Trying to get some internal glitches fixed before the holidays are over, including comments. For some reason the server's been hanging when I try to add new posts (if this one gets through that is one less glitch).

2006 has been some year. Instapundit has a great round up of reactions to and information about the execution of Saddam Hussein - just go over there and scroll down.

And MonkeyWatch has ... well, you know what MonkeyWatch has. It's always pretty interesting, and this week has been no exception.

More later - happy new year!

Posted by John Climacus at 02:47 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Rep. "Crazy" Jack Murtha crept into the limelight about a year ago and you have to wonder why. His cause was the war, but his reasoning for his cause was not entirely sensible.

Here is some background.

In 2001, Murtha announced the creation of Scialabba's nonprofit agency for the disabled in Johnstown, Pa. The next year, with Scialabba still on his staff, Murtha secured a half-million dollars for the group, the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals With Disabilities (PAID), and put another $150,000 in the pipeline for 2003, according to appropriations committee records and former committee aides. Since then, the group has helped hundreds of disabled people find work.

But the group serves another function as well. PAID has become a gathering point for defense contractors and lobbyists with business before Murtha's defense appropriations subcommittee, and for Pennsylvania businesses and universities that have thrived on federal money obtained by Murtha.

This should be interesting.

Posted by John Climacus at 01:45 | Permalink

[Funny thing: If I crop it like this she looks like a great dane.]

Posted by John Climacus at 12:38 | Permalink

Sorry, everyone: The comments are broken because we got hit with a MEGABLAST of comment spam and I fumbled the TypeKey authentication set up.

The comment spam was in the order of 50 an hour getting through MT's built-in filter.

Fixing it will be my "fun" project for the weekend, though the fun probably won't start until Sunday. Thanks, honestly, to all who have sent me e-mails.

In addition to making the blog workable again, I also have planned a long-overdue Andy Willoughby round-up and numerous posts that have nothing whatsoever to do with Islam. There is also some puppy news in the hopper, along with some choice rants about really bad service.

Do any of you for the hell of it go read the Gut Rumbles blog now and then? Acidman died in June but it is still one great blog just on the basis of the caretaker reposting all his old stuff. If I died today I would want this blog stricken from the record because I don't think I've even inched close to what Rob Smith had amassed in terms of pure, quality content. He's been dead for six months and he gets 10 times the traffic we get here.

Bravo, Acidman. Bravo.

Posted by John Climacus at 04:28 | Permalink

A preliminary study of the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms has found it is effective in relieving the symptoms of people suffering from severe obsessive compulsive disorder, a University of Arizona psychiatrist reports.

Dr. Francisco A. Moreno led the first FDA-approved clinical study of psilocybin since it was outlawed in 1970. The results of the small-scale study are published in the latest edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Moreno said the study's intent was only to test the safety of administering psilocybin to patients, and its effectiveness is still in doubt until a larger controlled study can be conducted.

But in each of the nine patients in the study, psilocybin completely removed symptoms of the disorder for a period of about four to 24 hours, with some remaining symptom-free for days, Moreno said.

"What we saw acutely was a drastic decrease in symptoms," Moreno said. "The obsessions would really dissolve or reduce drastically for a period of time."

Best known among the drug culture as magic mushrooms, the hallucinogenic fungus remains a popular illicit drug. Although banned by Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, research into medical uses is allowed.

The new research does not reflect any change in government policy, said Rogene Waite, a spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

All that being said: heh.

Posted by John Climacus at 02:14 | Permalink

There is a huge spam attack going on right now, comments and trackbacks. It's about 30 per hour, but sometimes more, so cleaning them out just takes a ridiculous amount of time. Therefore, I have to turn off comments until I get authentication working or the attacks stop. Maybe I'll also start blogging again. That would be nice.

Posted by John Climacus at 02:54 | Permalink

It's that time of year.

Posted by John Climacus at 02:31 | Permalink