In the Kitchen with Hitchens...and a simple question...

I mentioned in a previous blog an interview author/pundit/journalist Christopher Hitchens did with one of the best political discussion sites: Frontpage Magazine. I found some pieces of the interview that I just had to bring up, because he makes such good points on various topics. A printable view of the complete interview, a must read for anyone with half a brain, can be found here.

On Osama Bin Laden:

Osama bin Laden is a kind of pseudo-intellectual, with a rough theory of history and a highly reactionary desire to restore a lost empire. But he negates even this doomed, pseudo-Utopian project by his hysterical Puritanism, which bans even music and which of course would deny society the talents of women as well as driving out anyone with any culture or education. Thus, any society run by him or people like him would keep on going bankrupt and starving itself to death, with no ready explanation of why this kept happening. The repeated failure would inevitably be blamed on Zionist-Crusader conspiracies, and the violence and repression would then be projected outward, which is why we have a right to concern ourselves with the "internal affairs" of the Islamic world.

On Bin Laden's Followers

Below even the bin Laden level, however, there are those who insist that they prefer death to life, and who really mean it. Suicide is not so much their tactic as their rationale: they represent a cult of death and they are wedded to destruction. It's amazing how many people refuse to see this. They persist in saying that it's a protest against something, or a reaction to some injustice. They are right to an extent: as long as there is a non-Salafist Muslim anywhere, or a Jew or Christian or rationalist, or an unveiled woman or a profane work of art, the grievance can never be appeased. Of course this does have something in common with fascism - "Death to the intellect! Long live Death!" was a favorite slogan of some Francoists: I think it was coined by General Quiepo de Llano - but even fascism could build an autobahn or design a rocket, while these primitives only want to steal enough technology to wreak devastation. So far, they have mainly brought down their own house (as in Afghanistan and now in Iraq) but we can't allow ourselves take too much comfort from that. However, there is some encouragement to be derived. The 1990s Islamist insurgency in Algeria, for example, was crushed partly because the GIA (which now seems to have gone out of existence) had no political demands and had more or less excommunicated all other Algerians as heretics. This same dead-end for jihad is perhaps being reached in Palestine and will be reached, if we stay intransigent, in Iraq also.

On What Must Be Done With Islamofascism:

What I keep saying is: they wish to be martyrs and we must help them to achieve martyrdom by every method at our disposal.

One Michael Moore:

Actually, the review of Moore's mendacious film involved me in very little mental effort: it was more like an exercise in logical and moral hygiene. The movie was so idiotic and so sinister that it more or less condemned itself: a tiny shove is all it took.

As to the psyche that it represents: There is a widespread view that the war against jihadism and totalitarianism involves only differences of emphasis. In other words, one might object to the intervention in Iraq on the grounds that it drew resources away from Afghanistan - you know the argument. It's important to understand that this apparent agreement does not cover or include everybody. A very large element of the Left and of the isolationist Right is openly sympathetic to the other side in this war, and wants it to win. This was made very plain by the leadership of the "anti-war" movement, and also by Michael Moore when he shamefully compared the Iraqi fascist "insurgency" to the American Founding Fathers. To many of these people, any "anti-globalization" movement is better than none.

On Noam Chomsky:

In some awful way, his regard for the underdog has mutated into support for mad dogs. This is not at all like watching the implosion of an obvious huckster and jerk like Michael Moore, who would have made a perfectly good Brownshirt populist. The collapse of Chomsky feels to me more like tragedy.

Ouch!

Old Christopher has quite a tongue on him. Sharp as a knife and cold as ice. He's probably the most intelligent, coherent, and downright rational thinker left in the political left, if you can forgive my doublespeak.

Sure, we disagree on a lot of stuff, he's a militant atheist, I'm a shoddy excuse for a Catholic, but I don't agree with anyone on everything. I don't agree with myself on everything, and I'm always right. I just think that he, unlike others in the field, can see beyond the agenda of short term personal political gain, and see the bigger picture and the bigger threat that looms there.

