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

INGRATE

It may have escaped your notice -- certainly the lamestream media did its best to make sure of that -- but the democratic nation of Iraq just carried out quite a successfull election of provincial representatives in 14 of its 18 provinces. By all reports (all three of them?!) it was a surprising and promising victory for the secular Shiite party of current Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.

A Shiite majority overall is not a surprise, especially to the Sunnis who decided to encourage full participation this time instead of the boycott they staged at the previous election -- but the marginal showing of the Shiite religious factions is a new shift, and augurs well for a dwindling influence of the more divisive tribal or Sadrist groups.

Once again, over 130,000 American military personnel are on the ground, as they were in 2005, to maintain security for the now-free voters of Iraq to exercise their franchise. Across the nation, the purple fingers have been raised in triumph, and few of the voters would not acknowledge (grudgingly or no) that their triumph comes on the backs of American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. [GatewayPundit takes note]

Back in Washington D.C., another finger is raised. It's the middle digit, and it is launched via the words of the Commander-in-Chief. For, as he made quiet and under-reported public note of the successful election, he also made a point of praising the efforts of...

THE.

FRICKIN'.

UNITED NATIONS.

By contrast, he made no point whatsoever of praising the United States military, for its efforts this week, last week, or any other week, grinding out their sweat and spilling their blood to bring to 25 million victims of oppression the kind of freedoms taken largely for granted in North America. Oops -- oh yeah -- presidents are supposed to keep the military in their minds when thinking about, oh, just about anything that goes on beyond the boundaries of the their (putatively) native land. Right -- durn it. By the way, can we get a 10% cut in your funding over there at the Pentagon? Wonder how these folks feel about that?

MEANWHILE, OUT ON THE FIELD...

SMALL PEACHES

Next to the stars of Super Bowls past, General David Petraeus actually looked pretty small as he went out for the opening coin-toss [COIN -- heh] of Sunday's big game. The football greats who towered over him got pretty serious applause, but the house totally gave it up for the guy with the chest full of Fruit Salad. Check it out. Hope the Commander-in-Chief took note.




EMPEROR NERO, CALL YOUR (FEMA) OFFICE

Obama fiddles, eats $100 per pound steak, while Kentucky freezes.

People are dying without heat and services -- where's Spike Lee? where's Sean Penn? where's Governor Blanco?

Where's Waldo?










DOING THE JOBS AMERICANS WON'T DO

NEW PRESIDENT KEEPS OLD P.O.W. POLICY:

RENDITION

Americans do not torture, asserts the new Obamessiah -- who needs to when you can out-source it to our Allies, like, say, Libya?


ABOUT THAT AL-ARABIYA THING

The more I think about this, the more I read about what was said, the madder I get. Who is this punk kid to stand on his apple crate before the Arab world, wearing his President of the United States Halloween costume, and APOLOGIZE for the country that has not only done more for the well-being of Muslim society than any other country in the word, but probably more than most Muslim societies have ever done for themselves -- well, at least since they were turned back at the gates of Vienna.

With his customary aplomb, the Krauthammer NAILS IT.

...his self-inflation as redeemer of U.S.-Muslim relations leads him to suggest that pre-Obama America was disrespectful or insensitive or uncaring of Muslims, he is engaging not just in fiction but in gratuitous disparagement of the country he is now privileged to lead.

I have to hand it to this guy -- I've never had any desire to cultivate a case of Obambi Derangement Syndrome; I have observed his ascendancy without enthusiasm, with considerable fear, but without anything resembling hatred -- yet it must be said that he's has PISSED ME OFF more in two weeks than he did in the preceding two years of campaigning.

I knew he'd smoked dope, and I knew he'd done a little blow, and I knew he spent a lot of time sucking in the heady vapor of flattery, but I failed to recognize his consuming addiction to spontaneous, ignorant platitudes -- and that this addiction would follow him into office and do major foreign policy damage to the interests of the United States in less than a fortnight. I've had heads of romaine that stayed crisp longer than this administration. God help us all.


I THINK THIS WAS INTENTIONAL --
What do you think?

OBAMA PONTIFICATE, DAY 9:

HOW'S MY DRIVING?

