Right Wing Nut House

If you’ve been trying to access The American Thinker website for your daily dose of rational, well written conservative thought, you’ve probably discovered that the domain has changed hands and a “parking” domain has taken over.

Not quite sure what the problem is but in an email from AT’s editor Tom Lifson, it seems to have something to do with the domain registration and the company responsible for registration with ICANN. Thanos at Noblesse Oblige has more:

I’m not sure what’s going on at American Thinker, but apparently there’s a mistake over the Domain, or some outright hijacking. If you go there you will hit an “all ad site”. Earlier someone was able to get through and saw this post, I have only a partial quote from a post by Andrew (sic) Lifson I assume:

American Thinker Blog
Please stand by
April 24, 2007
Some readers have had or will have difficulty reaching our website over the next few days. Our control over our domain has been affected by the error of another company. We are working to fully resolve the problem. Please bear…

Unfortunately I don’t have the rest of it…

As a contributor to that excellent site, I hope that Tom can resolve the situation quickly and get his baby up and running again. And as a daily reader, I miss the insight and intelligence offered up by what I believe to be the finest E-Zine on the net, much superior to anything on the left and rivaling any of the conservative on line magazines like NRO or Weekly Standard on the right.

UPDATE

The American Thinker returns!

It could hardly help but be a success given the talent behind it. Nevertheless, Hot Air, the Michelle Malkin creation that literally took the blogs by storm when it came on line, turns one today. And we here at The House would like to stand and applaud everyone associated with that quality site for doing such an extraordinary job.

Original, funny, with just the right balance between snark and serious commentary, Hot Air has become something of an overnight sensation, ranking 7th in the current eco-stats and closing in on 100,000 visitors a day.

Of course, it never hurts when talented people like Ian, Bryan, See-Dubya, and the one and only Allahpundit work together to not only give us a product high in quality video but also sober, serious commentary on the day’s issues. And that’s what makes this site much more than just an imitation of John Amato’s Crooks and Liars. The political and foreign policy acumen of the staff makes Hot Air an informational treasure trove. Coupled with links to a wide variety of MSM and blog sources, Hot Air readers are probably among the best informed on the net.

As a personal aside, I am grateful to everyone at Hot Air for their generous linking to this site which has contributed in no small way to the growth of my blog.

Here’s to many more years of success for all the good folks at Hot Air…

I have a piece up at PJ Media previewing (sort of) the NBA playoffs. A sample:

The 82 game regular season Marathon has been run. But unlike old Pheidippides who, in 490 BCE, collapsed and died after racing 26 miles with the glad tidings of who made the NBA playoffs (a little tidbit of history not widely disseminated by the Athenians), NBA players from 16 teams are girding their loins and slapping on their armor, preparing for the wars to come.

We have the Greeks to thank for all of this, of course. They may not have invented basketball, but they invented everything else that goes along with the NBA playoffs. Holding their Olympics once every four years meant that when they actually got to the time of the games, excitement was at a fever pitch. In short, if the Greeks didn’t invent the sports hype, who did? ESPN are pikers compared to to the Athenians in that regard.

I do so love writing about sports.

Are you up at 6:00 AM Eastern time?

If so, you might want to tune in to the Pat Campbell Morning Show on WFLA 540 in Orlando, 6:00-9:00 AM Eastern where I’ll be discussing 24 with the host in the first hour.

You can also access the live stream of the broadcast here.

I’ve had a wicked cough all week and took the weekend off trying to shake it. Today has been a little better but still not feeling up to snuff.

I may have something up later this afternoon. If not, I will definitely have my 24 recap up tomorrow.

UPDATE: 4/9

My 24 recap will be a little late. Should be up around 10:30 AM Central.

UPDATE II: 11:00 AM CENTRAL

Sorry to report that it will be at least another hour for the recap. My brain is fogged up with some great cough medicine and I find myself spacing from time to time.

