Fred Tells It Like It Is

Peter Robinson has this to say at NRO:

"While the other contenders are frantically saturating the Iowa airwaves with 30- and 60-second attack ads—Romney is guiltiest, if only because he’s richest—Thompson has sat himself down, looked into a camera, and spoken for a quarter of an hour, calmly and straightforwardly making his case. I myself find this impressive—in a way, moving. Thompson seems to have stepped out of the eighteenth century. He trusts voters to think. And if the comments on YouTube are at all representative, plenty of people agree."

So, It's Going To Be Like This Eh?

Book Blogging

I am enjoying my holiday downtime by clearing the decks of a few books which, surprise, surprise, are not historical, political or biographical. All in preparation for settling into my winter reading of the first two volumes of Winston Churchill's official biography which has just been reprinted by Hillsdale College Press and gifted to me by my wonderful children.

Richard Russo is my long time favorite author of fiction. He generally writes about quirky working class people in upstate New York, with which I have some familiarity. Bridge of Sighs is his latest novel and while not as good as Empire Falls for which he won a Pulitzer, still a serviceable read none the less.

I also finally finished The Contrary Farmer by Gene Logsdon. Logsdon has written so many fine books about farming and gardening that I now consider him to be my own personal guru; especially since he lives in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, a mere hour drive from here. I love his contrary, some might even suggest curmudgeonly, take on all aspects of life - be they animal, vegetable or mineral. It certainly sounds like wisdom to me.

Glory Days

I just finished reading John Gorman's book The Buzzard which recounts the rise and fall of WMMS, the legendary Cleveland FM radio station. Gorman, along with Denny Sanders, was the architect of WMMS which provided the soundtrack for my teens and early twenties. My children and their contemporaries never had an opportunity to experience this almost communal form of radio that made you feel you were connected to all of the other hip and cool people in town - people to whom music meant something.

While Gorman does take the opportunity to grind a few axes, he also provides an inside glimpse of the unusual personalities, both on and off the air, and how against enormous odds they created something far greater than the whole of it's parts. WMMS carved a unique niche in radio history for itself and helped make Cleveland the Rock and Roll Capital of the World.

Getting The Story Straight

Fred Thompson posted this at RedState yesterday. This is why Fred is my guy (emphasis added):

"Every once in a while I am more thankful than ever for today’s technology which allows me to talk to you directly instead of having to go through the filter of the main stream media.

Some of them are intent on making the outcome of the campaign dependent upon their pre-conceived notions. Every once in a while their incomplete and slanted coverage makes this clear.

Today I had this story written about me regarding what I said at a Town Hall event in Burlington, Iowa by a reporter who wasn’t even at the event. Incidentally, I declined to be interviewed by this particular reporter yesterday for reasons which will soon be apparent.

In referring to me, she reported “he doesn’t like modern campaigning, isn’t interested in running for President, and will not be devastated” if he doesn’t win.

Below is a transcript of what I actually said in response to a question by a local Burlington resident which was the basis of the reporter’s story.

It is clear that there are those in the media who will exact a high price for candor and from those whom they consider to be insufficiently ambitious. But it is with increasing amazement that we see that those who are willing to slant or leave out important parts of a story to make their point.

If a candidate succumbs to this he will be reduced to nothing more than a sound bite machine.

As for me I am going to continue to say exactly what is in my heart and is on my mind and give straight and honest answers to those who ask straight and honest questions.

Incidentally, the audience in Burlington broke into applause in the middle of my answer. The reporter wouldn’t know that because she wasn’t even there.

The transcript is below the fold . . .

Q: (Courtesy ABC News) My only problem with you and why I haven’t thrown all my support behind you is that I don’t know if you have the desire to be President. If I caucus for you next week, are you still going to be there two months from now?

A: That is a very good question, not because it’s difficult to answer, but I’m gonna answer it in a little different way than what you might expect.

In the first place, I got into the race about the time people normally get into get into it. The fact of the matter is people get into it a lot earlier than they used to. For some of them, they were juniors in high school.

The first place, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. I wouldn’t be doing this. I grew up in very modest circumstances. I left government and I and my family have made sacrifices to be sitting here today. I haven’t had any income for a long time because I figured to be clean, you’ve got to cut everything off. I was doing speaking engagements and I had a contract to do a tv show. I had a contract with abc radio…and so forth. A man would have to be a total fool to do all those things and to be leaving his family which is not a joyful thing if he didn’t want to do it.

