Interesting article from NRO.

Rabbits are being sent to NOrth Korea by a pastor in South Korea.

1.2 million of them.

The theory is they will help with the food shortage. Very innovative approach.

Check out the video clips.

(HT: MM)

There is some really funny stuff in this Fark PS yesterday.

(Caveat: As usual for Fark, there is some off-color stuff too).

Famous Crosswalk Button Hack. Hah!

The most popular hack, which works on most models, is the “Instant Walk.” Three short clicks, followed by two long, one short, two long, and three short; turn any crosswalk signal from “don’t walk” to “walk” with a matching change in the traffic signals.

This story is thick with wonderful irony. What a brilliant plan.

Could a hotel be built on the land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter? A new ruling by the Supreme Court which was supported by Justice Souter himself itself might allow it. A private developer is seeking to use this very law to build a hotel on Souter’s land.

Justice Souter’s vote in the “Kelo vs. City of New London” decision allows city governments to take land from one private owner and give it to another if the government will generate greater tax revenue or other economic benefits when the land is developed by the new owner.

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter’s home.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called “The Lost Liberty Hotel” will feature the “Just Desserts Café” and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon’s Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged.”

Bargaineering, OTB, Jawa, Physics Geek, David Janes, Gay Orbit, Free Speech, Tom, Jolly Blogger, It Is What It Is, Michelle Malkin, MuD and PHuD, Indepundit and lots of others are commenting.

Study says meat eaters more likely to be obese than vegetarians

Good thing we have studies for this type of thing. I never would have guessed.

This is truly awesome.

“So now when Jess thinks, close hand, the impulse is picked up by a transmitter, and goes to his hand,” doctor Todd Kuiken said. “He thinks, closes hand and it does.”

Interesting.

“If the moon is near the horizon, you see it compared to objects on the ground, and it appears larger. It’s actually an optical illusion,” Ciupik said.

I always figured it had something to do with the curve of the Earth and light refraction. Shows you what I know.

Michelle Malkin has a good roundup of the Democrats demand that Karl Rove apologize for accurately representing their views.

Rove:

Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.

Captain Ed also takes on the hypocrisy, as does Posse Incitatus. Flopping Aces agrees that Rove is spot on.

If you’re looking for a place to relax and play golf in Brown County, Indiana, then Woods’ Edge, one of our advertisers, is the place for you.

It’s peaceful and beautiful, and is not far from the quaint artist colony of downtown Nashville, Indiana. In the summer months the pool is open too, and in the fall it’s absolutely gorgeous. Step out the back door onto the golf course or keep walking and you’ll be in the Hoosier National Forest.

Click here for more info and to make reservations. Be sure to ask for Woods’ Edge condominium!

Now here is some serious reporting. This gun collector had his guns removed from his home (and LOTS of ammo) because he was potentially suicidal and it’s standard policy. And then the author throws this gem in.

Police also found books about Ruby Ridge and other far-right-wing topics in the house, though family members said Wilkinson was not militant.

The horrors. I wonder what the “other far-right-wing topics” are.

From Tongue Tied.

An Army enlistee who sponsored an online contest for the best papier-mache pig made from pages of the Koran on his personal website was asked by his superior officers to remove it because it was “insensitive to our enemies,” according to the Canton Repository.

…

Alvarez has since replaced the contest with the message, “We regret to inform you that the PC police have required the termination of the ‘Create a Pig From the Koran’ arts and crafts contest.”

A few days ago Durbin insisted he wouldn’t apologize.

Friday 6/17:

If there’s a lesson to be learned here it’s not that my remarks were wrong or that there’s any need for apology,

I’m certainly not going to be intimidated by the right-wing message machine,” he said. “If I’m going to back off every time they decide their unhappy with my statements, then I really won’t be doing my job.

So either he’s not doing his job and has been intimitated, or he has not really apologized. And in fact, concensus seems to be that he hasn’t apologized.

But The Political Teen has the video of Durbin’s non-apology apology.

Conservative Thinking accepts the apology but says:

Perhaps you should read your speeches out loud to your staff before you read them in front of America from now on Senator Durbin.

Via LaShawn, tNoYF has some Durbin Dr. Seuss.

Scott Ott has the newest accusation from Durbin.

Sen. Dick Durbin, who recently compared U.S. personnel at the Guantánamo Bay terrorist-detention facility to Nazis, took the Senate floor today to slam U.S. troops in Iraq for their “progressive poisoning” of the imprisoned Saddam Hussein with snack foods.

VodkaPundit doesn’t buy it.

The forced apology doesn’t mean much. The damage is done, and al-Jazeera isn’t likely to tout Dickie’s retraction with much vigor.

