Archive » 2005 » March

If you read nothing else today on Terri Schiavo, read the incomparable Mark Steyn. An excerpt:
This is not a criminal, not a murderer, not a person whose life should be in the gift of the state. So I find it repulsive, and indeed decadent, to have her continued existence framed in terms of ”plaintiffs” and [...]

You’ve seen the BBC report:
The Indian Ocean is on tsunami alert after a quake off the coast of Sumatra, the Indonesian island that bore the brunt of the 26 December disaster. It struck just before midnight local time, with an estimated magnitude of 8.2, and caused widespread panic.
Now, the tin-foilers at the Democratic Underground [...]

Okay, I never usually link to these things. But we’re huge Incredibles fans (if you haven’t seen the special DVD feature, Jack-Jack Attack, you must).
So, which Incredibles character are you?
I’m…Edna.

Lame.
Meanwhile, John Hinderaker keeps the heat on.
Earlier: “Ask Kurtz“

Received a beautiful G.I. bracelet today–it’s a purple band that sports the phrase “FOR THOSE WHO SERVE” in honor of the troops. The G.I. bracelets are just $5 each. The entire purchase price goes to the following 501(c)(3) charities:
Fisher House Foundation
Builds “comfort homes” on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes [...]

A wedding is in the works for the cutest couple in the blogosphere! Congrats to Frank J. and Sarah K (the official, one and only IMAO T-shirt babe).
I’m wearing my Nuke The Moon t-shirt (available from one of my fine advertisers, Those Shirts) in celebration.

Yesterday morning, TSA workers at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport thought they saw an x-ray of a gun in someone’s carry-on bag. So, naturally, they let the passenger proceed to the gate with his bag.
Then it dawned on someone that maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. So TSA evacuated the entire airport and [...]

Who earns more, college-educated black women or college-educated white women?
Click on “Read More” to see the answer.

Please take a moment to visit my new group blog offshoot, The Immigration Blog. I’ve invited a few of the writers, researchers, and citizen activists I consider among the most compelling and insightful analysts on immigration and border security to join me in this new venture. Those joining me are:
-Bonnie Eggle
-Peter Gadiel
-Chris Kelly
-Heather Mac Donald
-Juan [...]

1 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures for ever.”
16 the right hand of the LORD is exalted, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the [...]

A reader notes that Google usually changes its logo on holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day, World Water Day, and so on. So, he asks, “why no logo for Easter?”

One of the pro-abortion Left’s favorite attacks on people of faith is that we only care about children before they’re born and not afterwards.
Perhaps this is why the mainstream media has ignored the amazing stories of pro-life activists who have been keeping vigil outside Terri Schiavo’s hospice–people like Steve and Tony Sakac, the Withey family, [...]

The Los Angeles Times tries desperately today to paint GOP Rep. Tom DeLay as a hypocrite over the Schiavo case by exposing a family tragedy involving his deceased father. DeLay’s dad suffered massive injuries in a freak accident in 1988 while testing a trolley he had built on a slope near his home. The story [...]

With time running out for Terri Schiavo, I hope I am not the only one offended by AP’s breezy comparison between Schiavo (a human being) and Kismet (a robot):
To understand the emotional reaction to the tapes of Terri Schiavo, one need only spend a few minutes with Kismet.
People who spend time with the robot at [...]

A television reporter in Florida whose work appears on CNN and local Florida stations has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from state government agencies he covered, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:
Mike Vasilinda, a 30-year veteran of the Tallahassee press corps, does public relations work and provides film editing services to more than a dozen [...]

From the London Sunday Times:
KOFI ANNAN, the United Nations secretary-general, is said to be struggling with depression and considering his future. Colleagues have reported concerns about Annan ahead of an official report this week that will examine his son Kojo’s connection to the controversial Iraqi oil for food scheme.
Depending on the findings of the report, [...]