I am not consumed by personal ambition. I will not be devastated if I don’t do it. I want the people to have the best president they can have.

When this talk first originated from people around the country both directly and through polls, liked the idea of me stepping up and of course, you always look better from a distance.
But most of those people are still there. I approached it from the standpoint of a deal. A kind of a marriage. If one side of a marriage really has to be talked into the marriage, it probably ain’t going to be a good deal. But if you mutually decide it’s going to be a good thing. In this case, if you think this is a good thing for the country, then we have an opportunity to do some wonderful things together.

I’m offering myself up. I’m saying that I have the background, the capability and concern to do this and do it for the right reasons. I’m not particularly interested in running for president, but I think I’d make a good president.

Nowadays, the process has become much more important than it used to be.

I don’t know that they ever asked George Washington a question like this. I don’t know that they ever asked Dwight D. Eisenhower a question like this. But nowadays, it’s all about fire in the belly. I’m not sure in the world we live in today it’s a good thing if a president has too much fire in the belly. I approach life differently than a lot of people. People, I guess, wonder how I’ve been as successful as I’ve been in everything that I’ve done. I won two races in TN by 20 point margins in a state that Bill Clinton carried twice. I’ve never had an acting lesson. I guess that’s obvious by people who’ve watched me…

When I did it, I did it. Wasn’t just a lark. Anything that’s worth doing is worth doing well. But I’ve always been a little more laid back than most. I’m only consumed by very, very few things. Politics is not one of them. The welfare of our country and our kids and grandkids is one of them.

If people really want in their president super type-a personality, someone who has gotten up every morning and gone to bed every night and been thinking about for years how they win the presidency of the United States, someone who can look you straight in the eye and say they enjoy every minute of campaigning, I ain’t that guy.

So I hope I’ve discussed that and didn’t talk you out of anything. I honestly want – I can’t imagine a worse set of circumstances [than] achieving the Presidency of the United States under false pretenses. I go out of my way to be myself. "

Raising Sand

Raising Sand is a new work by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. When I first heard about the project my initial thought was "What?"; I couldn't quite put Allison Krauss' ethereal vocals together with anything Plant might sing/scream. To put it mildly, Allison is no Sandy Denny who managed to hold her own with Plant. Then I found out T Bone Burnett was on board handling the production and I became much more interested. The video below will give you some of the background of the recording as well as a nice sampling of the music. The music needs to be heard on it's own terms to be appreciated and as with most really good music it reveals itself only after a great deal of listening.

A concert tour has been promised - unless, of course, Robert is busy with other commitments.

In The Belly Of The Beast

It seems The New York Times has decided to offer Bill Kristol a weekly commentators column according to The Huffington Post. Yes, that Bill Kristol, the evil neo-con with the White House on speed dial. The comments to the post are priceless!

Liberal Of The Month

I am considering a new feature which will be called “Liberal Of The Month”. Of course, its sole purpose will be to highlight what passes for common sense amongst the netroots and their adherents. Let’s give it a try and tell me what you think …

For my very first “Liberal Of The Month” I would like to propose - Dave Lindorff. Dave Lindorff you say, not exactly a household name. Ah yes, but a wonderful liberal journalist with the finest of credentials:
- BA from Wesleyan University
- MS in Journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
- A two-time Fulbright Scholar
Not to mention that Mr. Lindorff’s most recent book is The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office – enough said.

Which brings us to Mr. Lindorff’s recent article in The Baltimore Chronicle and Sentinel titled Global Warming Will Save America from the Right...Eventually in which he says that the effects of global warming will have a disproportionate impact on conservatives:

"So the future political map of America is likely to look as different as the much shrunken geographical map, with much of the so-called “red” state region either gone or depopulated.
There is a poetic justice to this of course. It is conservatives who are giving us the candidates who steadfastly refuse to have the nation take steps that could slow the pace of climate change, so it is appropriate that they should bear the brunt of its impact.

The important thing is that we, on the higher ground both actually and figuratively, need to remember that, when they begin their historic migration from their doomed regions, we not give them the keys to the city. They certainly should be offered assistance in their time of need, but we need to keep a firm grip on our political systems, making sure that these guilty throngs who allowed the world to go to hell are gerrymandered into political impotence in their new homes.

