Inbreeding and cake-eating will do it to you

Five years after launching the U.S. invasion of Iraq, President Bush is making some of his most expansive claims of success in the fighting there. Bush said last year's troop buildup has turned Iraq around and produced "the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden."

Massive anti-war demonstrations were planned in downtown Washington to mark Wednesday's anniversary of the war, which has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 U.S. troops. Across the river at the Pentagon, Bush was to give a speech to warn that backsliding in recent progress fueled by the increase of 30,000 troops he ordered more than a year ago cannot be allowed.

"The challenge in the period ahead is to consolidate the gains we have made and seal the extremists' defeat," he said in excerpts the White House released Tuesday night. "We have learned through hard experience what happens when we pull our forces back too fast — the terrorists and extremists step in, fill the vacuum, establish safe havens and use them to spread chaos and carnage."

Bush added: "The successes we are seeing in Iraq are undeniable, yet some in Washington still call for retreat."

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Jennifer Rubin: Silly Women --- And Men

Great post on Commentary Magazine :

One explanation for this mass wimp out by men is that male politicians, particularly Democrats, have simply learned to play on women's emotions, adopting an excessively emotionalized style of politics and the language of self-help therapy that permeates feminine culture. Another is that liberal men have bought into the victimhood narrative of the women's movement and have adopted the language and mindset of the “oppressed” while casting off that of the rational, linear “oppressor” male worldview. Whatever the explanation it seems plain that there are a lot of silly men who sound an awful lot like silly women.

Court restricts German data gathering law

From Deutsche Welle :

Germany's highest court has ruled to restrict the scope of a law on the use of telephone and internet data. The decision, handed down by the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe says that such data may be saved for up to six months, but that it may only be passed on to the authorities to help in investigations involving major crimes. Under a law that came into effect at the start of this year, telecommunications companies were also required to pass on information relating to minor crimes. The decision comes after the law was challenged by a member of parliament from the opposition liberal Free Democrats and a number of private citizens. They argued that the law restricted their right to privacy.

Retired Gurkhas to hand back medals in protest

Thousands of retired Gurkha soldiers will gather outside Parliament today to campaign for justice and fair treatment.

In a symbolic gesture of protest, 50 pensioners will hand back their precious Long Service and Good Conduct medals to the Government.

Gurkhas - soldiers from Nepal - have been part of the British Army for almost 200 years.

Despite a number of recent Government announcements thousands of retired Gurkhas are still suffering great injustice, organisers said.

Currently only those that retired after 1997 have the right to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the country.

Gurkhas who retired before 1997 do not have the right to settle in the UK even though many of them have served more than 25 years in the British Army and many have seen active combat.

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Ghost of usenet conspiranoia past

'Kansan' and his obsessions with various celebrity women (and Heidi Klum in particular)

From Misc Thread Archive from Usenet.com

By the year 2000 my own conspiracy theory investigations led me to my latest obsession: *** Heidi Klum. My obsession with her started in 2000 and by the Spring of 2001 it turned to romantic feelings for Ms. Klum. Dina is not thrilled about my feelings for Heidi, but does not see Heidi as a realistic rival. We live in Houston, Texas, and Heidi in New York City. Theophano, however, who Dina was very much worried about, used to live just a few miles away from us in New Jersey in the 1980s. Dina saw my obsession with Madonna as an obsessive hobby and was not particularly troubled by it. She hardly noticed my obsession with Shania. If I assigned 100 points to my present obsession with Heidi, then my obsession for Madonna was about 10 points' worth and that for Shania 5 points. My obsession for Theophano would rate about 30 points. In retrospect, I have come to realize that the Entities gave me these obsessions for particular reasons: *** Theophano is an avatar of the beautiful Byzantine Princess Theophano, who, in the 10th century AD, married the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, the son of the Empress Adelheid. (Heidi Klum is an avatar of the beautiful Empress Adelheid.) The proof of my claim is that the modern Theophano's married last name is Sevastos, meaning "august" in Greek. The historical Theophano had assumed the title Imperatrix Augusta, i.e., August Empress. *** Heidi Klum, as I write above, is the avatar of St. Adelheid ("Heidi"), the first Holy Roman Empress.

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*** Heidi Klum is an avatar of St. Adelheid, the wife of Otto I and mother of Otto II.