HAWK IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING?:

Reid & Taylor is a Scottish weaving company that is rumored to make the finest cloth in the world. According to David Farrer, G.W. Bush has ordered some very rare material from them to make some suits for next summer. The punch line is in the origin of the wool:

Escorial 12 Micron, at £800 per metre, is so rare that only one or two flocks in every Escorial breed have the ability to produce it. The miniature sheep can be traced back to the 16th century when Moorish invaders introduced them to Spain from north Africa to make ultra-soft garments for King Phillip II.

I'm not too sure what to make of the fact that the President may soon be wearing suits made from the wool of miniature Islamic sheep...

STUPID WHITE MAN:

If my name was Michael Moore, I think I would steer well clear of Rachel Lucas. In fact, if my name was Michael Moore I would run away with my best buddy Michael Bellesiles to France where I could be amongst my intellectual and political equals. No wait, maybe I would just kill myself ... but I'm against guns ... maybe I'd gorge myself on burgers and fries and buckets of lard ... no, tried that and it just mad me a big, fat socialist. I don't know what I'd do. Thank God I'm not Michael Moore!

BYE-BYE BELLESILES:

According to a statement released by Robert A. Paul, Interim Dean of Emory College, controversial "historian" Michael Bellesiles has resigned. Yeah, I know what you're thinking -- "What? So soon!?! [link via InstaPundit]

PREDICTIONS:

Casey Lartigue has some interesting (and probably pretty accurate) predictions about reactions by the black community to the Cowardly Killers.

SEN. PAUL WELLSTONE R.I.P.:

I disgreed with everything this man said, thought and advocated for, and it is highly unlikely that that would ever change. Nevertheless, the man served his state and his country and for that he earned my respect. May he and his family rest in peace.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY:

Most of us think of "property" as something tangible such as land or our car. When it comes to music and video, however, it is often only the artist or producer who sees such as "property". The concept of "exclusion" is obscured when one's use of something does not preclude another's. Yet these products of our intellectual labors can be protected by the rule of law, and in fact are so protected. Sonia Arrison outlines the opposing sides of just how much protection should be afforded intellectual property on Tech Central Station.

RETURN OF THE SCOURGE:

If you've ever wondered if WaPo columnist Richard Cohen is just some fictional character contrived for the purpose of ridicule -- kind of like a pundit effigy -- well the most likely candidate for that contrivance is back at SQNP. Come on Charles, take off that Richard Cohen mask. We all know it's you. In any event, four brand-spanking new Scourges have been served up for our reading pleasure. Enjoy, and welcome back Charles!

SHEEP IN WOLVES CLOTHING:

I remember being grounded (a lot) as a kid, usually by being banished to the confines of my room for some arbitrary period of time. This was of course during the pre-computer era and the most entertaining things in my room were books and Lincoln Logs. Eventually I would try to convince my parents that if my friends came over to hang out in my room it was still me being grounded only with company. The predictable response was, of course, that this was nonsense since having my friends over to play pretty much entirely defeated the point of depriving me of having fun by isolating me from the rest of the world. Well, apparently this story doesn't translate into Danish.

DAILY QUOTE:

In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it's a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security is risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side.
- Theodore Forstmann

ALWAYS LEAVE 'EM LAUGHIN':

Some great Bengals jokes courtesy of C.Dodd Harris IV (who got them from hi pal "Phil"):

Q. What's the difference between the Cincinnati Bengals & the Taliban?
A. The Taliban had a running game.

Q. What do the Cincinnati Bengals & Billy Graham have in common?

A. They both can make 60,000 people stand up & yell "Jesus Christ!"

Q. How do you keep a Cincinnati Bengal out of your yard?
A. Put up goal posts.

Q. Where do you go in case of a tornado?
A. The Paul Brown Stadium -- there's never a touchdown there!

Q. What do you call a Cincinnati Bengal with a SuperBowl Championship ring?
A. A thief.

Q. Why doesn't Dayton, Ohio have a professional football team?
A. Because then Cincinnati would want one.

Q. Why was Dick LeBeau upset when the Cincinnati Bengals' playbook was stolen?
A. Because he hadn't finished coloring it.

Q. What's the difference between the Cincinnati Bengals and a dollar bill?
A. You can still get four quarters out of a dollar.

Q. How many Cincinnati Bengals does it take to win a Superbowl?
A. Mike Brown has no idea -- and we may never know either!

Q. What do the Cincinnati Bengals and opossums have in common?
A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.

Q. How can you tell when the Cincinnati Bengals are going to run the football?
A. The back leaves the huddle with tears in his eyes.

Q. What do you call 47 people sitting around a TV watching the NFL playoffs?
A. The Cincinnati Bengals.

HIPHOP CAUCUS?:

Cal Ulmann links to an interesting article about the disconnect between the HipHop and Civil Rights generations in the black community, citing in particular LL Cool J's endorsement of Pataki over the black candidate McCall. I guess I had thought of it more as a Baby Boomer vs. Gen-X thing. IMHO, our generation is much more independently minded than the Boomers, and much more likely to buck the herd.

