Do you have any idea how hard these people make it to be a critic of the U.N.? Talk about giving others a bad name. "Homosexual agenda" and "secret plans for one-world government" indeed!

I love conspiracy theories, but when they look like they're being taken seriously by the world at large, or start to cloak themselves in normal-sounding and respectable terms, I start to get worried.

Thanks to the lovely Sasha for the link. Although I had to agonize over linking it at all, until I decided that making people aware of these fools was probably more constructive than generalizing about them.

John Cole proposes, and I heartily agree, that the following term be entered into the lexicon of political discourse:

Gorejack: Main Entry: Gorejack (verb)
Pronunciation: (g0r 'jak)

Definition: To inject or invoke the results of the contested Bush/Gore 2000 election into any discussion of politics, political parties, or any other historical or social issue. Usually this will be used to demonstrate the genuine corruptness of either Democrats or Republicans. Whoever Gorejacks a conversation is assumed to have lost the argument, and the conversation is no longer useful.

Example:

This is not an administration that intends to allow something as feeble as the democratic process get in the way of their intent to rule on a perpetual basis. It wouldn't surprise me to see Bush simply refuse to leave office, either if defeated in 2004, or when his term (according to that little thing, the Constitution) expires in 2008. After all, consider the Bushites reaction to potential electoral defeat in 2000; their response was to simply stop the counting of votes.

The Gorejacking in the previous passage has been bolded for easy detection. Note the hysterical and conspiratorial tone of the post--this is a good first sign that a thread is about to be Gorejacked.

Excellent wordsmithery, John. It's now in my dictionary.

Andrew, my Euroskeptic pal, has noticed this short article on the partially-released draft of a proposed European Constutition. He has some rather pithy comments of his own on the matter:

Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Euro!

Have I ever mentioned that the Euroskeptic crowd feels rather strongly about these things? Funny bit is, most of the Euroskeptics' critics are content to portray them as isolationists, racists, and silly ignoramuses running away from the modern world.

That seems familiar somehow.

Well, now, isn't this cool? A company called Tempra Technologies has developed a self-cooling beverage can. You just open it and within a couple of minutes the temperature of the beverage drops about 30 degrees.

They also do work in self-heating meals, I see.

Good Lord. Have you read about the Delaney Clause, which seeks to ban any product found to cause cancer in laboratory mice? In practically any dosage?

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Time for a variation on an experiment we tried once before, with great success.

We're going to discuss gay people and Christianity. But there's the catch. I'll get to it in a minute

Erica of Swirlspice has made the following statement. I'd like to hear reactions to her thoughts, which are very honest and seeringly painful:

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I am no Rush Limbaugh fan. I used to be a semi-fan ten years ago when he was just a goofball who offended PC sensibilities, but I tired of his antics not long after Clinton was elected. Then for a while, after feeling betrayed by Clinton, I started listening to him again, then I got disgusted with Limbaugh and quit. Besides, how can you stand listening to all those commercials?

On the other hand, the hysteria thrown his way often struck me as every bit as irritating as he himself. That such a clown should create so much controversy says a lot about how shrill our politics have become.

Having said all this, I must say the man has done a great interview with historian Victor Davis Hanson, and if you haven't read it yet, you should. Yes, whether you're "conservative" or not, it's a really excellent interview with a very learned and highly influential man. It goes on for several pages, and all are worth your time. We're undergoing a fundamental shift in our politics, which are going to look nothing like they did over the last 10+ years.

The two-party system is already undergoing a radical shakeup, but it's funny: if history is a guide, in 10 or so years we'll still have Democrats and Republicans, they just won't look much like they do today. Hanson's got his finger on the pulse that change.

Thanks to Ara for the link.

* Update * - Gary Utter found me the link to this excellent Boston Globe piece on Victor Davis Hanson. I knew about the article but couldn't find the link, so thanks Gary!

