Tuesday digest

- Miss Vickie's honey and roasted garlic chips: Thumbs up.

- Very interesting discussion going on at the Western Standard blog concerning how Jill Carroll's captors were convinced of some Jewish cabal in American journalism (if they only knew). From a post by a blogger named "ex-liberal":

Since 9/11, whenever I have pointed out the irrational anti-Jewism spewing out of Arab/Muslim world, liberal co-workers, family and friends have all tried to avert their gaze and make like I am overreacting, or just not correctly understanding that the "Jews stole their land", or that well you know "there's two sides to every story and we have our religious crazies" (see Justin above). This is basically why I have become ex-liberal.

Isn't it time to be clear about the real enemy instead of caring more about looking non-judgmental towards Middle Eastern haters?

- Now here's some fair and balanced coverage. Note how they picked a NASCAR race and not, say, the University of Wisconsin at Madison. You're likely to find as many whites at one place as you are at the other.

- Speaking of campuses it seems some academics don't like having to face the court of public opinion. For anyone who denies that there is a liberal bias on campus, I dare you to enroll in an arts or social science class at your local university, declare your support for tax cuts, Israel, and the merit principle in hiring, and tell me what happens - likely, a version of this.

- Apparently, mathematics is racist, at least for those wanting to be cops in Virginia Beach. A sample question from a test for applicants, which the US Justice Department has found to be discriminatory against blacks and Hispanics: “On Tuesday, Officer Jones worked the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift. At 10:55 p.m. he was called to the scene of an accident where he remained until 1:30 a.m. How long past his regular shift did Officer Jones work?”

You can read more about it for yourself here.
It's what Thomas Sowell (I think) called "the soft bigotry of low expectations".

- I've always wondered why so many Trudeaupians and other lefties admire Bill Clinton. After you read this, you should, too. Let's take a fr'instance:

You also hear about Bush pandering to Enron. Well, there’s no denying that the sleazebags at Enron donated over $400,000 to the party, and kicked in another $100,000 to help pay for the president’s inauguration. And there’s no getting around the fact that Enron’s chairman stayed at the White House on 11 different occasions. Talk about having access! What’s more, the Export-Inport Bank subsidized Enron to the tune of $600 million in a single transaction.

Clearly, where Enron is concerned, the president has a lot to answer for. But the president we’re talking about happens to be Clinton. Bush, in case you didn’t notice, is the president whose administration has Enron CEO Ken Lay up on charges.

Isn't that the same Justice Department which (under Bush) decided that math was discriminatory against minority police applicants? Seems that W's gang is not as deep in the pocket of the rich white oil baron as we think, huh, Mikey Moore?

- Back to reality with this piece from the WSJ. Intellectually, there is a lot of exciting debate happening within conservatism. I am loving it because it demonstrates richness and vitality within the coalition.

It's a big tent, baby. How long till the Cos admits he's a conservative?