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Some Call It A Bonfire (Or Carnival) Of Classiness.

We call it "Classiness, All Around Us."

Planeteers Of The World, Unite-

Pierre Legrand has some funny screenshots of an eco-computer game:

The entire game must have been written by Rod Dreher since there is effectively no way to drill for oil, build football stadiums, build malls, take long showers or any of the other fun things that we used to be able to do before Crunchy Cons took over the Nanny State.

Sounds a lot like Captain Planet.

2.

Censure Russ Feingold-

Blogs for Bush gets some serious classiness credit for the graphic and reasoned thought piece:

It is way past time that we started holding Democrats accountable for their actions. For too long they have been able to slander President Bush, the Bush Administration, the American military and our allies in the War on Terrorism with no consequences for their destructive actions.

Russ Feingold is trying to wrap up the Daily Kos/Moveon.org Primary early on. And, oh yes, he intends to run for President in 2008. He is Dennis Kucinich, without Kucinich's Gilbert Gottfried thing. He'll make a dent in 2008, just you wait. For Republicans, though, Feingold seems to have fallen for the classic Democrat overreach that has become the bungling GOP's saving grace.

3.

French Socialism-

Captain's Quarters blog explains why the French will likely never reform their economy:

This reaction shows exactly why France will not reform its socialist economy -- too many people have invested themselves into the notion that government force should dictate terms of employment. Under these conditions, foreign investment will be more difficult to procure, as corporations will not want to subject themselves to funding a nanny state where workers cannot be terminated regardless of their work habits. The students who protest against high unemployment have kneecapped themselves and all but guaranteed that their problems will only worsen.

A sad but true moment. France may be past the point of no return.

4.

Deutschland, Represent-

Davids Medienkritik blog explains how Germany's media is failing to even remotely give Bush or the U.S. a fair shake:

Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo have become little more than populist baseball bats with which leftists media and political elites repeatedly bludgeon the United States and George W. Bush. Why? Because Bush and fellow conservatives represent a massive ideological threat to everything they stand for.

Germans would hate even David Hasselhoff himself the same way they hate President Bush if the media treated the two as they treat Bush.

5.

More Trade & Fewer Taxes-

The Adam Smith blog takes note of a great coin from yore:

Here's an interesting old coin I came across recently. It's a halfpenny token of 1794, from Norfolk. It shows a square-looking bottle, but I was particularly struck by the motto, "More Trade and Fewer Taxes".

On the other side is a figure of Hope. Ah well; as I reflect on the state of EU trade barriers and the fact that we in the UK now pay higher taxes than the benighted citizens of Germany, all I can say is that Hope springs eternal.

The symbols and phrases on our currency are meaningful. They last long after they are taken out of circulation. Take a look at what American currency says sometime.

6.

Nature Zen-

Quid Nimis offers a bit of nature zen:

Today is Cedar Waxwing day. Right now there are hundreds in the trees around my house, They are transient: we won't see them again until next year, like the robins that came last month en masse. But for the present, they are gorging on yaupon and possumhaw berries that are eschewed by the year-round population of scrub jays and cardinals and mockingbirds.

I know much of the country still has some winter left, but Spring is definitely here in Texas. And the Monarch butterflies seem to be trickling through ever-so-quietly from Mexico. Interestingly, our live oak trees are just now losing their leaves to make room for their Spring leaves. They don't lose their leaves in Fall or Winter. Their leaves just turn olive for the winter. Then, within a couple of weeks around this time of year, they shed and regrow anew. Spring is nice like that.

7.

Media Bias-

Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom blog delivers some to-the-point comments on the media:

Western liberalism, under the stewardship of its media elites (and some of its quasi-socialist host states) seems determined to undermine itself—and I’ve been tempted of late to conclude that they’re doing it just to see if they really can.

I also tend to agree with the first commenter in the thread about lefty self-loathing being one of the reasons the establishment media seem so eager to undermine our own values.

8.

The Electoral College-

John Hawkins offers a defense of the U.S. Constitution's Electoral College provision:

...is any change really necessary given how seldom we've seen a President win the popular vote, but lose the electoral vote? The last time that happened before 2000 was back in 1888 and it's entirely possible that the next time it'll occur will be another century hence. Given that and the fact that changing over to a popular vote system would just lead to a different, and perhaps worse, set of problems, it's better to just leave the system be -- rather than pursue a harebrained, likely unconstitutional, scheme that would surely lead to massive controversy and confusion.

The Electoral College is the worst way to elect a President... except just about all the other ways.

9.

Dubai-

Asymmetrical Information blog has some interesting thoughts on Dubai's rapid development:

Dubai is booming. The city has been growing for years now, but I have never seen as many skyscrapers being constructed than in my trip there last month. There are entirely new sections of towns being built, blocks and blocks of appartments, office towers, hotels and houses.

What's most remarkable about much of this new investment is the show-offy outlandishness of it. After Palm I and Palm II (palm tree shaped artificial islands in the Arabian Gulf, with houses on them), Dubai is building "the world" -- an archipeligo of individual islands shaped in a map of the world. The major draw is that you can buy, say, France, and have your address be "France, The World, Dubai, UAE". Dubai has also built the world's largest artificial ski slope, is building the world's tallest building, is constructing the world's first underwater hotel, which will kick into high gear just as soon as the world's largest submarine making factory pumps out the world's largest fleet of submarines to ferry guests to and from the hotel.

It's all a little mad.

Madly awesome, that is.

Also, don't forget to check out all the old Trivia Tidbits Of the Day, the Reform Thursday series, the Quotational Therapy sessions, the most recent Mainstream Melee, the latest Pundit Roundtable, and the Wednesday Caption Contest (entries are due each Tuesday at 11:59 PM Central Standard Time).

Last Week's Classiness Certification from WILLisms.com:

*December 13, 2005.

WILLisms.com offers a classiness roundup as an occasional feature, with 8 blog posts deemed classy. The criteria for submissions: incisive original analysis, quirky topics nobody else (especially the mainstream media) 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. You can also utilize this page to make your submissions.

Classy.

Posted by Will Franklin · 14 March 2006 11:35 PM

Comments

Posted by: Ken McCracken at March 14, 2006 11:36 PM

Posted by: Hoodlumman at March 15, 2006 04:44 PM