As a nice followup to yesterday's piece on parents failing black children, an alert reader noted this recent report from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy that you really ought to read:

Once again, the top-ranking school district in Metro Detroit, Birmingham, spends $9,997 per student (4th-highest spending district in Metro Detroit), while Inkster Public Schools in Wayne County spends nearly as much, or $9,715 per student (5th-highest spending district in Metro Detroit). The difference of $282 certainly cannot account for the wide disparity in academic outcomes between the two districts. Eleventh-graders in Birmingham score an aggregate of 91.5 points on the math, reading, science, and writing tests of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) while Inkster students score only 26.8 points.

I live right next to Inkster. The border is about 25 feet from my house, and I sometimes buy beer in a store over there. My lovely wife grew up in Detroit, graduated from Detroit schools. They've only deterioated since she was a kid.

Isn't it about time we stop believing this nonsense from politicians about how the schools are "under-funded?" The worst-performing school districts in the United States are quite frequently the best-funded, and they generally get far more money, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than they did 30 years ago. Some of the best schools in the nation don't get anywhere near as much money.

Our system is fundamentally flawed, fundamentally broken, and money's got almost nothing to do with it. It's horrible to watch this decades-long train wreck continue. It really is.

Here's an interesting quote for you:

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John Ogbu, a Berkeley anthropologist, is under considerable fire for his study of the issue of black underachievement in school. His conclusion: black parents as a rule do less to inculcate a sense of academic responsibility and achievement, and this makes its way down to the kids and their grades. He's being called an Uncle Tom and a racial sellout.

Darmon Thornton and Joanne Jacobs have more that you should probably read.

By the way, while you're at Joanna's, you may want to read this about per-pupil spending in the public schools over the last 30 years. It's done nothing but go up, in real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) dollars, while test scores have gone down. While you're there, contemplate this: in the state of Michigan, the city of Detroit has by far the worst schools, and spends more per student than almost any other district in the entire state. Gee, what are the odds?

Here's a story that may have slipped under your radar: During the Clinton administration, members of the Peace Corps in Botswana got together to protest the administration's policies for population control by funding abortions. Carrying signs to the capital city, several of these Peace Corps volunteers chanted, "It's a child, not a choice!" and "Stop pushing women to kill their babies!" At least one Botswana woman who was permanently injured by an abortion joined the protest.

This was a huge embarassment for the Clinton administration, which had recently been pushing in Congress for greater funding for health services in Africa, including abortions and birth control. There was an investigation at the top. First the volunteers were told they had freedom of speech and did not speak for the Clinton administration. Then, they were told that they would not be allowed to remain in the Peace Corps if they participated in future anti-abortion rallies overseas.

One peace corps volunteer, who wore a Peace Corps t-shirt to the rally, but claiming that he just forgot he was wearing it, was actually returned home and ejected from the Peace Corps.

Question: do you think the Clintonistas were right to act this way?

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There was some minor confusion the last time I posted one of these updates. That's my fault, I assumed the info at the bottom made the attribution clear, but that was sloppy thinking on my part. Just to be clear, then, all of these weekly summaries are sent to me by the Center for a Free Cuba. I re-post them to give them wider exposure.

Here's last week's:

Summary of the last seven days - May 23, 2003

* The cult of the Cuban Revolution is waning, reported The New
York Times in an article from its Buenos Aires correspondent. More than
one hundred intellectuals in the region recently published a vigorous
protest against repression in Cuba, among them many former Castro
supporters. (The New York Times, May 18)

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Armed Liberal has a very nice piece over on Winds of Change about loyalty to the Democratic Party. Like my buddy Ara, Armed Liberal is a real liberal, as opposed to the narrow-minded, mouth-frothing lefties like Sid Blumenthal who've hijacked the word.

I agree that it is absolutely vital that the country have a functioning Democratic Party. As much as their leadership appals me these days, and as much as I hope for major change at the top, we do need that party. It's part of why I'm registered as a Democrat: I want to vote in the primaries and, in some small way, nudge the party in more healthy directions. Make no mistake about it, though, if a Howard Dean is the nominee you can bet your ass I'll be voting and campaigning for Bush again in 2000.

Whoah! Cool! I'm a chick!

But I don't care what you say, I'm not getting a bikini wax, brazilian or otherwise. Just to get that clear up front.

Oregon debates kidney transplant for death row inmate.