There will be much work to be done to help the earth and its residents—human and non-human—survive this man-made catastrophe, and we can’t have these future refugee troglodytes, should their personal disasters still fail to make them recognize reality, mucking things up again.

It should be considered acceptable, in this stifling new world, to say, “Shut up. We told you this would happen.”

Of course, since the article has received a great deal of scrutiny in conservative circles Mr. Lindorff now says it was all a joke:

"Folks, I gotta say I'm disappointed, but maybe not surprised. An awful lot of you conservatives just can't spot over-the-top writing.

Obviously, I'm not really saying people in the so-called Red states should sink in the sea or have their gardens cooked in the prairie. Heck, half my family lives in North Caroliina, where my mom is from, and my in-laws are in South Florida, living at about two feet above sea level. Anyhow, we all know that even in a state like Idaho, about as red as it gets, 40 percent of the residents are lefties and liberals. Besides, though you wouldn't know it from some of the shit that passes for writing in the letters below, we are all Americans. It's just that some of ya'll don't have a sense of humor."

So, we are all Americans, eh? It was all a big joke. At least that is what the man with the sense of humor suggests. Mr. Lindorff has proposed to treat his conservative fellow Americans as contemptuous political refugees who should be “gerrymandered into political impotence” for their many and varied sins against the environment and liberalism in general; where they can be told to just “Shut up.” All in all, Mr. Lindorff comes off as much more Orwellian than Pythonesque. Apparently we are only Americans as long as we agree with Mr. Lindorff’s political ideology.

Ladies and Gentlemen - I present Dave Lindorff, Our Liberal Of The Month.

I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy....

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is really not much of a surprise to me, I am sorry to say. But now that it is an accomplished fact and Pakistan is in turmoil we will have to monitor events there more closely than ever.

Andrew McCarthy has this to say:

"The transformation from Islamic society to true democracy is a long-term project. It would take decades if it can happen at all. Meanwhile, our obsessive insistence on popular referenda is naturally strengthening — and legitimizing — the people who are popular: the jihadists. Popular elections have not reformed Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon. Neither will they reform a place (Pakistan) where Osama bin Laden wins popular opinion polls and where the would-be reformers are bombed and shot at until they die.

But we should at least stop fooling ourselves. Jihadists are not going to be wished away, rule-of-lawed into submission, or democratized out of existence. If you really want democracy and the rule of law in places like Pakistan, you need to kill the jihadists first. Or they’ll kill you, just like, today, they killed Benazir Bhutto."

Quote Of The Day

"A libertarian, we thought, is someone who favors liberty, sometimes taking extreme positions toward that end. As the old joke goes, if you want to find out if someone's really a libertarian, ask him: Do you think children should be allowed to buy heroin from vending machines? A real libertarian will answer: Only if the vending machines are privately owned."
- James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal

Christmas Eve

Will the marvels of technology never cease? Now you can get real time updates on Santa's whereabouts with Google Earth 3D thanks to NORAD.

I also want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

I Have Decided What I Want For Christmas

Sci-Fi Time

When Ted Kennedy tells you that you can't install a wind farm and solar just won't cut it, you're left with this interesting option:
"Toshiba has developed a new class of micro size Nuclear Reactors that is designed to power individual apartment buildings or city blocks. The new reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet, could change everything for small remote communities, small businesses or even a group of neighbors who are fed up with the power companies and want more control over their energy needs."

Fred's Christmas Commercial

Well, at least one of the candidates got this right. The only word that comes to mind is class.

The Santa Clause

Jonah Goldberg has this to say about Hillary's Christmas campaign ad:

"It’s a profound commentary on the state of our political culture that Huckabee’s ad is the controversial one. Huckabee promises nothing, Hillary everything.

The contrast between the Candidate of God and the Candidate of Goodies should remind everyone of P. J. O’Rourke’s timeless book Parliament of Whores.

“I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat,” wrote the indispensable O’Rourke.

“God” he explained, is “a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. He holds men strictly accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material well being of the disadvantaged. ... God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God’s heavenly country club.”

P. J. continues: “Santa Claus is another matter. ... He’s nonthreatening. He’s always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything they want without the thought of a quid pro quo.”

“Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one,” O’Rourke concluded. “There is no such thing as Santa Claus.”

P.J.’s right. But you won’t be hearing that from Hillary this holiday season."

