Now, here, we have a situation where none of the listed candidates have much of an idea about what they would do.  I’m tellin’ ya, something is going on here.  I’m not that old.  I remember when that was what it was all about.  But we’ve become so obsessed with full heads o’hair, sparkly smiles, twinkling eyes, charisma-charisma-charisma, the gift of jibber-jabber and making people feel good…what the hell do I know about any of these people?  I mean, really?

The premise seems to be that vein-popping ambition, unrestrained avidity, is a necessary if not sufficient quality for someone who wants to hold the highest political position in a democratic country.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 20:57:56 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Tribune's RedEye has selected the 32 finalists for its first annual “Chicago’s Most Beautiful Cat” tournament.  (Several are shelter/rescue kitties. Hurrah!)  Here are five of the finalists:

First round voting is now through noon C.S.T. on January 31, with the “sweet sixteen” voting beginning immediately after.

UPDATE 080131 22:49: Willow and Mully made the “sweet sixteen.”

View all the nominees and vote here.

Hatttip: jek

More cat stuff: Didn’t know IndyFeral did a calendar, but they do and now it’s on sale.

Via: Wildrun

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 16:32:11 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Claudia Rosett points out the sudden disappearance of Hesham Islam's Pentagon profile (turn on the lights, and the roaches scurry away).

Then there's the there-yesterday-gone-today speech at the State Department website (guess we can't handle the truth).

Seems the “memory hole” is alive, well, and living in Washington.


Via: Instapundit

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 16:52:07 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Mark Steyn makes a prediction:

My favorite headline of the year so far comes from The Daily Mail in Britain: “Government Renames Islamic Terrorism As ‘Anti-Islamic Activity’ To Woo Muslims.”
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So, henceforth, any terrorism perpetrated by persons of an Islamic persuasion will be designated “anti-Islamic activity.”
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[Which] should add a certain surreal quality to BBC news bulletins: “The Prime Minister today condemned the latest anti-Islamic activity as he picked through the rubble of Downing Street looking for his 2008 Wahhabi Community Outreach Award. In a related incident, the anti-Islamic activists who blew up Buckingham Palace have unfortunately caused the postponement of the Queen's annual Ramadan banquet.”

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C.G. Hill will have to turn in his curmudgeon credentials.

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Teresa covers a “tremendous upheaval in the ranks of Romance Writers.”

Black-footed ferrets are involved.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 20:46:26 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Things are just different in Packer Nation:

You know it's Wisconsin when the Sheriff's spokesman goes out of his way to point out that there's still a chance the kid may have been a Packer fan:

The boy's refusal to wear the jersey may have just been rebellion, he said. "We've been unable to uncover any evidence to suggest that this boy was not a Packers fan," Smith said. - Associated Press story posted by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 16:24:47 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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The gusset plates were undersized:

The collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge may have originated with the failure of gusset plates that were sized a half-inch too thin in the original 1960s design, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday.
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The NTSB also warned bridge engineers nationwide... to review the designs and recalculate maximum loads on the estimated 12,600 similar steel deck truss bridges.
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The sizing error occurred in the original design process at Sverdrup & Parcel, a St. Louis firm that was later acquired by Jacobs Engineering. Because original work papers are missing, investigators don't know whether it was a math mistake or other miscue, [NTSB chairman Mark] Rosenker said.

He said no deficiencies have been found in the bridge's steel or concrete.

- Star-Tribune, January 15, 2008

The findings confirmed forecasts by investigators from three months after the collapse—plus engineering experts in the immediate aftermath— and underscored the dire state of America’s crumbling infrastructure.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 18:59:16 GMT | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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...including “all the threads of the modern, Chinese narrative”:

• Social Issues
• Sex
• Corruption
• Mass Incidents
• Ants

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 17:41:11 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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