They are serious. This bastard murdered an 18 year old girl and almost killed her sister - she survived the 40 stab wounds he inflicted. She later testified against him.

The state is strapped for cash. They spend $120,000 a year for his dialysis. The transplant surgery is another $100,000. For what? A guy that is gonna DIE anyway. A guy that DESERVES to DIE. On top of that - someone is NOT gonna get a much needed kidney so this piece of shit murderer can live a little longer. Due process - my ass.

My solution:

Offer him the transplant surgery BUT without any anesthesia. Let him decide if he really wants it. The State should be as merciful to him as he was to his two victims. I'm all for THAT!

Dean's World's been unavailable for most of the day today. Somewhere around 11:00 our hosting provider had a fire and many of their clients were offline. Fortunately no one was hurt and, rather impressively given the circumstances, everything seems to be back up and running again.

I'll cross my fingers and hope we don't go down again. This is the first major outage in over a year of service, so I can't blame Verve Hosting too much.

Dean's World is proud to host this week's Carnival of the Vanities.

What is Carnival of the Vanities, you ask?

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On memorial day, I published a picture of the "Tomb of the Unknowns." Now that memorial day is behind us, I'd like to make an observation:

It used to be called the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." There were actually multiple Unknown Soldiers entombed there, each from a different war. Within the last 10 years or so, they decided to pluralize the name and just call it the "Tomb of the Unknowns."

Am I the only one who finds this, poetically speaking, a really awful change? The symbolism is messed up by this vague new moniker. Learning that The Unknown Soldier is, in fact, a symbol for all the soldiers who fought and died in all our wars is part of the profundity of the experience. "Tomb of the Unknowns" loses too much of the meaning. For me, anyway.

Mike Wendland has a frightening story about new anti-spam legislation.

You won't find anyone who's more convinced that we need to reign in spam than me. But it seems like every time I hear about congressional plans to do something about the problem, they scare me. Unnecessarily complex, unnecessarily burdensome and intrusive, and unnecessarily risking the freedoms of ordinary citizens and small businesses.

The latest story Mike links to is plans to classify spam as racketeering, and subject to RICO laws. America's RICO laws are nightmarish. Originally meant to reign in organized crime, they've been regularly expanded to cover more and more areas. If spamming became"racketeering," it would mean the government could accuse you of spamming, seize all your computer equipment, sell it on the open market, keep the money for itself, and not even bother to prove your guilt in court first.

This is insane. I wonder at times if we've gone absolutely bonkers. Sane legislation does not look like this.

Ara Rubyan, on his networking news site, has written about the spam issue frequently. Just go over there and start scrolling though. Ara basically agrees that spam's gotten out of control. But he also recognizes the dangers inherent in draconian anti-spam policies. Yes, spam is a huge annoyance and spammers are frikkin' jerks. But there are principles at stake here that should be examined carefully before we start lashing people to stakes and setting them ablaze using our civil rights for kindling.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has a summary of accomplishments and list of long-term goals for Iraq in today's Wall Street Journal. Although I'm sure there will be carping about it, it's a pretty interesting piece. It reiterates the basic accomplishments so far, and lays out the administration's long term goals, most of which look quite sound to me. They also give lie to the claims of "imperialist Amerika," unless you believe that democracy and free markets = imperialism. Which, I'm sorry to say, some contemptible fools do.

Some will, I suppose, read a lot into the fact that Rumsfeld (Secretary of Defense) is publishing such an editorial, instead of Colin Powell (Secretary of State). It's tempting to do so. But, as the civilian leader overseeing the military occupation, Rumsfeld's views are of crucial interest, and Powell's published similar pieces in the past.

So far, so good, so far as I can see.

Those of you who were away for the Memorial Day weekend missed some fun. For example, you missed:

How the French Bombed Kyoto
How Freedom of Speech was preserved by a small hosting provider
How a Pulitzer recipient proved she didn't deserve one
How Dean got so cussed and ornery about religion, and
How no one will be truly free until chickens come to the rescue.

That'll serve you all right for taking time to celebrate family, friend, and country!

