Have A Safe New Year

To everyone who reads my rambling thoughts, I say Happy New Year! I look forward to continuing this blog and making it better in 2005.

Dave Barry Reviews 2004 (part II)

Dave Barry is funny:

The Red Sox get into the Series thanks to the fact that the New York Yankees -- who were leading the American League championships three games to none, and have all-stars at every position, not to mention a payroll larger than the gross national product of Sweden -- chose that particular time to execute the most spectacular choke in all of sports history, a pathetic gut-check failure of such epic dimensions that every thinking human outside of the New York Metropolitan area experienced a near-orgasmic level of happiness. But there is no need to rub it in.

...The 2004 U.S. presidential election campaign, John Kerry easily sweeps to a 53-state landslide victory in the exit polls and has pretty much picked out his new cabinet when word begins to leak out that the actual, physical voters have elected George W. Bush.

The first six months is here.

Where Was Kofi Annan?

You know the whole Bush was heartless because he didn't come out and speak about the Tsunami tragedy? No one asked where Kofi Annan was, did they? Now we find that he was skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming:

Q: Will you go to the region? Are you considering a trip? Can you update your statement at your end-of-the-year news conference regarding what a horrible year it was? And, describe looking at the images, I assume, on vacation, and whether you thought about coming back earlier and just what you were looking at. And the role of the United Nations after being bashed all year: is this, unfortunately on the back of horrible disaster, an opportunity for the United Nations?
SG: Let me say that at my last press conference, when I said this has been a horrible year, I didn't expect anything like this to happen before the year ended. It was bad enough up to that point. But this has been a real tragedy and disaster for those in that region.
Ever since the disaster struck, as I have indicated, I have been on the line with the leaders of the region, discussing what should be done and also been constantly in touch here with my team and Jan. And, of course, that also explains the reason why I am back now.
I think the United Nations has an important role to play, and we are going to play a lead role in this, working with the entire international community. And we have to rely on the generosity of the major donors. And as I have indicated, so far the response has been very good, and I would want to see it sustained.
I haven't planned an immediate trip, but it is not excluded.
Q: Mr. Secretary, picking up on Richard's question, I think a lot of people are asking exactly why you waited three days on vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, before you decided to fly back to New York in the face of this extraordinary crisis. Could you give us a full explanation of your thinking on that? Secondly, what kind of signal does that 72-hour delay send to the nations to which you are now appealing for greater help?
SG: First of all, there was action. It wasn't inaction. We live in a world where you can operate from wherever you are. You know the world we live in now. You don't have to be physically here to be dealing with the leaders and the Governments I have been dealing with. You don't have to be physically here to be discussing with some of the agencies that we have done.
I came back here because we have reached a level that I wanted to have meetings with all the people that I have met with today. So, we have taken action. And I don't have to be sitting in my office to take action. I think the same goes for you in your profession.

Nice, the greatest natural disaster the world has faced since the great flood of Noah's time and this overpayed idiot couldn't leave a ski vacation. I guess he saw the money that was being alloacted and he and son Kujo decided that an opportunity to pilfer funds like this hasn't been out there since the UN Oil for Food program.

Where He Lives It's Tomorrow

The friggin' Aussies get to do everything first.

Posting Will Be Light

My Brother is in town from Maryland so I will probably not post much today. Happy New Year to everyone.

Relief Efforts

Tim Blair has an enormous amount of news concerning relief efforts.

The Amazon.com efforts have reached $7,000,000. I imagine most of that is from Americans.

The AP has amazing before and after pictures as well as satellite snaps.

Another idiot UN money tick smacks the US. I thought Europeans were supposed to be cultured:

“Only really the UN can do that job,” she told BBC Radio Four’s PM programme.
“It is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers.”

The UN and moral authority; two things I'd never link in the same sentence.

The official death toll is now at 120,000 and expected to rise.

Jeb Bush will be assisting relief coordination efforts:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration broadened its response to the earthquake and tsunami disaster in South Asia and Africa with plans for Secretary of State Colin Powell to visit the region and assess what more the United States needs to do.
"All Americans are shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of life and the destruction around the Indian Ocean," President Bush said in a statement read by White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy in Crawford, Texas, on Thursday. Bush is on vacation there.
"To coordinate this massive relief effort, first-hand assessments are needed by individuals on the ground."
The president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has experience with extensive hurricane damage in Florida, will travel with Powell. A congressional delegation headed by Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, a former U.S. foreign service officer, is scheduled to visit Thailand and Sri Lanka next week.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who often travels to blighted areas, said Thursday he plans to visit India to try to help victims of tsunamis that have left millions of people at risk of disease.
"I feel like I've been hit in the stomach," Frist, R-Tenn., said in an e-mail to friends and supporters. "It is like 9/11 but so different. There is no one to blame."

Ann Coulter Doesn't Care What You Think

The always provocative and smokin' hot Ann Coulter sticks the proverbial knife into the heart of political correctness, twists it and breaks it off:

To The People Of Islam: Just think: If we'd invaded your countries, killed your leaders and converted you to Christianity YOU'D ALL BE OPENING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS RIGHT ABOUT NOW!
Merry Christmas

I love Coulter, she smacks the deserving upside the leftear and tells them how ridiculous they are in the right side.

Lots of Hits Part 2

I received more than 100 hits today thanks to MSN and Yahoo search (with a few Fox and CNN searches in the mix). I hope you folks who drift in my direction take a few minutes to look around and see what this blog is about. Feel free to comment and don't be a stranger.

The link that lead you here can be found by clicking this link as well as another post about tsunami relief efforts here. You can donate to the effort by clicking here.

Thanks again.

Update: These are the kind of things my blogthren dig up.

The Idiocy of PC Laid Bare

ynnuf si sihT:

An Independence man was charged Monday with filing a false police report.
Floyd Elliot, 22, told police two subjects attacked him in a parking lot and tried to burn the word "FAG" into his chest and carve the same thing on his forehead.
Police initially investigated the incident as a hate crime but thought it seemed suspicious because the carving on his forehead was backwards, according to reports.
During police interviews, Elliott admitted his injuries were self-inflicted and he falsified the report because he wanted to increase police presence in his neighborhood.

I guess the dude never saw Mean Girls.

Earthquake/Tsunami Relief

The relief effort is in full force with the US at the lead, however the WaPo has this snide little article slamming Bush and the US response. If Bush would've made a huge show of touring hurricane-ravaged Florida back in August, it would have been a political stunt. Now that Bush is staying low-key and making sure that the money is available he's "absent". Glenn answers that.

LGF has a nice round-up and a direct refutation of the "stinginess" of America.

The evil Donald Rumsfeld is doing his part:

U.S. military relief efforts include:

U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo aircraft in Yokota, Japan, loaded with relief supplies are expected to deploy to Utapao, Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand.

U.S. Navy deployed P-3 aircraft from Kadena, Japan, to operate in the vicinity of Thailand with Utapao, Royal Thai Air Force Base, serving as a hub for operations.

Other forces enroute to the region that could be committed to relief efforts, if necessary, include USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, including USS Shoup, USS Shiloh, USS Benfold, and USNS Ranier and USS Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, including USS Duluth, USS Milius, USS Rushmore, USS Thach, USS Pasadena and USCG Munro. (That's some serious naval power--ed.)

U.S. Air Force will deploy KC-135 aircraft from Japan and Guam to provide assistance as directed.

Let us not forget the looney left:

So Mr. Magnanimous in Texas has responded to a calamity with up to 100,000 dead by offering a measly $35 million. That is less than Bush will spend on his coronation. It's what the US spends in Iraq roughly every 3-4 hours.
As other nations up their ad packages (including Australia, Japan and the EU), the US will be shamed into offering more. It's inevitable. But our nation's first feeble efforts at generosity, coupled with Bush's utter silence on the matter (until shamed by Clinton into opening up his mouth), will further add to the animosity the world holds against the US.
At a time when we could've shined, and made true on our promise of international generosity and a beacon of optimism and hope, the Bush administration gave us the opposite.

