Sine Qua Non

What Happens If israel Takes Them at Their Word?

Here's to your short, but exciting life:

A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday.

Stop the Presses!

Another vice like grip on the short and curly hairs of the bleeding obvious:

Heart surgery, depression tied

The Key Word Here is "Win"

Divide and lose, sure:

Howard Dean told the nation's oldest Hispanic rights group on Wednesday that Democrats will not use the issue of immigration to divide the country and win in the upcoming midterm elections.

Alrighty, Then

Pentagon says homosexuality not a mental disorder

A Pentagon spokesman then said, "not that there's not anything wrong with that," since this statement has no impact on U.S. policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving in the military.

The Old Chicken or Egg Problem

Generally, I am opposed to setting withdrawal dates in the place of mission complete statements, but since they won't be able to hold up their side of the bargain, maybe we should take them up on their offer:

Eleven Sunni insurgent groups have offered an immediate halt to all attacks — including those on American troops — if the United States agrees to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq in two years, insurgent and government officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The again, if all insurgent attacks really did stop, my guess is that it wouldn't take two years for US forces to be largely out of Iraq.

If Only I Were Running Caption Contests

Presenter Danny Glover, left, kisses Harry Belafonte backstage after Belafonte received the BET humanitarian award during the 6th annual BET Awards on Tuesday, June 27, 2006, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Putin kisses boy's stomach.

Don't Mention the Anti-War

Bill Keller as Basil Fawlty:

In a letter to readers, Keller complained about the "angry words of conservative bloggers and TV or radio pundits who say that drawing attention to the government's anti-terror measures is unpatriotic and dangerous." He questioned "why they are drawing so much attention to the story themselves by yelling about it on the airwaves and the Internet."

So if someone does something I regard as egregiously wrong-headed or wicked, the proper response is for me to keep my blog shut about it?

Oskee Wow Wow!

I have to reference this and this for posterity. Well stated, Dr. Kupchella.

Here's a small sample from the second link of Dr. Kupchella's letters to the NCAA:

Perhaps the most amazing thing is that through all of this except for stirring things up you have accomplished nothing. Your stand against Indian nicknames and logos a stand that seem to start out against all references to races and national origin fizzled before it started when you left out Irish, Celtics, Vandals, and a host of other names. Then, for highly convoluted, hypocritical, and in some instances mysterious reasons, you exempted the Aztecs and other American Indian nicknames at the outset and, following that, you exempted the use of Chippewa, the Utes, the Choctaws, the Catawbas, and the Seminoles, leaving the NCAA position on even American Indian nicknames about as solid as room-temperature Jell-O. All of this was, and remains, highly arbitrary and capricious.

Betcha Miles and his buddies aren't accustomed to hearing someone speak truth to their unquestioned power.

"The Blog, It Just Be Callin' Me"

With apologies to Chris Rock's character Pookie in Mario Van Peeble's New Jack City, a greatly understimated work, IMHO, but I digress, over at The Corner, Tim Graham concludes a post with:

What’s really surprising is that Olbermann goes out in public and claims he doesn’t display a political POV.

I would have thought that "and claims he doesn't display a political POV" was redundant.

It's Bearded Spock's Universe, We're Just Living In It

Can you spot the problem with this story?

New Orleans Police said a security guard shot a man in the face at a hotel in the Central Business District Tuesday morning.

The guard, who Bryson said identified himself as Christopher Marlowe, then pulled out a .40 caliber handgun and shot Beelman once in the face.

If you can spot the problem, post it in the comments. I now return to blogospheric seclusion.

P.S. R.I.P. Acidman.