The Terrorists are Winning

We have nothing to fear, but fear itself

Don't Piss off the Whiffenpoofs

More bad news from the San Franciscan values department. Now, it seems that an unruly gang of Bay area a cappella fans ambushed a Yale singing group to punish them for their sub-par performance of the 'Star Spangled Banner.' I kid you not. The victims, from a group called Baker's Dozen, will likely turn to New Haven's muscle, the Whiffenpoofs, to get a little revenge.

Here's the blurb from AFP:

Members of the a cappella Baker's Dozen were performing at a party in San Francisco at the new year when their rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" apparently sparked taunts and threats from fellow partygoers.

As the group left the house, they were attacked by dozens of assailants, suffering scrapes, black eyes and concussions, said Connecticut's News Channel 8.

San Francisco Values

If this is what Bill O'Reilly means by San Francisco values when he talks about Nancy Pelosi, then I'm with him. Those San Franciscans are a surly bunch! Today's NYT chronicles a new urban phenomenon called "parking rage."

Burdened with one of the densest downtowns in the country and a Californian love for moving vehicles, San Franciscans have been shocked in recent months by crimes related to finding places to park, including an attack in September in which a young man was killed trying to defend a spot he had found.

Parking control officers...say abuse is common, often frightening and, occasionally, humiliating. In November, an officer was spat on, another was punched through the window of his Geo Metro, and an irate illegal parker smashed the windshield of another officer’s golf-cart-like vehicle.

“Just driving down the street, you get yelled at,” said Lawanna Preston, staff director for Local 790 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents parking control officers.

The officers are city employees but not in the Police Department.

“They can’t even eat lunch with that uniform on, because people approach them and curse at them,” Ms. Preston said.

It's just a matter of time before Nancy Pelosi takes her gavel and pounds the living crap out of some poor, unsuspecting DC parking officer. At least that's what Fox News must have been thinking when they chose their caption for the image of Pelosi taking control of the House.

Save the Blog!

It's January, which means it's time to resolve to do things for self-betterment (and then abandon those things in February). I, for one, will try to breathe some life into our lonely blog. I'll start by pointing out two interesting op-ed's in today's Washington Post.

From the political left (but not wanting it to seem that way), Barack Obama makes the case for a non-partisan ethics commission to police Congress. From the political right, George Will makes the case for abolishing the minimum wage. The piece presents some interesting data about the percentage of workers in the work force on the federal minimum and raises questions about whether raising the minimum would really improve their welfare. I'm not sure I agree with his conclusion (or his jabs about the New Deal), but the piece is worth a read.

'Truthiness' picked as word of the year

This is funny.

A Little Decorum, Please

Our fine blog has been a little sleepy lately. To rev things up for the coming election, I thought I'd post a follow-up to some posts that we made about a month ago.

The New York Times is reporting that Venezuela will be defeated in its attempts to gain election to the UN Security Council. It seems that Hugo Chavez's hysterical rant about George Bush has cost his country dearly. Behind the scenes, many delegates have privately conceded that Chavez's speech raised concerns about the country's ability to commit to the norms of diplomatic discourse at the UN. While Venezuela was an early favorite to win the seat, now Guatemala is the likely winner.

There's a lesson here for Bush's domestic opponents, too. Hysteria about the incompetence in the Bush administration doesn't help solve many problems. Aside from making us feel a little better, which is definitely worth something, all of the shrill hand-wringing doesn't really get us anywhere. If the Dems take over the House and/or the Senate, the Chicken-Little schtick will hopefully come to an end.

He's a Jackass, but he's OUR Jackass

Good for the Democrats for denouncing Hugo Chavez and his outrageous remarks at the UN. Referring to Bush's earlier visit to the UN, Chavez lectured the General Assembly that, "the devil came here yesterday...and it smells of sulfur still today."

I'm not sure how I'd feel about such remarks if they came from a leader who presided over a country with a pristine record of democratic freedom and human rights. Indeed, maybe there's something about the political norms in such countries that muzzles such language from its representatives in diplomatic exchange. But Chavez's Venezuela has witnessed significant setbacks in democratization and a poor human rights record. As Nancy Pelosi correctly pointed out, "He is an everyday thug."