Oh Come Emanuel (and save me from this nightmare)!

God is wising me up. I have this year developed a profound distaste for the dreck that is America's current expression of Christmas. The incessant droning of "holiday music" on radio and in stores numbs one of any emotion that it was supposed to encourage, and will of course, stop precisely at 12 midnight the day after Christmas. The computer-driven tape loop will then be switched to the generic drivel, and not another tune proclaiming the glorious birth of Christ will be slid into the loop for another 365 days. Because, you see, Christmas - as defined as the time to buy things, travel, party, buy things, take time from work, and buy things - is over on December 26. Then it's time to think about New Year's, and the things to buy for that and whose going to be crowned first in the BCS. And then...white sales! Hum.....bug...!

Well, not me. I going to raise my voice in song in the bloody streets of Saline on December 26, and everyday afterward:

For unto us a child is born...and his name shall be called wonderful,
counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Roundup for December 13, 2004

Kyoto! Kyoto!

There's some serious partying goin' down in Lookout, Buenos Aires (as reported in the Grey Old Lady):

...delegates from more than 190 countries have gathered here both to celebrate the enactment of the Kyoto Protocol...

however,

..Many delegates and experts concede that the pact, negotiated in 1997, is deeply flawed and that years of delays in finishing its rulebook mean that many adherents may have trouble meeting their targets for emissions cuts...

Oh really? So just the ridiculous bureaucracy spawned by the treaty has made it impossible to enforce? We also learn that:

...Its impact will also be limited because it exempts developing countries, including fast-industrializing giants like China and India, from emissions restrictions, and lacks the support of the United States, the world's dominant source of the heat-trapping gases...

Well, we've all heard about the fact that the US didn't sign Kyoto. That doesn't mean that we won't restrict our greenhouse gas (GG) production; in fact US GG production has stayed relatively flat for the last few years. But I wonder how many are aware that India and China can go and burn hydrocarbons as if it were ...going out of style. We know that the West could go and work wonders in GG production, and it won't amount to a whit if China and India grow their emissions to nightmare quantities.

Roundup for December 11, 2004

Hummer-Armor, Part II:

Michelle Malkin (insert tiger growl here!) doesn't get hung up on where the question regarding Hummer armor originated - it's still a valid question. She provides a good summary of things so far. The WSJ has an excellent editorial that hits the nail on the head.

Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh is an administration apologist/shill about this.

The issue is not the origin of the question, it is that this a problem that's been killing guys in the field for over a year, and this is just too damn long to wait for a solution through the military acquisition & procural process. FIX IT, NOW.

Start your day off with inspiration from the Founders...

The Federalist Patriot provides a daily quote from the Founding Fathers, such as

"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin


Realistic Prognostication about the NID:

The WSJ carefully sets all the emotions aside and tells us what is likely to happen with the National Intelligence Directorate.


Terror's Secret Weapon: Illegal "Nannigrants"

Jeesh. With the stealth and efficiency that would make a sniper green with envy, another illegal alien takes out a promising public servant. Jeers to the White House for not fighting for a good man. When will we focus on a nominee's qualities to get the job done?

A Real Plan to Save Social Security...

As a former civil servant, I participated in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), where the Federal Government, inmy name... are you ready... INVESTED IN THE STOCK, MORTGAGE, AND BOND MARKETS! (cue "Psycho" theme here).

I'm happy they did. I did quite well during the Roaring Nineties, and yes, I took a hit when the Clinton Bubble burst. Yet my TSP account still does much, much better than if the money, say, was snatched up and replaced by worthless IOUs to pay for increased wealth-sapping federal spending.

David Brooks makes the arguement that we can pay for Social Security by putting the contributions to work to generate wealth in our capitalist economy.

Roundup for 8 Dec 2004:

Let's hear it for democracy!

Spc. Thomas Wilson exercised a basic right of democracy - holding elected leaders accountable, in this case Don Rumsfeld as proxy to the President:

..Spc. Thomas Wilson had asked the defense secretary, "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?" Shouts of approval and applause arose from the estimated 2,300 soldiers who had assembled to see Rumsfeld...

Rumsfeld's reply was...weak. And he doesn't get much sympathy from me. IEDs have been blowing our guys up for well over a year now, and there's no
real excuse for failing to get highly armored Humvees into the field.

Where were these concerns a few weeks ago?

Now that the 911 Intelligence Bill is a "slam dunk", now we hear questions about whether it will help at all (NBC news and WaPost):

...The compromise legislation approved by the House yesterday in response to the Sept. 11 commission's findings represents a historic reordering of the $40 billion intelligence community.

But some experts say it is not at all evident how, or even if, the changes would help America's spies obtain secrets and aid analysts in determining the intentions of terrorists bent on striking again or worrisome nations developing weapons of mass destruction...