A Tale Of Two Electorates

From Jerry Skurnik at Room Eight:

"I think that because of the internet and cable theory, people like us who live and breathe politics (let’s call us the informed electorate) know much, much more about it than ever before. Years ago, a person who wanted to know about contests for congress in places like Montana had to subscribe to publications like the Cook Political Report. Before the advent of CNN, Fox News & MSNBC, the only time to see reporters give their opinions about who was up & down in various campaigns was on the Sunday morning network interview shows.

Conversely, people who vote but don’t care as much about politics (let’s call them the vast majority) know less than before for the same reasons. Before cable and the internet most Americans watched Walter Cronkite or one of his network rivals to learn what was the most important events that happened in the world that day. Even if they didn’t care about politics, they learned something about it when Walter reported something.

Now these same people don’t have to watch the network news. If they care more about celebrity news or sports or crime, there are plenty of web sites and cable shows to watch so they don't learn who the Des Moines Register endorsed for President.

These changes in the knowledge of the electorate are, I think, a major reason for the volatility of political polls. It’s why a Mike Huckabee can gain so much ground in such a short time in Iowa as social conservatives begin to focus on the Primary. It’s also why he may drop as quickly, as the same voters learn about his record as Governor as Arkansas.

My two electorate theory also helps explain why some many pundits make so many embarrassing predications. Just over a month ago, the consensus was that a Hillary-Rudy contest in November was inevitable. Part of this was because, despite all their disclaimers, they do believe the polls. But it was also because pundits just assume that voters know as much about Rudy and Bernie Kerik or Obama and Oprah as their friends and they do and are shocked when they find out otherwise."

Quote Of The Day

The "90-10" Rule
90% of the electorate have no idea what is really going on in the world and really don't care.
The remaining 10% of the electorate are then left to deal with the problems of the world.
- Neo

Sounds about right to me. Welcome to the 10%.

In Praise Of Hunting

I found this on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times:

"EVERY year, 15 million licensed hunters head into America’s forests and fields in search of wild game. In New York State alone, roughly half a million hunters harvest around 190,000 deer in the fall deer hunting season — that’s close to eight million pounds of venison. In the traditional vernacular, we’d call that “game meat.” But, in keeping with the times, it might be better to relabel it as free-range, grass-fed, organic, locally produced, locally harvested, sustainable, native, low-stress, low-impact, humanely slaughtered meat.

That string of adjectives has been popularized in recent years by the various food-awareness movements, particularly “localism.” Like many popular social movements, localism’s rallying cry is one of well-founded disgust: the average American meal travels 1,500 miles from field to fork, consuming untold gallons of chemical fertilizer, pesticides and fossil fuels along the way.

As a remedy, so-called locavores encourage a diet coming from one’s own “foodshed” — usually within 100 or 300 miles of home. The rationale of localism is promoted in popular books and Web sites: it leads to a healthier lifestyle and diet; brings money to rural communities; promotes eating meat from animals that are able to “carry out their natural behaviors” and “eat a natural diet”; allows consumers to visit the places where their food is raised; supports the production of foods that have fewer chemical fertilizers and pesticides; and it keeps us in touch with the seasons.

While those sound suspiciously similar to the reasons many Americans choose to hunt, the literature of localism neglects the management and harvest of wildlife. This is a shame, because hunters are the original locavores. When I was growing up in Michigan, my family ate three or four deer every year, along with rabbits, squirrel, ducks and grouse that were harvested mostly within eight miles of our house.

I carried that subsistence aesthetic into adulthood. During my first semester away at college, for instance, my brother and I killed four deer on land that was 11 miles from campus; we never purchased a pound of industrially raised meat. We’d gone local and organic before anyone thought to put those two words together in a sentence."

Welcome to how we live out here in "the country". Our entire family hunts pheasants in the fall; our young miss got a doe during deer gun season; her fiance took an elk in Colorado and a buck here in Ohio during bow season and the young squire came home yesterday after sighting in his muzzleloader in preparation for black powder season. Our young miss was the first person I ever heard use "Whole Food" speak to describe hunting; especially for acquaintances and co-workers that have difficulty envisioning her as a hunter let alone condoning hunting as an activity for someone with a college degree. The young squire mentioned to me the other day that he has not purchased beef in a year - choosing instead to eat venison. Not only can it be used as a substitute in dishes like chili and spaghetti sauce but he actually enjoys venison. It fits his college food budget pretty well too.

