John Fund, August 1, 2002:
Horst Schakat, a former political prisoner in East Germany[.]
John Fund, September 19, 2005:
Horst Schakat, a German who created a series of successful businesses in California for 30 years but retired to his native land in 2001.
One doesn’t exclude the other of course — but when the only Google hit is Fund’s 2002 column, we get a bit suspicious.
A post last year about polling generated a lot of discussion. Since then we’ve come across plenty of conservatives complaining about this or that poll — as though polling is little more than the devil’s work because after all, Satan loves his representative samples displaying no signs of heteroscedacity when running OLS regressions. The latest should be in a category all its own however. Writing about the results of yesterday’s elections in Germany, Davids “Brent Bozell” Medienkritik writes:
One of the biggest losers in this election will be the pollsters as they clearly and dramatically failed to accurately predict the correct outcome. [Emphasis in the original.]
If you want to predict the future, you call Mrs. Cleo’s Psychic Hotline. Polls can no more predict the future than you can predict next week’s weather by looking out your window today. Properly run, polls are a wonderful thing. The latest polls provided estimates that, given their margin of error, were within spitting distance of the actual results. So why is it that some people are always yapping on about pollsters? Is it because they tell us a certain failure is extremely unpopular, unless the US is being attacked or is attacking? Is it something else? Maybe our conservative reader (Dr. BLT) can tell us.
Bonus points: As long as we’re writing (kind of) about the German election — the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund writes:
Most voters and nearly all of the business community wanted a decisive result. Instead the peculiarities of Germany’s parliamentary system delivered a complete mess… [Emphasis added]
For those not familiar with Germany, the peculiarities of its parliamentary system are usually, and normally, called a proportional representation system.
… because Wilson C. Lucom, an old favorite of Pete at the Dark Window, is back with a vengeance. Let’s hear what everyone’s favorite Newsmax columnist is up to this time:
Should Hitler Have Been Assassinated?
Wilson C. LucomThe answer to the question “Should Hitler been assassinated?” is a resounding “YES!”
I’m inclined to agree, even though assassinating Hitler probably wouldn’t have prevented World War II since he had an entire government of like-minded nutcases working under him. But watch: Lucom’s about to take a reasonable premise- that assassinating Hitler would have been a good thing- and transform it into a scene from Gimme Gimme Octopus as directed by David Lynch.
Read the rest of this entry »
[Update: P. Zizzy is in New York, and hooked up with EvolveTV for an interview segment. That’s Atrios on the right, doing the interviewing. And we must say: This rare Atrios pic is a boon to all, because it helps supplant that terrible brick-red one that has until now been the Photoshop image of first resort.]
From comments: Gaijin Biker, the wingnut proprieter of the actually pretty thoughtful RidingSun.com, writes:
One problem with equating complaints about the crescent memorial with complaints about the Burger King ice cream package is that the two items are vastly different in terms of significance, meaning, and longevity.
One is, well, a memorial. It will commemorate Americans who heroically fought back against an enemy who launched an attack on this country based, in part, on an Islamist rationale.
Given that the memorial is meant to last for ages and stand for certain principles, and given the role that radical Islamists played in the events inspiring its construction, it is entirely approrpiate to ask whether it is serving that end, or if it is in fact sending an inappropriate or mixed message, intentionally or not.
The Burger King ice cream lid, on the other hand, is designed, simply, to package a tasty portion of ice cream. It has nothing to do with remembering any event, and has no connection to any religion. It not meant to send any message (other than “ice cream inside”). And after use, it is thrown away and forgotten, if indeed it was ever consciously considered.
When it comes to scrutinizing their meaning, should we equate a war memorial with a fast-food wrapper? Sadly, no.
Posted by Gaijin Biker at September 19, 2005 05:35 AM
No, watch; it’s like this.
Religion of Silly Seething
Here?s a followup to yesterday?s post about a Muslim Burger King employee who threatened a jihad over a design for an ice cream package that resembled the Arabic symbol for ?Allah.?Burger King promptly capitulated and removed the product from their stores.
Today The Sun published a picture of the dastardly dessert. (Hat tip: zulubaby.)
UPDATE at 9/18/05 3:53:15 pm:
Jeff Goldstein gets all semiotic with it.
3:40 PM PDT
Oh wait, this just in:
Stare into the crescent… The crescent… The crescent…
DAK DAK DAK DAK DAK…
[BOOMPA-DOOMPA]
YAK DAK DAK DAK DAK…
Read the rest of this entry »
Hi, New York Times.
Pentagon Construction Boom Beefs Up Mideast Air Bases
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: September 18, 2005AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar, Sept. 15 – Even as the Pentagon is mulling plans to begin reducing the number of American combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan next spring, the military has more than $1.2 billion in construction under way or on the drawing board to upgrade 16 air bases throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia.
Hmm, very interesting. Wonder what that’s about?
Commanders insist they are not planning a permanent American presence, but merely carrying out essential repairs to runways, ramps, storage depots, and air field lighting to better serve current operations. And they have insisted that the Iraqi and Afghan governments will have the final say on when American forces will leave.
“We’re not constructing it to have a permanent, enduring presence,” Brig. Gen. Allen G. Peck, deputy commander of American air forces in the Middle East, said of the construction at Bagram. “It’s a pretty rustic, expeditionary operation.”
Oh, that clears that up. Welp, time for Saturday iPod blogging.
YAK DAK DAK DAK DAK…
[BOOMPA-DOOMPA]
DAK DAK DAK DAK DAK…
Read the rest of this entry »
There’s a rather amusing feud goin’ down between Andrew Sullivan and the Power Tools. The whole thing is worth reading, but this line by Hinderocket is just freaking hilarious:
I was an admirer of Andrew’s for a long time–in truth, I still am–but it seems to me that ever since he decided, for whatever reasons, to turn his back on the Bush administration, his writing has lacked coherence.
So in Hinderocket’s world, “coherence” equates with “being a porker for the Bush administration.” There’s something almost refreshing about someone who’s intellectually honest enough to admit they don’t ever think for themselves.
Isn’t that lozenge with the waterfall blinking ‘Photoshop Me!’ in just the most ardent fashion?
[Update for Crooks & Liars folks: Mike actually wanted to send y’all to this post.]
