Medary.com

Sometimes, it takes a Mark Steyn to say what needs to be said.

The DNC's Bush-is-the-reason-your-kid-is-fat press release is a convenient precis of the party's problem: While he runs rings around them, the Dems lounge about getting flabbier by the week and telling themselves it's all his fault they can barely move except to complain about Bush's Supreme Court nominee's kid being overly cute. What's the betting for 2006? The Dems will have a few more "nearly the biggest political upsets," while the Republicans will have the actual political upsets -- a couple more Senate seats? Including Robert C. Byrd's venerable perch in West Virginia?

At this point, I'm almost desperate for a rational and reasoned voice to emerge from the left. I assume that this is possible, but current evidence does not seem to support that assumption.

The Whip may for the next couple of days be a bit tardy and/or skimpy, as we're entertaining company here at the Palatial Abode.

#10: NCAA bans "offensive" nicknames from post-season
#9: A's 5, Royals 4
#8: The National. Football. League. begins pre-season play
#7: Blog Taxonomies
#6: Shuttle undocks from space station
#5: Lawyer accused of Internet soliciting of minor is charged again
#4: Job growth "unexpectedly strong"
#3: Blair gets tough on terror
#2: Operation Quick Strike
#1: Russian submarine update

Florida State to challenge ban.

Starting in February, any school with a nickname or logo considered racially or ethnically "hostile" or "abusive" by the NCAA would be prohibited from using them in postseason events. Mascots will not be allowed to perform at tournament games, and band members and cheerleaders will also be barred from using American Indians on their uniforms beginning in 2008.

The University of North Dakota ("Fighting Sioux") has a problem:

Ralph Engelstad Arena, on the UND campus, will be the host site for the NCAA's West Regional men's hockey tournament in March. The $100 million facility, built as a shrine to UND hockey, has more than4,500 Indian-head logos and references to the nickname.

Are You Ready For. . . well, you know.

The NFL's series of international games began in 1986 in response to growing interest in American football around the world. Since then, 39 games have been played in 12 cities outside the United States. Tokyo has hosted 13 American Bowl games.

Kansas City begins home stand the same way they played their entire road trip--with a loss.

"There are reasons you win and reasons you lose," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "Tonight, the reason we lost was because we couldn't throw strikes."

Royals need to go 43-10 to finish .500, 25-28 to avoid 100 losses, 1-52 to avoid losing all of their remaining games.

Point: leftie blog Fables of the Reconstruction offers a taxonomy of right-wing blogs:

Calling Glenn Reynolds intellectually lazy would be to praise him. He doesn't write, he grunts. Has gained prominence by posting a lot and never making his audience think; has done those things by never thinking too much himself. Never met a Democrat he couldn't casually accuse of treason.

Heh. Indeed.

In retaliation, Right Wing Nut House offers a Moonbat taxonomy. He offers this explanatory comment:

I discovered that the more forcefully the denizens of these sites bragged about being a member of the “Reality Based Community” the farther they actually were from existing on the same plane of the universe as the rest of us. Some maintain a passing familiarity with reality – as if reality were like walking past a beautiful woman and getting a tantalizing whiff of an exotic perfume. Others have had reality slap them upside the head and still deny the evidence of it with their own eyes and ears.

For a view into the leftie-righie food fight, both articles are highly recommended.

The shuttle is packed up and ready to return to Earth.

Discovery's seven astronauts spent a day longer than originally planned aboard the station to bring over additional supplies -- such as paper, laptop computers and surplus food and batteries. Discovery is the first shuttle to visit the station since 2002.

The U.S. economy keeps chugging along.

The pickup in job growth last month pushed this year's average monthly payroll gain to 191,000, a pace economists see as strong enough to slowly tighten the labor market.

Jan Helder was charged in state court after being acquitted by a Federal judge for Internet enticement of a law enforcement officer posing as a minor.

Helder is expected to surrender to Platte County authorities. His bond was set at $7,500, with a stipulation that he have no access to the Internet. If convicted, the maximum sentence in Missouri is seven years.

The rules of the game change in Britain.

In a significant shift away from the human rights policies championed by Labour since 1997, Mr Blair indicated that he was no longer prepared to allow Britain to be a haven for Muslim extremists whose presence in London has resulted in its being dubbed "Londonistan".

The balance of rights vs. security is difficult in the best of times. One of the truly despicable things about terrorism is that it causes good people to choose security over liberty. This is why terrorists must be mercilessly hunted down and destroyed--not excused, coddled, compared to regular armed forces or political opponents, or otherwise allowed any space in civilized society. Any cause that the terrorists claim to champion is irreparably stained by association. The analogy of terrorism to cancer is apt. It must be quickly excised, lest its foul effects spread throughout all of society.