I never had teachers like this: Students in Zimbabwea who got in trouble in class were given the option of being caned or sucking her breasts as punishment. Tough choice eh? It reminds me of Eddie Izzard's bit about what the Inquisition would have been like had it been run by the Church of England - cake or death?

Back in town after being gone all weekend. We took a trip back home to Hays to see my sister's just-born daughter - Maddie.

I also played golf for the first time this year (yikes!). I thought it'd be a horrible experience, but after the fiasco of the 1st 5 holes, I played 2 over for the rest of the day in a pretty stiff wind. Maybe the 8 month (or so) layoff did me some good.

Looks like the NY Times sat on a document that showed Bush to be correct about Iraq and Bin Laden while it criticized him and called on him to apologize. I feel sorry for Daniel Okrent.

Has Al Gore decended entirely into the pit of the Looney Left? Or is he still considered a mainstream political guy by some?

I always used to think Gore was a decent guy - wrong on some issues, particularly environmental stuff - but decent nonetheless. I was disappointed in him during the Clinton scandal that he didn't distance himself from Clinton more during that time, but that didn't hurt him too much in my view.

But since he started on the MoveOn.org speech circuit, he's gotten very shrill, a bit more marginalized, and incredibly un-careful with his words. Each speech seems to be worse than the last. At this point, he's decended into the Bush-Hitler comparisons, and even a Bush-Stalin comparison.

The administration works closely with a network of rapid responders, a group of digital brownshirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors and publishers and advertisers, and are quick to accuse them of undermining support for our troops.

And the president himself meanwhile continues to place the blame for the horrific consequences of his morally obtuse policies on the young privates and corporals and sergeants, who may well be culpable as individuals for their actions, but who were certainly not responsible for the policies which set up the Bush gulag and led to America's strategic catastrophe in Iraq.

Now, Gore is a smart guy, and this was a prepared speech - so he knew what he was saying here. He knows what a Gulag is and what happens in them. He knows what a brownshirt is, and what they did for Hitler.

Yet he uses the terms and makes the comparisons. All the while his credibility with any but the most partisan of the left disappears.

Another bad copyright law is likely coming as a result of mp3 file sharing. The new law is aimed at making it easier for artists to sue software companies that make peer-to-peer applications.

A federal court recently confirmed that P2P companies clearly know that most users of their software infringe copyright and "derive a financial benefit" from the infringement, but it also demanded "additional legislative guidance" about whether the artists harmed by this scheme can sue the system's architects instead of the children swept into its clutches, Hatch said.

What a drama queen.

I've been too busy to keep up with the site lately.

Johnny Miller says that Tiger Woods won't break Jack Nicklaus' major title record. My head tells me that he's probably right - there is definately something different about Tiger's game and attitude over the past year or so - but I still have a gut feeling that when Tiger comes out of this funk, he's likely to win 5 of 10 and get back ahead of pace to overtake Jack.

Christopher Hitchens has a rather harsh critique of Michael Moore's new movie. But then again, I can't remember the last time I read a Hitchens article that praised anything. He's got to be one of the grumpiest guys ever.

The USA Today ran an open letter calling on Cheney to step aside as VP on the 2004 ticket. I'll second that motion, for lots of different reasons. But mostly, this phrase sums it up:

...you do not offer the Republicans what they need for 2008 and beyond...

We're a few weeks away from a power transfer and we've still got oil pipelines being blown up. What disturbs me though is the poll numbers suggesting most of Iraq dislikes the coalition and wants us out.

Seems to me 1 of 2 things are going to happen. The new government will listen to the people and ask us to leave. Iraq decends into chaos and/or civil war and the USA gets blamed for not creating a secure environment prior to pulling out. Lets hope that if this happens, Iran doesn't try to take advantage by invading.

Or, the new government realizes it needs our muscle and has us stay, despite popular opinion. Attacks against US troops continue, government officials continue to be assasinated, the government gets labeled a puppet of the USA and the unrest continues indefinately.

Either way, we appear to be fucked.

Finally, a religion for everyone: Church of SpongeBob Squarepants.

Fox News has redesigned their website for the 2nd time in about a year or so. The previous design wasn't too hot, and this one is just plain bad. Where's the news?

