I’ve elaborated a bit more on the European Parliament’s putting the smack down on those in the E.U. who are shamelessly attempting to lift the arms embargo on China and, in particular, the interesting role played by German foreign minister Joschka Fischer, in this week’s Weekly Standard.

With regard to the “Carpe Noctum” item, my apologies for the misspelling, which was taken directly from the Washington Post. I should have known better since, on the contrary Cranky Yankee, I took two years of Latin in high school!

Mea culpa, mea culpa.

Galley Friend M.R. sends along a link to Kung Fu Monkey, a blog run by screenwriter John Rogers. This post on screenwriting jargon is priceless. Find out what a “Bono” or a “Gilligan cut” are. For example:

“a Van Dyke”: leaving a scene, usually a party scene, early and then starting the next scene with a phone conversation which elaborates and expands the previous scene while also introducing new information. A nice bit of shorthand.

From, of course, the Dick Van Dyke show. You’d leave the party scene at the point of, say, Laura downing her third drink and Rob realizing she was out of control. You’d then come back to Rob on the phone the next day, talking to Buddy: “Yes. Yes, all of them. And a pony! What? The producer I’m trying to impress was there? Why didn’t you tell me!”

Don’t miss it.

Patterico has a convincing post on why federal courts should have granted the Schiavo injunction. It’s yet another blow to the faux legal-process-über-alles types in the Reynolds camp.

Patterico also has links to original documents from the case and some interesting excerpts. Particularly interesting is testimony from Michael Schiavo during his malpractice suit:

Page 17:

9 Tell the jury what’s going on now.

10 A. Right here, basically, you can see she’s dressed,

11 she’s already had her shower and everything. We would get

12 her dressed, put her shoes and socks on. I’m trying out her

13 hands there. You have to keep the inside of the hands,

14 since she’s contracted, you have to keep them dry because

15 infection can set in, and I usually do a little bit of range

16 of motion with her.

17 Q. And while you’re doing that, do you talk to her?

18 A. Yes, I am talking to her right now telling her

19 it’s okay.

20 Q. She doesn’t like that very much?

21 A. No, she doesn’t. She does feel pain.

Page 23:

8 Q. Does she express discomfort when some of these

9 things are happening to her?

10 A. Yes. Yes, she does.

11 Q. How does she do that?

12 A. She’ll moan and groan.

Then there’s this:

Pages 26-28:

16 Q. Michael, have you started to go to nursing school?

17 A. Yes, I did.

18 Q. Where did you go to nursing school?

19 A. I’m going – I’m attending St. Pete Junior

20 College.

21 Q. When did you start?

22 A. Approximately a year ago.

23 Q. When do you hope to finish?

24 A. We’re looking at something like 1994.

25 Q. Why did you want to learn to be a nurse?

___
27

1 A. Because I enjoy it and I want to learn more how

2 to take care of Terry.

3 Q. You’re a young man. Your life is ahead of you.

4 Your future is beyond you. Up the road, when you look up

5 the road, what do you see for yourself?

6 A. I see myself hopefully finishing school and taking

7 care of my wife.

8 Q. Where do you want to take care of your wife?

9 A. I want to bring my wife home.

10 Q. If you had the resources available to you, if you

11 had the equipment and the people, would you do that?

12 A. Yes, I would, in a heartbeat.

13 Q. How do you feel about being married to Terry now?

14 A. I feel wonderful. She’s my life and I wouldn’t

15 trade her for the world. I believe in my – I believe in my

16 wedding vows.

17 Q. What do you mean? You want to take a minute?

18 A. Yeah.

19 MR. WOODWORTH: If the Court would let us take a

20 minute.

21 Q. (BY MR. WOODWORTH:) You okay?

22 A. Yeah. I’m sorry.

23 Q. Have – you said you believe in your wedding vows,

24 what do you mean by that?

25 A. I believe in the vows that I took with my wife,

___
28

1 through sickness, in health, for richer or poorer. I

2 married my wife because I love her and I want to spend the

3 rest of my life with her. I’m going to do that.

That, of course, was before he remembered Terri’s long-standing and unequivocal wish to be killed.

Glenn Reynolds, Andrew Sullivan, and the rest are lucky no one’s paying attention to this anymore. We’re lucky that Patterico is still on the case.

How good is Matt Labash? Check that–how great is Matt Labash. Yes, he’s a friend, but get a load of this line from his A+ hang-out with Ward Churchill:

Having headed the Colorado chapter of the American Indian Movement (AIM) for several decades, having boasted of his affiliation with the Black Panthers and his days teaching bomb-making to the Weathermen, he’s more than just an angry professor. He’s a nostalgia ride at the Aging Radical Theme Park. Pay ten bucks, and it’s like watching your parents’ college yearbooks transubstantiated into flesh and blood.

He gets better from there.

It’s not often we get to heap praise on European bureaucratic institutions but the European Parliament well-deserves it–at least this week. Yesterday the EP passed a resolution by a whopping 431 to 85 opposing the European Union’s attempts to lift the weapons ban on China. The resolution sought to link a lifting of the embargo to a list of demands including human rights reforms–demands they know full well China will never agree to meet. Even more stunning is a line in the resolution describing Taiwan as “a model of democracy for the whole of China.”

In this past Wednesday’s Washington Post, Steve Fainaru had a terrific piece about a platoon known as The Violators in Iraq. They’re the type of guys who make sure it’s the terrorists who don’t sleep at night. Fainaru opens his story with the platoon ambushing the insurgents:

From inside a vacant building, Sgt. 1st Class Domingo Ruiz watched through a rifle scope as three cars stopped on the other side of the road. A man carrying a machine gun got out and began to transfer weapons into the trunk of one of the cars.

The sniper fired his powerful M-14 rifle and the man’s head exploded, several American soldiers recalled. As he fell, more soldiers opened fire, killing at least one other insurgent. After the ambush, the Americans scooped up a piece of skull and took it back to their base as evidence of the successful mission.

The Violators’ insignia is a skull with blood dripping out of its mouth. (As Bart Simpson would say, “Cooooooool.”)

Yes, it’s my fault. I’ve been making uncharitable comments about Andrew Sullivan’s abandoned promise to stop blogging. Now he has responded:

A few of you have had the temerity, the chutzpah, the salty chocolate balls, to ask if I’ve given up on my decision to drastically reduce my blogging commitments. Er, well, the thing is . . . Actually, I have. In deference to my relationship (and my sanity), I’m not blogging in the early hours any more. I’m spooning.

Yup, my bad. Sorry guys.

[Hold up–how does the sleep-apnea mask fit into the spooning picture? -ed I won’t dignify that with a response.]

Donkey Rising carries post on Red vs. Blue corporations, the idea being that “The beauty of selective patronage and boycotts is that it is a way that rank and file Dems can get involved in supporting their party on a daily basis and their success does not depend in any way on politicians. Reducing a company’s profits by even 1 percent can start stockholders howling for reform.”

Here’s the problem: One of “Ten Bluest Corporations” in America is . . . News Corp!?!

But wait! How can that be? Rupert Murdoch . . . Roger Ailes . . . Karl Rove . . . Ken Lay . . . Halliburton . . . Bush . . . evil? Right? No, wait, arrgghhhh!

Wouldn’t it be fun to have a Daily Kos thread devoted to untangling this Gödel-like incompleteness problem?