Despite my massive head-cold --
or maybe because of it -- I engage in......

EVIL THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MISFORTUNES
OF AN EVIL MAN

I have done my best over the years to ignore the verbal excretions of one Father Andrew Greeley, Catholic priest, cheesy pop novelist, and sociologist boil-on-the-bum of Chicago/American Catholicism. I came close to meeting him once, on vacation in Wisconsin, because he and my parents had a mutual friend, a married ex-priest. Greeley never showed, but I always considered it the sole point in his favor that, while remaining on friendly terms, he had very much disapproved of the ex-priest's bailing out of his vows, and had refused to attend the man's wedding.

In preparation for that possible encounter, I bought a volume containing three of Greeley's novels. I could only make myself get through one of them, and discovered in it yet another reason to think ill of him: it was a crappy piece of potboiler/bodice-ripper/soft-porn "romance" -- and to the perennial question, "How does a priest know so much about sex?" it gave the definitive answer, "Actually he doesn't know much of anything, especially if he thinks women get turned on by being roughed up."

Anyhoo, it obviously wasn't of vital international Catholic import that Greeley was the victim of a nasty car accident last November, because it only just came to my attention today, kind of accidentally. (Unlike when Fr. Benedict Groeschel was hit by a car -- seems like the whole Catholic world knew and fell to its knees to pray him back to health.) It seems that Greeley was getting out of a cab in Chicago, fell down, hit his head, and was dragged a bit because his coat was caught in the door. Nasty.

He was sedated into unconsciousness for quite awhile, but apparently has been up and into the rehab more recently, and is being cared for at home by family. Well, good for him.

I hadn't given the man a thought for years and years, but at some point during the election season I ran across a link to his columns written at the time. To no great surprise, he was one among that foul demographic, the Catholics for Obama. Okay, we know you're out there, and your mental gymnastics must be downright painful. What was shocking, disgusting, shameful, outrageous about his version of Obamaphilia were the newspaper columns he wrote that engaged in vicious flat-out libel against Sarah Palin (and, to a lesser extent, John McCain), and others that were filled with flat-out baseless race-baiting. Read them here (if you think it's necessary) and see if I'm exaggerating.

I have always wondered why Greeley has been able to operate unrestricted, especially as a crap novelist, under the Chicago episcopal authority -- but then, I suppose under Cardinal Bernardin anything was possible. And, as much as I like the way the present Cardinal, Francis George, thinks about most things, it doesn't appear that the creeps have been cleansed from the temple on his watch -- let's not forget the 25-year reign of the execrable Fr. Michael Pfleger.

Bits and pieces of the story -- some assembly required:

-- Greeley was hysterically enthused about the mere idea of an Obama presidency. But.....
-- Greeley believed that the Obama presidency was impossible because America is too racist
-- Greeley was utterly euphoric in the wake of the election.
-- Greeley was wearing his Obama cap when he fell and conked his head.

I report, you decide. I'm Catholic, so of course I don't believe in Karma.


Other Catholic matters:

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
INVITES THE ABORTION PRESIDENT
TO DELIVER THE 2009 COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

As Leno said to Hugh Grant after he got busted with a prostitute,

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKIN'????"

There's a church in Rome on the Piazza Navona called Sant' Agnese in Agone. It is said to mark the spot where the Saint Agnes was confined, naked, inside a brothel so that she could be summarily violated, because Roman law did not allow the execution of a virgin. She emerged intact [only to be beheaded later] because the miscreants inside the brothel had decided there were some lines even they would not dare to cross. Nevertheless, the name of the church tells of the AGONY of humiliation and terror she must have suffered awaiting her fate.

The upper ranks of administration at University of Notre Dame, especially its president, Fr. John Jenkins, should give a moment's thought to the insult and agony they offer to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin for whom their institution is named, in inviting, for the purpose of honoring, as commencement speaker the man who may be the most activist political promoter of abortion and infanticide in America's history.

There have been many instances of perverse thinking over the course of the recent American election cycle, but none worse than the block of Catholic voters who pulled the lever for the Abortion President. This fetid rot at the core of the American Church now blasts its stink to the far reaches of the land by such a high-profile act of apostasy.