Well, let's see -- we've got a tax-cheat running Treasury, one Chicago croney refused entry into Canada for his criminal record, another cog in the Chicago machine kicked out of the Governor's mansion for trying sell the former senator's seat, a couple of other croneys set to be called as witnesses in the guberatorial criminal prosecution, an FALN-terrorist-booster heading for Attorney General, a defense contractor lobbyist hired in a supposedly lobbyist-free zone, a woman who called Hillary Clinton a "monster" now working under her at State, a headlong rush into Islamofascist hobnobbing via Al-Arabiya TV and overtures to Madmood (The-only-good-Jew-is-a-dead-Jew) Ahmadinnerjacket, and a colossal Ugly Betty glob o' pork fat laughably referred to as a Stimulus Package that lumbered through the House without even being able to get all the Democrats behind it.


Having gotten 'the new era of bipartisanship' off to a good start by failing to see that Republicans had any input whatsoever on the economic recovery legislation, and then 'splaining it to them by spurting out 'I won!' in a meeting, the new Communicator-in-Chief thought it would be a good move to attack by name yet another private citizen employed in the media, exchanging his fixation on Fox's Sean Hannity for the chance to take public pot-shots at the far more intelligent, clever, and influential Rush Limbaugh -- thereby setting himself up for a much more difficult job of sleazing the Fairness Doctrine (by any other name) past the American people without a huge ugly fight.

And then there's the I'm-too-COOL-to-wear-a-suit-to-work portrait of the president at work in an Oval Office heated up like a sauna, when he's been preaching to the rest of us to turn the thermostat down, even as he has teased Washingtonians for being wimps in the face of a little ice -- trying simultaneously to be imaged as a rugged Chicagoan and a Hawaiian hot-house flower all within about 48 hours.

Not to mention the 9/11 widows & families who are offended by his intention (it doesn't deserve to be called a 'plan') to close Gitmo, the military families who are cheesed that he's the first president in the history of the Medal of Honor Inaugural Ball to blow it off in favor of ten other more important events, and all of us who wanted to smack him for the ungenerous and falacious characterizations of what's been going on the past eight years, as recounted in his mooshy mess of an inaugural address.

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

Honest to God, in my worst imaginings of the unpreparedness of Barack Obambi for the position of Chief Executive, I never dreamed he could prove himself such a rank amateur in less than two weeks. I wish I could even enjoy it a little, but anyone with a half-decent survival instinct wouldn't be so foolish as to do that.

DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT...DA-DEE-DAH

If there's one thing Mr. Obama proved about himself during the Long March to the White House, it was that, despite his prep school and high-falutin' college eddication, he is, um, as 'history challenged' as just about any kid stumbling out of an American high school these days.

So is it any surprise that the guy who thought that the Kennedy/Khruschev summit debacle of 1961 was a model of international relations outreach, and who didn't seem to know who the enemy was at Yalta or Potsdam, now thinks it a good idea to return to that 'respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago' ?

Now let's get more specific, Mr. President -- was that 30 years ago when we were cozy with the Shah of Iran (until we stepped aside to let him get overthrown), or was that 20 years ago, when some of us remember this:

YEAH, 'BAMA'S GONNA PARTY
LIKE IT'S 1989!!!!
















The formidable Max Boot puts the boot to this clap-trap and gives the cliff-notes to those decades of history, vis-a-vis our partnership with those who were torturing Marine Col. William Higgins to death, issuing fatwas against the life of Salman Rushdie, hanging Ali Bhutto, and nurturing the seed of the Taliban. Ah, yes....


THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIEND
WE THOUGHT THEY'D NEVER END

(441, 442, 443.......).






[Who was the unmasked man?]
















AND WE ALL KNOW HOW WELL IT ALL TURNED OUT:


President Jimmah Carter -- wasn't he just
the pea-nuttiest?!!!


(442, 443, 444-------------and, POW!)


To think I actually felt kinda sorry for that schmuck, Carter, when the split-screen tv showed his final limo ride on Reagan's inauguration day on one side, and the hostages coming home on the other. The bad guys didn't score quite that big again until September 11.

Well, we can't look for a knight on a white horse to come riding out of the west to save us this time -- but at least there are signs of hope (in the genuine, non-bumper-sticker sense):

Recently retrieved from the Lost and Found Dept.: 177 pairs of Republican GONADS, returned to the U.S. House of Representatives.

WHITE FLAG ALERT



NEW PRESIDENT THREATENS
THE WORLD'S TYRANTS WITH....


THE COMFY CHAIR!!!

(Oh no, not the comfy chair!!!!)