..This new player is confounding to intelligence experts trying to see how all the new pieces would fit together with the existing system and whether the changes would make anyone safer...

Perhaps we should ask those experts in intelligence, the Jersey Girls?



Home Run Kings...

Hank Arron 755
Barry Bonds 703*
Babe Ruth 714

* undetermined number hit while using performance-enhancing drugs.

Starting a Dialogue with Christians...

Bernard Moon has written a nice essay on Christianity and Christians for easy comprehension by those that are unfamiliar with the faith.

A Holiday card from Jimmy Carter...

My mail was graced with a very handsome envelope with a faux-presidential seal, with return address of Atlanta, GA. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter sent me a card for the season, complete with genuine simulated signature inside. And a letter asking for a $35 (recommended mininum) contribution to the Carter Center, so he can help bring peace to the Korean Peninsula...I kid you not. In fairness to the Carter Center, they have (according to the letter) assisted in nearly eradicating Guniea worm disease from the globe, and good for them. Just please, Jimmy, leave the dealing with dangerous rogue nations to the duly elected leaders of your country.

The best Messiah...

is that recorded by the Gabrieli Consort and Players, with Paul McCreesh. Ev'ry valley shall be exhalted!


Oil for Bribes Update:

Joy Gordon of the Nation, in a classic co-dependent moment, argues that UN/French/German/Russian corruption is our fault.

Reagan Remembered...

on a wonderful CD produced by Bill Bennett's radio program. Great stocking stuffer for that neo-Kirkian!

Glib: showing little forethought

Investor's Business Daily recently reported Brian Williams' recent quip regarding bloggers:

...When a fellow panelist mentioned that bloggers had had a big impact on the reporting on Election Day, Williams waved that point away by quipping that the self-styled journalists are "on an equal footing with someone in a bathroom with a modem."

Like their video and written counterparts, bloggers are found in all degrees of qualities: wise, witty, prescient, juvenile, bombastic, superficial, and dull. A man who lives in a glass house is wise not to throw stones: how much did that hair cut set you back, Bri?

Carter Dodges Tough Ukranian Election?

I guess Jimmy Carter decided to skip monitoring the contentious Ukranian election. Does Jimmy think that Ukranian democracy wasn't worth the plane fare, or that there wasn't a slam-dunk side he could take to look good? Don't take a pass on the tough ones, Jimmy.

Why We Fight:

We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, January 6, 1941

Perhaps the quest for human dignity and freedom is a not a neo-con pipedream.

Moore-ish tactics turned against the Campus Leftocracy:

Evan Maloney is a clever fellow: his "Brainwashing 101" uses the guerilla tactics of Michael MooreOn.org and stomps the toes of the ruling class of academe.

What's new on the Oil for Bribes Scandal:

The Boston Globe reports:

WASHINGTON -- Saddam Hussein's regime made more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting the UN oil-for-food program and other sanctions -- more than double previous estimates, according to congressional investigators...

The findings also reflect a growing understanding by investigators of the intricate schemes Hussein used to buy support abroad for a move to lift UN sanctions...

"That humanitarian program was corrupted and exploited . . . for the most horrible and aggressive purpose" of raising money for Hussein's military, said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut.

But the committee's ranking Democrat, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, said "for the most part the UN sanctions achieved their intended objective of preventing Saddam from rearming and developing weapons of mass destruction."

Sure, Carl, like the dam before it burst, it was working perfectly!

The Queen of Hearts pronounces judgement:

Clue-starved Chris Matthews in a "if I had some ham, I'd have ham & eggs, if I had some eggs" moment in his questioning to Ken Allard:

MATTHEWS: Well, let me ask you about this. If this were the other side and we were watching an enemy soldier, a rival -- I mean they're not bad guys, especially, just people that disagree with us. They are, in fact, the insurgents fighting us in their country. If we saw one of them do what we saw our guy do to that guy, would we consider that worthy of a war crimes charge?

Let's review the conversation before the shooting. I've attempted to identify one of the voices (not the Marine who shot, I believe), and I've added an emphasis at an important comment:

Marine 1: Any Marines in there?

Marine 2: Yeah, they're on the floor, far right, far right.

Marine 1: Coming around the back, hey, who's in here?

Marine 1: Coming around.

VOICE: What are you doing in here? (BLEEP).

Marine 1: That guy shot at my tank!(BLEEP).

VOICE: Yeah.

VOICE: Yeah.

Marine 1: Shot up my tank.

VOICE: Come in here.

VOICE: Yeah.

Marine 1: Did you shoot them?

Marine 1: Did they have any weapons on them?

VOICE: All right. These are the ones from yesterday.