You may also notice that I write about many of our "country living" activities such as our chickens, gardening and beekeeping. We live the locavore lifestyle without even knowing or caring that it exists. It just seems to make sense. And unlike many people, we know exactly where a great deal of our food comes from.

Give Them Bread And Circuses

This ad is has to be viewed to be believed. The premise is that Hillary Clinton is a kind hearted woman who will give us all of our fondest wishes, wrapped in beautiful paper and tied up with a bow. And if that wasn't enough of a stretch, the very first present has a tag that says "Universal Healthcare". Are you freakin' kidding me? The only thing scarier than the possibility this woman might get elected are the people that believe this foolishness and will actually vote for her.

Vote for me and I'll set you free ...

Support Your Local Gun Store

By Golly, I think Fred is finally getting the hang of campaigning:

"Republican Presidential candidate Fred Thompson today, upon hearing that rival Ron Paul’s supporters had raised $6 million in 24 hours to commemorate the Boston Tea Party, called on his supporters to match that figure in gun purchases before Christmas to mark George Washington’s victory at the Battle of Trenton."

The Ultimate Daily Fred Thompson Fact

Quote Of The Day

"The art of controlling weeds is at the heart of successful farming. A low level of weeds can be tolerated, and in fact is helpful from the standpoint of biodiversity, but weeds are sort of like chickenpox: hard to have just a little."

- Gene Logsdon from The Contrary Farmer

'Tis The Season

To all my liberal friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To all my conservative friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

CWCID: TigerHawk

Quote Of The Day

"The Wall Street Journal is edited for those who run the world; the Washington Post is edited for those who think they run the world; the Old Gray Lady is edited for those who think they should run the world."
- Anonymous

And Now, For Something Completely Different

I have to say that I really like this Christmas tree. Somehow, it works for me on a lot of different levels. Only $600 at Hammacher Schlemmer.

The Congressional Year In Review

From James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal:

"The Democrats are wrapping up their first year in the congressional majority, and pretty much everyone agrees that it has been, to be charitable, less than a rousing success. Here is a comprehensive list of their legislative accomplishments:

An increase in the federal minimum wage, to $5.85 an hour from $5.15, effective July 24, 2007.

An increase in the federal minimum wage, to $6.55 an hour from $5.85, effective July 24, 2008.

An increase in the federal minimum wage, to $7.25 an hour from $6.55, effective July 24, 2009.

That's it. Other than that, the Democrats have failed at everything they have attempted, from routine matters like relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax to ambitious projects such as turning Iraq into a haven for al Qaeda."

I wish them the same success in 2008.

What Is It?

A recently discovered Jackson Pollock painting? Personally, I think it has much more of a Peter Max feel to it. Actually it's none of the above. It's a NASA/USGS map of the dark side of the moon.
CWCID: Strange Maps

Daily Fred Thompson Fact

"There are already plans for the supercarrier the U.S.S. Fred Thompson. It will carry and launch other aircraft carriers."

Call Me Crazy

Ouch. This is going to leave a mark. From NRO:

Graveless in Gaza [Lisa Schiffren]

Is this a great Alarabiya headline or what:

Israeli blockade leads to humanitarian disaster
Gaza runs out of cement to build graves

Two humanitarian suggestions:
1 — Gazans could stop killing each other so enthusiastically, so the annual supply of 1000 government provided graves doesn't get used up so fast.
2— Gazans could stop killing Israelis, giving Israel a reason to relax the blockade.
3— (This one is practical, not humanitarian) — Gazans could build a cement factory of their own — since their primary, or perhaps only, natural resource is SAND. That way they could continue murder and mayhem at the rate they are comfortable with — and be able to build all the graves they need. And, an unintended though beneficial side affect might be that they begin to build an economy, too.

The Decline Of The West

CWCID: Instapundit.

More Rave Reviews

Rolling Stone: "Any doubts about Plant's ability to still hit the high notes, his willingness to go stratospheric, was obliterated at the right, dramatic points in "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Kashmir." Jones and Bonham locked in like family. And Page was a continual shock on guitar, mostly because he has played so little in public for the past decade. At sixty-three, Page is undiminished in his sorcerer's mix of reckless ferocity — stammering runs, strangled howls, granite-block chords — and guitar-army wow."

Reuters: "Led Zeppelin had a lot to live up to after the hype surrounding their reunion gig on Monday night, but the British rockers pulled it off so successfully that critics and fans are begging for a world tour."

