Added: Comments
Feel free to comment on anything posted. I will generally let anything go, but if I find something way out of line, I will not hesitate to delete it and block the user if necessary. For the most part, though, I'm a libertarian on such matters, so fire away!

A reference point
Andrew Sullivan gets it--as usual. In his Sunday article, he discusses the quibblings of civil libertarians over police searches on buses, and what is constitutional. Then he puts in proper perspective:

"And then later that day, the news came through that another Islamist homicidal maniac had detonated a bomb on a bus in Israel, killing 19 innocents. Suddenly, the bus-search issue seemed placed in a whole new light. What if that happens here, you could hear people asking themselves. What would we say then?"

Indeed, much of the debate over civil liberties in this country--from speech and self-expression, sex and pornography, gun rights, and religion, to search and seizures, drug busts, internet and broadcasting liberties, and civil rights and equality issues--has taken place in a virtual bubble over the past few decades, with liberal interpretations of the Constitution gradually becoming the norm in each arena. Maybe now is a good time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and set the debate within a framework of priorities. The sooner we do this, the better we will be able to respond when--God forbid--our own city buses begin exploding.

"Beautiful friend, the end"
I never thought I'd be saying this, but I am extremely impressed with Time magazine's story on evangelical Christian apocalypticism. The subject is treated with respect, which is unusual for the secular media when it comes to dabbling in, understanding, and explaining Christian issues to the public. I've personally never read any of the Left Behind books--I'm not sure I want to for various reasons--but I am well aware of the biblical passages they are based upon. I think it's great that more people are paying attention to this; even as a sociological phenomenon, I see a whole lot of good in this, provided people don't start predicting or trying to jumpstart the end of the world with the thought that they are doing God a favor.

Go Augie Go!
I'm not surprised in the least that Augie Garrido has led the Texas Longhorns to their fifth national title today. He was great here in Southern California when he was the coach at Cal State Fullerton and is still loved and respected by a lot of people around here. Congrats guys.

It's also nice to see the imposter USC lose. ;-)

Want to buy a bridge?
Did the French invent the word gullible? The author of this book should be shot.

"[N]o Muslims took part in the attacks 'because the Koran forbids suicide.'"

And all those exploding bodies in Israel are really booby-trapped dummies planted by the Mossad, right? What an idiot.

Kinsley and Stephanopoulos
Michael Kinsley often frustrates me, but his recent piece on TV anchors is good. I think it'd be refreshing to see George Stephanopoulos be overtly biased rather than practice the high-minded elitist liberalism exuded by the rest of the TV news-world anchors. His appraisal of Fox News is great as well; I've been saying something along these lines since I first discovered the channel:

"Fox News is a brilliant experiment in overt, honest bias....Fox is usually fair but rarely balanced. In fact it is a good example of how you can be the one without the other."

Now if they would just stop claiming to be "fair and balanced," I'd have true respect for them. It's a refreshing step-up from the New York Times/Dan Rather-style subtle liberalism masquerading as objective news, though.

How long has it been?
I'm afraid my soccer commentaries below are way out of date by now, but oh well. I had a good couple weeks in Oregon/Seattle/New York, but I didn't find any time to blog (didn't have much for computer access). I'll be light for a while right now because I have a ton of stuff going on, and because I just installed XP on my laptop and it wiped out my modem driver, so I gotta figure out how to get that working.

I don't understand how so few people in America have World Cup fever; this has been such a great tournament so far, it's wide open for once, and hey, the USA is still in it! I think we can beat Germany, and Germany is supposedly weaker than normal, but they've been looking very solid and will be tough to beat. I'm picking Spain, England, and Turkey to win. I love Senegal but I think they'll lose their cool against a very physical and intelligent Turkish side. Brazil has also looked impressive, but their defense looks very vulnerable and I think England can shut down their attack. I'm not very sure on my Spain pick, though; the magic seems to be with Korea right now and Spain has a history of choking. Still, on talent alone, they are the best team in their side of the bracket.

