Look, just because the fledgling liberal radio network is losing a couple of its big suits, that doesn't mean everything isn't going just great otherwise. A couple of bumps in the road, sure. Happens all the time. But all is well... all is well... all is well.

Sir Elton John thinks the American Idol voting process is "incredibly racist" because Jennifer Hudson got voted off last week.

"The three people I was really impressed with, and they just happened to be black, young female singers, and they all seem to be landing in the bottom three," John said at a news conference on Tuesday. "The fact that they're constantly in the bottom three—and I don't want to set myself up here—but I find it incredibly racist."

He's set himself up here.

The other two singers he refers to, Fantasia Barrino and La Toya London, are not, in fact, "constantly in the bottom three." Barrino and London are favored to win the thing (I'd put my money on La Toya). In reality, John Stevens, America's young crooning sensation, has been whistling past the graveyard for the last four weeks. The shock was that Stevens wasn't in the bottom last week. No doubt the producers of the show got together after the Hudson debacle and said, "OK, this Stevens kid has been on long enough. What can we do to make sure this thing is nipped in the bud?" Since Chuck D wasn't available, they went with the next best thing: Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine.

Anyway, Elton John is clearly no expert in voting behavior. Why did Hudson get booted from the show? For the perverse reason that most voters thought she was safe. Millions voted to shore up their favorite weak contestants, at the expense of the strong ones. That's how Ruben Studdard wound up in the bottom two one week last season. And we all know how that worked out.

"We do hope that we shall not be obliged or forced one day to go back to those days when we ... put explosive belts around our beds and around our women so that we will not be searched and not be harassed in our bedrooms and in our homes, as it is taking place now ..."

Now, is Col. Muammar (G)(K)Qaddafi referring to:

A) Abortion rights

B) Gay rights

C) The Patriot Act

D) John Ashcroft in general

(Hat tip: Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost)

"...the monkeys are highly unpopular with the unions, and have been the target of a small but highly vocal protest group centered in Minnesota."

While you're there, be sure to try the Virtual Scotch.

Yesterday there was a lot of talk on the radio about the idea of the Arizona Cardinals naming their new stadium under construction after Pat Tillman. (Instead, they're planning on pinning his name on the plaza out front.)

During the discussion, Hugh Hewitt picked up on some Phoenicians' references to Arizona's Governor Napolitano changing the name of one of the three prominent mountain peaks within the Phoenix metro area. Hugh heard some Phoenix callers point to the change as a bad move, but he repeatedly supported the action, saying it was a fine and admirable things to do. Well, that's the sort of position I might expect an out-of-towner to take. But had one been here during the machinations of the change, a different opinion may have been reached.

In the preceding paragraph, I worded the line about Napolitano changing the name very carefully. Arizona's Governor doesn't have the authority to do such things. But that's what she did. Such changes are only to be made by

Now, all of the usual disclaimers about my appreciation for the service of Pfc. Lori Piestewa notwithstanding, here are a few newspaper excerpts from the mishandling of the issue

(from an archived copy of what Marianne Jennings wrote in our local paper):

the Board's name change ran roughshod over law and policies. Both the U.S. Board of Geographic Names and state boards require that changes in honor of a person be proposed AFTER the person has been deceased for 5 years. To stop heat-of-emotion naming, these boards have, for 100 years, adhered to the five-year wait. Even Barry Goldwater's ghost had to sit it out until we named just about everything after him. ...

When the chairman of the state board, Tim Norton, reappointed in January by Gov. Napolitano for another five-year term, pointed out the five-year rule to his demanding governor, she suggested[*] that he resign. He didn't, but he also didn't go to the meeting. Richard Pinkerton, a member of the board for 19 years resigned [in protest] prior to the meeting. A portion of his letter read, "[t]here have been implied threats from within the board's membership that I should sacrifice and prostitute my integrity in the interest of satisfying a particular political leaning."

With Pinkerton out, and the chairman not in attendance, there remained only the sycophants of state government, trembling in their French Shriners. One public member of the Board, and the representative from the Arizona Historical Society, my friend, Lloyd Clark, weathered the meeting and rose to defend the rule of law. A near-octogenarian, this life-long fan of Casa Blanca knows more about Arizona names, sites and history than the Gila monsters. He has a love of everything Arizona from Penny's Pies at the Rock Springs Caf

Pat Toomey, that is. The Pennsylvania primary is happening as I type this. Toomey, a conservative congressman, is running neck and neck with the contemptible, Scottish-precedent citing Senator Arlen Specter. Living in California, I knew the election was coming, but I didn't realize until just a few minutes ago that it's today. A victory for Toomey would be a victory for limited-government, which (sadly) may be one reason why the White House decided to back Specter. Hope that doesn't come back to haunt the President in November.

