T. Crown's Musings

2011-08-21T14:48:00.003-04:00

You likely didn't notice, but third-tier blogger Dan Riehl and his erstwhile patron and chunin-rank pundit Mark Levin engaged in a minor series of hissy-fits over vaguely, sort of, nominally not-complimentary things about Michelle Malkin and Sarah Palin, respectively, that appeared at RedState. Now, I should note that I have no particular beef with Mark Levin -- among second-rate bloviators and

2010-09-22T22:45:00.002-04:00

Dear Friend,Two days ago, I acted like a boor and a pig. Because I was speaking to union voters, I thought, "Who'd fucking notice?" Now Republicans are acting like they've never said that word before, like if they hit their thumbs with hammers while crucifying a teacher in a garage, the fuckers.Talk about hypocrisy. We're talking about people who've had people near them comparing President Obama

2008-08-31T08:14:00.004-04:00

Sarah Palin has a son named Trig. Trig was born roughly four months ago. Trig has Down's Syndrome. Sarah and her family have a tough road ahead of them, as my grandparents did when my uncle was diagnosed with what is, apparently, a much more severe case than Trig has.Sarah Palin is pro-life, and unabashedly so. Given that ninety percent of children diagnosed with Down's are murdered in utero, and

2008-06-13T19:51:00.003-04:00

Arguably the worst series of ideas I've heard in a while, I'm ever impressed to find the short-bus riding Chuck Hagel on board for the dumbest of the ideas presented. Let's see: Our goals are apparently (1) to increase government spending (2) increase Federal subsidies of local concerns (3) increase Federal ties to local concerns and (4) give urban political machines the tools they need to expand

2008-05-01T21:11:00.008-04:00

Donatism is one of the oldest, most tempting of heresies. It posits that the spiritual value of a sacrament is in direct relation to the spiritual worthiness of the dispenser; in shortest form, a corrupt priest cannot give an effective sacrament. There is something intuitive -- which is not to say correct -- about this heresy, which of course makes it all the more dangerous. It is a heresy, its

2008-02-08T23:20:00.001-05:00

FOR HE IS RISEN.Don’t be surprised if many of the young people enthusiastically supporting Paul today wind up crossing the line in a general election and using some of that enthusiasm in support of Obama. I’m sure there are many who gravitate to Paul because of individual issues or out of anger against the establishment. Those followers will drift to third-parties or sit out the election

2008-02-03T00:08:00.000-05:00

When I was at RedState, there were only three bloggers who I felt should never have been given posting privileges of any sort, for different reasons. Each was a Josh Trevino addition -- but let me be absolutely clear about something here: So was I. (Er, that doesn't make anything better.) Let me try it this way: Josh scores so many hits, you'd expect a few misses along with them. Moreover, given

2008-01-09T16:59:00.000-05:00

Dear Idiot Supporters of Ron Paul:Ha.Ha.If you can't even place higher than any of the Republican candidates who bothered to campaign in New Hampshire, it's time to consider that maybe, just maybe, you're not wanted in polite company.Toss off, you Nazi sympathizers. You're well gone from my Party.Never any of the best,Thomas H. Crown

2008-01-03T15:59:00.000-05:00

People, people, nominal people: You're not paying attention.To the morons at ObiWi: Keep them coming, and keep it classy.UPDATE: I'm apparently using words a tad too large for the neo-Nazis who infest Ron Paul's support base. Look, with moderated comments, in a sense, all comments become for my amusement; I only publish them if I think they'll specially amuse me. Your comments never appear unless

2008-01-02T20:17:00.000-05:00

A farewell from a midget.Worry not, hilzoy: I hold you in just about as much respect as you hold me. What brought us together? This:This is not the only time that Thomas has committed the sin of presumption by claiming to know God's will not just in general cases -- e.g., His disapproval of murder or idolatry -- but in specifics as well.Your ability -- demonstrated time and again -- to reason

2008-01-02T16:33:00.000-05:00

This was originally posted at RedState as Just a drop of water in an endless sea. I was going to leave it there, and only there, but given the warm reception that Nazi-coddler's acolytes have given it, I really don't have much choice but to put it up here, too.Oh, and Lonewacko: Lying doesn't help your case, even when it's more sophistry than an outright lie.I thought about calling this And

