Children of Palestinian Suicide Bomber

And this just in from "Parents Magazine:"

"Embrace the mess! Learn to prioritize, find ways to simplify your life, and recruit your kids help in any way they can."

And...

"My daughter is only 15 months but loves to sit on the potty. Is it too early to toilet-train her?"

And...

"Will my martyrdom adversely affect my child's emotional health? ...Not that I care."

The Great Global Warming Swindle Part 1 (of 8)

I found particularly interesting the natural - preCO2 - fluctuations of the last 2000 years.

Upon Request

"The untold want, by life and land ne'er granted,
Now, Voyager, sail thou forth to seek and find."

-Walt Whitman

Thanks for the email, and sorry it took me so long.

I first read this call to travel and adventure 35 years ago, back when I was a timid, sheltered 18 year old.

...I'm still thinking it over.

The Great Global Warming Swindle - Introduction

I haven't heard these guys quoted on the news... Or the weather chanel... Or anywhere else.

Al? Have you lied to us, Al?

The Ungrateful Foreign Left

I read a comment over at Skyepuppy's blog (always great reading) which I'll share here:

"I'd really like to ignore you Americans and leave you to your lunacy but unfortunately your quest for global full spectrum dominance is impinging upon everyone else's lives.

Couldn't you break the habit and stay within your own borders? Maybe buy the stuff you need rather than steal it?

You know, like civilised people...." confusedforeigner

The "Civilised people" this Aussie describes are scattered throughout history... also referred to as the "conquered people."

Foreign Lefties "rise and sleep under the blanket of the very freedom that we provide, and then question the manner in which we provide it"... to quote a certain general...

They whine and complain about the U.S.A. - all the while denying the undeniable... that they owe us for every bit of goodness - every bit of freedom in their lives. They also owe their unsophisticated predecessors and contemporaries who have fought alongside the Leaders of the Free World.

Tyrants don't take away the foreign Leftist's freedom - but not because they're "just so smart and clever..."

Tyrants are kept at bay because brave young men fall in battle.

If Malott Was King

As a public service, Malott's Blog will attempt enlighten the blogging world as to the question that is on every one's mind... What would the world be like... If Malott was King.

In our first installment we explore the question...

How would we vote... If Malott was King?

1) If you wanted the privilege to to vote, you would have to be able to speak English. Heck, you shouldn't even be able to immigrate if you can't speak English.

2) If you are, or ever have been an illegal alien, you cannot vote.

3) If you pay no taxes, you cannot vote.

4) If you have served in the Military, you get to vote twice.

That's a good start. Please leave any additions or corrections in the comments.

There should never be an intelligence test to qualify for voting, but demonstrating a certain amount of knowledge...? Here is a site that has a voting test that you might like.

I scored 98%.

Jihad

A short history of jihad. I found this at Front Page Mag.

You might want to turn down the music. It's that opera thing by Carl Orff that was used in Excalibur and The Omen... and no one wants to hear it.

Ann Coulter Reigns

Ann is the William F Buckley Jr. of political humor and satire. If there is a sharper or more biting wit out there, I don't know who it would be. Democrats despise her, but oh how they wish they had one like her.

I've read several liberal blogs - which call her names - but they seem to have trouble arguing with the points she makes.

She is the "smart" and lovely woman that so many little Liberal guys could never get... The one they can't impress with their Liberal pseudo-intellectual drivel. Too much competition for their fragile male egos... I understand.

But a bright woman should be appreciated... She should be exercise for their intellect... To simply call her names only exposes their insecurities.

So bring on the criticism and the pathetic attempts to discredit and disarm her. She is up to it.

Sarah Silverman TV Show clip

This is too funny not to post.

Atheist Update

I have had a fun week over at Arthur Vandelay's (pseudonym a la Seinfeld) Five Public Opinions site. Arthur is a very bright guy and for the most part dealt fairly with my comments. I picked out a couple highlights.

AV: I haven't ruled out anything. This is generally the first assumption most theists make when they encounter an atheist, and it amounts to a basic misunderstanding.
I don't believe in a god because, there being no evidence for the existence of god/s, there is no reason to believe in their existence.

Malott: I'm also amazed at the zeal with which you all reject even the mention of "intelligent design" in the public school. You are every bit as unyielding as any fundamentalist I know.