"If this 15-year-old kid in Prosser is perceived as a threat to the president, then we are living in '1984'." Perhaps. I'll leave it to you, the reader, to decide.

On the bright side, there may be a new job opening for Professor Dunn once her legal troubles are resolved.

Assuming, of course, Air America is still solvent by then...

(Shamelessly stolen from an e-mail from P. Michaels)

I wish I could think of a better headline for this story, but I can't. It's just too strange. (Via Rambling's Journal.)

The lookout has gone high-tech. Partyers in N.D. Staving Off Raids: "Police say they believe some party houses are using scanners to monitor radio traffic and get advance warning about impending raids." Sounds like something Lileks would have done back in the day.

At long last, Claremont Professor Charged With Falsely Reporting a Hate Crime: "False accusations that imply hate crimes prey on the legitimate concerns of the public who truly abhor violence based on race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. And those who make false claims should realize there is a penalty for doing so."

I only wish they'd charged her with an actual hate crime. She did (allegedly!) spraypaint the car with racial slurs, after all. What good are hate-crime laws if they aren't enforced, even if she did commit it against herself? You say it would make a mockery of hate-crime laws? Hadn't thought of that...

(See also the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times.)

The lesson: Next time, make sure there are no witnesses, Professor Dunn.

Police Stop Drunk Bulldozer Joyrider: "German police stopped a 17-tonbulldozer weaving through Berlin's streets at 3 a.m. by jumping onto the excavator, smashing the window and spraying mace into the driver's face."

The lesson: Never trust a German to operate heavy machinery.

Teens Steal Skull, Use as Puppet: "Two Scottish teenage boys . . . were put on probation for three and two years respectively under the ancient crime of 'violation of sepulchre' -- the first such trial for over a century, newspapers said on Saturday."

The lesson: Booze and grave-robbing don't mix.

Something bothers me about this. I'm gonna have to dig a little to figure out what it is exactly, because I'm sure it's about seven lost arguments deep.

Well, I've been meaning to say something about our recent site updates, but haven't had a chance to go into detail. The short version is, we've made changes to the right side of the page to (hopefully) improve "blog ergonomics" and to reflect our new membership in the Alliance of Free Blogs.

Next project: Update our "Manus Manum Lavat" section to reflect more of the blogs who have linked to us (apart from BFL and AFB blogs, which are already listed). If you've linked and would like a reciprocal link, please feel free to send us an e-mail letting us know, and we'll make sure you're on the list.

Well, thanks to PowerLine I now know what Bob Dylan Song I am:

Yeah, this one's pretty dead on. They didn't tell me what the other song options were, but this one's good. One of my favorites, too, along with "Stuck Outside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again".

And catching up with Brad (and Mitch), I'm "New York City", which doesn't seem particularly right, but there weren't a lot of good choices. Frankly, my favorite among the cities listed was San Francisco. I love finding any excuse to go there, particularly when I'm going on someone else's dime. Great food, great music, great drink. Screwy politics, but in the places where I hang out, they're not as "in your face" as you'd think. As I've said many times before, if I didn't have kids there's no city where I'd rather spend a year or two.

The essential monkey accessory.

While visiting a new Sprouts Farmers Market in my neighborhood, I happened upon a major discovery. The folks who make Hansen's All Natural Sodas have switched their line of Diet sodas over to my favorite new sweetener, Splenda. Woot! The cans even spell out clearly that they're "aspartame free" in addition to having no carbs and no caffeine.

So far I've had the Tangerine Lime and the Black Cherry. How do these compare with my beloved Diet Rite? Well, it's not even close. The Hansen's Tangerine blows away the Diet Rite Tangerine. And though they're not exactly matched head to head, the Hansen's Black Cherry does a much better job filling the niche that the Diet Rite Raspberry tried to fill in my life. (Yes, Diet Rite's website shows that they offer a true Black Cherry, but I've never seen it available in any store.)

It appears that Hansen's does not offer a cola, and I will be happy to get by with my old fried Diet Rite, for whom I will probably always have a soft spot. It's like a friend who helped me through rehab as I broke my sugar addiction. But as I put together my carb-smart, limited-sugar life, I'll be branching out and trying the other Hansen's flavors. Of course, I'll be reporting reviews and developments here.

Far be it from me to ever be considered any kind of baseball blogger*, but I've gotta ask: isn't it a bit early for 2004 All-Star voting? I finally watched my first game of the season on Thursday night, and caught another last night. (Unrelated observation: the Padres' road uniforms feature a color disturbingly close to "flesh tone," especially when they wear the light pants with the dark blue tops. It's just weird. And David Wells does not look good in the all flesh tone get up.)

