BILL UNTHRILLED | Daily Telegraph Tim Blair Blog.

One of my favorite lines used by a number of pro-Palestinians I have debated over the years is a clever appeal to fairness; it’s primary usage is when they say, “well, wouldn’t you agree that the force Israel possesses as a state is widely disproportionate to that of any of its surrounding states?”  They proceed from this rather banal premise to then attack Israel for abusing its power in any number of ways — assuming that it is this power, this lack of proportionality, is the driving force behind much of the conflict in the region.  In other words, a core foundational problem many pro-palestinians have is that there is some inherent unfairness in Israel’s superior military might… or that the situation could be improved if only each side had more to fear from the other…. if they approached each other as equals.  And to be clear, I am not arguing that they are wrong here… and I am not claiming Israel is an innocent party… I’m just relating how the arguments I hear are often structured.

My answer is always, “Ya, so what’s your point?”  Of COURSE Israel is a stronger Nation… it wouldn’t exist if it didn’t have the power it has.  It’s superiority in the region is the only thing keeping it in the region… the only thing preventing it’s destruction.  In other words, how disproportionate Israel’s power is in comparison to its neighbors really is irrelevant to the discussion… what matters is what is done with the power you have… and whether that power was justifiably or unjustifiably exercised.

But let’s just say that my Palestinian friends are right… we need a greater sense of proportionality in the region.  What should that look like?  Fortunately, Victor Davis Hanson has come up with a few of his own suggestions:

1) Request that 50% of Israel’s air-to-ground missiles be duds to ensure greater proportionality.

2) Allow Hamas another 1,000 free rocket launches to see if they can catch up with the body count.

3) Have Israeli soldiers congregate in border barracks so that Hamas’s random rockets have a better chance of killing military personnel, to ensure it can claim at least a few military targets.

4) Redefine “holocaust” to refer to deaths of terrorists in numbers under 400 to give greater credence to Hamas’s current claims.

5) In the interest of fairness, allow Hamas to establish both the date that war is supposed to begin and the date when it must end.

6) Send Israeli military advisers to Hamas to improve the accuracy of their missiles.

7) Take down the barriers to return to Hamas a fair chance of getting suicide bombers back inside Israel.

Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments.

For further reading/discussion on this topic, you might also enjoy the discussion board hosted by Ramesh Ponnuru over at The Washington Post.  My favorite quote from the page: “this is just one of the themes that the muslims use when they are getting their butts kicked.”

I’m finally getting around to catching up on my reading now that I’m finally finished with law school, and I came across yet another outstanding Victor Davis Hanson article–which I wanted to pass your direction

One of the strangest things about the current California meltdown is how no one in state government here ever pauses to ask simple questions like: Why do we have the largest annual deficit with one of the highest sales tax and income tax rates in the country?

Anyone who charted the annual state budget increases over the last 10 years and adjusted for population and inflation rises would conclude that the state has decided to take over all sorts of previously private responsibilities and to ensure state employees and various dependents a level of compensation that is not sustainable.

I think Hanson really nails “it” to the wall here… and, in doing so, communicates a fundamental concervative concept:  sustainability.

For you see, it is not un-conservative to care about people and want them to have the best health care, benefits, or jobs… but we want all those things to happen within the framework of sustainability.  Massive programs are simply NOT sustainable; medicare, medicade, social security… EACH one of these programs is scheduled to become insolvent within our lifetime… and will leave us all broke and miserable when they eventually collapse under the weight of their own obligations.

I don’t know if its ironic or scary… but when a brave politician does suggest reforming these unsustainable programs… he is mocked and attacked by the left who, apparently, has no concept what the term unsustainability means..

via More California Dreaming- The Corner on National Review Online

If you haven’t yet experienced the comic genius that is Arrested Development… let me make it just a little easier for you:

Sitting at starbucks, music all around
thinking ’bout chores of the day
going out for a night on the town
getting ready to par-tay

Finals are finally over,
Christmas Cheer is in the air
Spending money right and left
it seems I haven’t a dime to spare

Looking towards the new year
and being perhaps a bit insecure
Job to find, bar to pass, debts to pay
It seems it’s finally upon me, the future.

Job market looks a bit tight
Economy isn’t exactly right
It doesn’t matter though, I’ll be fine
Got some skills, a resume, and a bottle of wine

Starbucks wifi close to expired
Wrapping up some loose ends
maybe I should take a nap; I’m kind of tired
Merry Christmas to all my friends.

*Ok, maybe this isn’t exactly a sonnet, but cut me some slack, will ya!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

just upgraded to the 2.7 “coltrane” environment. So far, I like it alot.

Just a little holiday cheer from this blog’s favorite author, Christopher Hitchens.

