Interesting reader in the Economist on anti-Americanism in France. Here's a notable bit:

Certainly, French intellectuals cherish low-plot, high-art films, and the French Ministry of Culture leads a guerrilla war to defend such works from a vulgar American invasion. But what do French people actually watch?

In the first 11 months of 2005, the top film was “Star Wars: Episode 3”. The all-time top box-office film in France is another American blockbuster, “Titanic”. On the small screen, French versions of American reality television and confessional talk-shows clog up the schedules, spawning the term la télé poubelle. French teenagers download American rap to their iPods. In 2004, the person most searched for on Google France was Britney Spears.

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Last night, the Louisiana State University Tigers pummeled the Miami Hurricanes in the Peach Bowl here in Atlanta. It was a great win for the state of Louisiana.

Carter Strickland of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sums it up:

But as they did all season, the No. 10 Tigers didn't just survive, they thrived. And by the time the 40-3 beatdown over No. 9 Miami in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl was over Friday night, there was a feeling maybe, just maybe LSU, a team to which a battered state had tied its heartstrings, had long waited to get some revenge on any Hurricane, no matter the shape or size.

That's good writing.

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Further evidence of our civilization's impending collapse.

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It will be interesting to read the editorials about why this is a bad idea:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the leak of classified information about President Bush's secret domestic spying program, Justice officials said Friday.

Especially since most of the country's editorial pages strongly supported the Valerie Plame leak investigation.

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Alcoholism is funny. 

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An encouraging sign in China:

In a rare show of resistance for China's state-controlled media, many editors of the daily newspaper Beijing News refused to work Thursday after authorities sacked its top editor for leading coverage criticizing the government.

Blogs are covering the issue:

China's active community of bloggers was quick to report and denounce Mr. Yang's departure. One Beijing News editor wrote on his Web log, "There is no way to retreat. The butcher has lifted a knife … so let's just die in a beautiful way." That posting was later taken down by its host Sina.com, but other bloggers continued to re-post the comments by displaying a graphic image of the original posting.

I'm sure China's leaders are frustrated by their inability to control information these days.

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Like most government programs, this one started with the best of intentions:

A Texas golf course, a Nevada tanning salon and an Illinois candy shop were among small businesses that may have improperly received U.S. subsidized loans intended for firms hurt by the September 11 attacks, an internal government watchdog has found.

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Space is cool

Interesting piece on Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com, who also wants to get into space. He bought a 165,000-acre ranch in West Texas for test launches. So, I guess he's serious. More cool space stuff here.

(Hattip: Instapundit.)

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Russia

An aide to Russian "President" Vladimir Putin just resigned. Here's what he said:

It is one thing to work in a country that is partly free. It is another thing when the political system has changed, and the country has stopped being free and democratic ... I did not sign a contract with such a state, and therefore it is absolutely impossible to remain in this post.

The resignation comes a week before Russia takes over the G-8 summit.

Dan Drezner asks the next logical question. Why is Russia still a member of the G-8?

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Battlestar Gallactica

Time Magazine just named "Battlestar Galactica" the best show of the year. Here's what they said:

Most of you probably think this entry has got to be a joke. The rest of you have actually watched the show. Adapted from a cheesy '70s Star Wars clone of the same name, Galactica (returning in January) is a ripping sci-fi allegory of the war on terror, complete with religious fundamentalists (here, genocidal robots called Cylons), sleeper cells, civil-liberties crackdowns and even a prisoner-torture scandal. The basic-cable budget sometimes shows in the production, but the writing and performances are first-class, especially Edward James Olmos as the noble but authoritarian commander in charge of saving the last remnants of humanity. Laugh if you want, but this story of enemies within is dead serious, and seriously good.

I agree. I just ordered Season Two on DVD because my wife and I missed the first few shows over the summer and refused to watch it mid-season. We'll have to watch the entire season in about a week because Season Three starts next Friday. I'm embarassed at how much I'm looking forward to next week.

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Rethinking Marxism 2006

Your education tax dollars, hard at work.

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Nestor

I recently met a guy named Nestor. You don't meet too many people named Nestor these days. In fact, I don't think I've ever met anyone else named Nestor.

