Idiotic Spam

Content of a spam e-mail message received just now:

copolymer ligand supremacy efflorescent dod guillemot absolution descend anther ascribe escalate educate wield boniface sightsee supervisory bottleneck abe geyser destruct invertible injure derby daly chinamen flick hanna crosswise cockleshell chairman knotty decca clattery prepare aleck sandra abridge beater bonneville inoculate prophesy convect effluvium declarative australia resorcinol seaquake aromatic vale advisee acrimonious teeth dickey councilwoman univariate cerulean cookbook risk commiserate frown flatworm cast bracket countryside belgrade borderland inhabitation nebulous cataclysmic antiperspirant ...

... Etc. What is the point?

Way Too Many Books

"The Power and Politics of Blogs"

Daniel Drezner and Henry Farrell have co-authored an academic paper on the blogosphere. All are invited to read and comment on their findings. The abstract:

Weblogs occupy an increasingly important place in American politics. Their influence presents a puzzle: given the disparity in resources and organization vis-à-vis other actors, how can a collection of decentralized, nonprofit, contrarian, and discordant websites exercise any influence over political and policy outputs? This paper answers that question by focusing on two important aspects of the “blogosphere”: the distribution of readers across the array of blogs, and the interactions between significant blogs and traditional media outlets. Under specific circumstances – when key weblogs focus on a new or neglected issue – blogs can socially construct an agenda or interpretive frame that acts as a focal point for mainstream media, shaping and constraining the larger political debate.

Interesting stuff!

9/11 Commission Report: Now Available

The PDF version of the report can be found here.



Bound copies of the report can be purchased from Amazon.



Remain vigilant!

UPDATE: An overview on reading the report can be found here.

More on Sandy Berger

From The Corner:

ARCHIVE MISHAPS [Fr. George W. Rutler]



On a recent visit to the library of Trinity College, Dublin, about seventy pages of the Book of Kells inadvertently fell into my underwear. To my surprise, I later found several major illuminated pages in my socks. If the library wants these pages back, I'll see what I can find, although my desk is always a mess, as everyone knows. I assumed the library had photocopies of the whole Book. So it is no big deal. In fact, when I mentioned this to my friends at the Vatican Library, they all had a good laugh. I do not understand all the fuss. I must say that I find the timing suspicious. Everyone knows that in the late eighth century the Vikings tried to grab these pages, and where were the investigative reporters then? Fortunately, I have entrusted these items to an antiquarian friend in Chappaqua.



PS Silly me: My dry cleaner tells me that the original Donation of Constantine somehow found its way into the lining of one of my jackets. I have always been neglectful of my dress.

Great continuing coverage here, including a document pants/socks stuffing contest.

"An Honest Mistake"

"It was an honest mistake," said Mr. Berger, who until this morning was an advisor to Democrat presidential hopeful John Forbes Kerry. "I accidentally wrapped the Constitution around my left leg and mistakenly secured it with rubber bands."



More here.

35 Years Ago Today

Neil Armstrong stepped on the surface of the moon on this day, and at this time, 35 years ago.



Oh, how I wish today's generation had the opportunity to witness something this profound.



"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

(Psalm 8:3-4 NIV)

Problem Endorsements

Communists for Kerry.



[Hat tip to Jeff]

What Is In Dennis Miller's Pants?

I've been watching Dennis Miller's show on CNBC this evening. I haven't really watched the show since it first debuted on CNBC, but I caught it today to see what, if anything, he would have to say about the burgeoning Sandy Berger trouser scandal (I'll let someone else call it TrouserGate). Anyway, Miller is addressing today's "expert" panel, and he visually demonstrated, by removing his jacket and shoving his script into his pant, how ridiculous Berger's "inadvertancy" claim really is.



UPDATE: Laura Ingraham is on air and just reminded me that Fawn Hall also tried smuggling documents in her pants.

'Root Causes of Terrorism '

Jeff (last name unknown) over at Beautiful Atrocities has created a chronology that resolves the "root cause" argument. A short excerpt:

• 50 million years ago: First cartilaginous fishes
• 240 million years ago: Gore Vidal born

Read the whole thing here.

Terror in the Skies Followup

Annie Jacobsen promised a followup to her gripping account of a recent flight she took from Detroit to Los Angeles. You can read the latest here.



My confidence in airport/airline security is rapidly waning, and it seems that everyone is terrified that they'll be accused of insensitivity if they act on suspicious activity. None of this is reassuring, and, as usual, I encourage everyone to remain vigilant.

Good News Roundup

Writing for OpinionJournal, Arthur Cherenkoff has a great summary of the good news that has transpired in Iraq for the past fortnight. Says Cherenkoff:

In many ways, it now falls to the political blogs to do the work one would expect from the mainstream media--to provide a fair and balanced picture of situation in Iraq. It's the blogs that dig up the information, disseminate it, and bring to everyone's attention the more outrageous examples of media bias or carelessness with facts. As John Leo wrote recently, "What's new about the press is that so many people who follow it with a critical eye now have an outlet to howl about inaccuracy and partisanship. The big media used to be able to shrug off critics like this. Now they can't."

Long live the blog!