Stewie Griffin: Code Red

According the the Washington Post, the TSA is still not only pulling large numbers of innocent civilians out of the airline boarding process because of watch list mixups, but has even been doing so to young children and infants who happen to have the same name as adults on the list. At least they're too young to have the ACLU's phone number memorized.

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The U.S. Military: Hunting Terrorists and Fostering Biodiversity

There's a fascinating article in this week's issue of Nature (reg. req'd.) on how parcels of land used for active U.S. military training in Germany contain more biodiversity and higher populations of endangered species than that nation's "pristine" national parks.

The logic is simple, really - some species, both plants and animals, require disruption in order to flourish. Some plant seeds won't open until they've been singed by a forest fire, and some animal species can't compete in a mature habitat where all the existing niches are filled by comfortable incumbents. Shaking up the habitat with a few live-fire artillery exercizes or mock tank battles seems to improve the overall habitat diversity and make places for species that wouldn't be able to find space in a national park where no one ever hunts, fells trees or paves a road.

Witness the reflection of one scientist, ecologist Steven Warren of Colorado State University in Fort Collins:

"Some people are very anti-military," Warren says. "They assume that there's nothing the military can do that will be beneficial, particularly with relation to ecology." Warren, who doesn't work for the army, used to assume the same himself. "Twenty years ago I looked at military activities as an ecologist and thought 'they need me'. But I guess that's not really so."

So if you love Mother Earth, forget the trees - hug a member of the U.S. Armed Forces.

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The EU Breaks Eggs in sub-Saharan Africa

In what has become a depressingly frequent story, Western governments are again trying to dictate wildly inapropriate environmental and public health policies to poor countries whose citizens may very well end up paying with their lives. As Richard Tren and Marian Tupy explain, the EU is trying to pressure the Ugandan government into dropping DDT as part of their anti-malaria efforts, despite the hundres of millions of lives the insecticide has saved. DDT is, of course, unpopular in the U.S. and EU because of its legacy as an agricultural insecticide which allegedly caused eggshell thinning in some large predatory birds. The fact that its current use would be to save the lives of the poor and sick in Africa in small doses rather than kill agricultural pests in the U.S. in massive amounts seems to make very little difference to those currently in power.

Thanks to Kendra Okonski and The Commons Blog.

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Another Sign He Just Doesn't Care Anymore

That Ralph Nader is one classy political communicator. From today's Washington Examiner:

"At a recent fundraiser, perennial — and generally ignored — presidential candidate Ralph Nader likened his removal from ballots in such southern states as Georgia and Virginia to the Jim Crow laws that segregated blacks from whites, saying that 'I felt like a nigger.'"

Is he trying to become the Quentin Tarantino of leftist politics? Could it be he styles himself a white man so hip he can get away with dropping the n-bomb during an on-the-record speech? I'll keep an eye out for any dinner dates with Harvey Keitel and Uma Thurman.

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Run, Howard Run!

If anything can erase the oleaginous mendacious of Terry McAuliffe, it's the Vermont governor who made sure his voice was heard around the world. He may have wilted under the specter of Kerry's alleged electability, but at least you know where he stands. May the DNC and all of its sparkling prospects for future success be yours, Dr. Dean.

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The Only Fat Man in Pyongyang

Will hiking trips of well-fed South Koreans plant seeds of doubt in the wisdom of the Dear Leader?

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DreamWorks is Turning Your Kids Queer

The story of an animated vegetarian shark could be the first step towards something unnatural going on in the mind of your child, warns the American Family Association. Ironically, in the world of Shark Tale, being gay means not having an appetite for man meat.

Cruel link of the day.

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Liberal Arrogance, Revised

My ignorance amazes even me. I finally learned the source of the "How could he have won? I don't know a single person who voted for him!" quote from a couple posts ago. It's not a joke - it was supposedly uttered by film critic Pauline Kael about Nixon's defeat of McGovern in 1972. I lament my poor fact-checking, but am delighted by the fact that it was actually uttered by a real clueless Manhattan lefty. I'd rather it have actually been about Reagan than a neo-liberal megalomaniac like Richard Nixon, but it's still funny. Of course there are slightly different versions of the quote floating around. One website has the emphasis reversed: "Take a lesson from Pauline Kael, Paul. In 1973, she said she couldn't believe McGovern lost. She said, 'Everybody I know voted for him.' (He lost 49 states.)"

Enlightenment courtesy of a great piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education on the phenomenon of 'liberal groupthink' on university campuses.

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Jews on Stage

Mike Reiss, writer and producer for The Simpsons recently made it to Northwestern University for a lecture to the local Hillel kids, and he gave the crowd what they wanted. A Simpsons movie? Yes. How do the people on the show feel about critical, obsessive fans? "Go fuck yourself." Well, we knew that already.

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Welcome to the Wilderness

I sent this (in more or less the same format) earlier today to my uncle, who wore a Veterans for Kerry button over the course of the campaign. It won't be easy, but it's something the those who feel defeated need to read:

The real happiness for me coming out of the election is the shocked expression on the faces of all of the pretentious, sanctimonious celebrities and activists who were so sure Kerry would save the day. The kind of people who think that all Republicans are greedy idiots. This kind of studied disdain for Red State people turned out more indignant Bush voters than the elite media types will ever know. Every time Michael Moore was interviewed about how Bush - and by extension, his supporters - are "criminally stupid" he bought the Bush/Cheney ticket another 50,000 votes. I'm shocked at how few people seem to realize that. But it reminds me also that this Democratic intellectual snobbery isn't new. A favorite joke among Republicans in DC goes like this: it's the week after the 1980 election and a group of upwardly mobile Manhattanites are at a cocktail party commiserating over how badly Carter had just gotten beat. One woman, clearly still shocked at the loss, says to her friends "I can't understand how Reagan won...not a single person I know voted for him!" [note: I got the details wrong on that one. See "Liberal Arrogance, Revised," above] I've heard people at Republican gatherings tell that one dozens of times, and it always gets a laugh. I also remember telling it to a particularly liberal friend of mine and got nothing but a blank stare. Nationally the Democrats keep repeating that they're the "party of the people," as opposed to Republicans who are supposedly the lackeys of corporate interests. How they could be so out of touch with reality that they still seem to actually believe that is breathtaking. They lost almost everything that really counted - across the board. They kept Pete Coors from joining the Senate. That's it. They were massacred on every level and they still think they represent the "real" America that's been hijacked by a handful of Republican bad guys. That's not optimism - that's living in fantasy land. And if the DNC doesn't fire Terry McAuliffe and hire someone who can cock-slap the party back into reality they're going to simply keep losing...and losing...and losing. Which, as it turns out, I'm perfectly fine with.

But hey, Kerry voters, don't feel too bad about the election. My DC insider connections tell me that Halliburton and ExxonMobil will be dictating much more centrist White House policy from now on in an attempt to bring the nation together. Let the healing begin!

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