For Feddie, Jay and everyone else tired of beating their heads against their keyboards over Prof. Kmiec.

And three cheers for the Democrats.

Trying to rescind the desperately stupid nuclear technology agreement with the Saudis:

Resolutions introduced Thursday in the US House of Representatives and the Senate seek to restrict US nuclear power cooperation with Saudi Arabia and
instead encourage the development of solar power there.

Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Senator Charles Schumer of New York -- both Democrats -- introduced the resolutions to overturn President Bush's support last month of building new nuclear power in Saudi Arabia, even though the country is home to the largest oil reserves in the world. Furthermore, they said that the country should be developing solar power at a massive scale, given its extremely sunny climate.

Markey worried that handing over such sensitive knowledge to Saudi Arabia would aid in "fueling a nascent nuclear arms race in the Middle East" since many believe Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapon despite professing that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes like generating electricity.

"A potential Saudi nuclear power program is just as suspicious," he said. "[Saudi Arabia feels] threatened by the rise of Iran and they want to guarantee that Saudi Arabia too can play the nuclear game."

Schumer said that he has yet to talk with Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat, but he already has reached out to several Republicans including members of the leadership. Markey, one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's closest allies, said the measure soon will have the support of at least six Republicans.

The resolutions were made in disapproval of a memorandum of understanding that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs signed on May 16, during Rice's visit to Saudi Arabia.

The sooner we can get out of this degrading, principle-trashing, co-dependent relationship with the House of Saud, the better.

On a related note, Danzig said that "Dora the Explorer" can be a valuable template for our dealings with Hugo Chavez.

Senator Obama's presumptive National Security Adviser invokes Winnie the Pooh:

Mr Danzig spelt out the need to change by reading a paragraph from chapter one of the children’s classic, which says: “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump on the back of his head behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming down stairs. But sometimes he thinks there really is another way if only he could stop bumping a minute and think about it.”

Not that our current President is deserving of any slack on his choice of staff, either:

In a subtle break from Mr Bush’s belief that the war on terror can be won, Mr Danzig, who is a Pentagon adviser on bioterrorism,

Hoo-boy.

This would be a pretty damn good way to lose my vote, Senator.

McCain wobbles on judges.

If so, bad answer.

REALLY bad answer.

I'm reserving judgment a little bit because all we have is a comment that doesn't rise to the level of hearsay--it's merely the effect of what another said.

But I don't like it anyway. Since the system has been rigged so that judges have the say on social issues, he has no slack on this one. None.

[Update: Confirmed McCain skeptic AP finds the incident considerably less than outrageous.]

Well, that's cast rather a pall over the evening.

Still digesting last week's Galactica mid-season finale. "Revelations," indeed.

Jay didn't like it.

He's right about it being rushed--it is. "Thank" Sci-Fi for that one, a byproduct of the pressure put on the creative team having one season to wrap things up. It still packed a powerful punch, though--thanks to the groundwork laid by the fine performances of the cast regulars.

As to the rest, I'm going to reserve final judgment until I see how it fits into the remainder of the episodes. My Much Better Half bought me Season 3 for Father's Day and I am sure I am going to like it more upon further review, as I have the rest of the series.

Remember the Pythian mantra--"All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again." And the Razor prophecy, too. Which is way accusations of "PC" that I have seen around the net are especially anachronistic.

My initial impulsive review--I liked it. I especially liked the horrified reactions of the not-quite-Cylons-anymore--particularly Leoben, who has gradually changed from a Loki-ish pseudo-mystical trickster into someone more genuinely benevolent. And Michael Hogan as Tigh deserves an Emmy, if that benighted awards bestower could ever dig itself out of its chick-show monomania.

Oh, and now I am no longer sure who the final Cylon is. Doc Cottle is a recent theory that makes a whole lot of sense to me, but I'm not going to rule out Baltar any more, either.

The worst part about the whole thing is that I have to wait until weather is routinely described with "wind chill" before I get to see the rest.

Learned an interesting lesson on Saturday.

Madeleine and Trip have been attending a dance class for the past year. Maddie's been on the ballet track and I think D3 was inspired by the Nicholas Brothers to take tap dancing lessons.

The inspiration is understandable:



Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers in Stormy Weather.

Well, he's not quite to that level yet. But he was happy to take the class (after a few weeks) and is now determined to continue.

Here comes the lesson. I wanted the kids to know Dad was supporting them, so I bellowed out "All right, Maddie!" and "Way to go, Dale!" for their respective performances. Maddie says she thought she might have heard me. She was a graceful as an angel during her performance.

Unfortunately, Dale heard me loud and clear and gave a puzzled reply, his hands shading his eyes:

"Where are you?"

Fortunately, he went ahead with a fine performance, and I sank into my seat.

I for one have welcomed our new infant overlords.

Fact-finding mission from the European Union discovers a subjugated America.

May God rest his soul.

