evolution

I have received quite a lot of comment spam over the past two weeks, so I have taken measures to stop it. Starting today, any comment containing more than three links or certain key words (I’m sure you can easily imagine a list of such words) will be blocked entirely.

If you are a friend or reader and you think one of your comments has been blocked unnecessarily, let me know.

These remarks of Osama bin Laden were left out of every single news story I’ve seen about his newest tape. In these remarks, an analysis of which can be found at MEMRI, he appears to offer “blue states” a truce and “red states” a Semtex vest:

The tape of Osama bin Laden that was aired on Al-Jazeera on Friday, October 29th included a specific threat to “each U.S. state,” designed to influence the outcome of the upcoming election against George W. Bush. The U.S. media in general mistranslated the words “ay wilaya” (which means “each U.S. state”) to mean a “country” or “nation” other than the U.S., while in fact the threat was directed specifically at each individual U.S. state. This suggests some knowledge by bin Laden of the U.S. electoral college system. In a section of his speech in which he harshly criticized George W. Bush, bin Laden stated: “Any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security.”

The Islamist website Al-Qal’a explained what this sentence meant: “This message was a warning to every U.S. state separately. When he [Osama Bin Laden] said, ‘Every state will be determining its own security, and will be responsible for its choice,’ it means that any U.S. state that will choose to vote for the white thug Bush as president has chosen to fight us, and we will consider it our enemy, and any state that will vote against Bush has chosen to make peace with us, and we will not characterize it as an enemy. By this characterization, Sheikh Osama wants to drive a wedge in the American body, to weaken it, and he wants to divide the American people itself between enemies of Islam and the Muslims, and those who fight for us, so that he doesn’t treat all American people as if they’re the same. This letter will have great implications inside the American society, part of which are connected to the American elections, and part of which are connected to what will come after the elections.”

Osama: This split-ticket voter says “Screw you, and all your Islamist buddies too”. Don’t get comfortable in your cave, pal. New York’s a “blue state”, and I’ll bet you won’t find a lot of sympathy there. In fact, I’ll bet there’s more than a few New York Democrats who would like to drop 5000 pounds of high explosives on your current location.

[inherited from: Jihad Watch. ]

In last week’s Chiefs report, I said this:

The Colts are much like the Chiefs — they feature a potent offense and had questions about their defense to start the season. Both teams should light up the Arrowhead Stadium scoreboard next week.

That prediction came true today, as the Chiefs defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 45-35. The game featured non-stop offensive action. Neither defense was particularly horrible; rather, both offenses operated quite efficiently, and the Chiefs made just enough defensive plays to win. The two teams together combined for 1098 yards of offense (Chiefs: 590, Colts: 508) and 11 touchdowns. There were a total of six punts in the entire game (Chiefs: 2, Colts: 4).

One turning point was the fake punt the Colts ran in the first quarter after having been backed up on fourth down by a penalty. Colts P Hunter Smith ran around right end; the fake was sniffed out by CB Eric Warfield, who drilled Smith at the line of scrimmage. The Chiefs went from there to run up 31 first-half points.

In the third quarter, radio broadcasters Mitch Holthaus and Len Dawson had a special guest: Kansas City native, K-State graduate, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Air Force Gen. Richard Meyers. Gen. Meyers sat with Mitch and Len through most of the third quarter, talking about his football experiences as a youngster and his Kansas roots.

Players of the game:

• Offensive: TE Tony Gonzalez — 8 catches, 125 yards, 2 TD; including a TD with 2:17 remaning that featured an ankle-breaking double move on Colts CB Jason David and a leaping catch. Honorable mention: QB Trent Green — 27/34, 389 yards, 3 TD passes, no turnovers.
• Defensive: SS Greg Wesley — made the INT when it mattered, in the last two minutes.
• Special teams: WR Dante Hall — 168 return yards, for an average return of 21 yards. He nearly broke one on a punt, taking it to the Colt 13-yard line.

In week nine, the Chiefs will travel to Tampa to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have this week off. The Buccaneers are down this year, but they still feature a tough defense. They don’t have nearly enough offense to keep up with the Chiefs though; I expect the Chiefs to run away with this one.

Justice Clarence Thomas of the US Supreme Court visited the University of Kansas earlier this week. The Lawrence Journal-World has details here and here.