Now before I further bastardize anymore metaphors, let's move on.

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A SIMPLE QUESTION:

If poverty and despair are the causes of terrorism... how come we never see Bangladeshi suicide bombers?

It's a thought.

Quotable Doltables

The Media Research Centre has posted their Quotable Notables list for 2004.  It collects some of the dumbest, wildest, and most brazen examples of bias in the MSM. 

 

If these self-appointed protectors of progressiveness weren't hindering the cause of freedom and costing innocent people their lives, their ignorance of the issues would be funny.  Instead they're sad and maddening.

 

A must read for everyone.

125,000....

...and still counting.

 

The disaster in Southern Asia has reached a level of tragedy that goes beyond the level of understanding possessed by a mere mortal like myself.  The ever increasing casualty count, growing by thousands ever hour, has become an unbelievable statistic.

 

No, unbelievable isn't the right word.

 

It's not that you can't believe that this terrible event and the suffering it caused has happened.  It's that you honestly don't want to believe that such a catastrophe is even possible.

 

Sadly, what we want, and what happens in the real world are two totally different things.

 

Although the suffering of countless legions of innocent people are nothing when it comes to those who seek to use this event for their own political gain.

 

I'm talking about the international 'Hate America' club that's criticizing the USA for being 'stingy' in its response.

 

You America bashing bastards should be ashamed of yourselves.

 

American citizens alone make up 40% of charitable giving in the world.  That's one country of less than 300 million people in a world of over 6 billion people.  Also the government of the USA has always been the biggest dispenser of aid in the world.

 

They're offering millions of dollars in cash for aid programs as well as sending a flotilla of US Navy vessels with 5000 sailors, helicopters, food, medical supplies and equipment for desalinizing and purifying drinking water.  Other nations, even the World Bank is offering cash, but I don't see how just money is going to prevent disease, bury the dead, treat the injured and repair some of the awful damage done.

 

The Americans are offering more than a pledge to give some money to someone at some future date.  They're offering to put their citizens in the disaster area and put them to work saving lives.  And for that they're called 'stingy' by the same people who brought the world Saddam's Oil for Food scam.

 

America would be well within its rights as a nation to turn to the world that hates it and declare that they're not going to give them the steam off their pee and then tell America's bashers to solve the world's problems if they're so damn superior.

 

But Americans would never do that.

 

And do you know why?

 

Because Americans are basically a decent people.  All they want is for the rest of the world to enjoy the same success that they have enjoyed, and when the rest of the world is hurt, they're always the first on the move to tend to the sick, clothe the naked and feed the hungry.

 

Those who bash America as ungenerous should ask themselves a question. 

 

"What am I doing to help?"

 

No matter what they think, it'll be nowhere near the level of charity expressed by the United States of America.

 

Now all you American Bashers, shut up and go help someone.  Do something useful with your life for a change.

 

A Reading List & Other Stuff...

READING LIST:

Political pundit and certified devil's advocate Christopher Hitchens is out pimping his new collection of essays Love, Poverty & War. As usual he gives an intriguing interview with FrontPage Magazine found here.

I often disagree with him, but you can't dismiss that he makes a compelling and intelligently presented case. Unlike some pundits out there who think just being loud somehow makes them right. Anyway, his book should be an interesting read.

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In other news, Frontpage Columnist Roger Kimball has put together an obituary about the recent passing of author/pundit/radical chic activist Susan Sontag. I'm afraid that I've been more moved by the recent passing of actor/singer Jerry Orbach than yet another long-winded Manhattanite who is hailed by a genius for such clever epigrams like calling Western Culture a 'cancer on the world.'

I'll miss Jerry Orbach.

I'll probably forget Susan Sontag.

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Ilana Mercer has written a well done piece about what I call 'causes & excuses' in American Spectator that can found here.

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OTHER STUFF:

Ukrainian Prime Minister and author of the upcoming book "101 Recipes for Dioxin" Viktor Yukanovych is refusing to concede the presidential election he lost by eight points and is threatening to take the results to court.