One retiring UND professor bemoans the situation here.

Sign, call, demonstrate the ire of the faithful here.

Dies irae, dies illa.


MISCELLANY

More from the Windy City: Gary Sinise fumes about the De Palma version of Iraq.

Further north: David Warren speaks from the Great White North, with pithy Obamanalysis.

Then down south: Mark Steyn sums up the Hopeychanger's latest Very Bad Week for Orange County (and the rest of us).

Anne Coulter tames her customary bile in a well-deserved tribute to the late Ron Silver, who died too young of cancer a few days ago. Two Hollywood scions make their contribution here.

And President Obambi's TELEPROMPTER has its own blog. Rush Limbaugh immediately puts the comic cherry on top by referring to the teleprompter as TOTUS. This, my friends, is political satire at its very finest. "Reflections from the hard drive of the machine that enables the voice of the Leader of the Free World" Love it, love it, love it.

Caller to the Limbaugh show, speaks to substitute host Mark Steyn today: "Obama doesn't want to BE president, he just wants to play one on TV."

Heh. Yeah.

JUST PASSING THROUGH

Well, I've just come off teaching as much as I could of the two millennia of Christian art and architecture to a dozen new deacons (I got up to around the 1500 year mark, selectively, in about three and a half hours), and all that compacting of data and analysis has wrung out my brain.

Am preparing to head south to visit various family, having duly packed off masses of chicken fajita jerky to Al Asad air base, via Treats for Troops. (Great group -- send a soldier some goodies.)

Can't stop to chat now, but will insert this incendiary device just for fun. Greyhawk over at Mudville Gazette thinks it's an unfair comparison, but I disagree.



Also worth noting, from the Milblog universe: you know that much-touted "drawdown" of 17K troops by diverting them from Iraq to Afghanistan? Commingler-in-Chief Obambi neglected to mention that another stryker brigade is being sent to Iraq in place of the "diverted" one. So it's a wash -- no drawdown, just one more chapter in the Obama multi-front shell-game. Thanks for popping up that illumination shell, Mudville and Blackfive.

Blackfive also has some good stuff on the new documentary "Brothers at War", where the film-maker follows around his two brothers both serving in Iraq. This sounds like something I may be able to watch. I have a pile of videos I've ordered over the past five years or so, all fine work about the real face of the Iraq campaign, bought because I wanted to support the filmmakers who are usually working on a shoestring to get the truth out against great odds. But so far I really haven't been able to make myself watch any of them. The most recent (which isn't for sale yet) is "Taking Chance", a remarkable true story of the return of a Marine's casket for burial at home. It sounds wonderful, and got rave reviews from military folks everywhere. I think I'll probably be ready to watch it in, oh, maybe 2012 or 2015? Not now -- too close to the bone.

"Brothers at War" is something a little different (though its trailers do warn that military families may be disturbed by the part about an IED explosion -- and the foul language!!! Are they kidding?), so maybe I'll give it a look before the next decade. Opening this weekend in selected theatres, with filmmaker Jake Rademacher and producer Gary Sinise attending the premier in Fayetteville, N.C.


IT'S THE ECONOMY, COCOA PUFF

You probably didn't put all your eggs in one basket, but the trouble is, governments have a way finding all your baskets and playing reverse-Easter-bunny. Here's a young woman who knows how to get the point across to the post-literate generation. I think it's smashing.



[Hat-tip/ Real Revo]

HIATUS AND A HALF

The Dow may be down, but my Tao is not -- I'm just WAY too busy to post right now.

On alternate Tuesdays when it's raining I have been known to wish that I actually understood what the numbers mean that come after words like "Nasdaq" and "Dow" and stuff like that on TV. Neil Cavuto remains cute, Larry Kudlow is not cuddly, but on the whole I don't know what they're talking about. Probably a pretty good thing that I don't own any stock.

Coming soon to this site: I "Fisk" the Commander-in-Chief's revolting performance at Camp Lejeune. It's about the first thing he's said that contained anything meaningful enough to be Fisked. Made me want to smack him right in the teeth. Cue the Secret Service.