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Obituary: Devan Nair

Another great obituary from the Economist. Interesting window into Singapore.

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Quotables

Here's a handy collection of quotes from the unbiased anchors of network news.

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Six degrees of separation?

Didn't realize that Stanley Milgram tested the six-degrees of separation theory. Milgram, of course, also presided over one of the most troubling social experiments ever conducted. Read about it here.

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I'm back

Vegas was great. The rooms at the Wynn are the stuff of legend. Robes, slippers, huge bathroom with a giant tub -- when the maid comes to turn down your sheets, she leaves a little towel thingee on the floor ... I finally realized that it was for your feet so nothing dirty gets into your incredibly comfy bed. Now, that's fancy! Everything about this hotel was fantastic.

I don't want to talk about the gambling. I bet the house on Southern Miss to beat Arkansas State by 15 points. Here's the final score. The level of play from both teams was a sad indictment of the over-promulgation of bowl games.

I'll probably be blogging lightly for the next few days. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

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Vegas

Time from my quarterly trip to Las Vegas. I know, I just went there in September, but this was a trip I couldn't pass up. The wife and I could never afford to stay at the Wynn -- except the week before Christmas. This place looks incredble.

Unfortunately, the college football bowl games aren't so great this week. I'll be forced to bet on the New Orleans Bowl (in Lafayette, of course) which features a matchup of Southern Miss and Arkansas State. But, I'm sure I'll pick one of those teams and watch the game intently.

Be back Thursday.

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Prince of Tithes

Interesting take on Saudi Prince Alwaleed's gift of $20 million to Harvard University for Islamic studies.

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From Iraq the Model

Nice post-election wrap-up from an Iraqi. This is awesome:

I saw our policemen yesterday showing their hearts too when they refused to wear their armors, maybe because they didn’t want to let anything stand between our hearts from theirs.

What a great act of defiance.

(Hattip: Instapundit)

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Iran

Sobering column from Charles Krauthammer this morning:

Everyone knows where Iran's nuclear weapons will be aimed. Everyone knows they will be put on Shahab rockets, which have been modified so that they can reach Israel. And everyone knows that if the button is ever pushed, it will be the end of Israel.

But it gets worse. The president of a country about to go nuclear is a confirmed believer in the coming apocalypse. Like Judaism and Christianity, Shiite Islam has its own version of the messianic return -- the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam.

Guess who believes the Twelth Imam's approach is imminent?

I'd say it's safe bet that we'll be enganged in some type of military confrontation with Iran in the near future. Perhaps we'll just look the other way while Israel bombs Iran's nuclear facitilities. Maybe this time, we can avoid the faux condemnations.

As Instapundit puts it: "As far as I'm concerned, in light of these statements the Israelis are entitled to launch a first strike of any magnitude, whenever they choose."

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Evolution hearing

Uh-oh. According to this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a recent ruling against evolution critics may be thrown out.

Federal appeals court judges gave a hostile reception Thursday to a lower court decision that ordered Cobb County to scrape off evolution disclaimer stickers from almost 35,000 science textbooks.

The three appeals court judges (two GOP, one Democrat) all questioned a lower court's ruling that found the stickers to be unconstitutional. The stickers read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

District Court Judge Clarence Cooper had ruled that the stickers convey "an impermissible message of endorsement [of religion]." But Judge Ed Carnes said the stickers were "literally accurate" and that he couldn't see how a finding could be made that the stickers endorsed a religion.

Seems like the judges are right. The stickers may be stupid, but that doesn't mean they're in violation of the First Amendment which simply states that the government may not establish a religion.

A ruling isn't expected until early next year, but it appears this issue may not be going away soon.

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Rocket scientists

"NTSB: Plane at Midway Needed More Runway"

No kidding.

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Amish sex scam, baby

Here's an odd story:

CHARDON, Ohio - A 75-year-old Amish widower, afraid his church community would find out about him seeking sex from a prostitute, was scammed out of more than $67,000 from the prostitute and her boyfriend, a prosecutor says.

Obvious question: What's an Amish guy doing with $67,000?

