Thief's Den

Taking The Plunge...

I did it.

I signed up for the LSAT.

I'm going to law school.

Hopefully not to do things like this...

You Cannot Be Serious.

Oregon county bans all marriages - period By Teresa Carson

PORTLAND, Oregon, March 23 (Reuters) - In a new twist in the battle over same-sex marriage roiling the United States, a county in Oregon has banned all marriages -- gay and heterosexual -- until the state decides who can and who cannot wed.

The last marriage licenses were handed out in Benton County at 4 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. EST) on Tuesday. As of Wednesday, officials in the county of 79,000 people will begin telling couples applying for licenses to go elsewhere until the gay marriage debate is settled.

"It may seem odd," Benton County Commissioner Linda Modrell told Reuters in a telephone interview, but "we need to treat everyone in our county equally."

State Attorney General Hardy Myers said in a statement that he was "very pleased" with Benton County's decision. "It is my sincere hope that legal process will provide clarity for each of Oregon's counties."

...Benton County, whose county seat is Corvallis, is home to Oregon State University and is seen as a bastion of liberalism.

You cannot be serious.

OK, clarification for whatever clueless ACLUnik came up with this idea: Men and Women CAN get married. I'm pretty sure that that part of the marriage law has not been changed, whatever else you think of gay marriage. (I suppose that this is only slightly less dumb than trying to suspend the law of gravity...but not by much.) What is this? "If you can't convince them, piss them off for no reason?"

It is doing batshit-insane things like this that is going to cost gay marriage supporters the debate. You guys ever hear the term "Pyrrhic Victory?" You just alienated 75% of the straight soon-to-be-newlyweds in the county.

So Iraq hates us?

Well, the people writing this graffiti have some other ideas...

It'll Get Ya Drunk!

Now this is funny...

Hmmm...

Coincidence?

RSS: The Crack of the Internet

Only in America would a guy invent RSS. Only in America would there be a guy that weblogging wasn't good enough for. You know? One guy walking around Austin, Texas back in 2000 going, "You know, that weblog shit's pretty good, but I want something that makes my brain explode as soon as I turn it on, ok? I want to take one suck off that RSS feed and go *snort* *splat* Now I'm happy! (Patterned after Dennis Leary)

With that...

You Can't Spell "Superpower" without "Power"
Mark Steyn gives the lie to Europe's hope of becoming America's equal in power without having a military. It's not going to work.

Henceforth, my first rule of Geopolitics: To be a superpower, you must have power.

Whore. Navy. Whore. Navy. WHORE NAVY.
Instapundit finds this.

China and France will hold rare joint naval exercises off the mainland's eastern coast on Tuesday, just four days before Beijing's rival, Taiwan, holds presidential elections.

China's official Xinhua news agency made no link between the exercises off Qingdao - about 780 miles from Taiwan's northernmost point - and the election.

But the show of military strength and solidarity signaled China's desire to isolate the self-governing island before the vote and its first-ever referendum, which Beijing views as a provocative step toward independence.

Henceforth, my second rule of geopolitics: Any "superpower" that whores its military force to another superpower with no basis in national interest is NOT A SUPERPOWER.

Decisions, Decisions.

LGF reports that Muslim nations are pissed at Kofi for suggesting that the UN give benefits to the partners of gay UN employees. Jeepers. who do you root for on this one? Crazy Islamic fundamentalist despots or Liberal fundamentalist despots? It's like all the Georgetown Basketball fans I know trying to decide whether to root for Duke or Maryland...

Blame India! Blame India! We must form a full assault...'CUZ IT'S INDIA'S FAULT!
Porphyrogenitus fisks the current panic over outsourcing. In brief: reports of the death of American manufacturing have been GREATLY exaggerated.

Gazpacho Eating Surrender Llamas?
I was thinking a "cowardly lion" meme would work myself, but this is also acceptable. WARNING: Very insolent.

There's no right answer....oh, wait...there is a right answer. AND IT AIN'T YOURS.
From Nick over at De Novo, who just made me start wondering whether this whole law school thing is a good idea...

law professors should more carefully examine the considerable challenges facing students who must not only learn the law, but learn each professor’s peculiar vision of the law, each professor’s unique and often unshared theoretical assumptions. Misunderstanding these assumptions could easily be the difference between an "A" and a "C" a misunderstanding that may reflect a student’s mind-reading prowess, but little of the student’s legal potential.

