Ray and finally Monica. The next clue directs them to Litchfield Park where they must search among these amazing Magnetic Termite Mounds. This clue is the Detour: Wet or Dry. Teams may either swim down river about a mile (while avoiding enormous spiders) or search in the forest for a didgeridoo player and then play a couple notes. The Hippies and the Frat Boys go swimming while Team Volcano and Team Mojo head into the forest. The “Dry” detour appears to be much faster and Ray & Yolanda, then Monica & Joseph finish first and start to head to the Pit Stop at Lake Bennett. Of course, the yielded Team Mojo is still way behind and Team Volcano arrives at the Pit Stop first as Team #1.

What occurs next is that rarity that makes The Amazing Race an amazing race. The remaining three teams all end up on the same road to the Pit Stop, driving in a line. All agree: this is going to come down to a footrace at the Pit Stop. The Frat Boys pull in first, the hippies next, and Mojo last; surely the guys can outrun a girl, right? Astoundingly, instead of just following the gangplank down to the pier, BJ decides to try a shortcut down the embankment and falls back just enough so that Monica arrives ahead of him (teams can only “check in” at the Pit Stop in pairs). Joseph is amused now and taunts them: “You yielded us!” However, this is another non-elimination leg and Team Burning Man is spared a second time although they must start the next leg with “the clothes on their back.” The camera pans down: BJ is barefoot.

Final standings:

#1 – Team Volcano – Ray & Yolanda – Prize: a Mercedes SUV (nice!)
#2 – Team Frat Boys – Eric & Jeremy
#3 – Team MoJo – Monica & Joseph
#4 – Team Burning Man – BJ & Tyler – NON-ELIMINATION LEG

Next week: Monkeys in Thailand. Monica is whining.

Extra – This space reserved for recaps by Kris (poetic version!) & Pat.

Three thousand Americans dead – Moussaoui gets life

From Fox News - “Moussaoui evades death, receives life in prison”: “Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole on Wednesday for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "America, you lost. I won," Moussaoui said, clapping his hands as he was led out of the courtroom after the verdict was read.”

The “at-least-we-denied-him-martyrdom” argument is not playing well at Hot Air. But if you gotta live, existence in a Supermax prison might be as bad as it gets.

My only concern is how this plays out among the Islamofascists; that is, is it more or less likely to encourage terrorists attacks? Unfortunately, I think there was marginally less to fear from the martyrdom angle and this judgment may be perceived as a sign of weakness. As somebody once wrote (Samuel Johnson?), nothing sharpens the mind like a hanging in the morning. A caption reading “THIS is what we do to terrorists” would send the right message in the “weak horse/strong horse” debate.

Apropos of nothing – Remember when serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, convicted in the capital punishment-free state of Wisconsin, was bludgeoned to death by a fellow inmate? That was, ah, rotten luck.

Conservative Canucks can Kyoto

From the WashPost: “Canada's Conservative government on Tuesday slashed funds for environmental programs designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, a move that critics said gutted support for the Kyoto accord on global warming.”

Fifteen years of effort down the tubes:

Despite Canada's vocal support for Kyoto, its greenhouse emissions have risen by 24 percent since 1990, leading Harper's environmental minister, Rona Ambrose, to declare meeting the goals "impossible."

The smug cloud is lifting.

Here we go again – “Acrimony over Bush judicial nominations resurfaces – Senate Democrats threaten to filibuster conservative duo”

We need leadership to address this problem

Here’s the conclusion to Robert Samuelson’s “How we got to $3 gas”:

Whatever happens, the larger question is how Americans build on this episode. It may feel good to vilify the major oil companies and the oil cartel. But that won't help. We now import 60 percent of our oil; large imports will continue indefinitely. So far, we've escaped a true calamity. We may not be so lucky in the future. We could minimize our vulnerabilities to supply interruptions and price increases. We could open up more acreage (including Alaska) to drilling. We could orchestrate -- through tougher fuel economy standards and a gradually rising energy tax -- a big shift toward more-efficient vehicles. Once again, we've been warned. Will we continue to ignore it?

