For every vote cast this Tuesday in favor of confirming Judge Alito, I, Senator Edward Kennedy, will eat one small child

I thought that's what he said. I'm glad he clarified his statements in a letter.

Think of it this way

Great analogy from Frank Miele.

"You are in the middle of a no-holds-barred fight with this crazy dude who broke into your home hollering and screaming about injustice and Satan and the fact that he would be happy to die just as long as he takes you with him."
...
You figure your neighbor will jump right in and throw a few punches at the crazy dude, or at the very least pick up the phone and call 911.

But 911 apparently never even occurs to the guy, and instead of throwing punches he just says kind of sheepishly that it doesn’t seem like a fair fight.

“What!” you shout back. “Of course it’s not a fair fight. This maniac broke in here and he’s hyped up on some kind of unholy drug that makes him think he is invincible and immortal and he’s ripping my nose off and all I want to know is WHEN THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO HELP?”

Buy Danish!

Muslim countries are boycotting Denmark for their Jyllands-Posten having published cartoons depicting Mohammed. So I say, "Buy Danish!" Lots of links here.

UPDATE: Some of the cartoons in question:

Congress is Out of Control

Paul Jacob points to some major problems:

1. Congress has effectively escaped citizen control,
2. Congress has far too much power, and
3. Congress will use this [Abramoff] scandal not to clean up its act but to further entrench itself.
...
Congress can make or break any business in America. Got a competitor? Congress has regulations! We're talking power that is worth trillions more. Good, negotiable power. So, is it surprising that interested parties would hire lobbyists to protect themselves...?

Now Congress seeks to regulate bloggers - they can't handle the criticism. Evidently, they don't think the unwashed masses can handle the truth. As the truth becomes opaque, as decision-making becomes farther removed from constituents, our well-being suffers.

How'd they know?

I'm a Lamborghini Murcielago!

You're not subtle, but you don't want to be. In a world full of sheep, you're a raging bull.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

PREVIOUS:

It's Only a Flesh Wound
A political quiz

Rumsfeld To Reporters: Why Don't You Report The News, Not What "Might Be" The News?

Classic Rummy.

After many minutes [of] reporters trying to insist that the military is broken and Rummy destroying them all, someone asked another stupid question and Rumsfeld's response (just half listening to it in the background) was:

"Why Don't You Report The News, Not What "Might Be" The News?"

Details and link to video at RightWinged.

Free0352 fisks bin Laden

Osama: "There is no defect in this solution other than preventing the flow of hundreds of billions to the influential people and war merchants in America, who supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars."

Free0352: Do you have any idea who Bush owes to his re-election? You Osama. I'd rather have Kerry and a peaceful Mid East but because of boils on Allah's pig ass like you... we need a fucking warrior like Bush to send those who defend us over to your neighborhood and fucking kill you. Enjoy that cave, pretty soon you're gonna die there.

Go read the rest here.

PREVIOUS: Varifrank fisks bin Laden

Hollywood continues to crank out the flops

I am getting sick of the propaganda coming out of Hollywood. From Syriana to Munich to Jarhead to Flight Plan, and now there's Annapolis. How long can they keep putting out politically motivated movies that nobody wants to watch and stay in business? I like the way Mark Steyn puts it:

...in a conflict that’s already lasted longer than America’s participation in World War Two, Hollywood still can’t bring itself to make a film in which America’s heroes whump America’s enemies. That’s just lousy business sense.

PREVIOUS: Hollywood at War

Varifrank fisks bin Laden

Osama: We are a nation, for which God has disallowed treachery and lying.

Varifrank: However, Allahs support of genocidal tyrants and butchery of civilians is considered perfectly "ok".

...

Osama: There is no defect in this solution other than preventing the flow of hundreds of billions to the influential people and war merchants in America, who supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars.

Varifrank: Howard Dean, Call your Office. Someone stole your blackberry.

Read the rest here.

Lou Dobbs and Paul Krugman don't really give a crap about unemployment, or the US economy - it's all about hating Bush

From Polipundit:

The media on Thursday censored this report from the general public, but that doesn’t change the reality:

New claims for jobless benefits last week were 271,000, with the four-week moving average falling under 300,000. (See here.)

What were those numbers back in mid-January 1998, you ask?

341,000 and 322,000. (See here.)

Yeah, that’s right, more people were getting laid off from their jobs back in Jan. 1998 when compared to the present day.

PREVIOUS: Tax Revenue is Up, Unemployment is down, and the Economy is Expanding, so Why aren't we Hearing about it?

This Video Rocks

It's a few years old, but I hadn't seen it before. If harsh language and heavy-metal rock bother you, then you may want to turn the volume down before viewing - via euphoricreality.net:

In light of Iran’s latest BS, and bin Laden’s latest BS, I thought this was an appropriate time for my favorite kick-jihadi-ass military video!