If you can spare a few dollars, why not follow the link here and donate to the fund set up to send two RedState bloggers to Iraq.

Jeff Emanuel and Victoria Coates - known on this site and many others as Academic Elephant - received permission from the Department of Defense to embed with the troops in Iraq. I don’t have to tell you how important it is for bloggers and other new media types to get a first hand view of what’s happening in Iraq as we move into this critical phase of the war. Writers like Michael Yon, Michael Totten, Austin Bay and others have given much needed context to stories coming out of Iraq, fleshing out details as well as reporting the thoughts of our soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

They are about 2/3 of their way to the financial goal of $10,000 as of early 3/30. If you’re a blogger, why not put a blurb up on your site asking people to contribute? And if you’re a visitor, I urge you to donate as much as you can and to spread the word on other sites about their need.

Let’s put them over the top today!

The Bradford Pear Tree. We have one in our yard that looks just like this today.

A Prayer in Spring

Robert Frost (1915)

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.

If you came looking for something to read about politics, perhaps this afternoon. For the moment, the temperature is soaring into the upper 70’s today, the sun is out, the air is unbelievably fresh and vital - almost drug-like in its effect on my body and soul.

Winter’s death grip on our hearts is lessening. Not quite letting go, mind you. This, after all, is the Midwest. And we here in the heartland know that before the old bugger lies down and sleeps for a while, Old Man Winter has a few blasts left in him. What we’ve been experiencing yesterday and today are Sister Springtime’s annual attempt to seduce the dirty old guy , distracting him long enough so that a few breath’s from her sweet scented lungs escape the Ogre’s clutches and waft gently across the landscape transforming man, beast, and bud.

You don’t breathe any more deeply all year than on that first day when the sun actually warms your face and the fresh smell of renewal is on the wind. A hint of Jasmine. A suggestion of sweet honeysuckle. Everything is brighter. Colors are cartoonish, so garish they are. Reds are redder. Greens are impossible, it being so long since you’ve seen the color out of doors. Even the earth colors brown and sienna become more stark thus offering a contrast to the rest. After months of depressing cold and darkness, the world in front of you explodes in light and warmth.

But it’s what happens inside of you that makes spring so very special. The older I get, the more this change of season is meaningful for me. The longer I live, the more I hate the winter - and look forward to this first day of joy and rebirth. During the winter, I have a tendency to face my own mortality - an Irish fatalism handed down by my ancestors. All is forgotten come spring.

Come spring, the world fills up with joyous sounds and sights. A ball hitting a bat. A dog barking madly as he races around the park. Fish leaping out of the water. And the birds. Oh how my mother loved the birds in springtime, singing their songs of love, building their nests hoping to mate. Remembering is also part of the seasonal change, calling forth the spirits of the past to unite with anticipation of the future until the seamless whole of your life now and beyond tomorrow fills you up with feeling and a great gratitude to be alive.

Politics? It can wait. For now, breathe. And simply be.

I can hardly believe my eyes when looking at the number of spam comments and trackbacks my excellent spam catcher Askimet has plucked from the ether in the last 48 hours.

Nearly 5,000 in the last 24 hours alone. That’s about 4 times the normal amount of spam that attacks this site every day. I know that it’s slowing the site’s load time but I am at a loss as to how to go about minimizing it.

The attacks have been so bad that it overwhelms Askimet every once and a while and a couple of them dribble through to the moderation queue.

If anyone has any suggestions, I’d be most appreciative.

This is me after slipping on the ice this morning. Good thing no one was around to see my dress fly up all the way to my eyes.

Watching someone slip and fall the way I did this morning may have been the catalyst for the first human laugh. Tens of thousands of years ago, it is more than possible that some Paleolithic dummy didn’t see the black ice where that next step was going and . . . whoosh!