VOICE: These are the ones they never picked up. Bleep.

OK - so this unit had just come under fire from the mosque. So perhaps it's a little more complicated than your cartoon, Chris.

Now, take a deep breath Chris, and we'll all just wait for the results of the inquiry. In the meantime, you may want to contemplate your assinine comment that the Sunni "insurgents" - by this we mean the group who enjoyed having their boot on the neck of eighty percent of the population of Hussein's Iraq, and really don't want to give that up for democracy - just "disagree" with us.

Cognitive Dissonance and Terror

Our man Jimmy Carter, The Smartest Man to be President, summons all of his rhetorical powers in his Jellospeak on Arafat:

"Yasser Arafat's death marks the end of an era and will no doubt be painfully felt by Palestinians throughout the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.He was the father of the modern Palestinian nationalist movement. A powerful human symbol and forceful advocate, Palestinians united behind him in their pursuit of a homeland. While he provided indispensable leadership to a revolutionary movement and was instrumental in forging a peace agreement with Israel in 1993, he was excluded from the negotiating role in more recent years..."

The Jerusalem Post reports a different point of view, stated with the utmost clarity:

"He (Arafat) had more Jewish blood on his hands than anybody since Hitler. He was a strategist of the murder of women, children and the aged. No normal nation would have dedicated this amount of endless broadcasts to a person responsible for the deaths of so many of their kin," aides close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in what appeared to be a rebuke to the media for its exhaustive coverage of the burial of the Palestinian leader on Friday...

Drop a line to Jimmy at the Carter Center and remind him of some of the facts his statement ignored.

PS - I actually worked for this guy's campaign in '76...I can only shake my head and wonder what on Earth I was thinking...

More comment on the "Values Vote"

David Brooks has an interesting take on this:

NYT Column, 06 Nov 2004: "The Values-Vote Myth"

Every election year, we in the commentariat come up with a story line to explain the result, and the story line has to have two features. First, it has to be completely wrong. Second, it has to reassure liberals that they are morally superior to the people who just defeated them...

...In the first place, there is an immense diversity of opinion within regions, towns and families. Second, the values divide is a complex layering of conflicting views about faith, leadership, individualism, American exceptionalism, suburbia, Wal-Mart, decorum, economic opportunity, natural law, manliness, bourgeois virtues and a zillion other issues.

But the same insularity that caused many liberals to lose touch with the rest of the country now causes them to simplify, misunderstand and condescend to the people who voted for Bush. If you want to understand why Democrats keep losing elections, just listen to some coastal and university town liberals talk about how conformist and intolerant people in Red America are. It makes you wonder: why is it that people who are completely closed-minded talk endlessly about how open-minded they are?...

Brooks' entire column is here.

The Dems respond to the "Values Voters"

The "reasonable" Democrats (the "Bush May Not Be a Fascist" caucus) have formulated a response to November 2nd's Right Hook, namely, that morality and values also include health care for those in need, growing quality jobs, and better public education. Ahem - they really don't get it, do they? Everyone understands that these issues need to be resolved, but it's demagogic to define the Democratic solution to these problems as the moral position. That is, in part, what Redland is revolting against. Reasonable, equally moral people can differ as to the solutions here. Equating universal "free" prescription drug coverage and radical redefinition of a marriage as a taproot societal value is - shall we say - foolish.

Air America's Premiere Moonbat

The Mike Malloy Show

I can handle being called a fascist, racist-bigot, imperialist, and Bible-thumping sexist plutocrat that stole the Ohio electoral vote. Indeed, I blush at even the suggestion. But please, don't tell me that our guys outside of Fallujah are itching to kill people because they look different than them. Don't proclaim the jackass Islamofascists holding Fallujah hostage are merely defending their country. Yet this is what Mr. Malloy said on his show on the evening of 05 Nov. By the way, some of the ads I heard sponsoring the broadcast of this show in the Ann Arbor area (WLBY) were from "Smart Balance" margarine, and Junior Acheivement, if you're interested sending off a message expressing your concern.

Please, stop talking and LISTEN

I watched a gaggle of Dem pontifs and poobahs offer up their expert scienterrific analyses as to what their party's problems are. The answers fell into the following catagories:

1. What problems?
2. Hillary will save us!
3. Market the same message, just do it better.
4. The Guardian says Ohio was stolen.
5. All that damn territory that separates NYC, Chicago, and LA

I think the Dems should replace the donkey as their emblem with Howland Owl, the pompous, clueless, know-it-all in Walt Kelly's comic strip "Pogo". It seems so fitting.

NY Times Columnist Still Trapped in Abandoned Well, Rescuers' Hopes Dim

The New York Times' Mo Dowd with her eyes still closed, hands over over ears, rocking back and forth, lets forth another scream:

...The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines of fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious rule. He doesn't want to heal rifts; he wants to bring any riffraff who disagree to heel.