A commenter at the Belmont Club, CatoRenasci, spells out the real nightmare scenario.

"...I honestly believe that to avoid the fight before the Iranians acquire nuclear weapons is to ensure the fight with Islam turns into a Vernichtigungskrieg - a war of extermination."

We need to think about these things very carefully:

"...if Iran reaches the point where they can carry out their President's wish--of wiping Israel off the map--this will lead to a nuclear exchange between Israel and Iran. I would also expect that Israel might engage in the Samson option--figuring that if more than a couple of nuclear weapons go off over Israel, they are not going to continue to exist anymore, they won't need American aid, they already don't much care what a bunch of whining Europeans think, and they might as well exterminate their enemies. That would likely mean destruction of Mecca, Medina, and all major Arab and Iranian population centers for which they have enough bombs."

Content of Character

Today on MLK Day of all days, 'Mayor' Nagin says, "We as black people, it’s time, it’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans and I don’t care what people are saying uptown or wherever they are, this city will be chocolate at the end of the day."

Now that's and Ad

This video has been around for a while now. I don't know if it really came from Volkswagen, but I think it would make for a great advertisement on TV. It would sell cars, and piss-off the politically correct crowd, too. Why is it politically incorrect, you ask? Because it dehumanizes the 'martyr' in the Volkswagen. Of course.

"Gerwargerwaggle!"

From today's Senate Judiciary confirmation hearings (via Frank J.):

"It's now Senator Kennedy's turn," Specter said.

Alito stared at the globular mass before him. "It's like someone put Jabba the Hut in a suit."

"Gerwargerwaggle!" Kennedy exclaimed as he flailed his tiny limbs and ripped some flesh from the ham hock he had in hand.

"I'm sorry," Alito answered, "I'm not sure how this is possible, but I don't think I can hear you over your own stench of whiskey."

"Wargherbagleergh!" Kennedy yelled, flailing his arms around some more.

In all seriousness though, what I saw today on C-Span was Kennedy pulling out sentences from magazines and newspapers and demanding to know if Alito had ever read them. He can't find anything in the three or four hundred opinions Alito actually did write to ding him with, so now Senator-for-life murderer Ted Kennedy wants us to believe that Judge Alito is responsible for everything he has ever read? Alito says he didn't even read what Teddy is talking about. I read tons of stuff I disagree with. So what? I thought McCarthyism was a bad thing. For Senator Kennedy, it's all about the smear. Kennedy is a thug. And don't even get me started on Joe Biden ("all kidding aside, I wasn't a big Princeton fan") or Upchuck Schumer. (SCHUMER: Does the Constitution protect the right to free speech? ALITO: Certainly it does. That's in the First Amendment. SCHUMER: So why can't you answer the question of: Does the Constitution protect the right to an abortion the same way without talking about stare decisis?) These guys really should have taken their medication.

122nd ANG deployed

This is interesting:

The Indian[a] ANG 122nd wing will be deployed in upcoming days to Southwest Asia, officials announced. Col. Jeffery A. Soldner, 122nd commander, did not give specific numbers, but said it is the largest single deployment for the wing since it was called to Chambley, France, in 1961 during the Berlin Crisis.
...
Where soldiers in the unit will be sent for the Operation Iraqi Freedom deployment won't be released until they have arrived, said Lt. Lauri Turpin, community manager with the 122nd.

(Emphasis mine.) Very interesting, particularly as it comes on the heels of this:

Iran broke U.N. seals on its nuclear enrichment facility Tuesday, pledging only to conduct research, but the international nuclear watchdog said Tehran also planned small-scale enrichment of uranium — a process that can produce fuel for nuclear weapons.
...
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tehran had breached IAEA resolutions. "There was no good reason why Iran should have taken this step if its intentions are truly peaceful," Straw said.
...
French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday warned Iran it would commit a serious mistake if it ignored the international community.

Now why do you suppose such a large deployment of Air National Guard, including pilots as well as support, is headed for the Mid-East?

PREVIOUS: A Measured Response

On Poverty, Wealth Creation, and China

Another fine point from Thomas Sowell:

...what does it even mean to say that "China is lifting a million people a month out of poverty"? Where would the Chinese government get the money to do that?

The only people the Chinese government can tax are mainly the people in China. A country can't lift itself up by its own bootstraps that way. Nor has there ever been enough foreign aid to lift a million people a month out of poverty.

If the Chinese government hasn't done it, then who has? The Chinese people. They did not rise out of poverty by receiving largess from anybody.

The only thing that can cure poverty is wealth. The Chinese acquired wealth the old-fashioned way: They created it.