Wizbang points out that Durbin actually tried to apologize twice!

First time:

I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood. I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings: our soldiers around the world and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and total support.

Second time is here.

Un-common Sense will not accept it.

I’m not accepting any apologies from a guy who compares me and my comrades to Soviets in their gulags, Nazis, or Pol Pot - but at least he has the courage to apologize, which is more than I can say for those that jumped on his bandwagon.

Mark in Mexico thinks Durbin should have picked some different Lincoln quotes.

The Strata-Sphere thinks it’s too little too late and the Anchoress is not convinced the apology is sincere.

Larry Bernard summarizes this way:

Wow… so many words yet none of them “I was wrong” or even “My words went over the line”

Hah!

It sounds like the meter maid’s version of a speed trap: A ticket for parking at a meter that was installed after you park your car.

But that’s what happened in Chicago last week, where a handful of motorists returned to their vehicles and found parking meters - and tickets - that weren’t there when they parked.

You must read this letter from a soldier, an open letter to all U.S. Senators, concerning Durbin…

This letter was first posted by BlackFive as a comment and reproduced by the Weekly Standard’s Hugh Hewitt.

Senators,

I am currently deployed to Kosovo as a member of Task Force Falcon, Multi-National Brigade-East, NATO KFOR. At home I am a teacher in the Kerman Unified School District, providing quality instruction in U.S. History and English/Language Arts to wonderful eighth graders whom I love dearly. I have served in the U.S. Army, Army Reserve, and California Army National Guard for 24 years.

I am currently on orders for 545 days on this contingency operation (Operation Enduring Freedom/Joint Guardian), which means that I will miss everything that my family does for the next nine months (at least), possibly longer if I am redeployed to another contingency operation, or extended here.

I share the preceding information as a preamble to the subject of this email, so there will be no mistake as to my position, or credibility.

The recent comments of Senator Durbin in reference to the conditions for inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility are as detestable as anything I have ever heard or read concerning members of the of the United States military. By now these comments have been quoted or aired enough that I need not repeat them here.

The senator’s remarks, while apparently intended to apply to only a small number of us, actually hit ALL of us squarely in the heart. To compare any member of the U.S. armed forces with the murderous thugs who ran Hitler’s camp system, the Soviet Gulag, or who gleefully slaughtered entire populations in Cambodia, is an affront to all men and women of our military.

Does Senator Durbin really mean to imply that WE are thugs and murderers? Does he really mean to imply that WE treat our prisoners in the same manner, as say, the totenkopfverbande treated prisoners at Sobibor, Belzec, Treblinka, or Auschwitz? Does he really mean that?

If the good senator really does intend to convey this message, then I suggest that he read Eugen Kogon’s excellent and heartbreaking study of the Nazi camp system, titled “The Theory and Practice of Hell.” I think he should read it, and then decide whether or not his comparisons are entirely accurate. I would also like to suggest that Senator Durbin read Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago,” or “Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields” by Kim DePaul and the late Dith Pran.

We men and women who serve in the armed forces are NOT the jackbooted tyrants that some people seem hell-bent to depict us as. We are many things, but we are not evil. Implications to the opposite effect serve only to undermine and demoralize us as we try with all our hearts to carry out our missions to make the world a better place. If Senator Durbin or any other lawmaker would like to see evidence of, or hear testimony about what we really do, then I suggest a trip to Kosovo. Ask the people here what they think of America and our soldiers. You might be surprised.

In conclusion I would like to remind you that many of the men and women currently running the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay come from the California Army National Guard. They are upstanding and honorable citizens of the state of California, and the United States of America. They are members of the greatest force for peace, or war, that the world has ever seen. I personally know many of them, and they are absolutely not as Senator Durbin portrays them. Senators, I beg of you, stand up for them. Do not allow these reprehensible statements by one of your colleagues to go by the board without censure. He must be called to task on this.

SSG Stephen Pointer
S-6/IMO
432nd Civil Affairs Battalion (-)
Camp Bondsteel
APO AE 09340

“War is evil, but it is often the lesser evil.”
George Orwell

Thank you Sgt. Pointer. America supports you. Don’t believe those who seek to betray this country.

Looking for a bit of a chuckle today? Check out Zug’s Senator Prank

This one’s the funniest.

Powerline has Kerry’s Form 180s. I haven’t been able to access the site, but this is per Michelle Malkin and LGF.

Check ‘em out.

UPDATE: Ok, I was finally able to get Power Line to load. Nothing really interesting here. It’s the records in response to this that everyone is really interested in. Of course, since he’s not presidential material anymore, I don’t think it matters all that much. The biggest reason for him to have information hidden or redacted, as I understand it (admittedly, without really taking the time to research it) is that if he did indeed have an other than honorable discharge, I don’t think he can serve as a Senator.