TOP GUN -- or --

MY SON, THE PROJECTILE

Number Three son received word today that he has achieved his MOS (Military Occupation Specialty), something known, colorfully, as "Tailhook" -- i.e., prepare to be blasted off an aircraft carrier with a BIG slingshot. To wit:




Congratulations to the young Ensign. Ahoy matey!

I knew there was some reason I was awake, blogging, until 5:00 this morning...

After days of delays, and hangin' out at the Kuwait Starbucks, at last we have the word.

IT'S OFFICIAL --

HE'S BACK IN THE SANDBOX

Cincinnatus returns to Al Asad for a second tour. From everything we've heard, it's going to be: "Will the last Marine to leave the base turn off the lights?" All is truly quiet on that western front, and the long-sought "exit strategy" will probably be in full swing in the next six months or so.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Anywhere except in your local newspaper, or on your mainstream/lamestream major TV networks, where Good News is No News, and No News keeps the public in tune with "the program". Scroll down for the low-down on what exactly that program is -- see Terry Moran.......

Tell me -- Would these two people [SMAK!!!!!] even recognize their countrymen today?

And SMAK!!! to my baby Marine out there in the desert.

He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day...
If you make the Most High your dwelling-
even the LORD , who is my refuge-
then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Psalm 91

And tell me now,
thou naughty varlet,
tell me,

where has thou been this month?
Falstaff, Henry IV,1

Hard to believe, it's been a month since the coronation of Emperor Obambi the First. (First Emperor of the U.S. -- I believe the last monarch was a mere king, name of Garfield Goose.) Things have been happening [read: "spinning out of control"] so fast there's hardly been time to make any predictions. I wish I'd made mine back when they started to occur to me -- I'd sound so smart now.

To wit:

1) Obama's first term will see double-digit inflation.

2) Obama's first term will see double-digit unemployment.

3) Obama's first term will see some type of foreign policy disaster in the wake of America's image being transformed into the "weak horse" of UBL's dreams, thanks to the President morphing into the Groveller-in-Chief. (Even Joe Biden had the first part of that figured out, so it's OFFICIALLY a no-brainer.)

4) Obama's first term will be the only one he gets. I thought these things would come true, but I also thought it would take a year or so to become obvious. At this point 1 and 2, and possibly even 3, may come true before Christmas.

You almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost.

All through his preposterous ascendancy of the past year I have been unable to figure out whether he is a cold and calculating dissembler, deliberately seducing the nation with a charm that masques both insincerity and a deeply radical agenda; OR he was and remains an idealistic and not so very bright instrument in the hands of machievellian leftists who found in him their perfect vehicle for societal transformation, and have buoyed him along atop the mosh pit of ivy-league credentialing and Chicago politicking, eventually positioning him to be the figurehead of their long-awaited revolution; OR a bit of both.

I still don't know for sure. But the whirlwind of disaster he has reaped in just a few short weeks leads to me to believe that he is both more ideologically-driven and more dangerously clueless than my worst imaginings. And now he spins, in his little paper boat, awash in a thousand little hypocrisies and big blunders and experience-gaps, with nobody to blame but his own ambition, bombast, and half-page resumé.

Poor little O-man. He thought it was going to be all grace, and finesse, and smooth skating to the oohs and ahs of the adoring crowd. A little of this...








...and some more of this...











...and a whole lot of this -- colour, panache, and pretty, pretty people.



Then, even before he was inaugurated, the wheels came off the zamboni, the cabinet nominees started dropping like flies, and it all began to look a lot like this...







and way, WAY too much like this:












The assessments have been fairly, um, icy:

Victor Davis Hanson defines Irony and recommends Oxygen.

The ordinarily composed Anchoress detects a Coup.

Krauthammer deplores the alternate Fearmongering and Cringing.

And Mr. Gateway Pundit delivers non-stop shots to the administration solar plexus. Read 'em all.


All this clarity, however, has not prevented the 24/7 worship-fest from continuing:

Kathleen Parker hitches a ride on Air Force One, and reports on her Obamagasm at the Daily Beast.

