From Jay Nordlinger's "Impromptus" (which is the column I always read first on NRO....)

"....And speaking of cool: I suggest that you try Stilesboro Biscuits, in Marietta, Ga. I went in there on Saturday morning. A sign said, “Good morning, y’all. Thanks for coming in. Try our pork tenderloin, fresh off the grill. It’s soooo wonderful.” Another sign said, “Angels Gather Here.”

A five-piece band played — I mean, live. And it was hot. Excellent. The pieces were a fiddle, a mandolin, two guitars, and a double bass. They played versions of Johnny Cash songs, and even a version of “Turkey in the Straw.” Thrilling stuff. I could have sat for an hour or so. (There’s very little seating in this shack.) After one song, a guitar player said to his mates, “I don’t think I sped up that time, did I?” He had not.

In a bookcase were volumes of the Encyclopedia Americana; not sure whether it was complete. And, before, I was talking about signs: Another one said, “Sometimes I Wake Up Grouchy, Sometimes I Let Him Sleep.”

The biscuits, I’m here to tell you, were A-1. The cinnamon rolls? Merely okay (but definitely choke-downable).

It was sweet to discover a slice of southern and American heaven. The line was out the door. I’m told that Stilesboro Biscuits is open only a few days a week, and that it closes at 11:30 — A.M.

A biscuit hut with live music. Made me like this country, anew.

Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus on NRO

"...Suddenly, with uncharacteristic anger, my drinking buddy said something like this: “The federal government’s main functions are to maintain a stable currency, keep us out of unnecessary foreign entanglements and wars, and patrol the coasts and borders. That’s three strikes on George Bush, [blasphemous expletive]! The man’s been a total [sexual expletive] disaster. What the [blasphemous expletive] [sexual expletive] hell was I thinking of, voting for this [cognitive-function expletive]?”"

Derbyshire on NRO

....."It’s odd that I don’t like Islamophobia because I would answer a prompt yes to all the following questions.

As religions go, and taking historical and geographical variations into account, has Islam been, on average, the most intolerant and obscurantist of the big world faiths?

Whatever may have been the case in the past, and however things may develop in the future, is it true that Islam today is bringing forth an exceptionally large crop of homicidal fanatics willing to perform deeds of staggering cruelty, inhumanity, and stupidity in the name of their religion?

Would it be wise of Western countries, in the present state of affairs, to “fence off” Islam — that is, to deny entry to foreign Muslims, to expel — regretfully, politely, and humanely, but firmly — resident foreign Muslims, and to restrict the activities of Muslim citizens (preventing them, for example, from proselytizing in our jails, or working in defense establishments)?

Has Islamic civilization, wherever it has settled, been, by comparison with Western civilization, culturally very arid? (Thanks to Bill Buckley, in a private conversation on this topic, for the mot juste there.)

So what’s my beef with the Islamophobes? Reading through that list, don’t I myself deserve an honorary life membership in Islamophobes International? Why, when I read books like Robert Spencer’s, do I feel my irritation — my Islamophobophobia — rising?....

Read the whole thing....Derbyshire on NRO

On Lee Bollinger and Ahmadinejad...

"And afterwards Mr. Bollinger got raves even from the right for “speaking truth to power”. But so what? It’s like Noel Coward delivering a series of devastating put-downs to Hitler. The Fuhrer’s mad as hell but at the end of the afternoon he goes back to killing and dear Noel goes back to singing “The Stately Homes Of England”. Ahmadinejad goes back to doing — to persecuting, to murdering, to terrorizing, to nuclearizing – and Bollinger cuts out his press clippings and puts them on the fridge."

..."The difference between Winston Churchill and Ward Churchill, another famous beneficiary of “academic freedom” who called the 9/11 dead “little Eichmanns,” is that for Sir Winston talking was a call to action while for poseurs like Professor Churchill it’s a substitute for it. The pen is not mightier than the sword if your enemy is confident you will never use anything other than your pen. Sometimes it’s not about “freedom of speech,” but about freedom. Ask an Iranian homosexual. If you can find one."

Steyn in NRO