The effect on his fellows was probably instantaneous - and electric. An exchange of glances, a painful smile employing muscles never before used for that purpose. A rough giggle that rippled through the entire tribe. And then one soul - the Adam or Eve of laughter - let out a huge guffaw and the entire tribe joined in. The truth is, there are few things funnier than watching a human being have their legs slip out from under them while having their feet fly into the air and seeing the poor unfortunate land on their tush.

The experience is almost existential. When you feel yourself slipping, you instinctively dig your shoes into the ground hoping to stop. Then the brief, terrifying (but giddy) feeling of soaring through the air. And before you know it you are looking at your feet flying up parallel to your bemused head. The last thing you think before you hit the ground is “Please God don’t let me break anything important.” And then . . . kerplop!

I didn’t feel any pain at first. At that point, you’re grabbing all of your moving parts just to make sure they’re still there. And the rush of adrenaline and endorphins to your brain blocks any discomfort you might be feeling.

Well, here I am 3 hours later and I can’t bend my elbow without pain, my wrist hurts like hell, my tush has a major league black and blue mark and my hip feels like some little man is drilling a hole right through the center of it. It’s okay to type so I’ll be back later today with some blogging but I wonder if the pain will make me angry?

Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like it when I’m angry…

It appears that the CIA, who experimented with psychics and “remote viewing” back in the 1950’s and 60’s didn’t share their experimental data with the British Ministry of Defense.

If they had, the could have saved British taxpayers around $40,000 and the MoD a heap of embarrassment:

Psychics were recruited by the Ministry of Defence to locate Osama Bin Laden’s secret lair, it was claimed yesterday.

Newly declassified documents revealed that the MoD conducted an experiment to see if volunteers could ’see’ objects hidden inside an envelope.

It is claimed the ministry hoped positive results would allow it to use psychics to ‘remotely view’ Bin Laden’s base and also to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

However, after running up a bill of £18,000 of taxpayers’ money, defence chiefs concluded there was ‘little value’ in using psychic powers in the defence of the nation and the research was taken no further.

What makes this stupidity even more hilarious was that the MoD couldn’t get any “real” psychics and had to settle for “novices:”

The MoD tried to recruit 12 ‘known’ psychics who advertised their abilities on the Internet, but when they all refused they were forced to use ‘novice’ volunteers.

The report, released under the Freedom of Information Act, shows 28 per cent of those tested managed to guess the contents of the envelopes, which included pictures of a knife, Mother Teresa and an ‘Asian individual’.

But most subjects, who were holed up in a secret location for the study, were hopelessly off the mark. One even fell asleep while he tried to focus on the envelope’s content.

A former MoD employee who received a copy of the report said the timing of the study must have been related to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You know you’re pulling apples from the bottom of the barrel when even “internet psychics” refuse to help you out.”

It’s a shame. Just think if one of those “novices” had actually been able to prove “remote viewing” was actually true. The psychic who can prove it stands to make a helluva lot of money by winning the “James Randi Challenge:”

The Foundation is committed to providing reliable information about paranormal claims. It both supports and conducts original research into such claims.
At JREF, we offer a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event. The JREF does not involve itself in the testing procedure, other than helping to design the protocol and approving the conditions under which a test will take place. All tests are designed with the participation and approval of the applicant. In most cases, the applicant will be asked to perform a relatively simple preliminary test of the claim, which if successful, will be followed by the formal test. Preliminary tests are usually conducted by associates of the JREF at the site where the applicant lives. Upon success in the preliminary testing process, the “applicant” becomes a “claimant.”

To date, no one has ever passed the preliminary tests.

I’m not surprised.

So how do you defend the indefensible? If you’re a Brit, you add a little humor:

The MoD last night defended its decision to fund the secret tests despite the questionable use of taxpayers’ money.

And Mr Pope said: “I don’t think this was a waste of public money. Many people will say so, but I think it is marvellous that the Government is prepared to think outside the box.

“And this is as outside the box as it gets.”

Mr. Pope should be hired by the Democratic National Committee where he can put his talent for finding the humorous in the sublimely silly to good use.