I see two huge advertisements that are 800px wide. With a resolution of 800x600, there is pretty much only 1 news story visible. The main reason people go to news sites is to see headlines, yet Fox has stuck all the other headlines down the page where you have to scroll to get at them, or in a little box that you have to scroll thru to see them also. Bad idea.

You're a news site, try designing your site around the news.

Reagan's farewell letter, from 1994 shortly after learning he had Alzheimer's.

In closing, let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future.

I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you.

Virgina Postrel's remembrance is worth a read, as are Sullivan's collected quotes.

Because it was requested, use this comment thread to post about whatever topic you want.

Next time Deadwood is on TV, take a shot of a Cowboy Cocksucker everytime Swearengen (or anybody else) says 'cocksucker'.

It seems obvious, but something really needs to be done about spam, and not just email spam. The new law passed recently isn't doing jack-shit, and nobody really expected it to. Email gets less friendly every day as more and more junk piles into it. How long will it be before weblogs will not be able to have a comment system that doesn't require registration. And who wants to register because that means giving your email address to somebody which we've been conditioned to know means we'll get even more spam.

ESPN is now writing editorial commentary about Poker. I actually agree 100% with the article - the Unabomber (the poker personality, not the terrorist) both played some horrible poker and was a complete asshole at the table. Why the announcers seemed to bow at his feet is beyond me. If he were there, Sam Farha would have made the Unabomber look like the ass he is.

Can anybody explain/justify Chris Pirillo's weblog design? I don't mean to be picky, but he's a big tech geek and yet he's resorted to wood grain and yellow ruled paper? Is is supposed to be ironic or funny? Or is it just cheesy?

Here's an interview with Max Barry (author of Jennifer Government) that I missed when it came out.

I went and saw Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban on Sunday afternoon. It was easily the best movie of the 3 so far, which wasn't too suprising as I also thought the novel was better than the first two. The novel is the shortest of the series, yet there is more stuff going on to advance the plot than the entire first two books combined.

The biggest suprise for me was the movies than ran as trailers before the film. The Village - which is about 10 notches too scary for the Harry Potter crowd; Catwoman - which looks as bad as anybody could have imagined; The Polar Express - which features horrible animation, cheesy music, and a story-line aimed at 3-5 year olds, and A Cinderella Story which was the only audience appropriate trailer.

The trailer is out for Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events. It looks good, in a very Harry Potter way.

Why in the world is the Vatican rewarding Cardinal Law w/ a new post [via IP]. That's pretty easily the dumbest thing they've done in a while - especially coming on the heels of all the criticism leveled at the US by the Vatican of late.

An interview with Ian McShane, who plays Swearengen on Deadwood. Considering all the cussing, I can't tell whether he's actually doing this interview in character or not. Either way, its a funny read.

"I was sitting on my ass at home in England in late '02, and I'd just finished a movie and my 60th birthday was coming, and I was looking out at the miserable fucking London weather when my agent called me up and asked if I'd like to go put myself on videotape for an American TV show.

"I said, 'I will [not] fucking do that at my age.' Then she said it was written by David Milch and that the pilot would be directed by Walter Hill for HBO. So I said, 'Well, that's a different fucking thing.'"

Its both interesting and refreshing to watch Bill Clinton become more presidential. With his recent touring of the country with Bob Dole, his joking around with Bush 1 & 2, and now what appears to be some straight talk about his book and about Bush, he's reminding me a whole lot more of the guy I supported for President back in 1992.

Richard Clarke has reversed course on some of his 9.11 Commission testimony, telling The Hill that it was his decision to allow the Saudi's (including bin Laden family) to fly out of the country in the days after the attacks.

In an interview with The Hill yesterday, Clarke said, "I take responsibility for it. I don't think it was a mistake, and I'd do it again."

"It didn't get any higher than me," he said. "On 9-11, 9-12 and 9-13, many things didn�t get any higher than me. I decided it in consultation with the FBI."

This isn't quite consistent with how he testified before the Commission, and many there are some Dems on the Hill that are questioning Clarke's newest statement. This also shoots some holes in Michael Moore's new film.

A bit of Jose Padilla's plot against the US was revealed today by the Justice Dept. His plans were to blow up apartment buildings using natural gas - very reminiscent of how Tyler blows up Jack's apartment building in Fight Club.