2008-01-02T15:17:00.000-05:00

This was originally posted at RedState -- my penultimate work there -- under the title And the horses you all rode in on, one at a time, then rotate. Interestingly, it produced one of the more insightful ... er, make that the insightful comment I've read at Daily Kos here. You all have no idea how long I've wanted to write this. For the reasons set forth in my next diary, I can, and am; but I've

2008-01-02T14:52:00.001-05:00

Just a quick note on comments:When I was at RedState, I had to put up with a lot of sub-I.Q. 100 comments, and was limited in my ability to ban those commenters as the morons they were.Here, I own the place. Your comments exist solely for my amusement. If you don't amuse me, I delete your comment.In the last couple of days, following from a RedState link, I have received a handful of comments,

2007-12-22T18:37:00.000-05:00

What you see below -- basically today's entire output -- is my best work (sad as that statement may be) from my time at RedState, beginning in the old days with RedState.org, carrying through to the for-profit RedState.com, and segueing into subdivision-of-Eagle-Publishing RedState.com. I've archived it here for reasons that will become clear in the next ten days, but also because the last time

2007-12-22T18:28:00.000-05:00

Finally, my two favorite comments. The first was what I consider my best banning comment; I still smile when I think of it. The second taught me an important lesson: Most humans are extraordinarily stupid. For reasons lost on me, the words "the entire American Left" transformed in a lot of folks' minds into "people who voted for John Kerry (and sometimes their children and entire families)", "

2007-12-22T18:24:00.000-05:00

This dates to September 18, 2005.To the Republican Party:I have been a Republican since 1980. I was 4.Seriously. I’ll never forget the moment that I realized that the guy with the big, warm smile and the ready laugh was a better guy than the dopey looking guy debating him. (Says something that even a four year old could pick up on that.) Obviously, I couldn’t vote that year, but if I could have,

2007-12-22T18:21:00.002-05:00

This dates to April 1, 2005. It includes additions by good friends, that I include because I'm afraid of how much material will be lost when RedState gets its next makeover.One of the giants of the twentieth century is dead.Karol Wojtyla was a man of salt and light, who took the Gospel message throughout the world, even to nations that opposed his very existence. He fought against the culture of

2007-12-22T18:21:00.001-05:00

This piece is from March 25, 2005.I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerc - and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it was not there. Not until I

2007-12-22T18:19:00.000-05:00

This celebration dates to November 11, 2004.Well, the old, sorry codger is dead. No, I don't mean Bob Byrd, Fritz Hollings, or Hillary Clinton's right ankle. I mean Yasser Arafat.Blessed with Yakov Smirnov's good looks, Mike Dukakis's charm, Pee Wee Herman's physical stature, and Adolf Hitler's easygoing love of peace (and Jews), Arafat had the good fortune of being an unrepentant racist with a

2007-12-22T18:16:00.000-05:00

This one dates to January 21, 2005."It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."-Inaugural Address, President George Walker Bush, January 20, 2005There are many good reasons to be a Republican, and that unflowery, bold, idealistic statement in the

2007-12-22T18:14:00.002-05:00

This post is from January 31, 2005.To all those who always see another Vietnam, and who would have cut and run and left Iraqis to the same fate as the South Vietnamese;To the sunshine lovers of liberty;To those for whom defeating Bush, at all costs means more than celebrating liberty;To those who've torn shoulder muscles moving the goalposts;To those who saw another Stalingrad (and secretly hoped

2007-12-22T18:14:00.001-05:00

This post is from March 28, 2005.The Florida Supreme Court has issued certain Canons of Conduct for judges. These are not optional, any more than the Rules of ethics for the Bar are optional.One of those canons states:CANON 3E. Disqualification.(1) A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not

2007-12-22T18:13:00.001-05:00

This one is from February 23, 2005.Well, it looks like absent some other intervention, Michael Schiavo gets to finish off his wife once and for all.Red State has examined this death sentence before, and some of its broader implications. There's one angle we haven't touched on, though, and that's what this entire mess says about our legal system: At some point, we decided that some lives weren't