Time and options are running out for Terri.
Trey Jackson has video of Terri’s brother Bobby at a press conference stating that he is going to recommend his parents not visit anymore because of Terri’s condition.
Many readers have noted Michael Schiavo’s refusal to allow an autopsy for Terri and his insistence on immediate cremation. Yes, that [...]

Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz will be participating in an online chat on Monday at noon EST. Submit your questions here.
Here are three questions I’m sending him:
1.Why did you describe the unsigned Schiavo talking points as a “Republican strategy memo”–a term that implies Republicans were responsible for creating and/or circulating it?
2. Have you [...]

Sharon Bond of the St. Petersburg Times reports on a controversy regarding the cover of the March issue of Harper’s magazine:
Marine recruits so new that their hair hasn’t been cut don’t sound like the best models for a story about soldiers going AWOL - particularly since none in the group is a deserter.
But there they [...]

Josh Claybourn of In the Agora reports a startling new development in the Schiavo “GOP Talking Points” memo story:
On Friday four staffers of Senators Rick Santorum and Mel Martinez accused a renegade aide to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) of distributing forged “talking points” to members of the media and claiming Republican authorship. In the Agora’s [...]

It has now been nearly a week since Power Line first raised troubling questions about the “GOP Talking Points” memo distributed to Republicans in the Senate. It has been three days since Power Line and In the Agora quoted an ABC News official who appeared to be backing away from the assertion that the memo [...]

At the bottom of a column published at 7:31 am this morning, Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz downplays the Schiavo memo controversy:
Powerline[,] which played a role in exposing CBS’s National Guard memos, is wondering about the Republican strategy memo that, oddly enough, fails to list an author:
“Confirming what we reported, ABC News has [...]

One of the big memes from the media about the Schiavo case is that the ultimate solution lies with living wills:
Schiavo case sparks push for living wills
Living Wills: Everyone Ought to Have One
Schiavo debacle shows why living wills a must
Living wills bring peace of mind
It’s good that the Schiavo case is raising awareness about end-of-life [...]

Just to lighten things up for a bit…
Marshmallow Peeps!
Blue Peeps pie.
Make your own Peeps. Or PeepPuffs (ick).
And don’t miss: Peeps Art.
Update: Reader Leslie sends another favorite…
The Lord of the Peeps

Mike Fumento has written two important columns that deserve more attention:
- “Diabetes Foundation Loses its Way”
- “Is Diabetes Cure a Buck Too Far?”
The gist of the columns is that the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) has been so focused on the potential of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research that it has ignored more promising [...]

From AP:
“It’s very frustrating. Every minute that goes by is a minute that Terri is being starved and dehydrated to death,” said her brother, Bobby Schindler, who said seeing her was like looking at “pictures of prisoners in concentration camps.”Michael Schiavo’s brother, Brian Schiavo, strongly disagreed with that assessment, telling CNN that Terri Schiavo “does [...]

A few days ago, I noted that some ethnic grievance-mongers were griping that there wasn’t enough coverage of the Minnesota school shootings because many of the victims were Native American.
The race card-playing continues in the Friday A section of the Washington Post, under the eye-roll-inducing headline:
Native Americans Criticize Bush’s Silence
Response to School Shooting Is Contrasted [...]

The results of the Nov. 2 election in Milwaukee were certified without any double-checking of the totals by the city or county panels charged with oversight, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
polling-place discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and the count of voters at many wards went undiscovered until long after the election results were [...]

Yesterday, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) asked for a formal investigation of the fishy Schiavo memo and its source. You might think this qualifies as news, but it appears that the South Florida Sun-Sentinel was the only newspaper in the entire country to cover it. (And the Sun-Sentinel’s coverage consists of only two sentences.)
It’s déjà [...]

Media critic Howard Kurtz gives an update on the Maggie Gallagher payola story, but remains silent about the fishy Schiavo memo (a story which his employer, the Washington Post, helped break).
Related: ABC News is keeping quiet too. Calls placed early yesterday morning to Kerry Marash, VP of Editorial Quality, and Kate Snow were not returned. [...]