Libertyblog

Missing the Real Punchline

InstaPundit and Ann Althouse link this, but leave out the obvious:

A lawyer who donated sperm to pay his way through college has learned that he has fathered an astonishing 70 children.

C’mon guys, people aren’t concerned that somebody fathered 70 children, they’re concerned that a lawyer fathered 70 children.

Desperation ... and Hyperbole

The United States Postal Service enters its death throes:

On the verge of reporting historic losses, the U.S. Postal Service is launching a new TV advertising campaign designed to slow the migration away from snail mail.

Americans watching college football games and news broadcasts in the next week may notice new ads from the agency — long known for its campy messages promoting Priority Mail shipping services. Now, the “If it fits, it ships” campaign will share airtime with two 30-second spots designed to remind customers that paper mail, unlike e-mail, can’t be hacked, and that letter carriers are still providing reliable and safe deliveries to doorsteps.

“A refrigerator has never been hacked,” an announcer says in the first message as an actress pins a paper bill to her fridge.

In the other ad, a smiling letter carrier is seen walking her route while an announcer reminds viewers that hand-delivered messages ensure that “important letters and information don’t get lost in thin air, or disappear with a click.”

I had an experience a few years back where my DVD mailers were arriving partially torn. Specifically, they were torn in such a way that the DVD titles could be determined. Then one showed up completely opened. By an amazing coincidence, it showed up a day later than expected as well. I complained at the USPS website and got absolutely no response.

The really aggravating part? The implied judgment about my taste in DVDs: Only one was worthy of interception.

So yeah, my computer might be about as secure as an unlocked box at the end of my driveway.

Holdouts

Charles Krauthammer opines on why the Palestinians aren’t seeking a negotiated peace:

After all, why did Abbas go to the United Nations last week? For nearly half a century, the United States has pursued a Middle East settlement on the basis of the formula of land for peace. Land for peace produced the Israel-Egypt peace of 1979 and the Israel-Jordan peace of 1994. Israel has offered the Palestinians land for peace three times since. And been refused every time.

Why? For exactly the same reason Abbas went to the United Nations last week: to get land without peace. Sovereignty with no reciprocal recognition of a Jewish state. Statehood without negotiations. An independent Palestine in a continued state of war with Israel.

Israel gave up land without peace in south Lebanon in 2000 and, in return, received war (the Lebanon war of 2006) and 50,000 Hezbollah missiles now targeted on the Israeli homeland. In 2005, Israel gave up land without peace in Gaza, and again was rewarded with war — and constant rocket attack from an openly genocidal Palestinian mini-state.

Israel is prepared to give up land, but never again without peace. A final peace. Which is exactly what every Palestinian leader from Haj Amin al-Husseini to Yasser Arafat to Mahmoud Abbas has refused to accept. Which is why, regardless of who is governing Israel, there has never been peace. Territorial disputes are solvable; existential conflicts are not.

Land for peace, yes. Land without peace is nothing but an invitation to national suicide.

I would add that there’s little incentive for the Palestinians to sign a deal today if they can get a better deal tomorrow; Israel might be better served by attaching expiration dates to its ever more generous offers.

Attention, Hot Women!

Prepare to share the wealth. It’s only fair.

Solving His Gitmo Problem

The drone strike which killed Anwar al-Awlaki suggests how Obambi could rid himself of his stockpile of jihadists: Turn them loose with a hundred-yard head start.

This “kill, don’t capture” approach will play well with the public until the first instance of a terror attack that could have been prevented by waterboarding a mastermind occurs.

America Has “Gotten a Little Soft,” ...

... says the man who rapes the middle class every day on behalf of the “most vulnerable.” (Via Drudge.)

UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg digs up what Obambi might have meant by “a little soft.” First up, Twofer:

“We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we’re asking young people to do,” she tells the women. “Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.” Faced with that reality, she adds, “many of our bright stars are going into corporate law or hedge-fund management.”

And don’t forget San Fran Nan:

“Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.”

Victor Davis Hanson: “Should Obama Try to Emulate the Way He Thinks Gays and Jews Talk in His Next Address to Them?”

Oh, yeah. (And by “Jews,” does Hanson mean “janitors”?)

Dems Unenthusiastic About 2012 Presidential Election

Apathy. Maybe they don’t know if they’ll get a good candidate. Oh wait, ...

Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

Fallacy in action:

Will it soon be time to bid farewell to “The Playboy Club”? Yes, if the members of The Parents Television Council (PTC) have their way.

The PTC has been campaigning against NBC’s new drama series for months, urging advertisers and NBC affiliates to drop it.

Now the PTC claims that seven advertisers have already withdrawn from ‘The Playboy Club’ and is calling for the series -- which the pressure group says “objectifies and degrades women” -- to be cancelled immediately.

The real reason we might see the axe fall shortly:

“The Playboy Club” attracted a lot of early buzz, but launched to disappointing ratings and saw its audience drop by a whopping 19 percent for the second episode.

Undiluted Rumpswabbery

The Associated Press abandons any pretense of objectivity. (Via Drudge.)