Fiat Lux – Page 148 – It's Latin for 'Let There Be Light'

Reason #265,382 Why Bill O’Reilly is a Jerk

by way of KRON-4:

O’Reilly reacted to San Franciscans approval of Proposition I, which discourages military recruiters on public high school and college campuses.

He advised President George W. Bush to react by withdrawing any military protection for the city. “…If al-Qaida comes in here and blows you up, we’re not going to do anything about it. We’re going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead,” O’Reilly said.

On the one hand, jerky people are going to make jerky statements, and calling them out can make the jerks seem more important than they are.

On the other hand, it is important to call jerky people on their jerkiness, because silence can equal assent. And saying that it’s OK to bomb San Francisco is not OK.

Coit Tower, for those unfamiliar with it, is a memorial honoring San Francisco firefighters.

Friday iTunes Blogging

Haven’t done this in a while … here’s my totally random 10 from iTunes today:

I Like It Like That – Tito Puente
Bon Voyage – Vangelis
Hear the Voices – The Manhattan Transfer
The Safety Dance – Men Without Hats
Zanzibar – Billy Joel
With Every Breath I Take – City of Angels (Original Broadway Cast)
Land Of Confusion – Phil Collins
I Guess I’ll Miss The Man – Pippin (Original Broadway Cast)
H.M.S. Pinafore – My Gallant Crew, Good Morning – Gilbert & Sullivan
Everyday – Phil Collins

Reason #265,381 Why Pat Robertson is a Jerk

People For the American Way has it, by way of the ASZ:

On today

Jordanian Bombings

Not good at all.

What does it mean? Too soon to tell. But I have a feeling that somebody is trying to force countries like Jordan, which have been more or less on the sidelines of recent conflicts and relatively pro-West, into a more active stance.

Election 2005: Winning Feels Good

Tristero has a nice roundup of the election results here.

Shorter version: We didn’t win it all but we won quite a lot. I’m particuarly pleased by the Pennsylvania voters who threw out all 8 of the foolish school board members that had tried to get ID into the school curriculum.

It’s a good day to be a Democrat. But let’s not get cocky. The 2006 and 2008 elections will be much more important.

The Grey Lady Gets Some Spine

I don’t necessarily agree with the characterization of Venezuela’s leader but other than that this NY Times editorial is spot-on.

After President Bush’s disastrous visit to Latin America, it’s unnerving to realize that his presidency still has more than three years to run. An administration with no agenda and no competence would be hard enough to live with on the domestic front. But the rest of the world simply can’t afford an American government this bad for that long.

In Argentina, Mr. Bush, who prides himself on his ability to relate to world leaders face to face, could barely summon the energy to chat with the 33 other leaders there, almost all of whom would be considered friendly to the United States under normal circumstances. He and his delegation failed to get even a minimally face-saving outcome at the collapsed trade talks and allowed a loudmouthed opportunist like the president of Venezuela to steal the show.

It’s amazing to remember that when Mr. Bush first ran for president, he bragged about his understanding of Latin America, his ability to speak Spanish and his friendship with Mexico. But he also made fun of Al Gore for believing that nation-building was a job for the United States military.