But over at ABC, talking head Terry Moran goes one better -- in fact, he pretty much one-ups the whole world -- suggesting a parallel between George Washington and Barack Obama, insofar as the presidency is a "step down" for this man who led a "giant movement."

That's Obama, in case you were confused.

Never mind that the only giant movement Barack Obama encountered in his career as a cog in the Chicago machine was the one he stepped in when he publicly allied himself with Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, and Fr. Pfleger.

Yes, remember where you heard it first, folks. Mr. Obama, the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Man-Child who owns the Promised Land, lowered himself to become our President. Well, bully for him.

Now, Mr. Obama isn't responsible for Terry Moran's bout of degrading delusional tongue-bathing (to use a Mark Steyn-ism). But he does seem to have bought into his own myth, even in these recent troubled weeks when his leadership has been tested and found wanting -- I get the sense he hasn't even noticed that. Just days ago I received an email from the man himself, recounting how the wonders of the Porkulus Bill were miraculously delivered. Said he:

Today, I signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law.

This is a historic step -- the first of many as we work together to climb out of this crisis -- and I want to thank you for your resolve and your support.

You organized thousands of house meetings. You shared your ideas and personal stories. And you informed your friends and neighbors about the need for immediate action. You continue to be a powerful voice for change throughout the country.

The recovery plan will create or save 3.5 million jobs, provide tax cuts for working and middle-class families, and invest in health care and clean energy.

It's a bold plan to address a huge problem, and it will require my vigilance and yours to make sure it's done right.

I've assigned a team of managers to oversee the implementation .....

[A team of managers. Oh God, now we know we're really in trouble. Alinsky taught him well. And "thousands of house meetings"? Really? You know what -- I don't believe that for a minute. I know there was a big "call to service" before the inauguration -- in fact I saw him flogging it on a TV ad today -- way to spend the people's tax dollars, Mr. President. But, I'm sorry, I think he's just fantasizing. It's a thing you learn when you make your living as a community organizer. He goes on:]

Our progress will also be measured by the tens of thousands of personal stories submitted by people who are struggling to make ends meet. If you haven't already, you can read stories from families all across the country:

http://my.barackobama.com/yourstories

Your stories are the heart of this recovery plan, and that's what I'll focus on every day as President.

Could you just hurl? What is this guy, a Sixth Grade social studies teacher? And, sorry -- I just don't buy any of it.

Oh mercy.


I AM NOT A RACE COWARD

New Attorney General and star of Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale, Eric Holder, began his tenure as Chief Heap Big Lawyer by doing what Obama-style leftists do best: telling Americans how rotten they are. Apparently we're all cowards because we're afraid to talk about race.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, IS THERE ANYTHING LEFT TO SAY??????

Well, one thing. I am not a race coward, so I will say it, though I stand alone.

I thought Aretha Franklin's hat at the Inauguration was just FABULOUS. The colour was tastefully understated, but the size and design were exactly what she needed to be seen way up in the crow's nest (NO NO NOT A RACIAL EPITHET!!!!!) of the inaugural stage arrangements, where all the musicians had to stand (REGARDLESS OF RACE!). It was a classic Sunday-go-to-meetin' hat (or Saturday if you're a Sabbath-keeper), and I thought it was terrific.

You go, girl.


THAT'S THE WAY THE HOPE COOKIES CRUMBLE

T'other weekend the spousal unit and I were invited to a friendly wine-tasting. There was a quiz about the vintages (referred to by our host as "Clinton era California Cabernets"), and the prize was a set of cookies iced with a familiar image (now the subject of copyright litigation.)

I decided to employ them in an interpretive photo essay expressing the progress of Mr. Obama's first month as Chief Executive and Leader of the (for the moment) Free World.

There was a little bit of this...







...and then it went like this...











Then we moved on to this....











And it all came to this.



And it was stale. And flavorless. And Lord knows it was thin -- "a sight to behold in the age of obesity."


Then there were nothing but crumbs left. Kinda says it all.


Oh, and I almost forgot -- LAST PREDICTION:

5) Obama's first term will witness a Kristallnacht in Europe and around the world to make the last one look like the Teddy Bears' Picnic.