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Mueller Time

Third baseman Bill Mueller just signed with the L.A. Dodgers. A few players already left last year, but now it's official. The Red Sox team that won the 2004 World Series no longer exists. With the previous departure of wunderkid GM Theo Epstein, I see another long drought ahead for the Sox.

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Look at that guy's smile

Here's a photo from Barwana, Iraq, courtesy the U.S. Marines. Looks like they appreciate being able to vote.

Pictures like these make me extremely proud to be an American.

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Hollywood

Wow! Here's a great column on the films being churned out by Hollywood these days. This says it all:

Hollywood honchos continue to wring their hands over why you've stopped going to the movies. They blame ticket prices and DVD availability. They had better start considering the fact that filmmakers are so disconnected, so nihilistic, that the hopelessness and hostility they feel toward the world now permeates their work. Americans will no longer go see movies which are nothing more than the manifestation of the backwash of malignant narcissists.

Read the whole column.

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Gift ideas

If you're still searching for some Christmas gifts, check out my sister-in-law's Web site.

Very impressive stuff. Take a look.

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Merging Web And Print Newsrooms

This seems like a great idea:

USA Today is combining its online and print newsrooms, the paper announced Monday, bringing the daily's 75 Web news staffers under a newsroom that will include 500 editorial employees.

"The goal in combining the two newsrooms is to create a single 24-hour news organization that will inform and engage readers on multiple platforms," USA Today Editor Ken Paulson said in a statement announcing the move. "That means going beyond arm's-length collaboration. Starting today our goal is to begin conceiving and planning our coverage as one unit, thinking more strategically about the deployment of our newsgathering resources in a world in which news has become an on-demand commodity."

I'm sure we'll look back at this era as a oddity. Imagine explaining to young reporters that we used to file our stories at 2 p.m. and wait until midnight for them to post to the Web.

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Iraq

These first two graphs should be transposed:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen killed a Sunni Arab candidate for parliament and militants tried to blow up a leading Shiite politician in separate attacks Tuesday, the last day of campaigning for Iraq's election.

More than 1,000 Sunni clerics, meanwhile, issued a religious edict, or a fatwa, urging Sunni Arabs to vote in Thursday's balloting — offering a seal of approval as members of the disaffected minority are expected to turn out in large numbers after mostly boycotting the landmark Jan. 30 polls.

The second paragraph is much more important than the first.

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King Kong

Ebert gives King Kong four stars. This movie is going to be huge.

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Rocketboom

Here's the first semi-useful vlog site I've yet to see. A vlog-anchor reads stories compiled from the Web. Some interesting stuff. If you click on the video, your browser will open a window with the Web site being mentioned. That's pretty cool.

According to Jeff Jarvis (via pjnet) this site -- which costs about $20 per day to produce -- could generate as much as $2 million of ad revenue per year.

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Stephanopoulos

Imagine the outcry if Fox News announced that Ari Fleischer would be their new Washington correspondent:

ABC News host/reporter/analyst George Stephanopoulos has been named chief Washington correspondent, a new post at ABC News.

The former top Clinton staffer has already been contributing news and analysis for election and other Washington stories to various ABC news broadcasts, so the stripe is essentially a recognition of the role he has developed over almost a decade at ABC News.

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Most Inspiring Person of 2005

Here's a profile of Victoria Ruvolo, a finalist for most inspiring person of the year. She chose forgiveness over vengeance. Quite a story.

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Candidate for dumbest NY Times piece ever

That's a bold statement, but Michelle Malkin may have a point. Here's the article. This is pretty innane:

Conservatives, by contrast, skillfully use the Web to provide maximum benefit for their issues and candidates. They are generally less interested in examining every side of every issue and more focused on eliciting strong emotional responses from their supporters.

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Poll: Broad Optimism in Iraq

Here's a poll of the Iraqi people:

Surprising levels of optimism prevail in Iraq with living conditions improved, security more a national worry than a local one, and expectations for the future high.But views of the country's situation overall are far less positive, and there are vast differences in views among Iraqi groups — a study in contrasts between increasingly disaffected Sunni areas and vastly more positive Shiite and Kurdish provinces.