Shanti, who's always got something interesting to say, recently posted this article about Resident Non-Indians vs. Non-Resident Indians that'll give you an interesting perspective on how people in and from India view the immigration issue.

The first thing to notice is that the "immigration issue" for India is not "how do we deal with all these strangers who want to come live here?" Instead, it's the opposite: "How do we deal with all these kids who keep leaving, then coming home with these strange new ideas and attitudes?"

It's interesting that this is happening often enough that it's a serious political issue, isn't it?

As I read the article about it, I notice certain patterns. To whit:

* - Those who cling to hearth and home vs. the adventurers
* - The Authoritarians vs. the Free Marketeers
* - The East vs. the West
* - The Conservative vs. the Liberal

Now here's an observation for you: these dynamics have probably always existed between nativists and emigrants, throughout all of human history. But today the emigrants can communicate with the folks back home, or even travel back and forth between Old World and New, orders of magnitude more quickly. As such, it's probably orders of magnitude more breathtaking (both exciting and threatening) to the folks back home.

I'm a blogdad!

I'd like you all to meet my young friend Lysander, author of the Double Helix weblog. Lysander's brand new to the blogosphere, drying off a bit and stretching his wings a little uncertainly. So far, he's written tributes to his heroes, poetry, spiritualism, music reviews, and frank sex advice, amongst other things. I thought enough of this young man that when he asked me how to set up a weblog, I decided to help him. Soon he'll have his own internet domain, but for a month or so, he'll be in orbit around Dean's World.

Be sure to check out his "skins" feature over on the left hand side, especially if you don't like dark backgrounds.

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Scott Chaffin has a great tribute, and one that links to more material you probably want to read.

I only disagree somewhat, in one sense: my stepfather was awarded two bronze stars and two purple hearts in Vietnam. Took a bullet in the back, and still has chunks of a grenade in his wrist.

As a child, on Memorial Day, we put up the flag, discussed war some. Had a barbecue, played in the sun, and enjoyed the day, free from our worries, free from oppression. In short: free.

Just the way the fallen would want it, I think.

I hope you're all having a good day today.

Honoring Memorial Day.

Go out, enjoy yourself. Have fun. Visit relatives. Have a few cold ones. Relax.

But somewhere in your day, stop to remember. Ask your kids if they know why we have this special day set aside. Explain it to them.

Yes, it matters.

Then, enjoy the rest of the day.

Frank has probably the best proposal for world peace I've seen yet. I mean, really, isn't it time we do something about the lunatics once and for all?

Ith is cruising for chicks. In specific, she says the following:

If you're a gal, and don't have a blog (or even if you do) and would like to participate in a totally non-serious blog with other female type persons, drop me a line: edithna AT yahoo DOT com.

Well, female-type persons, what are you waiting for?

Yes! My dreams of stardom are soon to be realized. While I may lack the poetic genius to write Goth poems and song lyrics, I can now be a famous Goth writer anyway, thanks to the Goth-O-Matic Poetry Generator. Here's my Opus #1:

---
"Darkness Descends"

the night falls as if slain by the sun, entwined are we.
the understanding for which you lust
flares once, then dies,
devoured by the abyss.
all hope must surely perish.

your heart beats no more.
how could you not understand?
lost souls surround us, crying,
save us from ourselves.
---

By the way, it's Andrea's birthday. Go wish her a happy one. She's finally hit 40, which means she's officially no longer cool. ;-)

One of my favorite Dean's World denizens, Dave Mercer, recently challenged me in the Gay Christians thread to reveal my religious views.

Part of me doesn't want to answer. Such things give people an excuse to pigeonhole you. "You're only saying that because you're (fill_in_the_blank)" is the sort of reasoning that drives me up a wall. You can say all sorts of things to me that others would consider confrontational, provocative, or insulting, and I probably won't even quiver. But if you want to get under my skin, try to tell me that I only think something because I'm (fill_in_the_blank). I see that as a cheap shot and a sign of intellectual desperation--indeed, it's a signal that productive conversation has probably ended. I try to apologize immediately when I'm caught doing it, and I resent it when others do it to me.

