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lalyuf on Thoughts From ...

Helen Thomas, Lynne Stewart, a vat of anchovies and me ... indeed!
-Glenn Reynolds

Larry Miller Remembers

Larry Miller isn't just one of my favorite comedians or favorite actors or even favorite pundits.  He is, I think, one of my favorite people (or as close to that designation as someone that I've never met is likely to get).  He gets it.  About a lot of things.  More importantly (and I don't have the slightest doubt about this), the man is a mensch.  Anyway, his writing for The Weekly Standard is just terrific and you would be doing yourself a favor if you took a little time and read it all.  However, if you're like me and always seem to look up at a clock at precisely 9:11, start with his latest.  You'll understand.

Posted by: Jheka at September 27, 2005 15:09 | link | comments (5) |
the war against islamism, mensches

Speaking of Completely Unprofessional Professionals

The doctors who performed apparently took money from the Saudi government to moev a Saudi national to the head of a transplant list ... ahead of 51 patients who were in more dire need or who had been waiting longer ... should be on trial and, if convicted, should spend the next several of years as "residents" at a state penitentiary.  I do not blame the sick man.  People will do whatever they can to save their own lives.  However, he and/or the Saudi government should be ordered to do whatever they can to help the people whose lives they endangered by skipping him ahead of them ... paying for each and every one of their procedures would be a good start.

Posted by: Jheka at September 27, 2005 14:31 | link | comments (2) |
schmucks

I Love the NYPD but

These morons should turn in their badges and get a job making people miserable at the DMV ... or at least be fitted for meter maid outfits.  Oh, and if a law can be abused in this manner, it's a badly written law, so here's a big fat raspberry to the dimwitted legislators who drafted and enacted it.

Posted by: Jheka at September 27, 2005 14:01 | link | comments (2) |
schmucks, general idiocy, miscellaneous musings

Missed it by THAT Much

Don Adams, easily one of the funniest men to ever stumble across my television screen, has passed away at age 82.  I'm going to turn off my shoe phone today as I mourn his passing.

Posted by: Jheka at September 27, 2005 06:00 | link | comments |
mensches

Ariel Sharon - The Warrior

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been a warrior, on and off of the battlefield, all of his adult life.  I believe that he is now in the midst of what is perhaps his finest hour, showing incredible political and personal (and I mean personal as in risking his life each and every day) courage.  I have very mixed feelings about the Israeli pullout from Gaza.  I cannot say with absolute conviction that it was the right thing to do but, as I have said previously, I sincerely believe that it was, in spite of the tremendous sacrifice and attendant heartache involved.  I also believe that perhaps no man other than Ariel Sharon could have made it, and the possibility of peace and security that it may bring, a reality.

There can be little argument that Ariel Sharon, perhaps like most great men, is a flawed individual.  Nevertheless, if he survives and succeeds in completing his vision, I believe that history will remember him as not only a great Israeli leader but a great warrior for peace on a global scale.  I hope that the Israeli people give him, and themselves, that opportunity.

Posted by: Jheka at September 27, 2005 05:46 | link | comments |
the war against islamism, mensches, miscellaneous musings

Random Monday Night Art

As readers of this blog may know, I'm a big boxing fan.  This past Saturday saw a couple of great fights ... one between heavyweights Wladimir Klitschko and Samuel Peter in which Klitschko was able to get the decision against the stronger Peter in spite of being knocked off his feet three times and between junior welterweights (136-140 lbs.) Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Torres in which the possibly great Cotto (we'll see) stopped Torres, who was all heart and gave Cotto his toughest test yet in a great fight.  It is also worth remembering that boxing is a brutal sport where men get hurt and sometimes die.  One such man was Leavander Johnson, who died due to a brain injury suffered during a brutal beating in a championship fight.  In the end, it was Leavander's heart that killed him.  He just had too much of it.  A lesser man would have fallen much earlier in the fight ... and lived to fight ... and do everything else, again.  Still, in spite of the tragedy that boxing occasionally hands us, the sweet science is a beautiful, visceral sport that is both extraordinarily basic and extraordinarily complex.  When it is at its best, it is as close to pure sport as we get today (anyone who saw the absolutely amazing Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo fight knows what I mean (and if you haven't seen it, look for it on Showtime's free samples if you have On Demand as part of your cable package ... trust me).  Boxing gave us Jack Johnson, who broke racial taboos and The Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, who did more to bring this country together, rich and poor, black and white, than any athlete had or any athlete would until Jackie Robinson started at second base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.  It gave us heroes like Rocky Marciano and Sugar Ray Robinson, villains like Sonny Liston and Mike Tyson and tales of redemption personified by men like James Braddock and George Foreman. 