An ABC News poll in Iraq, conducted with Time magazine and other media partners, includes some remarkable results: Despite the daily violence there, most living conditions are rated positively, seven in 10 Iraqis say their own lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve in the year ahead.

Surprisingly, given the insurgents' attacks on Iraqi civilians, more than six in 10 Iraqis feel very safe in their own neighborhoods, up sharply from just 40 percent in a poll in June 2004. And 61 percent say local security is good — up from 49 percent in the first ABC News poll in Iraq in February 2004.

The authors use the words "surprising," "remarkable" and "surprisingly" in the first three graphs. To whom is this poll remarkable and surprising? People who get their news from sources other than the major media outlets (Instapundit, Mudville Gazette) have long known of the great successes and daily improvements in Iraq.

So, surprising to whom? Surprising to journalists who have previously concluded that this war was a bad idea, based on lies and doomed to failure. This poll will only briefly interrupt that dominant frame.

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Potato Guns!

I need to get a couple of potato guns for my kids. Here's a great point:

Remember when kids could play with toy guns and they were not a symbol of all that was evil in the world? My daughter doesn't. She warned me that she could never bring the potato gun to school without the risk of expulsion. The sheer joy of running around being a kid is denied to our children today. It is a shame--it is no wonder our kids are so fat today.

Got a bid on a pair on Ebay! Come to think of it, I need to run around a little bit in the backyard, too.

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Iraqi insurgents urge Sunnis to vote

This news is incredibly huge:

Saddam Hussein loyalists who violently opposed January elections have made an about-face as Thursday's polls near, urging fellow Sunni Arabs to vote and warning al Qaeda militants not to attack.

I can't believe it's from Reuters. Let's see how this story gets played tomorrow and how other media outlets follow up in the coming days...

(Hattip: Instapundit.)

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That's tall

Interesting article on a proposed kilometer-tall building. That's about three-fifths of a mile. At that height, wind is a major concern. Oh, and elevators.

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Oh, academia

Great post from Instapundit on academics. Note the timely use of a quote from Ghostbusters.

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Primaries

The Democrats are right on this one:

WASHINGTON - Toying with tradition, some powerful Democrats recommended Saturday that New Hampshire lose its treasured status as part of a presidential one-two punch with Iowa and push its historic primary behind one or two states with more diverse populations.

It's pretty ridiculous that New Hampshire and Iowa figure so heavily into who we elect nationwide for president. Why should these two states have that much power?

However, I don't agree that two other states should hold the same sway. I suggest a nationwide primary. It would shorten the election cycle dramatically and force candidates to get their message out to all voters. Candidate debates, grassroots campaigning and cheap Internet communication (blogs, email, videocasts) would gain tremendously in value.

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Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor is dead. He was 65.

For whatever reason, I watched a lot of Richard Pryor stand up videos in my youth. He was a comedic genius.

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Earth's Magnetic Pole Drifting Quickly

According to this AP article, the magnetic north pole is drifting:

SAN FRANCISCO - Earth's north magnetic pole is drifting away from North America and toward Siberia at such a clip that Alaska might lose its spectacular Northern Lights in the next 50 years, scientists said Thursday. Despite accelerated movement over the past century, the possibility that Earth's modestly fading magnetic field will collapse is remote. But the shift could mean Alaska may no longer see the sky lights known as auroras, which might then be more visible in more southerly areas of Siberia and Europe.

No indications yet on how exactly President Bush is involved, but scientists are working on it.

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"The Butcher of Ramadi"

Here's a quick post from Powerline. I'll quote the whole thing:

The Department of Defense reports that the citizens of Ramadi have turned in an al Qaeda terrorist known as "the Butcher of Ramadi." The townspeople brought him to an Iraqi and U.S. forces military base, where he was taken into custody. He was wanted for criminal activities including murder and kidnapping.

In one of his recent speeches, President Bush noted that the number of actionable intelligence tips received from Iraqi citizens is up about ten fold since earlier this year (from something like 400 per month to more than 4,000). This clearly is an important sign of progress, and the handing over by Iraqi citzens of "the Butcher of Ramadi" constitutes good anecdotal evidence of that progress.