Take a lesson from the Kerry campaign.

Concede the election. Then have your toadies file countless court challenges demanding a series of pointless and expensive recounts.

That's how a real democracy works.

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I've been reading a lot about Minnesota Star-Tribune Columnist Norm Coleman's feud with the people behind the way more popular blog than mine POWERLINE.

MEMO TO NORM COLEMAN: I've read some of your comments and I have to say, never pick a gunfight when you don't have any ammunition.

Now talk among yourselves....

I don't know why I still watch 60 Minutes...

I really don't.

 

Today all they had was a piece about 'Echo-Boomers' and how sheltered, naive and rich they are, then a remembrance of Ray Charles, and then a piece about NFL coaches, which aired, conveniently enough, right after an NFL game.

 

Not exactly relevant and earth-shattering reports.

 

But the real kicker came when pundit/ curmudgeon/ fossil Andy Rooney came on, saying that college professors should be made into a branch of the government and have a valid say on major issues.

 

God, I hoped that old bastard was joking.

 

Because if he wasn't, then it's time to take Ol' Yeller out back one last time.  There's something not right with his head and it ain't ever gonna get right ever again.

 

It's obvious that Andy Rooney hasn't met a university professor since the great glaciers receded and he was covering the scores on the latest mammoth hunt.  University professors are probably the most narrow minded, egocentric, and blatantly prejudiced group of people on the face of the earth.  If they weren't they wouldn't be college professors, they'd be out doing something, rather than talking about it.

 

Right now, this minute, while America is at war with a fascist enemy called Islamic Terrorism, American University Professors are calling for the mass slaughter of America's courageous soldiers,  promote treason and fascism under the guise of prgoressiveness, and are glorifying men like Saddam Hussein & Usama Bin Ladin they way they beatified the terrorist, mass-murderer, and dictator wannabe Che Guevera.

 

I'm not saying they're all bad. 

 

Condi Rice was a college professor, but she got over it.

 

But I am saying that the majority have been ensconced in their Ivory Towers for too long.  Their connection to reality and the threats loose in the world has been cut.  They're stuck in the 60's thinking that everything is the fault of those evil democracies, and that all fascist dictators need is a hug and a stern talking too.

 

The bulk of the academics in this world are not qualified for real power, no matter what that fossilized windbag says.  Just having a lot of letters after your name doesn't mean you're smart, it just means you're good at telling your predecessors what they want to hear.

 

I really should stop watching 60 Minutes...

 

~Vox Poplar, BA, BS, MA, Ph.D, MD, PDQ, SFA.

 

WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION?

I saw a piece in the paper the other day where 200 children went to a party at Neverland Ranch hosted by washed up entertainer, self-proclaimed 'King of Pop' and accused pedophile Michael Jackson.

 

This makes me want to ask one question of the parents of these children:

 

*Best R. Lee Ermey Bellow*

WHAT'S YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, NUMBNUTS!?!

 

You'll have to pardon my rough language, but I just can't understand the dust clogged, unoiled machinations of your mind.  The man is accused of molesting a child, and even if he's innocent of that charge he's still a sad character trapped in a demented childish world of his own invention. 

 

He's got nothing to offer these children except the promise of a potential whopping cash settlement, which by seeing the daily reports of fresh lawsuits against the middle aged Peter Pan, is looking pretty unlikely that you'll ever collect.

 

And those parents better not tell me that it's their kids that want to visit this cracked vision of a middle aged man's broken childhood.  That's so screwed up and divorced from reality, it could be an election exit poll.

 

You'll be pretty hard-up to find anyone under 25 who even remembers his music career, let alone admit to being a fan.  I'll bet dinars to donuts that the bulk of these children haven't even heard of Michael Jackson, and probably don't have a clue of what it is he's done. 

 

This whole affair reeks of parents looking to bask in the faded glow of The Gloved One.

 

These parents could only have one of two motives.