Several things pop to mind when reading this:

• "Screw 'em" Kos lumps France and Germany in with the EU as a whole. A true pittance is what France offered up at first. Last I saw this morning was that was roughly $200,000 (USD). The American public had given ten times more than that (and climbing by the minute) in 24 hours on Amazon.com. The French have since offered up $15-million Euros.
• What was Kos saying back when an oppressive regime in Rwanda murdered ten times the amount of people killed in this natural disaster? Did he push for Clinton to assist those people. This was a natural disaster that occurred out of the blue, yet Bush failed to act fast enough in pledging what Kos would deem a correct amount of relief aid, while Clinton sat back and watched one million people exterminated over the course of year with full knowledge that it was happening.
• What about Australia whom donated money , in large amounts, immediately to assist their neighbors.
• How many of those effected nations offered us assistance with hurricane relief? We give when the need arises and give abundantly. Only Markos--in cahoots with the MSM--could make this political when it is so much more than that. Shame on him.

If you wish to help and be productive instead of blaming Bush and bitching about how piss-poor America is, go here, here, or here to donate.

Update: I was wrong to intimate that Kos could make any issue non-political, he is a political operator extraordinaire, just ask him. Perhaps he should find something he's better at. Hell, I'm just an Environmental Director for a major corporation and I could have done better than 0-15.

Update II: James Taranto joins the fray.

Update III: The Watcher comments:

All talk, hates the US, Israel and the West and nothing productive is achieved. The UN and Indy Media seem to have a lot in common.

Go read the numbers concerning UN costs and relief that reaches the folks who need it most.

Lots of Hits Today

Welcome. I am getting numerous hits from MSN & Yahoo searches that are a derivative of this query:

Tsunami Earths Rotation

You can read the original post here.

While you're here, look around; this site has posts on everything from politics to the environment with music thrown in. Please stick around and come back often. I post to this site daily.

Update: You can click here to donate to some great groups that are assisting with the relief efforts.

Rastaman Vibration

I posted my first exerpt on the best CD's of the last ten years recently and will continue next Friday. However, if I was to talk about the best albums of the last 30 years, Bob Marley and the Wailers Rastaman Vibration would be at the top. From the first track--Rastaman Vibration--the album just grooves. Roots, Rock, Reggae expands on the religious concept of the album.

Johnny Was,written by Rita Marley, describes a mother's grief when her son was shot down "because of the system" that existed in Jamaica in 1976. Crazy Baldhead is a view of the oppression felt in the Rasta community by non-Rasta's. Who the Cap Fits has an excellent beat and this:

Man to man is so unjust, children
You don't know who to trust
Your worst enemy could be your best friend
And your best friend your worst enemy
Some will eat and drink with you
Then behind them su-su 'pon you
Only your friend know your secrets
So only he could reveal it
And who the cap fit, let them wear it.

The last two tracks are favorites. First; War, taken directly from Haile Selasie's speech to the UN in 1963. Unlike Yassir Arafat he didn't wear a holster and unlike Nikita Krushchev he didn't bang his shoe. The song is phenomenal and conveys the futility and ultimate taking up of arms against oppressive regimes. Unfortunately Selasie was overthrown by the vile Mengistu.

Rat Race is quintessential Marley, political and catchy:

A song ringing with strong political statements while proclaiming the Rasta stance of remaining righteous and politically ambivalent - "Don't involve Rasta in your say say / Rasta don't work for no C.I.A." "Political violence fill ya city" particularly true in the streets of Jamaica during the 1976 elections, the year in which "Rat Race" was recorded and released. In the name of political parties, the human race sadly becomes the rat race.

I highly recommend this album that even after nearly thirty years is as fresh as any of the garbage that passes for pop nowadays.

Irish Economics

Ireland has proven itself to be a model country when it comes to improving their economy:

What brought about Ireland's dramatic transmogrification? One study suggests that it was simply more people working more effectively. Starting in the early 1970s, an almost unprecedented extended period of strong productivity growth resulted in productivity levels (as measured in output per hour worked) above those of the United States, the global productivity gold standard. Meanwhile, around a decade ago, Irish growth was fueled by a surge in the number of workers, from 1.2 million in 1993 to 1.8 million in 2003—in part as unemployment rates dropped and large numbers of women entered the workforce.
Of course, if that were all there was to it, labor camps run by productivity experts would be popular models of development. Instead, the Irish recipe is a combination of Economics 101, luck, and an almost otherworldly persistence. Long before globalization became a geopolitical cliché, Ireland subscribed to free trade in part as a way to increase domestic competitiveness. It also recognized how protectionist policies, like high tariffs, can distort the path of economic development and investment. It implemented policies focused on facilitating foreign investment and created incentives to aggressively attract it; now Ireland accounts for one-quarter of all U.S. foreign direct investment in Europe. Tax rates were cut, both for businesses and individuals, and the country's fiscal and monetary house was brought into order. In the 1980s, a broad social partnership between industry and trade unions paved the way for positive and constructive relations and helped restrain wage growth. And, as in other European countries, Ireland's education policy has been broadly successful in creating a large supply of young workers.

Emphasis mine. Free trade, reduction of protectionist policies, facilitating foreign investment, lower taxes and industry and labor cooperation; that sounds like very sound fiscal policy. It also sounds exactly like what Bush wants to do (with the exception of that very stupid, politically motivated steel tariff fiasco--since rescinded) and what the Democrats are against.

I disagree with the writers premise that Ireland is "fading fast", their economy is at 4% annually, which is double the rest of Europe.

Briefs

James Taranto is back from vacation.

Norwegian UN official Jan Egeland says America is "stingy" and then doesn't.

The second most bigoted person in Congress--behind former klansman Robert Byrd--is back.

"Killling of Jews mandatory"--Palestinian TV

Allahpundit is back...maybe. He's back on Blogger.

Monitoring Indymedia

This blog straps on the boots and slogs into the vile cesspool that is Indymedia. Get your shots, dude, and be aware, the rampant conspiracy theories and anti-semitism will sneak up on you.

Death Toll at 24,000

The earthquake/tsunami catastrophe has effected Africa, southeast Asia and the sub continent. Daniel Drezner has more info here and Drudge is all over it. If you can afford it, you can get info on that at Daniels site. Think about that number for a second 24,000 lives are now gone.

This quake was so strong that it shifted parts of Indonesia 100 feet to the southwest and disrupted the earths rotation.

(Typo fixed)

Oops!

Donald Rumsfeld seems to have let his mouth move faster than his brain:

Here's what Rumsfeld said Friday: "I think all of us have a sense if we imagine the kind of world we would face if the people who bombed the mess hall in Mosul, or the people who did the bombing in Spain, or the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania and attacked the Pentagon, the people who cut off peoples' heads on television to intimidate, to frighten – indeed the word 'terrorized' is just that. Its purpose is to terrorize, to alter behavior, to make people be something other than that which they want to be."

I disagree with WND that he intimated that the plane was shot down, he says the terrorists shot down the plane. This should give the Indymedia scumbags something to whine over.

Pro-Abortion Rights Supporters Are Scared

Emily's List has this on their blog:

Anti-choice activists are cheering the nominations on while pro-choicers are mystified by the nominees, having previously believed that the committee could not become any more conservative.
Many are pointing out that the Republicans are lining up their pieces to begin the deconstruction of Roe v. Wade.

The use of "anti-choice" and "pro-choice" is a favorite liberal tactic. They fight like wild animals for their cause but refuse to call it what it really is. You either support abortion or you don't. I'm not saying that abortion rights activists like abortion, I know where they are coming from with regards to their support of a womans right to choose. I don't agree but I understand it. But at the very least, be intellectually honest and call something that you support what it really is.

On another note, if we are continually going to fight the abortion battle, I think it is definitely the time to bring the fathers rights into the argument. The abortion rights supporters are going to have to be more flexible over the next four years and that may be a topic they may have to bend on.

