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The Carnival Of Classiness.

We call it "Classiness, All Around Us."


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In no particular order, WILLisms.com presents classiness from the blogosphere (now with 50% more classy!):

1.

Medical Marijuana-

SCOTUSblog has a great series on the Gonzales v. Raich case, recently decided by the Supreme Court, which struck down a California statute allowing marijuana for medicinal purposes, which contradicted federal law on the matter, including this visual guide to the opinion:

BlameBush! blog, a satirical site devoted to one of the left's favorite pastimes (pinning anything and everything, no matter how farcical, on the President), has a hilarious take on the matter:

Bowing to the orders of his Big Pharmaceutical Buddies, Bush has cruelly yanked the macrame hemp rug of hope out from under all those who suffer from chronic illness. My spine is beginning to twitch already.

But we'll fight on. Just as Rosa Parks defied an unjust law and inspired John F. Kennedy to free the slaves, we will fire up our orthopedic hookas and send a clear message to Bush and his big pharmaceutical buddies that...

whoa...dudes...what was I talking about?

It would be even funnier if it weren't so spot-on true.

2.

Venezuelan Opposition Babe-

Venezuela News And Views blog (via Publius Pundit) notes the importance of Maria Corina Machado's visit to the White House:

* By receiving the leader of SUMATE the US declares that in Venezuela there is a problem with free and fair elections (to Hell with the Carter Center who somehow managed to convince Colin Powell that all was fine and dandy down here).

* By receiving SUMATE, the most organized and efficient and democratic component of the Venezuelan opposition, the State Department sends a clear message to the opposition: be democratic, be organized, work hard, and we will help you if needed to make sure that elections are fair.

* By receiving Maria Corina Machado, the US looks at the new class of Venezuelan politicians, modern folks, not encumbered by the weight of the corrupted past AND present.

* And perhaps most important, by receiving Maria Corina Machado, likely political prisoner of Chavez, Bush goes beyond extending protection: he tells Chavez that all his B.S. of recent weeks is having no effect on the US administration who will chose its friends as it pleases.

Machado is one dama atractiva, and if the Babe Theory is good for anything, watch out Chavez.

3.

The Dutch Nee-

Peaktalk examines the thorough Dutch rejection of the European Union Constitution (liveblogging and analysis):

On a more practical level the EU Constitution in its present form is dead. Despite Michael Totten’s helpful suggestions it begs the question if there really is an immediate need for such a document. As mentioned before, the voters did not vote on the constitution but on broader issues and even if a simpler document had been presented we would probably have seen the same outcome, minus one or two percent.

Constitutions should guarantee rights, not empower bureaucrats.

4.

100 Homicides-

Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit together debunk Ceci Connolly's claim on Fox News Channel that the military had committed 100 homicides against detainees.

Trey Jackson has the video if you want to see Connolly make her ridiculous claim.

5.

Howard Dean, The Disaster-

Patrick Ruffini has a great take on just how atrociously dreadful Howard Dean's tenure at the helm of the DNC has been thus far:

As it turned out, Dean was perfectly programmed to succeed in that in-between period (2003) where the activists are paying attention, but when the general public has yet to tune in. Once they did tune in, and the focus turned to personality over process, Dean flopped. The Dean chairmanship now is effectively the bookend to the Dean Scream.

When voters start paying attention again, just before the election in 2006, Republicans running against Democrat incumbents in red states and districts need to make Howard Dean an issue. Nationally, Republicans need to pound away at the idea that Howard Dean is the symbol of the DNC.

Meanwhile, the GayPatriot blog asserts that Hillary Clinton has become another Howard Dean Democrat.

6.

Peak Oil-

Outside The Beltway examines the idea of "peak energy" in-depth (Part 1, Part 2), responding to Kevin Drum's posts on the matter:

It semed inexorable that Malthus' numbers were going to lead to massive world wide starvation and misery...didn't happen. Did anybody see the solution (improvements in technology) when Malthus put forth is theory? My guess is no. Many people thought Ehrlichs views on feeding humanity were inescapable, but he was totally and completely wrong. The Club of Rome figured millions would die as we ran out of resources, but they too were wrong. Now none of this means that the Hubbert/Peak Oil/End of the World believers have to be wrong. But do you want to bet they are right? The doom-n-gloomers have a poor track record, but hey, maybe this will be the big success for them.

