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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.

Jesse and Fidel-

Babalu Blog looks at Jesse Jackson's interesting new relationship with Fidel Castro:

If the U.S. does what Jesse wants, it will free fidel to buy U.S. food on U.S.-guaranteed credit. After that, he can stiff the U.S. farmers when the time suits him. He's stiffed everyone else, he'll do it again.

Jesse Jackson, citzen of the world.

2.

Pollution-eating bacteria-

Winds of Change blog notes the existence of bacteria that eat pollution and generate electricity. Awesome.

3.

Sweden's Real Unemployment Rate-

Political Calculations picks apart the official line from Sweden on its unemployment rate:

If correct, how Sweden reports its unemployment rate could make for an entirely new chapter in the book " " How to Lie with Statistics." (If you're not already familiar with this book, I highly recommend it!) At best, this kind of tactic represents a political calculation destined to backfire. The only real question is how long can knowledge of the magnitude of the problem be suppressed before it erupts into public view?

Sweden, exposed.

4.

Aid to Africa-

Fishkite blog believes that charitable giving to Africa would be more effective than government bureaucracy:

While Bono is busy twisting the arm of Uncle Sam, the contributions of Sam’s nephews and nieces go unnoticed....

America’s private foreign aid donations amount to $52 billion each year, according to USAID. That alone is more than twice Bono’s goal.

An interesting look at the numbers.

5.

The smartest state-

Jay Tea at Wizbang dismantles a study proclaiming Massachusetts the smartest state in the country, New Mexico the dumbest:

Again, I'm no statistician, but I think I can see what guarantees high scores on this test. All a state has to do is spend big bushels of money on public schools. It'll help if they also keep down private schools, and make it harder and harder to home-school. Just follow their magic formula, and pretty soon every child will be above average.

A nice bit of debunkage.


6.

Debunking Howard Dean on the issues-

It's fun to point out Howard Dean's always-on-display personality flaws. But Dean also likes to make outlandish and untrue factual assertions. Joust The Facts points out a few of Howard Dean's exaggerations and misrepresentations:

I live in the real world, not in the fantasy world where hopes for the future can claim to be etched in stone as inarguable fact....

Perhaps that is why Dr. Dean is resorting to invective and hyperbole. He may not have a capacity to win on the facts.

Dean cut his political teeth in Vermont, where he could get away with stretching the truth. As DNC Chairman, Dean has consistently distorted the facts-- and he usually gets away with it, typically because people are too focused on his angry rhetoric.

7.

Torture at Guantanamo Bay-

Captain's Quarters delves into the sheer horror of the American gulag, located on the tip of Cuba:

Readers will be excited to learn of these horror-provoking techniques that Time reveals in its exclusive:

* Standing for prolonged periods (perhaps best referred to as the Disneyland treatment)

* Shaving of facial hair

* Solitary confinement

* Pouring water on his head

* Poking a finger into his chest

* Removal of some clothing

* Puppet shows -- no, I'm not kidding

* Being in the same room as attractive women

Worst of all, the one method on which Human Rights Watch could nail the US military, is the playing of music by Christina Aguilera as a punishment for non-cooperation. Other than Michael Bolton, which I believe would be an explicit Geneva Convention violation, it's hard to imagine a crueler torture.

Patrick Ruffini, meanwhile, believes that Republicans are missing a chance to nail Democrats, politically, for their squishiness on this issue.

Meanwhile, Professor R.J. Rummel catalogues the realities of the Soviet gulag system.

Nickie Goomba pokes fun at the whole situation, noting cruel and unusual plumbing at Gitmo.

The further we get from 9/11, the more squishy Americans will become on the simple issue of beating the bad guys.

8.

Socialized medicine-

Ankle Biting Pundits heads off the coming socialist health care proposals by Democrats at the pass:

Looks like the lefties might be a day late and a dollar short in their big socialized medicine push.

Socialized medicine, not good.

9.