AV: There is nothing fundamentalist about the demand that science be taught in science classrooms. Intelligent design/Creationism doesn't count: it inverts the scientific method (it presupposes certain conclusions about the universe and then seeks to make the facts fit the presuppositions), it isn't falsifiable (how do you falsify the conclusion that "God did it?"), it violates the very definition of science (science seeks natural explanations for natural phenomena; ID/C demands that we abandon this search without explaining why), it is based upon a series of logical fallacies (including the Argument from Ignorance: "There is a gap in our knowledge about x, therefore Goddidit"; or the Argument from Design: "It looks designed, therefore it is designed") and it lacks positive content, being based almost entirely upon attacking evolution and presenting itself--again without proper justification or evidence--as the default alternative explanation.

Malott: Look, you make a very interesting and sophisticated argument, but for evolution to work you need the first cell - and Jr High Biology and common sense should tell you the first cell didn't just compose itself. Chloroplasts, DNA, messenger RNA, RNA template, and other structures didn't just show up one day inside a semi-permeable membrane, spatially arranged in a matter that would allow it to maintain and reproduce itself.

This alone should squeeze at least a mention of intelligent design into the classroom.

AV: We don't know, Malott. But "we don't know" does not by default mean "Goddidit." It means that scientific knowledge is not such that the question is able to be answered yet. That doesn't mean that it can never, will never be answered.

...intelligent design at the end of the day is not an explanation. It's just another way of saying "we don't know." It's just another way of saying "We don't know; therefore, God." Argument from ignorance. God-in-the-gaps. These are logical fallacies, and you can't have science built upon logical fallacies.

Then there is this guy named Bruce that also comments on the site. He comes across as very arrogant - and either communicates poorly or tries to impress with obscure references and tortuous long-winded arguments. (Then again, maybe he is just much smarter than I am.)

Bruce annoyed me, and so I'll list only my responses to a couple subjects:

Malott:
Bruce,
Surely you are a teacher. I recognize the "attitude."I'm sure you get away with being the pedantic bully in the classroom. You love to rough up the egos of children? Probably compensates for a myriad of personal insecurities.
I'm sure you're doing your best, but being flawed - as am I - you might study humility. It will help you accept your short-comings, like yourself, and be a better "encourager" of your wards.

Malott:
Bruce,
You're well-schooled...But I believe that if there was evidence championing gay-longevity... You would have already produced it. The fact that the claim to the contrary has been made - and remains unanswered by a very Liberal world of Academia... suggests to me that Gays do not live as long as the rest of us...And I wonder why you don't want this taught in Public Schools... for the sake of the children?

Malott:
AV,I do appreciate you for entertaining my questions, though "Bruce the Pompous" says you needn't.

Malott:
Bruce,
A pompous person should not be so sensitive.

Malott:
Bruce,
You're allowing your hurt feelings to cloud your judgement.
I wrote to AV above, "for evolution to work, you need the first cell."
If you weren't in such an emotional dither, you'd recognize that this suggests I know the difference between biopoietic theories and evolutionary theories.
Now buck-up young man and get a hold of yourself.

At this point Bruce appealed to his reputation at the site, suggesting that all involved knew he was rational and well-adjusted.

Malott:
Bruce,
Methinks thou dost protest too much.
Denial will only postpone recovery.
"Now, Voyager, sail thou forth to seek and find."

Then AV chimed in concerning my Bruce abuse: ...rather than being reduced to sniping from the sidelines, you could address his points.

(Perhaps Arthur makes a good point.)

Anyway, it's been fun. It's a well written and interesting blog, and though I agree with none of it... It is interesting.

1/2 Hour News Hour - 2nd episode clip

I love this.
Canada...

Enjoying Being a Girl

"I am Ayaan, the daughter of Hirsi, the son of Magan."

Thus begins the extraordinary story of a woman born into a family of desert nomads, circumcised as a child, educated by radical imams in Kenya and Saudi Arabia, taught to believe that if she uncovered her hair, terrible tragedies would ensue. It's a story that, with a few different twists, really could have led to a wretched life and a lonely death, as her grandmother warned. But instead, Hirsi Ali escaped -- and transformed herself into an internationally renowned spokeswoman for the rights of Muslim women.

Note: This is the Washington Post at its most "politically correct" - referring to genital mutilation as circumcision.