American artist George Bellows painted some wonderful paintings depicting boxing matches in the early 20th Century.  One of his most famous paintings, which was both social commentary and depiction of sport was entitled "Both Members of This Club."  Painted in 1909, it hangs in Washington D.C.'s National Gallery of Art:

Posted by: Jheka at September 26, 2005 16:41 | link | comments |
art, sports, miscellaneous musings

More Football

You know, I've written a lot, here and elsewhere, about why sports are wonderful and a genuine benefit to society.  I'm not going to go into it now ... but do you remember the story of Tim Frisby?  Well, YAY!

Also, I know that I'll be rooting for the LSU Tigers tonight against Tennessee ... and not just because a Tennessee loss will help Virginia in the rankings while an LSU loss wouldn't ... or because Tennessee ruined the UVA women's basketball team's title hopes in overtime a few years ago or because Tennessee was part of one of the biggest collapses (in both a game and a season) in UVA history (no, I'm not a bitter sports geek or anything ...).  No, it's because LSU will finally get to play their home opener 23 days after Katrina ... and their fans deserve a win (no, really ... that's the reason ... no, seriously).

Geaux Tigers!

Posted by: Jheka at September 26, 2005 13:52 | link | comments |
what s going right, sports, miscellaneous musings

Pass Right

You know, I've never been a big fan of The Notre Dame Fighting Irish but, suddenly, I'm a big fan of their coach.

Posted by: Jheka at September 26, 2005 12:55 | link | comments |
mensches, sports

New Orleans - America's Own Jenin

Remember all of those stories of mass murders and rapes in the Superdome and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center?  Remember the breathless tales of bodies stacked like cordwood and corpses lying, unattended and ignored as officials and evacuees stepped over them?  Well, I have good news and bad news.  The stories have turned out to be almost total bunk.  Baloney.  Bullshit - which is good news for decent human beings everywhere and very bad news for the hysterical idiots who spread these stories and cynical political ghouls who have been using them to advance their agenda.  Make no mistake about it, people who have been using these myths (and especially people who knew better - like Mayor Nagin) were cold blooded opportunists and racists who were perfectly happy to paint he evacuees as bloodthirsty animals who descended to the most vile behavior imaginable (remember all of the stories of child and baby rape?) at the first possible opportunity.

The public figures from all parts of the political spectrum who spread and sought to politically benefit from spreading vile slander against the people of New Orleans should be called out by name.  They should be made to answer for their words.  More imoprtantly, we should all watch and listen and see who continues to spread these lies.  Do not allow opportunistic liars create a false history.  Do not allow them to turn New Orleans into America's Jenin.

Posted by: Jheka at September 26, 2005 07:00 | link | comments (1) |
schmucks, politics, general idiocy

Is Israel Preparing a "Crushing Response?"

Israel has just finished pulling out of Gaza ... and it has already been attacked by Hamas' rockets, fired into Israel from Gaza.  What now?  Now for the response.  We'll see.

Posted by: Jheka at September 24, 2005 06:28 | link | comments |
the war against islamism

Why Do We Insist on Fighting Against Natural Selection?

I mean, what if this idiot manages to breed?  Does the world really have a moron shortage that needs filling?

Posted by: Jheka at September 23, 2005 12:10 | link | comments (3) |
schmucks, general idiocy

The Greatest American - The Finals

Our Poll got horribly delayed due to my move but now we have our top 20.  The usual suspects got the most votes and I think that the people who happened to be in the first and second groups got more votes by virtue of being in the first two polls.  The total votes per poll broke down as follows: 

poll 1: 445 votes
poll 2: 352 votes
poll 3: 295 votes
poll 4: 268 votes
poll 5: 294 votes

As a result, borderline people in group one like Andrew Jackson and Oscar James Madison made it while people in the other polls like Neil Armstrong and Mark Twain just missed.  Oh well, c'est la guerre.

