Homocon

1. "This has been a long, love-hate relationship between myself and the French . . . to say that I've 'fooled' the fans is preposterous. I've been doing this a long time. We have not just one year of only 'B' samples; we have seven years of 'A' and 'B' samples. They've all been negative."

2. "Leading scientific journals have taken strong editorial positions of the side of global warming, which, I argue, they have no business doing. Under the circumstances, any scientist who has doubts understands clearly that they will be wise to mute their expression . . . so many of the outspoken critics of global warming are retired professors. These individuals are no longer seeking grants, and no longer have to face colleagues whose grant applications and career advancement may be jeopardized by their criticisms."

3. "Although the situation in Mosul is better, our troops still fight here every day. This may not be the war some folks had in mind a few years ago. But once the shooting starts, a plan is just a guess in a party dress."

4. "Men are more intelligent than women by about five IQ points on average, making them better suited for “tasks of high complexity”, according to the authors of a paper due to be published in the British Journal of Psychology."

5. "To be singled out for condemnation as a friend and ally of Israel is a singular honor. Congrats to those mentioned. For a writer, I can't think of a higher honor than to be blasted for defending longest established democracy in the Middle East, and a staunch friend of America."

6. ""Before any substantial commitment to defend India against China is given, we should recognize that in order to carry out that commitment against any substantial Chinese attack we would have to use nuclear weapons," (former Defense Secretary Robert) McNamara says."

7. "Ecuador oil protesters, whose attacks have shut down petroleum exports, struck a deal with energy companies on Thursday in which the firms will invest more in communities where they operate, protest leaders and the mediator of peace talks said."

8. "Economist Robert Fogel, winner of the Nobel Prize, recently told students at Cornell University that "half of you [may] live to celebrate your 100th birthday . . . Fogel's forecast reminds us that sooner or later Americans will have to work longer and retire later. It will become economically, politically and morally intolerable for government (aka taxpayers) to support people for a third or even half of their adult lives. Our present Social Security "debate" ought to start this inevitable transformation. But it isn't. We are in deep denial about the obvious . . . "

9. ". . . the battle for acceptance of homosexuality, for instance, was won by Will and Grace as much as by any court decision or hate-crimes bill. More generally, too, the reflexive lifestyle liberalism of highbrow movies and TV help ensure that among the educated classes, conservatism - and particularly social conservatism, and even more particularly religious conservatism - is regarded as declasse at best, despicable at worst."

10. "(I)ntelligent design and Darwinists have more in common than they think. In fact, not only Darwinism (or evolutionism, if you will), but the entire activity of science, depends on intelligent design. That is, it depends on the faith of the scientist that the order that he or she examines is in fact an order according to some form of design. Where that order derives from might be a matter of faith, but scientist and believer have this in common: their activity presupposes intelligent design. In other words, you just can’t believe people like Dawkins who argue that the universe is simply the result of randomness and chaos - scientific activity rejects that."

UPDATE:
This is a must read (it's hilarious to note that all supposed White House sources are anonymous): "Buy beleaguered, overworked White House aides enough drinks and they tell a sordid tale of an administration under siege, beset by bitter staff infighting and led by a man whose mood swings suggest paranoia bordering on schizophrenia."