Notice
Blogging will be pretty much non-existent for the next week. I'll try to post a bit from New York, but I don't anticipate writing much until I get back from NY on the 18th.

Al-Qaeda in Kashmir
If this is true, what's our next step in the war on "terra"? Nuclear proliferation is a bitch, ain't it?

Congratulations Mariane!
Daniel Pearl's Widow Gives Birth to Baby Boy

No, we don't want to be on that list, thank you very much
I think there is hope for Libya yet.

So you want a modern facility?
You can't win games and draw a crowd and make the money to sign the better players if you don't get a new stadium? Well, the Expos may want to move to DC, and LA is luring the Chargers from San Diego, but Congress is also ready to relocate if their own demands aren't met. What marvelously timed satire!

Derbyshire
I really like it when John Derbyshire blogs. He's quite amusing.

Why is college so expensive?
Because tuition has become a practice in socialist enterprising. I wish Robert Scheer could write articles as lucid and honest as Peter Scheer has done.

This doesn't help
How can we go after al-Qaeda in the nether regions of Pakistan if Musharraf starts shifting his troops from the west to the east, along the Indian border?

The Reliable
I guess Andrew Sullivan is the only one else out there who understands that it's not President Bush who has changed, but rather everyone else.

World Cup 2002 Schedule
If you are on the West Coast and have had trouble figuring out what the time the games will be on TV (Pacific Standard Time), fear not: I have put together a schedule of the first round matches in chronological order (unlike on the official FIFA WC site). Fortunately for me, I'm a late-night zombie by habit, so I shouldn't miss any of these games--until I am in New York, when the games will be early morning and I'll have to shift to extreme-early riser mode.

Here's the line-up, with what should turn out to be the most exciting matches italicized (my comments in parentheses):

