"As a model of directness, the idea of creating enough chaos to collapse the current world system has few peers."

A must read post at The Belmont Club introduces Lawrence Wright's article in the New Yorker.

From post at The Belmont Club, "The view looking out from within al-Qaeda is completely different from the standard narrative provided by the newspapers. We learn about a man who converted Bin Laden to Salafism and who later accused him of leading the Jihad to catastrophe -- a man who is in US custody. Wright describes the pivotal role of Afghanistan in creating a place for Jihad to train and formulate its plans, and why September 11 is regarded by some Islamic radicals as a complete mistake."

Ann Althouse proves that a picture is worth a thousand words.

What a whuppin' the socialists are taking today on the topic of state control of free markets in an excerpt from an upcoming article by Richard Epstein that will be published in the Hoover Digest. Please read The Corner on National Review Online: Free Markets Under Siege. Epstein and Hitchens in the same day!

The wonderful Christopher Hitchens ties a hapless Australian Broadcasting Corporation interviewer in the tatters of his formulaic arguments from the Michael Moore debating club in this post from The Belmont Club: How not to hunt a tiger

More bad news for those who suffer from BDS in Yahoo! News Katrina's Floodwaters Far Less Toxic Than Feared

Thoughts on the politicization of scientific research--that is, scientific research that is funded by the federal government.

Prometheus: The Promotion of Scientific Findings with Political Implications

The fifth anniversary of 9/11. I continue to feel emotions that change in a moment every year on this date after 2001: great sadness after watching amateur video that expresses the same raw emotion and confusion that we all felt at first. I felt anger after watching the second episode of "The Path to 9/11" on ABC. Anger at the terrorists. Frustration with a government that refused to take the terrorists seriously until they committed an act that could not be ignored. Pride in re-reading a story of the bravery and selfless devotion to duty, honor, and country exhibited daily by our mighty warriors in the Special Forces. And resolve after listening to our President address the nation tonight.






















Long may she wave. America will never submit to Islamofascism.

Incredible! Could the father of Islamism really be a sexually repressed, introverted, self-hating, bitter ignoramus? The Observer Review The age of horrorism (part one)

I love Australia. Even their scandals are fun. AP: Striptease Heats Up Global Warming Event.

We lost a very good man today. Steve Irwin, the famed Crocodile Hunter of TV and of at least one movie, died while filming a documentary.

Some of the reactions have criticized him for taking unnecessary risks, or for his perceived politics, or for an episode where he apparently put one of his children in dangerous proximity to a crocodile, or for other equally silly reasons.

I prefer to remember Steve as an incredibly enthusiastic person. I had the privilege to travel to Australia and New Zealand several times in the 1980s while I worked for a data communications start-up. Australia is full of enthusiastic people; people who love life and are eager to embrace those who are friendly and return their embrace.

Queensland has lost a great ambassador. The world has lost a great conservationist. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his friends, and all who loved him and whom he loved, no matter the species.

CNN.com: State funeral possible for Irwin

The SciGuy exclaims, "Wow ... IPCC report leaked ... most interesting."

For me, not so much. More like, "Grudging acknowledgment in leaked IPCC draft report that global warming disaster scenarios belong in movies, not in real life. For the rest of us, break out the tube tops and sun tan lotion, and get ready for longer growing seasons, better and cheaper food, and more beach music."

Counterterrorism Blog: The "Azzam" Threat: A prelude to Future Jihad in America

If wanna-be Jihadist Adam Gahdan thinks that he'll convert Americans to Islam by threatening beloved figures like Billy Graham (in one of the groups Gahdan singles out for destruction), he's got another thing coming. Try playing that tune down South, beard-boy. Counterterrorism Blog: The "Azzam" Threat: A prelude to Future Jihad in America

Kenneth Anderson writes in the New York Times Magazine, "It's Congress's War, Too".

We deserve a Congress that would seriously take up the issues that Kenneth raises without demagoging them.

Can I get 400 PPM? Anyone? Science tempers fears on climate change News The Australian

Poor Crazy Al. Now he's accused of helping to make the MTV Music Awards more boring and pointless than ever. I didn't see them, and won't, despite the incessant repeats, but I understand he said, "here's a photo of a glacier melting".

To this I say: Al, don't blink.

Tom Evslin posts "Weakness Invites Attack" on his excellent blog, Fractals of Change

I couldn't agree more. I believe a corollary to his post is that wars are won and real change occurs when the enemy is utterly and undeniably defeated. Our ability to fight precision warfare without exposing the enemies' inability to protect any of its population is, ironically, a sign of weakness. We cannot afford to show many more such signs to such dementent leaders as Kim Jong-Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Byron York's post at The Corner on National Review Online quotes an amazing letter by Joe "Plameout" Wilson asking the left wing nut job blogs to "keep hope alive". Instapundit has a round up of posts that make the rubble of the Plameout "...bounce. Bounce, rubble, bounce!"

Captain's Quarters' post Revisiting Katrina, Revisiting Truth credits Kevin Aylward of Wizbang blog with breaking an important story in the Examiner about the state of the New Orleans levee system pre-Katrina.

Vincent Carroll reviews Popular Mechanics latest book, "Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts" in his column On Point: 9/11 theories burst at the Rocky Mountain News

Hat tip: Instapundit

Orson Scott Card reveals the commandments that those who "worship" global warming follow World Trade Center,Step Up, Doyle, and Sheldon - Uncle Orson Reviews Everything

Chicago Boyz posts a very interesting commentary on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict by Steven den Beste entitled "Disproportionate Response". Well worth reading; Steven has given up his political/military/science blogging on his own site but still occasionally posts very insightful comments around the blogosphere.