Anyone want to confirm or deny that bit of info with documentation? Comment away.

Rush has come up with some hilarious t-shirts.

In what is becoming all too common among the anti-American left, it appears that Dick Durbin, a sitting senator from Illinois, has fabricated a confidential memo from the FBI.

Fox News quotes Durbin as not knowing if what he is saying is true, “If this indeed occurred…” and then Fox advises us that people very familiar with this memo say the memo says nothing of the sort that Durbin is supposedly quoting.

From Fox News…

“One knowledgeable official familiar with the memo cited by Durbin as well as other memos said the FBI agent made no such allegation and that the memo described only someone chained to the floor. Anything beyond that is simply an interpretation, the official said.”

We have Dan Rather of CBS, then Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, then Amnesty International, and now a sitting U.S. Senator fabricating stories, information, and memos.

But there is a serious problem in the case of Dick Durbin. He has no first amendment cover behind which to hide his un-American activities. Durbin is a U.S. senator apparently making up information about a confidential FBI memo, for the purpose of destroying a U.S. President and undermining the United States in a time of war. If so, he is deliberately and maliciously seeking to harm the U.S. and aid the enemy in the midst of hostilities.

There is only one word for this kind of activity… treason! And it’s about time someone started investigating these people who are deliberately trying to harm this country’s war effort and, where warranted, prosecute. The “greatest generation” did it. So should we.

Every death in the war on terror, whether it is military or civilian, every drop of innocent blood being shed, is now on the hands of these anti-American leftists whether they hide in the newsrooms or in the halls of Congress.

Treason! Maybe it’s time to engage the enemy at home.

Eric adds: Here’s a round up of some reactions around the blogosphere on this issue. Many, like Taste of Liberty, are outraged.

John Podhoretz thinks Durbin stepped over the line.

The Boston Herald thinks it’s disgraceful.

Michelle Malkin has a history lesson.

Mike’s Noise says “We really, really need a Godwin’s law for politics.”

Pilgrim has some transcripts from the Senate floor, and summarizes with this: “Durbin REFUSED to admit it was an unfair comparison, REFUSED to apologize for insinuation that American Men and Women in uniform are acting like Stalin’s Gulag soldiers, Pol Pot’s Killing Fields Soldiers, and Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ Soldiers.”

John Bambenek:

1) Thanks for telling us what the Democratic party is. The party that hates the military, that hates the country, and that has no contribution except flaming.
2) Thanks for showing us the Democrats have no grip on reality and no desire to contribute to the process of governing.

Toe in the Water is also livid.

If a resignation is not forthcoming, then he should be thrown out of the Senate, and the balance of the Senators should pass a bill apologizing to the people of Illinois for allowing this travesty to go on so long.

alJazeera.net covers the story!

Captain Ed adds:

His hysterical rants have damaged the war effort by providing propaganda for the Islamists with no rational basis whatsoever — and for that, he owes everyone an apology.

The Buzz Blog calls him an idiot, but the first commenter disagrees with Buzz:

I disagree with you, Buzz. To say that Durban the Turban is an idiot indicates that he doesn’t know what he’s saying. I think he is very aware of what he is saying. He is purposely trashing our troops for his own political gain regardless of the cost to them or this country. He is not an idiot. He is a TRAITOR!!

RWNH has a good roundup of reactions.

Point Five satirizes with this:

“I’ll hand it to Durbin,” said Chet Brakely, an RNC strategist, “He found an under-represented voting block and seems to have solidified its support for the Democrats.”

Brakely explained that the terrorist vote has not often been pandered to in previous elections, but that he fears that Democrat internal polls have discovered a hidden constituancy “right under our noses.”

Dr. Rusty, who it seems has a brother in Iraq, takes it personally.

The only thing more morally inept then comparing what is happening at Guantanamo to the tens of millions of people killed in the gulags, is to not back down once you’ve been called on it.

Bloggers for Censure is up and running.

Froggy Ruminations titles his post “Illinois, Are You Going to Sit There and Let Your Senator Call Your Sons & Husbands Nazis?” He also provides some contact info for Durbin, should you be interested in letting him know your opinion.

CONTACT INFO FOR DURBIN
Washington, DC: phone (202) 224-2152; fax (202)228-0400
Chicago, IL: phone (312) 353-4952; fax (312)353-0150
Springfield, IL: phone (217) 492-4062; fax (217)492-4382
Marion, IL: phone (618) 998-8812; fax (618) 997-0176