2007-12-22T18:08:00.000-05:00

This post is from April 19, 2005.I've commented before that Benedict XVI seems to, ahem, arouse some odd emotions in a certain wing of the Church.However, this is nothing on the rampant idiocy that must see every Pope as a political figure. Of course, the Pope is not so easily rendered as that. This doesn't stop the sort of hysteria and rampant (incorrect) politicization to which the Left

2007-12-22T18:07:00.000-05:00

This dates to April 8, 2005.A giant has been laid to rest.The man's achievements have already been touched on at length here. To catalog the man's achievements is beyond the scope of the brief words I wish to say here; but we all owe a moment of silence for a man who, no matter what else you might say of him, with two other giants (one of whom already sits with his Maker), destroyed the most evil

2007-12-22T17:54:00.000-05:00

This is a book review, imperfectly mirrored here, from late 2004.I have in my hand a copy of The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great. It is a magnificent book, and that is not a statement I make lightly.It is also directly relevant to where we -- America, conservatives, the Republican Party, any and all of these three -- stand right now.How?(Before I go any farther, I note that a less

2007-12-22T15:48:00.001-05:00

This one is from August 31, 2005. “We haven't even buried the dead yet, and they're trying to pin the untold lives and livelihoods lost on an opponent for political gain.”In what would, once, have been a surprise, the ever-decent Left is attempting to use another human tragedy as a club in their unending holy war against Chimpy McBushitlerCo. (One supposes that they need a new

2007-12-22T15:46:00.000-05:00

This dates to January 7, 2006.My kudos to Wisonsin Governor Jim Doyle (surprise! a Democrat!) for once more giving the lie to the third adjective in the Evil Party's formulation on abortion: Safe, legal, and "rare."Gov. Jim Doyle on Friday vetoed a bill that would have forced doctors to tell women seeking abortions after their fifth month of pregnancy that their fetuses could suffer pain.Doyle, a

2007-12-22T15:45:00.000-05:00

This dates to January 23, 2006.I am no fan of Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In order to avoid speaking ill of the dead, I'll simply repeat what I've said before: He was a man of powerful conscience, albeit not one that could ever get him to vote against his own Party with any regularity when there was a conflict between the two.But, credit where it's due: He articulated something that we now take for

2007-12-22T15:43:00.000-05:00

This dates to August 1, 2005.We're going to lose this one.Let's be honest about it: Bill Frist's little pirouette on slicing and dicing children was merely a precursor of things to come.I was, frankly, amazed that he sided with the President way back when all of this started in 2001. He never struck me as much of a social conservative, and frankly, I never trusted him to hew to that position. But

2007-12-22T15:42:00.000-05:00

This dates to April 12, 2006.I posted this to RedHot the other day, but a conversation in our little cabal made me decide to open it to whatever comments y'all might like:Most Americans are not techno-libertoid late-20s/early-30s cubicle dwellers with corresponding views of politics and social issues. In other words, they are not blogosphere dwellers. At best, we're putting ourselves in a

2007-12-22T15:41:00.000-05:00

This post dates to June 24, 2006.An archive scrub? Awfully mature. I guess crashing the gates is traditionally done with bullet-proof armor? And that your bullet-proof armor undies were soiled this morning?Gee, Jerome, very public and personal humiliation can suck, huh? Of course, the good news is that you can reasonably expect to be be held up to this, being a public person and all.Feels pretty

2007-12-22T15:40:00.000-05:00

This post dates to early 2005.It is the great fallacy of the book reviewer to criticize a book for what it is not.So I'll get to that in a minute.I'm a bit late posting this review, as real life overwhelmed me the last few weeks, but one essential point that struck me about Brian Anderson's South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias has not left me since I finished it: I

2007-12-22T15:39:00.001-05:00

This post dates to April 15, 2005.We are winning.That is a good thing.We control the House, the Senate, the Presidency. The state level isn't much worse. I'm sure the Democrats will have a new idea other than Kill Tom DeLay some time before 2015, but that gives us a decade with which to squish them. We are blessed with dire opponents with the political savvy of whelk.Politics, however, is readily