I have no idea if the paper ballots are available in the actual stands, but the team websites have already had the nominees listed for some time, and you can already cast votes. Is this a new development? Has it ever started this early before? Is Howard Dean still on the AL ballot? Can I write in Hugh Hewitt? Is George Soros behind this? Will Franken still even be playing come the mid-season break?

*see also the Baseball category in Robert Tagorda's blogroll.

Okay, I know we all want to cut folks slack when we can, but just because John Kerry went to Vietnam and won medals doesn't necessarily mean his service was honorable. He claims atrocities were committed. Free fire zones, burning villages, etc. He said he participated in some of these activities. That's not honorable, it's horrible. He likes to blame Nixon and "the government", but he held the gun in his hand. He pulled the trigger. He followed the immoral order. He could have said no, but he didn't. John Kerry, by his own account, participated in an immoral war and performed unthinkable and atrocious things. That doesn't sound like "honorable service" to me. It sounds like cowardice.

It's a shame only four of us could make it to the summit. You'll have to keep imagining what Dr_Monkeystein looks like.

So is allowing the Muslim call to prayer to be broadcast over the mosque's loudspeakers in a heavily Catholic and Polish community the right thing to do? The First Amendment and the founders' intent would suggest that to suppress it would be to stop the exercise of religion. But there's that old line about the right to swing your fist ends where it meets my nose--what about when your atonal (to Western ears) prayer meets my ears? Or is it like church bells?

Discuss.

This is the sort of the thing the Internet was invented for.

Really.

Stop looking at me like that.

So says Dan Henninger in The Wall Street Journal today. "The truly brazen authors of NBC's petition to the FCC say, 'Live and uncensored programming is the hallmark of a free society.' Oh please. It is the hallmark of NBC's need to produce quarter-over-quarter growth in the business it is in." Read the whole thing, as the sages say.

Unmentioned in the column, but equally relevant to the discussion, is the mainstreaming of pornography, about which I'll have more to say soon. Henninger believes that the political rumblings against broadcast indecency won't amount to much:

As to the "decency" police, the very notion is quaint. Decency died years ago and isn't coming back. The standards of the American people have been so beaten down that no public groundswell is likely unless something is really over the top. The argument now is over a social consensus on acceptable in-decency. Not being able to say "f------ brilliant" in front of 30 million people is a small price to pay to keep the gravy trains running.

One wonders what he means by "over-the-top." I'm not sure he's correct. I think a backlash is coming. The questions are when, how, and whether the entire First Amendment will be swept away in the bargain.

Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost takes a look at some of the presuppositions behind positions for and against reinstating a draft. I think that the model of foster parenting would fit his analogy better than adoptive parenting, since it more regularly carries payments from the state and limited time commitments upon which many participants base decisions of service.

As a former Marine, it's tugged a bit at my heartstrings to hear of my "brother" Marines who've fallen in service over in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it's been esoteric. There hasn't really been a face on it. Just a story here and there. AZ's first casualty was a Marine in his 30's who was called "grandpa" by his comrades. Much as I can imagine being in a similar position, today puts a more familiar face on such a loss.

I watched Pat Tillman play linebacker at my alma mater Arizona State. He was the heart of the defense. I was later pleased to see him get picked up as a hometown favorite safety and special teams player for the hapless Arizona Cardinals. He always played well beyond his size. Well beyond. He was a guy I repected for his intensity balanced with serious focus.

I was further impressed when he walked away from his seven-figure pro-football contract to join the Army Rangers with his brother in the wake of September 11th. I think his only communication with the press was an indirect announcement that there would be no interviews, no cooperation with journalists covering his story whatsoever. He had not been married long before he shipped out. I'd heard that he was serving with a Special Ops team somewhere in Afghanistan. Today the news broke that he was killed in action.

UPDATE(S): Hugh Hewitt cites appropriate quotations, and points out this excellent summary of Tillman. Big Trunk at Power Line has been following the Tillman story for some time. Luke Duke posts the Ranger Creed. Can't resist adding a link to what Wretchard at Belmont Club penned this day.

This did not happen at last week's Summit.

But it should have.

Phoenix and its numerous burbs have a broad mixed population of folks from just about everywhere, making it an oft-used test market for new products. So I'd heard the buzz that we were going to be first to experience low-carb Doritos and Tostitos (yep, you read that right). I looked in the aisles of the grocery stores week after week. Nothin'. But I finally found the Doritos. They're at Subway, in the little bags that get added to the combo meals. They're called Doritos Edge. Of course I just had to try them.

First bite

Well, more like radio-sign (but no, I don't mean they've lined up the anxiously awaited webcast). The Northern Alliance Radio Network folks have lined up an interview with a temp by the name of Mike; just a regular joe they didn't like.

Somebody alert Croooow Blog.

Who knew?

I'm glad I work in a private school. (/Jackie Mason)