Or, the state in which we are both at war and not at war.

"My view is that if there is no evidence for it, then forget about it," he said. "An agnostic is somebody who doesn't believe in something until there is evidence for it, so I'm agnostic."
He = Carl Sagan

My kinda guy.

This is too fucking funny.

Man fruit braise the north almond. And don't you forget it.

Via that somewhat popular blogger, TBogg

Yeah, there has been a lot of pro-war gloating. And I guess that Dawn Olsen's cautionary advice about gloating is appropriate. So maybe we shouldn't rub in just how wrong, and morally corrupt the antiwar case was. Maybe we should rise above the temptation to point out that claims of a 'quagmire' were wrong -- again! -- how efforts at moral equivalence were obscenely wrong -- again! -- how the antiwar folks are still, far too often, trying to move the goalposts rather than admit their error -- again -- and how an awful lot of the very same people who spoke lugubriously about 'civilian casualties' now seem almost disappointed that there weren't more -- again -- and how many people who spoke darkly about the Arab Street and citizens rising up against American 'liberators' were proven wrong -- again -- as the liberators were seen as just that by the people they were liberating. And I suppose we shouldn't stress so much that the antiwar folks were really just defending the interests of French oil companies and Russian arms-deal creditors. It's probably a bad idea to keep rubbing that point in over and over again.

Nah.

Glenn Reynolds April 11, 2003

Gloat away, dickhead. Slather yourself in blood, rub ash on your face. Dance around the fire like a little warrior. You've earned it.

Hey friend, do you want to be happy? Well, of course you do. Only poets want to be unhappy. So, let Ol' Cleek give you the five secrets to happiness:

1. Move down South
2. Go to church regularly
3. Join the Republican party
4. Get yourself a spouse
5. Boost your income over $100K

Follow those five steps and I'll personally guarantee you a happy life. Act now!

via Pew.

Katherine, at Obsidian Wings, writes:

The current debates over the Feingold resolution and the NSA surveillance program & the ongoing debate over the torture scandals involve a lot of convoluted legal arguments about executive power. It can get really difficult and frustrating for non-lawyers to sort them all out. (Actually it can be that way for lawyers too, but lawyers get three years of instruction in legalese & then get paid to read and write it for a living, It's a lot worse for everyone else.)

To make this a little easier, I've prepared a handy-dandy little guide for decoding the administration's arguments and reassurances on these topics.

Go read: Understanding the Bush Administration's Statements About Executive Power And Treatment of Prisoners in Nine Easy Steps.

Update: And I put together a handy on-line automated version of it, here.

Bruce McCullough vs. James Lileks !

Cites "inappropriate ridicule" of religion.

Soul singer Isaac Hayes said Monday he was quitting his job as the voice of the lusty character "Chef" on the satiric cable TV cartoon "South Park," citing the show's "inappropriate ridicule" of religion.

But series co-creator Matt Stone said the veteran recording artist was upset the show had recently lampooned the Church of Scientology, of which Hayes is an outspoken follower.

"In ten years and over 150 episodes of 'South Park,' Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslim, Mormons or Jews," Stone said in a statement issued by the Comedy Central network.

"He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show."

Oy.

defective yeti did a little research. He asked his readers: How Much Does An Adult, Male, African Elephant Weight? Then made a little graph of their guesses. So, does the average defective yeti reader know much about elephants ?

Short answer: no.

The actress Mare Winningham is Straight.

Good to know.