Okay, people, you just don't know what fun you're missing.

Dr. Laura's Worst Nightmare photoblogs her 88-year-old mother-in-law getting down to the Clash.

Let's all take a lesson from Mrs. Clara M.

"The Will to Power Surges"

Credit Sissy Willis with linking this wonderful poem by Jeffrey Hull:

Disputation

In fang and claw, or pen and key
The will to power surges;
With biting prose or sophistry
We bare our baser urges.
...

Gotta go to the link to read it all. Thank you Jeffrey, and Sissy, for helping us keep some perspective.

And contemplating this poem, it occurs to me that some folks in blogland could use some surge protectors ...

Pajamas Media Roundup

Tammy hosts an open thread. Stop by and say hi to the turkey!

Charles has some sobering thoughts on the meaning of the poppy in Britain - yesterday and today.

Gateway Pundit sets the record straight on Iraqi troop readiness.

Austin Bay gets past the Michael Moores unburies some good news.

Dean Esmay can help you find an update from Kerry Dupont and some exciting geeky news about qbits. (Silly me. I never thought of embedding my Cooper-pair transistor in a resonant circuit.)

Gay Patriot has some thoughts about the greatest country on earth.

And finally, Ann Althouse, honorary president of Pajamas Media, has an in-depth analysis of media coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Don't miss it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ayaan Hirsi Ali interview

Sappho has an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (hat tip: Free Thoughts).

Disturbing questions about the massive muslim presence in Europe are becoming more urgent by the day: It it possible to integrate muslims to become part of Europe? Will we have a liberal version of islam? And if not, what is there to look forward to? Civil war? Dissolution? An islamic take-over?

If your head is full of such nagging thoughts, it is a solace to meet Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the liberal Dutch politician and originally muslim immigrant from Somalia. Since the murder of Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh, for whose strongly islam-critical film "Submission I" Ms. Ali wrote the script, she has been under constant police protection. That was also the case when Sappho.dk interviewed her during her recent visit to Copenhagen. ...

- Why does this thoroughly political person with her background as a political scientist express herself through an artistic medium?

"Because sometimes art is much more powerful than words. Art is accessible to many more more people than if you write a piece on an op-ed page. To understand art you don't have to know how to read and write," says Hirsi Ali, who then turns to the international furor caused by the twelve drawings of the prophet Muhammed recently published by the Danish national daily Jyllands-Posten.

"It is absolutely necessary for liberal European countries like Denmark to protect free speech. I've been in Holland for 13 years, and in a very short time I have learned how Europe came to be what it is today. And part of that was a huge conflict of religion. It started with the Reformation and reached its climax during the Enlightenment. If you refrain from making cartoons of Muhammed to accommodate Islamic intolerance, then you will go back to the time of Christian intolerance."

- Have you had any support among Dutch artists for your position?
"Yes, most of them do not agree with the style of what I have to say, but they find that I have the right to say it. I'm going to make a film called "Submission II", and the people who want to help me make it think that it is my decision what I want to say. I'm so happy about that. It's a big relief because at first I was afraid nobody was going to help me. The next challenge will be who is going to broadcast it. Which TV-channel, which cinema? But we will cross that bridge when we get to it."

RTWT...

Cheney's "X" No Accident - Daily Pundit

And as Dymphna says, isn't it interesting how these things never happen to left-of-center media darlings.

So, you've already heard about the big X that appeared over Vice President Dick Cheney's face during a CNN broadcast. Now, we all have our own ideas about media bias, so a lot of us were reluctant to jump to conclusions. (Yours truly has refrained from posting on this until now.) And even some cautious right-of-center bloggers were willing to accept the theory that the X was just an innocuous technical glitch of some sort. But Bill Quick of Daily Pundit has the exclusive scoop:

CNN Employee On Tape: Cheney "X" Is "Freedom of Speech" - "Tell Bush And Cheney To Stop Lying"
EXCLUSIVE - MUST CREDIT BILL QUICK OF DAILY PUNDIT
*** LATEST UPDATE - CNN CONFIRMS AUTHENTICITY OF CALL, FIRES REPRESENTATIVE ***
*** SEE UPDATE BELOW - PRESKA THOMAS DEFENDS AUTHENTICITY OF TAPE ***

What call? Well, go to the link and get the full details - including audio of a viewer's phone call to CNN, and a (now ex-)employee's unhinged response. Seems that somebody at CNN decided it was a case of "freedom of speech." (Hmmm... does that sound like a "technical glitch" to you?)