Just when you thought life was unkind....

POPE SPANKS PELOSI IN
PRESS RELEASE DUEL

It was High Noon on the news wires as Speakress Nancy "cheeks-like-a-snaredrum" Pelosi circulated a candy-floss and butterflies account of her private meet-up with Benedetto XVI. She thought she'd aced him with her blistering overhead serve and the accompanying Monica Seles grunt -- but His Holiness parried with a bullet-like backhand into the far court of public opinion.

Following the General Audience, the Holy Father briefly greeted Mrs. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage. His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception until natural death, which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists, and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of development.
[amazing disappearing mini-font now fixed -- sorry]

Whoooosh.

George Weigel wonders aloud, "Were They at the Same Meeting?" Good question.

I could not but dance.

SEPARATION ANXIETY:
BUILDING BRIDGES
(BETWEEN HIS WIFE'S HEAD
AND HER NECK?)

It seemed like such a good idea at the time: just after 9/11, a Muslim professional couple from Buffalo, New York, decided to found a cable television station to counter-act negative images of Muslims for an English-speaking audience in the United States. Muzzammil Hassan and his wife Aasiya started "Bridges TV". They created some of their own programming and purchased other content, at first running the station out of their home but eventually developing it into a going concern with its own studios and offices. There is ample photographic evidence of the couple as articulate, seemingly westernized people with good intentions and a successful business partnership. Here's a feature on their enterprise as seen on NBC in 2004:



But somewhere along the line things went horribly wrong, not with Bridges TV but with the Hassans' relationship. Aasiya Hassan had filed for divorce and gotten a protection order to keep her husband out of their home, where she lived with their two small children. Nothing too remarkable about any of this -- not even that remarkable that there were accusations of domestic violence. Happens every day.

What is perhaps more newsworthy than usual is Mr. Hassan's chosen resolution of his troubles. In a fit of truly extraordinary domestic pique, he separated Aasiya's head from the rest of her. He left the body in the TV studio, reported to the police station, and has been charged with SECOND DEGREE murder.

Huh??????????

Well, we can only hope that once the evidence is fully gathered, the charge will reflect the deed a bit more accurately. And in time we'll hear how he pleads, and know whether we'll have to insert "alleged" into the account. Good luck with that, fella.

At least he'll have one big plus on his side: media are already doing their level best to dance away from any narrowly applicable terminology like "honor killing", and are dos-y-doe-ing their way into the standard vocabulary of "domestic abuse." Keep moving, folks -- nothing to see here.

Mark Steyn, columnist to the world and crusader for free speech among primitive tribes of the far north (Toronto), weighs in over at NRO's the Corner. Money quotes:

Pay no attention to that dead body; the real victim here is Islam...

Beheaded woman in Buffalo? "Shocked friend says murder damages Islam's image."

But enough about all these corpses: Let's talk about me...

...when Mr. Hassan launched his Bridges TV station to counter "negative stereotypes" of Muslims, he got the traditional tongue baths from NBC's Brian Williams, NPR's "All Things Considered" et al - even though the station was entirely unwatched. Don't they have a responsibility to revisit the story now that it's got a little more complicated - or, as old-school editors would say, "newsworthy"?

If you're not intrigued by the apparent fraud at the heart of this man's life and work — a fraud in which the U.S. media cheerfully colluded — you lack the elementary curiosity necessary to be a journalist.

Yeah -- what he said.

Are we wrapping our heads around this, my fellow Americans?

It's the 21st century, in the Last Best Hope of the world, and a woman was effin' BEHEADED. In the same town where the Sabres play hockey and beef on weck is the favourite snack, and just down the road from where Marilyn Monroe shot "Niagara" -- that film where a garden-variety jealous husband strangles his wife, now that I think of it. Nasty, evil, but (dare I say it?) still something distant from decapitation on the barbarism scale.