 

Here are your top 20 (along with their vote totals, which will now be wiped clean), which will be in a poll at the bottom of the page shortly:

Ronald Reagan (65)
Thomas Jefferson (62)
Abraham Lincoln (59)
Theodore Roosevelt (59)
George Washington (58)
Thomas Edison (46)
John Adams (41)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (41)
The Wright Brothers (40)
Benjamin Franklin (40)
Alexander Hamilton (39)
Patrick Henry (39)
Alexander Graham Bell (37)
James Madison (34)
Dwight Eisenhower (34)
George Washington Carver (33)
Thomas Paine (32)
Harry Truman (31)
Andrew Jackson (30)

EDIT:  I should note that you can vote once a day but for as many of the top 20 as you like so you can vote for Reagan AND Jefferson AND The Wright Brothers, for example.  Also, if you are familiar with the always popular Beautiful Women and Beautiful Men threads, I am planning to post new ones and am now taking suggestions for both the individuals and for general thread "subjects" in the comments section.

In case you are curious, click below to see the final perliminary poll results:

Posted by: Jheka at September 22, 2005 14:52 | link | comments (4) |
miscellaneous musings

A Giant Has Passed Away

Simon Wiesenthal, a man who personified the term "never again" has died in his sleep at the age of 96.  The Nazis murdered 89 of his relatives in their death camps.  He helped bring 1,100 of the murderers to justice.

Thank you, Mr. Wiesenthal.  Thank you.

Posted by: Jheka at September 20, 2005 06:31 | link | comments (1) |
mensches

Al Qaeda's Unwilling Murderers

This story of a man kidnapped, beaten, drugged and coerced by al Qaeda into becoming a would-be suicide bomber will surely disappoint George Galloway, Michael Moore and their fellow travellers who like to wax poetic about the brave "Miutemen" of the Iraqi resistance who are heroically sacrificing themselves against their evil oppressors (by murdering worshipping Iraqis). 

Posted by: Jheka at September 19, 2005 07:37 | link | comments |
the war against islamism, iraq

Democratic Underground is Despondent

DUers just can't understand ... why won't America collapse already? 

Poor, poor DUers ... I wonder how many of them are planning to move south into the loving embrace of their latest Marxist hero ... or maybe they'll move to their Stalinist friend's district.  You know, if they promise not to ever come back, I'll happily chip in for the plane tickets.  I bet I'm not the only one.

Posted by: Jheka at September 17, 2005 08:34 | link | comments |
schmucks, leftist idiocy

Friday Poetry

Ah, poetry, how I've missed you.  Here's something in honor of the art and adventure of dating, which is another thing that I've missed:

Twice Shy

Her scarf a la Bardot,
In suede flats for the walk,
She came with me one evening
For air and friendly talk.
We crossed the quiet river,
Took the embankment walk.

Traffic holding its breath,
Sky a tense diaphragm:
Dusk hung like a backcloth
That shook where a swan swam,
Tremulous as a hawk
Hanging deadly, calm.

A vacuum of need
Collapsed each hunting heart
But tremulously we held
As hawk and prey apart,
Preserved classic decorum,
Deployed our talk with art.

Our Juvenilia
Had taught us both to wait,
Not to publish feeling
And regret it all too late -
Mushroom loves already
Had puffed and burst in hate.

So, chary and excited,
As a thrush linked on a hawk,
We thrilled to the March twilight
With nervous childish talk:
Still waters running deep
Along the embankment walk.

Seamus Heaney

Posted by: Jheka at September 16, 2005 13:37 | link | comments |
poetry

Random Tuesday Night Art

 Time for some art ... I'm in the nation's capitol ... so here's something American ... Edward Hopper's New York Movie, a 1939 painting that hangs in the New York Museum of Modern Art:

Posted by: Jheka at September 13, 2005 18:41 | link | comments (6) |
art

Never Forget

 Never stop being grateful:

Posted by: Jheka at September 11, 2005 07:20 | link | comments |
art, the war against islamism, mensches

Mike Luckovich is a Vile Race Baiting Ghoul

 

No tragedy is too large to prevent some disgusting people from taking their cheap, unfair, divisive political hacks.  Mike Luckuvich ... into the trashbin with Moore, Ted Rall,Markos “Screw Them” Moulitsas Zuniga and other such scum with you.

Posted by: Jheka at September 11, 2005 07:08 | link | comments (1) |
schmucks, leftist idiocy

A New Beginning

 My new life starts today.  It starts, perhaps as it should, with a roadtrip.  Some time tonight or tomorrow, Rummy, Bogie and I will move into our new city. 

Wish us luck and, if you bump into us, make sure to say hi. 

Posted by: Jheka at September 11, 2005 06:58 | link | comments (6) |
miscellaneous musings