So Mohammed Atta dies and goes to Paradise, and he is met at the gates by The Prophet, and escorted into a luxurious palace room filled with dates and honey and other delicacies.

Seated around the room are Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Mason, George & Martha Washington, Lighthorse Harry Lee, his son Robert E. Lee,Ann Carter Lee, George Pickett, Thomas Jonathan Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, and scores of other great Americans.

Mohammed Atta looks bewildered, and the Prophet taps him on the arm, and says:

"I said Virginians".

I'm going to hell now for sure...

Last night I watched part of HBO's Generation Kill, a dramatized version of Evan Wright's book of the same name.  I remain impressed.  Part 2 picked up with the immediate aftermath of the invasion, and the run up route 7 through the fire fights in Nasiriyah.

The Maryland Public Service Commission is notorious for its fundamental inability to effectively regulate the energy business in Maryland.  And O'Guvnah O'Malley's inability to move beyond Progressive/Fascist mandates -- like compulsory subsidies for the sales of compact fluorescent bulbs -- is legion.

Government is lousy at picking winners and losers.  And the insistence that we all throw our incandescent bulbs in favor of mercury-laden CFLs is just another perfect example.  Why?  Because private industry is working hard to create another alternative:  LED-based light bulbs.

Sheila Pratt Dixon has named new leadership for BACVA and the Convention Center.  She has essentially merged the boards, and renamed the new board the Baltimore Convention and Tourism Board.

And, in a move that is completely indescribable and totally amazing, she has named Baltimore banker Ed Hale, Chairman of 1st Mariner Bank, to head the new board.

The Baltimore Business Journal is reporting thatboth Wachovia and Bank of America are now under fire for their handling of auction-rate securities.  Wachovia is being investigated, while Bank of America is facing a sizeable lawsuit alleging that Bank of America misled investors over the nature of the securities.

As usual, the drive-by media has totally missed a statement by Barack Obama that should worry many. Luckily, Powerline has picked up on it.  In a speech on July 2, Barack Obama stated:

We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.

Wow.  A civilian national security force that is just as "powerful" and just as "strong" and just as "well-funded".

Not long ago, the New York Times, the nation's most left-leaning and anti-American daily newspaper, wa outraged over the release of the name of a nominal CIA agent.  They demanded an investigation, hearings, judges, lawyers, and a perp walk for the perpetrator.  Of course, when it came to light that it was Richard Armitage that actually released the name, they backed way off that demand.  No, only the man whose recollection different from that of reporters -- Scooter Libby -- saw his name and reputation destroyed in a McCarthyite witch-hunt of questionable legality and import.

Fast forward to 2008, when the New York Times deliberately and with malice aforethought performs another "Armitage" -- this time releasing the name of an actual CIA agent who performed the interrogations of the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- and all we see is what ratfucking, worthless "journalists" the New York Times really employ.

Over at Human Events, Chuck Norris tries to deliver a roundhouse that wildly misses its mark. Arguing that we can improve government by drastically shrinking the House of Representatives to a single Representative per state, Chuck completely misses the cattle drive by ignoring how and why the "House of Representatives" is based on proportional representation-- and why his idea of moving to static representation would not help the country.

Michael Medved over at townhall.com makes a solid note about the Israeli/Hizbollah prisoner exchange this week, especially as it relates to Samir Kutar:

Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Rector has a touchy-feely article in the July 18th edition of the Calvert Street Communist Party Newsletter detailing how grief and remorse settled over a Baltimore County Courtroom in the case of Matthew David Miller, who pled guilty to one measly count of manslaughter in the hit-and-run murder of Kevin M. Ryan in October of 2007.