After the death of Mao, government controls over the market began to be relaxed -- first tentatively, in selected places and for selected industries. Then, as those places and those industries began to prosper dramatically, similar relaxations of government control took place elsewhere, with similar results.

Even foreigners were allowed to come in and invest in China and sell their goods in China. But this was not just a transfer of wealth.

Foreigners did not come in to help the Chinese but to help themselves. The only way they could benefit, and the Chinese benefit at the same time, was if more total wealth was created. That is what happened but the political left has virtually no interest in the creation of wealth, in China or anywhere else, despite all of their proclaimed concern for "the poor."

Now go read the rest of it.

Are you a Democrat, Republican or Southern Republican?

Here is a little test that will help you decide:

You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, an Islamic Terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and charges.

You are carrying a Glock 40, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family.

What do you do?

**************************
Democrat's Answer:
Well, that's not enough information to answer the question!

Does the man look poor or oppressed?

Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack?

! ! Could we run away?

What does my wife think?

What about the kids?

Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation!?

Does the Glock have appropriate safety built into it?

Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children?

Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me?

Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me?

If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me?

Should I call 9-1-1?

Why is this street so deserted?

We need to raise taxes, have a paint and weed day and make this
happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior.

This is all so confusing! ! I need to debate this with some friends
for few days and try to come to a consensus.

***************************
Republican's Answer:
BANG!
***************************
Southern Republican's Answer:
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! ! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! (click...)
(sounds of reloading...)

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! (click...)
***************************
Via What If?

This day in history

On January 10, 1878, U.S. Senator Aaron Sargent (R-CA) first introduced the Susan B. Anthony amendment for women’s suffrage. The Demonrat-controlled Senate defeated it 4 times before the election of Republican majorities in both House and Senate guaranteed its approval in 1919. The 19th Amendment was ratified by the States in 1920.

Besides trying to deny all human rights to blacks, the Democrats tried to deny women the right to vote. The portrayal of the Democratic party as being the party of human rights is a lie.

Ding-Dong, bin Laden's Dead

Michael Ledeen says bin Laden is dead:

...according to Iranians I trust, Osama bin Laden finally departed this world in mid-December. The al Qaeda leader died of kidney failure and was buried in Iran, where he had spent most of his time since the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

INTEL, LIES & TREASON

Ralph Peters has a brilliant article in today's New York Post. Excerpts:

Name one honest citizen who has been targeted by our intelligence system. Name one innocent man or woman whose life has been destroyed. Come on, Nancy. Give it up, Howard. Name just one.

...the real threats to your information security are Google, eBay, chat rooms, credit applications, junk mail, etc. And the Democratic National Committee holds vastly more information about individual American citizens in its files than do all of our intelligence agencies combined.
...
Reasoned dissent is patriotic, but serving as propaganda agents for mass murderers is something else. Now the Dem extremists are welcoming the compromise of clandestine programs to prevent terrorist attacks.

See also J. Peter Mulhern's article and Varifrank's comments on this issue posted yesterday.

more required reading

dean's world: singularity thoughts

shrinkwrapped: do we now return...

kobayashimaru: fasten your seatbelts...

and from the officersclub: iran ditches the un...now what?

The war on terror is the real women's issue

Via Danegerus

The Kallini Brothers:

Just before the 2004 U.S. elections, Cameron Diaz appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show to explain what was at stake:

"Women have so much to lose. I mean, we could lose the right to our bodies . . . If you think that rape should be legal, then don't vote. But if you think that you have a right to your body," she advised Oprah's viewers, "then you should vote."

The question is not whether Cameron's lost all rights to her body, but whether she's lost her mind. After presenting the 2004 Presidential election as a referendum on the right to rape, Miss Diaz might be interested to know that men enjoy that right under Islamic legal codes around the world -- and, given that more countries live under Sharia than did 50 years ago, that means more women have "lost the right to their bodies". Under the Taliban, women were prevented by law from ever feeling sunlight on their faces.
...
...isn't the war on terror the real "women's issue"?

In America '60 per cent of college graduates are now women' yet the Taliban beheaded a teacher just this week for daring to instruct... drum roll please... women.

Apparently our educational investment... isn't.

Isn't educational that is. Not when it comes to advancing women's rights in the 21st century.

Compare and Contrast

Texas 41 USC 38

I've lived in California for a long time and would have liked to see USC win. But. I just can't help but notice the contrast between these two quotes:

From the Southern California Trojans' QB:

Said Leinart: "I still think we're a better football team. They just made the plays in the end."

From the Texas Longhorns' QB:

"The tears hit me last night when I got in from hanging out," Young said. "I laid in bed and I was listening to ESPN for a little bit. I mean, everybody was asleep and I kind of went on the balcony and just sat out there and had my little words with the man upstairs, and they basically came down. I'm just a real blessed guy to be in the position I am right now."

