Major General Rick Lynch thinks that running a blooper reel helps the cause: Outtakes show al-Zarqawi as poor gunman.

Yo, Rick, if al-Zarqawi is such a loser, why haven’t you caught him? Did he just “accidentally” kill dozens of our troops? Who thought showing your enemy as an incompetent would improve your ratings?

General, al-Zarqawi may be a klutz, but he’s apparently smarter than you are.

The latest CNN “QuickVote”: Would it be a problem for you to be the world’s richest person?

There would be one major problem: I don’t have the money.

If George Soros or Warren Buffett would like to adopt me, I could probably adjust.

I had comments rejected at both NTodd’s and Michael’s the other night, they rejected my blog address. Both are connected to TypePad.

Apparently Blue Security, an anti-spam company, was undergoing a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, and to deflect part of the attack they transferred some of the incoming requests to their blog at Six Apart, knocking out that company’s TypePad and LiveJournal services.

This is one of the main reasons to find a tech savvy host that keeps their software updated, and to keep your software updated. A DDoS attack is made possible by people leaving their systems vulnerable. The person initiating the attack uses machines that were compromised at an earlier date. Your computer may be part of the attack and you wouldn’t notice.

I actually felt sorry for the survey taker at the other end of the telephone:

Could I speak to the lady of the house?

The only ladies in the house are cats.

Could I speak to the man of the house?

Speaking.

-Hollywood is terrible and not “family friendly” and putting pornography on television, don’t you think?

I wouldn’t know, I don’t watch television and haven’t for over a decade.

Movies are all about obscenity…

I don’t go to movies either.

How about the danger to your children and grandchildren?

Sorry, life-long bachelor.

The Dove Foundation survey is on-line.

I was nice, I didn’t get into how nothing is located in Hollywood anymore, and most of the production in North America takes place in Canada. I didn’t talk about the centers in Orlando, Atlanta, and Tokyo. I didn’t ask her why the Dove Foundation wasn’t doing something important, rather than carping about TV and movies.

She did give up, and I didn’t have to endure the entire spiel.

CNN has a poll on the Moussaoui sentence with 64% agreeing with the jury.

The BBC explored the sentencing with Jonathan Turley, professor at the George Washington University Law School, and Frank Gaffney, the Founder and President of the Center for Security Policy.

Mr. Gaffney complained that the death penalty in this case would have acted as a deterrent to the terrorists.

I would suggest that the death penalty would have had absolutely no effect on the 19 men who chose to fly aircraft into buildings on 9/11. Exactly what part of the role of “suicide bomber” does Mr. Gaffney fail to understand?

Okay, so people don’t get it. Academia is not a nice place: it is survival of the fittest and filled with some really talented street fighters.

For those of you who have never ventured into the battle zone of a faculty office building, I can assure you that “peer review” is not much different than climbing into a cage with rabid pit bulls. Resources and positions are limited, egos are huge, and no quarter is asked or given. Wit is the weapon and words are the ammunition, but the destruction is real. When you challenge someone at the top of the food chain, you had better have your facts squared away and your logic honed to a razor’s edge or you will be another pathetic stain on the carpet in the faculty lounge.

Fools who wander into the fighting pit of academic challenges and call out a heavy hitter like Juan Cole are not on the fast track of evolution.

Professor Cole’s dismemberment of Jonah Goldberg was properly immortalized by James Wolcott.

Then John Fund decided he would attempt to block a job offer to Professor Cole, in a move that could end up in court, as Mr. Fund did not verify his facts.

And Christopher Hitchens has violated “netiquette” by posting edited comments from a private forum. Initially Cole offered Hitchens the excuse of inebriation, but a “friend” has said “His cups” was miraculously sober when he hacked the list.

Don’t attack an academic’s credibility and expect to walk away unbloodied. These attacks are the process by which academics gain their standing. They are required to defend themselves when they present papers for advancement. The people attacking are their “betters”, experts in the field. You must prevail to move up to the next level. What chance do dilettantes have against such veterans?