Besides, isn't this kind of an odd question? If I defend Jews from anti-Semitism, do you assume I'm Jewish? If I defend Muslims from Islamophobes, am I a Muslim? If I deplore gay bashers, do you suspect I'm gay?

Still, with all that said, Dave's a good bloke and I don't think he was trying to do any of that. People do have a natural curiosity about these things. I've been defending Christians, so, where am I coming from with that? Fortunately, my religious views are sufficiently complicated that it's probably not easy to stuff me into a convenient mental box.

The short answer: I am an agnostic, skeptical liberal. For many of you, I think that answer should suffice.

But if you're genuinely curious about the long answer, I'll give it to you. Just be forewarned: it's a Den Beste-ish response. If you really want to know this stuff, you're going to be reading for a while:

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Come to think of it, I'm just being silly. Religion is truly the opiate of the masses and a primary source of reactionary oppression. It would behoove us all to throw away such foolish superstitions, embrace the truth, and join the revolutionary moovement to free lives and minds from tyranny. Truly, the scales have been lifted from my eyes. As others see the truth, the movement of history shall be inevitable. Thanks to Brother Casey for showing me the way!

Spinsanity has an excellent debunking of the latest Maureen Dowd fabrication. It's worth a read.

Mouth-frothers who hate the President--whoever the President is--and will spin anything he does in the most negative possible light are simply a fact of life I guess. I sat and watched it during the Reagan years, the Clinton years, and now I watch it during Bush '43. It's sad, but I begin to believe it's simply the nature of the beast: "if you don't agree with me, it's because you're wicked" is just the way some people's minds work.

Still, how this woman got a New York Times column (and the issued-by-regulation Pulitzer that seems to go with it) is beyond me. She was a snarky, shallow twit when she was writing about Clinton, and she's even worse now.

She's at her worst when she just makes stuff up. I saw that most clearly when she twisted Bush's statement at a debate, where he said that the most influential political philosopher for him was Jesus Christ, into a secret code for "you're all in the Christ club or not." What a vicious, hate-filled bigot that woman is.

This woman is the kind of person who would turn John Ashcroft urging a group of his fellow Christians to remember that they have no king but Jesus into an assault on the first amendment. It takes a certain kind of twisted bigotry in a person's soul to think that way. I find such people every bit as upsetting and disturbing as I find people who rant about lazy niggers, disgusting fags, or greedy Jews. It's too bad that's so commonplace and so socially acceptable these days. It really is.

Jay Solo has written a theme song for Dean's World. Duke of Earl is such a fabulous tune, too...

Next stop: a weblogger will propose that the blogosphere should use WWDD ("What Would Dean Do?") as the measure for bloggy goodness. Hey, I can dream can't I?

By the way, Jay's about to hit a major traffic benchmark. Maybe you could help him by clicking on his link and checking out his entertaining blog. Although I realize that only about a quarter of you Dean's World Denizens visit us on Saturdays, consider this a special request for the weekend crowd. ;-)

You may have to click the link a couple of times or hit refresh. Jay's on blogspot, so the link doesn't always work. Jay, buddy, if you can spend $50 up front and $5 a month, I can get you a much better blogging setup than that. Just say the word, bud.

Kate has put together a most impressive overview of news on the terror front. She hits multiple sources and angles at once. That's mighty fine shooting. Women are good at that, or so I hear.

When I read things like this, though, in the back of my mind I always hear someone saying, "people are getting more afraid and paranoid!" I've seen plenty of pundits and bloggers say pretty much that exact same thing. In the meantime, I simply do not know anyone who fits that description. Supposedly, "Americans" are being frightened or made to feel paranoid, but I somehow manage not to know any of these Americans.

I haven't quite grasped this seeming disconnect. It seems like we perceive that the other fellow is scared and paranoid and easily led around by the nose, while we ourselves are merely calm but concerned. Funny, huh?

Or am I wrong? Are any of you feeling scared and worried and like you need massively more government protection? Do you have a bunch of people like that in your lives? Is it just me who doesn't see these swarms of fearful Americans?

