http://neveryetmelted.com The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. -- D.H. Lawrence Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:12:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A short which has appeared at 34 film festivals and received 17 awards. 16:23 video http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/validation/ Most blogs produced by retired Intelligence Community professionals are either moderately or severely negative. Jeff Stein quotes a retired operations officer: A retired senior CIA operations officer who quit last summer after 20 years tracking terrorists says the rank-and-file reaction to President-elect Obama's choice of Leon E.Panetta to run the spy ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/that-panetta-appointment/ Hard times are not only impacting large financial institutions like Lehman and AIG. NY Times: Queen Elizabeth, the Kremlin and the White House have been customers, but in the current economic climate, luxury crystals and ceramics are a hard sell as Waterford Wedgwood conceded Monday. The company, which is based in Dublin and ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/waterford-crystal-maker-bankrupt/ Barack Obama carefully avoided advocacy of new gun control measures during his presidential campaign, but that does not imply that there is the slightest likelihood of his vetoing any gun control legislation emanating from the new Congress. Alan Korwin warns about H.R. 1022, the renewal of the (so-called) Assault Weapons Ban, ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/democrat-controlled-congress-has-new-gun-control-plans/ Andrew Breitbart's new group blog forum for film industry conservatives launched yesterday. First day's posters include Andrew Klavan, John Nolte, Orson Bean, Melanie Graham, and "Veritas Obviam" (who obviously does not want to lose his career). Perhaps this one will fill the badly needed role of main conservative outlet ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/big-hollywood/ Held at the Yasukuni Shrine during New Year's holiday. 8:00 video Hat tip to Paul Martin. http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/japanese-swordsmiths-annual-exhibition-2009/ Ann Coulter takes aim while visiting Woodstock, NY Ann Coulter had been scheduled to appear this morning on NBC's Today program promoting her new book Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America, but on Sunday the "progressive" blog-site Media Matters cracked the ideological whip and reminded NBC of its ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/was-it-something-she-said/ The Grove and Rufford Hunt (amalgamated 1952) reports: It is with great sadness that we report the death after a short illness of Lady Anne Bentinck. Lady Anne was aged 92 and was a great supporter of the hunt throughout her life, following the long tradition of the Dukes of Portland. ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/lady-alexandra-margaret-anne-cavendish-bentinck-1916-2008/ The Onion reports Apple's latest revolutionary user interface design breakthrough: the no keyboard laptop. 2:37 video http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/no-keyboard/ Tule Elk There were 28 categories of Big Game animals taken by archery in the Pope and Young record book before the Tule Elk (Cervus canadensis -- or elaphus-- nannodes), a subspecies of Roosevelt Elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti) was recently added. The New York Times (of all sources) describes one hunter's attempt ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/bow-hunting-tule-elk/ Photo and video described as having been shot at Key West at Sunset, New Year's Eve, December 31, 2008. It certainly looks like a missile. via Coast to Coast. No official comments or MSM reports so far. 7:09 video http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/allegedly-seen-from-key-west-on-new-years-eve/ They got the idea from Brussels. London Times: The Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant. The move, which follows a decision by the European Union’s council of ministers in Brussels, has angered civil liberties groups ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/british-police-to-hack-private-home-pcs/ Iain Dale reports that the Metropolitan Police is running the above Google ad. Is there a reward? It's been a while since I've been linked by Michelle Malkin. Maybe I'll turn her in. http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/scotland-yard-on-the-hunt/ You won't need to worry about Global Warming if the Yellowstone Caldera decides to erupt. London Times: Hundreds of earthquakes have hit Yellowstone National Park, raising fears of a more powerful volcanic eruption. The earthquake swarm, the biggest in more than 20 years, is being closely monitored by scientists ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/alarm-over-increased-seismic-activity-at-yellowstone/ Israeli Intelligence mouthpiece DEBKAfile succeeded in restoring service today after a period of outage. DEBKAfile's two sites in English and Hebrew came under a massive cyber attack on our servers at the moment Israeli ground forces crossed into the Gaza Strip Saturday night, Jan. 3. The attackers tried and failed ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/cyber-attacks-coincide-with-israels-attack-on-gaza/ Hold on for the ride. From Greg Mankiw via Bird Dog. http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/recession-and-a-democrat-in-the-white-house/ Do-gooders Jimmy Carter and Habitat for Humanity some years ago built Fairway Oaks in Jacksonville, Florida, a classic liberal charity project delivering housing to the undeserving poor. And what did the poor do with their housing? They certainly didn't maintain it. Obviously, they rode it hard, and ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/no-good-deed-goes-unrewarded/ This characteristically enthusiastic Japanese nature program demonstrates the defensive behavior of the Southern White-faced Scops Owl (Ptilopsis