Hats off to some very dedicated investigative bloggers.

Jordan's Former Ambassador to Israel is New Prime Minister

Reuters via Yahoo:

By Suleiman al-Khalidi
AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah appointed national security chief as prime minister on Thursday, two weeks after triple suicide bombings killed 60 people, a senior official said.

The official said the monarch asked acting national security head, Marouf Bakheet, who had also been serving as the king's office chief of staff, to form a new government following the resignation of Adnan Badran, 69, a U.S.-educated academic appointed last April, and his government.

The choice of Bakheet, 58, a former ambassador to Israel with a long career in military intelligence, underscores the king's desire to give security forces a bigger role in decision making, a senior official told Reuters. ...

Read the rest at the link.

Pajamas Media: A Guide for the Perplexed

This post will highlight some of the best blogs from the newly-formed Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media. The alternative media organization's website offers readers a preview of what's in store. Personally I'm enthralled with the look of the new logo: the "zen-meets-grafitti" look is very happening. Very LA, even.

The Pajamas sidebar is the key to its success. At least, I'm hoping so, because if we're counting on the main screen, we're all in trouble. The sidebar features (in order of importance), the Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media Blogroll, Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media Blogs, Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media Editorial Advisory Board, and the real big shots.

The most important people, of course, are the humble folks on the plain old blogroll. These include names like Cool Blue, Iraqi Bloggers Central, Dr. Sanity, Meryl Yourish, Winds of Change, and other tragically underappreciated blogs. Rand Simberg of Transterrestrial Musings wasn't in New York for the launch party, but his voice could be heard shouting "Liftoff! We have liftoff!"

(Inexplicably overlooked was The Iraq War Was Wrong Blog.)

Now the inconspicuous, unstarred names on the Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media Blogroll are more important than you might realize. Because you see, we are actually undercover agents who are compelled to keep a low profile for security reasons. But I digress.

Branding is very important to Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media, which is why not just any blog can call itself one of the Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media Blogs. These are the big leaguers like Atlas Shrugs, Confederate Yankee, Dean's World, Gay Patriot, Kesher Talk, LaShawn Barber, Michael Totten, Michelle Malkin, the lady with the apple, and Sisu (prounounced "Sissy Willis").

Blogging from an undisclosed location, Omar and Mohammed of Iraq the Model are affiliated with Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media in ways that are as mysterious as their last name (shhhh! don't tell if you already know) and the mind of the elusive Third Brother Ali, who reportedly will return one day to establish the ... er, well, it's a long story.

Moving still further up the food chain, we come to the ranks of the Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media Editorial Advisory Board. It's not just an editorial board, and it's not just an advisory board. It's a board to advise the editors on how to give their editorial advice. The Editorial Advisory Board includes the woman for whom "fabulous" doesn't even come close, Cliff May of FDD, Claudia Rosett, and the man who owns the copyright on the phrase "Faster, please."

Last but by no means least, we have the staff of Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media. Australian editor Wretchard of The Belmont Club occasionally writes under the pseudonym "Richard Fernandez".

Glenn Reynolds aka Instapundit is known as the "Paul Revere of the Internet". During one of our lengthy and profound conversations at the New York event, I asked Glenn how he had come by that nickname. "Well," he confided, "I think people have always seen me as a kind of a 'Paul Revere' figure. At least, I often hear folks saying something about 'the horse I rode in on ...'"