Some, but not enough, law professors explicitly define their vision of the law to the classroom, and use substantial class time to address the nature of that vision itself, not only its application to case materials. The best law professor I have had took the extra step and explained what, according to his vision of the law, constituted meritorious legal thinking. I suspect that such an explanation is often lacking from classrooms where "there’s no right answer" is so commonly intoned.

And Finally..

Are You Cool?
Siflay Hraka has a way to find out.

That's all, folks.

Daily Web Revue... Brought to you by FeedDemon

... News Aggregators freakin' rule. Cuz now I can do this!

The ACLU... suppressing free speech?
If your name is Daniel Pipes, apparently so. And to think we were foolish enough to believe that the heckler's veto was dead...

A Mighty Expensive Wind
Samizdata with the blatantly obvious news.

The renewable energy industry suffered a setback today with the publication of a report showing that electricity from offshore wind farms will cost at least twice as much as that obtained from conventional sources.
According to research carried out by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), the cheapest electricity, costing just 2.3 pence per unit, will be generated from gas turbines and nuclear power stations, compared with 3.7p for onshore wind and 5.5p for offshore. The Academy also emphasised the need to provide backup for wind energy to cover periods when the wind doesn't blow.

Carnivore Expansion
LawMeme reports that the FBI is seeking to use CALEA to gain access to a whole host of new internet services, including Voice-over-IP and and videoconferencing services. A good idea, but perhaps the FBI could try a gentler approach?

Goose, Gander. Gander, Goose.
LawMeme also reports that a group of Texas doctors, fed up with bogus lawsuits, are running a database of patients and lawyers who have filed malpractice claims "to assess [their] risk of offering [their] services to clients or potential clients." While this raises issues about the ethical responsibilities of the medical profession, I think it's wonderful to see the greedy trial lawyers being subjected to the same scorched earth, it-doesn't-matter-if-you're-liable-or-not-we're-suing-you-anyway tactics they invented. "For as you judge, so you shall be judged, and the measure with which you measure shall be measured out to you."

Don't Trust Anyone Under 30
BoiFromTroy picks up on a poll showing that Bush beats Kerry 47% to 3% among 12 to 18 year old future voters in a new ABC news poll. Cue Bob Dylan music.

On the Islamist Menu: Western Civilization. Eaten Alive.

The moribund Left knows who is boss and is selling the only thing they have remaining: access to media and cultural institutions, which suits the Islamofascists just fine. A division of labor has been established in which the Left provides the paralyzing injection on Western society leaving the jihadis a clear field within which to operate.

Steven Jay Gould, in arguing for the existence of natural evil, could find no better analogy than the ichneumon wasp, after which the monster in Alien was modeled, and which not coincidentally describes Islamofascism and its Leftist helpers.

NOT for lunchtime reading.

Thinking Like a Laywer Tip 1: There is no such thing as "common sense."
Thus saith Howard Bashman in this guest article at De Novo.

"0101 0100 0110 1111 0110 1101 Sent Me."
Via BoingBoing... the latest in computer security:

Port-knocking -- like a secret knock for firewalls. Schneier calls it "defensive system that would not accept any SSH connections (port 22) unless it detected connection attempts to closed ports 1026, 1027, 1029, 1034, 1026, 1044, and 1035 in that sequence within five seconds, then listened on port 22 for a connection within ten seconds. Otherwise, the system would completely ignore port 22."

"Early computer viruses were limited by the fact that no one had computers."
IMAO has a useful primer on computer viruses:
* Many viruses use exploits in Microsoft Outlook Express, a.k.a., Microsoft Security Hole with e-mail functionality.
* If you think your computer is infected, throw it away and buy a new one. It'll help the economy.
* If your computer crashes a lot, that could be a sign that your computer is infected or that you're using Windows 98.
* One day, malicious code out there might mutate and become sentient and then turn against humanity and launch nuclear weapons against us. Norton AntiVirus probably won't protect you from that. I don't know about McAfee.

That is all. RSS rules.

Update on 3/11 Attacks in Madrid

Fox News, CNN, and Washington Post all reporting that Spanish Police have made five arrests: 3 Moroccans and 2 Indians.

A 10-15 member cell is suspected in the attacks.

Looking more and more like Al-Qaeda.

UPDATE: 3:10 EST El Mundo reports that 5,000 people have gathered in front of the HQ of the Partido Popular (PM Aznar's Party). Apparently some of them are holding signs saying that Aznar's stance on the Iraq war is to blame.

