As a long-time reader of That Happy Corner on NRO, I've often thought about writing to say how much I appreciate and enjoy you, Jonah, Derb and the rest of the Gang. However, I've never wanted to bother you with another e-mail (I'm sure your box is always overflowing) -- until now.

I cannot let pass all these accolades for Diet Coke. I have never been able to drink coffee for caffeination, but I also draw the line at Diet Coke. I am confident that REAL conservatives drink Diet Pepsi! I will drink almost any cold caffeinated beverage; though I prefer Diet Pepsi, I also willingly guzzle Diet Mountain Dew, Diet RC Cola, and Diet Dr Pepper (take that, Mr. Stuttaford!) -- but I refuse Diet Coke. I'll suffer through a caffeine-fasting headache before I'll choke down that swill.

I am sure that the Diet Pepsi/Diet Coke divide is as wide as Red States/Blue States, and Diet Pepsi is for The Good Guys in Red. (Though I will concede that regular Coke's movie-theater commercials with the NASCAR drivers is thoroughly Red State.)

I therefore make the following offer: if you could endorse Diet Pepsi in The Corner, I will carry out my long-intended, never-completed resolve to subscribe to NR. (You might, for example, see if someone could talk about Diet Pepsi going best with Marmite or haggis, sort of like red with meat, white with fish . . . .)

Do you remember while campaigning Bush had a incident with a dump truck while jogging and a member of his security detail was hurt? The archived story is here, ....

''Governor Bush is in good condition and good spirits and hopes that Agent Hughey has not sustained any serious injuries,'' she said.

A witness, Ernest Bedford, 50, a pipeline inspector for the city who was working nearby, said he didn't hear any brakes squeal, just ''a big, loud bang.''

Bedford said he saw Bush in the clear but ''the other guy was reaching his hand up out of the debris.''

Bush used Hughey's cellular telephone to call DPS officials at the Governor's Mansion, and they called 911, Ms. Edwards said. ''The governor stayed with Roscoe until he was in the ambulance,'' she said.

I realize the conditions are not exactly the same, but Bush's immediate reaction was to tend to his security detail remaining by his side till EMT's took him to the hospital. Additionally, I could find no reporting of Bush berating the dump truck driver for almost accidently mowing right into him had he not jumped out of the way or boasting later that he doesn't fall while jogging . Kerry's reaction to his silly spill was to ensure there were no photo's taken by the accompanying photographer, then to blame the SS agent. Bush's incident was certainly a window into his character and I suspect the Kerry's is too. Why elect Kerry president when already thinks and acts like he is a king.

Members of the reliably worthless European ‘parliament’ like nothing better than mocking America’s ‘Enron capitalism,’ but what do these crusaders for honesty do when they are asked to vote on the EU’s Commission’s accounts, accounts so tawdry that they have been rejected by Brussels’ own auditors?

Yup, they approve them.

Part of the reason, of course, is that the EU parliament, a cesspit notorious for graft, greed and cronyism, is in no position to face much scrutiny of the way that it manages its own affairs, but part of the reason too is the fanatic belief of so many MEPs in ‘Europe’.

Blogger Terrance Coyle takes up the story:

“When I interviewed Diemut Theato MEP, Chairman of [the parliament’s budgetary] Committee, on this subject she put it in a nutshell for me. "European Parliamentarians have a duty to Europe, not just to their electors", if they attack the Commission they undermine the project, and that will never ever do.”

The EU’s bureaucracy has never been very tolerant of dissent, but even by Brussels standards, the arrest of a leading investigative journalist (he was held for ten hours without access to a lawyer, something that’s normal in Belgium, apparently) is something of a low point.

The EU 'constitution' (much more likely to be forced through, incidentally, in the wake of the change of government in Spain) is filled with highminded boilerplate, but the plight of Hans-Martin Tillak shows what this misbegotten 'Union' really stands for.

