There were several stories today that I would have liked to cover, but the Sun Spots conspired against us all. So instead of trying to play catch up with old news, I have a few posts around the blogosphere that I think are worth a look see.
First, is this dynamite post by Cassandra. It is her answer to another post that ran the other day in the Chicago Tribune. It was a piece by Geoffrey Stone entitled What it means to be a liberal, where Stone pontificates on10 principles that he is convinced liberals believe and conservatives do not. Cassandra responds with what she describes as her "off the cuff" 10 principles conservatives believe in. It is really worth reading. We should all be so "off the cuff" talented.
I would also like to refer you to a couple different posts the Skipper has posted at Barking Moonbat Early Warning System. That's right, our #1 favorite blog.
Treason! "Anyway, the FBI finally got around to putting out a WANTED poster
on “Azzam” and surprisingly, he is wanted on charges of treason.
Great googley-moogley! The last time that happened was Tokyo Rose in
the 1950’s ... who was carrying on a fine tradition begun by Benedict
Arnold way back when.
"
Million Dollar Baby Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn’t personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.
And Wizbang's Paul has a most interesting post on the New York City plane crash that killed Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle.
Cory Lidle Crash Mystery Solved?
Let me start with the disclaimer... This is not definitive proof of why Cory Lidle crashed. The accuracy of this radar track has not been verified. Also I don't do this for a living. But having said all that, I think I have more than enough data to make this post. Judge for yourself:
What most non-pilot type people don't know is that (historical) radar tracks are available on the web. Being a curious guy I went looking for the track of the plane and what I found stunned me.
October 12, 2006 -- President Bush took a moment yester day to point with pride at a re election campaign promise kept: He vowed two years ago that his tax cuts would produce enough new revenue to cut the federal deficit by half in five years, and the latest figures show they've done just that - three years early.
It now stands at $247.7 billion - down from $520 billion in 2004.
And it's continuing to drop.
"These budget numbers are proof that pro-growth economic policies work," Bush said.
You'd think that Democrats - they are patriotic Americans, after all - would revel in the good news. Ha!
Flypaper for Anti-war Numerates
By Seixon on Lancet Study
Was I surprised to see Les Roberts and the gang from Johns Hopkins University publish yet another Iraqi mortality study right before an American election? To tell you the truth, I’m surprised that they had the gall to do it again and I hate the fact that they’re going to get away with it – again. The reason why they are going to get away with it is due to the anti-war mob who peddle it uncritically and see no bias where any rational person would.
In addition to Seixon's post noted above, Instapundit has the following on the Lancet Study that concludes that skepticism is definitely in order.
A NEW LANCET STUDY ON IRAQI CASUALTIES: I'm skeptical, given their past track record. Meanwhile, Tim Blair notes the paucity of actual data: "Remember: Lancet came up with this via a survey that identified precisely 547 deaths (as reported by the New York Times)." He also notes that it's a rather large claim by historical standards: "It is a larger number than were killed in Germany during five years (and 955,044 tons) of WWII bombing." John Wixted comments:
The Lancet, of course, is the same journal that published a similarly flawed study on the eve of the last presidential election in a transparent attempt to influence the outcome (to no avail, fortunately). That study claimed that more than 100,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the invasion.
(Compare that claim with this UN study.) He notes that The Lancet also claimed that 567,000 Iraqis died as a result of sanctions before the war. Omar of Iraq the Model is not pleased, and one of his commenters wonders where all the bodies are. And Chicago Tribune blogger Frank James says that people are right to be skeptical.
UPDATE: MedPundit Sydney Smith notes that the study is getting a skeptical reception from statisticians.
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