Friday, May 31
4:30am – France vs. Senegal (Update--Senegal wins!!!)
11:30pm – Ireland vs. Cameroon (Dark and colorful Africans have upset potential here, especially if Keane is out)
Saturday, June 1
2:00am – Uruguay vs. Denmark (Yawn)
4:30am – Germany vs. Saudi Arabia (Can the creaky Germans keep up with the speedy Arabs?)
10:30pm – Argentina vs. Nigeria (Many are saying an upset is feasible here, but Nigeria does have major talent)
Sunday, June 2
12:30am – Paraguay vs. South Africa (Back to bed for a quick snooze)
2:30am – England vs. Sweden (Will Beckham play? Either way, it'll be close)
4:30am – Spain vs. Slovenia (Yikes! Hide the kids, unless Spain turns fluffy soft)
11:30pm – Croatia vs. Mexico (Clash of styles; Latin pizazz versus Slavic athleticism)
Monday, June 3
2:00am – Brazil vs. Turkey (Brazil should win, but Turkey is deceptively talented)
4:30am – Italy vs. Ecuador (Ecuador won't score on Italy unless the pitch elevation is above 10,000 feet)
11:30pm – China vs. Costa Rica (If Costa Rica keeps underperforming, China may actually leave the tourney with a win)
Tuesday, June 4
2:00am – Japan vs. Belgium (The hosts draw an easier European side, but they'll be lucky to tie)
4:30am – South Korea vs. Poland (Ditto, except Poland is better than everyone thinks)
11:30pm – Russia vs. Tunisia (Quick nap before the big game)
Wednesday, June 5
2:00am – USA vs. Portugal (We'll be lucky not to get our asses kicked here)
4:30am – Germany vs. Ireland (I'm torn over which late-night brew to select for this one: Guinness or Spaten?)
11:30pm – Denmark vs. Senegal (Uh, I'll pass)
Thursday, June 6
2:00am – Cameroon vs. Saudi Arabia (Lots of third world talent to behold; should be a high-scoring affair)
4:30am – France vs. Uruguay (France may let a goal here, but shouldn't be challenged)
11:30pm – Sweden vs. Nigeria (White as light versus dark as night)
Friday, June 7
2:00am – Spain vs. Paraguay (Here is where Spain chokes)
4:30am – Argentina vs. England (Like every Argentina-England match ever played, this should be riveting)
11:30pm – South Africa vs. Slovenia (Why do they give the early time slots to the snooze fests?)
Saturday, June 8
2:00am – Italy vs. Croatia (Rumor has it Adriatic war to ensue if Italy loses)
4:30am – Brazil vs. China (Six-nil anyone?)
11:30pm – Mexico vs. Ecuador (Odelay vatos, podemos jugar en las vistas altas tambien!!)
Sunday, June 9
2:00am – Costa Rica vs. Turkey (If Costa Rica is back, this should be fun)
4:30am – Japan vs. Russia (Winner gets the Kuril Islands)
11:30pm – South Korea vs. USA (And you thought they were pissed after that speed skating debacle?)
Monday, June 10
2:00am – Tunisia vs. Belgium (Naptime)
4:30am – Portugal vs. Poland (Poland will fight, but Portugal is too talented)
11:30pm – Denmark vs. France (The closest France will get to a challenge until the next round)
11:30pm – Senegal vs. Uruguay (Another subpar early game)
Tuesday, June 11
4:30am – Cameroon vs. Germany (German soccer is officially dead)
4:30am – Saudi Arabia vs. Ireland (I love their team, hate their rulers)
11:30pm – Sweden vs. Argentina (Things get tight in this year's Group of Death)
11:30pm – Nigeria vs. England (...And even tighter still)
Wednesday, June 12
4:30am – South Africa vs. Spain (Spain snaps out of it, advances to Round of 16)
4:30am – Slovenia vs. Paraguay (No wonder the TSN guys were bashing the World Cup)
11:30pm – Costa Rica vs. Brazil (Losers go to work for underperformin' Norman Mineta at the DOT)
11:30pm – Turkey vs. China (Turkey makes it to the second round)
Thursday, June 13
4:30am – Mexico vs. Italy (Am I the only one who gets their flags confused?)
4:30am – Ecuador vs. Croatia (Croatia advances)
11:30pm – Tunisia vs. Japan (Co-hosts close out run with a valient effort against the Northern Africans)
11:30pm – Belgium vs. Russia (I gotta keep reminding myself not to set my alarm this early)
Friday, June 14
4:30am – Portugal vs. South Korea (Sorry dog-eaters--Portugal is just too good)
4:30am – Poland vs. USA (Can Americans finally be proud of their team again?)

Are we running out of oil?
Utter nonsense. So why the continued scare/subterfuge? Let's get drilling in ANWR already! We don't need no stinkin' Saudis!!!

Public defenders
Casey Lartigue shows how all of the criticisms of what would happen to public education if vouchers were instituted are already true. I've debated the weaknesses of public schools before and brought up all those points, but I somehow missed the connection. Very smart, Casey, very smart.

Echo
This piece in the Christian Science Monitor merely repeats what I've been saying and writing ever since 9/11: We have to stop piddling around and get serious about airport security. Quoteth CSM,

"Israeli specialists have a low regard for American security searches. They say they tend to cause unnecessary discomfort for travelers, while being prone to missing potential assailants. 'The United States does not have a security system, it has a system for bothering people,' Dror says."

The article also sheds light on just how badly our intelligence community is failing us:

"'We met with people from the World Trade Center who told us that they thought of everything except for an airplane crash,' says Shlomo Dror, a security specialist who works with American clients. 'I told them that we began thinking in 1983 about the possibility a plane could be hijacked and crashed into the Shalom Tower [in Tel Aviv].'"

When I was working for Newt Gingrich at the American Enterprise Institute, he insisted at virtually every engagement I saw him at that our government needs to take serious steps towards implementing the suggestions of the Hart-Rudman Commission report. Unfortunately, Tom Ridge is still twiddling his thumbs while our FBI is just now beginning to take reorganization seriously. There is hope for us yet, but we are way behind schedule.