Here’s a charming little party being hosted today by Al-Muhajiroun, an Islamic extremist group based in the UK:

“This Saturday's LIVE talk on Paltalk will discuss one of the greatest forgotten obligations in Islaam - Hating false religions. Allaah (swt) orders the believers to hate all other religions, way of lives, creeds, doctrines and beliefs that contradict with Islaam, and one cannot be Muslim without to declare animosity and hatred towards kufr, bid'ah, shirk and nifaaq (Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Democracy, Freedom etc.).”

That’s just something to remember the next time that you read that the British police are cracking down on ‘hate speech’. This sort of event, presumably, does not count.

"I certainly agree with you that the plain meaning of the Constitution is silent on the question. But at the same time I sincerely doubt many heterosexual readers would feel that their basic rights were being infringed upon if the state told them they couldn't marry the woman or man of their choosing."

Vietnam, the Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America’s Most Disastrous Military Conflict by Michael Lind

A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last War in Vietnam by Lewis Sorley

A Grand Delusion: America’s Descent into Vietnam by Robert Mann

The 25-Year War: America’s Military Role in Vietnam by Bruce Palmer

I'm asking myself what I would say to a man who has pledged to lay down his life for me, to take a bullet for me, if he accidentally knocks me down on a ski slope *while* trying his best to protect me.

I think that I say: "Don't worry about it. You're doing your job. I appreciate it."

And to onlookers: "Got tangled up with my guardian angels up there and went down. We need more practice at this."

But: "I don't fall. That blankety-blank knocked me down"?

E-mail:

Rich,

I'm a regular NRO reader and NRODT subscriber. However, as much as it pains me to say it, I think Franken's phrasing of the SCHIP income limits is actually more correct than yours. 200% above the poverty line is in fact 3 times the poverty line (It is the poverty line level plus an additional 2 times that level). 200% of the poverty level is 2 times the poverty line level (i.e., 100% above the poverty level). When Franken says it was limited to families below 200% of the poverty line, he is saying that the families had income less than twice the poverty level. You seem to be reading this to mean 200% below the poverty line which would imply families with income one-third of the poverty level (or an in fact negative income depending upon interpretation). This is just my reading...perhaps math whiz John Derbyshire can authoritatively resolve this.

Regardless, this is largely a semantic argument. You have him nailed otherwise. Keep up the good work.

Kerry curses out one of his secret service agents on the slopes because men like John Kerry don't fall down:

The image-conscious candidate and his aides prevailed upon reporters and photographers to let him have a first run down the mountain solo, except for two agents and Marvin Nicholson, his omnipresent right-hand man.

His next trip down, a reporter and a camera crew were allowed to follow along on skis — just in time to see Mr. Kerry taken out by one of the Secret Service men, who had inadvertently moved into his path, sending him into the snow.

When asked about the mishap a moment later, he said sharply, "I don't fall down," then used an expletive to describe the agent who "knocked me over."

The incident occurred near the summit. No one was hurt, and Mr. Kerry came careering down the mountain moments later, a look of intensity on his face, his lanky frame bent low to the ground.

Burkholder, Amy 7/22/2003 $250.00 New York, NY 10021 Fox News Channel/SR Producer -[Contribution] DEAN FOR AMERICA

Feldman, Suzanne Mrs. 6/26/2003 $2,000.00 Santa Monica, CA 90402 Fox News Channel/Sales Executive -[Contribution] BUSH-CHENEY '04 INC

Jenkins, Griffin Mr. 6/30/2003 $2,000.00 Washington, DC 20007 Fox News/Producer -[Contribution] BUSH-CHENEY '04 INC

SOLIVAN, BERT A 7/21/2003 $240.00 GUTTENBERG, NJ 07093 FOX NEWS CHANNEL -[Contribution] NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE

SOLIVAN, BERT A 11/18/2003 $240.00 GUTTENBERG, NJ 07093 FOX NEWS CHANNEL -[Contribution] NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE

I attended an embassy party last night. Speaking to European diplomats, you get a gist of two things:

1) They are terrified that the Spanish elections, and subsequent announcement of a pull-out of Iraq will lead to terrorist attacks around election dates in Europe - and they are terrified that it will, like Spain, lead to appeasement votes.