The Washington State Gubernatorial Race

Stefan Sharkansky is blogging like crazy about the Washington state election fiasco over at Sound Politics:

The public really needs to see the list of names of everybody who voted in every county.
The lists should contain for every voter whose ballot was accepted:Name, voter id, precinct, address, year of birth, type of ballot (absentee, polling place, provisional).
We need this information for two reasons. First, to reconcile the precinct vote counts to verify whether the number of each type of ballot that was counted in each precinct matches the number of names of people who cast the ballots. Second, in order to start verifying that the people who cast ballots in our precincts really live there, are eligible to vote and only voted once. Without these lists we have no way of verifying that the numbers add up or that only legitimate ballots were cast.

Ukraine

Viktor Yushchenko has won the presidential race. What does this say about Russian influence in the world? Nothing good:

Ukraine has been a litmus test of Russia's capacity to influence events in the neighbouring countries.
And it appears that capacity is limited after the defeat of Mr Yanukovych, the candidate Moscow directly backed with money, moral support, advertising and TV airtime. . . .
One communist newspaper, Pravda, says the result means "the complete loss of our gas and oil export routes to the USA or the European Union". It also voices the fear that Mr Yushchenko's election means "Russia no longer exists as a world-class power". Pravda blames Washington for this.
Centrist commentators portray a very different situation.
A writer for business publication Kommersant claims the outcome of Ukraine's political crisis means "the Orange Revolution virus will now spread to Russia".
He writes: "It will not take long to dismantle the new Russian totalitarianism".

Vladimir Putin had a great opportunity to move Russia forward but it seems as though you can take a comrade out of the KGB but you can't take KGB out of the comrade. He still thinks that Russia has a sphere of influence with it's former satellites but no longer does.

Perhaps it's time for Putin to become more introspective and deal with the rising crime, the Yukos situation and the search for more natural resources in Siberia.

Snippets

An American actor learns what a Pakistani prison is really like.

Darfur is worse than ever.

More suppression of rights at a Denver panera bread store.

Acidman will celebrate an anniversary in a coupla days.

Cellphone viruses and Dead Pools all in one place.

All the news from the Rodina, Comrades.

The Peace Process Moves On

I wrote recently that the MSM are worried that W. may be the President who leads the Israelis and Palestinians to some kind of lasting truce. Sharon has--at great personal and political risk--pushed his plan to abandon settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. Another step in that process occurred yesterday:

PEAT SADEH, Gaza Strip – Residents of a small Jewish settlement said Sunday they've struck a deal to move to a village inside Israel, giving a boost to the government's contentious Gaza pullout plan by becoming the first community to agree to be evacuated.
Peat Sadeh, a tiny, upscale farming village tucked into the southwest corner of Gaza about a mile from the Mediterranean Sea, raised the ire of hard-line settler leaders, who are mounting a campaign against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to remove all 21 settlements from Gaza and four from a part of the West Bank next year.
Sharon's hard-line coalition government fell apart over his sudden policy shift a year ago, forcing him to try to reconstitute his team with the moderate Labor Party, his traditional rival.
In early 2004, Sharon abruptly abandoned decades of work for settlement construction and expansion, calling Gaza' settlements "untenable" because only 8,200 Israelis live there among more than 1 million Palestinians in the impoverished, crowded seaside territory.

This is a significant step in the process and a political win for Sharon.

Meanwhile, Palestinian 'elections' took place last week:

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Hamas Islamic militants scored significant successes in Palestinian municipal elections, the first contested by the group sworn to Israel's destruction, initial results showed on Friday.
An unofficial tally gave Hamas control of seven councils against 11 for the dominant Fatah movement, taking results from 24 of the 26 councils contested on Thursday. Official radio said Fatah took 60 percent of seats to 23 percent for Hamas.
The results were certain to send a message of Islamist strength to Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate from Fatah who is expected to succeed Yasser Arafat in a Jan. 9 presidential election and then try to restart talks with Israel.

Hamas and Fatah, those great political parties that believe in a democratic society. BTW, Abu Mazen is not a "moderate" and his true colors will reappear when the "message of Islamist strength" becomes part of his platform.

Horowitz on McGovern

David Horowitz:

On Christmas Day former Senator and former presidential candidate George McGovern wrote a letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times (and probably many other papers) calling for an American surrender in Iraq. George McGovern has not been in the headlines for three decades and his name consequently may be unfamiliar to many. But no one has had a greater or more baleful impact on the Democratic Party and its electoral fortunes than this progressive product of the South Dakota plains.
...As a post-graduate student at Berkeley in the early Sixties, I was one of the organizers of the first demonstration against the war in Vietnam. It was 1962 the organizers of this demonstration as of all the major anti-Vietnam demonstrations (and those against the Iraq war as well) was a Marxist and a leftist. The organizers of the movement against the war in Vietnam were activists who thought the Communists were liberating Vietnam in the same way Michael Moore thinks Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is liberating Iraq.
In 1968, Tom Hayden and the anti-war left incited a riot at the Democratic Party convention which effectively ended the presidential hopes of the Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey. Humphrey, who was Lyndon Johnson’s Vice President was a supporter of the war. This paved the way for George McGovern’s failed presidential run against the war in 1972.

Failed is too kind; McGovern was routed. A Democratic candidate for President whom had deep support from the anti-war left against a hated incumbent who supported the war and the Democrat was beaten soundly; sound familiar? This essay brings up interesting points concerning when the Dems stopped being the "party of the people" and started being the party of surrender and hand-wringing.

Peyton Tops Marino

Peyton Manning just broke the 20-year TD record held by Dan Marino. His touchdown to Stokely also led to a game tying two point conversion and then the subsequent win in overtime. At least it wasn't his punk brother beating San Diego.

Antonio Gates set a rookie record for TD's in the same game and Stokely went over 1,000 yards for the year, the first time three receivers on one team reached that amount.

Monster Earthquake Kills 8,000

A huge earthquake in Sumatra has caused tsunami's that have killed thousands:

A 10-metre-high wall of water set off by a huge earthquake drowned more than 8000 people in six countries, swept away scores of tourists and villagers on Thai islands and left thousands homeless in South-East Asia.
The region was bracing for more tidal waves from the after-shock after the underwater quake - at 8.9 on the Richter scale the world's fifth biggest in 100 years - sent a tsunami racing yesterday morning.
Multiple quakes started off the tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island and sent massive waves across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, killing 4150 people in Sri Lanka, more than 2000 in India and hundreds more between the Maldives, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Five-metre waves swept up to 100 tourists into the sea on Thailand's most popular tourist island, Phuket, at the resorts of Patong, Karon and Kata.
Another 100 tourists on diving holidays on islands off southern Thailand were missing, about 70 of them in the famed Emeral Cave. "We don't know whether they are dead or alive," an official said.

More coverage here. Links to Southeastern Asia bloggers here.

Update: The toll is now at 21,000 in nine countries. The widespread devastation makes me believe that this already high number will increase.

A Sad Day

Reggie White, the former Eagle and Packer has died, apparently of a heart attack. Reggie was an absolute beast on the field and was one of the few players on defense who could change a game. Rest in peace, Reggie, you will be missed.

Please Pardon Our Appearance

I'm in the midst of making some changes to the site and testing some things out. I now have comments and am going to add links.

That Scary Man In Red

The best Santa pictures in one place.

The Rumsfeld You'll Never Read About

A great e-mail from the front.

Via Amy Ridenour

The Ultimate Slippery Slope

This is extremely troubling:

The Dutch doctor spoke animatedly in his hospital office as he explained why he had agreed to break the law and kill a seriously deformed baby.
"There is a small group of children for whom no treatment is possible for the congenital disease and malformations they are born with," said Eduard Verhagen, the head of paediatrics at Groningen Hospital in the Netherlands. "Asking doctors to take away the pain easily and allow the child to die quietly is the natural reaction.
"For the incurable to die early requires that we do this or they enter a starvation phase and what suffering is more unbearable than a minor left to die from natural causes such as these."
Dr Verhagen's actions have already provoked condemnation from the Vatican and others who argue that the right-to-life must remain inviolable.
Other Dutch doctors side with Dr Verhagen, however, and in the past four years have sought to challenge this by reporting 18 such cases of "neo-natal" deaths to the national prosecutor's office in the Hague.