AP: "On the morning after Led Zeppelin's long-awaited reunion concert, the music reviewers were already calling for more. Playing a full set for the first time in nearly three decades, the authors of "Stairway to Heaven" and "Whole Lotta Love" rocked the O2 Arena on Monday for more than two hours, leaving fans from around the world gasping in delight."

The Times of London: "“It’s been a long, lonely time since I last rock’n’rolled” screeched Plant. Well, at least since he has showed this sort of fire-eyed intensity. And so, was it all for a one-off show in memory of their label boss Ahmet Ertegun? Come on. With a synergy like this going on, it would be an act of cosmic perversity to stop now."

London Free Press: "You could quibble that it didn't equal the sprawling three-hour shows they used to put on, but as someone who saw them back in the day, let me tell you they were never this tight. And the sound and lights were never this good. And this time, we didn't have to sit through a half-hour drum solo. By the time it wrapped up after a smoking version of Rock and Roll, the fans most certainly had not had enough. We can only hope the band feels the same way."
---
LED ZEPPELIN
Rating: Six stars (out of five)
They were that good! "

Zeppelin Flies High Again

I am happy. All of the reviews I have seen online this morning are universally praising the Led Zeppelin reunion concert last night in London. The set list sounds great and apparently the band was in fine form. And now rumors of a possible tour are beginning to fly - one can only hope.

Through A Glass Darkly

I know it is hard to believe but I do read Daily Kos now and then, if for nothing more than posts like this one. Let me try to enumerate all of the illogical assumptions which go along with it:

• The Democrats 2006 election was a mandate to bring the troops home.
• The Democrats are the majority now so the Republicans will have to do what they say and bring the troops home .
• Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have the ability and congressional backing to defund the war and bring the troops home.
• All the Democrats need to do is put forward one more bill to bring the troops home ...

And now, for your reading pleasure (emphasis added) ....

com·pro·mise
1 a: settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions
Compromise. Its meaning is clear, yet whenever Democrats compromise with Republicans, they somehow manage to forget the mutual concessions part of the equation.

And now we learn, the day after reports of their latest cave-in, that they apparently can't get that right either:
The White House budget director warned on Saturday that President Bush was prepared to veto a $500 billion spending package being assembled in Congress if Democrats pushed for too much additional money for domestic programs. [...]

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, was among those who met with Mr. Nussle and he has said that money for Iraq free of conditions must be part of any final spending deal. But he described as unacceptable any Democratic effort to drive up federal spending as part of the bargain.

So, the Democrats are working on a plan that would give George Bush $70 billion more dollars for Iraq, would take timelines for troop withdrawals off the table, all in exchange for increased domestic spending. Except Bush and the Republicans are saying no dice. So what's their next canny maneuver?

Democrats say that if the deal collapses, their next step may be to strip the spending bills of individual projects sought by lawmakers, a move that would be painful for many members of both parties.

Translation? They'll still give Bush what he wants and the hell with what a majority of the American people want. That'll show him.

Said Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi:
America expects this president to lead — that means working in a bipartisan way with Congress to responsibly address our country’s priorities rather than issuing veto threats without even knowing what he is threatening to veto.

News flash, Harry and Nancy: America expects you to lead - that means working to keep your many promises to stand up to George Bush and to bring the troops home. Now, that may mean messing up your holiday plans and it might even mean that Dana Perino and Republicans say mean things about you. Suck it up. Stop compromising away your dignity and morals and do the job you were elected to do. For God's sake, fight.

Quote Of The Day

"The left is too deeply invested in the narrative of self-hatred to ever hear danger approaching from without. They're stuck in an ultimate conflict of interest between their ideology and the survival of their ideology; between their freedom to destroy their culture and the freedoms that culture guarantees. "

- Wretchard at The Belmont Club

God And Man - Everywhere

Robert Maranto has a very interesting article on the liberal bias of universities in the Washington Post today:

"Unfortunately, subtle biases in how conservative students and professors are treated in the classroom and in the job market have very unsubtle effects on the ideological makeup of the professoriate. The resulting lack of intellectual diversity harms academia by limiting the questions academics ask, the phenomena we study, and ultimately the conclusions we reach."

"All this is bad for society because academics' ideological blinders make it more difficult to solve domestic problems and to understand foreign challenges. Moreover, a leftist ideological monoculture is bad for universities, rendering them intellectually dull places imbued with careerism rather than the energy of contending ideas, a point made by academic critics across the ideological spectrum from Russell Jacoby on the left to Josiah Bunting III on the right."