 

1.  The parents are hoping that the allegations are true, and are looking for an opening for a whopping lawsuit, or maybe some celebrity hush money.  But like I said earlier, you gotta get in line for the gravy train.  Everybody and his cousin from Newfoundland is suing Jacko for everything from unpaid bills to services not rendered.  He's probably already broke and living on the fumes of his former fiscal glory, namely a sizeable credit rating.

 

2.  The parents are living in a delusional state where they look at a pale, surgically mangled, androgynous, man-child, and see, in their mind's eye, the cute little boy who sang and danced with the Jackson 5.

 

Either way, they have no business putting their children in what could be a harmful situation.  I don't know if he's guilty or innocent, I'm not on the jury, and I don't know the full story.  However, if I was one of his big money legal team I'd have told Jacko that the last thing a man on trial for pedophilia has no business having is a party for 200 children in the house that was just searched for evidence of child molestation.

 

Even if he's innocent, it looks bad, not just for him, but for the parents of those children. 

 

Looks like a lot of people need a reality pill, for the sake of the children.

 

That's enough for tonight, talk among yourselves...

 

Causes & Excuses....

There's a lot of talk about terrorism these days, what with a war going on and all, and a lot of people talk about how we must deal with what they call the 'root causes of terrorism.'

 

Now that sounds all well and good, so let's take a look at what people say are the three biggest 'causes of terrorism.'

1. Poverty.  Experts say that the main reason people engage in terrorism is because they're poor.  Now I find that concept and the reasoning behind it to be very interesting.  It's assumed by these 'experts' that since these terrorists mostly come from Muslim countries that they must be poor.  Yet when you look at actual terrorists engaging in actual terrorist activities, you realise something.  They are almost entirely made up of the middle and upper classes of their various home countries.  None probably knew poverty or real hardship until their first night in a cave in Afghanistan or a bombed out house in Fallujah.  Apparently the poor in these 'terrorist states' have more important things on their mind than blowing up the 'infidel.'  Things like feeding their families and staying alive for just one more day.  Like Che Guevera's botched 'Peasant's Revolution' in Bolivia, international jihad is made up mostly of relatively rich kids living out their fantasies of glory.

2. Ignorance.  Here we go again.  Most 'experts' declare that people won't become terrorists if they only knew us in the Western World for the pips that we really are.  Well, once again, when we look at actual terrorists, we see that they've, more often than not, have lived among us in the West.  Many have studied at our universities, and they still hate us.  Why?  Because they see our treatment of women, homosexuals, and people of other religions as evidence of our 'evil.'  They know us all to well, and it's our tolerance and freedom that disgust them. 

3. Injustice.  Okay, I'll concede that the bulk of Islamist terrorists come from countries with dismal human rights records.  But look at the first two points.  These aren't the oppressed peasantry engaged in revolt here.  Terrorist are the children of the ruling elite, looking to replace the order of their parent's generation with their own.  They don't seek freedom, they just want to change the names of the dictators.

It's my theory that these are not the causes of terrorism, but the excuses of terrorists.  You could give George W. Bush a magic wand that would eliminate poverty, ignorance and injustice and a movement would erupt worldwide blowing people up left and right over the 'evil yankee imperialists who took away their rights to be poor, ignorant and abused.'

Let's move away from international jihad and look at an American domestic terrorist as the perfect example of this theory.  The Olympic Park Bomber went on a campaign of domestic terrorism that killed several people and did a lot of damage all over the southern USA.  He claimed that his cause was his opposition to abortion. 

Yeah, right.

I'll bet you dollars to donuts that he could be put in an alternate dimension where abortion didn't exist, and he'd start bombing the offices of dentists.  Abortion was not his cause, it was his excuse for acting out his violent power fantasies.

It's the same with the members of Al-Qaida.  These are people who watch videos of the decapitation of hostages the same way ordinary perverts watch porno.  If there was no grand jihad to latch onto, they'd be abusing and killing people in the name of money, power, or just plain old kicks.  The fact that Usama Bin Ladin's promising 72 virgins as their heavenly reward for doing what they'd be doing without his blessing.

