LanguageLog. I wonder if the Welsh have the same problem with Jones? And there’s no telling how the Arabs manage it.

Of course, bureaucrats don’t really care if a policy serves no useful purpose or indeed works the very opposite of the way it’s supposed to. They don’t have to.

FuturePundit. You knew it was coming….

LanguageLog. The further adventures of Abusing Clippy.

Engadget. That won’t stop the tinfoil-hat crowd — or the ambulance-chasers and their “you caused my cancer, not my 5-pack a day Marlboro habit” clients.

Techdirt. That’s the views media for you.

Engadget. Of course, this is in Seattle, the drippy part of the Left Coast, where even the thieves are probably techno-snobs. But it is somewhat suggestive.

WP. The automobile as political fashion statement.

WP. To a liberal journalist, of course, this is all highly suspicious. It’s probably George Bush’s doing.

WP. Hey, if they weren’t doing this, they might have to do Real Work. That’s not what they came to Washington to do.

WP. One of the few disadvantages of living in New Hampshire is that every four years you have a lot of riff-raff tramping through the neighborhood.

WP. In his heart, this guy is an American.

WP. Where’s Borat when you really need him?

WSJ. The voice of the new generation. Apparently, one of the quickest ways to fame and fortune is to write a book about how to acquire fame and fortune without all the bother of working.

Works for me.

NYT. Apparently Australia doesn’t have one area of the country where all the kooks go to roost.

NYT. A potent reminder that dictator’s don’t establish themselves or rule without the help of others. People get the government they’re willing to put up with.

“We are a modern European country,” he said. “We voted 59 percent in favor of liberalizing abortion.”

No wonder people remember a dictator with fondness.

WT. And this took HOW long?

 The sole dissenting vote was cast by Cindy Carlisle, a Boulder Democrat who did so without comment. 

WT.

“Islam does not support terrorism” or those who would “use weapons of mass destruction,” said Mr. Awad testily while raising his voice in response to Mr. Frazier”s question.

I guess the guys in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan and Malaysia and Thailand are blowing themselves up. Well, it’s good to get that straight.

LGF. Well. What goes around comes around.

Engadget. More progress.

Item. Set aside a block of time for this one.

LanguageLog. Useful thoughts on the issue of English.

Engadget. This has huge implications.

NYT. One of the marks of a decadent society is the tolerance of such useless parasites as those who treat animals as if they were people. One sometimes wishes for a good nuclear war to weed such trash out of the gene pool.

NYT. Of course the writer, being a journalist, thinks this means that we ought to make special efforts to accommodate “low-literacy patients”. The rational response, of course, is to point out to “low-literacy patients” that becoming “high-literacy patients” might mean they won’t die, and leave the rest to their own personal decisions. Empowerment, that’s what we’re talking about here.

NYT. It certainly helps repel most common pests, so who cares about the mosquitos?

NYT. Tell the truth: Have you ever seen an old mole? There, I rest my case.

LGF. The news you won’t read about in your local viewspaper.

LGF. “Don’t be mean to me, or I’ll sue!” There’s the liberal lifestyle in a nutshell. I’d like directly to the article but I don’t want to get any of that on my keyboard.

NYT. Very interesting. Note the reason why.

“We’re just like anybody else, and yet we get no county services,” Mr. Syrett said. “That’s what the Boston Tea Party was about — taxation without representation.

And note the reaction of the kleptocrats in the county government:

“We got shafted,” Mr. Dodds said. “I think it’s just wrong that a private corporation can incorporate as a town and use taxpayers’ money to enhance their business. It’s an unfair business advantage.”

Note especially the phrase “taxpayers’ money”. What Mr Dodds really means here is “our money”. Doesn’t matter that they’r generating the bulk of this “taxpayers’ money”. Doesn’t matter that they’re the taxpayers in question. It’s all Mr Dodds’ money.

NYT. A surprising admission from a major viewspaper.

Of course, this information is contained in the first paragraph, while the rest of the article is the “Yes, but….” section.

WT. What? You mean people can’t buy stuff for pennies on the dollar from the government and then make big bucks by selling it back to them? What’s this country coming to?

WT. Well, actually, no … expectation of prejudice in U.S. found alive, well. Apparently neither pollsters nor journalists can read these days.

By a wide margin, respondents believe Americans think Muslims are the most likely to engage in terrorism (83 percent).

Well, duh. Wonder why on earth they would think that? Perhaps it’s because Muslims are doing most of the terrorism in the world? Must be just a coincidence.

And I don’t suppose it matters that Zogby is an Arab. Nope, doesn’t matter at all.

This is like asking Al Sharpton to do a survey about affirmative action. No surprises here.

Item. No comment I could make would be adequate.

Engadget. It sounds kinky but it’s probably pretty useful. I bet those guys captured by the Taliban wish they had them.

Frank Furedi has a couple of books you ought to look at.

Item. I agree with Christopher Hitchens very little when it comes to politics, but I like him because he despises many of the same people that I despise.

Item. Let’s shine some daylight on the magic, shall we?

Perhaps, as some friends have argued, I am expecting too much from a children’s book. But I don’t think that is right. Children are great systemisers, which is why they watch the same shows and read the same books over and over again: they are trying to put all the details together into a coherent picture. “I could do things no one else could do!” is a great thrill; but so is “I know how this works”. You can’t say that about Harry Potter, because Rowling doesn’t seem to know herself.

Quite a legitimate criticism, I suspect.

TechDirt. Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive….

LanguageLog. Finding Osama bin Laden is easier than finding out who was responsible for that stupid paper clip. (And don’t get me started on that “Search” dog….)

Item.

“Increased spending at the top of the income distribution has imposed not only psychological costs on families in the middle, but also more tangible costs… in particular, it has raised the cost of achieving goals that most middle-class families regard as basic.”

Well, that’s because the SuperRich push for taxation rates that still leave them with a comfortable excess but makes sure that the pushy middle class don’t accumulate those levels of wealth.

That’s why people like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates’ dad are fans of high taxes. If I make a million a year and you make $100k and we each pay 50% income tax, which of us going to be worried about paying the insurance on little Brandi’s Mustang? Eh?

Engadget. And possibly streaming video of the shark taking off your foot. A must-have.

WP. Are you surprised?

WP. Remind me what use the U.N. is. I keep forgetting.

Item. People are training for the SAT by reading comic books. I suppose it had to happen.

WP. In a country where dead people vote Democrat, why can’t dead farmers collect subsidies?

WP. I especially love John McCain doing an end-run around his own campaign finance law. I guess rules are just for other people.

WSJ. An encouraging sign.

Item. Good news that you won’t be reading in an American newspaper.

NYT. Must be a slow news day.

NYT. Translation: Gas prices going up again.