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING PRESIDENT

Obama shows his tin-eared smallness once again:

PRESIDENT SAYS "NO THANKS"
TO BRITAIN'S OFFER TO EXTEND
LOAN OF CHURCHILL SCULPTURE
FOR THE OVAL OFFICE

A very valuable bust of Britain's heroic WWII Prime Minister Winston Churchill (by Sir Jacob Epstein, 1946), loaned to President Bush as a gesture of solidarity after 9/11, has been coolly returned to sender by Bush's successor. The loan was originally stipulated to be for the duration of the 43rd president's term, but the British government politely extended the offer of the continued good-will loan to BHO. But nay, said he -- not wanted on voyage.

The bust was forthwith hustled off to the residence of the British Ambassador in Washington D.C.

You could do worse, Mr. O., than to have a daily reminder at your elbow of what the man who braced up his small nation to face down the Nazis looks like -- a man who, in the flesh, had some bronze of his own where it counts, and who is worth looking at in bronze for a dose of inspiration.

Wonder what we will see in the void where the said bust used to be, when we finally get a look at the "new look" White House which is each president's decorating privilege.

What indeed will take its place? One of these?










































Maybe one of Neville Chamberlain? Funniest comment on this post:

He was pissed when he found out it wasn't Ward Churchill.

Or maybe this?


"Timothy Leary's dead -- o-o-o-o-h no-o-o-o, he's outside, looking in."

PORKULUS
IS NOW
"ENROLL'D IN THE CAPITOL"

...as Brutus said of Julius Caesar's assassination

I've been reading and teaching Julius Caesar of late, and have been struck time and again at how apt its formulations are for describing arrogant autocrats and the dangers of Messianic delusions. Check it out for yourself -- it rewards the effort.

And NO, I'm not envisioning or recommending the bringing of concealed weapons into the Senate on State of the Union night. The Republic is not likely to fall, even with this remarkably foolish and unfit man at its helm. We'll figure out how to preserve it until the nightmare is over.

'If it were done -- when 'tis done -- 'twere well It were done quickly.'

So said Macbeth, on the brink of doing something foul. So said the Democrats of Congress in their obscene haste to ram home this pig of package before anyone could look too closely.



'All the perfumes of Arabia', all the lipstick on Rodeo Drive, cannot wash the ugly off this baby.







Considering the state of legislative standards, it is by no means too absurd to believe that this rush job was a product of Mrs. Pelosi's desire to be on time for her scheduled trip to Rome, to spew nonsense at some unfortunate Italian politicians, and to get face-time with the Pope.

It's sad to think that, if Rome was totally clueless about the schismatic bishop's Holocaust problem, there is very little chance that the Holy Father will know that he is being used for a photo-op by a flagrantly public apostate Catholic. What did God make lightning for, if not to strike a political harlot like this one?!!!

So 'tis done. And many a tradition of ethics and equity in the conduct of public servants towards minority representatives has come undone. Reid and Pelosi preside with imperial tyranny, locking out the opposition, rolling over the Chief Executive, all with mendacious glee. The only thing transparent about the process has been the lying.

Equally undone is any semblance of the image that candidate Barack Obama painted of himself: post-partisan, open, corruption-free, 'smart', responsible -- all, all lies. Quite an accomplishment, for a mere three weeks.

And did I mention we are now wrapping up our surrender to (a) Russia, (b) Iran, and (c) terrorist legal blackmail? [Thanks, as always to Gateway Pundit] As we reel in disbelief that one man could roll out so much disaster in just a few weeks, many are remembering the one thing Obama said on the campaign trail which was the God's (as 'twere) honest truth:

"We are gonna remake this country block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, county by county, state by state."

Well, it is clear, he's gonna give it the old college [Columbia, Harvard] try.


The news this week is so depressing (except for the continuing story of how fantastically the election went in Iraq, where apparently people actually understand what's in their best interests when they drop their ballot in the box), that one is forced to focus on only one searingly important issue at a time, so here it is:

Michelle Obama had another dress disaster, this time in celebration of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Apparently she thought a crinoline was in order, as a tribute to Mary Todd Lincoln. Apparently she borrowed one of Mary's old dresses. Michelle is at least 5'11". Mary was 5'2".


