We should still fight poverty, ignorance, and injustice, because they are bad things in and of themselves.  However, terrorism is an evil all unto itself, there is no legitimate excuse for it, and it has to be crushed, one dead terrorist at a time.

"Paging Dr. Poplar, These Patients Need A Check Up From the Neck Up"

Here's a list of people in the news who need the figurative 'check up from the neck up' because of some stupid or downright crazy actions.

 

1. Air Marshal Service Driector Thomas Quinn

Bureaucratic idiocy has reared it's ugly, or should I say carefully groomed, head in the Air Marshal Service.

 

Air Marshall Honcho Thomas Quinn has supposedly gone militant about a dress code.  Under his regime all Air Marshals must wear dark suits and ties, and keep their grooming up to date with military precision.  This makes sure of one thing, that Air Marshals will stick out like sore thumbs.

 

It's time for Quinn to get a check up from the neck up.

 

Quinn's supposed to be running an operation where his agents act undercover pretending to be innocent and harmless airline passengers.  They're supposed to look like tired tourists, young hippy backpackers, and cute couples on their honeymoon.  They're not supposed to look like cops.  All your 'standards' will achieve are a lot of people getting killed.

 

2. Vladimir Putin

Vlad, don't take this the wrong way, but there's something you should know. 

 

THE SOVIET UNION DOESN'T EXIST ANYMORE.

 

I just thought you should know.  Now get your head out of your ass and stop meddling in the affairs of the Ukraine.  The sticky fingered plutocrats who are on the way out are not your buddies, no matter how much they kiss your ass.  You should be making friends with folks like NATO and the European Union, not trying to revive an empire that was a disaster the first time around.

 

Relax, have some vodka and tell your cronies to lay off using dioxin as a party favour.  And by the way, Yuschenko survived your little Lucrezia Borgia cocktail, if your boys can't deliver the goods, you really shouldn't be trying.

 

3. The Democratic Party

Talk about a sever case of monomania.  Today some Democratic Party wonks started demanding that the FBI open an investigation of possible voter fraud in Ohio.  And they wonder why Republican Party memberships are going through the roof.  Time for a reality check. 

 

YOU LOST THE 2004 ELECTION!

 

YOU LOST IT BY 3,000,000+ VOTES!

 

YOUR CURRENT CAMPAIGN OF INSULTS AND CONSPIRACY THEORIZING WILL ONLY CAUSE A REPUBLICAN LANDSLIDE IN 2008!

 

WAKE UP!

 

They need to listen to Peter Beinart of the New Republic and take a serious dose of reality.  America is at war, and despite what Michael Moore tells you, it isn't with Christianity.

 

4. The Ayatollahs of Iran.

There are signs of hope in the long running Islamic Republic.  Students heckled President Khatami for his failure to deliver on his promised reforms.  The Ayatollahs have also had to resort to hiring Chechen and Palestinian mercenaries to do their dirty work because they can't trust the police and the army anymore.

 

But there are also signs that the Ayatollahs will do anything to enforce their twisted view of morality.  Recently a mentally handicapped girl with the mental age of 8 was executed for violating their moral code.  Her crime: her family had sold her into prostitution when she was a small child and she was passed from pimp to pimp like a toy.  The pimps, johns, and her sleaze bag relatives apparently did nothing wrong in the eyes of Allah, because there has been no news of any of them being punished.

 

This isn't the 8th century and you're not the great Caliphs you think you are, you're a bunch of petty thugs who adopted religion not as your cause, but your excuse, so grow up and take your place in the dustbin of history.

 

That's enough for today, talk among yourselves...

 

There's nothing more depressing than an empty building...

...depressing, and pointless as well.  North American society is currently under the thrall of the myth of the suburban paradise.  Since the end of WW2 people have been fleeing the cities and towns to what they think is going to be their picket fenced piece of heaven.  Then it turns into a piece of hell.  People are now more dysfunctional than ever, trapped in their SUVs in an endless round of commuting, wasting fuel and spewing gases into the air.  All the while downtown buildings sit empty and unused. 