UPDATE 3:12 EST Sign spotted on the feed coming in to FNC: "Aznar, por tu culpa pagamos todos." (Aznar, we're all paying for your crimes.)

UPDATE 3:23 EST: This cartoon from the USA (Kevin Siers of the Charlotte, NC Observer)

UPDATE 3:31 EST: Golan from HispaLibertas comments:

Bien, dos días después de los terribles atentados en Madrid va avanzando la investigación para atrapar a los cabrones que cometieron esa monstruosidad.

En mi opinión, cada vez tiene menos peso la hipótesis de la autoría de ETA (aunque no la considero descartada por completo). En primer momento pensé (como, creo, casi todo el mundo) que el atentado era obra de ellos. Actualmente creo que las dos opciones con más posibilidades son o un grupo islámico o una escisión de ETA estilo a lo que ocurrió con el IRA Auténtico. Ya iremos viendo, estas cosas llevan tiempo. Aunque algunos crean que llevan 5 minutos y que Aznar ya sabe hasta la comida favorita de los asesinos.

Quiero reiterar (y la verdad es que me resulta ridículo sentirme en la necesidad de reafirmarlo) que da igual quien haya sido. El terrorismo no tiene justificación. Y quienes afirman que en caso de haber sido islamistas la culpa (o la responsabilidad) es de Aznar es equivalente a decir que ese ataque está justificado. Y si eso fuese correcto, deberían echarle la culpa al gobierno también aunque sea ETA, por no concederles lo que piden para que no nos ataquen.

Mañana hay unas elecciones en España. No creo que deban suspenderse, ni retrasarse ni repetirse después de pasado un tiempo, ni nada de nada. Deben celebrarse, que la gente vote, que el que gane gobierne y el que pierda lo acepte.

Por último, sobre la manifestación ""espontánea"" que se ha producido ante la sede del Pardido Popular para exigir al PP que diera la información que supuestamente (según los SERpontáneos) estaba ocultando. A parte de ilegal, ha sido algo bastante siniestro. Lo que implicaba de forma lógica esa manifestación es: han sido los islamistas, con razón, y el gobierno lo oculta porque sabe que es su culpa que los islamistas nos ataquen. Me remito a lo que he puesto dos párrafos más arriba.

My admittedly rough translation:

Well, two days after the terrible attacks in Madrid, the investigation to trap the bastards who commited this monstrosity has advanced.

In my opinion, every minute gives less weight to the hypothesis of ETA authorship (even though they're they've not been completely ruled out). In this moment I think (as, I believe, almost all of the world), that the attack was their work. Actually, I believe that the two opinions wi the most possibility are an islamic group or a splinterin of the ETA like what happened with the Real IRA. We will see with time. Even though some people think that give them five minutes and Aznar will be on the terrorist's menu.

I want to reiterate (and the truth is that it seems ridiculous to reaffirm this), that it doesn't matter who has done this. Terrorism has no justification. And those who say that if this was Islamists than the fault (or the responsibility) is Aznar's is equivalent to saying that the attack was justified. And if this is correct, then they should also throw the fault at the government also even though it was ETA, to give them what they ask for so they don't attack us.

Tomorrow there are elections in Spain. I don't believe they should be suspedned, nor delayed, nor repeated at a later time, not nothing of nothing. We should celebrate that the citizens vote, that those who win govern and those who lose accept it.

Finally, this "spontaneous" demostration that is going on in front of the headquarters of the Partido Popular to demand that the PP give the information (according to the socialists) they are supposedly hiding. Besides being illegal, this is somewhat sinster. What this all means in logical form is: this was the islamists, with reaon, and the goviernment is hiding it because they know it's their fault the islamists attacked us. I reminde them of what I said two paragraphs above.

UPDATE 4:34 PM. Fox News is reporting that Norwegian Intelligence has pulled documents from an Al Qaeda server stating that Spain was a target because of their support for Iraq war. (Nothing about Spain being "Muslim" territory?) Details soon.

THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS THEE!!!

To Watch This Flash Movie:

The Exorcist in 30 Seconds.

Re-enacted by bunnies.

UPDATE: You call this "stopping terrorism?"