When I worked as wire editor for a newspaper, I always favored the articles that would have long-term impact. If I had to choose between a train accident in India or peace talks in the former Yugoslavia, I'd always go with the peace talks. In a month, the peace talk story would still matter.

Using this theory, isn't the Ramadi story much more important than any Iraqi suicide bombing? It speaks to a fundamental shift in the way Iraqis are treating the terrorists in their country.

But, it's only more important if you're trying to look at the story objectively.

Let's see how many reporters and editors pick up the Ramadi story.

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Baseball Musings

Don't forget about Baseball Musings. Great site for keeping up with all the Winter Meeting trades. Catchers and pitchers report for spring training in about two months.

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Howard Gotlieb

Here's a good obituary of Howard Gotlieb from the Economist. I'd never heard of Gotlieb, the archivist for Boston University, but he makes for interesting reading. Every week, the Economist proves that obituaries can be the most interesting read in a magazine.

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Rumsfeld on the media

Great exchange between Donald Rumsfeld and Jim Lehrer on PBS last night. Here's the transcript. Rumsfeld starts the interview off on the right foot.

DONALD RUMSFELD: Oh, I think that it's -- if you look where the news media is, it's down very low at the polls. If you want to get into public opinion polls, people in that business are right down near the bottom.

JIM LEHRER: Tell me about it.

DONALD RUMSFELD: You know that. Yeah, does it bother you?

JIM LEHRER: (laughter) Hey, I ask the questions here!

The rest of the interview is fantastic. Rumsfeld pointed out that the media tended to just issue a daily death toll instead of balancing the coverage with the clear successes in Iraq. Rumsfeld didn't say that the media shouldn't report the deaths, just that they should make sure they aren't excluding the other news. Lehrer seemed quite defensive ("you're not suggesting...") as Rumsfeld made his point.

Lehrer quoted Congressman Murtha as evidence that some outside observers really do think it's going bad in Iraq. The fact that he didn't cite Sen. Joe Lieberman pretty much proves Rumsfeld's point.

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Angry Bear

This chart of federal spending over the last 35 years appears to quite counter-intuitive.

(Hattip: Instapundit.)

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There are four lights!!!

Yes, Jonah, I get it.

Goldberg's quote refers to a classic episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the episode, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard is repeatedly tortured while his captor asks him how many lights he sees. The correct answer is four, but his captor tortures him if he doesn't answer "five." After being freed, a wearied captain shouts at his tormentor: "There are four lights!"

The whole episode, of course, alludes to George Orwell's 1984. In that book, O'Brien tries to hammer into Winston Smith's head that "two and two equals five." The brainwashing worked in 1984. For in the end, "He loved Big Brother."

Here's some good trivia. Orwell's arithmetic reflected an actual bit of Soviet propaganda. In 1929, the U.S.S.R. advocated an "acceleration program" in which they insisted that the goals of their five-year plan could be achieved if everyone just worked harder. Just like Boxer.

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The Chronicles of Narnia

Ebert gives Narnia a thumbs up.

Being an Anglophile, I agree with this point:

But it's remarkable, isn't it, that the Brits have produced Narnia, the Ring, Hogwarts, Gormenghast, James Bond, Alice and Pooh, and what have we produced for them in return?

Answer: Ernest Saves Christmas.

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Air Marshal Kills Passenger, Citing Threat

I hope that no one blames the air marshal who shot the passenger on that airplane in Miami. The marshal didn't create this tense situation; terrorists did. But, I'm sure the media will find someone more than willing to criticize his actions.

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On Narnia

Good roundup from Clive Davis on the reaction to the upcoming Narnia movie. It includes some reaction to a pretty vitriolic column from Polly Toynbee of the London Guardian. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.

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Great line

I'm addicted to Google video. Here's a great clip from Bob Hope.

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Americans Who Tell the Truth

Here's a children's book I stumbled across at the bookstore the other day. It's called "Americans Who Tell the Truth." Pretty neat, eh? Here's the main profile page -- lots of good names: Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln. Hey, I thought, great book for my kids.

But as I flipped through the pages I found some odd choices -- Noam Chompsky and Molly Ivins. Hmm. Chompsky's certainly got his detractors and isn't Ivins just a Bush-hating syndicated columnist from Texas?

