CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

We're doing some upgrading and maintenance around the blog so posting will be sporadic for a while. I'm also taking a break from things and working on some ideas to make this blog more interesting and just better overall. Hopefully you'll like what we come up with. Before I wander off into the woods, though, here's a couple of quick hits on the news.

Book 'Em

TIME's All-Time Top 100 Novels list is out. Some great stuff and some silliness. C. S. Lewis? Check. J. D. Salinger? Check. Tolkien? Check.

But Judy Blume? And the overrated Kurt Vonnegut? They're there too.

Yes, Kurt Vonnegut is overrated. Discuss amongst yourselves.

I guess Sen. Babs Boxer just missed the cut:

Sen. Barbara Boxer's debut novel has yet to be published, but it already has created a dark and stormy night for Republicans. They're mostly villains in "A Time to Run," a suspense tale penned by the California Democrat.

The New York Times questioned Mrs. Boxer's portrayal of Republicans as "snakes" and Democrats as "saints" in the book, which chronicles the adventures of a diminutive redhead who assumes her husband's Senate seat after he is killed, then tries to foil the nomination of a conservative woman to the Supreme Court.

A Time to Run is currently #102,446 on Amazon.

Howard Dean, Trend Killer

A little over a year ago, the phrase "metrosexual" was coined to describe effette men who got manicures, drank lattes, knew their pilots from their pilates and could shop till they dropped. Then Howard Dean announced he was a metrosexual. And the term died right on the spot. Now it's been replaced by the more powerful-sounding "ubersexual":

It's time to usher in the manly man - the ultra male ubersexual. This year's ideal man is all about ruggedness, confidence, masculinity, style and having a passion for causes and principles, not just about himself.

Metro is out, uber is in. Now metrosexual Dean is off securing the "Merlot Democrat" demo. Wine makers, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Don't Fence Me Out

When Israel built a fence to keep terrorists out, the UN, EU and transnational left decried it as a family-destroyer and got a kangaroo international court to rule it illegal. The mere talk of a US fence to keep illegal Mexicans out gets the ACLU hot and bothered using--what else?--international law to build its case. But when the EU built its own fence to separate its eastern frontier from Russia and other former Soviet states? Silence. We can presume the EU didn't feel like complaining against itself, though that doesn't explain the UN's silence.

Now Egypt is building a fence of its own to protect Red Sea resorts from terrorism. Israel built its fence for the same reason. Will the EU and UN once again join forces, gin up an international court and get Egypt's anti-terror fence ruled illegal? If not, can we presume Israel's Jewishness had nothing to do with the criticism over its fence?

Kelo Fallout in Maryland

Republicans in Maryland have introduced a state constutional amendment to limit eminent domain seizures made easier by the Supreme Court's insane Kelo decision.

The Republicans' amendment would limit eminent domain to its traditional use and exclude use for economic development purposes such as job creation, revenue generation or new business attraction.

Democrats have a competing bill that would do the same thing via statute rather than amending the state's constitution, as the GOP's bill would do. But...couldn't the courts just overturn the statute?

This blog believes Congress and the administration are going to have to step in and reverse the SCOTUS decision at the federal level. But Congress won't move without strong leadership in front, and the House's strongest conservative leader is fighting off Travis County (TX) District Attorney Roscoe P. Earle's politically-engineered indictment. So Congress won't move, and for some reason the Bush administration won't champion an issue that would be a sure-fire winner and might just reverse its disastrous slide.

So your home remains at risk.

Katrina Fact and Fiction

Gateway Pundit has done yeoman's work in rounding up and debunking various Katrina-related myths. My favorite:

Fiction: The federal government was slow to respond to New Orleans because the people were black..

Fact: "The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 2002. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

Faster than, faster than, faster than the response to all those earlier storms...and all led by the "incompetent" "crony" Michael Brown. The "FEMA was slow" myth will never be fully debunked in the public mind, mostly because it developed in the midst of the crisis and even the likes of top drawer conservative commentators and NRO continue to publish stories that state the myth as fact. Additionally, most of Brown's critics among the blogs haven't been willing to re-examine their own flawed coverage. It's on to the next story and never look back.