We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

The Scratching Post is closed.  Thanks one and all for your interest.

Time to play, What's in my Browser? again.

This dialog attempts to explain scientifically the difference between political Liberal and Conservative thought.  Toward the end of the conversation, one of the interlocutors makes an off-hand comment about Jesus and then back-tracks, saying, "I'm afraid I'm not up on my Theology," but if he had read the Gospels he would conclude that as a serial breaker of purity taboos Jesus must be a Liberal.  Expect mass conversions to Islam if word of this gets out.

Whatever happened to Babylonian paganism?  Not a day goes by I haven't asked myself the same question.  [Warning: long]

The Weekly Standard argues that Russia is bluffing.  I'm reminded of a cover story in The Atlantic a few years back, "Russia is Finished."  It's puzzling to see so many Westerners praising (often through clenched teeth) Putin's supposed brilliance.  Really, if crushing domestic opposition and dabbling in foreign adventurism were difficult, why would it be the Modus Operandi of every potentate since the days of Nimrod?

It's begun

Expect no updates from the Scratching Post until the storm blows over and power is restored, if necessary.

The Scratching Post recommends that CGL advertise the forthcoming Jihad Secrets on Ann Coulter's website; it'll sell half a million copies before anyone realizes it's a game.  It was probably a good idea to keep this book secret from us, otherwise we might have passed on the prior Jihad books.  (I'm just the sort to pass on reading Brothers Karamazov in serial publication in favor of waiting for the hard-bound edition--if I'd lived in 19th Century Moskow.)  It would be an interesting exercise to re-read the older books in light of the new, but rather than devote the time I'll simply read this new book cover-to-cover and then shelve it.  [It will be a relief to at last have a Jihad book that can be read cover-to-cover.]