Crucifixion seems... I dunno (words fail) uh... inappropriate? troubling? From UPI:

Saudi executed and crucified

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabian authorities Friday beheaded and crucified a Saudi national convicted of killing and robbing his mother.

The Saudi Press Agency quoted an Interior Ministry statement that said the convict was executed and crucified in public in the southern province of Baha.

Friday's beheading brought to 34 the number of people executed this year in Saudi Arabia, mostly smugglers.

Earlier this month an Iraqi and three Pakistani drug smugglers were beheaded in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.

Executions of people convicted of murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking are conducted in public, in line with Shariah, the legal code of Islam, which is applied in the conservative Muslim kingdom.

Some 52 people, including expatriates, were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2003.

From a reader:

I think it was Leo Roston who told it this way:

What's red and wet and hangs on a wall? A herring.

"A herring isn't red." It is if you paint it.

"A herring isn't wet." It is if the paint hasn't dried.

"A herring doesn't hang on a wall." I just threw that in to make it hard.

(Personally, I think having it whistle is funnier.)

From Richard in Lakewood, California:

"A dyslexic man walks into a bra..."

My Dad writes, "If Derb can publish his bicycle pump 'joke' in the Corner, with nothing to do with math, then I think you should display the Lithuanian Yiddish herring joke, one of the oldest I know, and for some reason I think it would appeal to a professor of mathematics, or at the least a professor of logic:

"What's green, hangs on a wall, and whistles?"

"I don't know."

"A herring."

"But a herring isn't green."

"So, you paint it green."

"But a herring doesn't hang on a wall."

"So, you hang it on a wall."

"But a herring doesn't whistle."

"So, it doesn't whistle."

The history of Estonia’s remarkable recovery from a half a century of Soviet rule has been one of the more inspiring stories in Eastern Europe over the last fifteen years. Sadly, Estonia’s (perfectly understandable) decision to join the EU has meant that it has had to abandon some of the free market principles that have served it so well.

Johan Norberg has more:

“Estonia, one of the world’s most liberal countries, which had abolished all its tariffs and completely deregulated agriculture, has since 1999 been forced to implement more than 10 000 EU tariffs.”

So much for progress.

Via North Sea Diaries

For the way it’s helping democracy in the Ukraine

For the way it’s helping relief efforts in the aftermath of the tsunami.

Many useless donations of food and clothing may pile up, and public health authorities may devote too much time right now to vaccination drives, overestimate the danger of diseases like malaria, and underestimate more desperate needs, such as counseling for those suffering from mental anguish, they say.

From a reader:

Funny posts this morning - summing up for me that humor, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

You posted a link to a fellow who says there is no humor to be found in Animal House, one of the funniest movies ever.

Then Derb wants us to find humor in math jokes.

While not everything is funny to everyone, the Corner always makes me smile!

Happy New Year!

John Podhoretz makes a good point about anti-Bush opportunism in the wake of the tsunami, but I think he's dreaming if the anti-Bush crowd can be shamed on this score. Recall how just days after 9/11 folks like Joe Conason, immediately concluded that the important lesson of 9/11 was that SDI didn't make sense and that one of the greatest threats to our republic was the "real story" about the diversion of Air Force One after the attack? Of course, Conason didn't care about the real story at all once it was clear that it didn't hurt Bush.

As for John's main target, the New York Times, these were the same editorialists who immediately made Matthew Shepherd's death about the lack of a hate crimes bill in Washington. The political utility of tragedy is built into our political culture and I don't think it can be removed, particularly given the media climate we live in today

From a reader, without comment:

Jonah,

I took the Merriam Webster dictionary definition of "p$nis envy" and substituted every mention of it with "blog" and have come up with a suitable definition of blog envy. I think this applies to the folks at MS"DNC" and their "hardblogger" (Which, as Chandler from Friends would say, presents ... too ... many...jokes...)

Main Entry: Blog envy
Function: noun
: the supposed coveting of the blog by a human which is held in Freudian psychoanalytic theory to lead to feelings of inferiority and defensive or compensatory behavior.

And the Tolkien geeks thought they needed a hobby.

From a reader:

Jonah, I realize that the Corner has moved away from the discussion of
the origins of the phrase "The Constitution in Exile." However, I
believe that this phrase was first used by Douglas Ginsberg when
reviewing David Schoenbrod's book entitled "Power Without
Responsibility: How Congress Abuses the People through Delegation."