Obviously, there are limited fossil fuel resources. They could theoretically run out one day. But that day wasn't 1970, it wasn't 2000, and it almost certainly won't even be 2030.

7.

Acting White-

Marginal Revolution blog looks at some startling figures on the link between high GPAs and high popularity:

Among whites, higher grades yield higher popularity. For Blacks, higher achievement is associated with modestly higher popularity until a grade point average of 3.5, when the slope turns negative.

As Bill Cosby has pointed out, this mentality needs to change, in a big way, and in a hurry.

Here's a look at the differences between and among the races, adapted from the original paper (.pdf):

Really amazing stuff. The power of culture.

8.

Kerry, Biblical Scholar-

Red State Rant points out how John Kerry should probably stay away from the religion talk, offering this advice to the Senator:

You may want to be more careful in the future. If you're hoping to give folks the impression that you're biblically informed, comments like these hurt more than help--except among people who are not biblically informed.

Right on. John Kerry, like many Democrats, are clearly at their most uncomfortable when discussing religion. No wonder most of them just don't even try.

9.

Michael Moore-

The Blue State Conservatives blog takes note of Michael Moore's reward to one of his student heroes:

As for the campus cops being racists, lets look at the facts.

Of the 7,365 students enrolled at the school in the fall of 2004, 207 -- about 3 percent -- were black.

According to police department statistics, eight out of 121 people arrested on campus last year -- about 7 percent -- were black.

Those racist pig cops arrested EIGHT black people last year. Just eight. If these cops were really out to get black people don't you think they would have arrested more than eight?

The more people are discussing Michael Moore, the better it is for Republicans. No wonder there's been so little attention paid to him in the establishment media.

10.

Al Gore-

Speaking of people we haven't heard much from lately, Tim Blair notes Al Gore's increasingly absurd (but popular in places like San Francisco) rhetoric:

When he wasn’t presenting charts about rising levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere or speaking about the ways global warming rapidly sucks moisture out of the Earth’s soil at high levels...

“Sucking at high levels”. Could be the title of Gore’s autobiography.

Hilarious. Al Gore, the further from 2000 we get, looks less and less presidential.

11.

Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe-

Samizdata asks why there is not more outcry over the situation in Zimbabwe, which is spiraling out of control:

Robert Mugabe continues his insane demolition of houses and businesses as he increasingly starts to look like Pol Pot reborn, seeking to depopulate the cites and drive the now homeless and unemployed population into the countryside to eke out an even more miserable living, thereby dispersing and isolating people from communities which might oppose his tyrannical rule.

And where are the marchers in the west? Where are the protesters calling for justice in Zimbabwe? Where is the outrage from those tireless tribunes of the Third World, the UN? Why can I not hear the snarls of fury from the alphabet soup of NGOs?

Small Dead Animals blog answers:

There are no protest marches against Mugabe, because protest organizers are on Mugabe's side.

Mugabe is truly a monster and responsible for an inordinately high level of suffering on the African continent.

12.

President Clinton's Lacking Legacy-

No Left Turns blog takes note of President Clinton's third-tier presidency:

Ever since Clinton left office I have been waiting for liberal revisionists to begin recognizing him for the disaster he has been for Democrats. After all, it was during the Clinton years that Democrats began their slide into the wilderness, and for what? If Clinton had got universal health care, gay marriage, or peace in the Middle East, it might have been worth it. Instead they got welfare reform, a balanced budget, the first capital gains tax cut in 20 years, and a Republican Congress.

Indeed. Back when I was writing for the school newspaper, I interviewed a dozen University Democrats together (my own little focus group), asking them what specific policy made them become Democrats. They bounced around a few ideas, before settling on a consensus: Bill Clinton's welfare reform.