AMMUNITION:

The other night I got together with a couple of my good buddies and we got our drink on pretty hard. As is customary at these sorts of things, heated "discussion" broke out and, to make a long story short, I think some of my friends got a little bottled-up annoyance with yours truly of their chest. You see, I have this terribly annoying habit of spouting off about socialists, taxes, collectivists, et al. whenever the opportunity presents itself. In fact, one of the reasons I started this blog was to vent those sorts of things into the blogosphere where only those with any interest would be bothered by them. This strategy has realised only modest success. So last night I found myself challenged to explain calmly and completely why I think and say certain things. One topic of interest was on the origins and breadth of Arafat's power as leader of the Palestinians. Without getting into the gory details, suffice it to say that I pulled some things out of my ass as "facts" and my friend did the same. In order to at least glimpse the bottom of the conundrum I googled up this article by David Brooks on Atlantic Monthly. It is quite informative and well balanced. Hopefully I can remember some of it the next time the topic comes up and my brain is swimming in Jack n'Cokes.

**UPDATE: HonestReporting.com has some good info on Arafat as well.

DAILY QUOTE

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
- Plato

BACK IN THE SADDLE:

I haven't posted in awhile because I was sick and had a lot of work to do. Then my computer decided to take a hiatus and it took me some time to coax it back into working order. For the one or two of you who actually care, sorry. For the rest of you (stop laughing!) we return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

DAILY QUOTE:

"The politicians don't just want your money. They want your soul. They want you to be worn down by taxes until you are dependent and helpless. When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both."
- James Dale Davidson

IN THEIR OWN WORDS:

As I have said before, Fascism is a Leftist doctrine, as explained in this FrontPage article by John J. Ray. The key ingredients are all there: centralized political and economic power and a directed society. What's so great about Ray's article is that he uses Mussolini's own words to draw the comparison between Italian fascism and the Western Left. One of my favorite excerpts:

"If the 19th century has been the century of the individual (for liberalism means individualism), it may be conjectured that this is the century of the State.

This is Mussolini's famous prophecy about the 20th century in the Enciclopedia Italiana. It came true with the aid of the modern-day Left and their love of big government. To underline that, note that in 1900 the ratio of government spending to GDP in Italy was 10%, in the 1950s 30%, and it is now roughly 60% (Martino, 1998).

"Laissez faire is out of date"

To this day the basic free market doctrine of "laissez faire" is virtually a swear-word to most Leftists. Quoted from Smith (1967, p. 87).

Without a doubt these are two of the most damning quotes. And I don't think they are capable of misinterpretation. What's more, it illustrates yet again that the term "liberal" was hijacked by the Left, most likely to avoid being too closely associated with their true prodigies: Mussolini, Hitler, Tojo and Franco. [link via LGF]

COWARDLY KILLER - II:

The desensitization is already setting in. People are starting to make macabre jokes and turn to other ventures. This morning, the likely 13th victim of a sadly deranged murderer(s) was shot in the chest while standing on the top step of a commuter bus. The predictable traffic follies quickly ensued and what is normally a nightmarish headache was made even worse. More and more I hear doubts that the fiend(s) will ever be caught, or worse, that he/they will end up going out with a blaze of glory and take out several people at once. And of course, there's the al Quaida conjecture.

Luckily for me today, my wife is in Chicago for the week and therefore not in the firing zone. As for myself, I have a very short walk through majorly populated areas so I have little to worry about -- in fact, if I were to get shot in one of these places it is extremely likely that the pitiful bastard(s) would be apprehended almost immediately. However, there is the pervasive sense that the investigation has gone back to square one, something that the police are desperately trying not to let happen. As it stands now, there are serious questions as to whether a white van/truck was ever used by the killer(s), and there doesn't seem to be any clue as to what he/they look like. Moreover, no obvious pattern is emerging other than the very general vicinity of the Washington D.C. metro area and I-95 corridor. Malaise is not very far around the corner.

All this, of course, makes perseverence even more important. I can not and will not let this coward(s) run my life. The temptation is great to do nothing but linger on every newscast and press conference. It is even greater to ignore other events going on. But I'm not going to do that. Instead I will go on with my life just like before, only with a defiant gleam in my eye. This post will be one of the few on the subject. Others (e.g. Last Page) prefer to cover the situation almost exclusively, and that's just fine with me -- that's their way of dealing with it. Mine is to ruthlessly pursue life in spite of everything, including things that aren't so serious and maybe even a little silly now and then.

DAILY QUOTE:

"Illegitimis non carborundum." (Lat., "Don't let the bastards grind you down.")
- Gen. Joseph Stilwell

IF ONLY IT WERE TRUE:

Just a glimpse of every good libertarian's dream day!

RICARDO REDUX:

Comparative advantage is the theory that the most productive expenditure of capital and labor is the most efficient expenditure. One example is the quote below by David Ricardo who developed the theory. A more modern example is provided by Radley Balko at the Agitator. Yet another concrete example can be seen in the fact that in Cuba, where resources are as a matter of law diverted to their least efficient use, everything is from the fifties or older.

DAILY QUOTE:

To produce the wine in Portugal, might require only the labour of 80 men for one year, and to produce the cloth in the same country, might require the labour of 90 men for the same time. It would therefore be advantageous for her to export wine in exchange for cloth. This exchange might even take place, notwithstanding that the commodity imported by Portugal could be produced there with less labour than in England. Though she could make the cloth with the labour of 90 men, she would import it from a country where it required the labour of 100 men to produce it, because it would be advantageous to her rather to employ her capital in the production of wine, for which she would obtain more cloth from England, than she could produce by diverting a portion of her capital from the cultivation of vines to the manufacture of cloth.
- David Ricardo, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation par. 7.16