The review appeared in Regulation Magazine in 1995. The link is below.

http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/reg18n1f.html

Best wishes for a Happy New Year.

I think Ed Kilgore's a smart guy and all that. But check out this site, by which I mean the design. The New Donkey: The Sharp Edge of the Vital Center. I don't normally think of centers having sharp edges, but I guess that's ok. But look at that donkey. It looks like the donkey version of Colossus from the X-Men, all covered in steal and crazy-angry serious. It's as if they want Republicans to say: Ooooo watch out for that Donkey! Better not mess with that donkey! That, my friends, is one tough donkey.

I was telling a buddy of mine the other day that a week or so into this people would start noticing the shellacking God has delivered to the Muslim world recently. Two Christmases in a row (the day after actually) we've had terrible earthquakes. Now, the email is starting. Some folks mention the locusts in allegedly Muslim Africa (I haven't fact-checked that), others the earthquakes in Turkey not too long ago. This all leaves out earthquakes and badness in non-Muslim areas in recent years, including four hurricanes in Florida in one year (in a Bush state!). Worse, I think it's a terrible talking point to get started when the web transmits this stuff so quickly. It also invites really, really, really bad karma.

I got a call from my buddy Scott who watched the ABC Evening News tonight. He says that "bloggers" were the "person of the year" or some such. The odd thing: No mention of the Dan Rather incident. Joe Trippi did mention how the bloggers took down Trent Lott which, duh, was not during 2004. And, of course, they included Howard Dean whose "internet revolution" was a complete fizzle, except for the fundraising. But as for the actual blogger story of the year and the bloggers involved (Powerline, Kerry Spot, et al.) nada.

I assume this is the transcript. (I can't play the video). But I'll check it out further in the AM.

From a reader:

First, I can't believe you linked to that silliness. Second, a brief perusal reveals other equally moronic pages, like the following about her voting experience:

"It is tragic that people who are incarcerated are unable to vote. They are probably the most important voices to listen to because they can tell us what we need to change. Yet they are arbitrarily silenced, as if forfeiting their right to vote punishes them. In truth, it punishes the rest of us because it turns the right into a privilege. Whenever privilege is introduced, there are problems. We cannot afford any more problems. "

I just can't even imagine what this means.

Over the critical period of the next several months, the U.S. should provide at least as much money to rebuilding southern Asia as it does to maintain the occupation of Iraq – a figure Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld last year put at roughly $3.9 billion a month but that is, in reality, much higher. Committing as much to aiding southern Asia as is now being spent to occupy Iraq would signal that the U.S. wants to rejoin the world community.

While economic losses from the catastrophe are expected to exceed $13 billion, global insurers estimate their losses will be "in the low single-digit billions," says Matthew Josefowicz, manager for Celent Communications, a financial consulting group. By comparison, last fall's Florida hurricanes triggered 2.2 million claims and cost the industry more than $20 billion.

On the list of Things I Never Thought I'd Say this has to rank way, way up there: Margaret Cho should stick to comedy.

In a long, long, long post on her womanly issues, she manages to skid rapidly into self-parody and then lap the track several times.

Let us never speak of this again.

Wow:

SEATTLE (AP) — Some of the 300 passengers stuck on an international flight that was delayed 18 hours by fog, regulations and mechanical glitches said the passengers were almost ready to riot as the wait dragged on.

Food and water ran short, and the toilets stopped working before Northwest Airlines Flight 33 finally reached Seattle early Wednesday, 28 hours after leaving Amsterdam.
One man with an infant punched a wall, then ran up an aisle and "charged the cockpit with his baby," passenger Barry Wallis said in an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC's "Today."
"At one point it seemed like we would have a riot towards the end," Wallis said.
The ordeal began when heavy fog had prevented the plane from landing in Seattle as scheduled Tuesday afternoon, forcing the pilot to circle the airport until fuel ran low. The plane was then diverted to Moses Lake, Wash., where it sat on a runway for hours while a fresh crew traveled from Minnesota. The airline regulates how many consecutive hours crew members may work....

From another reader:

Orodruin is actually mountain of fire, the translation of "mount doom" into elven is Amon Amarth,

I SERIOUSLY need a hobby

From another reader:

Jonah, your correspondent should forgo hobbies and head back to Tolkien Geek School. The "great river" is not the Brandywine/Baranduin, which is a glorified stream on the eastern border of the Shire, but the Anduin River well to the east, flowing from the Grey Mountains to the Sea.