Take a lesson, Mrs. O, from lil' Mary, about covering your shoulders, 'mongst other things.


Can we make "stylist" a cabinet post? They've got one for just about everything else. (Same person needed to tell BHO that if you're going to wear a white tie to the Inauguration festivities, you wear tails. The tuxedo jacket outfit is called "black tie" for a reason. I'm just sayin'.)

At least when Nancy goes to Rome, she'll know how to dress for the occasion.

YES, I TAKE REQUESTS

And this one came from #1 son, who thought I should post this, since military protocols demand that he probably shouldn't oughta do it himself.

From Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive

MEMO TO THE
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF:

It is just this simple, Mr. Wannabe Commander in Chief, and I say "wannabe" because, while you hold the title, you haven't earned it or the trust of the troops yet. The first Special Forces team room I walked into had a sign over the Captain's desk that said, "Shut up sir, we'll throw you a pen when we need you to sign something". That sign stayed up for every new Captain assigned to a team of seasoned NCOs to serve as their Detachment Commander, and it only came down when he had gained the trust and became the Team Leader.

Well so far, Mr. Obama, you can hang onto your pen for a while yet. You have a choice to make about your B.S. 16-month withdrawal from Iraq campaign promise. It was B.S. when you first came up with it, and it's B.S. now. Your military leaders came to you and told you this, and we'll see if you listen to them or play politics. You, Reid, Murtha and the rest of the defeatocrats did your level best to lose that war and if President Bush wasn't a real leader you might have prevailed. I hope you have learned from that but you still seem to be lost as far as what the job of CinC entails. Well as a courtesy from this NCO to a new Commander, I will give you a very important lesson.

You can't end a war -- you either win it or lose it…

You also made a lot of noise during the campaign about how tough you would be in the "right" war Afghanistan. You claimed you'd invade Pakistan if you could find bin Laden, and you talked about how Iraq was a distraction from the real battle against al Qaeda. You now face a choice about those promises and you have blown the first step. You brought in your military leadership and then asked them what the end game and exit strategy was. I don't know if anyone left a manual on your desk, but that is your job…

Our military is not a tool to be used to further your political goals. I assume that is starting to sink in, and you still have to make the tough decisions. So man up sir, make the call and then prepare to stand by it. We'll see if the sign over your desk comes down.

More message and some salty video HERE.

Welcome Dogans and Doganistas! -- you know who you are.

Greetings, too, to those of Uncommon Descent -- who knew there could be so many?
Almost at risk of becoming, er, common.

You've all made my Thomas Tallis post the second most visited in my entire blogging history. [Second only to my tribute to the late Lord Muggs.]

And now back to our regularly schedule planet.......


So, what are you wearing?......

FEELING STIMULATED YET?

Congress is poised to pass this massive kidney stone of a bill, to stimulate an economy that may very well be bankrupted by it.

The Democratic majority has grabbed for everything on its life-long wish-list, like those mad shoppers who trample each other to get the bargains at Wal-Mart on Black Friday, frenzied in their naked Maoist lust for control over the lives of every last miserable peasant.

Incapable of even temporary disguise, they have rocketed away on the super-sonic jet to oblivion, and recently sent onto the field of battle their former generalissimo, John Freakin' Kerry, who couldn't contain his contempt for the ordinary selfish, stupid, recalcitrant worker bee in the socialist hive. Observe.



TWO BITCH-SLAP ASSESSMENTS OF THE FIRST OBAMA FORTNIGHT:

From a predictable source, Melanie Phillips, scourge of the coming wave of Eurabia, America, What Have You Done? from the Spectator of London.

From an unexpected source, Camille Paglia, acerbic lesbo-feminist who nevertheless sports a pretty well-oiled bull-feathers meter, on money by the bucket, and threats to free speech, over at Salon.com.


You go, girls.






MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH...

That's Rancho Al Asad, Anbar Province, Iraq, as it happens. Number One Son will be heading there some time within the next few days (if I told you when, I'd have to kill you. Actually, he hasn't even told ME when). It was a generally boring time over there last time, and this chapter promises to be even worse (better) for being more boring still.