* Update * Tim Blair's cool new blog, coincidentally, makes the same basic point about Australians, if a bit more concisely. He also links to this article on how multiple sources show international terrorism at lowest levels in over 30 years. More than just the U.S. State Department says so. Which is something of a relief since, as others have said, the State Department isn't always a particularly reliable source. So, yes, there's reason to be disturbed at increased terrorist chatter, but we should keep these things in perspective. Funny thing is, I honestly think most people do have a good handle on this, and I keep wondering where all the fearful paranoids are.

On the other hand, Chris Noble sees it differently, suggesting that we're nowhere near worried enough.

So. For years they said that America was causing hundreds of thousands of children to die in Iraq. They said that Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright were butchering Iraqi children with their trade sanctions and no-fly zones. They said it about Bush 41 and 43, too.

We know now that this was complete baloney. Actually, we had every reason to believe it was baloney before now. It's just that now we have direct proof from those in Iraq who took part in the fraud.

Will there be any apologies, do you think?

A constant source of psychic anguish for me, for many years, has been trying to maintain friendships with gay people, and friendships with Christians who believe homosexuality is sinful. The issue I find most disturbing being that most of my Christian friends honestly don't hate gay people, are even happy to be friends with them--but an awful lot of my gay friends hate the Christians.

It bugs me. There should be some sort of, "Hey, I respect your right to live
your life as you choose" vs. "I respect your right to believe as you do as long as
you don't harass me" quid pro quo. We need to get over this obsession with
everybody agreeing with each other.

This was brought to mind when I got a nice note from Lucas Sayre, a Senior at Notre Dame, who has an essay on this very topic on his weblog. He doesn't have direct links, but just look for the essay entitled "Christianity and Homosexuality." It's at the top as I write this. He's a thoughtful young man who wants his fellow Christians to be more Christian toward gays.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the nearly-successful effort to destroy the Boycott Hollywood site. I've been meaning to post an update about this, and I'm sure some of you know about it already, but: a decent domain registration and hosting service has come to the defense of free speech. Boycott Hollywood now has a new home.

The heroes of the story are the web hosting company. If you need solid, reliable web hosting from a company that champions free speech and respects the importance of online privacy, I understand that Ch0ices Web Hosting is a fabulous choice. At least, the Boycott Hollywood folks think so. If I weren't already so happy with my own hosting service, I would switch to them just as a way of saying "thanks for standing up for free expression!"

Ever wondered what the Earth looks like from Mars? Now you don't have to wonder anymore.

(Snitched from Swirlspice.)

* Update * Ravenwood has a better copy of the picture, and more info than the Free Press story. Bloggers rule!

Also, thanks to Jim for giving me my biggest laugh this week, in the comments to this article.

Iain Murray says that it was French intransigence that killed the Kyoto treaty. His history on this rings true, as he remembers several things I remember well, but that everyone else seems to have forgotten.

Now, honestly, I don't care. I am highly skeptical about global warming in several ways: I'm not sure it's real, and if it is real, I'm not convinced that it's a bad thing. I'm definitely not convinced that Kyoto would have done anything significant to stop it.

Before you snap my head off, you should first be aware that thousands of qualified scientists feel the same way about the global warming issue. They may be wrong, of course. But so can those of you who believe so fervently, so passionately, that global warming is a looming catastrophic threat.

Honestly, I'm glad that the French, along with the Clinton administration, killed Kyoto. It's just interesting to me how certain people portray this as evil Republicans crushing the environment "again." Rather than telling the simple truth: Kyoto ended with the Clinton administration, mostly due to the rigid and inflexible French.

(Via Dodd.)

James is having a photo caption contest. This one's a hoot, at least for you political junkies.

And here we see, once again, the blogosphere takes its lead from Dodd.

The U.N. Security Council has unanimously voted to end all economic sanctions against Iraq. This is fantastically good news for the Iraqi people, and for America.

It means that the cost of rebuilding Iraq will be paid for by Iraq. It means jobs for Iraqis, and much greater odds of success in our project to build a better society there. It probably even means that America will wind up spending less money on rebuilding Iraq than it did on maintaining the "No Fly Zones" and the base in Saudi Arabia.

There's no down side at all. This is really wonderful.

(Via Inoperable Terran.)

