TGIF it's VDH Day!

Dr. Hanson takes issues with people ignoring the facts (Dean, Kerry, Clark and the rest of the 10 Demo-dwarfs...) and eloquently outlines reasons for pride and optimism in On the Right Side of History The hard truth won't go away.

Here is his spot on assessment of Yasser Arafat (the world's oldest terrorist):

Mr. Bush has been criticized for isolating Yasser Arafat. But the latter is someone whose enmity you welcome. The Europeans may give him a pass on his stealthy financial and emotional subsidies for Hamas and related killers, but they won't forgive his near-billion dollars in a private bank account. Killing Jews is one thing; stealing European money to subsidize the good life for kin and cronies is quite another.

Finally, even facts do matter. Before Mr. Arafat returned to the West Bank, life was far better for his people than during his kleptocracy. He may be adept at screaming from balconies and writing checks to terrorists, but he cannot govern. He was a creation of the Soviet Union and a mobster of the old school, and thus can only do what mobsters do — provide protection for money, order hits, extort from rivals, buy supporters, embezzle from friends, and purchase political legitimacy.

Go read it this afternoon with your first cocktail!

And You Thought Creationists Were Silly

From ABCNEWS.com: It appears that the Nigerian woman condemned to death by stoning by a Muslim Sharia court Accused adulteress Amina Lawal got won on appeal because of some interesting ShariaLegal shenanigans. Hold on to your hats now:

Prosecutors argued Lawal's child was living proof she committed a crime under Shariah.

But lead defense lawyer Aliyu Musa Yawuri said that under some interpretations of Shariah, babies can remain in gestation in a mother's womb for five years, opening the possibility her ex-husband could have fathered the child.

Whew. What else floats...? Wood? Very small rocks? A duck...? Burn HER!!!

Hat tip: RANTBURG.

It's Motzart vs. Beethoven!

Mike at Cold Fury compares and contrasts Apollonian and Dionysian... Classical and Romantic... control and abandon... well, you get the idea. But I'll bet you never heard it put this way before:

Beethoven is a rocket to Mars (the God O’ War planet, by the way, and not for nothing do I make that comment), and Mozart is a finely-tuned Ferrari. Beethoven is all brute strength and power and anger and the sweetness of purest blistering rage, and Mozart is every good thing that God ever made, with all the warmth and achy longing and bittersweet feeling that God intended when he cursed us Men with Women. Beethoven is how pissed off we Men are about it, rutting viciously with that universal blind confusion that wonders why we’re made to suffer so. Mozart is the part of us that says, “Ahh, but it’s so wonderful to hear them when they’re lost in the pure moment of passion; their sighs, their moans, their ecstasy.” Beethoven spurts violently, all over her; Mozart saves it for later, after she gets hers, which every good Mozart lover knows is the best part. And then Mozart cleans up and sleeps on the wet spot.

Whew... I need a cigarette.

The UN Party vs. the US Party

Arnold Kling sees the Democrats casting their lot with the UN in 2004... and doesn't like what he sees:

I think that both the Democratic and Republican candidates for President should view the differences between the United States and the UN as a disgrace to the latter. However, at this point I am very worried that the Democrats will fail to do so. I am no prognosticator, but in the early stages of the campaign it worries me that the 2004 election could turn out to be between the UN party and the U.S. party.

George Bush & company have many flawed policies. He's breaking the budget with new programs. Ashcroft and the DOJ would be a joke if they were not so dangerous. When I see him and his minions flirt with the religious right I want to hurl.

However, as long as he actively pursues the war on terror (and no Democrats will take up the mantel), he will get my vote. The fact that he defies and deflates that puffed up, moral black hole headquartered where 42nd street meets the East River is simply a bonus.

Go read Mr. Kling's entire article on techcentralstation.com.