 

That's a disgrace.

 

What we need to do is realise that cities are not a problem to be fixed, they are the solution to many of our problems.  Downtown people walk more, are in better shape, use less resources, are more active in their community, and have either an equal or greater quality of life than their suburban counterparts.

 

What we need in North America are developers willing to see beyond the quick buck of knocking off some low quality hi-cost condos for rich yuppies, but to look to the long term.  Design new projects to house a full range of socio-economic and ethnic types.  Such diversity actually strengthens a neighbourhood and does wonders in fighting poverty and crime.

 

Remember, to be a true capitalist you can't just target your product at the rich, you have to make it available and affordable to everyone.  The wider the net, the bigger the catch, and the bigger the catch, the bigger the profits.  You have to think big, like Henry Ford or Bank of America's Giancarlo Giannini, not small like some fly by night petty hustler.

 

Take the example of London England's notorious landlords.  They often leave whole blocks of buildings officially vacant for no other reason than it gives them an excuse to jack up the prices on the buildings they do allow tenants in. 

 

That should be illegal.  If you own a building, you must find a use for it, or face having it taken away and given to someone who will.

 

People who live downtown should get organised, raise money, and do something about this problem.  There should be no more empty buildings while homeless still roam our streets.

 

Some Random Ramblings...

1. Hugo Over the Edge

Venezuelan populist strongman Hugo Chavez decided that having absolute control over the national media, triggering a regional arms race, and the suppression of free speech just wasn't enough.  So, he decided to dust off the old dictator's chestnut and start picking on the Jews.  Last week his police raided the private Jewish school Colegio Hebraica in Caracas.  They claim that they were looking for evidence of Mossad involvement in the assassination of political prosecuter Danilo Anderson.  That's logical, Mossad agents always use Jewish schools and synagogues as fronts.  We all know the story of the Mossad agent who became Deputy Defense Minister of Syria while undercover as an Orthodox Rabbi. (In case you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic.)  A nation's treatment of its Jewish population has always been the proverbial canary in the human rights coalmine, and judging by what's happening, Venezuela's history of tolerance is now just that: history.  I think old Hugo has fallen prey to Michael Moore's frequent assertion that the freedom of the lumpen proletariat is dressed in a burqa, and is probably trying to cozy up to such bright lights of freedom like Iran, Syria, and Libya.  Bright move Hugo.

 

2. Do They Care It's Chistmas?

This year is the 20th anniversary of "Do They Know It's Christmas" the groundbreaking charity single performed by Band Aid.  For the anniversary a collection of Brit pop/rock luminaries recorded a new version to raise money for the poor and starving of the Darfur region in the Sudan.  I think it's rather ironic.  They might know it's Christmas in Darfur, but they probably don't care since it's a Muslim community.  What's really ironic was that during the 90's people who do celebrate Christmas, the Christians of Southern Sudan were starving and tormented by the genocidal terrorist government in Khartoum, yet there was no charity album for them. Their misery didn't fall on a landmark anniversary year, so they were just shit out of luck.

 

3. Rich Gets Richer...

Fugitive financier, tax-evader, black market oil dealer, and Democratic Party fundraiser Marc Rich has his rather sticky fingers deep into the UN Oil for Food scam.  Apparently after his eleventh hour pardon by President Bill Clinton old Marc went into business with that paragon of ethics and purity Saddam Hussein.  He loaned the Butcher of Baghdad money in exchange for very lucrative oil deals that involve many in the Kofi Annan regime at the UN.  It seems that Marc Rich doesn't want to just get rich through hard work and smart investing, it has to have that element of evil and human misery to make it worth his while.  I hope the Clinton Library was worth all that suffering.

 

More Quickies...

1.

Lance Armstrong has inadvertently become the centre of a bruhaha over his 'LIVE STRONG' bracelets.  Apparently they're the same color as one hospital's 'Do Not Resucitate' wristbands.  I hope this isn't happening in Holland with its new protocol of involuntary euthanasia.  That could get messy.