2) John Kerry does not have any fans over here. Although most of the diplomats hate Bush, and hate the Iraq intervention, the following quotes were used "You just can't take him seriously"; "He's sort of a joke, isn't he?"; "Can anyone actually believe anything he says?" Most diplomats seriously doubt any member of their governments have had any contacts with him or his campaign.

I was wrong about something big in my post yesterday about Andrew Sullivan and Federalism. I wrote about the Rhea County anti-gay initiatives: "If you read Andrew Sullivan today, he makes it sounds as if he thinks this measure is completely illegitimate even though it seems its actual intent is to ban gay marriages in their county."

This is entirely my fault and I was wrong. Andrew is right to think that the Rhea County measure is totally illegitimate. Okay maybe not illegitimate in the strict meaning of the word in that illegitimate basically means illegal and it has always been my position that sodomy laws and the like may be wrong but that doesn't mean they're unconstitutional. Regardless, Rhea County's "crime against nature" law is wrong and stupid. My mistake was in conflating two different efforts while reading too quickly and while trying to do too many things at once. In my defense I did post an email very shortly afterwards which corrected me on this point, which Andrew probably missed.

That said, despite Andrew's comment that I'm being gob-smackingly obtuse, he's being sand-poundingly obstreperous. My main criticism stands. Not just on Rhea County but on all measures he considers to be "anti-gay" Andrew invokes the rhetoric of anti-Federalism and moral absolutism. Andrew ignores my point about his use of the word "pogrom" to describe what Virginia is doing. He didn't use that word about Rhea County. He used it about the legislature of Virginia. As readers know I'm a fan of Sullivan's but it seems impossible to ignore the fact that on matters gay, he's grown less tolerant of those who disagree with him and more willing to use Manichean rhetoric in which all of those who disagree with him to his right are purely dark and evil forces: "right wing fanatics," "theocons" "religious zealots," and, of course, "bigots." Having been in the middle of the road on this stuff for a while now -- with the the tire marks on my back from some social conservatives to prove it -- I find this truly dismaying. Merits aside, Andrew increasingly tends to argue his worldview with the same totalitarianism of the very people he so clearly despises. He may not be all the way there yet, but no one can doubt which way the trend lines point.

I'm pretty sure this isn't what the Senator had in mind, but I'm a Pennsylvania Democrat who he's convinced to switch parties. For years I've remained a registered Democrat because I hoped that I could help pull the party back toward rationality by supporting moderate candidates. My fellow Democrats generally disappoint me by nominating a leftist, so I invariably end up voting Republican in the general election. I nearly re-registered as a Republican in '00, but by the time the Pennsylvania primary was held the presidential nomination was already decided, so I didn't bother.

This year I've been considering making the switch because I agree with most of what Toomey stands for, but have held off because I find him a bit too conservative on some issues. Your Corner post this morning made up my mind for me. Senator Specter's habit of frequently voting like a liberal Democrat is bad enough, openly courting their support is going way too far. Thanks to his bi-partisan outreach program, the ranks of Toomey voters have just grown by 1.

Things have been getting a bit interesting over here for the last few days. I had dinner with a few members of the Spanish contingent here in Baghdad and they were not at all pleased with their new Prime Minister's directive to pull out. They realized that the only way to fight terrorism is to find the terrorists where they live and kill them, but they were also concerned that their government had already alienated the French and the Germans by joining the coalition and now the government was going to alienate the U.S. It was a very interesting discussion. None of the ones at the table wanted to leave and realized that what we're doing here is important for not only the future of this country, but also could demonstrate that democracy can succeed in this region.

