Around the Web on 8-24-06

This week, I came up with the novel idea of saving interesting links as I encountered them during the week, rather than knocking myself out finding everything at once. My reward? Some of this may look like old news. Strange thing, the blogosphere....

Yeah. This is about right.

Cox and Forkum illustrate perfectly what the notions of "carrot" and "stick" mean nowadays.


This reminds me of a link I saw at The Drudge Report the other day. It was something like "Iran All Talk". Had new intelligence shown Iran's nuclear blustering to be just some big, elaborate ruse? Of course not. Instead, it was somehow "news" that Iran was not going to agree to all the "demands" we made of them during negotiations and then made us wait for an answer at its convenience!

Zach Oakes is back!

Just as I was beginning to wonder whether Oakes had decided to stop blogging, my RSS reader tells me otherwise.

Lindeskog to Cover Swedish Vote

Martin Lindeskog will help Pajamas Media cover the upcoming Swedish elections.

Huh? The Pirate Party?

No wonder he's not voting! Either way, you'd have to say, "Arrrrrrrrgh!"

Israel's "Nuclear Navy"

Willy Shake debunks a misleading headline about the Israel's recent purchase of two new submarines from Germany ("Israel Buys Nuclear Subs") and invites us to think more ... deeply (groan!) ... about the story.

I should have known better--i.e. that the media would be inaccurate and misleading. What you learn if you read past the sensational headline (or if you check other news sources) is ... well, further deception--they want to emphasize that these two new subs could/migh/possibly/perhaps/theoretically carry nuclear missiles.

What they miss, however, are the significant strategic implications outside of the fact that these boats can shoot nukes. I'm talking about discussions such as this perceptive insight over at Bubblehead's blog.

I heard of this through Matt Drudge recently, but it didn't even occur to me that some newspaper might actually call the subs "nuclear".

Hmmm. Never overestimate the objectivity of the news media.

Nearly a Year Ago

Time flies, unless, apparently, your life gets turned upside-down by a catastrophe like the government-enhanced disaster of Hurricane Katrina -- and the government-impaired recovery therefrom.

Most of my ties to the affected area are to New Orleans (which has gotten the lion's share of the media attention, too), but my home state is Mississippi. As a child, I remember our family vacations to its Gulf Coast, including one memorable trip to Ship Island. I haven't been to MIssissippi's coast since the storm, but this collection shows you -- even a year later -- exactly what Governor Barbour meant when he called this "our tsunami". (HT: Brendan Loy)

The Useful Idiot: A Prototype

Via Babalu Blog comes an example of what our "educational" system encourages that has to be read to be believed.

With such wonderful additions to the world, why vilify Fidel any longer? What's a little suppression of political dissent when people can get treatment for diabetes? What are a few innocent human rights violations when people have access to locally grown produce without toxins? What's a little communism when Cuba is contributing less to global climate change than the rest of us?

I think it's high time we lure Fidel away from Cuba and help him paint the White House red. Health and vegetables will more than make up for his $900 million compensation.

So while too many of us are busy awaiting his demise, we ought to be helping Fidel recover from his illness. We could bring him to the U.S. and give him access to our medical system. Well, come to think of it, the HMO's would probably refuse to cover the treatment.

And this apparatchick wannabe would probably call this example of his ideas put into action, "free plastic surgery -- especially for AIDS patients!"

Two by Alexander Marriott

I've only gotten to read the first of these so far, but as Blair reports, Alexander Marriott has recently made two lengthy posts. I have already read and enjoyed the one about conspiracy theories. I look forward to reading about Gary Kasparov's foray into Russian politics.

Good Movie Review

Blair also reviews a movie, Lost City, about a Cuban family torn apart by the revolution.

Amit Ghate...

... has a nice post on "Selfishness and Self-Defense", if you haven't seen it already.

Hitlericious?

Thomas Sowell recently asked:

What kind of people provide a market for videotaped beheadings of innocent hostages? What kind of people would throw an old man in a wheelchair off a cruise liner into the sea, simply because he was Jewish? What kind of people would fly planes into buildings to vent their hate at the cost of their own lives?

He forgot one: "What kind of people would open (let alone attend) a restaurant called 'Hitler's Cross'?"

According to Reuters:

"We wanted to be different. This is one name that will stay in people's minds," owner Punit Shablok told Reuters. "We are not promoting Hitler. But we want to tell people we are different in the way he was different."

Different? I'd say. Perhaps Shablok was inspired by the way Hitler's Panzer divisions consumed Europe, hoping customers do the same with the food served at the restaurant. Or maybe Shablok was impressed with Hitler's innovative use of ovens? Or perhaps not caring how this would offend the Jews of Mumbai, Shablok simply wanted the publicity that would be caused by the Fuhrer uh ... I mean furor.

Nick Provenzo asks, "What's next? Himmler's Death's Head Bistro? Quisling's Croissants & Pastries? Goering's Gelatos?"

As for me, I can't add anything to this, either!

Fidel Castro Death Watch

Via Babalu Blog come two posts that speculate on Fidel Castro's condition based on recently-released photographs of the ailing "leader". The two make different assumptions on whether the photos are authentic, but no matter which way you cut it, it ain't good for Fidel.

First, Inside Surgery sticks with its diagnosis of metastatic intraabdominal cancer.

Musings: he fails what physicians call the "foot of the bed test". I have unfortunately seen it all too often when patients are dying and have lost their spark of vitality, their sense of optimism and connectedness with life. Patients particularly with end-stage cancer have (for lack of a better term) a way of turning inward as they contemplate their mortality and their approaching death. Understandably, most people are very subdued.

But a commenter there thinks that at least some of the photos were faked!

First, notice in the photo above that the Granma newspaper that Fidel Castro is shown displaying has a black logo and a black headline. The problem is that Granma uses a bright red logo, and often uses color in other places on the front page.

The second photo, to the right, shows the actual front page of yesterday's Granma, with a red logo and a bright red headline.

Why the discrepancy?

And if the photos are fake, how bad Fidel must really look!

Rappin' on Overpopulation

The title of this Andrew Dalton post made me burst out laughing.

-- CAV