1. Andrew Stuttaford
Serious predictions (All of them, really) 14 out of 17. 82.35%

2. Jonah Goldberg
Serious predictions (1-6, 9, 12 & 13) 6 out of 9. 66.67%
Humor/For sake of joke predictions (I hope that's what they were; 7, 8, 10, 11,14). 0 of 5. 0%

3. Kate O'Beirne
Serious predictions (All of them, really) 4 out of 8. 50%

4. Michael Graham
Serious predictions (1-5, 9, 14, 18, 19, 21) 4.5 out of 10. 45%
Humor/For sake of joke predictions (I hope that's what they were; 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 20). .5 of 11. 4.55%

5. Rick Brookhiser
Serious predictions (All of them, really) 3.83 out of 10. 38.33%

6. Kathryn Jean Lopez
Serious predictions (All of them, really) 1 out of 4. 25%

7. Hugh Hewitt
Serious predictions (All of them, really) 4 out of 18. 22.22%

8. Peter Robinson
Serious predictions (All of them, really) 0 out of 2. 0%

9. Clifford D. May
Warned "Some exceedingly unlikely predictions for 2004" and true enough, none of them happened. 0 for a slew. 0%

WASHINGTON Dec 30, 2004 — Sen. Joe Lieberman, traveling in the Middle East Wednesday, said there is strong support in Iraq for the Jan. 30 election, and postponing it would only be a victory for the insurgents.

In a telephone call from Tel Aviv, Israel, the Connecticut Democrat said conditions in Iraq, including an increase in trained Iraqi security forces, have improved since his last visit in July. And he said the escalating violence aimed at intimidating Iraqis to postpone the election or not vote is not working in most of the country.

The Shi'a in our opinion, these are the key to change. Targeting and striking their religious, political, and military symbols, will make them show their rage against the Sunnis and bear their inner vengeance. If we succeed in dragging them into a sectarian war, this will awaken the sleepy Sunnis who are fearful of destruction and death at the hands of these Sabeans, i.e., the Shi'a. Despite their weakness, the Sunnis are strong-willed and honest and different from the coward and deceitful Shi'a, who only attack the weak.

From a reader:

Jonah, Hardblogger at MSNBC is still not listing the Corner in their blogroll. This is disconcerting to say the least since the only reason one visits MSNBC is to see whether Keith Olbermann has photos of a Yeti or if he has an affidavit from someone claiming to show that the election of Atarxerxes was fraudulent because Persian voters in Isfahan had to wait in long lines in the sun.

I think what you just wrote on the Corner could apply to Corner traffic and NR subscriptions..."That said, I think the phenomenon of the web generating so much support so quickly could be hugely significant" since MSNBC, while a mouthpiece for the DNC, still generates millions upon millions of hits.

Therefore, I am at a loss to explain why it is not there, or why we have been unable to get it there. However, I posit one question for all NRO'ers...Is there such a thing as "blog envy?" And if not, I think we should define it.

From a reader:

Jonah, Hardblogger at MSNBC is still not listing the Corner in their blogroll. This is disconcerting to say the least since the only reason one visits MSNBC is to see whether Keith Olbermann has photos of a Yeti or if he has an affidavit from someone claiming to show that the election of Atarxerxes was fraudulent because Persian voters in Isfahan had to wait in long lines in the sun.

I think what you just wrote on the Corner could apply to Corner traffic and NR subscriptions..."That said, I think the phenomenon of the web generating so much support so quickly could be hugely significant" since MSNBC, while a mouthpiece for the DNC, still generates millions upon millions of hits.

Therefore, I am at a loss to explain why it is not there, or why we have been unable to get it there. However, I posit one question for all NRO'ers...Is there such a thing as "blog envy?" And if not, I think we should define it.

From a reader:

Mount Doom is merely the translation of Orodruin from elvish (Sindar) into Westron, the common tongue of the West in Middle Earth. A true geek would be happy with either, much like calling the Great River either The Brandywine or Baranduin. The commenter is just betraying Elf-centricism.

Gods, I need a hobby!

Happy New Year!

Derb, Doesn't it depend on a lot more variables? I'm generally sympathetic to your point, but it kind of does depend on what you mean by aid and the like. Efficiencies must be taken into account. Private citizens cannot send rescue ships and helicopters at a moment's notice. Plus there's the public relations factor. I do think, for example, that Bush should have said something earlier, even though it would have been on the substance a largely meaningless gesture. Similarly, while we may sometimes wish to think that the President is merely an administrator of one of our many governments, the President is also the voice of a people and a nation and other nations pay attention to what our government does. This may be a shortcoming in their attitudes and the way the press covers things, but it is also a fact of life.