More on the former Democratic press secretary caught spying for Saddam's Iraq, via Foxnews & WBAL-TV in Baltimore:

Susan Lindauer (search), 41, was taken into custody in her hometown of Takoma Park, Md., and made a brief court appearance in Baltimore, where lawyers argued over whether she should be granted bail.
"I'm an anti-war activist and I'm innocent," Lindauer told WBAL-TV outside the Baltimore FBI office. "I did more to stop terrorism in this country than anybody else. I have done good things for this country. I worked to get weapons inspectors back to Iraq when everyone else said it was impossible."

Oh really? Let's go to the videotape, shall we?

o. On or about June 23, 2003, SUSAN LINDAUER, a/k/a "Symbol SUSAN," met in Baltimore, Maryland, with a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") acting in an undercover capacity as a member of the Libyan intelligence service seeking to support resistance groups in post-war Iraq (the "UC") and discussed the need for plans and foreign resources to support these groups operating within Iraq.

In other words, you supported terrorists, lady. Supporting terrorism is the EXACT OPPOSITE of stopping terrorism.

But of course, the Liberal media doesn't care, either.

Just saw the NBC evening news: Tom Brokaw not only skipped the substantial aspects of the indictment (her being paid ten grand *and* her willingness to perform aid and comfort when she believed she was aiding the "Iraqi resistance" with Libyan help), but he neglected to mention that she was a former journalist and former Democratic congressional aide.

He did take pains to report that she was a second cousin of White House staffer Andy Card.

Bravo to the G-Men. Screw you to Brokaw.

UPDATE: Der Commisar has more here. (My apologies for the unintentional act of link capitalism.)

If You Cannot Love Your Country...

Via Wizbangblog.

(AP) - NEW YORK - A former journalist and congressional press secretary was arrested Thursday on charges she acted as an Iraqi spy before and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq (news - web sites), accepting $10,000 for her work, prosecutors said Thursday.
Susan Lindauer, 41, was arrested in her hometown of Takoma Park, Md., and was to appear in court later in the day in Baltimore, authorities in New York said.
She was accused of conspiring to act as a spy for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and engaging in prohibited financial transactions involving the government of Iraq under dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

Now here's the kicker.

The indictment said she met on two occasions in Baltimore in June and July with an undercover FBI agent who posed as a Libyan intelligence representative who was seeking to support resistance groups in postwar Iraq. It said she discussed the need for plans and foreign resources to support these groups.

Un-freaking-believable. How many of our troops was she willing to put in harm's way just because she personally opposed the Iraq war?

"If you cannot love your country, at least you should do it no wrong." -- U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina, at the sentencing of another spy, Ana Belen Montes

AP Story here. Washington Post here. Via Andrew Sullivan, here's the link to the indictment at The Smoking Gun.

All Things Are Possible

I'm not a very productive blogger. I blog only once, twice, even three times a week at most. So despite my delusions of grandeur, I'm pretty much your average, run-of-the-mill Joe Blogger.

But there's a reason for this.

I have a job.

A real Job.

Remember that job I told you about working in DC's legal community? That was called a temp job. Low pay, no health insurance. Riding public transportation. Debt up to my eyeballs. Dependence on subsidies which were about to run out. (OK, so the subsidies came from my parents. Believe me, that's like collecting unemployment, only worse. Because the unemployment agency does not call you EVERY FREAKING DAY to see how the job search is going, and second guess everything from your appearance to your resume to your interview style!!!)

In other words, if I was strictly thinking about economics (and I just might have been), I would have been the perfect Democratic voter. Economy going down the tubes, and the President is talking about tax cuts? How outsourcing is good for America? Gaining two or three jobs back at a time when we've lost 4 million during his presidency? It's enough to make you scream!

Human beings are, of course, naturally geared towards ensuring their own prosperity above all. What good is freedom for Iraq if I can't pay my student loans? Yes, there may have been no terrorist attacks since 9/11, but that won't fix my 1986 Toyota's carbuerator. Of course, I'm not completely ignorant of the outside world and the impact it had here at home. But, as anyone will tell you, lack of a job will focus your mind like nothing else.

But then something interesting happened. That temp job turned into...a permanent job. Completely unexpected.

What happened was that the man I was working for was leaving his job. I thought my job, consequently, was over. I had to forgo blogging to put in all the overtime I could, because I didn't know when the next work would be coming. But as it turned out, my boss was quite happy with my work.

On his (and my) last day of work, he called me in as soon as I got in.

He said, "how would you like to work for me when I move to my new job?"

My jaw dropped. I was speechless. I immediately accepted. But why me, I asked? Surely, there are more qualified people out there?