I politely informed the group that welfare reform had been a major cog in the 1994 GOP Contract With America (.pdf). They, not even knowing my political slant, flatly refused to believe it. "It was Clinton's reform!" one of them declared, to approving grumbles.

13.

XM and Sirius-

Wunderkraut blog takes a look at the future of radio, noting that satellite radio is where it'll be:

Alternative stopped being alternative around 1995 once EVERYONE started listening to it. I guess it is a moot point now.

Viking Pundit, meanwhile, adds this bizarre anecdote, one that happens every day all around the country:

This past Friday afternoon, WCBS-FM 101.1 played their last song – “Summer Wind” by Frank Sinatra – and, without warning to their baby boomer audience, launched into “Fight for your Right (to Party)” by the Beastie Boys.

As a Sirius customer, satellite radio makes roadtrips immensely more leisurely. It seems like satellite radios could also serve as Wi-Fi portals for laptops and other devices in the near future. One big question: is there room in the market for both XM and Sirius? In the meantime, competition between the two is a great thing.

14.

Gulag-



The Jawa Report explains what should be obvious, the differences between the USSR's gulag archipelago and Guantanamo:

Making any sort of comparison, even as a rhetorical device, between Camp X-Ray and the Soviet gulag system is problematic at best and grossly immoral at worst.

For Amnesty International to stoop to the low of making such a comparison reveals their ignorance of history and their political bias against the United States. While the US, like all nation-states, is not perfect, her flaws do not begin to compare to the oppression of Communist states in general and of the gulags in particular.

Shame on you Amnesty International, I will never take your accusations seriously again.

15.

Bush, Better Than Kerry In Every Way-

Wizbang blog notes than John Kerry's grades at Yale were less-than-stellar:

...here's the real bombshell: Bush was a better student overall.

In his freshman year, Kerry had a 71 average (a C-). He raised that to a 76 by the time he graduated. Bush's average for the four years was a 77.

It's even more telling that in Kerry's freshman year, his two highest grades were in a political science course (79) and a French course (77). His highest grade over four years was an 89 in another political science class.

More:

Evidently the erudite persona Kerry has worked tirelessly over the years to create wouldn't allow him to acknowledge his own failures. He paid a hefty price for his stubbornness - the Presidency.

Ace of Spades adds:

You wouldn't slam an athlete for deciding his best career path was athletics. (Or at least I wouldn't; it's a rational economic decision, even if a risky one.) Likewise, there's little sense in slamming the noble-born for pursuing the non-academic path through college.

And yet the media did this as regards George Bush. Kerry refused to release his grades, suggesting he was not an A student (I don't see Kerry as the modest sort), and the press did not dig.

PoliPundit, which was so instrumental in getting Kerry to sign the release form for the press to review his military records, also has a highly relevant poll on the subject.

Roger L. Simon notes:

...I was reminded of Woody Allen's famous crack about 90 percent of life being about showing up. Evidently, not for Kerry. And this even though one of the not so secret secrets about Ivy educations is that once you're admitted, it's pretty hard to flunk out. In fact it's pretty hard to get less than a B average.

Bush also had higher scores than Al Gore, incidentally.

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Last Week's Classiness Certification from WILLisms.com:

*May 31, 2005.

WILLisms.com offers a weekly classiness roundup as a weekly feature, every Tuesday, with 15 blog posts deemed classy. The criteria for submissions: incisive original analysis, quirky topics nobody else is covering, fantastic graphics, or other posts that took a lot of work. We love to spread the word on upcoming blogs, being that WILLisms.com also fits that description. If you would like to nominate a post on your blog or another blog for inclusion, email us at WILLisms@gmail.com. Write "Classy Nomination" in the subject. The deadline is each Monday at 11:59 PM Central Time.

Classy.

Posted by Will Franklin · 7 June 2005 05:55 PM

Comments

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at June 7, 2005 07:34 PM

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Posted by: Homer at June 9, 2005 07:04 AM