GIVE JACK STRAW CREDIT for getting Iraq correct in March. Why don't we have any American leaders being this eloquent?

NEAL POLLACK HAS added permalinks! So I can blog his latest marvelous entry, the following paragraph of which is only the tip of the iceberg:

Meanwhile, I have an annoucement to make regarding my next novel, Hurts So Good, a sequel to Hot To Trot. Because of my dissatisfaction with corporate publishing and chain bookstores, I'm going to release this novel myself, in a limited edition. There will be only five copies printed on golden tickets which will be wrapped around selected candy bars and placed in vending machines at state-university sororities, largely in the south.

The HisTory of Michael Jackson's face.

TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES still has a Bob Greene page, complete with offers of "Product Samples," nyuk nyuk.

THE LA TIMES FINALLY COVERED the West Hollywood attack by Muslims against Jews. Apparently someone even videotaped it, which makes you wonder why the local news haven't been broadcasting the "Kill the Jews" chant instead of the woman smacking her child in the mall parking lot.

RWANDA HAS BECOME increasingly Muslim in the wake of Christian complicity in the genocide there. Of concern is the Saudi Wahhabi influence.

THE GUY WHO did the music in that Volkswagen commercial.

I HAVEN'T SEEN ANY press coverage of this week-old Los Angeles hate crime of a beating by Middle Easterners chanting "Kill the Jews!" Not even in the LA Examiner. What's up with that? (via Facts of Israel)

READER MAIL:

Max,

C'mon, you've been around government long enough to know why the sales tax is needed.
If No. VA is anything like CA, and it surely was in the mid-70's when I lived in Metro DC, a substantial portion of the gas tax is diverted to underwrite various government enabled transportation systems. ie: the vaunted but sucks Metro and all of the commuter bus services serving the government worker commuters at a loss as well as the "don't have an evil car" crowd who are more than happy to suck off the over-taxed vehicle owner.

I think the VA motorist would be more than satisfied if all the state's gas taxes, motor vehicle use taxes, license fees etc. were only spent on VA's highways and roads.

Actually, a big chunk of the sales tax is going to the Metro, so that's not a reason not to prefer a gas tax. (I wasn't around for the mid-70s edition of the Metro, but the current model does a pretty good job of keeping cars off the road and reducing congestion, and could do an even better job with some more money: for example, I would take the Metro if they expanded the six-car Orange-line trains to eight cars, and I didn't feel like a sardine in the morning.)

A gas tax, unlike a sales tax, would encourage use of public transportation and carpooling (as well as more fuel-efficient cars, which would reduce DC smog); therefore, government would need to raise less money to solve the transportation problems in the area.

APPLE COMPUTER OPENED its first store in Houston at 10:00 AM Saturday, and by 10:08, the TeraBlogger was already blogging how underwhelmed he was. They clearly need training from the folks in the Minneapolis branch.