"Ultimately, universities will have to clean their own houses. Professors need to re-embrace a culture of reasoned inquiry and debate. And since debate requires disagreement, higher education needs to encourage intellectual diversity in its hiring and promotion decisions with something like the fervor it shows for ethnic and racial diversity. It's the only way universities will earn back society's respect and reclaim their role at the center of public life."

Quote Of The Day

"Generally she was happy or, failing that, reasonably content, though she sometimes wondered if she conceded the inevitable too quickly. What if the only thing concessions got you was the habit of conceding?"

- Richard Russo from Bridge Of Sighs

Thank You

Apparently NBC, MSNBC and CNBC have declined to run this paid ad from Freedom Watch because it mentions the groups web address. Please ....

Could it be that they really don't support the troops? Watch it and decide for yourself.

CWCID: Power Line.

Update: According to Drudge, after considerable feedback from viewers NBC may be reconsidering it's stand.

The Return Of Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas, my favorite White House press corp reporter, had this to say about bloggers in a Huffington Post interview the other day (emphasis added):

Q - Do you think technology is changing that? That a good reporter will always find a venue because there are so many media outlets now?

A - No, but I do think it is kind of sad when everybody who owns a laptop thinks they're a journalist and doesn't understand the ethics. We do have to have some sense of what's right and wrong in this job. Of how far we can go. We don't make accusations without absolute proof. We're not prosecutors. We don't assume.

Q - So if there's this amateur league of journalists out there, trying to do what you do...

A - It's dangerous.

What a deluded, self serving, sorry excuse for a reporter this woman is. If only she would hold herself to these ethical ideals.

On The Origins Of Liberty

" We believe that the first written reference to the concept of liberty is the ancient Sumerian cuneiform symbol "amagi".

Urukagina, the leader of the Sumerian city-state of Girsu/Lagash, led a popular movement that resulted in the reform of the oppressive legal and governmental structure of Sumeria. The oppressive conditions in the city before the reforms is described in the new code preserved in cuneiform on tablets of the period: "From the borders of Ningirsu to the sea, there was the tax collector." During his reign (ca. 2350 B.C.) Urukagina implemented a sweeping set of laws that guaranteed the rights of property owners, reformed the civil administration, and instituted moral and social reforms. Urukagina banned both civil and ecclesiastical authorities from seizing land and goods for payment, eliminated most of the state tax collectors, and ended state involvement in matters such as divorce proceedings and perfume making. He even returned land and other property his predecessors had seized from the temple. He saw that reforms were enacted to eliminate the abuse of the judicial process to extract money from citizens and took great pains to ensure the public nature of legal proceedings.

In this important code is found the first written reference to the concept of liberty (amagi or amargi, literally, "return to the mother"), used in reference to the process of reform. The exact nature of this term is not clear, but the idea that the reforms were to be a return to the original social order decreed by the gods fits well with the translation."

From The Online Library of Liberty.

The Only Thing Left To Say Is ...

O-H-I-O!

The Transistor Turns 60

Stephen Gordon put up this amusing post at The Speculist:

"The transistor became a reality in December of 1947. The Sydney Morning Herald has an article marking this anniversary that you shouldn't miss.

"Creating new ideas, solving problems, inventing things and applying technology in new and novel ways, seems to be a basic human characteristic. One of the things I love about computing . .. is that innovation has been so fundamental to this field. I don't see any slowing down of the rate of innovation. In fact, I continue to see more innovation every day."

Innovations that give us more processing power will spawn many other innovations, Mr Rattner says.

But here's the too obvious example of how transistors have changed things: I'm a guy sitting in Louisiana commenting on an article in The Sydney Morning Herald to a worldwide audience. And I'm not Walter Cronkite."

How cool is that?

The Belmont Club

I found this in the comments section over at The Belmont Club. It is just one example of the fine writing Wretchard often provides on his site:

"I saw a comment from an Egyptian a while back that Islamism would not be repudiated there until after it had triumphed.

This was the situation with respect to Communism too. It was an evil which seemed to have irreversibly convinced clerics, writers, artists -- all of them blinded by it's dark stardust -- that it was good. Nobody could see its evil except those who had lived under it. It was proof against verbal argument. Only experience could refute it. The price of admission to enlightenment was the willingness to pass through the Gulag.