2007-12-22T15:35:00.000-05:00

This dates to August 3, 2006.Ned Lamont is going to lose.How do I know this? Because Stinky Stoller famously opined that candidates for office must run from racist blogs at all costs. And Ned Lamont, who all but employs a real racist -- the kind who thinks blackface is funny satire -- assuredly wants to get elected, right? I mean, sure, I believe him when he says that he has no idea about blogs,

2007-12-22T15:32:00.000-05:00

This post is from April 19, 2005.The funniest thing -- and it's a heated competition -- about the New Left is that everything frightens them. John Ashcroft frightened them. Don Rumsfeld. Fluoride in tap water. The new season of Dragon Tales. (The correct response to that is disgust, not fear.) And so on.To that end: The Dread Rises.I care less than nothing for your sexual preference; but for the

2007-12-22T15:27:00.002-05:00

This dates to September 12, 2006.Now, I happen to believe that the Republicans will hold the House and the Senate. Why? The Democrats picked almost as many duds this cycle as we did; the demographics and effects of the 2000 redistricting are still in place; and the Democrats are actually touting their surrender-monkey-hood as a selling point.In other words, the Democrats are as stupid as ever.

2007-12-22T15:27:00.001-05:00

This dates to February 11, 2005.Arthur Miller is no longer wasting precious oxygen.Rest in Stalinist peace, fellow-traveler. May the cries of the innocents whose death you helped excuse and make possible waft their way into your holding cell in Hell.Update [2005-2-11 20:22:2 by Thomas]: For those who think this is a bit much, ask yourself this:Would it be a bit much if he were a Nazi, instead of

2007-12-22T15:23:00.000-05:00

This post is from November 8, 2006.Properly, today should be a day of quiet meditation, and consolidating forces. It should be a day we regroup, and start planning for 2008. To the pits of Hell with that. I have some long knives, and it's time to start plunging.We lost a tenuous governing majority because we killed ourselves, slowly, with a thousand tiny cuts. We lost Iraq because we simply had

2007-12-22T15:21:00.001-05:00

This dates to November 13, 2006.Oh, this is simply priceless. With Ken Mehlman retiring, we need a new RNC Chair.We could have had a promising up-and-comer with a great life story, fantastic political skills, and odds-on-sharps like you wouldn't believe.We could have had a dirty machine politico, who may make us all cringe a little at what he's willing to countenance, but who is used to the odd

2007-12-22T14:33:00.000-05:00

This dates to October 16, 2007.On general principle, I try very hard to avoid disagreeing with my fellow contributors anywhere but in the comment sections of their pieces; generally, it feels unseemly to turn the front page, or diaries, into a back-and-forth on some issue or another. This is just me; Heaven knows others have different perspectives, and have displayed them.That said, I'm breaking

2007-12-22T14:31:00.000-05:00

This is from February 23, 2006.We are constantly heckled, in the endless abortion debate, that pro-life fears of a slippery slope leading from the devaluation of human life in the womb to the devaluation of human life elsewhere, are merely that: The unrestrained fantasies of a group of religious fanatics.Maybe.My good and esteemed friends Josh Trevino and Paul Cella like to heckle me for

2007-12-22T14:27:00.001-05:00

This one is from August 4, 2006.I once accidentally ate moldy bread and drank curdled milk, in the same sitting. (Don't ask.) Though the side effects were mild, I nevertheless wished I could undo that damage.Little did I know, you can go back again!Tribal leaders and indigenous rights groups will ask the pope to rescind a 1493 Vatican document which they believe paved the legal road for Europeans

2007-12-22T14:18:00.000-05:00

This post dates to November 15, 2006.This is a long one. Forewarned is forearmed.I begin by noting that I'm a monarchist.Well, that's not precisely correct; it's no more accurate than saying I'm a theocrat, an oligarchist, a republican, a democrat, a plutocrat, or even a certain kind of fascist. What I am is someone who does not believe that government needs to be responsive to the people it

2007-12-22T14:16:00.000-05:00

This dates to January 31, 2007.In Catholic theology, the term scandal has a very specific meaning, that's usually lost on the outside population and the overwhelming majority of Catholics. The Catechism -- or, as liberal Catholics would have it, "that silly rule-summary-thing" -- identifies scandal thus:2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives

2007-12-22T14:13:00.000-05:00

This dates to August 15, 2005.I normally eschew this sort of thing for reasons that will become clearer below. But I want to say something about this Cindy Sheehan nonsense that I think hasn't gone said anywhere else.There is nothing special about losing a child. Or, more accurately, there is nothing special about losing a child, given that many people lose children. I did.Many folks would say I

2007-12-22T13:04:00.000-05:00

This dates to February 7, 2007."If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of

2007-12-22T12:04:00.000-05:00

This dates to August 21, 2007.Full disclosure: I have no dog in the 2008 Presidential brouhaha, am unlikely to develop a dog in the immediate future, and frankly, share a sentiment with a commenter/diarist whose handle rhymes with MeveFellBay, to-wit: None of the above. Part of this is because I have a hard time getting enthusiastic about political campaigns (yes, a great guy indeed to have a

2007-12-22T12:03:00.000-05:00

This dates to October 21, 2007.Four years ago, Ben Domenech was excited about Bobby Jindal. So was I. He thought Jindal had a good chance at the governor's mansion. I did not.I was right.I won't go through the reasons I turned out to be right. I was. A woman who, I believe, is my sister's godfather's (my father's best friend from high school's) first cousin won by suddenly reminding everyone in

2007-12-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

This post dates to November 5, 2007.It's another Giuliani/Huckabee diary. If just those five words are enough to turn your stomach, you should probably read something else.Anyway: We're in the middle of something a lot of folks haven't really seen since 1980, and perhaps haven't seen in their lifetimes: A well-and-truly contested Republican Presidential Primary. Now, because we're unused to it,

2007-07-15T16:51:00.000-04:00

To the men and women who would do this, I maintain that you are nothing but a group of tucktails. If the Iraq War is so bad, so immoral, do everything in your power to stop it. Allocate no funds. Bush vetoes? Keep allocating no funds. Force Bush to choose between literal force protection and a staredown.Stupid, immoral, cowardly excuses for human beings, the lot of you. If this war is merely a

2007-06-03T18:55:00.001-04:00

In honor of Steve Gilliard:Rest whatever way God feels appropriate.

2007-05-03T10:09:00.000-04:00

I'm loathe to engage in intra-dextrosphere blogwars, but I just wanted to add my bit about Dean Barnett's shots at pro-lifers (which, amazingly, seem to come as shots at John McCain, and appear to be a moral defense of the Dresden firebombing). I cannot hope to surpass Ross's, Mark Shea's (a hero of mine from years gone), or our own Alexham's (here and here). But I did want to add this:One of the

2007-05-03T10:07:00.000-04:00

Just because.

2007-04-25T21:49:00.000-04:00

Running into the 1988 Presidential election, Bloom County -- for those of you who were even more children than I at the time, a left-leaning comic strip penned by, what else, an Austinite -- took to calling the two major party nominees the Wimp and the Shrimp. The joke -- with respect to one of only three one-term Presidents of the twentieth century -- took aim at the elder Bush's penchant for

2006-08-13T14:21:00.000-04:00

This is purely a test post.

2005-08-14T11:17:00.000-04:00

2004-11-08T01:00:00.000-05:00

A Review of The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander The Great, by Steven PressfieldI begin by noting that, no pun, historically, I have hated historical novels. Loathed them. They take liberties with historical events, facts, and timelines. They write today's prejudices on worlds so long removed from ours, that our underlying assumptions might make no sense at all whatsoever to a man of that

2004-07-12T23:46:00.000-04:00

I'm not gonna post here much, for a while. Instead, I'll be at.... < Drumroll> (...state...state...state...) < /Drumroll > Redstate is the shiznit, kids. Talented bloggers (and me!), coming together to irritate the hell out of Jimmy Carville, drive Mary Beth Cahill to use as many mind altering chemicals as her old boss, and, speaking positively, to push forward conservatism in (and with) the

2004-07-09T08:17:00.000-04:00

BOSTON, MASSACHUSSETS -- DEMOCRAT Presidental Candidate John Forbes Kerry announced today a new program to shore up his support with African-American groups, a key constituency in any Democrat bid for the White House.Called the "Bling Bling" Initiative, the plan would give millions of taxpayer-funded pieces of gaudy jewelry to African Americans as part of the Kerry2004 economic platform."We live