W. ran a jihad in America so he can fight one in Iraq - drawing a devoted flock of evangelicals, or "values voters," as they call themselves, to the polls by opposing abortion, suffocating stem cell research and supporting a constitutional amendment against gay marriage...

Sigh. Is there ANYTHING that can get through to this chick?

Liberalism at the Crossroads

The Dems lost bigtime. W won a three million plus majority and an overwhelming number of the individual states. The Republicans now hold 55 Senate seats and increased their majority in the House of Representatives. Moreover, state initiatives stopped radical social agendas pushed by renegade judges and local officials.

The Democrats now have an important choice to make: are they a political party, attempting to find a consensus from many points of view, and adapting to the will of the electorate? Or are they an ideological party, where they supress internal dissent and insist on intrepreting the actions of the electorate from a philosophical dogma?

I listened to the post-election cry-in on Air America. As a way to understand the crippling loss of the Dems, Al Franken claimed that Bush won by insessant lying, and repeatedly quoted some survey that "proved" Bush supporters - in other words, the majority of the American electorate - to be imbeciles. Randi Rhodes ranted about some bizarre conspiracy involving Ohio and Florida election officials (only the Republicans, of course) tampering with electronic voting machines. Robert Reich declared that the election proved that the Democrats needed become even more "progressive".

If the Dems would like the trust of the American people to provide national leadership, they must show the Hard Left the door. The Hard Left are those elements in the party that view the American government and Western society as immoral and corrupt institutions, which must be radically changed. The hardest of the Hard Left is committed to achieving this by any means necessary, including anarchy, violence, and deliberating subverting American interests. Some of the poster children of the Hard Left are Congressman-for-Life John Conyers, Noam Chomsky, and the assorted disciples of Ron Dellums. Their "useful idiots" include the usual gang of entertainers, college academics, radical social theorists, "anti-Zionists", anti-capitalists, and the barons of the Rights Industry. The Hard Left also views the American people as an ignorant proletariat that is to be led by the nose to Nirvana.

The Hard Left has bullied the rest of the Democratic Party for decades, starting in the aftermath of the '68 election. Under the pretense of diversity, the Hard Left has ruthlessly narrowed the philosophical scope of the party. It's hard to imagine Harry Truman, John Kennedy, or Henry "Scoop" Jackson (cofather with Reagan of the fall of the Soviet Empire) being allowed in the modern Democratic Party. Joe Lieberman was humiliated by the party activists in the primaries and convention for straying off the antiwar reservation. Lifelong Democrat Zell Miller tried to warn of this cancer growing on the Democratic Party, and he was treated by the Hard Left to a personal smear campaign.

The modern American conservative movement faced a similar crisis in the late fifties, weighed down by the John Birchers, anti-Semites, and like political flat-earthers. To their credit, men like Bill Buckley and Ronald Reagan threw them overboard, and modern conservatism flourished. If the Democratic Party wants to be a viable party of national leadership is must likewise rid itself of the Hard Left.

Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, and Sean Penn found in a shipping container of aromatherapy bottles on a Vancouver warf:

Unhappy Democrats Need to Wait to Get Into Canada
Wed Nov 3, 1:16 PM ET
By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Disgruntled Democrats seeking a safe Canadian haven after President Bush won Tuesday's election should not pack their bags just yet.

Canadian officials made clear on Wednesday that any U.S. citizens so fed up with Bush that they want to make a fresh start up north would have to stand in line like any other would-be immigrants -- a wait that can take up to a year.

"You just can't come into Canada and say 'I'm going to stay here'. In other words, there has to be an application. There has to be a reason why the person is coming to Canada," said immigration ministry spokeswoman Maria Iadinardi.

Dry-Rot of the Elites

In his new book, "Unholy Alliance", David Horowitz names the intellectual disorder which the Elites have dared not speak: the guilt and self-loathing that paralyzes the "Soft Left" in the War on Terror, and the outright collusion by the "Hard Left" with Islamofascism:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/

It's not surprising that the Hard Left takes this stand: in their warped and dark psyche, America, or rather, AmeriKKKa, is a rapacious plutocracy, a scourge sweeping the Earth killing all in its path, and surpressing its own people. To the Hard Left, the United States must fall so that a vanguard elite can create from its ashes a Utopia for the masses. You know, Das Tausend Jahren Reich, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, Socialism with a Human Face, that kind of Utopia. Where the great thinkers and revolutionaries build a fair society. And they get first dibs on the goodies, because their work of enlightenment requires it.

Can the Soft Left grow some spine and repudiate them? Remember the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks?