Emotions are for Proles

Leave the thinking to progressives:

For the families of the victims of 9/11, whatever emotions they want to have, I respect and I honor. But somebody needs to lead them through a discussion

It comes to my mind, that no family of a victim “wants to have” the emotions associated with having a loved one crushed to death under tons of debris … as if they have, or had, a choice.
… and my favorite:

But I cannot help feeling that if we block this mosque we will not only be doing what Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh want, we will also be doing exactly what Osama Bin Laden wants.

Blog Notes

Another road trip nearly behind me, as I wait for my flight here in Charlotte, NC.
It’s been hell month here, with dog show commitments in Calgary, Winnipeg and Greensboro, along with considerable personal and work demands. I still have plenty of work waiting for me in the coming week, but blogging should be somewhat back to normal in the next day or so. The next 5 weeks keeps me (relatively) close to home.
As regular SDA readers know, I do quite a few of these road trips through the US to dog shows, and have for many years. This trip, however, I kept noticing something that I’ve never seen happen before at a dog show – peopole were talking politics.
And Obama is not popular here. At all.
Not even among my hard core Democrat friends.
Thanks, as always to Cjunk, Lance, EBD and the rest of you who help hold down the fort. Your contributions here are greatly appreciated!

“Accurate and fair”

Byron York:

As Obama said, his grandfather was a Muslim. His father was raised a Muslim before becoming, by Obama’s account, “a confirmed atheist.” Obama’s stepfather was a Muslim. His half-sister Maya told the New York Times that her “whole family was Muslim.”

Obama spent two years in a Muslim school in Indonesia and later, in a conversation with the Times’ Nicholas Kristof, described the Arabic call to prayer, the beginning of which he recited by heart, as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.” Given all that, it is entirely accurate and fair to describe Obama as having Muslim roots.

Some might go even further, when their guard is down for a moment.

Reader Tips

Tonight’s amusement en route to the tips is a song about loss of faith in the goodness of human nature. The beautifully simple fan-made video that accompanies it is powerfully affecting because it artfully goes right to the heart of the song, which isn’t a lyrical examination of, or treatise on, sadness and disappointment, but rather an expression of the purely emotional state wherein loss of faith and trust feels monumental, absolute, and permanent. From the 1997 release The Boatman’s Call, here’s Nick Cave singing People Ain’t No Good.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.

One wonders how many Tamils are obsessed with rock climbing

The conclusion of a post by Adrian MacNair regarding a fellow rock climber–a succcessful refugee claimant from Colombia–and our current boat load of Tamil claimants:

…
Not long after my friend won his bid to stay in Canada, but after he had returned from his Colombian vacation, he moved out to British Columbia where he would find a better selection of rock climbing to suit his interests. This, he had told me in 2002 before his claim was accepted, had been his ultimate goal. While being free from a peripheral threat of violence was a bonus, his real reason for being in Canada was for rock climbing.
It is even less surprising that Tamils would return to Sri Lanka after being granted asylum, since they didn’t move to Canada to find a better selection of rock climbs. They came here for a safe haven to fall back on while they continue to be active in the pursuit of a Tamil homeland.

Update: More from Adrian:

Kontext For Kady
…
Flashback
My first encounter with Kady [Klimate Khange, get that guttural]:

The Ambassador of Death …

“… has a main message of peace and friendship.”

The confetti on the wings must be designed to give the Ambassador stealth characteristics while flying over Gay Pride or Caribana parades … rumour has it there is also a confetti pattern that will make the bomber virtually invisible while over-flying Ukrainian Shumka Dancer performances.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday unveiled the country’s first domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft, calling it an “ambassador of death” to Iran’s enemies.
The 4-meter-long drone aircraft can carry up to four cruise missiles and will have a range of 1,000 kilometres, according to a state TV report – not far enough to reach archenemy Israel.
“The jet, as well as being an ambassador of death for the enemies of humanity, has a main message of peace and friendship,” said Ahmadinejad at the inauguration ceremony, which fell on the country’s national day for its defense industries.

***

Reader Tips

The Buddy Deane Show was a Baltimore-based television program that aired in the late 50s/early 60s. Patterned after American Bandstand, the show featured white-bread teenagers dancing on camera to the latest pop songs (and sometimes even singing their own songs) while Deane and his co-host moved merchandise during breaks in the action. Tonight’s amusement en route to the tips is an in-studio promotional spot for an exciting and remarkable product that, as you’ll see, provided hours and hours of fun for the whole family: here’s the perky Nancy Rogers urging viewers to go out and purchase the latest absolute-gotta-have-it invention called the Bob-A-Loop.
Wowee. Please remain calm.
The comments are, as always, open for your Reader Tips.

Distinguished Lecture, Documentary & Interview Symposia

  

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this week’s distinguished lecture, documentary & interview symposium. James Burke is a British broadcaster, science historian, author, and television producer known for his Connections and The Day the Universe Changed documentary television series, which focused on the history of science & technology, leavened with a sense of humour. The various series traced paths of invention & discovery through their interrelationships in history, and explored the philosophical aspects of scientific change on Western culture. This week, for your delectation, here are links to those shows now available at YouTube.

Don’t Blame Progressives

It’s not their fault … it’s genetic:

Speaking in Washington at a noon briefing for congressmen, Professor William Garfield of the University of Minnesota said, “Despite what you hear, nobody has ever proven a single gene causes a single human behaviorial trait. Some of my colleagues believe such associations may eventually be found. Others don’t think it will ever happen, that the interaction of genes and the environment is just too complex. But, in any case, we see reports of new genes for this or that in the papers every day, and none of them has ever proven true in the end.”

Decline And Fall Of The American Empire

Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Associated Press, May 2010 – Following high level complaints about “imperfections” in international law, Russia announced Tuesday that captured Somali pirates “have all died.”
National Review, August 2010 – Federal judge Raymond A. Jackson has dismissed piracy charges against six Somali men who are alleged to have fired on U.S. naval warships on the Indian Ocean. Why? Because the attacks failed to ravage our vessels …

Reader Tips

The growth of no-frills budget airlines in the UK over the last twenty years or so has enabled hundreds of thousands of pleasure-seeking Brits to jet their way to inexpensive holiday/party destinations in Spain, Poland, Estonia, Turkey and elsewhere for very little money. The downside for these travelers, of course, is that they get the sort of flights they pay for – or rather, they don’t get what they don’t pay for. In tonight’s amusement en route to the Tips, the comical cabaret trio Fascinating Aïda, comprised of Dillie Keane (the lead singer in the middle with the Irish Brogue), Liza Pulman, and Adéle Anderson, grumble robustly about the feckety rip-off known as Cheap Flights.
(Note: the song ends at the 4:10 mark, at which point a two-minute advertisement/merch-promo is tacked on.)
You are invited, as always, to provide your Reader Tips in the comments.

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