After a Google search, I discovered that Alan Derschowitz (not exactly a right-wing radical) already noticed this little tome. He wrote a nice piece about the book back in July:

Nor are all of Shetterly’s heroes paragons of truth. A recent book, The Anti-Chomsky Reader, documents the reality that Chomsky chronically “fabricates facts,” fakes figures, misquotes authorities, distorts data, plays “fast and loose with source material,” and engages in “blatant professional mendacity.” No wonder historian Arthur Schlesinger called Chomsky an intellectual crook.” Noam Chomsky is not an “American who tells the truth,” and brainwashing children to believe that he is constitutes a form of literary child abuse ...

What do most of these “truth tellers” (especially the contemporaries among them) have in common? They hate the United States and its allies and blame the ills of the world on them. They support tyrannical left-wing regimes. They are selective in their condemnations. And they abuse the truth to serve their hard-left ideologies.

Well said.

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Total Eclipse of the Heart

More hilarious video from men wearing athletic suits.

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Ariel Sharon's predictable triumph

Good editorial from The New Republic on the chance for peace in Israel. I tend to forget how far Ariel Sharon has gone in moving toward some type of solution. The bold move to leave his conservative party, as TNR puts it, "liberated him and the Israeli public from the blackmail of the Jewish irreconcilables." It's a bold move from a man few expected to be a grand peacemaker.

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Venezuela 'landslide' for Chavez

Hugo Chavez was "re-elected" today. No opposition parties ran. Only 25 percent of registered voters bothered to vote. His party won all 167 seats, allowing the Congress to remove the 2-term Constitutional limit placed upon him.

Venezeula. Paragon of democracy.

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As long as you love me

OK, this might be the funniest thing I've ever seen. The fact that these guys can do the entire routine without cracking up is incredible. Don't watch this at work in a cubicle, you'll bust out laughing. Note that there's a guy sitting behind them playing a video game. Totally oblivious.

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Google Video

Look. Google's now offering searchable video. I just happened to see the infamous Star Wars-Insult the Comedy Dog bit. It's still hilarious.

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Meeting with Congressman Price

My District Six cohort Brad Warbiany recently had a few minutes with our Georgia congressman, Tom Price. Nice summation on his site. Sounds like Price sits comfortably in our camp, but the congressman rightly points out that many lawmakers aren't. The recently passed $50 billion in spending cuts were spread out over 5 years but still only passed 217-215. Not exactly a resounding endorsement of fiscal discipline.

Price seems to be blog friendly and relatively aware of the displeasure among fiscal conservatives to this free-wheeling Congresss.

Nice work, Brad.

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Tip

Vacuuming a room makes it look much cleaner than it really is.

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Citgo

Guess who owns Citgo? Venezuela. According to wikipedia, the quaint South American country bought the oil and gas producer back in 1990.

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Save Girlhood

Here's what I think our society teaches young girls:

Get plastic surgery if you don't think you're pretty because being pretty is that important. (See TV shows like "The Swan.")

Look at your body as the primary method to attract men. (See most music videos.)

The clothes you wear represent who you are (see Bratz.)

My daughter is 6 years old and I'm very troubled about these messages. I'm not the only one. Check out this awesome Web site called "Save Girlhood." Here's the tag line: "The way we see it, girls are growing up too fast."

Exactly.

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Dow 11,000

Here's the 5-year chart for the Dow Jones industrial average. With today's close above 10,900, we're dangerously close to 11,000 -- nearly at an all-time high. If John Kerry had been elected, we'd be reading front-page stories about the economic turnaround ushered in by his new leadership. Sigh.

By the way, here's my favorite piece of trivia about the Dow Jones average. It's an evolving index of 30 companies with firms getting switched out as their size and influence wax and wane. A few years ago Home Depot was added as Sears was ditched. Here's the trivia: What's the only company that's been on the Dow Jones for its entire 109-year existence?

Here's the answer.

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How long is a goldfish's memory?

Yahoo! debunks a long-held stereotype.

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T-bone steak

The T-bone steak is a combination of a New York Strip and a Filet Mignon.

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