How did it get boring, you ask? Let Marine Major General John F. Kelly, 1-MEF, tell you the why and how of the whole damned thing, start to finish. LISTEN UP!!!! (Pardon the few small grammatical and punctuational errors in the transcript at Blackfive -- I'm sure it was all perfect when it came out of the General's mouth.)

TRANSFER OF AUTHORITY CEREMONY
MAJOR GENERAL JOHN F KELLY USMC
COMMANDING GENERAL
I MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE (FORWARD)
MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-WEST
AL ASAD, IRAQ
9 FEBRUARY 2009

It might surprise some here today of what a Marine is proudest of in the nearly three years he's spent on the ground in Iraq since March 2003. It is not the triumphs of the invasion and the rush to Baghdad, Tikrit and Bayji that I lived, while the rest of the world held their breath and watched as we defined military power and prowess. It isn't the fights we had over the summer of 2003 against an emerging insurgency in the Babil province, or the two battles of Fallujah in April and November of 2004. Or clearing Ramadi, or holding Karma, or cleaning out Al Qaim over the years. It's also not about the number of terrorist we've killed, and the network they served all but destroyed, today making Anbar, Iraq, the Middle East, Europe and the world a safer place protected for now at least against a sick form of extremism no decent man or woman could ever embrace. That the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that have fought here in Anbar and Western Ninawa Province, and the men and women who commanded them these last five years, are at least has good as the best in the world at this business.

What I am very proud of is the number of human beings we did not have to kill because we never stopped extending the hand of friendship even in the darkest of days gone by, and the damage we didn't do because we resorted to force last, and always restrained its use when we did go to the guns. The other things I am proud of are the cows we purchased for widows to make a living, chicken farms we established or expanded, agricultural experts we hired and brought in to help farmers save their fields and increase production, and advise the shepherds on how to cull and strengthen their flocks. Of the thousands of tons of seed and fertilizer we bought and distributed to reestablish a farm industry destroyed by over a decade of UN sanctions, and exacerbated by the current drought. Of the hundreds of miles of irrigation canals we repaired or opened up, and the schools and clinics built and stocked with supplies. The impact we had on the province's health. By fixing or building sewerage plants and systems, and water treatment facilities, we began to reduce infant mortality by reducing the unseen killers of the new born-killers that thrive in filthy water. And then there was the cholera epidemic this past summer-that didn't happen; the dreaded tuberculosis outbreak in Hadithah-that we miraculously contained and treated without the loss of a single life.

There's a whole lot more HERE, and you better read it, or else surrender your right to have an opinion about anything. Read everything else at Blackfive while you're at it. Then drop and give me 50.

[updated]

DANIEL PEARL, seven years ago today

His father, Judea Pearl, remembers Daniel's murder, and wonders how we have to come to a place where "our luminaries" are becoming terrorist apologists.






THIS JUST IN:

DASCHLE'S OUT

Give me an S, give me a C,
give me an H-A-D-E-N-F-R-E-U-D-E.

It is a point of great pride for me that I gave my hundred bucks to help elect John Thune to the South Dakota Senate seat in '04. I haven't been entirely thrilled with Thune in the interim, but he was better than the alternative. (Which is not to say that there haven't been some days during the reign of Harry Reid when I could have wished for a return to Daschle's dulcet tones and more or less thought-out sentences.)

What a sinking feeling it was when I learned that Daschle was set for a return to the public eye and the public trough. But no -- his tax-cheating hypocrisy has felled him, and he done fell on his sword. Bye-bye, birdie.

And bless the Internets and the YouToob -- their contribution to this moment, by not allowing Daschle's own words of self-promotion and preachitude in years past, to stay at rest in the memory hole. Brought back to light are Tom's Washington Commute in his beat-up old Pontiac, and his pontifications on The Evils of Tax Cheats from the Senate floor. Watch and learn!


Enjoy, From Power Line:

OBAMA'S TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD,
VERY BAD TEN DAYS


55 dead and counting, from midwest weather --
"They're so poor, and so white...."
From American Thinker:

OBAMA HATES WHITE PEOPLE, AND WANTS THEM TO DIE