You bet! See: Social Security.

MIT researching BTUs – “MIT hoping to short-circuit energy crunch”: “The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is planning an ambitious effort to solve the world's energy problems, including spending at least $25 million annually on new research, according to a report set to be released today.” They should make it a DARPA Grand Challenge-style competition with Caltech.

One year = $600 billion

Everything you need to know about the failure to reform Social Security can be found in this section of the Trustee’s report:

Over the 75-year period, the Trust Funds require additional revenue equivalent to $4.6 trillion in today’s dollars to pay all scheduled benefits. This unfunded obligation is $600 billion higher than the amount estimated last year.

That’s “additional” as in additional massive payroll taxes on top of the 12.4% that workers are already paying, a tax that has risen so relentlessly that 74% of Americans now pay more in payroll taxes than income taxes. But, by all means, let’s wait another year.

Extra – Captain Ed: “Did we say ‘I told you so’ yet?”

And this – Nice comment from this Q&O post: “When Social Security finally crashes, the SOTU address moment where the Dems wildly applauded doing nothing will be played over and over and over again.”

Sprung a leak – The editor of the New York Times responds to an Opinion Journal article on media partisanship and…glub…glub…glub….

Extra – Hugh Hewitt: “Bill Keller, slayer of straw men, inventor of privileges”

They really, really, don’t have a square to spare

From the NY Times: “How bad is inflation in Zimbabwe?”

Well, consider this: at a supermarket near the center of this tatterdemalion capital, toilet paper costs $417.

No, not per roll. Four hundred seventeen Zimbabwean dollars is the value of a single two-ply sheet. A roll costs $145,750 — in American currency, about 69 cents.

For a refresher on Mugabe’s deadly misrule, read this article from the Atlantic: “How to kill a country.”

Something cool I saw today

Yesterday, somebody had multiple signs at an intersection searching for a lost cat. Today, the "missing" signs were replaced with "Kitty home. Thank you!" Which was nice because 1) the cat was found and 2) the owners took the time to share that news so that everybody wouldn't think the worse. :-)

Throw me a frickin’ bone here

You know, when you’re a mid-popular large mammal blogger, it’s nice to get a little hat tip every once in a while. So I can’t help but believe that Kathryn Jean Lopez totally stole this post off of me:

The End of the World Is Near [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
There's a Revenge of the Nerds remake in the works.

Sound familiar? I mean, come on!

Yet another sign of the apocalypse

From CNN: “’Revenge of the Nerds’ being remade”: “Kyle Newman has signed on to direct "Revenge of the Nerds," a remake of the seminal 1984 teen comedy.”

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

It’s Ogre! (Deep, deep regrets to WBY)

The year of reckoning creeps a bit closer

The two major entitlement programs are going broke a little sooner than planned:

The funds for Social Security and Medicare, the federal government's two largest entitlement programs, will go bust sooner than estimated just one year ago, reveals a report released on Monday.

The funding shortfalls come at no surprise with the trust fund for Social Security projected to be depleted in 2040 while Medicare will have no fund reserves left in 12 years. In last year's report, Social Security was projected to be depleted by 2041, one year later than projected now, and Medicare in 2020, two years later.

Well, don’t just do something! Stand there!

Extra – Another classic headline from Fark: “Social Security, Medicare to run out of money sooner. Baby Boomers seen laughing and yelling at kids to get off their lawns.”

And yet my Subaru has 168,000 miles on it – From Slate: “Why you can never buy a decent used car.”

Sam Alito and the tipping point

The Supreme Court is about to re-hear arguments on three cases:

Although the court did not announce why it decided to hold a second hour of oral argument on the cases, the likeliest reason, based on the experience of previous transitions on the court, is that in each instance O'Connor's departure left the court divided 4 to 4.