And finally, there are co-founders Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, Roger L. Simon whose blog is mysteriously called Roger L. Simon, and most important of all, honorary president Ann Althouse, who has written more about Pajamas Open Source Pajamas Media than anyone else.

Let's blogroll!

An Exit Strategy on Iraq

Janet in Venice Beach is the author of the following letter to Congresswoman Jane Harmon; it is posted at Thomas R. McIntyre's site, Truth on Iraq:

All this recent uproar in congress about ' needing to define an exitstrategy' rubs me entirely the wrong way. it sounds and looks andsmells to me like pure posturing for the camera and microphones. it's disingenuous and it pisses me off.if any of these idiots were actually bothering to follow events in iraq,the real events,they would'nt be carrying on so ignorantly. turn offthe mainstream media and get your news from the people living it, overthere.if i can do it, you can do it.i have to conclude that i am better informed about iraq than they are.which is pretty damning, considering.we HAVE an exit strategy. we're already enacting it. . our guys on theground in country know what they're doing. the jerks on the news, backhere, don't know crap.don't you become one of them.

the iraqis know what needs to happen. thesoldiers know what needs to happen.the so called 'insurgents' [read, jihad criminals] are watchingeverything you do, the way vultures and wolves watch for the weakeningones in the herd.knock it off with this hue and cry for a pullout date. they'll set theirfilthy watches by that, and wait. how stupid could you possibly be? if that's how you think, then the next time you go on vacation, be sureto put up big signs all around your house, saying 'leaving as of the nth of ___' and tell everyone on the block you can't see what's wrong with that. OK?

you just had a tragic demonstration in New ORleans, of what happens whenthe Government comes along, telling everyone it's time to leave, period,get out right now, you can't take time and do it right.you have people in need, abandoned to die, in fear, helpless, left ontheir own in the face of criminals with guns and ammo, anarchy, chaos,starvation, death, and an immensity of injustice. you have animals leftto die slow, agonizing, waiting ends. you have lifetime businessesdestroyed, sacked, looted, unprotected. you have lifetime possessions,homes, works, forced to be left behind, unfinished, at the mercy offate.but it wasn't fate. it was due to the dictates of some idiot who wasn'tliving there, who opened their ignorant mouth to those who were.

obviously, you must not have learned anything, tho it was shown to youin excuciating detail, day after day.oh, and this time, there won't be any swarm of rescuers in helicopterscoming day after day to find the lost and take them to safety.no, why should we care what happens to them? they aren't 'like us',right? they're all just strange, swarthy 'little brown people', faraway, over there, 'sand niggers', who don't speak like us, who don'tmatter, no, what matters is 'our way of life, here at home, for ourkind'.how profoundly offensive. ...

Read the rest here.

Today Is Thanksgiving

... according to Apple Computer. My 17" PowerBook has been acting funny, and I called Apple's customer support line. I'm getting the following message:

Welcome to the AppleCare service and support line. For additional support options, please consider visiting our website. For technical support, press 1.... [two beeps] Please wait.

Thanks for calling Apple. In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, the contact center will be closed Thanksgiving Day....

Well, happy Thanksgiving to you, too, guys. Nice that you got to close up shop early. Guess I'll have to call you back another time ... if that's not too inconvenient for you.

Sundries: Why are people conservative?

Commenter Victoria keeps a blog called Sundries, which I enthusiastically and unreservedly recommend to you. Here's the homepage link again, just in case you forgot to bookmark it on your browser the first time.

Here's a terrific post on conservatism:

One of the most important lessons from evolution, a theory held in much respect by certain people (including myself), is that nature will tend towards survival over death, and go about ways of preserving themselves. When change comes it is most often gradual, unless a cataclysmic event intervenes.

Upheaval, revolt, anarchy, all these states of change are considerably more risky than the certainty of stasis.

And yet, this response does a severe injustice to Conservatism, because it infers that all progress is by default, Liberal in nature.

The old, "Conservatism is stuck, whilst Liberalism marches forward" theory.

This is the idea that allows political progressives to debase any proposal that doesn't emanate from the well-spring of their philosophy.

