We told Walt there won’t be a cover charge at the RMBB, but he went and started a blog, anyway.

The things some people will do for a drink. Sheesh.

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Brink Lindsey is with me — he can’t figure out “which side is more infuriating.” Always knew that guy was smart.

Go read his post. Oh, and buy his book, too.

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Drudge says someone is getting ready to leave the Supreme Court.

What, with this pressing Pledge issue at hand?

Seriously, though — anyone want to place bets on who is retiring? Just leave a little comment.

UPDATE: I can’t find any bookies on the web taking bets on this. Anyone want to help?

FURTHER UPDATE: Laurence Simon has the betting line.

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Read this at least once. I’m going to bed.

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The sky is falling! I mean, the dollar! Yes, the dollar is falling!

Yeah, the dollar is weak — almost one to one against the euro, and likely to slide further.

Good.

Yeah, a weak dollar is going to make that new cute little VW Passat more expensive. But it’s also going to make Fords a lot cheaper in France. And, believe me, France buys more Fords than we buy Citroens or Peugots.

So, exports go up, imports go down, Ross Perot gets his tiny little sheets sticky.

What it really means is that companies who exports their goods, will be able to export a lot more of them. And that means bigger (or at least real and maybe honest) corporate profits. Which means more jobs, and more wealth, which restores confidence and brings the dollar back up where it belongs.

Oh, sure, a real implosion could lead to serious trouble. We’ll certainly be paying more for oil, since its price is measured around the world in greenbacks. Lots of stuff at Sears or Wal-Mart will be more expensive for a while. But increasing exports while doing a little belt-tightening at home isn’t such a bad cure for what ails us — assuming Wall Street gets its accounting practices straightened out.

Let me leave you now with a few words of comfort. If the dollar slips an astounding 10 or 15 more cents against the euro, it’ll be back where it started when the euro was born three years ago.

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Now we’re in trouble — our good Saudi friends are strengthening ties with our staunch French allies.

Saudi Arabia and France yesterday signed a landmark agreement to promote and protect investments. “The agreement provides the legal guarantees required by investors,” Finance and National Economy Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf told reporters after signing the accord with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.

Does this mean that if we stop buying Saudi oil, then the French will cede us Marseille?

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Fouad Ajami argues forcefully that, with our new policy, Palestine finally

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Bill Safire had an extra day or two before his deadline forced him to write something about our new Mideast policy

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Guess what you can now find over at Sekimori

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A Holocaust survivor presents a short history of European anti-Semitism.

Oh, wait

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Even if the entire world consisted of nothing but like-minded evangelical Christians, this world would not be a Utopia. Not even to all those billions of like-minded evangelical Christians. Jews have had to hang together (lest they hang separately) for 2,000 years now — and yet there’s an old joke that goes like this:

Q: What do you get when you put ten Jews in a room together?

A: Eleven opinions.

Human beings are often irrational and rarely consistent. We slaughter one another over historical trivia, we annoy each other by whistling bad melodies for no good reason, and we

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Hang in there, kids. Just got back from tonight’s scuba lesson, so I’m a bit tired, slightly waterlogged, and too damn ecstatic (I love scuba) to suffer fools gladly.

So I’m working on a little something. Come back in just a few.

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Finally, a holiday for the rest of us.

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The joys of plastic body panels, presented by Kevin’s Large American Penis.

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I can’t believe I didn’t catch this one until now — why didn’t somebody tell me?

Slate‘s Will Saleten doesn’t have much use for the Administration’s new Palestine policy.

Is he afraid it gives too much to those who sponsored the Passover Seder Massacre? Don’t be silly.

Does he not approve of Bush’s insistence that Israel eventually move out of Palestinian lands? Nope, no problem there.

Might Saleten think that demanding a halt to new Jewish settlements on the West Bank is too rash? Uh-uh.

Well then, maybe he’s against providing money and advisors to a fledgling state? Noooope, not a peep on that.

Will Saleten doesn’t like Bush’s new policy because he thinks it doesn’t give enough away to the barbarians waging war against women and children. Read:

This afternoon, President Bush outlined his long-awaited plan for resolving the Middle East conflict. He gratified Israelis and dismayed Palestinians by demanding, as a condition of Palestinian statehood, a complete overhaul of the Palestinian leadership. But that’s just the most obvious caveat in Bush’s proposal. The raw deal for Palestinians isn’t the hoops they’ll have to jump through to get their prize. It’s the dubiousness of the prize.

