CAL, WHAT ABOUT THE PLEDGE?

We watched Fox News Watch to see how Eric Alterman would handle himself (he did fine), but were far more interested in hearing what Cal Thomas had to say. Why it was less than two months ago when Cal gave us this pearl:

On the eve of our great national birthday party and in the aftermath of Sept. 11, when millions of us turned to God and prayed for forgiveness of individual and corporate sins and asked for His protection against future attacks, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has inflicted on this nation what many will conclude is a greater injury than that caused by the terrorists.

But, you know what? While there was a lot of talk about the war on terror, and the possible war with Iraq, there was nary a mention of the 'under God' ruling concerning the pledge. Is it possible that Cal was just going over the top in his 6-28-02 column? Almost assuredly so.

RIGHT ON TOP OF THINGS

We try to read some of the more conservative Blogs, and have found a few that we enjoy (Instapundit, Matt Welch, etc.) but we ran into one this weekend that is absolutely absurd. If you haven't steered your browser over to The Conservative Underground, let us tell you, you ain't missing a thing.

Today, for example, they have a bizarre review of a Peggy Noonan column, and offered their own opinion of how Arabs live:

Arabs live in caves that American Indians would have refused.

Not some Arabs, or a lot of Arabs, or almost all Arabs, but every single Arab you can find lives in a cave. Uh huh.

What stunned us was the speed and alacrity in which this ridiculous opinion evolved. Noonan wrote her column August 9th, and it only took the supreme thinkers over at The Conservative Underground 15 days to figure out what they thought about it. Like we said, you ain't missing a thing.

WHAT ARE THEY SMOKING?

We usually don't like to mock people who have risen to the nose-bleeding level of 'staff writer' of the News & Record, but Stephen Martin and Eric Heisler showed some foolishness in today's issue. Their article maintains that unemployment in the Triad area had reached 7.1%. Then the authors, who have jobs, write:

But things are probably not as bad as they seem.

That's because a local economist told them that if you consider seasonal and holiday factors, unemployment is actually ONLY 6.4%. Boy, that sure must make all Carolinians sleep better, huh?

WHICH SIDE ARE THE YANKEES ON?

With the possible baseball strike looming, one of the nation's best baseball writers, Ross Newhan, has a great story in this morning's LA Times. It explains that the New York Yankees are almost 'de-facto partners' with the players union, and will sue if the revenue sharing and payroll tax components of any possible agreement are too onerous for them. Who would rep the Yanks? Al Gore's old standby, David Boies.

As for if there will be a strike, our pal Matt Welch has an answer. He tells us that if the Anahiem Angels are in 1st place come Thursday, there will be a strike, but if the Angels fall out of the race, then no strike. Now some might say Matt is just being paranoid, but as fellow Angel fans, we must agree. People are always talking about how the Red Sox are cursed, but they are mere pikers when it comes to the Angels.

Don't believe us? Check out this brief grief rundown from Sports Illustrated.

1ST AMENDMENT UPDATE

Yalepundit has had second thoughts (see comments) about his unreasonable post concerning Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.), and has grudgingly decided that the 1st amendment does apply to Johnson and her comments. Interestingly, Yalepundit says he was more interested in provoking people than reflecting his actual beliefs. We can only guess they are attempting to become the Jerry Springer of Blogs.

YALEPUNDIT OVERBOARD!

Every now and again, Bloggers will fly off the handle and check their reason at the door before posting. That must be what happened over at Yalepundits, when Mitch Webber went ballistic over this quote:

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that "at the grass roots" among African American voters, there is a growing perception that "Jewish people are attempting to pick our leaders. . . . There is some concern about that."

How vile is that quote to Webber? So much that because of it, he will no longer vote for a Democrat in a national election unless the DNC apologizes. Webber goes further saying that both Johnson's comments and Johnson herself should not enjoy the same 1st amendment rights that he does. Basically, Webber makes an ass of himself.

WHO WOULD YOU DUMP?

A while back we were kicking around the question of which state we would get rid of if, for some unknown reason, we had to jetison a state from the union. We first considered West Virginia. Dumping W. Va. would be nice if only to get rid of that John Denver song, but we opted against it. Mississippi came up, and, frankly, we couldn't work up a decent outrage towards the state. Besides, how would children count while playing 'Hide And Go Seek'? Florida came up, what with all those election problems, but it wasn't to be. We did actually consider California, but we live here, so we dismissed that thought out of hand. We finally decided that if we had to dump a state, it would be Texas. Who would you pick? Take our poll!

WHEN THE TERROR BEGAN

Sports Illustrated's Alexander Wolfe has a fascinating account of the terror of the 1972 Olympic Games in this week's issue. The entire article if flat out interesting, but an early paragraph caught our eye. Remember a few months back when we heard from Condi and Ari that nobody ever considered the idea that somebody might fly a plane into a public building? Here's the opening:

For a citizen of a country manacled to its past, Dr. Georg Sieber had a remarkable knack for seeing the future. In the months leading up to the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, West German organizers asked Sieber, then a 39-year-old police psychologist, to "tabletop" the event, as security experts call the exercise of sketching out worst-case scenarios. Sieber looks a bit like the writer Tom Clancy, and the crises he limned drew from every element of the airport novelist's genre: kidnappers and hostages, superpower patrons and smuggled arms, hijacked jets and remote-controlled bombs. Studying the most ruthless groups of that era, from the Irish Republican Army and the Palestine Liberation Organization to the Basque separatist group ETA and West Germany's own Baader-Meinhof Gang, he came up with 26 cases, each imagined in apocalyptic detail. Most of Sieber's scenarios focused on the Olympic Village, the Games' symbolic global community; one that did not -- a jet hired by a Swedish right wing group crashes into an Olympic Stadium filled with people -- foreshadowed a September day in another city many years later.