It becomes a challenge, even an affront that positive change is happening without they leading the charge.

In short, for such people, progress is inconceivable without progressives.

And this is wrong. ...

Read it all at the link.

LPJ praises CNN feature ... and interviews ITM brothers!

Sami at Lebanese Political Journal has some kind words for CNN today, in particular the network's week-long feature Eye on the Middle East. LPJ writes:

CNN is running a week long series entitled "Eye on the Middle East." Hala Gorani is reporting from Amman, and Jim Clancy is reporting from Beirut. They are holding live events in both capitals, and they are doing a fantastic job.

Jim Clancy hosted a showcalled CNN Connects focusing on issues effecting Arab youth [the program aired in Beirut at 8pm Tuesday night]. He brought together a group politically active people in their late 20s - early 30s from Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

Some major trends became apparent:
1) For people actually working for democracy, like the Iraqi pollster and the Lebanese activist Asma Andreos, America was not the major issue. They focused on issues that affect our daily lives. However, the others blabbered on and on about the evils of America, which really didn't advance their arguments about how they would build what they wanted in their countries.

Even when asked specific questions about how to make their countries better, these individuals chose to speak about America. They all had advice for what America should do, but had none they could vocalize for how to achieve their own goals.

2) Arabs don't know anything about each other. ...

Go to the link to read the rest. Also, don't miss the e-mail interview with Omar and Mohammed of Iraq the Model, covering Lebanese/Iraqi relations.

Has what happened in Lebanon had any effect on the situation in Iraq? Do people ever talk about Lebanese affairs, politics, political figures? Do Iraqis, regardless of sect, think much of Hezbollah? Are Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Ayatollah Fadlallah even known by Shia in Iraq? Do you know what Iraqi Shia think of al Manar TV?

I personally think the situation in Iraq and Lebanon pretty much began to relate to each other since the assassination of Hariri. Many Iraqis think that the freedom of speech in Iraq had encouraged the Lebanese to start the Cedar revolution.

And, also many Iraqis are optimistic to see more pressure applied on Asad and his gang and they hope the international investigation will lead to ending the rule of Ba'ath in Syria or at least get the Syrians to leave Iraq alone ...

Read it all at the link. And be sure to check out that CNN feature.

1st LAR Finds Weapons Cache - October 9

Marine Corps News:

BARWANA, Iraq (Oct. 9, 2005) -- Marines with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion uncovered a cache of weapons after receiving a tip on the site’s approximate location.

Marines, sailors and soldiers from Regimental Combat Team-2 and from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team received the tip while conducting Operation River Gate in the town of Barwana and surrounding areas. Their mission for the operation was to eliminate insurgents, disrupt lines of communication and prevent interference with the Constitutional Referendum.

At the suspected cache site, Marines from Weapons Company and combat engineers from 1st Combat Engineer Battalion attached to 1st LAR discovered man-made dirt mounds, heavy equipment tracks and an area which appeared to have something buried underneath it.

“The area was larger than we had anticipated and it was quickly getting dark out,” said 1st Lt. James P. Donovan, a 29-year-old combat engineer. “We decided to come back at first light with mine sweeping and metal detecting devices.”

Weapons Company Marines posted security to prevent anyone from tampering with the site that night and returned in the morning ready to begin searching.

Pfc. Michael D. O’Neill, 21, and Donovan were conducting sweeps of the area when O’Neill’s metal detector began to sound.

“I had been picking up signals before and they turned out to be trash, but the length of this detection made me think,” O’Neill, a combat engineer and Amissville, Va., native commented. "I outlined the area, which was about 10 feet long, and the Marines began to dig.”

After a few minutes of digging, they discovered the outside of a structure and soon after, they uncovered the roof and a door.

“We pried the door open and I looked inside,” Donovan, East Point, Ga., native said. “The first thing I saw was 120 mm mortars ...

Read the rest at the link.
Hat tip: 1 of the Few - 1st Light Armored Infantry Bn. veterans' site