2004-06-13T01:01:00.000-04:00

Angel was a very good show.Better than Buffy, by a long margin. Better than almost anything else on TV during its run.God was open to debate. I joked for a while that, given Cordy's, then Fred's, death (and Darla's constant menace), the show was one of the most misogynistic of modern times. Good wasn't destined to win; good didn't have a decent chance of winning; and everywhere, all around,

2004-05-31T09:07:00.000-04:00

I realized, just the other days, that Normandy was sixty years ago.The beginning of the end for Hitler (in the West) was sixty years ago. Hitler has been dead (or in Argentina) for almost sixty years. Japan has been without an expeditionary military for almost sixty years.Think about that for a second: The war that is still the touchstone for everyone when they think of war, the baby boomers

2004-05-22T08:23:00.000-04:00

Interesting new entry: The Boileryard. Stop in and check it out.(Interesting arcanum: His blog is self-confessedly a reference to Boileryard Clarke, a lifer during the deadball era. Deeply cool.)

2004-05-05T17:47:00.000-04:00

So let me pose a hypothetical:Suppose -- and I think we can take this as a given -- that there are people who so very much hate the existence of gay men and lesbians, that it actually hurts them. They are gnawed-upon from the inside over the existence of homosexuals, for whatever reason. And, unable to bear the emotional -- and physical, in an ugly biofeedback loop -- pain, they begin sneaking up

2004-04-25T01:36:00.000-04:00

Now, let us speak of war.Before we go any farther, I should note that I think we're now at war, and it seems broadly self-evident to me that this is so. On September 11, 2001, as I stood in my living room and saw replay after replay of airliners striking the World Trade Center, I thought, So this is war. Strictly speaking, I now see that we've been at war for twenty-five years; we were just so

2004-04-24T19:13:00.000-04:00

So now that I'm back, let's talk about a few things. We'll start with gay marriage. (Why not?)I'd like, before I go any further, to direct you to my prior words on the subject here. And note a few changes since then. Most of them center around my naivete.Three weeks after I wrote that, I had a discussion with a senior associate at my firm. Nice guy; if not brilliant (and he probably is), very

2004-04-24T18:46:00.000-04:00

I'm aware that it's been about four months since I posted regularly. I probably owe all of my (two) regular readers an explanation; you'll just have to accept an apology. Life got hectic for a while. No catastrophes, no disasters, no emergencies (well, two, but they were small).So: My apologies. It'll happen again, kinda. See below.Anyway, here's the deal.I'll be posting again, regularly. But

2004-03-29T16:44:00.000-05:00

This brief hiatus from my brief hiatus of blogging is brought to you by this public service message:Pray for Stuart Buck, guys. Three times the man I'll ever be, seven times the lawyer. Life sucks some days. He's got a wife and two kids. If you don't pray, send happy-energy thoughts, or whatever it is y'all do.Blogging will resume.

2003-12-23T18:05:00.000-05:00

Last post before Christmas, kids. Let's see whom I can piss off.* I just bought a Dell. Quite frankly, that hurts. I tried putting together my own machine, and found out that not only is it cheaper to have Dell put together the thing for me, it is much cheaper to have Dell put it together for me.Some back story: Aw, heck, forget it. No back story. I declared war on Dell back in 1997 or 1998, I

2003-12-18T17:44:00.000-05:00

"I shouldn't take it personally. Because what (the Bush) administration was attempting to do was turn back the progress of the entire 20th century. They were not just after Bill Clinton - they wanted to undo Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Harry Truman, Franklin Roosevelt," Clinton said."They were on their way to Teddy Roosevelt. It was a bipartisan right-wing extreme agenda," she

2003-12-10T20:35:00.000-05:00

I was wondering why the loons who give out the Nobel were swooning over a woman who spends her time saying bad things about the Iranian government.Turns out it's because she hates the U.S.Silly me.

2003-12-10T11:18:00.000-05:00

So it appears that we are, indeed, bickering over the price.Political speech is the right to call your opponent a dirty son of a bitch. We just lost that right, temporarily.