In 2004, Hirsi Ali helped a Dutch director, Theo van Gogh, make a controversial film, "Submission," about Muslim women suffering from forced marriages and wife beating. Van Gogh was murdered by an angry Muslim radical in response, and Hirsi Ali went into hiding.

Curiously, what seems to rankle Europeans most is the enthusiasm with which Hirsi Ali has adopted their own secularism, and the fervor with which she has embraced their own Western values. Though this is a continent whose intellectuals routinely disparage the pope as an irrelevant dinosaur, Hirsi Ali's rejection of religion in favor of reason, intellect, and emancipation seems to make everyone nervous. Typical is the British feminist who complained that not only does Hirsi Ali paint "the whole of the Islamic world with one black brush," she also "paints the whole of the western world with rosy tints," which is of course far more objectionable.

The left in this country hasn't embraced her... Probably because she is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank... Which is also probably why Newsweek's article about her is titled, "A Bombthrower's Life."

Oddly, the people Ali writes about, the real bombthrowers, would never be called bombthrowers by Newsweek.

Joel Surnow's

When I see Obama i think of the movie "Little Big Man" - when Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George) says, "Yes, the 'black' white man; I have heard of them."

Who Decides What is Best for Our Public Schools?

I have of late been involved in a discussion of what is appropriate instruction for grammar and high school children. I found a statement that perfectly sums up my feelings at lain Hall.

I have the greatest respect for teachers( I am married to one after all) but the people who have a clear right to judge them are not their peers but the parents, and students, who make use of their services. We as parents expect that the teachers in our schools will act as our proxies, to teach OUR children, as WE desire them to be taught.

Perfectly said.

Burka Band -Burka Blue

In Afghanistan girls aren't supposed to play music or sing songs. But 25-year-old Nargiz didn't care. She started the Burka Band, the first Afghan girl band ever.
25-year-old Nargiz laughs when she shows us the video in Kabul , the capital of Afghanistan . She is one of the three girls who started the Burka Band two years ago.
- It was a lot of fun, but also very scary. Afghanistan is still a very dangerous place for modern women, and when we shot the video we had to do it very discreetely because no one could know that we were playing music, says Nargiz.
http://www.lnd.dk/burkaband_eng.htm

The 1/2 Hour News Hour

Heaven.

Al Gore is a Big Man

Real big. Really really big. He is Marlon Brando big. Not Orson Welles big...

But big.

The Hillary Rodham Clinton Campaign stated that they are watching his weight. If he starts losing... He's running.

A Fundie in Full

Liberal Atheists have a name for fundamentalist Christians: "Fundies"

I've been frolicking at a blog called Five Public Opinions - managed by an Australian-Liberal-Atheist-Teacher who believes, along with his friends, that those who are not "teacher-trained" should have no voice in setting curricula, though I believe they are willing to continue collecting and using non-teacher-trained tax dollars.

It's been interesting, and has inspired me to eclipse my former ambition to become "A Man in Full" - by instead becoming a "Fundie in Full."

On the FPO blog I have also been arguing that gays have a much shorter life span, and that this information should be taught in Public Schools for the sake of the children.

They reject my data. In fact I've learned that I am a bigot - I suppose because I don't agree with them. Can't argue with that.

Actually it's been fun because how can a Pedantic-Liberal-Atheist-Elitist stand up to a Fundie in Full.

Media Bias Defined

Over at Logic Lifeline "All I Can Stands" defined media bias perfectly when he wrote:

Ever notice that the media will probe in an area that has no known basis or proof when it comes to a conservative. Yet for liberals it takes a video and 100 witnesses before they will even consider probing. Fishing for dirt on conservatives is a daily exercise while deflecting dirt on the liberals is given equal effort.

As long as the media is a hidden wing of the Democrat party - a silent partner in the business of Liberalism - Republican and Democrat indiscretions will be weighed with different sets of scales.

My Environmental Pledge

I've been changed. Yes, really changed. In these past few days when I see myself, I seem like someone else.

I pledge to keep my use of greenhouse gas-producing energy at or below the levels used by Al Gore, Barbra Streisand, Brad Pitt, Susan Sarandon, George Clooney, and the other Evangelists of the Left.

If everyone in America does that, we just might save our world.

As I continue my enlightenment - my slow but sweet drift towards the Left - I find that the Academy Award Winning Al Gore has become my Superstar. He's a man. He's just a man.

I don't know how to love him.