granti), native to Southern Africa. Confronted by a nearby Barn Owl (Tyto alba), it fluffs itself up into a very large owl. Seeing a more distant Barn Owl, it turns its less ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/southern-white-faced-scops-owl/ Las Vegas, Nevada, December 17, 2008. This year's winter really seems to have Global Warming theorists on the run. Harold Ambler, at of-all-places Huffington Post, thoroughly rakes Al Gore over the coals. What's next? Daily Kos?? Mr. Gore has stated, regarding climate change, that "the science is in." Well, he is ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/gore-should-apologize/ Army Times: When asked how they feel about President-elect Barack Obama as commander in chief, six out of 10 active-duty service members say they are uncertain or pessimistic, according to a Military Times survey. In follow-up interviews, respondents expressed concerns about Obama’s lack of military service and experience leading men and women ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/60-of-active-duty-military-have-doubts-about-obamas-leadership/ Josh Marshall complains that representatives of the MSM in the nation's Capitol are insufficiently on his side. Like many others, I've been saying this for years. So I'm surprised to be surprised. But the journalistic establishment in Washington, whether it's the Post or the Politico or much of the rest of ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/not-enough-media-bias-in-washington-for-him/ 1937 Bugatti 57S Atalante, to be auctioned at Bonham's in Paris February 7th NY Times: Dr. Harold Carr, an orthopedic surgeon in England, was a recluse in his later years, according to relatives. He never married or had children. So when the doctor died in 2007 at the age of 89, ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/found-in-british-garage/ The Nation's Katrina Vanden Huevel climbs onto the lap of the American taxpayer and pleads for an increase in Leviathan's allowance. Poverty is on the rise, record numbers of people are relying on food stamps and we've seen no relief for the foreclosure crisis. There are increasing rates of child abuse ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/brother-can-you-spare-1trillion/ Markets are basically emotionally hysterical mobs and herds. They typically run furiously in one direction, until the mood changes, then they run just as furiously in the opposite direction. Suddenly, in 2008, a nation-wide real estate slump led to a natural enough increase in mortgage defaults, generally on the part ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/poll-finds-77-of-americans-think-the-press-has-worsened-the-economy/ In a New Year's tour d'horizon of warfare and violence across the globe, Jim Dunnigan's Strategy Page concludes that, apart from the quality of media reporting, things have been getting better. Worldwide, violence continues to decline, as it has for the last few years. ... All this continues a trend that began ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/wars-update/ California "Global Warming Score" Sticker Starting this year, thanks to the Solons of Sacramento, residents of America's open-air asylum will find all new cars bearing prominently displayed, in the manner of Hawthorne's Hester Prynne, a visible badge of their alleged sinfulness. Marc Sheppard, at American Thinker, explains: These so-called "Global Warming Scores" range ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/california-cars-get-global-warming-scores/ Yuma Sun: The State Bar of Arizona is weighing whether to require new lawyers to swear they won't let their views on someone's sexual orientation affect their duty, a move foes said could force attorneys to represent clients whose view they find personally offensive. Existing rules require an oath saying lawyers "will ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/arizona-bar-considering-oath-to-defend-homosexuals/ Bloomberg reports that, while other businesses find sales plummeting, cybersecurity is booming. Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., the world’s biggest defense companies, are deploying forces and resources to a new battlefield: cyberspace. The military contractors, eager to capture a share of a market that may reach $11 billion in 2013, ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/looking-for-work/ Chosen by Wired. Example: How do you run a profitable interstate trucking company without all the hassle of driving trucks? Step one: Visit the online "load boards" where brokers advertise cargo in need of transport and negotiate a deal to, for example, haul a load from California to Maryland for $3,500. Step ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/best-crimes-of-2008/ Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, writing December 24, 2008 at Palestinian Media Watch (article no longer on-line) quoted at Free Republic: Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza have approved a new bill "to implement Koranic punishments," including hand amputation, crucifixion, corporal punishment and execution. Drinking, owning or producing ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/just-in-time-for-christmas-hamas-legalizes-crucifixion/ José Guardia, quoting the Economist on Spain's housing bust, demonstrates that some countries have it a lot worse. The market is dropping fast. Property fairs tout discounts of as much as 60% on new-built homes, or even “buy one, get one free” offers. ... Loan-to-value ratios tend to be safely below 80%. ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/you-thought-you-had-it-bad/ Robert Burns, author of Auld Lang Syne From Robert Chambers, A Book of Days, 1869: NEW YEAR'S EVE, OR HOGMANAY As a general statement, it may be asserted that neither the last evening of the old year nor the first day of the new one is much, observed in England as an ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/new-years-eve-or-hogmanay-2/ Scrappleface reports that, while waiting for the inauguration, Barack Obama is working on another memoir. This one will chronicle his days in the Senate. According to a news release from the publisher, the memoir entitled 143 Days That Shaped a Nation: The Senate Career of Barack Obama, “is third in a ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/third-in-a-series/ The Chicago Tribune's John Kass advises. Playing the race card was a brilliant stroke which instantly put the national democrat party on the defensive. Since he was federally charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been wrongly caricatured ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/dont-underestimate-blagojevich/ http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/michael-ramirez-on-hamas/ Victor Davis Hanson predicts that, six months into the new administration, it will be apparent that it was not actually the policies which changed. It will be how they are being reported and described. All the campaign talk of the Great Depression, a Vietnam-like war, and our shredded ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss/ The Wall Street Journal reports on the theories of Igor Panarin, whose pessimistic view of the US economic crisis makes Russians very very happy. Dream on, Ivan. For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/russian-professor-predicts-breakup-of-usa-in-2010/ Violence and social unrest have finally awoken the Dutch left from its Rousseau-ian dream. A new Labor Party policy paper calls for an end to the politics of victimhood and a quick dip in the melting pot for Holland's Islamic new arrivals. International Herald Tribune: Since the Sept. 11, 2001, ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/dutch-labor-party-changes-position-on-islamic-immigrants/ Rick Moran comments on the latest liberal-manufactured controversy, defending Rush Limbaugh and song parodist Paul Shanklin. Shanklin’s stuff is mostly brilliant satire. But like all good political humor, it walks a line of good taste and decorum. In fact, by pushing the boundaries as Shanklin does, he defines for us the ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/barack-the-magic-negro/ The Richter Scales update the old tune to fit contemporary gloom. 2:12 video http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas/ Humorist Dave Barry lists strange occurrences in 2008. O.J. actually got convicted of something. Gasoline hit $4 a gallon -- and those were the good times. ... The surprise winner is Barack Obama, who is running for president on a long and impressive record of running for president. A mesmerizing speaker, Obama electrifies ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/2008-a-weird-year/ Christopher Booker, the Telegraph, notes the many ways in which 2008 has been a bad year for the Climate Change industry. Looking back over my columns of the past 12 months, one of their major themes was neatly encapsulated by two recent items from The Daily Telegraph. The first, on May ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/the-year-that-global-warming-died/ Cheers as the hunt goes out in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire Some day Britain's contemptible Labour Government will fall and the petty tyranny of its Hunting Ban, passed via the overthrow of the British Constitution and the usurpation of the authority of both houses of Parliament by a temporary majority in the ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/record-boxing-day-turnout-defies-the-hunt-ban/ He's going to find that the European commitment to free speech is a just a bit different from ours. Washington Times: Last week, the European Parliament, meeting in Strassbourg, France, gave its Sakharov Prize honoring free speech to Chinese freedom campaigner Hu Jia. Bravo. The same day, the Conference of Presidents of ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/when-joel-stein-moves-to-europe/ Joel Stein happily admits that conservatives are right: lefties like himself don't love America Conservatives feel personally blessed to have been born in the only country worth living in. I, on the other hand, just feel lucky to have grown up in a wealthy democracy. If it had been Australia, Britain, ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/joel-stein-sneers-at-patriotism/ He merely needs a thorough scrubbing TCPalm: It looks like a rare albino alligator. In early December, residents of Vista Plantation began seeing an unusually large white-colored alligator in the community’s lakes west of the Indian River Mall, said subdivision manager Charles Smith. “It was pure white,” he said. The 300-pound, 10-foot-long adult alligator is ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/not-albino-alligator/ Rembrandt. The Martyrdom of St. Stephen. 1625. Oil on panel. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons From Robert Chambers, The Book of Days, 1869: Feast Day: St. Stephen, the first martyr. St. Stephen's Day To St. Stephen, the Proto-martyr, as he is generally styled, the honour has been accorded by the church of being placed ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/feast-of-st-stephen-and-boxing-day/ Performed at York Minster in 1995, 2:51 video. http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/good-king-wenceslaus/ Hugo Rifkind survived Xmas without the advice of Britain's Labour Government. It was obviously a Xmas miracle. For all I know, this column is coming to you from beyond the grave. As I write, it is Christmas Eve. As you read, it is Boxing Day. I can't really see myself ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/the-state-is-our-shepherd/ From Robert Chambers, The Book of Days, 1869: Born: Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world; Sir Isaac Newton, natural philosopher, 1642, Woolsthorpe, near Grantham; Johann Jacob Reiske, oriental scholar, 1716, Zorbig, Saxony; William Collins, poet, 1720, Chichester; Richard Person, Greek scholar, 1759, East Ruston, Norfolk. and my wife, Karen. Died: Persius, satiric ... http://neveryetmelted.com/index.php/christmas-day-4/