This is one of those ethical questions that a civilized society must ponder. What criteria will be used to determine what children are killed? Now it's incurable congenital disease or defect, but what about fifteen years from now? Will it be the sex of the child or other such criteria. Will liberals say that it is alright to kill a child because that child was produced by rape?

The Liberal Voice

Ted Rall is a bit insane (big shock):

Yeah, and I lose sleep over that every night. But Tillman is an inspiring example of what happens when you're uninformed (he signed up to go to Iraq to avenge 9/11, only to later be sent out again, this time to get killed by his own comrades), misguidedly nationalistic and jingoistic. How much better for him, his family and America had he remained here and played the game at which he was so gifted.

People like Rall will never get it. Tillman was quite informed and saw what needed to be done. It's people like Rall who would allow their country to be taken over without defending it or firing a shot. Don't worry Ted, us folks who served our country knew that we were protecting the likes of you also, no matter how distasteful we find you and your ilk. Call me jingoistic and nationalistic, that's fine. I suspect if our country was invaded, you'd be like the Vichy French and bow down to whatever new master you had to. Rall's solipsism is typical of most people with the character of a teenager, me, me, me...

You're a fraud Ted, just admit it (I know; Jane's Addiction). You espouse a view that you, just like Michael Moore, don't live by. You're as much a Capitalist as Ken Lay, Rupert Murdoch or Dick Cheney.

And LGF links to this disgusting Indymedia post.

Nine Eagles Make Pro-Bowl

Nine, count 'em nine, Birds make the Pro-Bowl in Hawaii. It should've been ten since Brian Westbrooke got shafted in lieu of Tiki Barber, Ahman Green and Shaun Alexander. Granted, they have much better rushing yards but Westbrook has astounding numbers overall taking into account receiving yards.

It's nice to have three defensive backs make it, it says alot about Andy Reid and Jim Johnson that they can spot talent and develop it. This is a team let go of Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent and is still the best in the NFC if not the entire NFL.

Todd Pinkston is going to have to get his head on straight if the Eagles are to win the NFC and get to the Super Bowl. I would look for Donovan to start running more that he did earlier in the season and also look for increased numbers from Chad Lewis and L.J. Smith.

Just Don't Say Christmas

Political Correctness is like a bacteria that enters your brain and destroys any remaining intelligent thoughts you may have.

To illustrate my point I give you this; a kid gets booted from a dance because he wore Santa suit:

A 12-year-old New Hampshire boy who wanted to jolly up his junior high dance by dressing in a Santa suit instead got a lesson in political correctness when his Scroogelike principal turned the student away, fearing he might offend his classmates.
``I go by the principal and he asked me what I was wearing. I said a Santa suit and he shakes his head,'' recalled Hampton Academy Junior High student Bryan Lafond.
To make matters worse, Principal Fred Muscara sent the preteen home from the holiday dance by himself to change into more secular attire. His mother spotted her son in the rearview mirror as she drove away.
``He was crying, he was upset,'' Leslie Lafond said. ``He did it all to be Santa, to make people smile and laugh. That's what Santa does.''
The sorry Santa saga started with a $30 suit the jovial youngster bought at a Brooks pharmacy to wear at one of his first school dances. Not once, Bryan said, did he think he would be offending anyone.

For crying out loud, what is going on with these people?

Meanwhile, over Ramblings' Journal, they've even gotten to this Theodore Geisel (AKA Dr. Seuss) classic. Will the madness never end?

Christmas Thoughts

Do you remember when you were about 6 or 8 years old? Remember what it felt like on Christmas Eve, the anticipation of what Santa would bring you? That's my kids today. The good thing is I still have the "Santa is watching and you better behave" stick to wield for another day, but the bad is that tomorrow it's over.

I can't wait to see the faces of my beautiful children when they come down the steps and see the booty Santa left. There's usually one "big" gift that every child wants and dreams about, I suspect Santa got the word and my kids will get those gifts.

My wife asked me what I would like and I was stumped. I honestly hadn't even pondered it because I was to busy thinking what to get the kids and how excited they'll be. My gift will be the joy my children feel when they see the myriad presents under the tree and the look on their faces.

I feel this is the last year my oldest will believe in the big guy in the red suit, but alas that's part of growing up too. My daughter has another year or two and the presents will get smaller and more expensive as they grow, so for me this is the end of one era and the onset of another.

Blogging Again

Blogo Slovo lives. Dave is writing again and is worthy of a daily click to see what he has to say.

Here's another interesting blog from a guy named Tony in Long Island (imagine... a Tony in LI). Red Mind, Blue State. Expand your blogging horizons. Note to Tony, the Giants suck.

News Briefs

Tim Blair has the notable quotables from the last tewlve months.

Cox & Forkum hit the mark again.

The Guardian's Giles Fraser thinks he knows religion.

Jonah Goldberg whacks France upside the head (again).

The market is on cruise control.

Thanks to all of you, I passed 1,000 total visitors and 1,400 page hits.

Oy!

The world's oldest terrorist was also a capitalist:

Using a holding company, Mr Arafat quietly sank about $US1.3 million ($A1.7 million) of Palestinian Authority funds into the popular tenpin bowling complex in 2002, two years before his death.
The news came as a surprise to Bowlmor's owners, a firm called Strike Holdings.
The company said it was shocked to learn Mr Arafat was behind the investment - and planned to return the money and sever any ties to the Palestinians.

...With its disco atmosphere and prime location, Bowlmor has become the top-grossing alley in New York - a popular spot for office parties and young singles.
Its website also advertises it as a hot spot for bar mitzvahs, complete with a kosher caterer and a special room for candlelighting ceremonies.

The vile little thug had smart people investing his Euros. I'm sure the Palestinians will blame it all on a Zionist plot.

What the Hell is Going On?

Santa seems to be under fire this year:

A group of French teenagers have mugged Father Christmas, attempting to steal his sack of presents.
The man dressed as Santa Claus was handing out sweets in the southern town of Ales when things turned nasty.
One of the teenagers demanded extra sweets and, when the red-cloaked Santa refused, he and his friends started kicking and pummelling the man.
The teenager and his friends, all about 15 years of age, were eventually scared off by passers-by.
Father Christmas suffered multiple bruises and has lodged a criminal complaint, the AFP news agency reported.

Getting beat up by any Frenchmen is akin to getting mugged by Girl Scouts. And this:

Santa definitely knows one boy was not nice this year.

A 17-year-old is accused of firing a pellet gun from a second-story window, hitting a man dressed as Santa Claus on Monday night. Police said the boy confessed.

Along with a lump of coal, that kid needs one size 11 black boot up his ass.

Please Drive an SUV

If we all drove SUV's, global warming would occur faster and I wouldn't have to deal with less than zero windchills. So for me, please buy a Hummer and drive it everywhere, leave it running when you eat at a restaurant, drive at 80 MPH everywhere. Please.

Prove It!

President Bush had a year-end news conference today and promised to halve the deficit in five years:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Monday he will submit a federal budget that will cut the deficit in half in five years and maintain strict spending discipline.
"We will provide every tool and resource for our military, we will protect the homeland," Bush said. He said he would "maintain strict discipline in spending tax dollars."

I hope so. If there's one thing I've always slammed Bush on, it's the deficit. It's time to get it under control by wisely cutting spending and closely monitoring where the pork is.