That said, I think the phenomenon of the web generating so much support so quickly could be hugely significant.

Amusing video.

The biggest story of the year happened just as big-thinking journalists went on vacation after filing their "Ten Biggest Stories of 2004" pieces. Life has a way of surprising us.... The biggest story of 2004 has come, has not yet gone, and will be with us for some time. Two thousand five begins on Saturday. For the new year, two thoughts. Remember it can all be swept away in a moment, so hold it close and love it while you've got it. And may we begin 2005 pondering how much we have in common, how down-to-the-bone the same we are, and how the enemy is not the guy across the fence but the tragedy of life. We should try to make it better. We should cut to the chase.

From a frontpage story in the Washington Post about a guy in Sri Lanka who runs an orphanage:

Not only was water cascading over the lagoon side of the peninsula but it was pouring in directly from the mouth of the estuary about two miles away. Sanders feared the converging currents would swamp the small craft. At that point, Sanders said, he recalled a line from the Book of Isaiah: "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard against it."

He raised his hand in the direction of the flood and shouted, "I command you in the name of Jesus -- stop!" The water then seemed to "stall, momentarily," he said. "I thought at the time I was imagining things."

Secret European military intelligence reports indicate the transformation of the American humanitarian mission in Iraq into a profitable trade in the American markets through the practice of American physicians extracting human organs from the dead and wounded, before they are put to death, for sale to medical centers in America. A secret team of American physicians follow the troops during their attacks on Iraqi armed men to ensure quick [medical] operations for extracting some organs and transferring them to private operations rooms before they are transferred to America for sale.

"The reports have indicated that a number of those killed in 'Abu Ghraib' and other prisons were subjected to operations for extracting their organs. Following their mutilations, the bodies were discarded far from the prisons to conceal the facts. The reports revealed that that the American forces restricted the media by force to prevent them from getting near the scenes and recording the events. But the relatives of the Iraqis are aware of these facts. The reports have [also] indicated that the military forces of the European allies have noticed the absence of organs from the cadavers that were dealt with by the Americans and have reported to their high command, which instructed them to maintain silence and to avoid the discussion of the subject due to its gravity, while the military and intelligence high command have written secret reports about was observed by their forces and sent them to the European ministries of defense for their information.

Okay: John Hillen yesterday made the case that Lord of the Rings is a conservative book/movie. He then went so far as to say that he couldn't understand why liberals would even like LOTR. He then offered $100 to NRO if someone emailed him a persuasive case for what liberals would like about the movie. He also -- without consulting me -- declared I could be the judge.

I then posted something to the effect of "Damn you Hillen! Damn you to the fiery depths of Mount Doom!" This in turn elicited a response from at least one reader who found that this statement disqualified me as a judge because "true" Tolkien geeks call it Orodruin, not Mount Doom. Well just let that burn in the firery depths of a footnote.

Anyway, perhaps sensing my reluctance to be a judge from the whole "Damn you Hillen!" thing, he began posting more on the reader response himself. I think he summarizes all of the emails well enough and I see no reason to pick and choose between the different ones which pretty much all make the same point. What Hillen does with his money is his business. [You can scroll down to learn more about all of this]

But there is one answer I did get (Hillen forwarded me only some of the responses) which would have aroused great sympathy from me. In my mind, the #1 reason why liberals should like The Lord of the Rings is that it is a great damn book! (or movie). The rest is commentary.

The desire to strip out ideological points from works of non-political art vexes me. The Left, in my opinion, is much worse about this sort of thing than the Right. But the Right does this a lot too. Conservatives are supposed to believe that politics only describes a small slice of life. Much of the important stuff lives outside the realm of ideology. Woe-betide us all if bravery, courage, loyalty, decency, friendship, honor and sacrifice -- the true themes of LOTR -- become purely values, never mind virtues, of the Right, in our minds or in the Left's.

Here's a column on those who are determined to find racism and war propaganda in Lord of the Rings. I think it holds up pretty well and fleshes out these points a bit.

Ramesh- I guess I think it's a bit more than a terminological point but for reasons different from the legal substance of the issue. Personally, if someone asked me "Are you sympathetic to the idea that the pre-New Deal Constitution -- 'the Constitituion in Exile' -- should be restored?" I would answer, "Sounds pretty good to me." I would then ask some questions about how y