"One of the many penetrating insights of the late Eric Hoffer was that, for many people, an excuse is better than an achievement. That is because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future. But an excuse can last for life." [Thomas Sowell]

"New York Times reporter Frank Bruni will release his bio of Bush in early March and reports have the book portraying Bush as 'largely unaware of [popular] culture,' according to the New York Daily News. Bush has never heard of Leonardo DiCaprio or Stone Phillips. And he's clueless about HBO's hit series 'Sex and the City.'" Debbie Schlussel responds. For the record, I've not seen 'Sex in the City' either (don't even get HBO), and I wish I didn't know who Leonardo DiCaprio or Stone Phillips were.

No Wait, Happy "V-day." The world is becoming a very strange place.

My offering for Black History Month. Read "Up from Slavery," the autobiography of Booker T. Washington. You can certainly buy a copy, but the full text is available here (be warned, it is a big file). "Washington was the leading role model for two generations of American blacks, but these days he doesn't even get mentioned much in Black History Month, perhaps because his Christian values are not considered politically correct." [Marvin Olasky]

It's a great day not to have chosen Pediatrics as a specialty. "The American Academy of Pediatrics has embarrassed itself by wading into a controversy for which its members have no particular expertise at all." [Maggie Gallagher]

"I went to the menora [hanukkia], and there were about 40 or 50 Mormons there, yelling at me that if I took it down, I was a wimp," Zippel recounts. "The Mormons thought that menora was the best thing in the world." [from The Jerusalem Post Newspaper]

Lest you thought prostesting capitalism was all work and no play, CNN reports on the scheduled World Economic Forum protests: "The carnival-like atmosphere the activists hope to create is meant to show that protesting can be fun." What is all the fuss about? "Oh, just one of these big get-togethers for international capitalists, politicians and assorted muckety-muck economists and journalists. In other words, it's precisely the kind of group the anti-globalization left holds responsible for all the evils of the world:" the worst kind of irony.