America's new President Barack DID I MENTION THAT MY MIDDLE NAME IS 'HUSSEIN'? Obama wasted no time during the first week of his pontificate in:

(a) selling out the Poles and surrendering to Russia (despite claimed pledges to the contrary prior to the election); and

(b) going all kissy-face with the Muslim world, specifically Iran, during his first big TV interview on... wait for it.... Al Arabiya Television. (I guess if he had singled out one American network for the privilege of that interview, his other lovers would have been so jealous they might have lost that tingle in their legs.)

[h/t Gateway Pundit]


CHANGE YOU CAN RELIEVE IN




This just in:
Religion of Peace makes new overtures in
international understanding:

LOCAL MUSLIMS LAY CLAIM TO
4th-CENTURY MONASTERY --

Well, hey -- there was a mosque on the site two hundred years before Mohammed was born, wasn't there?

Mor Gabriel, on the Iraq/Turkey border, inhabited by Syriac Orthodox monks, was established in the year 397 and is said to be the world's oldest continuously operating monastery. It is part of a now much-dispersed religious community, something of an island within nominally secular territory, humming along without bugging anybody. Now some 'neighbours' in three local Muslim villages want the monastery broken up and parcelled out to them on the deranged pretext that the monastery's existence was preceded by a mosque on the same property.

Monastery == 1611 years old
Islam == 1400 years old

Ow, my brain hurts.

Anyway, it looks like a terrible place, and it's really got to go.


That would be the best thing for everybody. Right?


[Thanks again, Gateway Pundit

-- also for this "get out the vote" reminder: Kurdish women line up to cast ballots in 2005, carrying visual statements in support of their liberator -- I believe his name was George.]

THEY WRITE, SO I DON'T HAVE TO

Jay Nordlinger --
INAUGURAL OBAMASPASMS
Stream-of-consciousness reflections on the address which was a heap of blanc-mange with a soupçon of cheap shots

Dick Morris -- WE'RE DOOMED
Here Comes Socialism

Michael Coren -- YANKS VOTE FOR DOOM
Barack Fools Us
[This article was written on November 8 but seems to have sprung to national attention just yesterday, mis-attributed to the some unknown person at the London Daily Mail, where you will NOT find it.]

Michelle Malkin --
JOHN MURTHA IS STILL A PIG
Pennsylvania Jihad Correctional Facility

Michelle Malkin --
WHITE EUROPEAN MALES ARE SO-O-O DEAD
Robert Reich: Keep stimulus money away from skilled workers and “white male contractors”

Iowahawk -- EPIC TIMES DESERVE EPIC POETRY
(Too bad about that Inaugural)
The Idiossey

You-tube -- DUDE, WHERE'S MY TELEPROMPTER?
The President signs Executive Orders, if that's okay with Greg Craig
[Suffer through the bibble-babble to hear the Commander-in-Chief, uh, um, er, ask his lawyer if he's got it right -- minute 0:43 and 5:17 .]

National Catholic Reporter --
WOMEN'S HEALTH MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE PRESIDENT'S
Mr. Obama will Executively Order more abortions, batch #1 (further batches to come)




Redhunter -- NATIONAL MALL FILLS WITH PEOPLE WHO COULDN'T GET INTO THE INAUGURATION
No, wait, they're people who want to defend the unborn child at the annual March for Life [new President invited, politely declines]



Winefred -- MICHELLE NEEDS A STYLIST

Apparently the cats have been out, at least among those with eyes to see, so I won't add any particular negative comments on the First Lady's wardrobe choices for the Big Day.

Oh damn -- yes I will.

I don't mean to be mean, because Michelle Obama is capable of looking smashing (see the teal blue dress at the Democratic Convention -- but then again, that was the night that her speech revealed she had been taken over by an alien being and experienced a complete personality transformation.) Her election night frock was freaky on her.

But oh my -- things went horribly wrong on the 20th. The gold brocade thing was a bad colour for her, and seemed to suggest, in an underperforming way, the kind of stuff worn by foreign monarchs (royal frumpery a la Queen Elizabeth), with a non-precious tiara at her neck because she didn't dare wear it on her head. (Piper Palin has no such qualms...) The green shoes and gloves were just plain strange.

And the white ball gown was, well, intended for someone else -- 20 years younger, a head shorter, shoulders 4 inches narrower.

And, I'm sorry, but I had just one vision when I saw it ===>



MEOW, MEOW, MEOW.

JUAN WILLIAMS -- ORACLE

Throughout the political "season" (since when does a season last two years?) we have watched Juan Williams walk the tightrope between careful political analysis as the voice of rational liberalism on FoxNews, and the perspective of his own life as a black American, feeling the emotional tug of history at the prospect of the first black president.