The consensus is that these cases may indicate the direction of the court since Samuel Alito, who replaced O’Connor, will make his mark.

Sunday roundtable wrapup – Mark Kilmer has his review of the Sunday shows which was most welcome to me since I was traveling all day. Apparently, Tim Russert delivered the “duh” question of the day: “Oil demand is up. Supply is down. So why are prices rising?” Somebody get that man an Economics 101 textbook.

Those awful oil company profits

They pay for all those neat things the government spends money on:

Politicians calling oil companies "greedy" is more than a little ironic. Tax Foundation studies have shown that state and federal treasuries profit handsomely from oil industry sales. The average American motorist pays taxes of 46 cents a gallon on gasoline, of which 18.4 cents a gallon goes to the federal government. States and localities pocket the rest.

The nation's energy companies are already providing a "windfall" of taxes. According to Department of Energy data, from 1977 to 2004, federal and state governments extracted $397 billion by taxing the profits of the largest oil companies and an additional $1.1 trillion in taxes at the pump. In today's dollars, that's $2.2 trillion — enough to buy a Toyota Prius for every household in the nation.

In fact, oil companies have paid in taxes more than three times what they earned in profits during those 28 years.

At both the state and federal level, the government loves to vilify those evil companies that fill our gas tanks but not so much to take drastic (and unpopular) steps to curtail consumption such as raising CAFE standards. George Will noted the same duplicity with tobacco taxes: the government wants taxes just high enough so that the cigarette tax gravy train will keep on rollin’:

If smoking policy were still primarily a public health policy, cigarette taxes would be calibrated to produce ``sticker shock'' just short of what stimulates smuggling, and to produce revenues trending toward zero. But with states facing their worst budget problems in a decade, many are becoming as addicted to cigarette tax revenues as some smokers are to cigarettes. These states have a large interest in preserving a large number of smokers.

If Americans were not paying $6 or more in taxes at each fill-up, we may not be in the midst of a price uproar. But taxes never go down and, in fact, the government calibrates them to extract maximum revenue. Ironically, that kind of “profit taking” is A-OK.

Good lyrics

Last week, some Brit poll declared that a U2 lyric was the best ever. Well, to each his/her own but as a major music fan, here are some of my favorites: I’m going away for the weekend, so feel free to add your own in the comments.

For the best barfight imagery, there’s Jim Croce’s “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”:

Well, two men took to fighting
And when they pulled them from the floor
Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle
With a couple of pieces gone

Ouch. Best logic from Dire Straits’ “Industrial Disease”:

Two men say they’re Jesus
One of them just be wrong

Pithy statement award to Janis Joplin and “Me and Bobby McGee”:

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose

(Honorable mention: I’d trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday)

As poetry goes, I love the rhyme and rhythm of “Year of the Cat” by Al Stewart:

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolour in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat

Anybody who works in Peter Lorre deserves a nod, but how about Bert Kaempfert as in Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week”:

Bert Kaempfert's got the mad hits
You try to match wits, you try to hold me but I bust through

I’ve always been a big fan of Graham Parker, one of the greatest musicians who never hit it big. Here’s his “you can’t go home again” song “Back in Time”:

You stop in the old cafe where you used to play pinball
And look for the air-raid shelter but it's gone and the cafe seems so small
And all the gardens that had trees and stolen apples
Now have small businesses flourishing in cinder blocks

I could go on all night but let’s stop with Bob Dylan and “My Back Pages”:

My guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now

Good stuff.

Voodoo economic mumbo jumbo – Charles Krauthammer writes that gas prices are high because of supply and demand. Crazy!

Who will stand up?

