I’m Sorry, Mac, You’re doomed.

At least, according to Steven Den Beste, who has two excellent posts on Apple’s Exit Stragegy. Long, but very interesting reads for all you nerds out there. On a much more sad note, this fatass is making another movie. What is the world coming to? It’s enough to make a man pack it in and move to Europe…wait, nothing is bad enough to warrant that sort of insanity. Oh, and it looks like the NYT’s recent problems with Jayson Blair are indicative of a pattern. The Grey Lady used to be a journal of record, I knew it was downhill as soon as they started printing colour pictures when I was in high school.

A Thought For “Intellectual Conservatives”:

Mark Steyn in an interview: American conservatism is much more populist than British conservatism or what passes for conservatism on the Continent. There are simply no equivalents to, say, the gun nuts or the religious right in Britain or Europe. You can imagine what American conservatism would be like without those big grass-roots forces, and in Britain it is.

It’s not very popular in some circles to be a religious conservative, but the coalition of intellectual conservatives and the religious ones is what makes the Republicans the majority party in the country. God knows I’d rather put up with some ideas I don’t like on the winning sideline than know I’m right after a series of bloody losses.

Read This. Read This. Read This. Read This.

If you only read one thing all day, all weekend, read this column on Hard and Soft America from Michael Barone. (Via InstaPundit) It’s about the differing styles — and consequences — of American life in and out of school. Absolutely great. Read other stuff, too, but definitely this.

Who’s Wrong? Everyone! (Again!)

Today’s Emerald features this guy, who is an asshole. It seems likely he’s just trolling; but either way, I’m sure it will stir up lots of attention for him. (In related news, teenager in Lebanon, Ore. shocks family, church group with nose ring and “Fuck Bush” T-shirt.)

A little lower on the same page, we have someone who thinks it’s appropriate to use rape as a metaphor for political views that she disagrees with.

Someone else thinks that Bush is a fascist.

Friday May 9, 2003: A day of knockabout journalism and frank exchanges of views at the ODE, or further proof that your humble correspondent should never open another newspaper ever again, in his life, ever? Yes!

For the sake of my sanity, I’m going to climb back into my ivory tower, cancel my subscriptions to National Review and The Nation, and eagerly await my pre-ordered copy of Notes Towards The Complete Works Of Shakespeare. You can’t go wrong with the classics.

Blogs Report

You decide whether Bush was really trying to escape combat duty by going to the Air National Guard. Via Instapundit, this is something people should look at regardless of their own assumptions.

Happy Post B-Day to Pete and Congrats should be extended to Olly for passing his math grad school orals yesterday. Now, back to creating the hate that … hate created?

UPDATE: ok, this isn’t an update of previous stuff, but check out this site of one of our friendly conservative rivals … not great, but check out this self-righteous shit that seems to be par for their course. Good God, some people even let their egos get in the way of good stories.

Rap Music = Terrorism

Okay, this post probably only interests me, but here goes… Murder Inc., home to rapper Ja Rule and and

teen pop queen Ashanti, was behind the hit of In The Club star 50 Cent. (“Been hit with a few shots, but I don’t walk with a limp.”) This according to a I.R.S. affidavit that also alleges that the Inc. is a front for former (current?) 80s kingpin Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff (cue early Nas music … “Some fiends scream, about Supreme Team, a Jamaica Queens thing/ Uptown was Alpo, son, heard he was kingpin”) This is a far bigger thing than Suge Knight having gang connection through Death Row. McGriff wasn’t just a drug dealer, was a drug lord who pretty much ran all the coke through Queens. Interesting

Dick Morris has a good column on anti-Zionism, which is neither particularly groundbreaking nor is it entirely fair or perfectly complex. But it is a good background to the language and terms of argument used by anti-Zionists and it’s definitely worth perusing, especially to remind you to always frame the debate. ,,, Meanwhile, Bill O’Reilly is on the social decay Factor with the “When I was a kid …” stuff. I’m sure things were better then, but there was no internet or Matrix movies or advanced healthcare, so let’s call it a wash.

Counter-Point To Sho’s Post

The burning and looting of the Iraqi national library and museum were in fact the ultimate expressions of a people’s democracy. The people of Iraq have spoken, and what they are saying is that they are sick and tired of elitist liberal institutions, such as libraries and museums.

From The Exile. Go check it out….

Dead On

Read Frank Hughes’ analysis of a post-Whitsitt Portland. Pretty dead on. I say ditch Sheed, Wells, Patterson, etc… and try to pick up either Payton or Kidd. There’s going to be a good free-agent market this summer, that ‘s a good place to start. Get some good guys first, some good talent second. I don’t care if we make the playoffs next year. That doesn’t prove anything. Get a team that has some cohesion, and then think about the post-season.

And this is why I love Phil Jackson.

The Most Important Amendment.

It’s number two, and I’ll tell you why. All of one’s other rights, as outlined by the other nine amendments on the Bill of Rights (and some of the others like Amendment 14, et. al.) can be defended with one’s second amendment right. The Ninth Circuit handed down a decision on collective vs. individual gun-ownership recently. The Fifth Circuit also handed down an opinion recently. Glenn Reynolds and Eugene Volokh have both been covering the events in some detail. Important thing for those of us concerned with constitutional rights to follow, bet you won’t hear the lefties talking about this.

Poseur Alert

So some guy at The New Republic has an article dissecting the last thirty years of X-men comics. He sees a transition in the “history” (in parenthesis because it’s NOT REAL) of the mutant struggle from noble integration to savage isolationism. And he drops little nuggets throughout that only a true geek would know. I can’t believe that this article is being given any legitimacy. It’s no different from that Onion story on sociology papers about Emile Durkheim being stretched to incorporate the 1970s British punk-rock scene. Christ, the beginning of this thing even reads like an Onion article.

X2: X-Men United is not just any action-packed summer blockbuster–far from it. It represents a cultural moment, a brief opportunity to address crucial questions of difference and democracy, questions that have been with us since the founding, with new eyes.

Can’t wait for this guy’s analysis of the Incredible Hulk. Did you know that Hulk was grey during the Peter David years because his inner struggle mirrored the cold war?

“Roll Tide! It’s Rolling, It’s Rolling!”

Mike Price made sure that Oregon wasn’t the biggest embarrassment in college football this year as some unseemly stories continue to come out of Bama.

Total Priceless Artifacts Stolen from the Iraqi National Museum: 25

Instapundit posted a link to a NYT story that reveals that no more than 25 artifacts are definitely missing from the National Museum in Baghdad. Compare this to the 170,000 missing artifacts reported in April. Instapundit also has some other great links related to the Times’ poor handling of the story and other NYT-related follies.

The Whitsitt’s gone, the Whitsitt’s gone, the mean old Whitsitt’s gone.

Six Degrees of Ashton Kutcher

“That 70’s Show” star,Ashton Kutcher, and the Bush girls party hard. These girls just don’t seem to get a break. Chelsea got away with everything, no one ever published a story on her, but these girls keep getting the shaft. Well, it makes for entertaining reading at least.