elementropy

Sunday, July 04, 2004

Short

Via Baseball Primer, Toronto Blue Jays slugger Carlos Delgado is a conscientious citizen.

Small wonder that Puerto Rican native Delgado shows little patience today for the flag-waving, pro-military pageantry seen at major league games since the Sept. 11 terror attacks and U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

While the conflict in Iraq and the problems confronting Vieques are separate issues, they are also intertwined. That's because the fishermen, farmers and shopkeepers of this island unwillingly paid a huge price so the U.S. could certify the weaponry used in Iraq.

***
An especially cheery post from Allahpundit.

...if I want to be governed by leftist Jew-haters, I'll stay home and vote Green Party.

Incidentally, you know what would be funny? If Ralph Nader got hit by a car doing about 80 miles an hour, and his head ended up stuck in the front grill, and as his life ebbed away his eyes focused for a second -- and it turned out to be a Corvair. Can you imagine? Which is not to say anyone should try that; for Christ's sake, people, we're talking about a Corvair here. You could get hurt!

All in all rancid enough, but the last paragraph, a witless sneer the staleness of which goes back nearly 40 years, amply demonstrates why the author finds most of his support comes from Texas: mere tastelessness won't do, enough time must pass for his audience to get it.

***
From Alterman, Charles Pierce lays into Hitch:

You're Christopher Hitchens, right, and it's Friday night, and so far this week, you've performed on a show hosted by an ax-grinding charlatan named Joe Scarborough, and then Mr. Murdoch's startlingly advertising-free little magazine has published an essay you've written about Bob Dylan in which is contained no evidence whatsoever that you've ever actually LISTENED to a record. Joe Scarborough's sidekick and a check from Murdoch for being the hippest guy in Squaresville. What's next on our intellectual journey? Healing lumbago in Iowa on The 700 Club?

Well, Charles, don't you know? Obviously someone was trying to establish moral equivalence between Dylan and Woody Guthrie. It just will not do.

***
Again via Unfogged, we learn that the government has paid for our Knights of The Highway to be trained as spies and informants, and what a stellar job they are doing:

The Department of Homeland Security this year gave $19.3 million to the American Trucking Associations, which is based in Alexandria, Va., to recruit a volunteer "army" called Highway Watch. So far, 10,000 truckers have signed on to become amateur sleuths.

"We got a terroristic phone call the other day," she said, "but it turned out it was just the boyfriend of an employee."

After the session in Little Rock, two newly initiated Highway Watch members sat down for the catered barbecue lunch. The truckers, who haul hazardous material across 48 states, explained how easy it is to spot "Islamics" on the road: just look for their turbans. Quite a few of them are truck drivers, says William Westfall of Van Buren, Ark. "I'll be honest. They know they're not welcome at truck stops. There's still a lot of animosity toward Islamics." Eddie Dean of Fort Smith, Ark., also has little doubt about his ability to identify Muslims: "You can tell where they're from. You can hear their accents. They're not real clean people."

Alrighty, then. But is it a case of hiring the tweakers to watch the methlab?

WASHINGTON - Government background checks of foreign airline crew members and truckers licensed to haul hazardous materials in the United States turned up 38 with possible terrorist connections, Homeland Security Department officials said Tuesday.

I doubt it, unless there's a way to concoct a bomb out of crusty Hustler mags, a coffee-stained Rand McNally atlas, a bottle of ephedrine, an Eat Shit And Die bumper sticker, and a half case of Mountain Dew. These guys can't even light their own cigarettes without melting their hats half the time, so I'm suspicious of their expertise at demolitions.

***
Sully thinks he's found a "poseur", which makes for a satisfying case of projection.

From the fake poseur (as opposed to Sully's genuine article):

[Clinton] does it with a light touch. "Unfortunately, my relationship with Bill Bennett didn't fare well after I became President and he began promoting virtue for a living." "Vice-President Dan Quayle said he intended to be the 'pit bull terrier' of the election campaign. When asked about it, I said Quayle's claim would strike terror into the heart of every fire hydrant in America." Clinton is even gracious to Barbara Bush, a vicious old bag in pearl sets who could've given Angela Lansbury notes for her role in The Manchurian Candidate.

This is straightforward, spot-on, and hardly ostentatious. As for Sully...

--Edited for insult embellishment.