I went to one of the local markets looking around at what the locals are trying to sell. It's heartbreaking because the instant you walk in you're accosted by children trying to sell you pirated DVDs or packets of money with Saddam's picture on it. The DVDs are $5 and the money is usually $1/package. The problem is that the instant you show any interest in purchasing from them 10 more kids come out of the woodwork. Then the adults peek out from their booths to see who's buying. Don't know whether the kids were associated with the booths or were selling on their own, but I just pulled out some singles and gave them to the kids. I wish the security situation here would get better soon so that companies could set up operations here and start to employ people. All in good time I guess.

Well I hope all is well back at NRO World HQ and tell Mr. Derbyshire that I'm going to order one of the "Pop Culture is Filth" shirts and use it on my runs here.

“I have caused my somewhat liberal (but turning conservative) wife to now have some doubts about the “conventional” wisdom of Vietnam – “unjust war”, blah blah…

“Can you recommend a good book about our Vietnam saga?”

Jonathan Riley-Smith, who is Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge University, said the plot was "complete and utter nonsense". He said that it relied on the romanticised view of the Crusades propagated by Sir Walter Scott in his book The Talisman, published in 1825 and now discredited by academics.

"It sounds absolute balls. It's rubbish. It's not historically accurate at all. They refer to The Talisman, which depicts the Muslims as sophisticated and civilised, and the Crusaders are all brutes and barbarians. It has nothing to do with reality."

Around 15 members of the left-wing Basque nationalist movement Abertzaleen Batasuna (AB) clambered over the gates and let off fireworks and firecrackers during a 20-minute raid on [Paul Bremer’s summer home].

"We wanted to symbolize the war the United States imposed on the Iraqi people," said a spokesman for the group who did not want to be identified.

"We wanted to carry out this operation on the holiday home of Paul Bremer because this is where he comes to forget the war in Iraq, and we want to remind him that when he comes here to rest, the bombs continue to fall on the Iraqi people."

There's no 11:00 for several reasons. One is there isn't enough equipment because our rail system has been undercapitalized for decades. Amtrak has position its equipment for the morning rush, where the greatest demand is northward in the morning, so sending an extra train out of Washington late at night cuts into that capacity.

There's also the need to cover a reasonable amount of the operating costs. There may be lots of people who want to take a train out of DC at 11:00, but they wouldn't be using it every day. As a result, daily ridership would be low, and conservatives would scream that the train should be cut. Those earlier trains do better for ridership because they're getting a good chunk of the Philly-New York market (the 9:00 is out of 30th St at 11, and into Penn at 12:25 am) as well as travel out of Washington.

Your 10:00 is scheduled to accommodate overnight travel to Boston (a great way to go), and there's a 3:00 because Amtrak has (and has had for a long time) the contract to haul mail between Northeast Corridor cities. That mail contract (which Amtrak wins in competitive bidding) is quite profitable.

From a reader:

On Seuss and appeasement: He may have some guts himself in the '40s, but read "The Butter Battle Book" from his twilight years where he presents the struggle between American freedom and Communist tyranny as really no different than what side of bread one chooses to butter.

On Trump and the Apprentice: The show never would have worked with a Bill
Gates or a Warren Buffet. We needed Donald Trump's slo-mo strut set to the
bass riff from the O'Jays. That smug demeanor, that coon-skin cap trembling
in any breeze, that toughguy New Yawk accent heaping praise on himself every
episode. It all makes the show.

Best,
John

CLOSE, BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH 100-foot-wide asteroid to have near-miss with Earth today

From a reader:

Jonah,

I have heard that the origin of the term “fired” came from the English landowner’s tendency to burn the hovels of tenant farmers when their services were no longer desired.

Maybe Derb will know more about that.

From a reader:

Hi Jonah,

Perhaps if more of Dr Seuss' cartoons like that got out, Hollywood will revile him and stop making horrible movies out of good stories.