Saleten thinks Palestinians deserve a full nation-state, right now, with all the rights and none of the responsibilities that implies. Saleten thinks that terrorists should be rewarded for terrorism, that Arafat is a fine choice for leadership, and that Israel’s nearly undefendable 1967 borders are as dandy as all get out.

Will Saleten thinks we’re idiots.

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It would have been cooler with a blouse-ripping catfight.

Frankly, I hope they both choke.

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A.C. Douglas has a new look. And it is Good.

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Islam — marching steadily forward into the 19th Century, since 2002.

Eric Olsen has the details.

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The problem with democracy is figuring out how to keep The People from picking the wrong guy.

In the US, the safety valve is the Electoral College. If, in a race between Hitler and Santa Claus, The People choose Hitler. . .well, there’s nothing really preventing the Electoral College from electing Santa, instead.

That said, fear not the not-quite-as-yet-scheduled Palestinian election. Certain, hidden powers-that-be, both within and without the PA, will make sure The People don’t choose Arafat.

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Creatical Flunky Helen Hart (I say that with love, Helen) has all kinds of goodies ready for us Saturday.

Helen writes:

I’ve got signs, name tags, and I’m going to print up a little info sheet for people with: the cost of pool ($18/hr, if you can believe that), the email address to send photos, the URL to look for the photos, the URL to buy t-shirts (I was gonna do a cafepress.com “I survived the RMBB” t-shirt), and Wynkoop’s accepted methods of payment. Any other ideas of what I should include?

Well, kids — did Helen miss anything?

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Just yesterday I wrote about some of the nice things I’ll always miss about San Francisco.

This ain’t one of’em.

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Coming to the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash this Saturday? Good.

Now, when you get to Wynkoop Brewing Company, c’mon upstairs to the pool room. That’s where we’ll be. And easy to spot, too. Just look for the loud group of people, each one obviously still a bit confused about who all the other strange folks are.

Oh, and there’s a dress code. Pants must remain in the upright and locked position until at least the sixth cocktail.

OK, fourth.

Just in case, here’s a map.

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Asia Times looks at the budding not-quite-alliance between India and Israel. It’s a subject the blogosphere covered months ago, but never quite from this angle.

The losers in the new friendship? The Palestinians, of course. Worthwhile reading.

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It took too damn long — but hopefully not too late. Here’s the story about how Bush changed his mind about Arafat.

President Bush concluded that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must be removed from power after receiving Israeli intelligence that Arafat authorized a $20,000 payment to a group tied to one of last week’s suicide bombings in Israel, senior administration officials said yesterday.

The first sixty times it happened weren’t convincing enough?

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Eric Raymond has a very big announcement — he’s angling for Steven Den Beste’s job.

I’ll make it official. I *am* in fact, consciously making a run at
the position Steve Den Beste (hereinafter “the Captain” to cope with
the Steve aliasing problem) currently holds as most-linked-to serious
essay blogger. I have shot from Insignificant Insect to the upper
reaches of Adorable Rodent in three weeks, so I’m gaining on ‘im fast.

I have chosen this goal precisely because I deeply admire the
Captain’s clarity of thought and writing, even when I disagree
with him. This “competition” requires me to do my best, which
is the real point. I have copied the Captain on this note,
figuring that either (a) he’ll ignore me, or (b) we will begin a writing-quality arms-race that will benefit everyone.

Of course, neither Eric nor the Captain have posted since I got this email — so pull up a chair and get comfy. This could take a while.

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Aussie-by-marriage James Morrow has found an international sport ready to take off in the US: Cricket.

That’s right, cricket.

He’s mostly kidding, but if he can make this Yank understand the game, then maybe he’s onto something.

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While working out how to best boycott Western goods featuring a Star of David, our Saudi pals are also trying to improve trade with another sort of nation.

Specifically, with Iraq.

Imagine a free trade zone between our terror-supporting allies in Riyadh, and our terror-supporting enemies in Baghdad.

The Kingdom is studying prospects of concluding a free-trade zone agreement with Baghdad, according to a high-level Saudi source.

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