The Bush economy-

Polls indicate that Americans, by broad margins, believe that the economy is in the tank. Not their personal economic situation, mind you (about which Americans are far more optimistic), but the overall economy.

Blogs for Bush, wielding the facts, asserts that "It's a Good Economy, Stupid!"

There are so many different indicators telling us that the economy is doing very well, yet only a third of Americans can see it? I just don't get it.

National Review has more positive economic indicators.

10.

Sex slavery-

Charmaine Yoest explains that sex trafficking is the slavery of the 21st century:

...the State Department estimates that sex trafficking across international borders involves at least 800,000 people every year, with millions more involved within their own countries.

This is perhaps the most important women's rights issue in the world today. Where are the feminist groups on this?

11.

The Senate's Lynching Apology-

LaShawn Barber is not happy with the Senate's apology for failing to pass anti-lynching legislation:

Perhaps Congress should apologize for decades of bloated socialist programs that caused the black family to disintegrate. Paying unmarried women to have babies is obscene, immoral, and the reason so many (too many) black children have no fathers to speak of. Treating blacks like dummies who require separate (LOWER) standards than every other race is offensive. I’m offended. Where is my apology?

Generations of blacks have been lulled into feeding from the government trough, and the damage it caused will reverberate for generations. And those numbskulls down the street are apologizing for failing to pass anti-lynching laws 100 years ago. Lord, give me strength.

I’m sick of politicians wasting time and money pandering to blacks, treating us like empty-headed children, spoon-feeding us putrid pabulum, and prostrating themselves for every perceived slight...

Fantastic rant.

Patterico believes the media missed the obvious filibuster narrative on the issue.

12.

Stirring democracy in Iran-

Publius Pundit notes some interesting polling data out of Iran, as well as the Babe Theory of Political Movements in action:

June 17 promises to be an historic event, but more than that, it promises to be an historic opportunity for the people of Iran to take their country back. And ironically, it would be from boycotting the ballot box.

Now, more than ever, the people of Iran are both pro-America and in favor of a free society based on democratic governance. They hate the regime incredibly, and the mullahs know it. The eventual victor doesn’t matter, as they have control the government, but they need a high turnout. If it’s low, or a huge percentage are blank ballots, it would mean an utter rejection of the entire system.

Big things are happening in Iran. Hang on, because it could be a wild ride.

13.

The Downing Street Memo-

The Jawa Report examines how the left is becoming consumed by bizarre conspiracy theories:

The Left's obsession with The Downing Street memo is not borderline paranoia, it is has become full on paranoia. The truth of the matter is that the paranoid obsession with the grand Bush conspiracy theory runs so deep among the Left today, that no amount of evidence to the contrary could make them disbelieve.

The Downing Street Memo: no legs.

14.

Comment trolls-

Baldilocks exposes a troll with multiple personalities who asked:

BTW Baldilocks, you look young & fit enough ...

Pro Iraq war?

How come you haven't signed up?

Leftists really think that "you can only support U.S. military action if you are in the military" argument is clever. It's just not.

More on trolls from PoliPundit.

15.

Political nomenclature-

Jim Rose believes political labels used by journalists are becoming meaningless:

In America, our "right-wingers" are Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, et al. These guys are hardly fundamentalists as they have fought to change many things about our system of government be it domestic or foreign policy. Even the label "conservative" that is widely used today is inappropriate, much as "liberal" is a ridiculous term to use to describe American socialists.

I think the first step to rectify this would be to stop using the terms "left-wing" and "right-wing." But there again, it's hard to not to use these terms when your peers and colleagues use them in abundance. Perhaps another way is to work to change their meaning. Either way, we've got to get the language back.

Right on.

UPDATE:
Also check out the 10 Spot.

UPDATE 2:
Jamming.

Last Week's Classiness Certification from WILLisms.com:

*June 7, 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 · 14 June 2005 03:28 PM

Comments

Posted by: Jim Rose at June 14, 2005 06:49 PM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at June 15, 2005 04:42 PM