Money’s scarce
Times are hard
Here’s your f******
Xmas card

Slate Magazine

Obama recently spoke with the Los Angeles Times about America’s role in the world.  Remaining as vague as possible, Obama outlined what he envisions for his foreign policy agenda:

“I think we’ve got a unique opportunity to reboot America’s image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular,” Obama said Tuesday, promising an “unrelenting” desire to “create a relationship of mutual respect and partnership in countries and with peoples of goodwill who want their citizens and ours to prosper together.”  The world, he said, “is ready for that message.”

I’m not going to lie… I kinda like the computer analogy…  but other people were not as impressed:

Sorry, what is that message again?  He’s promising an unrelenting desire to create a relationship with peoples of goodwill?

[But] what about peoples of badwill?

What about peoples of goodwill who are ruled by corrupt and oppressive governments? Does Obama believe that peoples who need peoples are the luckiest peoples of all?

…[even so] one thing about his remarks irritates us–to wit, his promise to “reboot America’s image.” How does that work, you just hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete and everything starts over?

keeping the analogy’s going here… Let’s hope [drink] Obama is smart enough to back up Bush’s foreign policy successes before hitting the reboot button.  Oh, and a second thing… Obama! might be time to brush up on your fragging skills before Ahmadinejad challenges you to a deathmatch!

feel free to continue the hilarious nerd-conversation in the comments…

partly inspired by hotforwords, partly because I thought you might want to improve your prose… I thought I would share with you all a very useful snippit I found on the Mac thesaurus that helps one distinguish between the words: “Urbane”, “sophisticated”, “Cosmopolitan”, “suave”, and “genteel”.  If you were confused, as I was, allow me to set you straight.

In his long career as a film star, Cary Grant was known for playing urbane, sophisticated roles. Urbane in this context suggests the social poise and polished manner of someone who is well-traveled and well-bred, while sophisticated means worldly-wise as opposed to naive (: a sophisticated young girl who had spent her childhood in Paris and London).

Cosmopolitan describes someone who is at home anywhere in the world and is free from provincial attitudes (: a cosmopolitan man who could charm women of all ages and nationalities), while suave suggests the gracious social behavior of urbane combined with a certain glibness or superficial politeness (: she was taken in by his expensive clothes and suave manner).

At one time genteel meant well-bred or refined, but nowadays it has connotations of self-consciousness or pretentiousness (: too genteel to drink wine from a juice glass).

I happened to come across a photo collection celebrating the end of prohibition while glancing at Slate.com.  Obviously, the rather ‘gimicky’ title got my attention, but many of the photos were quite fascinating… providing a glimpse into a largely-forgotten history.  I’ts probably worth the 2 minutes of your time…

What is she looking at?!

Slate.com: Prohibition Prohibited!

I was listening Jason Lewis yesterday… and he said something that really fascinated me.  He was arguing with some caller over the auto bailout and their insistence that subsidizing that industry would benefit us all in the future… and he made a great point about economic theory:

how is it so many people won’t believe in trickle-down theory when you cut taxes…

but they are the first to believe it when you subsidize something…???

I had recently made a similar point, but Jason really brought it into the realm of economics and theory.  The next time liberals support a bailout… know this, they have just unwitingly bought into trickle-down economic theory.  The only difference is that when you subsidize, you can CONTROL… when you cut taxes, you let the market work better.   But this shouldn’t surprise anyone, now, should it?  Democrats live and breathe control over our economy.

I believe this is a huge gift that has just been given conservatives… tax cuts can now be defended via democrat’s own actions… and we can distinguisy our policies as being oriented around FREEDOM, not control.  Let’s hope our elected conservative leadership pick up on this gold mine of debate.

I found these articles when doing a recent lexis search for the phrase “copyright issues”

• Who is really protecting Barbie: Goliath or the Silver Knight? A defense of Mattel’s aggressive international attempts to protect its Barbie copyright and trademark
• Second Life Strife: A Proposal for Resolution of In-World Fashion Disputes
• COMMENT: What’s in a Name? Fred Goldman’s Quest to Acquire O.J. Simpson’s Right of Publicity and the Suit’s Implications for Celebrities
• COMMENT: Does Rocky & Bullwinkle Hold The Key to Unlocking the Mystery of Fair Use in the Age of  Internet Archiving?

Ya, believe it or not, people actually write scholarly works about these things.

And finally, you know you’ve learned SOMETHING in law school when you fully comprehend and appreciate an article entitled thusly:

• ARTICLE: Copyright Infringement Litigation and the Exercise of Personal Jurisdiction Within Due Process Limits: Judicial Application of Purposeful Availment, Purposeful Direction, or Purposeful Effects Requirements to Finding that a Plaintiff Has Established a Defendant’s Minimum Contacts Within the Forum State