A supporter of Hillary Clinton, he was nevertheless choked with emotion at the close of the Democratic convention at which Obama was nominated. On Inauguration Day his composure broke, just for a moment, as he tried to put into words what the day signified for people like him. (To his credit, he was ultimately at a loss for words, unlike so many others who treated their pedestrian observations as if the were profound.)

In the cold light of day (though he wrote it in the heady hours of the previous night), Juan Williams looks ahead to the comoing scrutiny of the new chief executive, and the perils associated with chronicling this historic figure -- and he

NAILS IT.

It is sufficient reading unto the day. Leave it for tomorrow to parse the vapidity and petty meanness of Mr. Obama's Forget-its-burg Address.

IF, LIKE ME, YOU STILL CAN'T QUITE BELIEVE IT.....





Spent much of yesterday morning in tears.




















Needed a good laugh, and Jon Stewart did not disappoint. [If you haven't the patience for 15 minutes, slide ahead to minute 9:56 and hoot.]

IT IS ACCOMPLISHED

Or at least we think it is. Chief Justice John Roberts got nervous and flubbed the oath, so maybe technically it never happened at all.

Commander-in-Chief Obama.

Well.

COUNTDOWN TO A
FOUR-YEAR-LONG
MAD HATTER'S TEA PARTY (updated)


In 24 hours from just about now, we will have a new President

LET THE OBAMINAUGURAMA BEGIN

On November 5th I declared myself to be speechless, and I find this is the case once again, as we grow closer and closer to the moment where the rise of the oceans will be completely unaffected, and the planet will be in no danger of healing any too soon -- the moment when Barack Hussein Obama will assume the mantle of American leadership and ascend to the pantheon of American history.

Meanwhile, according to the Onion, ziss is ze time on Schprockets ven vee danz!

Congress Debates Adding Elaborate Dance To Obama's Inauguration Ceremony

On the subject of pantheons, of course, only gods belong there. If you're wondering whether that would be the appropriate place for the newbie, well, just ask him -- he hasn't even taken the oath of office yet and already he thinks he's Abraham Lincoln. When he starts to stumble -- and he will -- my God, he's given himself an extra long way to fall.

But apparently the occasion calls for some serious

GUSHING: See this article by Lorne Gunter at the National Post.

SLOBBERING: See this book by Bernie Goldberg, late of CBS

[KOOL-AID break............]

At Sunday's Lincoln Memorial rock concert, some very, very important people lent their voices to the celebrations, to tell us just how momentous was this day and how happy we should be -- better, smarter folks than you and I, to be sure: Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Jamie Foxx, Steve Carrell.

Steve F***ing Carrell, I'm telling you!!!!!

That Great American, Paul Hewson (otherwise known as Irish U2 vocalist Bono) recalled how Martin Luther King had spoken of his dream on these steps 43 (er, he stands corrected: 46) years ago. "Let freedom ring," said he. "On Tuesday, that dream comes to pass."

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall Dr. King's dream went something like this:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Is that what just happened here, over the past two years of eternal campaigning? Is that what happened on November 4? A man rose to the apex of American political power on the "content of his character" rather than the colour of his skin? [Dare I say it?] No -- I think not.

In fact the evidence suggests that Mr. Obama rose largely because his character was unknown (or suppressed) -- and because the same could be said of the content of his policies. He remains a cipher. Our most pressing question now: is this an accident born of his inexperience and unpreparedness? or is it the result of a deliberate strategy on his part to conceal, and to hoodwink a nation?

[Before the concert, Hewson/Bono told NBC's Brian Williams that when Obama swears his oath on Lincoln's bible, it will prove that "America exists." Begging your pardon, sir, we're here, we're queer (in the dictionary sense), we're not going away -- we have never gone away. Tell Saddam Hussein that America's existence has been in doubt these past eight years. Sheesh. What arrogant B.S.]

There are other pressing questions. Fred Barnes at the Weekly Standard boils them down rather well, to four Fears -- here:

He doesn't know what he's talking about. (numbers, numbers, everywhere)
He's a pushover. (Pelosi will eat him for lunch)
He's another Jimmy Carter on foreign and national security policy. (diplomacy as panacea)
He has nerves of jello. (how deep is the 'calm'?)