And therefore many concluded, from the 1960s to the 1980s, that it was the inevitable wave of the future. All that is, except the men of faith. People like John Paul and Ronald Reagan shamed the intellectuals with their faith. They understood that not only was "the Shadow a passing thing" but that it could not stand up to the light.

When Ronald Reagan said, "tear down that wall" it was the hardest thing in the world to have said at the time. No intellectual could have uttered those words. It was a wholly unreasonable demand. I'm sure Ronald knew that it was unreasonable. But he didn't care; because though unreasonable it was true.

I think the War on Terror will be won by the side which understands that Muslims -- like the Russians -- are men. It will be won by those who know that ignorance, cruelty, obscurantism and death have no appeal to the best of men; that there is forever truth and high beauty beyond the power of evil to mar."

The MSM In One Easy Lesson

Helen Thomas is a fool. And her day, if she ever had one, has long since passed.

As proof, I offer the exchange she had with Dana Perino at the White House press briefing yesterday. The "him" she refers to is General Petraeus:

Q Why should we depend on him?

MS. PERINO: Because he is the commander on the ground, Helen. He's the one who is making sure that the situation is moving —

Q You mean how many more people we kill?

MS. PERINO: Helen, I find it really unfortunate that you use your front row position, bestowed upon you by your colleagues, to make such statements. This is a — it is an honor and a privilege to be in the briefing room, and to suggest that we, at the United States, are killing innocent people is just absurd and very offensive.

Q Do you know how many we have since the start of this war?

MS. PERINO: How many — we are going after the enemy, Helen. To the extent that any innocent Iraqis have been killed, we have expressed regret for it.

Q Oh, regret. It doesn't bring back a life.

MS. PERINO: Helen, we are in a war zone, and our military works extremely hard to make sure that everyone has the opportunity for liberty and freedom and democracy, and that is exactly what they are doing.

I'm going to move on.

CWCID: NRO.

A Country Morning

It is a cold late fall morning here. The thermometer says 17 degrees but the wind seems to think it should be much colder. Even the pond is beginning to ice over. And the gun shots in the distance are a reminder that deer season is winding to a close as well.

Winter will be upon us soon ....

Repeal The Second Amendment?

Yesterday the editorial staff of The Harvard Crimson, the Harvard University student newspaper, called for the repeal of the Second Amendment. While I will leave it to others to dismantle their poorly constructed argument I would like to point out the sweeping and sad historical illiteracy on display here.

This is the first sentence of the editorial:

“Written in an age in which minutemen rose to dress and fight at a moment’s notice, the Second Amendment was no doubt motivated by a young nation’s concern for its own safety and stability.”

And here is a history lesson from of Rand Simberg:

“The most key motivation was the very recent memory of the battle that set off the war, in Lexington and Concord.

What set off that battle? The British troops had marched from Boston toward Concord (as Paul Revere was riding through the countryside rousing the citizenry) to seize the armory and confiscate the weapons stored there. Had the militia (i.e., able-bodied men in the area) not had their own, they would have had nothing with which to fight them, had the British troops actually been able to carry out their orders.

That's why the Founders thought it important that people have a right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment is a last-ditch insurance policy against a tyrannical government, something of which the sophomores in Cambridge (not very far from either Lexington, or Concord, and the location of one of the ancillary battles) are apparently incapable of conceiving. Or if they do, they probably imagine that it's the Bush administration.

The more I think about it, the more appalling it is that Harvard students could be so ignorant of American history, not just because it's supposedly such an elite institution, but because that particular bit of American history took place almost literally in their own back yard, as the British retreated to Cambridge (where Harvard was, as it is today). And afterward, Gage attempted to confiscate all the private weapons of the citizens of Boston.

What does this say about the state of American higher education today?

I wonder if anyone involved in that editorial could even describe the circumstances of the battle that kicked off the revolution?

It just occurs to me that, given their ignorance of history, the sophomores may defend their editorial on the basis that the "Americans" were rising up against a foreign government, thus making their point about the amendment being for the defense of "America" and is thus no longer needed, since America now has the most formidable armed forces in the history of the world.

Of course, they were doing no such thing. The "Americans" were British citizens (even though they couldn't vote and had no members of Parliament, but were taxed nonetheless--remember "No taxation without representation"?) rising up against their own government. "Americans" as we understand them today did not exist in 1775. Again, that thought too was very fresh in the Founders' minds.”