The MSM's Really Bad Year

The L.A. Times on the media and their...let's say less than stellar showing this year:

• Mark Swed, music critic for the Los Angeles Times, described Richard Strauss' epic opera "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" as "an incomparably glorious and goofy pro-life paean" in a February review. Unfortunately, "pro-life" in his review was changed to "anti-abortion" in the published version, even though abortion is not an issue in the opera, which "extols procreation," as The Times acknowledged in a correction the next day. Even more unfortunately, a second correction was required the following day to point out that the first correction had "incorrectly implied" that it was the reviewer who had characterized the work as "anti-abortion."

Of course, this being the L.A. Times They couldn't resist taking a shot at Reagan and his AIDS policies. The MRC also released their "Notable Quotables" although their site seems to be down at the moment.

I'm Sure the Marines Will be Happy To Oblige

The young from bin-Laden's homeland wish to be martyred:

SAN`A, Yemen - For weeks, Mohammed Ahmed Abdul-Rahman could only wonder where his son had gone. Then the mystery was solved in a will.

"I am in Iraq (news - web sites), seeking martyrdom. I hope we are all forgiven," Abdul-Rahman quoted his son's will as reading, saying in a weekend interview that an unknown caller from Jordan had told him how to find the document three weeks after 20-year-old Hossam Abdul-Rahman vanished in September. He said he doesn't know whether his son is dead.

Just a thought here; to be a martyr, you have to be...well, dead. How successful can an insurgency be if they attract only those who wish to die?

Ouch!

That collective gasp you heard yesterday was the city of Philly reacting to Terrell Owens having his leg pretzeled. T.O. is to have surgery and looks to be out for the season:

PHILADELPHIA - Eagles star receiver Terrell Owens will miss the rest of the regular season and possibly the playoffs and Super Bowl because of a sprained right ankle, a devastating blow to the best team in the NFC.
Owens will have surgery Wednesday and stands only an outside shot at being able to play in the NFL's championship game on Feb. 6 _ if Philadelphia makes it that far _ head trainer Rick Burkholder said.
"I was looking forward to the playoffs, really trying to get this team to the Super Bowl," Owens said in a conference call. "I think without me, still, they achieve that goal."

T.O. will not return this year. The Eagles still should make it to the Superbowl if they pull it together and rally around Owens. Donovan has to run more as was shown yesterday late in the fourth quarter, Todd Pinkston or another of the receivers has to step up and show why they get paid, and the defense has to play like they did yesterday. The NFC is weak this year with only team that should give the Eagles a game being the Falcons.

Good News Roundup From Iraq

Chrenkoff does the MSM's job and reports the good and worrisome things doing in Iraq (on his site, Opinion Journal and Winds of Change:

The newest member of the international democratic leaders club, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, recently had some words of encouragement and advice for the Iraqi people on their hard road to a better future: "They must go to polls. They must take this opportunity, elect their people to parliament, and have a government of their own, and have peace... The major lesson in Afghanistan was that the Afghan people wanted change, from the tyranny of terrorism. The Iraqi people also will gain nothing if they allow these people to come from outside and destroy their lives."

Although there is an insurgent element that fears the upcoming elections, the majority of Iraqi's want the chance to vote. Saddam, meanwhile, keeps yapping away like a senile chihuahua.

I Always Like A Good MM Jab

Bill from Eject!Eject!Eject! on Mikey Moore:

As for Michael Moore...I..uh...recused myself from that taping. There are only four people in the world I do not feel I could face without either going to jail or losing my job, and he is two of them (the others are O.J. Simpson and Ted Rall).
Everyone said how charming and self-effacing he was. Okay. The man has a keen nose. He cannot remain the Shrieking Butter Troll for FOUR MORE YEARS! (sorry) So let him re-invent himself. There are some lines that, when crossed, do not allow you to return. He crossed that line, and a few hundred others, a long time ago.

News Briefs

The penalty for "fornication" in Iran; your choice, death by hanging or death by stoning. Who said that Shiites weren't equal opportunity?

Apostacy=Death

Don't mess with drunken, Salvation Army bell-ringers if you know what's good for you.[

Reason #276,998 I pray that there's a Hell.

Chevy Chase Vs. Hitch

Youth is wasted on the young.

Merry Christmas (it's still allowed at this site)

This is funny.

Update: More from Krauthammer:

I personally like Christmas because, since it is a day that for me is otherwise ordinary, I get to do nice things, such as covering for as many gentile colleagues as I could when I was a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital. I will admit that my generosity had its rewards: I collected enough chits on Christmas Day to get reciprocal coverage not just for Yom Kippur but for both days of Rosh Hashana and my other major holiday, Opening Day at Fenway.

Avoiding Armageddon

This is one of the finest articles I've read in months. Marl McDonald of Knight-Ridder relays the story of Stanislav Petrov and decisions he made under great duress that probably saved the world:

He was educated, squared away and trustworthy, and that's why he was in the commander's chair on Sept. 26, 1983, the night the world nearly blew up.
Tensions were high: Weeks earlier, on Sept. 1, Soviet fighters had shot down a Korean airliner, killing all 269 people aboard.
Petrov was in charge of the secret bunker where a team of 120 technicians and military officers monitored the Soviet Union's early-warning system. It was just after midnight when a new satellite array known as Oko, or The Eye, spotted five U.S. missiles heading toward Moscow. The Eye discerned that they were Minuteman II nuclear missiles.
Petrov's computer was demanding that he follow the prescribed protocol and confirm an incoming attack to his superiors. A red light on the computer that read START! kept flashing at him. And there was this baleful message: MISSILE ATTACK!
Petrov had written the emergency protocol himself, and he knew he should immediately pick up the hot line at his desk to tell his superiors that the Motherland was under attack.
He also knew that time was short. The senior political and military chiefs in the Kremlin would have only about 12 minutes to wake up, get to their phones, digest Petrov's information and decide on a counterattack.

Read the whole thing of course. This is what reporting should be; no biases, just straight reporting of facts.

Hat tip: Tim Blair

Good Money For A Great Cause

The Spirit of America Blogger Challenge has ended with SOA raising in excess of $90,000. Iraq the Model made a furious last minute charge and overtook LGF while the Norther Alliance of Blogs won the team category with Castle Arrgh...taking second . Great work to everyone. To the folks who donated in my name, I can only say thank you.

Music Rules

With the advent of the I-pod, it forced people to think of what songs they would want to put on there. I tend to lean toward harder rock or blend music such as Sublime (RIP Bradley) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. My taste in music also tends to be eclectic; I can listen to the Grateful Dead then segue into 10,000 Maniacs into Triumph into Disturbed into Everclear into Social Distortion...

The one song that gets me singing like a complete idiot in my truck is Plowed by Sponge, it's one of those songs that reaches deep into my soul. Usually after it's over I can't talk above a whisper after imitating that dude's voice. Another is Father of Mine from Everclear, that song was definitely written from the heart. The last is Re-align by Godsmack, that guys voice is unbelievable.

The best albums of the year ten years according to me, who unlike real music critics actually buys and listens to music because I like it, are the following (not in any order):

I will post two tonight and continue this every Friday:

Audioslave-Audioslave
Chris Cornell is the best singer of this generation, kind of like Paul Rodgers of Bad Company was in the 70's/80's. His voice can go from here to here without taking away from the quality of the finished production. Although I don't agree with Tom Morello on anything politically, and still haven't forgiven him for leading Rage Against the Machine in playing the Mumia Abu Jamal benefit, tyhe dude can straight play the guitar. He and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains are groundbreaking.

Sublime-Sublime
Probably my favorite album ever. Unfortunately Bradley Newell died before he go the opportunity to enjoy success. That's what you get for being a junkie. This album starts with Garden Grove with funky lyrics and many references to Lou Dog into What I Got, which was classic Bradley Newell with lyrical changes that span a huge range. Next is Wrong Way about a guy saving a pre-teen from the underworld of prostitution. April 29, 1992 tells how the band got their furniture and equipment from smashing a few windows during the Rodney King riots. The CD ends with Doin' Time, a bluesy/Ska/Rock song that kind of defies description. I highly recommend this album to anyone who likes music with an edge. What a damn shame the idiot booted heroin until it killed him.