Over at Commentary Magazine, Abe Greenwald has a less charitable, and much less optimistic take on the nature of the new administration. He claims that we are about to see implemented "The Doctrine of Fakism" at every level. I am inclined to agree with him. It hit me between the brows when I heard the Secretary of State Designate (looking tired and de-botoxed) declare that United States foreign policy must henceforth be an exercise in "smart power" -- I nearly lost my lunch. Are we really going to have to listen to this kind vacuous jargon for the next four years, our eyes trained in horrified fascination on the spectacle of overpaid elected officials treating this nonsense as if it has meaning, not to mention utility? Sweet Jesu -- take me now.


Update:
OH CANADA -- WHO KNEW YOU HAD A QUOTA
ON LEFT-WING EXTREMISTS AND WASHED-UP TERRORISTS?

How did I miss this? How did I not sniff it in the air, a crisp, fresh northern wind that said, "BILL AYERS HAS BEEN BARRED FROM ENTERING THE COUNTRY."

I don't know what possessed the folks at the border, but they stymied America's attempt to get revenge for all that garbage we're shipping to Michigan.

Obama buddy (and never doubt it -- he WAS -- is?) William Ayers, 1960's Weather Underground terrorist-honcho, was scheduled to spew his disingenuous nonsense at the University of Toronto, but was sent back to Chicago with his tail between his legs. (There has been no mention of what he did with his horns....)

Wolfe the Dauntless would be proud.


Sunday was also Sanctity of Human Life Day, as declared by the outgoing President. Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. That point of light will likely go out all over America in pretty short order. In the meantime, remind yourself what's at stake, courtesy of Deacon Greg and Catholic Media House here.

also updated: Vice-President Elect Joe Biden, or rather his lovely wife Jill, stuffed the Vice-presidential foot firmly in mouth by revealing (again) that Jabberin' Joe had been offered his choice of Veep or Secretary of State, and made his selection. Oops. We're not supposed to know this. More to the point, Hillary Clinton isn't supposed to know this. Know what? I have no idea. I just know it's going to be fun waiting to see how long it takes before Vice-President Joe is transported to a secure undisclosed location for no apparent reason.

WHITHER HISTORY? TRUTH OR RAPE?

PBS Talking head Tavis Smiley wasted no time (we haven't even sworn the guy in yet!) in declaring that the election of Barack Obama demonstrates nothing about a "post-racial" era -- far from it, my friends, in that it merely shows that America is "less racist" than it used to be -- that this election is merely a "down payment" on reparation for slavery. Here's the tape, and one informed black dude's puzzled response at BlackInformant.com

Here's some more history that I ran across while feeling speechless and numb. It's the Leader of the Free World, striding into a situation where he is more vulnerable, in myriad ways, than any President has ever been. And he, and tens of thousands of Americans, show the world what we're made of. Watch and remember.

Mini-update: Forgot to mention -- when I watched the baseball game footage, I burst into tears for my country and said "What have we done? My God, what have we done?

THIS JUST IN:
SENTENCES OF RAMOS AND COMPEAN

COMMUTED

CHESLEY SULLENBERGER GLIDES TO GLORY

Graduated first in his class at the United States Air Force Academy, B.S., class of '73; seven years as an F-4 Phantom fighter jet pilot; M.S. and M.A. degrees; 28 years with U.S. Airways; and, at the time of his heroic float-landing, he is a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley!) Center for Catastrophic Risk Management.
[Wiki bio here]

Also the last man off the sinking airbus of flight 1549.

Just another one of those dumb losers who join the United States military for want of something more useful and productive to do.

Sorry to disappoint you, Senator Charlie ("no bright young individual wants to fight...") Rangel, and Senator John Frickin ("study hard... or you get stuck in Iraq...") Kerry -- he's a better man than you are, Gunga Dingbat.

He's also the founder of Safety Reliability Methods, Inc. I suspect the customers will soon be lining up around the block.

Their motto: "Proven Performance, Dedicated Professional Service, Uniquely Qualified Experts."


No, really?

155 sets of happy feet walk on their way today, thanks to Sully. So nice to meet a guy named Sully who makes the world a better place. (Not like some other Sully's we could mention, but won't.)


FUN WITH PIE-CHARTS

Well, not pies exactly. Just some things that make you kinda go "Hm-m-m." [hat-tip: the ever reliable Gateway Pundit]

Just how dangerous is it to be in the U.S. armed forces under the evil George W. Bush (as opposed to....)?



Just how demanding and essential is the position of Vice President for Community and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Hospital (relative to the increasing influence and earmark dollars of said Veep's nearest relative)?

(hint: Up until recently, this position was held by First Lady in Waiting Michelle Obama. The hospital has announced it has no plans to replace her.)

Now here's the real pie chart.