 

2.

The World Bank, like all UN institutions give new meaning to screwing the pooch.  It's so obssessed with collecting the accumulated interest left over from loans that were paid off decades ago, they're driving the poor country's they were supposed to help into the ground.  Here's an idea.  Abolish the World Bank, and replace with something that doesn't put economic development money in the hands of corrupt and incompetent 3rd World governments and their cronies.  Put the money in the hands of the people who do the work.  Then you might get something done.  Then again, the UN is squarely against getting anything done.  Case in point: The Oil for Palaces... I mean food program...

 

3.

This month marked the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's coronation as the Emperor of France.  France has mixed feelings about the event.  On one hand he's the last leader they had that was ever described as 'brilliant' even if it was at making war, on the other hand, he wasn't French.  He was a Corsican of Italian descent, and that really sticks in their snooty, nationalistic egocentric craw.  I knew Napoleon was good for something.

 

4.

Withered talking head Mike Wallace gummed the fat with an outgoing fellow octogenarian senator named Fritz Hollings tonight on 60 Minutes.  The whole interview ran like a campaign commercial for the Democratic Party.  The old coot said that Condeleeza Rice wasn't fit for her new job and should 'go back to teaching Russian.'  That only displays the senatorial silverback's disconnection from the real world.  A disconnection that is shared by his party, and the party's friends in the MSM.  An interesting thing though, if he was a Republican from the South, the first question out of Wallace's mouth after that statement would have been 'Is that because she's black?'  But since he's a Democrat, Wallace stayed with the fluff questions.  At least he wasn't as bad as Dan Rather.  Rather's interviews with Bill Clinton bordered on journalistic fellatio.  But both Wallace and the Senator were too damn old for that.

 

5.

Andy Rooney was on Larry King Live tonight... Is it just me, but doesn't it seem a little incestuous when media people spend all their time interviewing other media people.  If this keeps up we're going to end up with the journalistic equivalent of the barefoot gap-toothed kid sitting on the front porch in Deliverance playing his banjo.  Then again, maybe that's already happened.

Some Quickies...

1.

It's official.  Viktor Yuchenko the leader of the Ukraine's Orange Revolution was poisoned with a chemical called dioxin.  Yuchenko suspects that he was poisoned during dinner with the heads of Ukraine's security service.  He remembered that the waiter who came out with the drinks was muttering: "The toxin called dioxin is in the vessel with the pestle, the flagon with the dragon holds the brew that is true."

 

2.

Canada's Supreme Court cleared the way for Same Sex Marriage.  As I've said before, the churches shouldn't oppose Gay Marriage, they should demand it.  There should be big bill boards of the Pope overlooking every gay bar in the country with the slogan "Is there a ring on that finger?"  Think of the wedding fees the churches are throwing away here.

 

3.

New Republic pundit Peter Beinart has won my official Voice In the Wilderness Award for his recent piece calling for American Liberals to accept the fact that Islamofascism is a way bigger threat than having a practising Christian in the Oval Office.  He calls for the Democratic Party to cast out treason preachers like Michael Moore and Tom Hayden and accept that the country really is in a struggle for survival.  So far, the only people who have noticed this brave piece of punditry are the right-wing or conservative media.  The liberal MSM is ignoring him, and hoping that he goes away.  The Democratic Party too is ignoring his sage advice, preferring to write off their electoral defeat as the result of either voter stupidity or some evil masonic conspiracy.

 

'Tis the Season for Holiday Idiocy!

Christmas is upon us once again. It's not like you can hide from it, the stores have had their decorations out since the end of October. And like Christmas seasons past, it's full of idiot Scrooge-Grinch-Assholes (pardon my French) who insist on ruining it for everyone in the name of not offending anyone.

Apparently it is offensive and evil to wish someone a 'Merry Christmas,' especially if the person isn't one of the 90% of the North American population that celebrates Christmas you must wish them the more secular 'Season's Greetings' or 'Happy Holidays' instead or the members of these minorities will burst into flames from outrage at someone from another religion wishing them a happy time in the midst of a gloomy winter.