Nine Shots, Great Songs and the Military

Just read it.

I once worked for this guy who said he liked to hire former military guys because they always showed up for work:

Back then, we got into a shot drinking contest. Army vs. Marines. It was a tie, but we did end up destroying all of the civilian vendors dumb enough to drink with us. Jerry and I were the only ones that made into work the next day. I think it was the nine shots of Jack Daniels that did it. I know it's stupid and macho, but, so what, it was a good time!

In the Navy, it went something like this; you couldn't call in if you were sick (unless you were hospitalized), you had to show up and go to the base infirmary. This would take approximately 2-3 hours, after which they would tell you to either go home or go back to work. I figured, and still do to this day, if you can make it to work you go.

A Great Story

Charles Johnson has the best blog out there. He's always intelligent and doesn't pull punches if he feels something needs to be said. He linked to this story today about true heroism:

On the morning of November 15, 2004, the men of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines awoke before sunrise and continued what they had been doing for seven days previously - cleansing the city of Fallujah of terrorists house by house.At the fourth house they encountered that morning the Marines kicked in the door and "cleared" the front rooms, but then noticed a locked door off to the side that required inspection. Sgt. Rafael Peralta threw open the closed door, but behind it were three terrorists with AK-47s. Peralta was hit in the head and chest with multiple shots at close range.Peralta's fellow Marines had to step over his body to continue the shootout with the terrorists. As the firefight raged on, a "yellow, foreign-made, oval-shaped grenade," as Lance Corporal Travis Kaemmerer described it, rolled into the room where they were all standing and came to a stop near Peralta's body.But Sgt. Rafael Peralta wasn't dead - yet. This young immigrant of 25 years, who enlisted in the Marines when he received his green card, who volunteered for the front line duty in Fallujah, had one last act of heroism in him. Sgt. Rafael Peralta was the polar opposite of Pablo Paredes, the Petty Officer who turned his back on his shipmates and mocked his commander in chief. Peralta was proud to serve his adopted country. In his parent's home, on his bedroom walls hung only three items - a copy of the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and his boot camp graduation certificate. Before he set out for Fallujah, he wrote to his 14-year old brother, "be proud of me, bro...and be proud of being an American."Not only can Rafael's family be proud of him, but his fellow Marines are alive because of him. As Sgt. Rafael Peralta lay near death on the floor of a Fallujah terrorist hideout, he spotted the yellow grenade that had rolled next to his near-lifeless body. Once detonated, it would take out the rest of Peralta's squad. To save his fellow Marines, Peralta reached out, grabbed the grenade, and tucked it under his abdomen where it exploded."Most of the Marines in the house were in the immediate area of the grenade," Cpl. Kaemmerer said. "We will never forget the second chance at life that Sgt. Peralta gave us."Unfortunately, unlike Pablo Paredes, Sgt. Rafael Peralta will get little media coverage. He is unlikely to have books written about him or movies made about his extraordinarily selfless sacrifice. But he is likely to receive the Medal of Honor. And that Medal of Honor is likely to be displayed next to the only items that hung on his bedroom wall - the Constitution, Bill of Rights and his Boot Camp graduation certificate.

To those of you who thought "why would he do that?", you will never get it. The military is a bad word to some folks, hell to them I am just an idiot who was too stupid for Harvard. That's fine with me because I became friends with people like Sgt. Peralta and the bond you develop with your fellow servicemen is stronger than any other; with the possible exceptions of your wife and kids.

No Shit!

A Plant in Minnesota will use turkey crap to create electricity:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Turkey leftovers will take on a whole new use after a Minnesota company finishes construction of a power plant fired by the birds' droppings.
It may not be the total answer to relieving the United States' addiction to foreign oil, but the plant will burn 90 percent turkey dung and create clean power for 55,000 homes.
Three poultry litter plants have already been built in England, but the Benson, Minnesota-based facility will be the first large-scale plant of its type in the U.S. and the largest in the world, according to operator Fibrominn, a subsidiary of power plant builder Homeland Renewable Energy, LLC of Boston.
Turkey dung is prized over pig excrement and cow chips.
"Poultry litter is drier material, so it burns better, and there's a lot of it," said Charles Grecco, of HH Media, LLC, an investment bank that helped arrange $202 million in financing for the plant.

Now if they can invent a process to burn Canada goose droppings, us folks on the east coast will have a reason to like the evil little bastards.

Do You Think So?

Kerry Campaign Manager Mary Beth Cahill admitted that maybe she did make a mistake (or thirty):

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- The campaign manager for Sen. John Kerry's failed presidential bid said Wednesday she regrets underestimating the impact of an attack advertisement that questioned Kerry's Vietnam War record.
Mary Beth Cahill, who spoke at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government with Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager, said the Massachusetts senator's campaign initially thought there would be "no reach" to the ad from Swift Vets and POWs for Truth.
Instead, the ad, which initially aired in just three states, became a central issue of the campaign, eventually forcing Kerry to personally deny the group's allegations that he did not deserve his combat medals.
"This is the best $40,000 investment made by any political group, but it was only because of the news coverage that it got where it did," she said.

It was because of blogs Mary Beth (a fact that was mentioned in passing in the last paragraph however grudgingly and without using the word blog) that the story had legs. Besides, she never hit on the most salient point; Kerry was a horrible candidate. Whom did Kerry inspire? Easy, no one.

Peace at Last

The Main Stream Media have one fear remaining--now that Bush has been reelected--that towers above all others, that fear is that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be settled under the auspices of George W. Bush. Imagine if Bush was the man who had as his legacy--Peace in the Holy Land. Clinton-- in the waning days of his second term--wanted nothing more than to gain that legacy and Arafat snuffed any chance of that out.

Now things are starting to happen that were unthinkable just months ago, Ariel Sharon is getting good press and Abbas almost sounds conciliatory, but not quite. Now is the time for Bush to step in and get this process moving at a greater pace. He must assign an envoy to engage both parties and get results.

W. has capital at home but also abroad, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein has had a dramatic effect throughout the Arab world. That capital,in conjunction with the death of Arafat, has changed the playing field in ways never dreamed of. Is Abbas the guy to lead the way and be a founding father of a new nation? That remains to be seen and I definitely have my doubts. But, with a little walking softly while brandishing an enormous stick thinking from the US it just may be possible.

If this does come to fruition, how will the media spin it?

1. Abbas was the savior and was responsible;

2. Moderate forces in Sharon's coalition brokered it; or

3. Kofi Annan and the UN accomplished the impossible.

My guess is all of the above. I wonder if this ever did happen if Bush, Sharon and Abbas would share the Nobel Peace Prize...just kidding.

On the Highway to Hell

I can think of several ways to punch your ticket to Hell, one being shooting the Pope. I imagine the horrific crimes perpetrated by Saddam and his spawn would qualify. This may be another:

The first sign of trouble for the nativity scenes of Woodstock was a sign, written by hand in jagged black letters and propped against the manger that was part of a massive, incandescent holiday display in the Popovits family's front yard."Would Jesus use this much electricity?" it read.A few days later, Jesus was gone, torn from his wooden crib by a vandal. It was one of three thefts of baby Jesus figures reported to Woodstock police last week.The crime takes place every Christmas season at churches and homes across the country, perpetrated by drunks, young hooligans and even people trying to make political statements. But some say it seems worse than ever this year.

I seem to recall the seventh or eighth of the Ten Commandments being Thou Shalt Not Steal. I suspect that being this idiot stole a replica of the baby Jesus, he's gonna have some explaining to do in the next life.

Most Choose the Red

This website shows the money individual corporations gave to the Donkeys and Republicans with the goal of giving Dems a guide to shop at Dem supporting corporations. No wonder their vegetarians, there are very few food companies who supported the minority party. And, alas, this breaks my heart, I love Guiness.