Tim Russert died of a heart attack today.

Too young--he was only 58.

"Make sure you're not bashing Muslims. Never say Muslims are evil. They're just like you and me."

So speaks Jay Smith, an English Christian who routinely debates Muslims in Hyde Park and elsewhere.

Western seminaries taught Smith "friendship evangelism" as the primary way to share Christ with Muslims. Nothing should offend. Never point out contradictions, inconsistencies, or historical inaccuracies in another person's religious beliefs. Everything aims to convert. Judge results by the number of conversions.

Smith decided to take an alternate approach:

Defend historic, orthodox Christianity.

Answer untruths that Islam proclaims about the Bible, Jesus, and Christians.

Hold Islam itself accountable for the actions of its followers.

"We have to start taking Christ back to his Mediterranean roots," says Smith. "True love confronts friends when they go wrong. Paul certainly argued. Jesus certainly argued. That's the kind of love Muslims need to hear.

"Propositional truth confronts," he argues, in fundamentalist fashion. "If there's not a reaction, we're not preaching the gospel."

In most Muslim-Christian dialogue, Smith believes Christians typically concede on points of orthodox doctrine to make the faith palatable to Muslims. Smith asks: Why should Muslims respect any Christian who distances himself from what he claims to believe?

Read the whole thing.

Victims, victims everywhere.

Perhaps the most poisonous thing about multiculturalism is that inculcates the idea that everyone can try to play the victim card.

For instance, fellow beadsqueezers Tracey Ann and Matthew McVeigh.

For Matthew McVeigh, it was the moment he had excitedly been working toward for months.
But when the youngster learned that to become an official Cub Scout he would have to pledge allegiance to the Queen when reciting the Cub Scout Promise, he refused to do it on religious grounds.

Now a row has broken out after the eight-year-old was told he cannot become a fully-fledged Cub as a result.

His mother, Tracy Anne, 29, said yesterday that her son's refusal to say the part of the oath that declares a promise 'to do my duty to the Queen,' was a matter of principle for their Roman Catholic family.

* * *

'He was really excited about it. But when he had to fill out the application form, he realised he would have to pledge duty to the Queen and that's when it all kicked off.

'We weren't happy about this aspect of the Promise as we don't think it's necessary in today's world. We are supposed to live in a multi-cultural age, but this just flies in the face of that.

'I don't want to make this a religious issue, but being a Catholic in this country, a lot of things are out with our reach.

'My son cannot grow up and become Prime Minister because of his religion. The 1701 Act of Settlement specifically discriminates against Catholic people and only allows for Protestants to take the throne - so why should we make an oath to the Monarchy? It actively discriminates against Catholics.'

First of all, she's wrong--her son can become Prime Minister. The Catholic Relief Act of 1829 ensured that. Rather long odds, admittedly. Even longer of marrying into the House of Windsor, her other gripe.

Second of all--suck it up and swear the oath. This is the United Kingdom, not some benighted, fanged despotism. The Stuarts aren't coming back. Queen Elizabeth II is the legitimate head of state of a free people--you owe her your allegiance. Moreover, pledging allegiance doesn't mean a mindless endorsement of everything a free nation does or permits.

In short, we don't need to add ourselves to the ranks of the aggrieved with baseless protests like this.

Suffering from a bad case of plutoids.

I love things astronomical. Feeds the sci-fi geekery woven into my soul. Land an astronaut on Mars? Meh, OK--nice start. After cities on the Moon, permanent stations at the Lagrange points and a newer, bigger version of Hubble to scan the cosmos with.

Yeah, OK--after we get our budget in order.

I even wanted to be an astronomer once, but my mathematics teachers started tossing the alphabet into the mix, needlessly confusing the elegant simplicity. My genius (seriously) friend Steve Gibson should have developed cauliflower ear in 8th grade, given all the time he patiently tried to explain algebra to me over the phone (he might be an atheist, but he's earned saint credit for that). After a brief rally in trigonometry, I gave up the ghost in pre-calculus. Time to join the wordslinging world.

Anyway, I still have a telescope and long for a deck-mounted version at my future non-light-polluted estate (working name: Chartwell West) in the Upper Peninsula. I can't explain stellar phenomena, but by Obama I will look at them.

All of this is a needlessly long prologue to explain that while I admire astronomers, I think they need to hire some wordslinging consultants from time to time.

Like this time.

"PLUTOIDS"?

Sounds like something I need a prescription for. Perhaps a topical cream. Not to mention a whole lotta euphemisms.

I know the IAU has a plucky Rebel Alliance battling Pluto's demotion, and ironically, I think this is probably the best news they could hope for. Now every science teacher in the English speaking world will join the rebellion, lest they hear the Beavisesque snickering for months on end.

"He said 'plutoids.'" "Yeah yeah yeah--plutoids!"

Oh, and here's an article on the naming of the tenth planet, Eris.

Old Solarism--a stand for sanity.