"Maybe, but I doubt that any of them would bust their ass as hard as you have. That's what I like to see."

Me? Hard working? (If you know me, you'll understand.) "Yes. Every time I ask you to do something, it gets done. No matter how small. People who are like that...you give them an opportunity to show themselves, and they'll take it."

He then told me a story of when he was just starting out. He wasn't the best student in college, but he worked his tail off. And he managed to impress someone, too. (Someone very important. As in, someone that you could see here in a few years.) Within three years, my boss had gone from grunt work up to the top level as his patron's chief of staff. And once his job here came along, he had the experience to do it well.

And the opportunity that man gave to him, he wanted to give to me.

"Just remember, I'm going to expect a lot out of you. But I know you will do very well." It's been three months so far, and smooth sailing the whole way.

No, this job doesn't pay as much as I liked (what does?). But, it's enough for me to stay here in DC. It will give me some good opportunities. I have the absolute confidence of my boss (being of Italian descent, and a big fan of the Godfather, he has begun referring to me as the Tom Hagen to his Vito Corleone. As in "I have only one client, and I work exclusively for him.) And, it might just give me some chances I never dreamt I could have had. I'm not going to go into great detail (y'know, the whole "secret identity" thing.) But, needless to say, things are looking bright for Thief.

And therein, why this matters in terms of politics. This personal IS political.

The whole point of what John Kerry and his ilk are saying is that the world that most Americans like me live in is unfair, rigged, and cruel. It's a world where bright-eyed yet powerless people like me are screwed over continuously by the rich and powerful, a Charles Dickens novel writ large, a textbook example of Social Darwinism. It's the people versus the powerful, us vs. them. And the all-powerful "them" of course, control the Republican party. Thus, if we want to escape, we have to vote for Democrats, so that they can use the power of government to take on the powerful and their Republican cronies on our behalf.

And that, my friends, is a load of shit. This world isn't unfair, or rigged, or cruel. Many of the powerful people in this world started out exactly as we did; poor in money, but rich in dreams.

And most important of all, you can get ahead without the government. (It's called "The American Dream."

But they aren't going to tell you that. This election year, they must make you feel hopeless and beaten down. That is the only way they can win. That's how Democrats get elected, and stay elected. And they will use this power to run your life. They will begin making all your decisions for you. And government power has ruined more lives than I care to count.

I can understand the temptation. Empty wallets and stomachs can persuade more than any stump speech. But that's how the most dangerous demagogues and charlatans all throughout history gained power. And in the end, the people who relied on these false promises weren't helped at all.

However, the lesson of my experience, if it means anything, is this. You can succeed. This world is not out to get you. If you keep banging on the door long enough, you will be let in. It may not be what you expect. It certainly wasn't for me. But remember, in the words of the Rolling Stones,

You can't always get what you want,
You can't always get what you want,
You can't always get what you want,
But if you try sometimes,
You might find
You get what you need.

I know that a lot of you out there are in bad situations. I was too. But take heart. Just when you think things will never get better, they will. And if someone is telling you that things will never get better unless you give in and let the government take care of you, tell them to go to hell. Let them know just how deeply insulted you are by their sneering and patronizing and nanny-statism. (Voting or giving a small donation to the GOP might be a good way to tell them that. Although, if you don't care to do so for whatever reason, then at least give that money or support to people who make their living pissing off government nannies.)

And maybe, just maybe, you'll become one of those rich and powerful "them." And if you do, I hope you'll remember where you came from, and help others to achieve their dreams, too.

Isn't that what America is about?

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, I borrowed heavily from an old post. But Kerry's been on such a tangent about the whole job loss thing I just felt this needed repeating.]

Read This...

Just read this first.

"Court Strikes Down Church Marriages"

My comments are in the extended entry.

...now be honest. Did you believe that it was real before you saw L.T.'s category mark, or did you know it was satire all along?

I thought it was real, myself. And I think that says a lot more about the clowns on the 9th Circuit than it does about me.

Safety First!

Via Something Awful.

Slooooow Blogging Ahead.

Blogging will be especially slow this week.

ThiefMom and ThiefDad are in town.

Because while I love blogging, family comes first.

That and the fact that I will be too busy being lectured on ironing dress shirts to blog. Apparently I'm some sort of country rube that cannot understand why things need to be ironed when it is much more time efficient to just pull them out of the dryer and hang them up...

I know, I know, I'm askin' for it. But they know I'm kidding. Right?