Canada Wins

All you ever needed to know about Canadian history laid out by Andy:

Now, for you folks unfortunate enough to live south of the 48th parallel, you probably know very little about your big northern brother. Well don't worry, I've decided to fill you in on what's been happening up here. So, without further delay, here it is, my brief lesson in Canadian History. Enjoy.1775 - Americans invade Canada during the American Revolution. Long story short, Canada wins.1812 - The start of the War of 1812. Eventually ended in 1814, but only after Canada stomps all over America's face. Canadian forces burn the White House (August, 1914). Canada wins.1867 - Canada becomes an independent nation.1893 - First Stanley Cup championship, won by the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) hockey club1899 - Canada Sends its first troops to an overseas war (The Boer War). Canada wins.

I still say blame Canada! Canadian Stanley Cups won since 1994...ZERO! A team from friggin' Florida won one in that stretch.

Double Header

Lorraine posts at two blogs today; her own great blog, American Lady and as a guest blogger at Blogs of War. Go to bed Lorraine, you've got school tomorrow and SAT's coming.

Patent Pending

Scott Ott:

(2004-12-13) -- MoveOn.org, the political action group that recently purchased the Democrat National Committee, today filed an infringement suit against a New York City artist whose portrait of President Bush, formed from monkey heads, caused chaos at Chelsea Market this weekend.
The MoveOn.org suit claims "any representation of Bush and monkeys together without the expressed written consent of MoveOn.org is strictly prohibited."
The suit asks for $950 million in damages and possession of the acrylic-on-canvas work, "Bush Monkeys," by Chris Savido.
"The Bush-chimp thing is our idea," said a MoveOn.org spokesman. "We bought it. We own it. We're going to take it back."

Scrappleface is the best satire site on the web including this smack up side the head to NARAL:

"We decry the inhumanity of the death penalty for a man who simply exercised his choice to end a pregnancy and to end the woman who was harboring an unwanted fetus," said an unnamed NARAL spokesman. "This emotional jury decision shows no respect for Mr. Peterson's reproductive rights. It's a sad day for America and may have a chilling effect on the hundreds of physicians nationwide engaged in similar work."

Missed it by that much

Froggy lost by 13, count 'em, 13 votes. No problems though, he's pushing on as a good SEAL does. Call for a recount! blame Diebold, look for hanging chads, whatever you have to do to drag this out past Christmas. He lost to a great challenger however.

Global Warming Bonanza

Global warming will either destroy the world or it's a myth. We have several differing views such as:

• South America doomed.
• Ignore it.
• It's no issue.
• The supporters are extremists.
• No scientific evidence backs the theory.
• It will benefit coral.
• California calls the auto industry on the carpet concerning it.

And the rich among us need to do more to aid Mother Earth.

All I know is it's about thirty friggin' degrees F outside and I'll be happy to have it at about 75.

Wanting Less But Finding Moore

Mikey Moore is having a hissy fit at his site, complete with numbers and everything.

Spirit of America

One more day to contribute to SoA. I know you want to make that last minute tax-deductible contribution. I received this e-mail from Jim Hake of SoA today:

VISIT WITH PRESIDENT BUSHOn Thursday, Omar and Mohammed from Iraq the Model and Friends of Democracy,Kerry Dupont from SoA and I met with President Bush in the Oval Office. It was a half-hour meeting with the President. Paul Wolfowitz was also there. I'll be posting more information in the next two days but here are two items.About half way into the meeting the President said to Omar and Mohammed, "I want you two to know that we are going to stay until the job is done. It doesn't matter what the rest of the world says. It doesn't matter what the UN says. We are going to stay until the job is done. It's important that your country knows that." It was a powerful and moving moment. After talking about Spirit of America, Pres. Bush turned to Omar andMohammed and said, " You see gentlemen, that is the beauty of America. I never met this man before but he's out there helping to win this war on terror just as much as Wolfie here. That's what I believe in." He went onto talk about the importance of private-sector, grass roots initiatives like SoA.

Emphasis mine. SoA is doing great work and deserve as many donations as they can accrue. Go here to donate to a good cause.

Smash Answers a Coward

Smash.

'Nough said.

Hitch

Christopher Hitchens on Afghanistan, the poppy crop and the War on Drugs:

In order to comprehend this point, there is no need to know much about Afghanistan. Do you know anyone who really believes in the "war on drugs" as it is supposedly waged in the United States? It is widely understood to be the main index of pointless and costly and unjust incarceration, a huge source of corruption in police departments, and a cause of crime in its own right as well as a source of tainted and "cut" narcotics. And that is before you even consider absurdities and cruelties like the denial of medical marijuana, or the diversion of personnel and resources from the war against more threatening gangsters. Our entire state policy, at home and abroad, is devoted not to stopping a trade that actually grows every year, but rather to ensuring that all its profitable means of production, distribution, and exchange remain the fiefdom of criminal elements. We consciously deny ourselves access to properly refined and labeled products and to the vast revenue that could accrue to the Treasury instead of to the mobsters here and overseas.

Point taken. The War on Drugs has proven to be a farce and should be re-examined in great detail. I don't do drugs but have no misconception that if I wanted to find any drug it wouldn't be very hard. The costs associated with this so-called war is unimaginable and, most likely, not accountable. The solution is something more toward treatment and education as opposed to eradication of the drug at its source. Eradication is impossible if the demand exists; poor populations will continue to grow coca or poppies as long as Americans, Europeans and Asians demand the temporary high that these narcotics bring.

I suggest legalization of marijuana--with taxation--and utilizing the revenue to fund major treatment programs that may actually work, not underfunded, half-hearted attempts at treatment that we currently are subsidizing.

Band-Aid Redux

Bob Geldof, he of Boomtown Rats fame and star of The Wall, has gotten the hot stars of Britain to remake Do They Know It's Christmas:

It features vocals from the likes of Chris Martin, Dido, Robbie Williams and the Sugababes.
The original version - which was the Christmas number one in 1984 - sold 750,000 copies in its first week and 3.5 million in total.
It was released in the US, and reached number 13 in the singles chart.
However, Band Aid 20 is not going to be released in the US, despite being sold in many countries around the world.
US record shops are stocking an import version of Do They Know It's Christmas, which is said to be selling very well in Los Angeles and New York.
British stars who appear on the current recording, such as Dido and Coldplay's Chris Martin, are well known to music fans across the Atlantic, along with U2 frontman Bono.

I know none of them with the exception of Bono but I hope he makes as much money for the people of the African continent as he did with the first.

Hat tip: Samizdata contributor David Carr who has a more...uh, blunt assessment.

Be Careful For What You Ask...

I have said numerous times on this site that I have no issues with gay unions. The "but" following that sentence would be don't call it marriage. I also said that it would have to be set up in a way that would make it equal to heterosexual marriages such as; alimony, child support etc. By taking such a tough stance the gay community seems to have hurt themselves immeasurably and inadvertantly put themselves in the position of equality, or at least something close:

Many of the largest employers in Massachusetts are dropping health benefits for unmarried gay couples, seven months after the state became the only one to legalize same-sex marriage.
Massachusetts companies, some of which pioneered domestic-partner benefits for unmarried, same-sex partners, said they were now withdrawing them for reasons of fairness: If gays and lesbians can now marry, they should no longer receive special treatment in the form of health benefits that were not made available to unmarried, opposite-sex couples.
Large employers terminating or phasing out domestic-partner benefits for some or all Massachusetts workers include IBM Corp., Raytheon Co., Emerson College, Northeastern University, the National Fire Protection Association, Boston Medical Center, Baystate Health System, and the New York Times Co., which owns the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
"We're saying if you're a same-sex domestic partner, you now have the same option heterosexuals have, so we have to apply the same rules to you," said Larry Emerson, Baystate's vice president of human resources.

Amen, Larry. Fair is fair and this is a fair way of doing business. By gaining the right to marry in Mass. homosexuals have put themselves in a place they longed for but now may realize they didn't want.