2003-12-08T11:51:00.000-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Maggie Gallagher, a thousand times the advocate I'll ever be.

2003-12-05T10:23:00.000-05:00

Could it be? A Catholic Bishop with a spine?Miracles happen, kids.

2003-12-04T14:42:00.000-05:00

Can't see anything wrong with this. I know, I'm supposed to think Coulter's a lousy polemecist, but this bit:Is there nothing five justices on the Supreme Court could proclaim that would finally lead a president to say: I refuse to pretend this is a legitimate ruling. Either the answer is no, and we are already living under a judicial dictatorship, or the answer is yes, and – as Churchill said –

2003-12-01T17:44:00.000-05:00

Andrew Sullivan says something unequivocally bad about abortion! It can be done!

2003-12-01T15:09:00.000-05:00

Technophobes of the world, UNITE!Just for the information of all the vaguely anti-religious folks out there, most of us like science, and its results. What we don't like is the sacrifice of human life for anything other than highly specific self-defense.

2003-11-23T18:42:00.000-05:00

Gone for a week, kids. I'm posting over at Ben's place (I think he thinks I'm doing him a favor, when the reverse is quite clearly true). Wander over, and happy Thanksgiving.

2003-11-19T08:43:00.000-05:00

In other news, Democrats unwilling to commit political suicide.It's gonna get wild, y'all. Keep your mind on your riches, baby. Keep your mind on your riches.UPDATE: Or maybe they are. Attacking the AARP is either brilliant or utterly insane for these guys. Who else is with me in voting the latter?Let's get this out in the open: Joe Lieberman is not a serious candidate for the Democrat nod. He's

2003-11-17T08:15:00.000-05:00

Dear Orrin and Ben:I really hate to say this, but: Told ya so.Donkeys in Louisiana have a time-honored tradition: Around noon on election day, they figure out how many votes they need; then, before the polls close, they produce them. Somehow. Certainly not illegally.Sorry, guys. I was pulling for him, too.Best regards,T.

2003-11-12T17:53:00.000-05:00

And Tacitus actually reads this trash.I don't know whether to pity him or admire him.

2003-11-12T08:32:00.000-05:00

It's official: Butch Davis is a moron.Kids, this isn't hard. He's one of the best possession receivers in the NFL, if not the best. He's the leading receiver on the team. So of course they drop him.Then again, they keep benching and mentally screwing with Couch, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

2003-11-11T18:19:00.000-05:00

What happens when faith is just another argument.Guys, look, here's the deal. First, the Church does not "represent you to God." You represent you to God. I take it from your actions that either, one, you do not actually care about the Faith, but rather you care about making asses out of yourselves, in a way that would embarass my 1.5 year old; two, you do care, but your Catechesis is so lousy as

2003-11-11T12:27:00.000-05:00

No sooner than I get all gushy over the Old Oligarch than he posts something with which I must mildly take issue:Natural Woman -- so typical of many people we've known who have adopted NFP, through twists and turns and sometimes despite their pastors and DRE.Now, I say the rest of this with the following qualifiers:(1) Believe it or not, I really try to be a faithful Catholic. Oh, Lord knows I

2003-11-07T16:48:00.000-05:00

How do I admire the Old Oligarch? Let me count the ways:Here's a starter. There is nothing, nothing stupider than putting less than our best and brightest out in the way of combat just so we can all feel warmer and fuzzier. Eliminate the massive physical and psychological differences between men and women, and we can talk. Otherwise, spare me the cockamamie crap about making girls feel good and

2003-11-06T07:50:00.000-05:00

Just for the record: Statements like“It’s the seat of the American revolution,” DNC spokeswoman Deborah DeShong said of Boston, “and we hope it’s going to be the seat of another revolution, and that’s taking over the White House.”are cute, and everything, but may be -- just may be -- why our politics has become so poisoned.Every time someone mutters about the need for regime change, a coup, a

2003-10-27T17:51:00.000-05:00

I'm addicted to the format. Sue me.Right. As opposed to the humorless, whiney conservatism of the libertine right.That said, this well-traveled piece is worth a read and a chuckle. For those of you not reading Little Tiny Lies, go there now.On the woman whose husband is trying to kill her: For the record: The reason he is her guardian is not because, as her husband, he is ipso facto her guardian,

