Hither and thither 10/9/09

And now, dear friends, this week's assortment of sighs, head-shakers, giggles, and Things That Make You Say "Hmmmm":

• You know, I've been thinking. Is there any surer way to admit that you know something is shameful than to append the word "Pride" to it?
  
• Sticking with shameful, if you only read two opinion-pieces about the whole Roman Polanski mess, read the indispensable Mark Steyn, and Terry Teachout in the WSJ.
• Speaking of the David Letterman matter, I think the real irony would be if anyone who calls for his resignation (or firing) had previously argued that Bill Clinton should have stayed in office after sexually using a subordinate. "It's just sex," right?
• While we Hither and Thither, Obama dithers and dithers. What a foolish, dangerous mistake voters made. My heart aches for the soldiers who pay the price, and for their families.

• Obama's fecklessness is indeed taking its toll on the troops. It's a "duh" that a lot of voters owe a lot of apologies; what's most concerning is how many Christian voters owe, and still refuse to give, such apologies.
  
• ...which we can combine with our recent Twilight Zone post, and come up with this:

• Want to hear from a couple of model citizens in the Age O' Obama? Then right-click THIS, select Save As, then play the file.  (Story from Limbaugh, link from FreeRepublic.)
• When I was a kid, the Nobel Peace Prize had a real aura about it. The idea of winning it had an aura about it. But now President Obama has been awarded the prize. I guess that must be for his tremendous accomplishments in... er, for his unceasing attempts to.... ah, his tireless and clear-eyed efforts in.... Yeah, well. Nice.

• FreeRepublic has a thread commenting, in graphics, on the preceding. Warning: some posters may put up juvenile or offensive graphics, though none has as of yet. [Update: the juveniles have arrived, unfortunately. Just stop with the first 50 comments, and you should be fine.]
  
• Prospects may be good for Congressional GOP gains next year, and that's good... I guess. If they're GOP candidates with some actual Constitutional vision, and backbone, and fire. But if McCain succeeds in gelding the party... well, whatever.
• So I find out that the iPhone app called Minigore does not actually have anything to do with famed un-conceder and faux-science-peddlar Algore, but is actually a violent shoot-em-up game. The question is: does that make it more attractive, or less attractive?
  
• Check out some absolutely wonderful sandwich art. Never thought I'd here myself saying this... but it would be a shame to eat some of these.

• Among the names floated for GOP Presidential aspirants in 2012 is Tim Pawlenty. Don't know much about him; here's a Washington Times article. Seems to have his pluses and minuses. Rigorous moral logic does not seem to be among Pawlenty's pluses. Make sense of this sentence, if you can: "Life begins at conception, so abortion ends that life, but I don't think we should criminalize abortion for women."
• Feeding and caring for five cats is a bit of a chore. But it could be worse.
  
• My Dear and Only Daughter earned her Master's degree from Middlebury in Vermont.  Middlebury is famous for its language program. But it is also known for something else.
  
• Hoping my books see completion and the light of day a bit earlier in my life than happened with Polly Curry.
• So, moms, here's an idea. You want to porneia-proof your daughter. You want her immune to "I can sleep with him, he's different." First, of course, bring her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and pray she takes it to heart. But then, in addition... maybe just create her a News Alert with the name "Levi Johnson." Because, honestly, is there any other better living Poster Boy for the risks of being loose enough to sleep with someone who's loose enough to sleep with you?
  
• This item may appeal to my tiniest, self-selected subset yet: H. P. Lovecraft fans (or even readers). How likely would you say it is, that there would be a line — let alone lines, plural — of lovable, cuddly Cthulhu toys? "If you hadn't asked, I'd say zero." Yep, good point.
  
• Irony Alert:

• Title of the Week. What gets me about this first one is the exclamation point! I would think that, if anyone clicked on the link, a warning popup should appear saying, "By following this link, you admit to the world that you have no life. Click OK to continue, or Cancel to reassess your priorities." The title is: PHOTO: Brad and Angelina Take the Twins for Ice Cream!
•  The second HOTW is How to Find Cat Urine with an Ultraviolet Light.Of course, it leaves me with two questions: (1) how did the cats get their paws on a UV light?; and (B) how did they transmit it to their urine? But cats are capable of more than we know, so....
• Reader Andrew Faris likes Sea Lions and Locals in San Francisco Turf War.
  
• Star Wars: Episode 4 is being remade by fans in a wacky, creative way. It looks like fun. (Warning: one briefly-flashed lamentably-common acronym with a bad word.)
• It's hard to be able to combine Things That Shouldn't Be Said and Things That Shouldn't Need to Be Said in one photo... but here we are:

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• Hm. Have to remember this when I fly to Arizona, DV. I do want to save the planet, of course. Hope Phil sees it, all the flying he does.