James Lileks, writing in Newhouse hits a home run. It begins thus:

Now that John Bolton has been installed as United Nations ambassador -- by the time-honored recess appointment or the power-crazed overreach of King Emperor Bush Fuhrer, depending on your point of view -- one can only wonder how he'll do. Here's a hypothetical workday. (Note that he's made it out of Washington without some senators throwing themselves on the train tracks to keep him from leaving. Or, rather, having aides throw themselves on the tracks. Make that interns. Aides might say things under anesthesia.) Anyway. The limo pulls up to the glistening U.N. building at 7:59 a.m.

Go to the site. The chuckle is well worth it.

The U.S. TV network ABC has been barred from Russian Government events due to what the Russians see as biased reporting of the Chechen conflict. Radio Liberty is in the Russian crosshairs as well.

"It's also worth nothing that in Moscow attention has been paid to the fact that the interview with the terrorist was conducted by A. Babitsky, a Radio Liberty staffer, in violation of the Russian law, without a corresponding accreditation," the ministry said. "Circumstances of organizing and receiving this interview are yet to be cleared with his employer."

Reporting has consequences. Mainstream media reporters have become spoiled, high-handed, thin-skinned bullies who insist on knowing everything about everybody, but when the spotlight shifts to them, scream bloody murder about First Amendment rights and generally start acting like every other group who has some power and will do anything to keep that power. That's why reporters hate bloggers.

Israel moves forward with plans to remove Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.

The rally and today's planned march to the Gaza settlements is the latest in the increasingly desperate effort to stop Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to start evicting all of Gaza's 8,500 settlers in two weeks if they have not left voluntarily by then.

I wonder if after the the Jewish settlers are tossed out of their homes, will they invoke a "Right to Return?"

More doublespeak? President Bush wants both the scientific theory of evolution and the tribal mythology of intelligent design taught in schools.

President George W. Bush stirred the debate on the teaching of evolution in schools when he said this week that he supported the teaching of alternative viewpoints - such as the theory of Intelligent Design - to help students "understand what the debate is about".

Now, if it were limited to that, I wouldn't have too much of an objection. If ID v. Evolution was noted in a current Events class or something like that, I'd think that would be OK. But I have a serious problem with Intelligent Design being taught in a science class.

Once again, here's the test of a scientific theory: how well does it explain observed phenomena. Note that it is not necessary for a theory to explain all observed phenomena, just that it explains more phenomena, better than any competing theory. As far as I can tell, Intelligent Design doesn't explain any observed phenomena. (Saying "A Creator Is Required" isn't scientific proof, it's religion. Correctly understood, science does not attempt to explain why the universe is here, it observes that it is here and tries to figure out how it works.)

The burden of proof is on the creationists to offer scientific arguments that Intelligent Design is superior, not the philosophical arguments which reside on various Intelligent Design web pages. Saying that Theory X is bad is not sufficient to promote Theory Y.

Apologias work in religion and in philosophy, but they are not sufficient or even appropriate scientific evidence.

Jean Schmidt defeats Marine Paul Hackett 52-48% in heavily Republican Cincinnati Congressional district special election. Hackett ran a race including an ad which featured President Bush and did not mention his party affiliation--not behavior I'd expect from a Marine, based on the Marines I know.

Still, Democrat partisans claim victory. Hm. Defeat is Victory. Seems to me I've heard something like that before. War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength. Yep.

File under Jackson County/Kansas City Governmental Incompetence (a rather fat file). The contract for excavating the hole for Kansas City's Sprint Center arena gets zero responses from contractors.

“There were 17 pre-qualification paragraphs we had to comply with, including listing all the projects we’ve been involved with in the past five years in which there have been contract changes,” (contractor project manager Chip) Zuck said.

“We’ve done 800 in the last five years. That would have taken our office two weeks to prepare for just one of the 17 requirements.”

Leon Rieke, president of Max Rieke & Brothers, said his firm declined to bid because the deal was unappealing on many levels.

“The way the plans and specifications were drawn up, it was not in my financial benefit to be at the job,” he said.

Somebody in Kansas City government needs to be fired. And I'm not talking about they guys in the engineering office trying to do their jobs. I'm talking about senior managers and the politicians above them who insist on micromanaging through the contracting process. There is no way this arena will be built for the $250 million figure they've tossed out. Mark my words--this project is headed for disaster. An arena will be built, but it will disappoint everyone involved unless something changes radically and quickly.

Shuttle repair spacewalk is successful.

Miami Herald says it's time to retire the Shuttle.

Discovery's current flight is the 114th of the shuttle program, which launched its first flight in 1981. That's an average of fewer than five flights a year for a program that, when first proposed, was said by NASA to be capable of 60 missions a year. Despite the heartbreaking Challenger and Columbia accidents, the overall record is one of undoubted success. But now that the fleet has been grounded while a shuttle is still in space, it's time to face reality.

I agree. NASA has been derelict in not developing a follow-on vehicle for the 1970's vintage Space Transportation System.

Faces from the Front journalist goes back to where the action is. Good luck to him. His site has some excellent first-hand observations of what it's really like in Iraq. Highly recommended.

Sergeant Dale L. Horn helps locals protect villages, get fresh water, is rewarded with five sheep, a bit of land, and is asked to take a local girl as a second wife.

Sheiks, or village elders, are known as the real power in rural Iraq. And the 5-foot-6-inch Floridian's ascension to the esteemed position came through humor and the military's need to clamp down on rocket attacks.

But, but, but . . . we're losing the war, it's a quagmire, the Iraqis hate us! I know it's true 'cause the Dems and the mainstream media say so, and they'd never ever lie, would they?

Iran continues to play with nuclear fire. And, they persist in North Korea-esque blackmailing of the civilized world. "Give us what we want or we'll continue our nuclear program. Of course, we'll continue our nuclear program anyway . . . "

The conversion process that Iran has said it is seeking to restart would convert uranium into UF-6 gas, which can be enriched to make fuel for generating electricity. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Iran has signed, permits it for that purpose -- but the gas can also be used to create highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

Is this going to end with the Iranian Isfanhan nuclear site suddenly becoming a smoking hole?