Blog Heap of Links for the day 15 August 2011

it's tempting to be immodest when your admirers are so immodest about you. How many times have we heard it said that Mr. Obama is the smartest president ever? Even when he's criticized, his failures are usually chalked up to his supposed brilliance. Liberals say he's too cerebral for the Beltway rough-and-tumble; conservatives often seem to think his blunders, foreign and domestic, are all part of a cunning scheme to turn the U.S. into a combination of Finland, Cuba and Saudi Arabia. I don't buy it. I just think the president isn't very bright. ... He makes predictions that prove false. He makes promises he cannot honor. He raises expectations he cannot meet. He reneges on commitments made in private. He surrenders positions staked in public. He is absent from issues in which he has a duty to be involved. He is overbearing when he ought to be absent. ... politically inept habit of suggesting—whether the issue is health care, or Arab-Israeli peace, or change we can believe in at some point in God's good time—that the fault always lies in the failure of his audiences to listen attentively... [h/t rdbrewer at Ace of Spades]

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked 66 years ago. 30 years ago Paul Fussell wrote this important essay, 'Thank God for the Atom Bomb'. 21 year old 2nd Lt. Fussell commanded infantry in WWII France. Later, he had to sit around waiting to invade Japan and die. That was the general expectation of the vets of the European theater - they didn't think they'd survive Japan. Then Aug 6th happened.

...confused? Don't worry. You're not alone. Most people are confused when they first hear about SlutWalk -- and they generally remain confused even after it's explained to them. In fact, by my reckoning, even the participants are confused. ... I'll try to unravel the mysteries of SlutWalk for you here. But there is simply too much to say, too much to deconstruct. Entire books could be written on the subject; PhD theses; symposia. (Trust me, people are working on them as we speak). ...

A 40-year-old Seminole County man arrested for allegedly attaching an improvised explosive device to a natural gas pipeline in Oklahoma... Daniel Wells Herriman of Konowa...

what is being called an "animal hoarding" case involving a reported Washington County SPCA employee... total of 81 dogs and cats were seized.... "a lack of clean ingestible water in the recent 100-plus degree temperatures...." "unbearable odor of 'dead animals', urine and feces..."

After confirming the baby was not in the car, the officer tried taking [his] information and learned he did not have a license. The officer then arrested [him] after dispatch informed him [his]license had been revoked in Oklahoma. The officer then impounding the vehicle opened the trunk and immediately smelled the odor of marijuana. In the trunk he found four trash bags.... slightly more than 3.8 pounds.... two notebooks bearing apparent delivery lists of different amount of marijuana, and $1,803 in cash. [Real coo', dood. Not like you're gonna have any friends after that one!]

A historic Ford Tri-Motor will make a stop at the Bartlesville Airport on September 15 — 18. ...played a major role in the development of safe and reliable air transportation in the United States.... manufactured on August 21, 1929....