It's an intriguing theory, but still just a theory, because I have yet to see one member of that 10% minority actually say that they are offended by Christmas. In fact, the people who claim that the minority is offended are actually members of the majority that have an axe to grind with what they view as 'traditional values' and use the shield of political correctness to wage war against the roots of what's supposed to be a happy holiday.

I'm a Catholic, not a lapsed Catholic, more like a relaxed Catholic and if a Jewish person wishes me a 'Happy Chanukkah,' I'll wish them a happy time right back. If a Muslim or Hindu wishes me to have good fortune and happiness during their holy times, I'll take it with a smile and repay the compliment by wishing them happiness and good fortune during my holy times.

And do you know why?

Because I'm not a complete jerk.

I'm a jerk, I'll admit that, but not a complete jerk.

Anyone who is offended by someone wishing them well, doesn't deserve to be wished well in the first place.

So to all those Scrooges and Grinches who can think of nothing better to do this holiday season than to be offended by happiness, I say this:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

You complete jerks...

Two things I know for certain...

There aren't many things in this uncertain world one can be sure of. But here are two things I'm pretty confident about...

1. Al Franken should keep his mouth shut.

I'm not advocating censorship. I'm just advocating the age old maxim that it is better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open your big yap and remove all doubt. So you see, I'm actually trying to help Al here. The latest idiocy he's entangled with is a feud with Front Page Magazine editor David Horowitz. Franken called Horowitz a 'guest racist' in his last political screed. Now this has really cheesed off Mr. Horowitz who has a record of civil rights activism going back to when Franken was but a glint in the milkman's eye and should be the envy of anyone who dares call himself a liberal. But that doesn't deter Mr. Franken and his allies, they keep beating the drum, hurling accusations of racism without any real evidence to back it up. In response Mr. Horowitz has branded Mr. Franken a racist and is challenging Franken to come up with real evidence of racism or an apology. Since Franken has no real evidence, now he's playing silent. I'd advise Mr. Franken to go back to a career in comedy, but since he wasn't funny to begin with, I'll suggest he take up something different entirely. Perhaps a career as a mime? People might think you're smart and funny if you did that... nah... probably not...

2. Jeremy Hinzman is not a hero.

In fact, he's the exact opposite: a coward, a liar and he deserves to be sent to a term in Leavenworth, not living it up in Canada under a bogus refugee claim. He volunteered to join the US Army. He cashed his checks, joined the 82nd Airborne of all outfits, and then when the time came to actually stand in harm's way he tried to chicken out claiming conscientious objector status. It didn't work because only draftees, not volunteers can claim CO status. He did a tour in Afghanistan, and then when it came time to go to Iraq, he fled to Canada. There he's treated as the second coming by assorted leftists and he's trying to strengthen his refugee claim by breaking out the old Vietnam-era stories that all American soldiers are baby-killers who commit more atrocities before 9 AM than the average person does in a lifetime. He's not a hero. The men in his unit he abandoned are heros. The average Iraqi policeman and soldier who is staying at his post despite the danger is a hero. Hinzman is one of those people whose cowardice and treachery would be comical if they weren't costing real human lives. He's like the cowardly soldier in a Monty Python skit who wants to leave the army because: "there are people with guns and tanks out there. Somebody could get hurt." If Hinzman was a real hero, and if he really had an objection to killing America's enemies, he'd have picked up a first aid kit and gone out as a field medic. Saving lives under fire is one of the noblest callings a soldier can have, but Jeremy Hinzman ignored that call. Instead he and his new best friend former Marine Jimmy Massey are going around Canada smearing the good name of the men who once thought of them as brothers. It makes me sick to be a Canadian to know that he'll probably be allowed to stay here, when he deserves to be shipped back to the USA to take the punishment he deserves for violating not only the oath to his country, but the trust of the men and women who served beside him and whose lives depended on him. For shame.