Amazing.

SHUT IT UP

Of the myriad things we hate, hypocrisy is near the top of the list. We don't like bald people telling us we got a bad haircut, we don't like fat people telling us we don't eat right, we don't like former smokers telling us how bad smoking is for us, and we absolutely hate hearing President Bush complaining about the very same corporate practices that made him a millionaire several times over.

MOVING ON UP

As most regular readers (both of you) know, In Arguendo is loathe to toot it's own horn, however certain milestones just demand mention. Such is the case with our site being upgraded on Cooped Up from 'Reciprocal Link' to 'Regular Read'. It's taken thousands of hours of hard work and several bribes to Jeff Cooper, but we are starting to see results. Excellent!

FOOLS RUSH IN

Steve Emerson continued to prove that the only people on the planet more foolish that him are the bookers who keep inviting him on TV. Today Pat Buchanan exploited Emerson’s idiocy on Buchanan & Press. Emerson was making a big deal about the government saying that Sami Al-Arian was the subject of an “active criminal investigation” and he kept waving “government” documents that backed up his claim that Al-Arian should be fired from his job as a professor when we got this fabulous exchange:

BUCHANAN: They are government documents, then why doesn’t the government use them to indict him?

EMERSON: The government is…uh…their…their…Listen, the fact that they take years to indicted people…Al Capone…It took years…

BUCHANAN: You want to punish him before he’s indicted.

EMERSON: What? Well, I…

BUCHANAN: You want to punish him before he’s indicted.

EMERSON: I think he is not the victim of quote discrimination you guys are possibly alleging.

If you are new to thinking that Emerson is a buffoon, please take a look here, or here.

ON THIS WE AGREE

We attempt to keep our staff mixed with thinkers from all parts of the political spectrum and, because of that, the occasion is very rare indeed when the entire In Arguendo team can come together on a topic. Today we found one, when nearly simultaneously we agreed that we absolutely abhor that fat-assed, magic 8-ball querying, transvestite doing the commercials for ditech.com. We just hate him so much!

TODAY’S MINDLESS MOMENT WITH CURTIS SLIWA

While discussing the idea of changing the name of Newark International Airport to Liberty Airport, Curtis unleashed this gem:

SLIWA: But liberty? There's no liberty at airports anymore. You get searched from the tip of your nose to the tip of your nose for belly button lint.

THE IN ARGUENDO TOP SIXTEEN!!!

For the third year in a row, In Arguendo's poll of the top sixteen college football teams in the nation is topped by the same team (mainly due to the fact that our C.E.O. went there), and for the third year in a row, we don't expect our top rated team to win the mythical National Championship.

16) OREGON DUCKS-These Ducks are tough.

15) WASHINGTON STATE COUGERS-Cougers will have trouble in loaded PAC 10.

14) LOUISIANA STATE TIGERS-The Tigers are nasty and, if eligibilty is not a problem, will be very tough to beat.

13) OHIO STATE BUCKEYES-Despite having the most arrogant and obnoxious fans, Bucks will be a factor in the Big 10.

12) GEORGIA BULLDOGS-Bulldogs looking to avenge late loss to Auburn last season.

11) MICHIGAN WOLVERINES-Trees in Ohio aren't leaning north this season, as Michigan does not suck.

10) WASHINGTON HUSKIES-Huskies already making reservations for Pasadena in January.

9) NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS-Huskers are an iffy pick. They are losing a lot from last season and have to reload.

8) FLORIDA GATORS-Did Spurrier leave just in time? Doubtful as Gators will be tough again.

7) COLORADO BUFFALOES-It took a while, but Barnett has Colorado back in elite.

6) TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS-Trendy pick to win National Championship. Many feel Vols were cheated last season.

5) FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES-Seminoles will roll into top 5.

4) OKLAHOMA SOONERS-Stoops thinks team is better than last year's version.

3) TEXAS LONGHORNS-Don't mess with Texas.

2) MIAMI HURRICANES-Just short of second consecutive National Title.

1) KENT STATE GOLDEN FLASHES-Hey, they have the best nickname, so why can't they be the best team?

THAT'S HYPERBOLE, RIGHT?

Hey, we've always felt that we were really big fans of Media Whores Online, but, in light of the recent letter posted on MWO, we are mere pikers. Here's the letter:

----- Original Message -----

From: Wilhelmina Sims
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002
Subject: MWO, who needs sex?

Dear MediaWhoresOnline,

You guys are so GOOD, you make SEX irrelevant! Gimme MORE!

Best wishes,

Wilhelmina Sims

Is it just us, or does anyone else think that Wilhelmina must be doing something wrong?

TODAY’S MINDLESS MOMENT WITH CURTIS SLIWA

Today’s pearl came in a conversation with Nancy Skinner, sitting in for the perpetually missing-in-action Ron Kuby, while discussing the possibility of going to war with Iraq.

SKINNER: It’s all the chicken hawks who have never been to war that want to go to war. Dick Cheney, and President Bush, and Richard Pearl. These guys have never been to war. They don’t understand what’s at stake.

SLIWA: Excuse me, Nancy Skinner, the term ‘chicken hawk’ has to do with guys who are pedophiles. Please, let’s be a little…

SKINNER: No. The New Hampshire Gazette has a list of chicken hawks. People who are warmongers but have never actually been to war.