2003-10-24T09:23:00.000-04:00

ACLU sides with murderous husband.In other news, Asmodeus sides with Satan.In case you're wondering:(1) Yes, I'm being awfully Manichaean about this. So? A man is attempting to kill his lawfully married wife -- whom he won't divorce because he's "Catholic," even though he's engaged to another woman, and has conceived two kids by her already -- because she, allegedly, once, said that she didn't

2003-10-22T16:52:00.000-04:00

A little girl died recently. She had been a client. She lived a hard life, made harder the last seven years because virtually everyone charged with taking care of her failed, miserably, at some point along the line. I can't say any more because of the nature of the settlement and my, and her family's, desire for privacy, but she's with God now; say a prayer for her if you have the time.Requiem

2003-10-22T10:25:00.000-04:00

A quick rundown: If you own a cat, and you normally do not clean the litter box; if you are married, and you discover that God has blessed you with a child; if your wife will not allow you to get rid of the cat: Cry. The word for the day, kids, is slander. Some times, a measure of faith in humanity is rewarded. This is what euthanasia always devolves to, guys. (Assuming without conceding

2003-10-20T16:23:00.000-04:00

Now, that said, let me just pretend I'm Pope for the day: These bastards are going to hell. Enjoy the desolation, guys. Something is deeply wrong with a society where people who would applaud at this aren't dragged into the streets and hanged.

2003-10-20T16:10:00.000-04:00

As my infrequent updates on this page are turning into a constant critique of Andrew Sullivan, I figure I should clarify a few things for the record, then move on. Mr. Sullivan has more or less left the Catholic Church. For the record: When I said, numerous times, that he should just stay or go, dammit, I was serious: It is within one's God-given power to elect or decline membership in a faith.

2003-10-17T18:41:00.000-04:00

Repeat after me: The Pope is not Stalin. I feel bad for the guy. He clearly misapprehends the nature of Catholicism ("The question is whether matters at the heart of controversy and dissent within the Church [contraception, women priests, celibacy and homosexuality] can even be discussed and debated"). No, Andrew, they cannot. I'm sorry. You either accept the 2,000 year-old,

2003-10-07T15:01:00.000-04:00

I was gonna say something pithy about Andrew Sullivan's 3,876,905th broadside against conservatives who don't agree with him on every single issue (which is a surprising majority, nearing 100%) ("That Arnold should represent this and the Republican Party is threatening to all sorts of people: to the joyless, paranoid scolds who run the Dixie-fied GOP..."). I was gonna, but Jonah Goldberg hits it

2003-10-03T18:42:00.000-04:00

Two quickies. Three, actually. Long, long day. The real action, to my mind, is over at Ben's place (here is a good start). Three things: * Good heavens, Tennessee's insurance law is woefully underdeveloped. C'mon, you filthy ambulance chasers. Sue recklessly and help an insurance company create precedent, one way or another. I know you have it in you. Y'know, I hear State Farm has virtually no

2003-10-02T09:04:00.000-04:00

Can we just nuke them now, for the love of Pete?

2003-10-01T17:45:00.000-04:00

Victory for Ben My Brother The Fans of Washington, D.C. People Irritated by Greg Easterbrook Everywhere!

2003-10-01T08:17:00.000-04:00

Ok, so she was maybe undercover. (I'd say I find it hard to believe that she was undercover, given that you could find her name connected with the government in all sorts of places on the web before this broke, but let's be honest: The CIA couldn't off a cigar-smoking tyrant for decades of trying. This isn't surprising.) Same stand as before: Find the ones who broke the law and punish them. But

2003-09-30T11:32:00.000-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you one of the front-runners for the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United States. Who believes in time travel. And thinks we can achieve it. Ahead, Mr. Sulu. Warp Six.

2003-09-29T10:43:00.000-04:00

Can someone explain the big deal about the Plame, or Plume, or whatever, affair? I don't watch TV except for Enterprise (this week's episode looks... interesting) and British comedies, so I'm kinda outta the loop here, but from what I can figure, it goes like this: *Idiot former (UPDATED) ambassador says bad things about his own country while country is at war. *Someone at White House outs his