Eek!

Dr. Pournelle has news and photos of the first successful test flight of White Knight and Spaceship One. They haven't made it to space yet, but it looks like only a matter of time.

I have goosebumps.

(Thanks to Bruce Jones for the heads-up.)

So. Some on the political Left are expressing shock that Bush is pulling in massive donations for his re-election campaign, far more than Democrats hope to pull in for themselves.

Anyone who takes the time to find out how political fundraising works, however, knows that when Democrats signed on for that wretchedly immoral and disgusting campaign finance "reform" law last year, they pretty much guaranteed this result.

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Summary of the last seven days

May 16, 2003

* In the largest number of expulsions in the history of US-Cuban
relations, Washington expelled seven Cuban diplomats accredited to the
United Nations in New York and another seven from Cuba's Interests
Section in Washington due to "activities incompatible with their
diplomatic status." (i.e. espionage). The diplomatic crisis coincides
with the crackdown against Cuba's internal opposition and executions in
Havana. (El Nuevo Herald, The Washington Post, May 13th )

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Most of you missed it.

I mean, you really missed it.

Imagine you're watching a movie. It's funny, but it's nothing special just yet. Two geeky white guys walk into a soul food establishment on the south side of Chicago. They're both kind of geeky, kind of dorky, and both wear sunglasses. A dumpy, middle-aged black woman, who's obviously been around the block a couple of times, comes up to take their order:

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I was recently talking to Andrea Harris, and do you know what she said?

First she said, "Dean, you know, I'm so sick and tired of these whiny libertarian pinheads. Ayn Rand is a worthless slut and an irrational Plato-wannabe. Who can take a stupid trollop like that seriously?"

Hey, you know, I'm not saying she's right. I'm just saying she said it, you know?

Then she really freaked me out. Because then she said, "You know, as a White Anglo Saxon Protestant, I must say, I'm glad that the Jews have taken over the country, because WASPs like us are too stupid and lazy to do things right, when you get right down to it. Thanks Jews! You've saved us from ourselves!"

Then she really surprised me. She said, "Thank God for the negroes. Because white men, their penises are way too small to take seriously when you get right down to it. Besides, you know, they just can't dance anyway."

I'm not saying I agree with her. I'm just saying she said it, you know? Maybe you should let Andrea know what you think. I know I have!

Yes! Yes! Yes! I'm doing a happy dance today!

I have just received definitive proof that Dean's World has made the big time: I got my first piece of hate mail!

A creature calling itself Cody Bishop sent me the following bit of foul-mouthed and incoherent dreck:

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Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile, and former Clinton State Department policy wonk Timothy Bergreen, have a good piece in today's Journal that you should read: What Would Scoop Do? Now if only the Democrats would follow Brazile and Bergreen's advice and, while they're at it, embrace school choice (which a huge chunk of their base desperately wants), Social Security choice (ditto), and give up the insane blather about "tax cuts for the rich"(which is nothing but mean-spirited, selfish envy-mongering, and is economically destructive to boot), I might actually be able to think about voting for Democrats in 2004. Without laughing or gagging, I mean.

The Journal's also got a pretty interesting writeup and review of something called the Toy Symphony. It sounds like a piece of software we might want to buy for Jake.

The latest Carnival of the Vanities is available. Within you will find a record of fifty-six original entries from as many different webloggers. Scroll through all of them to find an impressive and informative collection of essays on counltess subjects. Within youwill find at least 56 different subjects from at least 56 different perspectives.

The next Carnival of the Vanities will be hosted right here on Dean's World. But until then, you could do worse things with your time than to explore the items that Susanna has captured for everyon'es reading pleasure.

Objectivist Arthur Silber asks both self-described conservatives and self-described liberals (I think of myself as both) a number of challenging questions about why they believe what they believe.

I plan on answering them myself, although I wind up on both sides of a lot of his questions. Alas, I also feel the need to take a break from any long pieces right now, so I'll see if I can't come up with an answer on Thursday. Perhaps some of you, however, are game?

No, I did not write this. I wish I had.

But it's a favorite poem of mine.

Ten thousand geek points if you can name the author.