UPDATE: I didn't post these quotes because I agreed or disagreed with them, nor was it because I think the two quotes are connected in any way other than in seeming so unusual to me. First Matt Leinart, who has a Heisman Trophy, says something that is generally considered to be bad sportsmanship - that the other team won but we're a better team. (I wonder if Leinart is a Democrat.) Even if he thinks it's true it's still a conceited thing to say to a reporter. Then Young, who may have just positioned himself as the number one pick in the NFL draft, actually realizing how blessed he is. I've heard atheletes give thanks to God before, but for some reason, Vince Young's statement seemed noteworthy.

Vermont judge gives child rapist 60-days in jail

This just makes me want to PUKE! Judge Edward Cashman of Burlington, Vermont "no longer believes in punishment," so he gave a 34-year old man who had confessed and stands convicted of raping a little girl, less than 10-years old, many, many, many times, two months in jail. TWO MONTHS. You would get more than that for getting caught smoking marijuana.

Excuse me while I go break stuff.

Required Reading:

The Soviets Had the KGB -- Al Qaeda Has the NYT
by Mac Johnson

Blinking (an interview)
by Jamie Glazov

Hillary Challenger John Spencer Blasts Clinton Terror Record
from NewsMax

Why we don't trust you with national security
by Ann Coulter

Let's organize to end war disunity
by Tony Blankley

The poverty hype
by Walter E. Williams

Americans and Literacy
by Christopher Chantrill

Would you join today?

That's what Rep. John "War-Hero" Murtha was asked in an interview Friday:

"Would you join (the military [again]) today?"

His response:

“No.”

Rep. Murtha of Pennsylvania is the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending. I'm wondering if there are faeries and/or unicorns where he lives. It's too bad penalties for desertion aren't retroactive.

H/T: Darth Misha

P.S.: Speaking of Misha, this fisking is a thing of beauty. A taste:

So unless you happen to have a degree or, failing that, have attended the College Reject Full Employment Program also known as “Journo School”, you should shut up and let the “adults” do the talking?

How very generous of you. You’ll pardon us for issuing an Imperial “Impale Yourself on a Hard Salami!” in your general direction, we’re sure.

This is no joke. As demonstrated recently by the House of Representatives (H/T Raging Dave), it is much worse than just having mainstream media attempt to discredit bloggers all the time, because the College Reject Full Employment Program is an elitist country club, and 182 House Representatives have been hired to watch the door to make sure that membership is kept exclusive even if that means sacrificing our right to freedom of speech. Legalized theft has a new dimension for liberals to play with: our thoughts as expressed on the internet. Next, they'll extend campaign finance laws to the inside of my skull.

Liberals: Suicidal or just Blue-Bellied?

We often see bloggers use psychology to help explain political discourse and action, but this is the first time I've seen entomoly used to explain political thought. Fascinating stuff.

Force Multipliers: A Poem

Force Multipliers
Wikipedia: force multiplier-a military term referring to a factor that dramatically increases (hence multiplies) the combat-effectiveness of a given military force.

In Iraq an IED explodes,
An American soldier dies,
But that blast will grow as the media blow
It up before our eyes.
And trumpet to the watching world,
These fifth column falsifiers,
Like sheep they bleat we face defeat,
Our foe’s force multipliers.

Osama and his minions know,
In combat they can’t beat us;
So they hope and pray will come a day,
Our own media will defeat us.
Ignoring all the good we’ve done,
Liberals focus on the gore,
On losses mounting and body counting,
To prove we’ve lost this war.

They disgraced us once in Vietnam,
So now these leftists feel,
That again they’ll win with media spin,
And make America kneel.
But defeatists aren’t the only ones,
Learned lessons from the past;
Back then we swore we’d lose no more,
This time we’re standing fast.

The Internet’s exposed them,
As elitist media liars;
They stand unclothed and widely loathed,
Our foe’s force multipliers.
Some day when all our troops return,
With Iraq on freedom’s path,
The liberal elite who sought defeat,
May face some Righteous wrath.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

More of Russ' poetry is here.

H/T: Michelle Malkin

Does Saddam have attachment disorder?

"The classic case of attachment disorder is a child without a conscience, with no capacity for empathy with other people." Jennifer Morse psychoanalyzes Saddam. Why haven't we seen more of this?

In next week’s column, I’ll tell you how to deal with attachment disordered children, and what that has to do with how we ought to treat Saddam. But for now, just realize his thirty years of recreational torture is not the behavior of a normal person.

Hmmm. Recreational torture not normal? Clearly Ms. Morse's views are out of the mainstream.