Blogs Take Down a Leader

Blogs assisted in successfully knocking off a a sitting Senate leader:

South Dakota Republicans decided that the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, which dominates the state's media since it's the only paper with a statewide circulation, was hopelessly biased in favor of Mr. Daschle. "The ability to use the Internet to circumvent concentrated media power became a 21st-century updating of 19th-century Dakota populism," says John Lauck, a history professor at the University of South Dakota who was allied with Mr. Thune. Mr. Lauck and several of his friends collaborated on blogs that constantly reminded voters of contradictions between Mr. Daschle's voting record and his statements in South Dakota, as well as the Argus Leader's refusal to acknowledge them.
"South Dakotas have for the first time been hearing a few things about 'ole Tom' that have surprised," reported The Wall Street Journal's Kim Strassel from South Dakota last October. "Mr. Daschle has assured voters he supports a state law defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Yet in July he voted against a similar constitutional amendment that two-thirds of South Dakotans support. He was a free trader, but now he's not. He's for legal change, but blocked every tort bill. He beats up on drug companies, though his wife, Linda Daschle, lobbies for them."

That's exactly what bloggers do they fact-check and show inconsistencies; if they make mistakes, they admit it and post the correct information (at least the scrupulous ones do).

A Last Wish

Michelle Malkin passes on a request for your support:

The family of Specialist David Mahlenbrock, a 20-year-old combat engineer who was killed in Iraq last Friday when a roadside bomb detonated, has a special request.
They are asking radio music stations to play Toby Keith's "American Soldier" on Wednesday, Dec. 15, at 1pm, in memory of Mahlenbrock, who will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on that date/time.
According to military blogger Blackfive, Mahlenbrock wrote a letter before his death requesting that Keith's song be played at his funeral in case he was killed in the line of duty. More details here and a link to radio stations here.
It would also be nice for both national and local radio talk show hosts who broadcast during the 1pm to take time out to salute a fallen soldier. Please get on their case!
-Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1pm-Please play Toby Keith's "American Soldier" in memory of Specialist David Mahlenbrock. He leaves behind a wife and infant daughter.

Please follow the links and honor this great American who gave his life for Iraqi freedom and the safety of our country.

Sites I've Neglected Lately

Go read the aforementioned Andrea Harris, Dave Barry, Ace of Spades and Iowahawk. Excellent blogs all and I've not linked to them in a while. Maybe one day I'll quit being a derelict and actually update this site to include comments, links and all that fancy stuff.

Bonds and Steroids

Matt Welch defends Barry Bonds over the recent steroid allegations. I tend to disagree in some respects concerning Matt's hypothesis. Barry Bonds has allegedly used drugs to increase his performance and gain an edge over other athletes and that is wrong. Ken Caminiti and Jason Giambi both had MVP seasons and have admitted steroid use so there's definitely an advantage gained. Granted, enhancement drugs play a lesser role in baseball than in football or other sports, but Bonds' power has increased markedly and it's not because he gained weight.

I too am against using urinalysis testing for drugs, but you can not say Bonds is the greatest homerun hitter ever without throwing an asterisk next to it. The only thing Babe Ruth had in his system was whiskey and bad food. Hank Aaron worked hard to keep his body up until he broke the record. Bonds has used a substance that increases his power, hence it increases his homer numbers. I know that in baseball you still have to hit the ball and steroids don't aid that, but his power numbers should be called into question.

Spirit of America Blogger Challenge

The Blogger challenge ends at midnight (PST) this Wednesday. I currently sit at 18 out of 93 individual sites. I'm proud of that and wish to thank everyone who donated in the name of ER or donated in the name of another blogger or team. There's still time to donate if you're looking for one last tax deduction for 2004 and it's for a great cause.

Blair's New Digs

Tim Blair can now be read here. Nice site design by Andrea too. I think his readers are on to him however with this comment:

Moving again? Tim, you know that eventually your creditors will catch up with you.

It's Good to be Home

Home again. A day to put up the tree and watch football--the Eagles play at 8:30 on ESPN so I get three games today (insert wife growl here)--and relax.

I just have to comment on the great experience we had flying. I know flying in general just sucks, but we flew Frontier Airlines and I can't say enough good things about them. The planes were big, clean and had 18 channels of Direct TV on screens inserted in the seats in front of you. For $5 you can watch anything you want. This is a nominal fee when you have two kids flying coast-to-coast. The people who work for the airline were all helpful and smiling and seemed like they genuinely wanted to assist you with anything.

The security lines went smoothly since people are getting smarter and passing their shoes through the scanner. I did get called to the side to inspect a bag that had some metal sculptures in them but that was a slight inconvenience barely worth mentioning. I must say that the TSA folks are mostly rude but this time they didn't seem intentionally rude, just indifferent.

Overall it wasn't nearly as bad as experiences in the past.

Kerik Denied

The media can cease their campaign against Bernie Kerik. It turns out he had some skeletons that he didn't disclose to the Bush people who vetted him. Who does that leave for Homeland Security? I recommend John Timoney, the current Police Chief in Miami and former Philly top cop. Why? The liberals and anarchists hate him and that's a start. He kept calm in Philly during the RNC in 2000 and the Indymedia idiots have been after him ever since. He's a no-nonsense guy who has great leadership skills and would reform and shape a growing organization.

Krauthammer

Charles Krauthammer on the deafening silence or downright hostility of the media with regard to the recent inauguration of Hamid Karzai:

This in Afghanistan, which only three years ago was not just hostile but untouchable. What do liberals have to say about this singular achievement by the Bush administration? That Afghanistan is growing poppies.

...The other complaint is that Karzai really does not rule the whole country. Again, the sun rises in the east. Afghanistan has never had a government that controlled the whole country. It has always had a central government weak by Western standards.
But Afghanistan's decentralized system works. Karzai controls Kabul, most of the major cities and much in between. And he is successfully leveraging his power to gradually extend his authority as he creates entirely new federal institutions and an entirely new military.

Think about this; the remnants of the Taliban threatened, no vowed, to disrupt first the election, then the inauguration and nothing happened. This is Afghanistan, the country that swallowed and destroyed empirical powers. Afghanistan is the genesis of the saying "never fight a land war in Asia". They have just finished 25 years of civil war and strife and are now the worlds youngest democracy, soon to be supplanted by Iraq. We did this with the help of the Northern Alliance and our Coalition of the Willing. Is this not arguably the most newsworthy event of 2004? Perhaps if it had been done by a Democrat it would have been.

Bush Caves on Kofi

President Bush, along with 109 other leaders gave a vote of confidence to the hapless Kofi Annan:

The Bush administration has expressed confidence in United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, despite calls for his resignation from several U.S. lawmakers over a scandal involving the U.N.-administered oil-for-food program for Iraq.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Danforth, said Thursday that President Bush has confidence in Mr. Annan, and dismissed speculation the administration was trying to push the Ghanaian diplomat out.
Mr. Danforth also stressed the importance of a U.S. investigation of the oil-for-food program, saying it would be the only way to - in his words - lift the cloud from the United Nations.

A huge mistake in my estimation. Annan has led an organization that has been corrupted beyond repair. The authority on this subject is the always great Claudia Rosett, and she is like an akita with a meaty bone:

The matter is surfacing in new documents coming to light as investigators scramble to find out why the young son of the secretary-general was put on the payroll by a Swiss-based company, Cotecna Inspection Services SA, that ended up doing some of the most sensitive work in the U.N. oil-for-food program.
The documents show that far from being a provincial Peace Corps type working in Africa, as the secretary-general's office has implied, the younger Annan led a highly cosmopolitan life, dividing his time between Lagos, London, Geneva, and New York - where he listed his father's address, one month before Kofi Annan took the post of secretary-general, as one of the places where he could be reached over the winter 1996 holidays.

I've no idea what Bush was thinking backing Annan. The guy is anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian and pro-dictator (read Mugabe). I suspect that Bush will be hearing about this for weeks.