I apologize in advance, since this particular post references a rather obscure film. But every time I hear the latest news from Iran, I can’t help but think of a 1967 movie called “The Incident.” (Here’s Roger Ebert’s contemporaneous review). In the film, two young hoodlums terrorize people on a cross-town subway car. Nobody wants to confront them and everybody’s willing to keep quiet as long as somebody else is the focus of their violence. In the end, it all becomes too much for a Southern soldier on leave (played by Beau Bridges) and, with one arm in a sling, he subdues the hoods.

Now we have Iran which, in direct defiance of the United Nations and the world, has announced it will develop nuclear weapons. (Or nuclear power, with a huge tongue-in-cheek which then calls for the destruction of Israel). They cannot be reasoned with and, thanks to oil, they can’t be economically subdued. Eventually, Iran may enrich enough uranium for a crude nuclear bomb. Everybody’s secretly praying that the Israelis take care of the problem.

But I fear the world will be as docile as those subway riders, unmindful of Winston Churchill’s adage that “An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile hoping it will eat him last.”

Hooverville - U.S. Economy Expanded at a 4.8% Annual Rate in First Quarter: “The U.S. economy expanded in the first quarter at an annual pace of 4.8 percent, the fastest in more than two years, led by resurgent consumer spending and a rebound in business investment that gave the economy momentum going into the second quarter, a government report showed.”

Please, John Kerry, ignore Ellen Goodman

From today’s Boston Globe: “Don’t run, John Kerry”

John Kerry is a good, honorable, thoughtful man. And a lousy presidential candidate. He couldn't do ''ideas" the first time. He wouldn't do them the second time. It's just not in him.

But what about his long, distinguished legislative record? Those dolphins aren’t going to save themselves.

Not to worry: New York’s not a very liberal town.

From Spinal Tap:

Ian Faith: The Boston gig has been cancelled...
David St. Hubbins: What?
Ian Faith: Yeah. I wouldn't worry about it though, it's not a big college town.

And now it’s official. From Media Week: Air America to lose New York flagship station on August 31. The Radio Equalizer called it weeks ago. What next? San Francisco?

Energy roundup


Boston Globe: “Kennedy faces fight on Cape Wind – Key lawmakers oppose his bid to block project”
Slate: “Gas: A subject that makes congressmen stupid.”
WashPost: “Warming Up to Nuclear Power - Energy Source Gets Another Look As Fuel Costs Reach New Heights”
WashPost editorial: “Phony war on gas - Attacks on 'price gouging' make good politics, but they don't help consumers much.”

Speaking of spending too much – Human Events ranks Social Security as the “most harmful government program.”

Back to basics – John Hawkins has 10 pieces of advice for Republicans in Washington. It might be too late to take my advice – stop spending so much money – now that the Medicare prescription drug benefit is in full swing.

Gen X seeks RVs – From the Boston Globe: “Roll out the second home – A younger generation develops a passion for RVs”

Fitzmas never comes

Via Byron York, here’s Karl Rove’s lawyer:

Karl Rove appeared today before the grand jury investigating the disclosure of a CIA agent's identity. He testified voluntarily and unconditionally at the request of special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to explore a matter raised since Mr. Rove's last appearance in October 2005. In connection with this appearance, the special counsel has advised Mr. Rove that he is not a target of the investigation. Mr. Fitzgerald has affirmed that he has made no decisions regarding charges. At the request of the special counsel, Mr. Rove will not discuss the substance of his testimony.

The Minuteman declares: “A great day for Karl Rove!” Exclamation point, analysis, and many many links over at Tom Maguire’s blog. (HT: Mark) And MacRanger sez: “The Plame Game is done.”

And lest we forget what this is all about: “Someone close to the White House had the audacity to point out that Mr. Wilson was an anti-Bush partisan whose only claim to authority on the matter was the result of wifely nepotism. Mr. Wilson has since been thoroughly discredited, including in a bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee. But former Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Scooter Libby is still being prosecuted as the result of a media-instigated investigation into the "leak" of Valerie Plame's not-so-secret CIA identity.”

Also – Proving my long-held theory that everything Lawrence O’Donnell says is wrong: “For what it's worth, the buzz among the Washington press corps right now is that Rove asked to return to the grand jury.” Scroll down for some classy comments too.

Amazing Race update – Heading Down Under

Team started out from Jabreen Castle, Oman and had to make their way over 9000 miles to Perth, Australia. Because they came in last on the previous leg, BJ & Tyler have no money while the other teams start out with $181. Team Kukla leave $20 in the hippies’ car while the Frat Boys leave a $100 IOU. My dislike for them instantly rises to the surface once again. On the way to the airport, though, Team Burning Man picks up a hitchhiker who happens to be the most generous Bedouin in Oman. At the local gas station, he pays for their gas, some juice and a couple of Snickers bars. The hippies race to the airport where they just barely make the plane to the consternation of the other teams, especially Team Mojo. Monica whispers: “I hate the hippies.”

Once in Perth, teams have to take a taxi to King’s Park for the next clue. While in the cab, BJ & Tyler reveal that they panhandled $300 while on the plane proving once again that the non-elimination leg penalty is almost meaningless. At King’s Park, teams find the clue directing them to Rottnest Island; since the first ferry to the island doesn’t leave until morning, all teams are bunched up again.

Morning breaks and all five teams pile onto the ferry taking them to the island. After they arrive, the teams must take tandem bikes 3 miles to a lighthouse and the next clue. Team Frat Boys take the lead while Ray & Yolanda – who have thighs like tree trunks – somehow fall to last place. After the lighthouse clue, teams bicycle to Salmon (?) Bay and the Detour: Sand or Sea. They may either drag a pile of branches 126 meters from one side of the beach to the other, or dive down in a marked area and retrieve two crayfish. Team Frat Boys and Mojo put on Speedos while the other teams drag branches. Monica and Joseph put to bed any doubt that they are illiterate by failing to read the clue correctly yet again: they return with one crayfish, not two, and have to go back into the ocean.

After the Detour, team had to bike back to the ferry dock (mucho biking!) and head to Fremantle and the abandoned prison. Eric & Jeremy just barely make the first ferry off the island, earning them a significant time advantage. It’s a ferry frenzy and taxi tornado as team try to break into prison. Once there it’s the Roadblock: one team member must first search a cellblock and find a Duracell flashlight and four Coppertop batteries. From Duracell! (/end product placement). Then they must descend into underground tunnels (previously used to bring fresh water into the prison) and search for the next clue. Despite their time advantage, Team Frat Boys can’t find the tunnel entrance and Jeremy bounces off one wall to another. Team Mojo arrives and Joseph finds the entrance only a couple of minutes behind Jeremy. After some dark searching, Jeremy finds the next clue which directs teams to the Fremantle Sailing Club and the Pit Stop.

After leaving the prison, a cab driver tells Team Frat Boys that the sailing club is just a mile down the road and they can walk there. They do. Monica and Joseph, meanwhile, pile into their waiting cab. It’s man vs. machine and these two teams need to sprint out onto a jetty where Phil is waiting on the mat. The Frat Boys edge out Team Mojo by two steps and grab first place. The remaining teams arrive and leave the prison in the same order and, despite a tremendous run, Fran & Barry fall to last place and are eliminated.

Final standings:

#1 – Team Frat Boys – Eric & Jeremy – Prize: Trip to Hong Kong
#2 – Team MoJo – Monica & Joseph
#3 – Team Burning Man – BJ & Tyler
#4 – Team Volcano – Ray & Yolanda
#5 – Team Kukla – Fran & Barry – PHILIMINATED

Next week: Crikey! It’s crocodiles!

Extra – Check out the recaps from Kris and Pat for more TAR fun.

Air America slightly more popular than white noise - Did you see Drudge’s big “scoop” that Air America’s New York ratings had dropped from an anemic 1.6 in winter 2005 to a barely-registering 1.0 share in winter 2006? As Brian Maloney reports, Drudge was being generous: Air America’s flagship station in New York only pulled in a 0.8 share. It appears AA's audience is now composed of mostly "accidental" listeners.

New York’s a lonely town when you’re the only surfer boy around

Via Popular Mechanics, here’s the cost to drive a car from New York to California using various forms of energy:

Electric - $60
Compressed natural gas - $110
Gasoline - $213
Biodiesel – $231
Ethanol - $425
Methanol - $619
Hydrogen fuel cell - $804

Environmentalists take note: that cheap electric ride is generated from a ton of sulfur and carbon-dioxide producing coal.

From flip-flopper to fabulist – John Kerry, just making stuff up.

Who got the loot? – RNC maintains huge fundraising lead over DNC. Hey, who knew that Dean Koontz was a big Republican? Even more surprising: who would believe that Chevy Chase had $25,000?

Religion of Darwin Awards update

The last terrorist attack in Egypt killed ten times more Muslims than foreigners. Now two geniuses have attacked a peacekeeping force on the Sinai Peninsula:

The bombers in Wednesday's attack killed themselves but no one else, said Magdy Rady, a spokesman for the Egyptian prime minister.
Speaking from Cairo, Rady told CNN that the first bomber was riding a motorbike. He exploded himself near a multinational force vehicle at around 11:10 a.m. local time (0910 GMT).
The second bomber exploded himself near a police command post at 11:25 local time, Rady said.
He said there were no other injuries or "material damage."

Well, they did lose a perfectly good motorbike.

The word “obstreperous” was not used - According to the Superficial, Britney Spears and Kevin Federline had a huge fight that was characterized as “full blown war of words.” Somehow I think a “war” would require words with three or more syllables.

We should, but we won’t

Robert Samuelson presents his wish list for government action. Sadly, I think this ship has sailed:

We should be preparing for aging baby boomers. Projected Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs could expand the federal budget by 30 percent to 40 percent by 2030. To limit these huge increases -- implying much higher taxes or draconian cuts in other programs -- we should gradually raise eligibility ages for Social Security and Medicare, as well as curb benefits for wealthier retirees. Instead, Bush worsened the outlook by enacting the biggest-ever expansion of Medicare. The new drug benefit will cost $792 billion from 2006 to 2015, estimates the Congressional Budget Office. Not surprisingly, Bush's ill-fated Social Security plan would also have increased spending.

Unfortunately, we now have a huge demographic group that has access to a whole grab bag of entitlements...a group that votes. There’s not much left to do but wait for the inevitable clash of generations.

Extra – More on Social Security from Don Luskin and Red State asks why spending cuts are nowhere on the GOP’s radar.

Panic in the halls of Congress

Most of the conservative websites join the chorus against the White House and Congress for their gas price pas de deux:

Opinion Journal: “Gas prices rise, and Republicans panic”
National Review: “Our Gaseous Capitol”
Jim Glassman on TCS: “Bush on gas prices: who’s he kidding?”

Free Republic scoops Drudge – Tony Snow to be White House press secretary. You heard it here, um, second.

The revolution will not be televised

Because there will be no revolution:

A thorough, continually revisited analysis of the races in all 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats being contested this year projects that if the election were held today, Republicans would hold at least 54 seats in the Senate — one fewer than today — and 224 seats in the House, seven fewer than now; one contest for the Senate and nine for the House are currently tossups.

That’s it? One lousy seat in the Senate? Hell, if gas prices go down the Republicans might capture a filibuster-proof majority. Political Wire quotes the Rothenberg report: “The five most vulnerable Senate seats up this year are all held by Republicans." They are: Rick Santorum (R-PA), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Jim Talent (R-MO).” Not so vulnerable so far, what ho?

Bonus – Sleep soundly, Republicans! Scott Elliott of Election Projection has officially declared the House of Representatives safe in 2006.