The Taliban really aren't such bad guys...

This looks to be something from the Onion but it's not.


http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3946


In November 2008 a Dutch journalist, Joanie de Rijke, was abducted by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. She was held captive, raped repeatedly, and released after six days for a ransom of 100,000 euros ($137,000). After her ordeal, she acknowledged that her captors “did horrible things to me,” but added in several media interviews “They also respected me,” and emphasized “They are not monsters.”


Though de Rijke was angry with the Dutch and Belgian authorities, she told the Dutch media in interviews given after her release that she was not angry with her abductors. “I do not want to depict the Taliban as monsters. I am not angry with Ghazi Gul. After all, he let me live,” she said. About the rape ordeal she declared that though the experience had been horrible, she was also shown respect. “It’s not black and white. These things can exist side by side. That doesn’t mean that I’m suffering from Stockholm syndrome.”

See the link for more.

Have a nice weekend

Try to stay cool.

Sometimes it helps to stand in front of the refrigerator.

Claims Drama

Never argue with an insurance company: http://www.yankeepotroast.org/archives/2009/06/wallace_stevens.html.

More on Sotomayor.

According to the leftist pinkos at Mother Jones, Sotomayor is a lousy writer: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/06/sonia-sotomayors-prose-problem. She allegedly came close to flunking a writing course at Princeton and her opinions on cases appear to be without wit or much else in the way of effective expression. In other words, she ain't no Scalia. That said, the fact that she is a woman and a Latina far outweigh any piddling concerns such as these.

My big problem with Sotomayor is that she is a little rough to look at, unlike Amanda Klaasen. Ms. Klaasen is no doubt a solid writer with a deft stroke.

The Foundation of Any Good Meal...

...is, of course, lard: http://www.slate.com/id/2219314/. Even the pinko surrender monkeys at Slate get it. Now, the great enlightened of our society have pronounced lard as, indeed, healthy and you can even buy chic designer lard in New York. Personally, I don't give a shit--I like lard, I love lard, I revel in lard regardless of whatever Harold in Soho or Eleanor in the Hamptons thinks.

My deceased Aunt Sybil kept a bucket--yes, a bucket of lard in her kitchen and cranked out massively righteous pork chops and biscuits using heaps of the stuff. Damn fine eating. Her father, my grandfather used to enjoy pouring the contents of the skillet grease on top of his fried eggs, bacon, and biscuits--God, it was outstanding--more grease to top off the lard! You just can't get that kind of wonderfulness anymore. Now, I'm reduced to eating yogurt in the morning and chicken breasts and salmon and that kind of shit. Damn it, I'm just about finished as a man. Once in a while though, I jump the reservation for some real eating. And when I do, I always think about Aunt Sybil's lard bucket.

Tennis News

Mr. (Mrs.?) Hsu thinks we need more awful parents in tennis for America to take more grand slam titles: http://www.slate.com/id/2219229/.

Both of my kids played academy level tennis at one point, the eldest being pretty good before burning out. The whole tennis scene was kind of eye opening for me--we didn't do tennis where I grew up, concentrating instead on baseball, football, and vandalism. What amazed me most about tennis was the amount of cheating that goes on--it's widespread and part of the sport's amateur fabric. Certain kids are infamous as cheaters, making subtle and sometimes flagrant line calls (players mostly do their own calls in amateur matches) and even changing scores mid-game. Some awful parents, too, but you can see that in pretty much any sport. I disliked the tournament scene, too. Endless days spent in oftentimes crappy locales in miserable weather before going back to the crappy hotel and then the crappy drive back on Sunday, without feeling that anyone had all that much fun. Essentially, a lot of crap. Maybe it was just us but I don't think so.

Krauthammer on Sotomayor

I posted something last week about Sotomayor and the ruling she participated in regarding the New Jersey firefighters. Now, Krauthammer expands on it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/28/AR2009052803613.html. Krauthammer possesses one of the ablest minds out there. It's almost as impressive to watch him speak on subjects as it is to read him--he's razor sharp and never lacks coherent views.