Some parts that I thought very accurately show the skill level of J-W reporters together with the average engagement level of Lawrence citizens:

Devin Sikes, a KU senior from Wichita, was among the approximately 80 people in the audience at Green Hall.

Sikes, who plans to attend law school next year, said he found Thomas’ discussion about basic constitutional rights refreshing.

“That’s what this country is all about,” he said. “It sounds like he and the other justices focus on that. That’s comforting.”

Funny, I thought that focusing on issues of basic constitutional rights was the Supreme Court’s sole reason for existence. Then there’s this:

“He was very easy-going and easy to talk to,” said student Holly Hydeman. “We make them (justices) out to be demagogues. He’s a guy who drives a Saturn.”

Clearly, Ms. Hydeman meant “demigods” rather than “demagogues”, and it’s quite possible that she actually said “demigods” and the reporter, for whatever reason, wrote “demagogues”. These are examples of at best bad writing and at worst shoddy, lazy reporting from a widely-read Kansas newspaper.

Remember, John Kerry offered to give Iran fuel for this purpose: Iranian bill backs nuclear program drive (Reuters).

It’s clear what Iran wants nuclear power for. Here’s a hint: it isn’t for “peaceful purposes”. Another hint is provided in the first paragraph of the story:

TEHRAN — To cries of “Death to America” and “God is Greatest” Iran’s hard-liner-dominated parliament passed a bill on Sunday obliging the government to continue efforts to develop a nuclear energy program.

The proposal, backed by 247 of parliament’s 290 lawmakers, did not specifically force the government to immediately resume uranium enrichment or end snap U.N. inspections of atomic facilities as some lawmakers had called for.

But the outline bill approved on Sunday called on the state to continue work on the nuclear fuel cycle which includes uranium enrichment — something which brings Iran into direct conflict with demands by the U.N.’s atomic watchdog that it halt such activities.

This “energy” is going to be released 20 megatons at a time over Tel Aviv or sold to terrorists and brought to America. No US President can allow this to happen.

Due to events in Iraq and the Presidential election, this event hasn’t been getting the coverage it deserves: A joint US/EU spacecraft called Cassini has sent back pictures from 745 miles above the surface of Titan, a moon of Saturn.

Scientists want to study Titan because many believe that it is similar to the newly-formed Earth of four-and-a-half billion years ago. Here is what they told Reuters:

This recipe was fantastic. To make this dinner for two, you’ll need:

• Enough charcoal to light your grill twice
• Two cups of hickory chips, soaked in water for at least an hour
• Four short rib steaks (either boneless or cross-cut)
• 1½ tsp. kosher salt
• 1½ tsp. black pepper (ground fresh is best)
• 1½ tsp. red pepper flakes
• ¼ cup of olive oil
• Four cloves of garlic
• Two large baking potatoes
• Five strips of bacon
• Six scallions (green onions), tops trimmed down
• Butter, sour cream, and chives to taste

First, prepare the marinade for the rib steaks: Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and chile flakes on both sides of each steak. Pat the spices onto the meat with your fingertips. Dice the cloves of garlic, and sprinkle these over the meat. Drizzle the meat with the olive oil. Cover the steaks and put them in the fridge for a few hours.

Then, when you’re ready to start cooking, fry the bacon until crispy, and then set aside. Reserve a small amount of the bacon fat.

Light your grill, and when the coals are all lit, pile them off to one side of the grill. Drain the wood chips and put them on the coals. Then, go back inside and brush the potatoes with the bacon drippings. Wait a few minutes, and then put the potatoes on the opposite side of the grate from the coals. Cover the grill, and open the vents. You should see smoke billowing from the vents shortly. They should be done in a little more than an hour. (If it takes too much more than that, you’ll need to light the second batch of coals and finish the potatoes while you cook the steaks.)

Take the finished potatoes off. You can stick them in a 200° oven to keep them warm if you like. Now, light your second batch of coals, and get the grill as hot as you can. Grill both the steaks and the scallions; the steaks get 4-5 minutes per side for medium, and the scallions 3 minutes per side (the scallions should be nicely charred). If you like meat closer to the “well-done” end of the spectrum, it shouldn’t hurt this dish too much, as the rib meat is heavily marbled. When the steaks are done, transfer them to a plate and spoon any remaning garlic and olive oil over them.

I enjoyed this meal for dinner today with a nice stout from a popular Kansas City brewery, and this was the result: